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A short introduction of historical overview and current situation refer to forestry problems of the country. Local climate is characterized and impacts of natural phenomena are described, as well as the impacts of human beings. The influence of forest management is mentioned and discussed in relation to latest catastrophic floods. The territory of the Czech Republic is damaged especially by a high intensity of atmospheric precipitation abnormal values which lead to a local or regional damage. In the catchment areas of torrents, damage leads to faster soil erosion, development of ravines, landslides, moving of soil sediments and their deposition, devastation of watercourse beds and properties, flooding while the flooding rates of flow represent a danger for the life of inhabitants. Important elements and results of respective research are described in brief. E.g. research of precipitation and its relation to the runoffs in the small mountain catchment areas with the forest stands restoration, as well as the forestry-hydrologic monitoring of forest environment, which has been taking place since 1928, and tradition of the service for torrent control. Forestry-hydrologic research gradually documents that a favorable flood-control performance of forest is limited. However, this is not a reason for not taking care of flood-control measures in the mountain afforested areas. These measures and importance of forest for the protection of land are historically verified and justified. In closing the mankind behavior to the landscape is underlined as a question mark.

Despite the significant decrease of unemployment in Slovak Republic during the year 2003, the problem of high unemployment is still very relevant. In the previous period, various measures of active labour policy have been applied, and their efficiency was approved or disproved only by their realisation. In order to achieve the highest possible efficiency of the spent financial means, it is desirable that every prepared measure is assessed from different aspects by specialists, independent experts as well as by subjects that are to participate in the particular measure. This contribution represents ex ante evaluation analysis. Its objective is to assess the newly proposed measure in the field of active labour policy. The proposal of the measure was elaborated by Dr. Stanislav Buchta, CSc. and was published in the scientific contribution "Possible solutions of unemployment of workers in agriculture and construction industry" in Agricultural Economics 7/2003.The evaluation ex ante analysis was realised as a part of the bilateral project MATRA "System of regular monitoring, analysis and evaluation of employment policy", which was carried out in 2001-2003 in partnership with the National Labour Office and the Socio-economic Research Institute at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The analysis has focused on several groups of assessment perspectives such as problems of analysis, the participation of employers and employees in the proposed system of "maintaining wage", implementation aspects, comparison of proposed measure with the measures already realised, submission of alternative solution and evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the measure.

This article deals with the issue of Slovakia's competitiveness vis-ŕ-vis the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Austria and France in terms of basic variable costs invested into seeds (planting stocks), fertilisers and chemical protective in the period from 2001 to 2003. In addition to these costs, the article also compares total revenues, profit, effect of inputs into production and the variable costs profit margin. This comparative analysis uses data published for 2002. While the data for years 2001 and 2003 for Slovakia and the Czech Republic are actual, those for other countries have been simulated. The basic variable costs per tonne of the produced crop (average figure for 2001 and 2003) in Slovakia are lower, i.e. it is competitive in the production of cereals, sunflower and sugar beet vis-ŕ-vis the observed EU-15 countries, barley, sunflower and sugar beet vis-ŕ-vis the Czech Republic, wheat and barley vis-ŕ-vis Poland and barley vis-ŕ-vis Hungary.

The influence of the date of cutting collection and cutting position in the crown on rooting quality was evaluated in cuttings taken from seven-year ortets. The evaluation of various dates of cutting collection in spring demonstrated a possibility of successful propagation by cuttings during a relatively long period from full bud dormancy to flushing onset. The relationship between the development of aboveground parts (flushing, shoot and bud formation) and rooting quality was not established. The exposure of cuttings in the crown of parent tree with respect to the cardinal points did not influence rooting percentage and quality. A somewhat higher rooting ability was observed in cuttings from lower parts of the crown in comparison with cuttings taken from the highest whorls. Differences were more perceivable in generally weak-rooting clones. The comparison of rooting quality in cuttings from seven- and eight-year mother plantations with cuttings from a sixteen-year mother plantation confirmed that not only the rooting of cuttings collected from older mother plantations is weaker but also their growth is slower and their plagiotropic growth continues for a longer time.

In the Czech Republic the increased utilization of the biofuels, especially for diesel engines, has been registered in the last ten years. The rape-seed oil based fuels - called biodiesel, is the most extended. The use of rape-seed oil brings a good ecological and agronomic aspect, e.g. positive energetic and CO₂ balance, biological decomposition, etc. A special attention should be paid for the emissions. The paper presents the practical results of the performance with the commercially available biodiesel and their mixtures with different quantity of fermented ethanol. The testing was realized with an unmodified AVIA 712.18 truck engine and an unmodified ZETOR 7701 tractor engine according to thirteen-points homologation test method EHK R49 (ČSN EN ISO 8178-4). Biodiesel NATURDIESEL, according to the Czech Standard ČSN 65 6508, served as a basis for fuel blends and such a comparison fuel. Based on the experiment, it can be said, that the most suitable fuel blend is biodiesel + 2% addition of fermented bioethanol according to following points. This addition significantly reduces the NO_x emissions. At the AVIA engine the reduction is about 54% in comparison with non-additived fuel. With the Zetor engine, it is decreased 88% of its primary value. Even in cause of smokiness, the situation is similar favourable. The power output parameters are almost constant. No significant increase of fuel consumption has been observed. However, there is higher share of unburned hydrocarbons in dependence on increased alcohol content. In this case, the lower concentration of alcohol in fuel blend is advantageous, which is in accordance to the biodiesel with 2% addition of alcohol. Higher share of ethanol is not interesting from the point of view of fuel requirement and even from the economic point of view, because the price of these fuel blends increases, due to the co-solvent addition.

The paper tackles the issue of regional and social development. From a sociological point of view, it focuses on the phenomenon of complementary currency systems. The analysis shows that money, as a social institution, has got certain features, which have an impact on economic behavior of people. Establishing a currency on the local level, which would circulate as a complement of the national currency, brings certain social benefits to local society. Nowadays, there are many complementary currency systems all over the world, including Europe. The paper attempts to answer the question, how they can contribute to the local development.

Social functions of forests were evaluated at Židlochovice Forest Enterprise by applying the method of Vyskot et al. (1996-2002). Real potentials of social forest functions were determined for all stand groups included in a forest management plan (FMP). The results of evaluation were processed in a database and projected in GIS. Tables and charts were used for the evaluation of results. We can claim on the basis of the results that the forest stands of the examined area are characterized by a very high potential to fulfil a bio-production social function. On the contrary, they have a low potential to fulfil social functions of ecological stabilization and edaphic soil conservation and hydric-hydrological function. The results of evaluation of the real potentials of social forest functions at Židlochovice Forest Enterprise are represented by the forest stands of management group No. 19 of forest management plan area Židlochovice.

Security of an information system is its very important property, especially today, when computers are interconnected via internet. Because no system can be absolutely secure, the timely and accurate detection of intrusions is necessary. For this purpose, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) were designed. There are two basic models of IDS: misuse IDS and anomaly IDS. Misuse systems detect intrusions by looking for activity that corresponds to the known signatures of intrusions or vulnerabilities. Anomaly systems detect intrusions by searching for an abnormal system activity. Most IDS commercial tools are misuse systems with rule-based expert system structure. However, these techniques are less successful when attack characteristics vary from built-in signatures. Artificial neural networks offer the potential to resolve these problems. As far as anomaly systems are concerned, it is very difficult to build them, because it is difficult to define the normal and abnormal behaviour of a system. Also for building anomaly system, neural networks can be used, because they can learn to discriminate the normal and abnormal behaviour of a system from examples. Therefore, they offer a promising technique for building anomaly systems. This paper presents an overview of the applicability of neural networks in building intrusion systems and discusses advantages and drawbacks of neural network technology.

This article sets out to analyze the value added generation in the Slovak agrarian sector at the time of the accession to the EU compared to which we are severely lagging behind in the overall generation of gross value added. A more detailed analysis of the value added generation over the recent years in a group of agricultural enterprises being legal entities indicates that the enterprise efficiency expressed in terms of value added generation is markedly differentiated depending on the natural conditions of the locations where individual businesses operate. Great differences in the added value between enterprises can also be found in the group of enterprises having the same natural conditions. The reason for this is a differentiation in the degree to which intensification inputs are utilized due to high prices, lack of financial resources, inefficient combination of inputs used and insufficient recognition of the importance of the value added by managers, particularly in planning of production structures and production finalization grade.

Power saws require a relatively large amount of oil for their operation the reason being idle lubrication of the cutting chain. Oil leakages in the environment can result in soil and water contamination and are known to impact both flora and fauna. Many countries in Europe struggle to minimize the damage by imposing the use of biologically degradable oils for these purposes. The work presents an assessment of these biologically degradable oils from the viewpoint of their possible occurrence in environment and from the viewpoint of their technical characteristics which affect reliability and economy of working with power saws. Oil dispersion is evaluated especially from the viewpoint of the concentration of its occurrence on the soil surface after cutting with the power saw. Technical properties evaluated include heat-oxidation stability and pumping properties of oils at low temperatures. There are original methods of measurement developed for these purposes, which facilitate high repeatability of results. The effort aims at oils with core technical parameters at least comparable with mineral oils used so far, which would represent a lesser burden on natural environment.

Using the research technique of document study, the paper analyses printed mass media with national coverage (from the national daily newspapers to specialised journals) during the period of the beginning 2002 - October 2003. The task of the paper is to outline the experiences with the SAPARD Programme as they are recorded in mass media and found among stakeholders (i.e. farmers and the representatives of rural municipalities or rural businesses). The text prolongs the previous investigation among Czech SAPARD shareholders and compares the findings. The SAPARD Programme showed that they are the rural stakeholders who are well prepared to act in the institutionalised frames of the EU structural policy. As a necessary condition of stakeholders for the success in getting the EU funds, there are the visions, enthusiasm and appropriate objects for the the intended project. The issues which have to be developed (and therefore they are the challenge for the future) are achieving better co-ordination of activities, quality and good system of information, dissemination of gathered experiences and simplification of administration.

The accession to the European Union has brought a number of issues that the new member states have to deal with, namely to use the rules and procedures applicable in the EU. These include the transition from the enterprise towards the product-oriented economy in the agricultural production enterprises. The article describes the aspects of methodology regarding this issue within the framework of the Slovak agriculture. The article emphasizes that the product economics allows to define three levels of profit, namely: market, product and enterprise profit. This issue will be illustrated on the example of a Slovak agricultural enterprise, in terms of its planned calculated generation of profit.

The cost modelling for growing and harvest of selected energy crops and further costs for recommended forms of energy crops processing to biofuels was conducted. Importance and effect of subsidies on resulted costs for biofuels production was assessed. The result are then total costs per unit of fuel weight which range from 469 to 1,806 CZK/t for biofuels processed to form of chopped material or pressed bales and from 881 to 2,466 CZK/t for briquettes and pellets. The result costs per energy unit in biofuel have ranged from 59 to 121 CZK/GJ. On basis of economical data is evaluated the biofuels competitive power in comparison with main competitive fuels on market. The energy crops specific costs without subsidies are higher thus their position on market will be complicated, lower specific costs can be expected only when residual biomass would be utilised (grain straw). The competitive power of the energy crops will be much better as the subsidies are utilised in 2004 and total specific costs for chopped material are from 82 to 142% of brown coal price, 95-137% for briquettes in comparison with the brown coal briquettes. The energy utilisation if winter wheat and sorghum is economically unsuitable.

This article presents holistic concepts of companies' assessments intended for two basic groups of users: internal and external. Companies' assessments concentrated only on financial perspective are very single-track and already obsolete and therefore, further perspectives are used to complete companies' assessments. Among concepts intended for internal assessments, the so-called balanced scorecard approach has developed since late nineties. This concept helps in company's strategic management. Moreover, there is a concept of EFQM Excellence model introduced at the beginning of nineties for assessing applications for the European Quality Award, but has become widely used for company assessment and management. The third mentioned concept is intended for credit risk assessment is credit rating. The development of methodology of the holistic assessment of Czech farm businesses may be a good tool for different external and internal users.

Nowadays, many enterprises face the problem of implementing their enterprise information system in order to keep pace with their competition. It holds generally for all types of enterprises, as e.g. manufacturing, agricultural, trading, financial, transportation, educational, etc. This paper deals with the basic rules for building an information system of the enterprise, particularly of medium or large ones. The attention is focussed at the problems each enterprise must address before starting an IS project. These are mainly the enterprise information policy planning, project feasibility and forms of its management.

The main aims of this study are to describe how much the economic role of agriculture decreased, and this decrease comes mainly from some economic difficulties, for example weak income position of producers based on weak capital accumulation. So agricultural producers need financial supports to improve their production and favourable credit conditions. In 1990s during the last decade, the role of agriculture in the national economy decreased, which contributed to its decreasing share in GDP and real value of agricultural GDP. In 2001, in spite of the fact that the plant production considerably increased and the animal husbandry stagnated, the whole agricultural production volume was by 20 percent under its level of 1989. Finally by the end of 2001, the share of agriculture declined to 4 percent of GDP and together with food industry, their share was about 7 percent. The agricultural scissors increased considerably, namely from 126.5 percent in 1992 to 138.4 percent in 2001.The income conditions made a significant influence on the capacity of the agricultural sector in fields of investments and accumulation. The main problem was the decline of real value of investments. For example the real value of investments in 2001 had not implemented half of investments realised in 1989. This situation showed the low level of technological and technical development in the agricultural sector during a longer period, than a decade. It was important to increase different kinds of supports for agricultural producers, for example: export subsidies, interests of credits, supports for establishing new farmland structure. The share of supports for agricultural production and food industry was 12-14 percent of the two sectors' GDP in 1990s. The development of the main factors of agricultural incomes was determined by index calculations based on the data of the APEH (Hungarian Tax and Financial Supervising Office) and EAA (Economic Accounts for Agriculture). The supports are needed, which are as follows: based on the APEH data, the profit before tax of 23 billion HUF in 1997 decreased to the loss-level of 8 billion HUF by the end of 1990s. The main aim for agricultural producers was to increase their capital accumulation to implement improvement of production in order to be competitive on the world and domestic markets. There is a difficulty that at the end of 1990s, only about 30 percent of the supports was directly provided for agricultural producers. In Hungary, without taxes and other different deprivals, the current value of production supports was over the level of incomes obtained in agricultural sector, but according to the calculation methods of the OECD, the value of PSE (PSE= Producer Support Estimate) index was at a very low level and it had a decreasing tendency, which could not ensure enough income for agricultural producers in Hungary. So the development of agricultural production cannot be realised additionally to the unfavourable background conditions for the sector. Comparing the support structure experienced in the OECD with that in Hungary, it can be declared, that within the PSE (Producer Support Estimate) during 1997-2000, the MPS (Market Price Support) declined, similarly it was in Hungary. In the OECD, the 8-9 percent share of payments based on input use has remained at s

The article is devoted to problems of forestry financing in the Czech Republic in the period of transition to market economy (1991-1999). The policy of forestry financing is aimed above all at the provision and improvement of quality of sustainable non-market forest goods and services. Thirty programmes and 46 sub-programmes were analysed in the CR in 1991-1999. The level of financial support ranged from 909.4 mil. CZK to 1,501.7 CZK with the exception of 2,540.1 mil. CZK in 1991 (all in stable 1999 prices). On average, the support amounted to about 10% of the GDP created by the forestry sector in the given period.

The objective of the article is to describe the possibilities of the rural development in the Bratislava region. The rural region is represented by 71 municipalities in districts Malacky, Pezinok, Senec and by parts of the city Bratislava - Záhorská Bystrica, Vajnory, Jarovce, Rusovce and Čunovo. The analyses of the rural region are the segments of the Single Programming Document (SPD) for the 2004-2006. It aims to support the areas with the main economic and social problems according the Goal 2. The article deals with the development possibilities in industry, market services, tourism and agriculture. The branch structure, main economic parameters of effectiveness and production, employment, wages are analysed in period 1999-2002. The article contains also the results of SWOT analysis and the short-term activities to supporting rural development.

The article analyses situation on the labour market in 1999-2003, with particular focus on the agricultural population, and explains the pressure that forces agricultural employers to reduce their full-time staff and rely more on the seasonal and short-term employment arrangements. In the recent past, the segment of rotating workers (who take up short-term seasonal jobs between periods of unemployment), has taken on quite a significant dimension. The article also analyses territorial aggregations with high incidence of agricultural unemployment. It points at the regular, seasonal and increased layouts of agricultural workers who end up in the register of unemployed. It identifies the social risk connected with the seasonal type of work arrangements in agriculture from the viewpoint of the labour and social protection and increased social marginalisation of this social group.

This paper gives an overview of Czech forestry policy and legislation since the beginning of changes in the CEEC plus developments and activities of the main forestry institutions. These activities are referred to in the background material given for the political transition period and also related to the Pan-European and global forestry processes. The philosophy of forestry in the Czech Republic is based on the international framework set out by the first Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe and also in conjunction with the preparation of the Czech Republic for accession to the European Union. National and regional forest programmes are aimed at implementing the principles of sustainable forest management and a broad range of stakeholders from the forestry and environment sectors has been involved in its preparation. The current situation and main problems of forestry are given along with basic principles on how to solve such problems and also on how to fulfil obligations to future generations, and international commitments.

The contribution deals with the analysis of methodological approaches to the general evaluation of enterprise results. It is concerned mainly about the methodology of evaluation of financial health of enterprises in the frame of the program SAPARD and further about the possible outline of methodology in the frame of the Sector Operational Plan for agriculture and the Payment Agency. This contribution was prepared in frame of solution of the Institutional Research Intention MSM 411100013.

In the year before the accession to the European Union, the Slovak agricultural sector reported a loss of SKK 2.4 billion and following a profitable year, the earnings were reduced by SKK 2.8 billion. The situation was caused by a number of reasons, namely reduced sales of agricultural products, damage resulting from adverse weather effects (cold weather, hail, drought and swine fever), as well as widening of the price gap compared to the year before (increasing input prices in agriculture and decreasing purchase prices of agricultural products, especially in livestock production). Legal entities and natural persons experienced mixed business success. While 51% of legal entities made profit, the figure rose to 76% in the group of natural persons. Both the agricultural cooperatives and trading companies performed with a loss. The loss per hectare of agricultural land (a.l.) was substantially lower in the case of business companies. Natural persons - private farmers were profitable over the period. The gap between the profitable and loss-making enterprises has widened. Some 60% of profitable enterprises owned by legal entities made only a small profit below SKK 0.5 million. The loss-making performance was typical for more productive areas of Slovakia. This was related to stronger effects of adverse climate in 2003.

The paper proposes a method of assessing the potential risks of the future development of stands in relation to a climatic change. To assess risks of the future development of a stand simple point scales have been worked up based on primary properties of a site and a stand according to data of the forest management plan (FMP). In assessing the health condition, the risk of damage to stands by Armillaria sp. in the felling age was evaluated on the basis of a present attack by Armillaria sp. and also defoliation of the crown primary structure assessed during a simple field examination. The evaluation was carried out in the region of the Křtiny Training Forest Enterprise (TFE) Masarykův les, ranger district Proklest, in 2002. The study was conducted in 118 Norway spruce stands aged more than 20 years. The majority of evaluated stands ranked among the category of high and medium risk from the viewpoint of site and stand risks and among the category of high Armillaria sp. attack.

Sick carps, affected by acute or chronic forms of erythrodermatitis (CE) were studied. The studies were aimed at obtaining pathophysiological data which would permit evaluation of clinical status and prognosis in carps of various age (23 or 28 months). This was approached by estimation of the number of carps and of dynamics of changes in nonspecific humoral and cell mediated resistance and in levels of selected serum proteins. The ingesting index of neutrophilic granulocytes and percent of neutrophilic granulocytes capable of ingesting proved significantly higher in sick carps as compared to the healthy carps, at every age of carps and form of the disease. Metabolic activity of neutrophilic granulocytes, expressed in the percentage of NBT+ cells was the same in carps with the acute CE form and in the control fish. On the other hand, in carps suffering from the chronic form of the disease a significant decrease in the number of cells was disclosed. NBT index and the amount of formazan in fishes with acute CE form demonstrated a decrease as compared to the corresponding values in control carps. Carps with the chronic CE form showed increases in the indices. The level of lysozyme (LZM) was higher in 23 or 28 months old carps with the acute CE form than in healthy fishes. In carps affected by the chronic CE form no significant differences in LZM levels were disclosed as compared to the healthy carps. MPO activity in the sick carps, particularly those with the acute form of CE, was significantly higher than in the control carps. On the other hand, serum globulin and total protein levels in the sick carps were lower than those in the control carps. The two indices showed a particularly extensive decrease in carps affected by acute form of the disease. When all the parameters estimated in fishes with acute CE forms were taken into account, no differences associated with age (23 or 28 months) were observed that could be related to tendencies and directions of the observed changes.

This paper analyses assets and liability structure on the selected data set from the primary agricultural production in Slovakia. Accounting is presented as a complex foundation, information system, which provides information for decision-making and company management. The source of input data are accounting records generating statements of finances. The theme of the paper is selected issues of balance sheet analysis. The results of the research show unfavorable total assets development. The index 2000/1999 has the value 96.7. There are long-term problems in liabilities volume and structure. Equity capital stagnates. Borrowed capital decrease because of the decreas in loans. Loans were 2 741 SKK/ha in 2000. Most of the companies are in primary insolvency position, when payables after maturity are twice higher than receivables after maturity.

The paper deals with the particular stages of development of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the last forty years. The process and impacts of CAP reforms are analyzed for the particular production industries of agriculture. The paper also presents a detailed description of Agenda 2000 and mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2002 that brought about many proposals for the future working of CAP after accession of Central and Eastern European countries.

This article is divided into four parts: the first is concerned with the state subsidy and support policy in the year 2001. The second part of the contribution mentions the subsidy development in production and marginal areas in the period 1996-2001 and its influence on the economic result of an average farm. Another part monitors the grant volume and the economic result at a selective sample of the identical firms in the time period from of the year 1997 to the year 2001 in reference to the farm position. The last part will deal with an evaluation of the grant volume where the subsidies are divided according to the subsidy titles in the year 2001 in an average agricultural firm farming in a certain altitude.

The genetic diversity and the relationships among rapeseed germplasm, including a collection of 20 Chinese, 25 Czech, 2 German, 2 French, and 1 English cultivars and breeding materials were evaluated using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A total of 79 different polymorphic amplification products were obtained using10 selected decamer primers. RAPDs revealed a significant level of polymorphism among the accessions. The diversity index (DI) ranged from 1.390 to 3.491, showing a sufficient potential of selected primers to differentiate among studied genotypes. Three different metrics were used to assess genetic diversity. The best fit between a priori knowledge about germplasm origin and a posteriori grouping was found using Hamman metrics. Cluster analysis based on Hamman pairwise distance comparison divided the studied accessions into three main clusters. The first group included only accessions fromChina, the second group only that fromEurope with the exception of Zhongshuang No. 2, a Chinese winter rape possessing European cultivars in the pedigree. The third group included accessions both fromChina andEurope. The results indicate the occurrence of a considerable genetic variation between Chinese and European accessions.

In spite of the official goals of support for rural tourism promulgated by governmental bodies, rural tourism remains a marginal phenomenon. This lack of confidence in rural tourism has relatively deep roots. The basis for this is almost of an ontological nature and consists in opposition, although subconscious, against "commodified authenticity". Another source of this lack of confidence lies in the fact that rurality, the main attractive feature of tourism, has been substantially impaired as a result of trends in the 20th century. A third reason follows from the combination of rural tourism and mass recreation, as well as inadequate response by governmental bodies and authorities to the risks for regional stability, based on unmanaged mass tourism.