Military University of Technology (MUT, Polish: Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna im. Jarosława Dąbrowskiego – WAT) is the civil-military technical academic institution in Poland, located at Bemowo, Warsaw. It was established in 1951. The university's rector-commander is płk. Przemysław Wachulak. The university is supervised by the Minister of National Defence of Poland and conducts scientific research for the needs of Polish Armed Forces. Currently the university educates almost 10,000 students. The staff consists of about 1,000 employees, including 220 professors.University leads both military and civilian studies. Military graduates receive not only professional title of magister inżynier, but are also promoted to military rank of podporucznik (second lieutenant). Formally being professional soldiers, military students attend school on the principles of ordinary military service. They are quartered in military dormitories and attend a variety of different military trainings and lectures. After graduating, they are formally obliged to serve in Polish Armed Forces under threat of reimbursement of education costs. Only Polish citizens are eligible for military studies.Contrary to military students, civilian ones can study normally, without any commitments to the Ministry of National Defence. Civilian studies allow to obtain professional titles such as: inżynier or licencjat (first cycle studies), magister inżynier or magister (second cycle studies) and a scientific degree of doktor. Due to changes in Polish law, since October 2019, separate Doctoral School operates in the structure of MUT. Full-time studies are free, extramural studies are payable.Obviously, scientific research conducted in MUT focus on issues connected with military and national defense. MUT was the place where in 1963 first Polish laser was created. In 1964 analog computer ELWAT (later produced by Elwro in Wrocław) was also created in MUT. One of the biggest contemporary projects which was developed at the university was so-called Modular Firearm System, 5.56 mm MSBS rifle, currently manufactured and further developed by FB "Łucznik" Radom. The rifle is to become the next main service rifle of the Polish Armed Forces.
The aim of the research presented in this article was to describe the Prison Service in the context of several selected sociological theories. A non-reactive content analysis method was used to conduct the research. As a result of literature analyses and scientific investigations, the image of the Prison Service was reconstructed as presented in three relevant sociological theories: 1) Jan Maciejewski's dispositional group theory; 2) Robert Merton's reference group theory; and 3) Everett Hughes's dirty work theory. These theories define the structure of the article, thus presenting a complex and multifaceted picture of this particular uniformed service.
Research objectives and hypothesis/research questions The article addresses the following research problem: which NATO member states experienced the largest increases in defence spending between 2014 and 2025? The aim of the study is to conduct a multidimensional analysis of changes in defence expenditure levels among individual NATO countries during the 2014-2025 period. Based on the adopted research problem and objectives, the following hypothesis was formulated: the most significant increases in defence spending in military defense expenditures occur among NATO member states located on the Alliance’s Eastern Flank. This trend is likely driven by the increasing perception of security threats resulting from Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which intensified concerns regarding regional stability, deterrence capabilities, and military preparedness. At the same time, although the relative growth rates may be higher among Eastern Flank countries, the United States is expected to remain the leader in terms of absolute growth in defence expenditures during the analysed period (2014-2025), owing to its global military commitments, strategic role within NATO, and substantially larger economic and defence budget capacity. Research methods The study employed the method of source analysis, supplemented by inferential reasoning techniques. The research process was supported using Microsoft Excel and Statistica AI software, which enabled the processing, organization, and multidimensional analysis of the collected data. Furthermore, defence expenditure patterns are examined comparatively across Eastern Flank and non-Eastern Flank countries, using the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war as a temporal reference point for assessing pre and post war differences. Main results The main findings of the study indicate a clear trend of rapidly increasing defence expenditures among Eastern Flank NATO countries. In 2025, Poland recorded the highest defence spending level, amounting to 4.48% of GDP. This represents a substantial increase compared to 1.86% in 2014 and 2.21% in 2022. Significant growth was also observed in Lithuania, where defence spending increased from 0.88% of GDP in 2014 to 4.00% in 2025, in Latvia from 0.97% to 3.73%, and in Estonia from 1.90% to 3.38%. Implications for theory and practice The results may also prove valuable for the defence industry sector and entities responsible for logistics and security management by identifying directions for future technological and organizational investments. Furthermore, the analysis may support forecasting processes concerning future changes in the defence policies of NATO member states in the context of geopolitical instability and the growing challenges to international security.
Long-term GEO satellite operation requires reliability models that distinguish full mission capability from degraded but still functional states and from critical functional loss. This study develops a five-state Markov reliability model in which states S0–S4 represent successive levels of mission capability. The model integrates sequential degradation, a direct S0 → S4 transition representing sudden critical events, and functional restoration associated with redundancy, FDIR, reconfiguration, and software-supported recovery. Four computational variants were analysed over a segmented 15-year mission horizon to separate the influence of these mechanisms. The transition intensities were specified for a reference scenario rather than estimated for a specific GEO mission. Full and retained mission capability were evaluated using Rfull = P0 and Rpartial = 1 − P4. For the complete model, these measures reached 0.6926 and 0.9633 after 15 years, respectively. Calculations performed in MATLAB 2025 using the matrix exponential method were independently verified by numerical integration, with agreement within approximately 10−14. The framework provides a reproducible basis for analysing long-term GEO satellite functional reliability under different degradation and restoration scenarios.
The sector of small and medium-sized enterprises is the backbone of the European economy. It covers a significant percentage of employment and added value. At the same time, it operates under increasing technological, regulatory and competitive pressure. Modern financial tools, including cloud-based tools, fintech solutions and artificial intelligence algorithms in the area of data analysis and decision-making, have recently gained particular importance. The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of modern technologies, as well as financial tools and the Polish National Tax Administration (KAS), on the management of an enterprise from the SME sector. It was shown that the implementation of modern technologies, financial tools and KAS tools leads to a significant change in the information architecture of the organization and to a shift in the burden of company management. The issues discussed in the article indicate that the broadly understood digitalization of the enterprise, the introduction of new administrative tools is a process redefining the structure of entrepreneurship, management and responsibility in the enterprise. The article is analytical and empirical. It uses research methods and tools, including literature analysis, observation and case studies.
