Suchergebnisse

This paper examines the issue of ballot voting in elections with a focus on traditional and modern voting methods. The purpose is to provide policy analysis with a survey of the development of voting methods, from their earliest form up to contemporary democratic technologies. The study offers a systematic evaluation of the voting mechanism, especially the paper ballot, machine voting, punchcard voting, optical mark-sense voting and electronic voting. On the basis of case studies, their impact on electoral process and the accuracy of election results is evaluated, as well as their impact on the quality of democracy. The accent is put on voting procedures which are user-friendly and trustworthy at the same time.

Obálka -- Obsah -- Předmluva -- Úvod -- Gramofon -- Jean Marie Guyau: Paměť a fonograf -- Rainer Maria Rilke: Prazvuk -- Maurice Renard: Smrt a mušle -- Salomo Friedlaender: Goethe mluví do fonografu -- Film -- Salomo Friedlaender: Stroj na fatu morgánu -- Richard A. Bermann: Lyra a psací stroj -- Typewriter -- Martin Heidegger: O ruce a psacím stroji -- Carl Schmitt, Buribunkové: Dějinně-filosofický esej -- Doslov k českému vydání: Všechny přístroje zapnout -- Bibliografie -- Podrobný obsah -- Obrazová příloha.

The aim of the article is to provide readers with general information on nanotechnology & possibilities of its use, as well as to refer to some of its relevant security risks. The author currently mentions claims of some scientists & NGOs warning against possible misuse of nanotechnology due to the insufficient control over the research & the application. So far, less anticipated consequences of nanotechnology, converging with genetics, robotics, informatics & cognitive science, on all branches of the economy & social & other relations require that sufficient information should be given not only to the Czech experts but to general society as well. The real threat of the misuse of nanotechnology towards the research, development & the production of the new types of chemical, biological & nuclear weapons & other security risks increase that need. In spite of the long-term knowledge of nanotechnology, the possibilities of its use in a revolutionary way increased from 80th of the last century. It was due to the new types of microscopes enabling for the first time precise manipulation of the nanoscale particles. Results of nanoscale exploration are more & more visible eg., in various consumer products & according to the views of some scientific circles we could witness dramatic transformation of the economy in the near future. The article points out the rapid increase of spending on basic nanoscience research, growing number of governmental, private & multinational corporations & various national nanoinitiatives dealing with this kind of research & development, accepted mainly in the high-industrialized countries. In the article there are mentioned some reservations & concerns of the prominent American scientists & NGOs in association with the important goal of the nanotechnology research focused on the process of self-reproduction, self-repair & self-assembly. Various arms control & disarmament experts pay attention to the connections of the nanotechnological research with the possibility of production of the new types of nuclear weapons of the 4th generation. In conclusion the author expresses his view on the usefulness to create efficient system of the governmental & public control of this sphere of the scientific research & the need to devote sufficient attention by the appropriate officials & experts to the security aspects of nanotechnology. Adapted from the source document.

Focuses on foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, & Slovakia (CECs), where FDI penetration jumped to remarkable high levels in recent years. Foreign investment enterprises are more profitable, export-oriented & technologically superior compared to domestic companies. FDI is perceived as a main channel of technology transfer & potential source of spillovers in host economy, though, estimates of technology transfer show mixed picture in the CECS. FDI spurs restructuring & productivity growth in foreign investment enterprises but FDI rather crowds out domestic companies as spillovers are confirmed only to domestic companies with sufficient technological absorptive capacity. The paper concludes with some policy implications regarding FDI promotion & innovation policy. 6 Tables, 1 Figure, 66 References. Adapted from the source document.

The paper analyses impacts of environmental regulation on Czech power system. We employ MESSAGE modelling platform to construct a dynamic linear optimisation energy model of the Czech power system. We analyse regulation impacts on fuel use and CO2 emission, fuel-mix and technology-mix, induced investment and fuel and other O&M costs to generate electricity over the period 2006-2030. Negative external costs attributable to endogenously determined new level of air quality pollutants are quantified to make our cost-benefit analysis more complex. Overall, effects of four policy scenarios are assessed, including subsidies for renewable energy, increase in air quality charge rates and an introduction of the EU ETS in the Czech power system. Based on our simulation, we find that prospected 10-fold increase in charging of air quality pollutant would not have any significant effect on emission and would not bring any stimuli for change in technology and fuel mixes. Subsidy to renewable energy would result in their development; however, larger effect would appear in far future and only if new nuclear power units are not allowed to build. Auctioned EUA, especially above Euro15 per tonne of CO2, would be the only effective instrument with significant effects on power sector. Key factor on CO2 emission is whether scenario consists of new nuclear power units or these units are banned. Our simulation results hold even if we allow the key model assumption to vary, except, the discount rate that would have effect on whether more-investment intensive technologies are used to generate electricity. Adapted from the source document.

The interconnections within food, biofuel and fossil fuel markets are first described in the context of biofuels technologies and economic policy framework. Consequently, the econometric analysis consisting of Johansen cointegration, error correction model, vector autoregression and Granger causality is applied to price series of 12 biofuel related commodities. While a number of equilibrium relationships are found across the examined markets suggesting their interconnection, we do not obtain a persuasive confirmation of the thesis that biofuels clearly lead to food shortages via the increase in prices of basic food commodities used in the production of biofuels. Adapted from the source document.

The objective of this article is to provide a survey of basic facts about process of globalization. We can define globalization as the international economic integration through particular markets. Globalization is largely continual & objective process that began approximately in the middle of nineteenth century. Main factors determining globalization are technology & liberalization & also "desire of people to participate in globalization." On the other hand globalization reinforces these factors. Within globalization we can also see two following processes. The essence of the first one is centralization & concentration of production & capital & in the centre of second one stands a process of transnationalization. The results of these tendencies are creation & action of transnational corporations. Today these firms are major entities forming present globalization. It is also necessary to give certain attention to the role of state in current world. References. Adapted from the source document.

Relationship between European Union & The People's Republic of China declared in 2003 as the "strategic partnership" attracts attention as a new & remarkable phenomenon within post-bipolar international framework. This article reviews essentials & motives of both partners' mutual & deepening relations by pointing at their growing economic interdependence, upgrading political relations, & further developing their cultural, science & technology, academic, environmental etc. cooperation. However, while critically analyzing EU-China basic agenda of the strategic partnership & its real outcomes, this article points at poor Chinese human rights record, persistence of EU arms embargo, mutual trade disputes, Chinese failure at obtaining the EU's Market Economy Status, as well as insufficient intellectual property & trade mark protection in China. This study concludes with finding an attaining the real EU-China strategic partnership questionable, considering that as a mere term of official-level politeness, lacking behind expectations & potential. Adapted from the source document.

The Sociological Data Archive (SDA) was founded in 1998, & it is the only institution that systematically provides access to data files from quantitative sociological surveys. The main access to the data library is provided on the Internet. The SDA also pays great attention to promoting secondary analysis & the employment of existing data sources & cooperates in organizing large research projects, especially the Czech participation in the ISSP. The SDA is a member of the CESSDA (Council of European Social Science Data Archives). This also means that the Archive can mediate access to materials stored in other social science data archives in Europe. The full inclusion of the SDA's services into an international network is connected to the adoption of international standards (DDI, XML technology), which is planned for the future. In recent years two qualitative data archives have also been established, the Czech Archive of Qualitative Data & Documents & the Digital Archive of Soft Data MEDARD. The Czech Statistical Office provides data services in the field of official statistics.

Violent conflict is very old in human society. The development of military technology brought with itself the worst tragedies loss of human live and material devastation in the second half of 20th century in the Horn of Africa. This region is one of the centers of various political violent conflicts in the world, according to length of these violent conflicts, the number of death of people, mainly civilian, refugees and internal displaced persons (IDP). This study elucidates the root causes of long wars in the Horn of Africa focusing mainly on South Sudan and Somalia. It also illustrates how the Super Powers during the Cold War helped their client states to prolong the suffering of people in the region. When Socialist system disappeared from Eastern Europe, Mengistu Haile Mariam's and Siyad Barre's regime ignominiously collapsed. In Ethiopia Amhara power elite, who ruled the Empire state from 1889 to 1991 lost their state power and Tigrian guerrilla fighters captured it through the power of the gun, Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia, South Sudan is emerging from long heinous war to independence. The violent conflict in Somalia transformed after the old regime demise in 1991 and the new leaders unable to build new central government. Somalia is fragmented and became the good example of failed state in the theory of contemporary political sociology. The paper tries to explain these complex violent conflicts in this part of Africa.