The present paper describes an investigation into the use of dictionaries and the results of a survey which was carried out among 202 Polish university students of German as a foreign language. The main aims are, on the one hand, to find out the level of dictionary awareness and dictionary culture and, on the other hand, to investigate if students know the monolingual learner’s dictionaries of German and are able to use them effectively.

Rare and endemic plant species represent important components of plant biodiversity which require protection to ensure their sustainable conservation. Cerastium banaticum (Rochel) Heuff. is such an endemic and rare species from Romania, for which the genetic variability of two natural populations was studied by SSR markers. Shannon’s information index revealed low levels of genetic diversity in both populations (I = 0.296). As the first attempt in a conservation program a reproducible micropropagation protocol was established starting from seeds, followed by multiplication, rooting, and ex vitro acclimatization. Among the various plant growth regulators tested the highest multiplication coefficient was achieved on a culture medium with 0.5 mg L-1 6-furfurylaminopurine (K) and 1 mg L-1 α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). On this PGRs concentration a number of 26.6 shoots/individual explant with a mean length of 7.9 cm for new generated shoots was registered. The highest number of roots/individual initiated shoot was 2.6 and it was recorded on a culture medium with 0.5 mg L-1 2-isopentyl-adenine (2iP) and 0.1 mg L-1 NAA. The outdoor acclimatization was successfully performed in a specially designed rocky area in the ‘Alexandru Borza’ Botanical Garden, Cluj-Napoca (Romania).

Over the past two years, coking coal prices have been the most volatile among major bulk commodities. On the supply side, the most important factor determining the movement of coal prices were weather problems affecting the exports of coal from Australia (Queensland), where the production of the best quality coking coals is concentrated. On the demand side, an important factor is the growing role of China on the market, which, being the world’s largest producer and consumer of metallurgical coal, has also become its largest importer. The dominant, about 75% share of China in the global spot market has resulted in their level of activity influencing the periodic price decreases or increases in international trade and prices based on CFR China (along with Australian FOB prices) have become important indicators to monitor market trends and determine levels of negotiated benchmarks. The exceptional volatility on the market led to a change in the quarterly price fixing mechanism for hard-load hard coal contractors in mid–2017 to apply a formula that assumes the valuation of their quarterly volumes based on the average of the basket of spot price indices. This reflects the broader trend of the evolving market, with growing spot market activity. The article describes the current situation on the international coking coal market and presents short-term forecasts for hard coking hard coal prices (PHCC LV), which are a reference point for fixing prices of other types of metallurgical coal (hard standard, semi-soft, PCI).

The distribution of heavy metals in the bonom sediments has been determined, It has been shown that they are spaciously differentiated. The differentiation is a result of water movement, eutroficat ion, bioaccurnulation and anthropoprcsion processes. As a result of specific water movement the area of intensity of the heavy metals accumulation was created. This area (about 150 ha) is located in the northwest part of the reservoir. The maximal concentrations of heavy metals for this region are: for cadmium 30 mg Cd/kg, for nickel 55 mg Ni/kg, for chromium 130 mg Cr/kg, for lead 160 mg Pb/kg, for copper 1000 mg Cu/kg, for zinc 1300 mg Zn/kg. The localization of the most polluted areas is essential for possible reclamation procedures to improve water and overall ecosystem quality.