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Abstract. We present 18 years of high resolution and S/N Hα spectroscopy of the Be shell star o And, obtained between 1985And, obtained between -2002. Spectra taken during late 1985 show a pure photospheric profile, with disc re-formation commencing in 1986; a process that is found to occur over long timescales (∼10 3 days). Analysis of the evolution of the properties of the Hα shell profile suggest that the disc kinematics are dominated by rotational motion. It has been shown that disc loss in o And occurs "inside out"; we find that the disc also appears to be rebuilt in a similar manner, with disc material gradually diffusing to larger radii. The long timescale for changes in the bulk properties of the disc, domination of rotational over radial velocities and manner of disc loss and formation are all consistent with the predictions of the viscous decretion disc model for Be star discs.

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Various models of structure formation can account for various aspects of the galaxy formation process on different scales, as well as for various observational features of structures. Thus, the investigation of galaxies orientation constitute a standard test of galaxies formation scenarios since observed variations in angular momentum represent fundamental constraints for any model of galaxy formation.We have improved the method of analysis of the alignment of galaxies in clusters. Now, the method allows to analyze both position angles of galaxy major axes and two angles describing the spatial orientation of galaxies. The distributions of analyzed angles were tested for isotropy by applying different statistical tests.For sample of analyzed clusters we have computed the mean values of analyzed statistics, checking whether they are the same as expected ones in the case of random distribution of analyzed angles. The detailed discussion of this method has been performed. We have shown how to proceed in many particular cases in order to improve the statistical reasoning when analyzing the distribution of the angles in the observational data. Separately, we have compared these new results with those obtained from numerical simulations. We show how powerful is our method on the example of galaxy orientation analysis in 247 Abell rich galaxy clusters. We have found that the orientations of galaxies in analyzed clusters are not random. It means that we genuinely confirmed an existence of the alignment of galaxies in rich Abells' galaxy clusters. This result is independent from the clusters of Bautz-Morgan types.

We have made the first attempt to derive the chemical properties of the Galactic disc at its very central part using high-resolution infrared spectroscopic observations of four classical Cepheids. Those stars are located at Galactocentric distances smaller than 1 kpc. All investigated stars show near-to-solar elemental abundances. By combining these new data with our previous studies, this result suggests that the radial distribution of iron abundance on a logarithmic scale gradually increases from the outskirts of the Galactic disc to Galactocentric distances of about 2-4 kpc, reaching there a maximal value of about +0.4 dex, and then declines sharply to about the solar value at the Galactic Center.