2017. Renewable energy investment and job creation; a cross-sectoral assessment for the Czech Republic with reference to EU benchmarks. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 69 , pp.

The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement.

The application of principles of good governance in brownfield regeneration, for instance through improved transparency and participation of various groups of stakeholders, varies between regions and cities. In this article, we approach good governance as a strategic response of actors in the struggle for creating development opportunities on brownfield land. Good governance has been mostly seen as a normative consideration, but it is not clear why regions with lower development prospects would employ it more than better developed regions, as it recently happened in the Czech Republic. We assume that the public administration at the regional and municipal level plays an active role in devising strategies to attract investors for brownfield redevelopment. This process brings public administrations in interaction with each other and with investors, regulators and civil society groups within a society-wide brownfield redevelopment field. This field is an arena where all these different actors struggle for redeveloping their brownfield land. Regional and municipal administrations from developed regions stand to benefit from their higher economic growth potential and hence have a dominant position within the field. We identify the latter as the incumbents or "power-holders" of the national brownfield regeneration field. Less developed regions have lower attractiveness for brownfield redevelopment, which places them in a subordinate position in the field. They are so-called challengers that are likely to favour alternative strategies for their brownfields, going beyond mere economic attractiveness. By comparing differently developed regions and regional capitals in the Czech Republic, we show how some challengers use good governance, such as responsiveness, participation and transparency, as an alternative strategy to attract investors despite their economic predicament. For regional capitals, however, good governance is practiced both by highly developed and less developed cities. We draw evidence from interviews with key stakeholders and socioeconomic data at the regional and municipal level in the Czech Republic. In the conclusion, we show some of the identified limitations in good governance, such as obstacles to participation, responsiveness or transparency, and how they can be recognized and overcome.

Peripheral regions on the state border are among the most problematic areas of Czechia (the Czech Republic). The special case of the Javorník micro-region which is physically open to and historically anchored within Polish Lower Silesia was chosen as a study area. The question of possible substitution of a peripheral position in the national context by crossborder collaboration was posed, and it is shown that certain potential for this kind of collaboration exists, in the face of already-intensifying cross-border contacts, albeit with relations with Czech 'inland' areas remaining closer than the cross-border tendencies thus far.Keywords periphery • Czech-Polish borderland • rural development • Javorník

There is fundamental agreement about the environmental benefits of renewable energy technologies, but unintended consequences arising from their deployment are frequent sources of conflicts. The Czech Republic has committed itself to supply 13.5% of its electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2020. High state incentives for renewable energies have been provided to achieve this target, however critical questions can be asked about the appropriateness of the design of the supporting frameworks which caused a boom in photo-voltaic (PV) installations on agricultural land, as well as a boom in the installation of agricultural anaerobic digestion (AD) plants fueled by dedicated energy crops. This paper analyses the diffusion of agricultural AD plants in the Czech Republic, focusing especially on locational characteristics in relation to the quality of agricultural land, agricultural and population census data. Statistical analysis of those spatial datasets show that agricultural AD plants are mostly located in less favourable agricultural areas, in regions having recently experienced a reduction in cattle breeding, and in regions with significant increases of sowing areas of green maize. These findings suggests shortcomings in the supporting policy for AD plants in the Czech Republic, resulting in unintended environmental consequences, and missed opportunities to enhance energy self-sufficiency and resilience in the countryside.

This article deals with the issue of brownfi eld redevelopment for the needs of solar energy projects from diff erent perspectives. Attention is fi rst paid to a brief characterisation of the data and information available both for brownfi elds and for solar energy projects in the Czech Republic. Then there is description from the most important results of GIS analysis, which (based on a comparison of aerial images from diff erent years) identifi ed the previous uses at the 127 solar power plants with an output of over 1 MWp in the South Moravian Region. The results of the quantitative analyses are accompanied by knowledge from a qualitative survey conducted on selected actors participating in this kind of brownfi eld regeneration for solar energy development. The conclusion contains proposals which could contribute to the more intensive future use of brownfi elds for the needs of solar energy in the Czech Republic (a similar process to what has already successfully been realised in Germany). The research results can be inspiring not only for the Czech Republic but also for other EU-member counrties where brownfi elds have not been re-used for the needs of solar energy projects or where brownfi elds have been used in this way only marginally.

Food irradiation has been employed to ensure food safety or food sterility, extend its shelf-life and reduce the losses due to sprouting and ripening or pests. In the Czech Republic, mainly spices, mixed spices and dried vegetable are exposed to ionizing radiation. The greatest suppliers of irradiated foodstuffs in Europe are Belgium, France and the Netherlands. In the USA, food irradiation is more common and there are also attempts to enforce irradiation not only for food safety, but also for technological purposes. Even though irradiation is a prospective technology, its application causes physical-chemical and biochemical changes that may affect nutritional adequacy and sensory characteristics of irradiated food. In this paper, the chemical changes of basic food components (proteins, saccharides, fats) are reviewed. The chemical changes result in radiolytic products whose risks are still subject of scientific research. It is expected that the main use of gamma irradiation will be treatment of diets for patients suffering from different disorders of the immune system, allergic patients or for the army and space flights. In the production of raw or heat non-processed foodstuffs, irradiation may be a critical control point (CCP).

BACKGROUND: Determination of egg yolk colourity and colour was carried out by means of a new photocolorimetric methodology based on the CIELAB system. Measurements (after gloss elimination) were performed using a Color Guide Sphere Spex photocolorimeter. For comparison, a standard method according to the Yolk Colour Fan  (Roche) was used.