Bilingualism has long been observed in Silesia, a part of Poland which lies on the border between three cultures and languages: Polish, Czech and German. Some lin-guists consider Silesian one of the Polish dialects, others think it should be treated as a separate language. During the communist times the inhabitants of Upper Silesia were discouraged from using the local dialect at school or in public institutions. The situation has changed a lot since 1989 with the promotion of regional studies. Short characteristics of Silesian will be presented in the fi rst part of the paper.The main part of the project presents the results of a questionnaire which focuses on young people’s attitudes towards Silesian. The respondents (100 Polish students of English philology) fall into two groups – half of them identify themselves with the region and the other half do not. How many respondents speak Silesian? Where do they use it and how do they evaluate it? What is the linguistic stereotype of a person living in Upper Silesia? These are just a few questions that suggest themselves in the context of the study.

This paper presents a comparison of three surface condenser connection setups on the cooling water side. Four connections were considered, namely serial, mixed and two parallel ones. The analysis was conducted based on the calculated heat balances of proposed power unit for nominal and not nominal parameters for tested connections. Thermodynamic justification for the use of more complex configuration was verified. The exhaust steam pressure calculation was presented. Three methods of computing the heat transfer coefficient based on characteristic numbers, namely the Heat Exchange Institute (HEI) method, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standard, were used. Calculation results were validated with the real data. The most accurate model was indicated and used in heat balance calculations. The assumptions and simplifications for the calculations are discussed. Examples of the calculation results are presented.

The research aimed to use chemical, geochemical, and ecotoxicity indices to assess the heavy metals content in soils with different degrees of exposure to human pressure. The research was conducted in southern Poland, in the Malopolska (Little Poland) province. All metal contents exceeded geochemical background levels. The highest values of the Igeo index were found for cadmium and were 10.05 (grasslands), 9.31 (forest), and 5.54 (arable lands), indicating extreme soil pollution (class 6) with this metal. Mean integrated pollution index (IPI) values, depending on the kind of use, amounted to 3.4 for arable lands, 4.9 for forests, and 6.6 for grasslands. These values are indicative of a high level of soil pollution in arable lands and an extremely high level of soil pollution in grasslands and forests. Depending on the type of soil use, Vibrio fischeri luminescence inhibition was from -33 to 59% (arable lands), from -48 to 78% (grasslands), and from 0 to 88% (forest). Significantly the highest toxicity was found in soils collected from forest grounds.