Ethnobotanical survey was conducted in 101 randomly selected home gardens of Phong My commune, central Vietnam, situated in the bufferzone of Natural Reserve. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires and direct observation. Sixty-seven species belonging to 35 families were identified to be used for various purposes. For each species the botanical and vernacular names, plant parts used and main purposes of use are given. The major use categories reported for plant species were food (86%), medicine (32%) and firewood (32%), however, seventy-seven percent of all inventoried plants have multiple uses. The species Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., Citrus grandis Osbeck, Citrus reticulata Blanco, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. and Musa spp. were identified as the main sources of plant foods consumed within the households. Statistical analyses indicated by Shannon-Wiener and Margalef indices have shown that local species diversity and richness is affected by home garden size. On the contrary, no relationship between diversity and home garden age was found. On the basis of a cluster analysis of plant species diversity, five home garden types were differentiated. In comparison to previously reported studies on tropical home gardens, the diversity in Phong My is lower, probably due to market-oriented strategy. Nevertheless, based on the results achieved, we can conclude that useful plants cultivated in local home gardens provide valuable foods complementing daily diet and subsequently contributing to socioeconomic status of the households.

This paper tackles the economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the labor markets and human capital. Specifically, it looks into the issues the pandemic brought upon the human resources and personnel during coronavirus lockdowns. Our results identify that in spite of all the adverse effects of the pandemic such as the excessive burden on the healthcare system, great economic losses and disruptions on the labor market (such as the loss of human capital and widening gaps in gender inequality) due to the lockdowns in many countries intended to slow down the spread of the infection with the purpose of flattening the curve representing the numbers of the COVID-19 patients, the current situation had many positive economic effects. For instance, we find that the recent pandemic helped to increase the financial inclusion and enabled broader access to financial system. In addition, during the past few months, digitalization and the use of information technology deepened and progressed in both large and small enterprises as well as in the higher education institutions. Moreover, COVID-19 pandemic helped to develop the awareness about the climate change among many people by demonstrating how the decrease in economic activity can have a profound effect on cutting CO2 emissions. Furthermore, we find that COVID-19 pandemic contributed to optimizing work load and cutting unnecessary work in many large and small business companies and public institutions. It is likely that most of them will continue with this optimization and digitalization of work after the pandemic is over. Last but not least, we note the enhanced family life and interpersonal relations that would without any doubt contribute to the quality of human capital and the level of happiness. Our results might be useful for public officials and labor market specialists who would want to grasp the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to find ways how to smoothen its impacts.

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This paper focuses on the strategies that employ the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks in the optimal management of demand-side response in the future energy systems with the high penetration of renewable energy sources (RES). It also provides a comparison between advantages and challenges of 5G networks in demand-response renewable energy grids. Large-scale renewable energy integration always leads to a mismatch between generation and load demand in the short run due to the intermittency. It is often envisioned that 5G wireless networks that were recently launched and would most likely be fully deployed worldwide by 2035 would bring many technological and economic benefits for a plethora of the future high-renewables grids featuring electric transport and heating as well as prosumers generating renewable energy and trading it back to the grid (for example, in the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) framework) and among themselves using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Our paper offers a comprehensive analysis of 5G architecture with the perspectives of optimal management of demand-side response in the smart grids of the future. We show that the effective deployment of faster and more reliable wireless networks would allow faster data transfers and processing, including peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trade market, Internet of Vehicles (IoV) market, or faster smart metering, and thence open the path for the full-fledged Internet of Energy (IoE). Moreover, we show that 5G wireless networks might become in the future sustainable energy systems paving the road to even more advanced technologies and the new generations of networks. In addition, we demonstrate that for the effective management of energy demand-side response with a high share of renewables, certain forms of governments funding and incentives might be needed. These are required to strengthen the support of RES and helping to shift to the green economy.

The purpose of this study is to express changes in consumer preferences for certain food products due to the income growth of the population, and to specify the way producers or retailers of these commodities respond to the changes in customer choices. The methodology of this study is based on comparing the economic model of consumer behavior in the market to the analysis of demand elasticity, together with its practical application to food products of the same brand offered by multinational chains in Czechia and Germany. The study presents a new survey, including a comparison of the quality and safety of food products offered by retail chains in Czechia and Germany, and a comparison with similar bio-quality products offered by Czech farmers in their shops or at farmers’ markets. As the comparison indicates, unless multinational producers change their current behavior, consumers will prefer purchasing products from Czech producers, including products offered at farmers’ markets, and shop in neighboring countries where higher-quality original products may be found.

The present paper is focused on the issues of private labels, their establishment, perception and preference by selected groups of respondents, namely consumers under the age of 25 and also inhabitants of selected V4 countries (Slovakia, Hungary and Czech Republic). An anonymous questionnaire survey was chosen as the main research method. A total of 3038 respondents aged under 25 participated—1064 respondents were from Slovakia, 973 from Hungary and 1001 from Czech Republic. This research method was subsequently supplemented with selected statistical methods evaluated in the XL Stat statistical program, SAS Enterprise Guide 7.1 and SAS 9.4, where hypotheses were examined by Pearson’s Chi-Square Test, Mantel–Haenszel Chi-square test, Cramer’s V contingency coefficient, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Friedman’s test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Correspondence analysis and Phi Coefficient. The results of the survey can be perceived more than positively as most of the respondents declared that they knew the concept of private labels; more than 80% of respondents buy them either regularly or sporadically; just over 32% of respondents explicitly prefer them in their purchases and in terms of the perception of the quality, almost 75% of respondents think the quality of private label products is comparable to that of traditional brands.

As our research has shown, the number of foreign tourists visiting Czechia rose in the period between 2012 and 2017, as did hotel occupancy and accommodation prices. The growth of the local economy, the new airlines from Asia and the USA to Prague, and the perception of the Czech metropolis as a safe destination, played a big part in it. Compared to other accommodation facilities, the number of 5- and 4-star hotels is still growing in Czechia, thus better meeting the needs of demanding tourists. According to experience and statistical data, these are non-European tourists and tourists with above-average income. The growth in the number of these tourists had a strong influence on the increase in the number of hotels and the increase in the capacity of the highest-category hotels. Building new, quality hotels, and renovating historical buildings to a higher standard to provide an outstanding experience for foreign tourists staying in Czechia, can contribute to achieving the sustainability of the tourism sector in the country. Also mentioned is the current impact of the coronavirus pandemic on tourism in Czechia. A statistical analysis of time series of indicators and hypothesis testing were the main methods used in the study.

Local governments in the Slovak Republic are important in public administration and form an important part of the public sector, as they provide various public services. Until 1990, all public services were provided only by the state. The reform of public administration began in 1990 with the decentralization of competencies. Several competencies were transferred to local governments from the state, and thus municipalities began to provide public services that the state previously provided. Registry offices were the first to be acquired by local governments from the state. This study aimed to characterize the transfer of competencies and their financing from state administration to local government using the example of registry offices in the Slovak Republic. In the paper, we evaluated the financing of this competency from 2007 to 2018 at the level of individual regions of the Slovak Republic. The results of the analysis and testing of hypotheses indicated that a higher number of inhabitants in individual regions did not affect the number of actions at these offices, despite the fact that the main role of the registry office is to keep registry books, in which events, such as births, weddings, and deaths, are registered.