The article deals with the issue of formation and functioning of rural tourism clusters in Ukraine. Here, formation of cluster structures in rural tourism is at its initial stage. Analysis of existing clusters resulted in their classification into groups based on the criterion of specialization: lodging and food (farmsteads), agritourist and local history tourism clusters. Analysis of the main research models for the creation and analysis of rural tourism clusters functioning has been performed. A multilevel universal model of the rural tourism clusters with basic structural levels (basic, affiliate and accompanying) has been proposed for scientific and practical purposes. This model was used to form two cluster initiatives in the ethnographic region of the Ukrainian Carpathians – in the Boykivshchyna. The need to use foreign experience in rural tourism cluster research has been emphasized.

This article discusses two legislative renvoys to the 1961 Maritime Legal Code which are contained in new legislation from 2000. The first of these is contained in the legislation of 21.12.2000 concerning internal waterway transport; the second is contained in the legislation of 29.11.2000, the Law on Atomic Matters. The essay is organized according to the issue under discussion; hence it deals with two quite different questions: lien on vessels (maritime mortgage), and liability for atomic damages. Such separate matters are linked by new legislation's connection with the Maritime Legal Code; that is the attempt by Polish legislation to exploit the achievements of maritime law. The renvoy of article 25 of legislation concerning internal waterway transport demands the implementation in internal waterway transport of the institution of lien on vessels (an institution that is characteristic of maritime law). The article criticizes this solution, demonstrating the impossibility of recording, in the administrative register, the property rights relating to a vessel involved in internal waterway transport. The second renvoy, contained in article 102 of statute 2 of the Law on Atomic Matters, envisages, in the event of limitation of liability on the part of persons employing atomic devices, the possibility of using the institutions of the limited liability fund, as established and allocated (such institutions being regulated according to maritime law). The author points to a host of problems that may arise if this revision is implemented.

The growth of the global population, urbanization as well as economic and industrial development, affect the continuously increasing demand for mineral aggregates. The current assessed global production of mineral aggregates amounts to 50 billion Mg/year, which statistically approximates 6.5 Mg per an inhabitant of the globe. In terms of consumption volume, water is the only raw material ahead of aggregates. Despite such a great scale, in many countries and regions the extraction and production of aggregates belong to the least regulated sector of human activity. This refers particularly to the countries of A sia, A frica, and North A merica, where both the resources and the extraction of aggregates, particularly of sand and gravels, are either not monitored and registered. It significantly increases the negative impact on the natural environment, due to the destruction of riverbeds and oxbows, coastal erosion, drying up cultivation areas, etc. In the reports, local terminology of aggregates often functions, which makes it difficult to compare them and prepare appropriate balances. In order to regulate the unfavorable situation, one of the main conclusions of the Report (UNEP 2019) is the need of implementing a common requirement to plan and monitor the process of extraction of natural resources. The paper presents the possibility of forecasting the extraction and producing aggregates based on the consumption of cement, i.e. the basic building material. A lthough the analyzed coefficient of mineral aggregate production per unit of cement consumption (production) varies, its advantage is the fact that the production of cement is identified and taken into account in balances of industrial production of the majority of countries, whereas such identification for mineral aggregate production are still lacking.

The collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw contains significant objects representing the culture of peoples from many regions of Asia, including Polynesia, Indonesia and even Papua New Guinea. The cultures of Turkish and Mongolian peoples of Central Asia are richly represented among them. Among the objects of these regions and cultures, a collection of felt products significantly distinguishes itself. However, these felts have never been exhibited as a whole collection, nor as a part of a monographic exhibition dedicated to the craft of felt. A significant part of them belongs to the earliest collections from the 1990’s from Afghanistan. It represents many different cultural groups: Turkmen, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz people and even Tajiks. From the historian’s or art historian’s point of view, it is a very young and new collection. But, taking into account the specifics of felt production and the ways it is used, as well as the fact that felt is rather underestimated by its producers, users, traders, researchers and collectors (in terms of the art market), it should be noted that felt products were rarely bought and collected by esteemed institutions. Apart from museums of Tsarist Russia, and later, their heirs: Soviet and post-Soviet museums in Central Asian countries, along with some western European museums, collections of felt products are rather rare in the world. The felt collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw appears to be a rare example here. The aim of this paper is to present the felt collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, in terms of its objects, as well as its ethnographic and historical value.

Photographs from the Archive of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw were taken by Eugeniusz Helbert and Ewa Soszko-Dziwisińska.

Photographs from the author’s archive were taken by Marzena Godzińska.