The efficiency and public transport accessibility of indirect state administration in the Czech Republic

This paper examines the efficiency and public transport accessibility of indirect (devolved) state administration performed by municipalities with extended powers (hereinafter MEPs) in the Czech Republic. Our aim is to evaluate the efficiency of the revenues made by municipalities with extended powers, through performing powers delegated to them by the state administration, and those municipalities' public transport accessibility as of 31 December, 2014. The rate of efficiency is tested on an output-oriented Free Disposable Hull model. One input variable is selected - the operating expenses of the municipal offices recalculated per inhabitant of the municipality's administrative district - and two output variables are selected: contribution to the performance of state administration, recalculated per inhabitant of the municipality's administrative district, and revenues from administrative fees per inhabitant of the municipality's administrative district. The municipality's offices' transport accessibility is evaluated via network analysis using ArcGIS software. The article investigates the hypothesis that public administration deconcentration practices logically result in higher security costs and therefore inefficiency. The results reveal that only 66 of the country's 205 MEPs are efficient and that operating expenses and state contributions for the performance of state administrative tasks play a significant role in these results. Efficiency is less significantly influenced by administrative fee revenues. Public transport accessibility is analyzed for two time intervals - 6: 00 to 8: 00 am and 1: 00 to 2: 00 pm - on Tuesdays. The degree of accessibility is defined using a six-point scale of accessibility. The results show that the best accessibility is in the morning hours, when the offices are accessible for 68.8% of the population aged 15+ in the Czech Republic; the worst accessibility is in the afternoon hours when only 2% of the population aged 15+ can access the offices.Web of Science16215613

Analyzing Macroeconomic Effects of Environmental Taxation in the Czech Republic with the Econometric E3ME Model

Market-based instruments have gradually become a significant tool of environmental policy in central European countries. By using the structural macroeconometric E3ME model the authors compare two alternative green tax based policy frameworks in the Czech Republic. While the first imposes a tax on emissions of classical pollutants (particulates, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and volatile organic compounds), the second consists of carbon taxation intentionally set at the level equalizing environmental effect measured by externalities that are avoided as result of both reductions in emissions subject to taxation and ancillary effects. The authors also analyze impacts of revenue recycling. The comparison of economic impacts of both considered policy set ups indicates that policy aimed at the taxation of classical pollutants outperforms carbon policies in cases without revenue recycling. On the other hand, mainly due to significantly higher revenues from carbon taxation, when the revenues are recycled, a carbon taxation framework appears to be a better option.environmental taxation; structural models; macro-econometric model; E3ME

Local Authorities and Communicators Engaged in Science: PLACES Impact Assessment Case Study of Prague

Regional aspects of science communication represent a potential asset and as such are quite suitable topic for further examination with respect to future social and economic development in Prague based on the city's main development strategies. Closer analysis of SCIP aspects at re- gional level can present a suitable complement for development of suitable measures and projects of the regional innovation and education policies. This study focuses on research questions related to regional dimension of science communication, its impacts and suitable tools. Document analysis and questionnaire distributed among selected experts were chosen as tools for elaboration of the study. Results suggest that regional dimension of science communication policy and initiatives is a relevant one in case of Prague. However, the attention given to this topic by national and regional authorities is unsatisfactory resulting in lack of co-ordination of activities of the respective stakeholders. Impacts of SCIP, as far as causality can be identified, lie in encouraging young people in their interest in science, increasing awareness of general public in science-related issues and explaining role of science in society and problems that science is facing. To maximise effects of science communication there is a space for national and regional authorities to play an integrating role. Given the concentration of SCIP actors, the City of Prague could aspire to develop its science communication policy in order to promote itself as a Central European centre of science

Deciding Disputes: Factors That Guide Chinese Courts in the Adjudication of Rural Responsibility Contract Disputes

Post-silicon validation and debug, or ensuring that software executes correctly on the silicon of a multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSOC) is complicated, as it involves checking global properties that are distributed on the chip. In this paper we define an architecture to non-intrusively observe global properties at run time using distributed monitors. The architecture enables to perform actions when a property holds, such as stopping (part of) the system for inspection. We apply this architecture to the problem of software races that result in incorrect communication between concurrent tasks on different processors. In a case study, where we implemented monitors, event distribution, and instruments to stop communication between intellectual property (IP) blocks, we demonstrate that these races can be detected and classified as timing violations or as FIFO protocol violations.©2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Erik Larsson, Bart Vermeulen and Kees Goossens, A Distributed Architecture to Check Global Properties for Post-Silicon Debug, 2010, IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS'10), Prague, Czech Republic, May 24-28, 2010.</p

On limits of embedded systems in network packet processing

The paper deals with a measurement of single-hop one way packet delay on embedded systems used for networking. The single-hop one way packet delay is essential parameter when we need to process packets with strict delivery time constrains. Comparison of different approaches to single-hop one way packet delay measurements is presented in this work along with discussion about strong and weak points in specific measurement approach. The impact of different types of system load and number of CPU cores are also covered by presented results. The presented results of measurement single-hop one way packet delay in embedded Linux system show that for the specific system configuration the packet processing delay depends (in different ways) on system load and network stack load

Impacts of New EU and Czech Environmental Legislation on Heat and Electricity Prices of Combined Heat and Power Sources in the Czech Republic

In my economic model I calculate the impact of the new EU ETS Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive and the new air protection law on future heat and electricity prices for combined heat and power sources. I discover that there will be a significant increase in heat and electricity prices, especially because of the implementation of new so-called benchmark tools for allocating allowances. The main problem of large heat producers in this respect is loss of competitiveness on the heat market due to emerging stricter environmental legislation, which is not applied to competitors on the heat market (smaller heat sources). There is also lack of clarity about the modalities for allocating free allowances, and about the future development of the whole carbon market (the future European allowance price)

MATREX: the DCU MT system for WMT 2010

This paper describes the DCU machine translation system in the evaluation campaign of the Joint Fifth Workshop on Statistical Machine Translation and Metrics in ACL-2010. We describe the modular design of our multi-engine machine translation (MT) system with particular focus on the components used in this participation. We participated in the English–Spanish and English–Czech translation tasks, in which we employed our multiengine architecture to translate. We also participated in the system combination task which was carried out by the MBR decoder and confusion network decoder

Reduction of packet loss by optimizing the antenna system and layer 3 coding

The article describes the verification of the application of methods of network coding in the mobile wireless network environment with specific antenna system in use. Network coding principles are used for increase the reliability of data transmission. The proposed principles are demonstrated by modelling of the transmission system using data from real mobile networks. The effectiveness of network coding for deployment in wireless mobile networks is demonstrated on the basis of simulation in the simulation environment Omnet++. The input data of the simulation model are obtained by measuring in real mobile network of 2nd generation

Effects of weeds on yield and determination of economic thresholds for site-specific weed control using sensor technology

Weeds can cause high yield losses. Knowledge about the weeds occurring, their distribution within fields and their effects on the crop yield is important to achieve effective weed control. The critical period for weed control (CPWC) and the economic threshold (ET) are important key concepts and management tools in weed control. While the former helps to time weed control in crops of low competitiveness, the latter provides a decision aid to determine whether weed control is necessary. This decision is generally taken at the field level. Weeds have been found to be distributed heterogeneously within fields. Site-specific weed control (SSWC) addresses this sub-field variation by determining weed distribution as input, by taking control decisions in the decision component and by providing control measures as output at high spatial resolution. Sensor systems for automated weed recognition were identified as prerequisite for SSWC since costs for scouting are too high. While experiences with SSWC using sensor data as input are still scarce, studies showed that considerable herbicide savings could be achieved with SSWC. ETs can serve as thresholds for the decision component in SSWC systems. However, the commonly used ETs were suggested decades ago and have not been updated to changing conditions since. The same is the case for the CPWC in maize in Germany. In addition, the approaches to determine the CPWC are usually not based on economic considerations, which are highly relevant to farmers. Thus, the objectives of this thesis are: 1. To test different models and to provide a straightforward approach to integrate economical aspects in the concept of the CPWC for two weed control strategies: Herbicide based (Germany) and hoeing based (Benin); 2. To determine the effect of weeds on yield and to calculate ETs under current conditions which can be used for SSWC; 3. To evaluate the use of bi-spectral cameras and shape-based classification algorithms for weed detection in SSWC; and 4. To determine changes in weed frequencies, herbicide use and yield over the last 20 years in southwestern Germany. Datasets in maize from Germany and Benin served as input for the CPWC analyses. The log-logistic model was found to provide a similar fit as the commonly used models but its parameters are biologically meaningful. For Germany, analyses using a full cost model revealed that farmers should aim at applying herbicides early before the 4-leaf stage of maize. In Benin, where weed control is mainly done by hoeing, analyses showed that one well- timed weeding operation around the 10-leaf stage could already be cost-effective. A second weeding operation at a later stage would assure profit. The precision experimental design (PED) was employed to determine the effect of weeds, soil properties and herbicides on crop yield in three winter wheat trials. In this design, large field trials geodata of weed distribution, herbicide application, soil properties and yield are used to model the effects of the former three on yield. Galium aparine, other broadleaved weeds and Alopecurus myosuroides reduced yield by 17.5, 1.2 and 12.4 kg ha-1 plant-1 m2 determined by weed counts. The determined thresholds for SSWC with independently applied herbicides were 4, 48 and 12 plants m-2, respectively. Bi-spectral camera based weedyield estimates were difficult to interpret showing that this technology still needs to be improved. However, large weed patches were correctly identified. ETs derived of field trials data carried out at several sites over 13 years in the framework of the Gemeinschaftsversuche Baden-Württemberg were 9.2-9.8 and 4.5-8.9 % absolute weed coverage for winter wheat and winter barley and 3.7% to 5.5% relative weed coverage for maize. Overall, the weed frequencies in winter cereals were found to be more stable than the weed frequencies in maize during the observation period. In maize, a frequency increase of thermophilic species was found. Trends of considerable yield increases of 0.16, 0.08 and 0.2 t ha-1 for winter wheat, winter barely and maize, respectively, were estimated if weeds were successfully controlled. In order to evaluate the use of bi-spectral cameras and shapebased classification algorithms for weed detection in SSWC, herbicides were applied site-specifically using weed densities determined by bi-spectral camera technology in a winter wheat and maize field. Threshold values were employed for decision taking. Using this approach herbicide savings between 58 and 83 % could be achieved. Such reductions in herbicide use would meet the demand of society to minimize the release of plant protection products in the environment. Misclassification occurred if weeds overlapped with crop plants and crop leaf tips were frequently misclassified as grass weeds. Improvements in equipment, especially between the interfaces of camera, classification algorithms, decision component and sprayer are advisable for further trials. In conclusion, the derived ETs can be easily implemented in a straightforward SSWC system or can serve as decision aid for farmers in winter wheat and winter barley. Further model testing and adjusting would be necessary. For maize, the use of ETs at the field level is not suggested by this study, however the need for early weed control is clearly demonstrated. Bi-spectral camera technology combined with classification algorithms to detect weeds is promising for research use and for SSWC, but still requires some technical improvements.Unkräuter können hohe Ertragsverluste verursachen. Kenntnis über die vorkommenden Unkräuter, deren Verteilung in den Feldern und deren Wirkung auf den Ertrag sind wichtig, um eine wirksame Unkrautkontrolle zu erzielen. Die kritische Periode (KP) und Schadensschwelle (SSW) sind Schlüsselkonzepte und wichtige Kontrolmaßnahmen in der Unkrautkontrolle. Erstere hilft die Unkrautkontrolle in Kulturen mit geringer Konkurrenzkraft zu determinieren, letztere ermöglicht eine Entscheidungshilfe um zu bestimmen, ob eine Kontrollmaßnahme notwendig ist. Diese Entscheidung wird meist für das ganze Feld getroffen. Unkräuter weisen jedoch eine heterogene Verteilung im Feld auf. Die teilschlagspezifische Unkrautkontrolle (SSWC) berücksichtigt diese Variabilität innerhalb eines Feldes, in dem sie die Unkrautverteilung als Input bestimmt, in der Entscheidungskomponente entscheidet, ob eine Kontrollmaßnahme notwendig ist und diese auch mit einer hohen räumlichen Auflösung als Output ausführt. Sensoren für eine automatisierte Unkrauterkennung sind als notwendig für SSWC identifiziert worden, da die Kosten zu hoch sind, um die Unkrautverteilung von Hand zu bestimmen. Obwohl noch relativ wenig Erfahrung mit SSWC unter Verwendung von Sensordaten vorliegt, konnte in Studien nachgewiesen werden, dass beträchtliche Herbizideinsparungen mit SSWC erzielt werden können. SSWs können als Schwellenwerte innerhalb der Entscheidungskomponente eines SSWC-Systems dienen. Die zurzeit verwendeten SSWs wurden jedoch vor Jahrzehnten vorgeschlagen und seitdem nicht konsequent an die sich ändernden Bedingungen angepasst. Das Gleiche ist der Fall für die KP in Mais in Deutschland. Außerdem werden zur Bestimmung der KP normalerweise keine ökonomische Aspekte herangezogen, was jedoch sehr relevant für die Landwirte ist. Daher waren die Ziele dieser Arbeit: 1. Verschiedene Modelle zu testen und einen einfachen Ansatz zu finden, um ökonomische Aspekte in das Konzept der KP für zwei Strategien zu integrieren: Herbizid basiert (Deutschland) und basierend auf Hacken (Benin). 2. Die Unkrautwirkung auf den Ertrag zu bestimmen und SSWs unter aktuellen Bedingungen zu berechnen, die dann auch für SSWC genutzt werden können. 3. Den Einsatz von Bispektralkameras und formbasierter Klassifizierungsalgorithmen für die Unkrauterkennung in SSWC zu evaluieren. 4. Änderungen im Vorkommen von Unkräutern und Herbizideinsatz und Ertragssveränderungen in den letzten 20 Jahren in Südwestdeutschland zu untersuchen. Datensätze von Maisversuchen aus Deutschland und Benin wurden für die Auswertungen zur KP herangezogen. Das log-logistische Model wies eine vergleichbare Güte auf wie die üblicherweise benutzten Modelle, wobei das genannte Modell jedoch über biologisch interpretierbare Parameter verfügt. Für Deutschland zeigte ein Vollkostenmodell, dass die Landwirte die chemische Unkrautkontrolle zu einem sehr frühen Zeitpunkt vor dem 4- Blattstadium des Maises durchführen sollten. In Benin, wo die Unkrautkontrolle vor allem mit Hacken erfolgt, zeigten die Auswertungen, dass bereits ein Hackdurchgang um das 10- Blattstadium zu einem Gewinn führen kann und ein weiterer Durchgang diesen sichert. Der Precision Experimental Design Ansatz (PED) wurde verwendet, um den Ertragseffekt von Unkräutern, Bodeneigenschaften und Herbizidanwendung in drei Winterweizenversuchen zu bestimmen. In diesem Ansatz, werden Geodaten von grossflächigen Feldversuchen bzw., deren Unkrautverteilung, Herbizidanwendung, Bodeneigenschaften und Ertrag verwendet um den Effekt der ersteren drei auf den Ertrag zu modellieren. Galium aparine, andere breitblättrige Unkräuter und Alopecurus myosuroides reduzierten den Ertrag um 17.5, 1.2 und 12.4 kg ha-1 Pflanze-1 m2 berechnet anhand der manuell bestimmten Verunkrautung. Die Schadensschwellen für SSWC mit der Möglichkeit Herbizide unabhängig zu applizieren, waren 4, 48 und 12 Pflanzen je m2, jeweils. Schätzungen der UnkrautErtragswirkung anhand der Bispektralkameradaten waren schwierig zu beurteilen. Das zeigt, dass diese Technologie noch weiter verbessert werden muss. Jedoch wurden große Unkrautnester richtig erkannt. SSWs bestimmt anhand von Feldversuchsdaten, die an verschiedenen Standorten über einen Zeitraum von 13 Jahren innerhalb der Gemeinschaftsversuche Baden-Württemberg durchgeführt worden waren, betrugen 9.2-9.8 und 4.5-8.9% absolute Unkrautbedeckung in Winterweizen und Wintergerste sowie 3.7% bis 5.5% relative Unkrautbedeckung in Mais. Insgesamt konnte gezeigt werden, dass die beobachteten Unkrauthäufigkeiten in Wintergetreide stabiler waren als in Mais in dem beobachteten Zeitraum. In Mais, konnte eine Zunahme der Häufigkeit von thermophilen Arten festgestellt werden. Eine tendenzielle und beträchtliche Ertragszunahme von 0.16, 0.08 und 0.2 t ha-1 für Winterweizen, Wintergerste und Mais konnte ermittelt werden, wenn das Unkraut erfolgreich kontrolliert wurde. Um den Einsatz von Bispektralkameras und formbasierter Klassifizierungsalgorithmen für SSWC zu evaluieren, wurden die Unkrautdichten in einem Winterweizen und in einem Maisfeld mit dieser Technologie bestimmt und Herbizide teilschlagspezifisch appliziert. Schwellenwerte wurden für die Entscheidungsfindung verwendet. Unter Verwendung dieses Ansatzes konnten Herbizideinsparungen von 58 bis 83 % erreicht werden. Derartige Einsparungen würden auch dem gesellschaftlichen Wunsch, die Freisetzung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln in die Umwelt zu minimieren, entsprechen. Eine Fehlklassifizierung trat vor allem auf, wenn es zu Überlappungen zwischen den Unkräutern und Kulturpflanzen gab und oft wurden auch Blattspitzen der Kulturpflanze als Ungräser klassifiziert. Verbesserungen in der Ausstattung der Geräte ins besondere der Schnittstellen zwischen Bispektralkameras, Klassifizierungsalgorithmen, der Entscheidungskomponente und der Feldspritze sind empfehlenswert für weitere Versuche. Die bestimmten SSWs können einfach in ein überschaubares SSWC-System eingebaut werden oder auch als Entscheidungshilfe für Landwirte in Winterweizen und Wintergerste dienen. Jedoch sind weitere Tests und Anpassungen notwendig. Für Mais ist von der Verwendung von SSWs auf Ebene Feld abzuraten. Die Notwendigkeit einer frühen Unkrautkontrolle konnte jedoch in dieser Studie deutlich gezeigt werden. Bispektralkamera Technologie kombiniert mit formbasierten Klassifizierungsalgorithmen zur Erfassung der Verunkrautung in Feldern ist erfolgsversprechend für die Anwendung in der Forschung und für SSWC, weitere technische Verbesserungen sind jedoch notwendig

DINAMIKA RESPONS NGO TERHADAP UPAYA PENGEMBANGAN ENERGI TERBARUKAN DI REPUBLIK CEKO

This study focuses on the dynamic responses of some of environmental NGOs in Prague, the Republic of Czech related to the development of renewable energy. Their responses are varied. Some of them support the government policy on renewable energy development, but some others express their disagreement to its policy by demonstration or protest in some media. These responses show that NGOs have their own interpretations and interests about dynamic condition of renewable energy development. They are not always having the same perception with the government policy. They argue that the governments policies somehow contradict with the effort to develop renewable energy in the Republic of Czech. This study itself borrows a resistances perspective to analyze the data and information that were collected through a fild research in Prague. It concludes that the environmental NGOs responses to the effort of renewable energy development are varied based on their methods and strategies inflenced by their ideologies. Keywords: responses, environmental NGO, resistance, renewable energy, the Republic of Czec