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Systemic corruption is not a failure of individuals, i.e. the result of their deviant behaviour, but a collective phenomenon shared mainly by public institutions as a whole. The phenomenon is based on an effort to establish a new set of corrupt norms inside such institutions affecting policymaking, administrative procedures, public procurements, and the behavior of employees etc. In spite of the fact that impacts of systemic corruption on the areas of government, civil freedoms, social cohesion, and public economy are well known, there is very little practical research involving concrete evidence of systemic corruption in particular cases. This paper attempts to clarify how to generate a set of indicators of systemic corruption and then identify and verify them in a real-life political environment – in our specific case, the administration and policymaking of Liberec City Council between 1998 and 2010. The research was based upon elaborated interviews (with politicians, public servants, prosecuting authorities etc.), document analysis (reports and papers of the city council and municipal government, contracts and invoices etc.), and political and media analysis. The results are significant, as only an understanding of how a corrupt system really works can lead to the implementation of suitable anticorruption measures. ; Systemic corruption is not a failure of individuals, i.e. the result of their deviant behaviour, but a collective phenomenon shared mainly by public institutions as a whole. The phenomenon is based on an effort to establish a new set of corrupt norms inside such institutions affecting policymaking, administrative procedures, public procurements, and the behavior of employees etc. In spite of the fact that impacts of systemic corruption on the areas of government, civil freedoms, social cohesion, and public economy are well known, there is very little practical research involving concrete evidence of systemic corruption in particular cases. This paper attempts to clarify how to generate a set of ...

The purpose of this model is to measure the impact of localization of new (mostly industrial) enterprises in strategic industrial zone in regional economy. Model deals with multiplication effect of regional consumption expenditures, which is (among others) strongly affecting development of regional economy. For modeling the regional consumption demand or regional consumption expenditures there was used mainly microeconomic approach based on utility & profit maximization. The model is based on several simplifying assumptions for better use in real applications (mainly because of lack of relevant regional data). This model was used in practice for ex-ante evaluation of impact of strategic industrial zone in Cheb but it could be applied widely (after some modifications) for anticipation of regional impacts of demand shocks, regional migration, investments etc. Graphs, References. Adapted from the source document.

Intro -- Obsah -- Slovo úvodem -- Co je to environmentální výzkum, z čeho vychází a kam směřuje? -- Globální změna klimatu -- Vliv klimatických změn na biodiverzitu -- Nepůvodní druhy rostlin, možné příčiny a důsledky invazí -- Antropogenní disturbance v krajině a ochrana životního prostředí -- Příklad disturbance: gradace lýkožrouta na Šumavě -- Antropogenní acidifikace povrchových vod -- Nové typy polutantů - endokrinní disruptory v životním prostředí a jejich biodegradace -- Nové poznatky a výzvy v ochraně ovzduší -- Vliv životního a pracovního prostředí a životního stylu na lidské zdraví -- Člověk a příroda v minulosti Českých zemí. Od pravěku ke globální společnosti -- Indikátory společenského metabolismu -- Globální změny a environmentální bezpečnost lidské společnosti -- Hodnocení environmentálních efektů jako součást "evidence-based policy": Případová studie - Skryté náklady těžby uhlí za limity -- Environmentální vzdělávání a výchova -- Účinnost a působení českého práva životního prostředí -- Bibliografie -- Summary.

This paper is based on a survey among 435 Czech households caring for a dependent senior in the family to inquire into the conditions and circumstances of caring for seniors in the family. The concept of 'care as a labour of love' (Graham) is contrasted with the concept of the 'defamilisation of care' (Glenn) and 'social rights for elderly care' (Fine). The author finds that more demanding family care, measured as the level of IADL or BADL, is reflected in a growing number of hours spent on family care. The author shows the significant differences in the psychological and financial burden experienced by primary caregivers in relation to how demanding the level of care required is. The article presents evidence of the existence of 'collective family care' in situations where demanding personal care for a senior is required. The participation of other family members in providing care for a senior in situations of demanding personal care demonstrates some features of family cohesion.

The study deals with pilgrimages to Esquipulas, Guatemala, and patterns of miracle in terms of their perception by the pilgrims reaching this prominent religious hub of Central America. Two key pilgrimage discourses are distinguished: traditional Maya pilgrimage, based on regular, calendar customs, and conventional Catholic pilgrimage, founded on occasional journeys to fulfil a vow. The Western understanding of miracle as a transgression of "natural laws" or "common course of nature" is relativized and contested arguing that the ethnographic evidence of Esquipulas shows not only different, but also opposite conceptions. Then, the study presents a spectrum of miracle ideas drawing from the Maya as well as European - the case of Lourdes is exemplary here - traditions in terms of the degree of their uncommonness. It is concluded that anthropology has to comprehend miracles as marvels in its cultural context; nevertheless, there is a widespread idea among many cultures that miracle is something wonderful, related to the awareness of non-obviousness of certain things and phenomena. Miracles find its content and meaning within particular cosmology, but, anchored in the psychological characteristics of the astonishment and the difference between usual and unusual or ordinary and extraordinary, they refer to features of human mind in a more general way.

The publication analyses and discusses legal and financial tools, including international strategies and policies, relevant to the protection of landscape character with a focus on agricultural impact in the Czech Republic. The first section summarises the available Czech literature on the subject and includes an analysis of the changes in scale of Czech farms after 1989. The second section summarises relevant financial instruments and their influence on landscape character. In the third section, a more detailed analysis of selected tools is attempted, including several case studies describing their use and impacts in practice. Section four summarises relevant international agreements, strategies, policies, and national and regional government programmes, and discusses their influence on landscape character in the Czech Republic. In the fifth section, policy changes on a national, international, and regional level favourable to landscape character are suggested. The summary in section six offers some general comments, including a plea for more effective control mechanisms and for more complex policies and strategies integrating small-scale rural renewable energy production with water and landscape character conservation and sustainable agricultural production based on local economic and biological loops