Volume 30 issue 1 (2025)

Spraying graffiti began as a way of making political statements; it soon became a risky game, building reputation and offering sport and thrills. Graffiti created by spraying date back to the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Over the last thirty years, spray-painted graffiti have become increasingly visible in urban landscapes, while the writing has developed into a global activity. As a technology-based activity, spraying should be examined in terms of the use and trimming of technology, and in terms of playful approaches to technology. While spraying has been seen as a criminal activity by many members of the public for decades, the perception is now at a turning point: new perspectives on the artistic qualities of these pieces have emerged, museums have been founded, commercialisation has gained influence, and spraying is beginning to be normalised as a leisure activity. Although unexpected, the practices of repair and maintenance have contributed to this development. The article, therefore, analyses their role and discusses how spraying has developed into a contribution to culture.

Natural resources in the Amazon region have been internationally coveted for a long time, ranging from biological piracy related to pharmaceutical products to strategic minerals. Although media coverage usually focuses on the region’s forest
and indigenous populations, these are no more than excuses hiding the powerful national and foreign economic interests at play. Beneath these concerns lie the tantamount issues of immense poverty, degraded health, and landscape neglect. Some facts are well known in the history of technology, while others have been ignored. A panoramic chronological view over the last centuries is offered on some resources on the Amazon, focusing on the most conspicuous aspect presented today from the perspective of conflicts—mining. This paper summarises some facts that relate to the exploration of the Amazon forest and rivers and their economic transformation. The revelation of the Brazilian Amazon to the world gained momentum during the nineteenth century, with impacts extending to the twentieth century and even to the present day.

The article presents the results of studies on the evacuation of Polish industrial enterprises during World War I and their postwar re-evacuation. It is shown that, during the war, industrial enterprises in the field of metalworking were most actively evacuated from Poland and Latvia. Archival data reveal that as a result of the evacuation, new factories failed to receive necessary supplies, were not provided with personnel, fuel, or raw materials, and most of the evacuated enterprises never resumed operation, with their equipment dispersed among different factories. Enterprises that restarted operations often produced items that were either in low demand or even entirely unnecessary for the army.

In 1755, Jesuits in Beijing and their local collaborators invented an early electrophorus device under the auspices of the leading scientist Augustin Hallerstein from Carniola, a missionary in China. The Jesuits sent their findings to the academicians in St  Petersburg as part of their regular collaboration. These Chinese ideas inspired prominent scientists such as Aepinus, his student Johan Carl Wilcke, Leonhard Euler and his son, the Italians Giovanni Battista Beccaria and his nephew Giovanni Francesco Cigna, Benjamin Franklin, and eventually, Alessandro Volta. However, Stephen Stigler’s law of eponymy gradually overshadowed the Beijing Jesuits’ accomplishments. Exactly a quarter of a millennium after Hallerstein, Rudi Podgornik, a Ljubljana native and his neighbour, revisited and updated Hallerstein’s research on electricity at the same Beijing headquarters.

This article critically examines the history of the chemical and petrochemical industry in Kazakhstan, its current state, and the main problems inherent in the industry. The findings of this study are relevant and crucial to the current challenges of the industry and its urgent need for improvement. The chemical and petrochemical industry, in particular, are characterised by several issues: inadequate qualifications of employees, largely due to the lack of professional skills, and limited access to education. The training of middle management—in particular, insufficient graduation rates of specialists in technical and vocational training (TVT)—also reduces the quality of products and broader human wellbeing. In addition, a significant problem is the wage level in the industry, which is insufficient to attract young specialists. The occupational hazards inherent in the industry, particularly the risk of cancer or physical injuries, remain relevant. To solve this problem, this study proposes a methodology that allows a comprehensive assessment of occupational risk, considering all potential factors affecting employees, and recommends implementing timely measures to ensure occupational safety.

In memoriam