Inflation Targeting as a Stabilization Tool: Its Design and Performance in the Czech Republic

The article focuses on the development and performance of inflation targeting in the Czech Republic. It is shown that the particulars of the Czech inflation-targeting regime developed from a rather specific setting toward a framework based on international best practices. Its performance is evaluated using three methods. The results suggest that even though inflation targets have been missed more often than met, the practice of inflation targeting has significantly contributed to the stabilization of the Czech economy.inflation targeting; measuring performance of monetary policy

Labor-Market Performance and Macroeconomic Policy: Time-Varying NAIRU in the Czech Republic (in English)

During the second half of the 1990s, the Czech economy experienced a sharp increase in the unemployment rate. The authors attempt to determine whether this was caused by structural changes, worsening labor-market performance, or by the changing business-cycle position. This has direct implications for both monetary and fiscal policy. The authors use NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment) estimates using time-varying NAIRU. The estimates indicate that the NAIRU increased between 1996 and 2002 by approximately 1.5 percent. Estimated increases in the NAIRU can be associated with the worsening of labor-market efficiency.forward-looking expectations, maximum-likelihood methods, non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment, time-varying NAIRU

Is the CNB Predictable?

This paper asks to what extent were the last one hundred policy decisions taken by the Czech National Bank (CNB) considered predictable by the market. The results are threefold. First, CNB policy decisions can be considered as predictable on average. Second, policy predictability followed no clear trend. Third, the analysis shows that it was more difficult for the market to predict policy outcomes regarding CNB Board meetings where interest rate were changed compared with meetings where repo rate were not changed.monetary policy, determination of interest rates, term structure of interest rates

FRACTURE OF A COMPRESSOR CONNECTING SHAFT

katedra: KMT; přílohy: 2 CD ROM; rozsah: 53 s. (59 733 znaků)This bachelor thesis deals with issues of failure analysis. The theoretical part deals with the literary research of current knowledge in the field of fractography, including the theoretical basis of crack propagation in terms of fracture mechanics. The experimental section deals with the application of this knowledge to identify the source and description of a specific shaft fracture.Tato bakalářská práce řeší problematiku analýzy poruch. Teoretická část se věnuje literárnímu průzkumu současných poznatků v oblasti fraktografie, včetně teoretického základu šíření trhliny z pohledu lomové mechaniky. Experimentální část se pak zabývá aplikací získaných poznatků při zjišťování příčiny porušení a popisu mechanismu lomu konkrétního hřídele

Influence of Gas Temperature on Gaseous Products Generated by Coplanar Barrier Discharge in Air and N2/O2 Mixtures

Absolute densities of gaseous products generated by coplanar dielectric barrier discharge in N2/O2 mixtures and in ambient air were determined by UV optical absorption spectroscopy (OAS). Ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (N2O, NO2 and N2O5) were identified as the stable products of the discharge. It was found that the actual product composition strongly depends on the gas temperature. At low input power with the low gas temperature, O3 density was high and the NO2 density was very low. When the input power increased and the gas temperature also increased, then O3 disappeared, while NO2 density started to increase steeply

5G Radio Access Networks Enabling Efficient Point-to-Multipoint Transmissions

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] The first release of 5th Generation (5G) technology from 3rd Generation Project Partnership (3GPP) Rel'15 has been completed in December 2018. An open issue with this release of standards is that it only supports unicast communications in the core network and Point-To-Point (PTP) transmissions in the Radio Access Network (RAN), and does not support multicast/broadcast communications and Point-To-Multipoint (PTM) transmissions, which are 3GPP system requirements for 5G applications in a number of vertical sectors, such as Automotive, Airborne Communications, Internet-of-Things, Media & Entertainment, and Public Warning & Safety systems. In this article, we present novel mechanisms for enhancing the 5G unicast architecture with minimal footprint, to enable efficient PTM transmissions in the RAN, and to support multicast communications in the Rel'15 core as an in-built delivery optimization feature of the system. This approach will enable completely new levels of network management and delivery cost-efficiency.This work was supported in part by the European Commission under the 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership project "5G-Xcast: Broadcast and Multicast Communication Enablers for the Fifth Generation of Wireless Systems" (H2020-ICT-2016-2 call, grant 761498). The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the project.Säily, M.; Barjau, C.; Navrátil, D.; Prasad, A.; Gomez-Barquero, D.; Tesema, FB. (2019). 5G Radio Access Networks Enabling Efficient Point-to-Multipoint Transmissions. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine. 14(4):29-37. https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2019.2936657S293714

Internal tree cycling and atmospheric archiving of mercury: examination with concentration and stable isotope analyses

Trees predominantly take up mercury (Hg) from the atmosphere via stomatal assimilation of gaseous elemental Hg (GEM). Hg is oxidised in leaves/needles and transported to other tree anatomy including bole wood where it can be stored long-term. Using Hg associated with growth rings facilitates archiving of historical GEM concentrations. Nonetheless, there are significant knowledge gaps on the cycling of Hg within trees. We investigate Hg archived in tree rings, internal tree Hg cycling, and differences in Hg uptake mechanisms in Norway spruce and European larch sampled within 1 km of a HgCl2 contaminated site using total Hg (THg) and Hg stable isotope analyses. Tree ring samples are indicative of significant increases in THg concentrations (up to 521&micro;g&middot;kg-1) from background period (BGP; facility closed; 1992&mdash;present) to secondary industrial period (2ndIP; no HgCl2 wood treatment; 1962&ndash;1992) to primary industrial period (1stIP; active HgCl2 wood treatment; &asymp;1900&ndash;1962). Mass dependent fractionation (MDF) Hg stable isotope data are shifted negative during industrial periods (&delta;202Hg: 1stIP: 4.32&plusmn;0.15 &permil;; 2ndIP: 4.04&plusmn;0.32 &permil;; BGP: 2.83&plusmn;0.74 &permil;; 1SD). Even accounting for a &asymp; 2.6 &permil; MDF shift associated with stomatal uptake, these data are indicative of emissions derived from industrial activity being enriched in lighter isotopes associated with HgCl2 reduction and Hg0 volatilisation. Similar MDF (&delta;202Hg: 3.90&plusmn;0.30 &permil;; 1SD) in bark Hg (137&plusmn;105&micro;g&middot;kg-1) suggests that stomatal assimilation and downward transport is also the dominant uptake mechanism for bark Hg (reflective of negative stomatal uptake MDF shift) rather than deposition to bark. THg was enriched in sapwood of all sampled trees across both tree species. This may indicate long-term storage of a fraction of Hg in sapwood or xylem solution. These data advance our understanding of the physiological processing of Hg within trees and provide critical direction to future research into the use of trees as archives for historical atmospheric Hg.</p

The high density polyethylene composite with recycled radiation cross-linked filler of rHDPEx

This article discusses the possibilities of using radiation cross-linked high density polyethylene (HDPEx) acting as a filler in the original high density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix. The newly created composite is one of the possible answers to questions relating to the processing of radiation cross-linked thermoplastics. Radiation cross-linked networking is-nowadays, a commonly used technology that can significantly modify the properties of many types of thermoplastics. This paper describes the influence of the concentration of filler, in the form of grit or powder obtained by the grinding/milling of products/industrial waste from radiation cross-linked high density polyethylene (rHDPEx) on the mechanical and processing properties and the composite structure. It was determined that, by varying the concentration of the filler, it is possible to influence the mechanical behaviour of the composite. The mechanical properties of the new composite-measured at room temperature, are generally comparable or better than the same properties of the original thermoplastic. This creates very good assumptions for the effective and economically acceptable, processing of high density polyethylene (rHDPEx) waste. Its processability however, is limited; it can be processed by injection moulding up to 60 wt %. © 2018 by the authors.European Regional Development Fund under the project CEBIA-Tech Instrumentation [CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0376]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the National Sustainability Programme [LO1303 (MSMT-7778/2014)

Use of irradiated polymers after their lifetime period

This article deals with the study of the utilisation of irradiated HDPE products after their end-of-life cycle. Today, polymer waste processing is a matter of evermore intensive discussion. Common thermoplastic waste recycling-especially in the case of wastes with a defined composition-is generally well-known-and frequently used. On the contrary, processing cross-linked plastics is impossible to do in the same way as with virgin thermoplastics-mainly due to the impossibility of remelting them. The possibility of using waste in the form of grit or a powder, made from cross-linked High Density PolyEthylene (rHDPEx) products, after their end-of-life cycle, as a filler for virgin Low Density PolyEthylene (LDPE) was tested in a matrix. It was found that both the mechanical behaviour and processability of new composites with an LDPE matrix, with rHDPEx as a filler, depend-to a high degree-on the amount of the filler. The composite can be processed up to 60% of the filler content. The Polymer Mixture Fluidity dropped significantly, in line with the amount of filler, while the mechanical properties, on the other hand, predominantly grew with the increasing amount of rHDPEx. © 2018 by the authors.Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade in Program "Aplikace" [CZ 01.1.02/0.0/0.0/16_084/0009949]; European Regional Development Fund under the project CEBIA-Tech Instrumentation [CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0376]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the National Sustainability Programme project [LO1303 (MSMT-7778/2014)