China's intellectual property rights commitments in the WTO: legal and economic implications

This article assesses the compliance of China's domestic laws in the area of intellectual property rights protection with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which China obliged to accept upon its entrance into the WTO. It also discusses the implications which result from the implementation and enforcement of the intellectual property rights in China for doing business in China. The significance of intellectual property rights protection for achieving the strategic objects formulated by China's policy-makers and China's reputation in the world is tackled, as well. Qualitative research based on the concept of compliance showed that China's compliance with its TRIPS obligation should be evaluated with respect to different country-specific as well as country non-specific factors. However, the experience from the historical development of the leading world inventors, such as Japan or the United Kingdom, should also be considered.Web of Science4134

Problems of low cost carriers in the market

Low cost carriers are air carriers which offer air transport for significantly lower prices than traditional carriers thus making air transport accessible even to those groups of travellers for whom air transport was unaffordable in the past. Low cost carriers also cause the air travel to be more popular and wide-spread kind of transport. From the point of view of constantly increasing number of transported passengers the low cost carriers are becoming an interesting segment of business. Unfortunately, the influence of low cost carriers in the aviation market has its drawbacks as well. As an example of such a drawback can be used the effort to transfer as many cost categories as possible to other entities, which can subsequently experience economic troubles and are forced to operate with economic loss. The article focuses on the evaluation of the influence of low cost carriers in the Czech market.Nízkonákladoví letečtí dopravci (low cost carriers) jsou letečtí dopravci, kteří nabízejí leteckou přepravu za výrazně nižší ceny letenek než klasičtí dopravci. Díky tomu mohou v současnosti využívat leteckou dopravu i skupiny cestujících, pro které byla letecká doprava v minulosti cenově nedostupná. Vlivem působení nízkonákladových leteckých dopravců se letecká doprava stává velice populárním a rozšířeným druhem dopravy. Z hlediska neustále rostoucího počtu přepravených cestujících se potom stává velice zajímavým segmentem podnikání. Bohužel, působení nízkonákladových letekých dopravců na leteckém trhu má i své stinné stránky. Příkladem negativní stránky jejich působení na leteckém trhu je snaha přenášet co nejvíce kategorií nákladů na jiné subjekty, které se následně dostávají do ekonomických obtíží a jsou nuceny provozovat své činnosti s ekonomickou ztrátou. Článek se zaměřuje na hodnocení působení nízkonákladových leteckých dopravců na českém trhu

Compactness of higher-order Sobolev embeddings

We study higher-order compact Sobolev embeddings on a domain $\Omega \subseteq \mathbb R^n$ endowed with a probability measure $\nu$ and satisfying certain isoperimetric inequality. Given $m\in \mathbb N$, we present a condition on a pair of rearrangement-invariant spaces $X(\Omega,\nu)$ and $Y(\Omega,\nu)$ which suffices to guarantee a compact embedding of the Sobolev space $V^mX(\Omega,\nu)$ into $Y(\Omega,\nu)$. The condition is given in terms of compactness of certain one-dimensional operator depending on the isoperimetric function of $(\Omega,\nu)$. We then apply this result to the characterization of higher-order compact Sobolev embeddings on concrete measure spaces, including John domains, Maz'ya classes of Euclidean domains and product probability spaces, whose standard example is the Gauss space

China's trade competitiveness in the area of agricultural products after the implementation of the World Trade Organization commitments

The paper provides evidence on the implementation of China's trade commitments into its institutional and legal environment, which influenced its agricultural trade. The contribution to the trade balance index and the revealed comparative advantage index are used for the identification of changes in China's export competitiveness in agricultural products between 2001 and 2015. The World Trade Organization (WTO) trade liberalisation, followed by changes in the structure of economy, contributed to China building a trade deficit in the area of the agricultural products and losing competitiveness in some products. China gradually liberalised its agricultural trade in compliance with the WTO commitments. However, relatively high protection or state regulation of the domestic market has remained in products that China exports with a revealed comparative disadvantage. The existence of the state trading can also have a negative impact on the results of China's revealed comparative advantage in its exports of agricultural products.Web of Science64938837

Testing of hydrogen sensor based on organic materials

Práce je zaměřena na problematiku bezpečnostních vodíkových senzorů. Základní principy a teorie vodíkových senzorů je rozebrána v první části práce. Je navržena metodologie testování organických vodíkových senzorů vyvinutých a vyrobených na Fakultě Chemické Vysokého Učení Technického v Brně. Nejslibnější organický material byl testován. V závěrečné části byl navržen teplotní regulátor pro použití s keramickou senzorovou platformou.This thesis is focused on topic of safety hydrogen sensors. Theory of hydrogen sensors and main sensor principles are discussed. Methodology for testing of organic hydrogen sensors developed and fabricated at the Faculty of Chemistry of Brno University of Technology is outlined. A set of tests is done for the most promising organic material. Also, temperature regulator for ceramic sensor platform is designed.

Virginia Woolf and Victoria Sackville-West: Orlando as a reflection of their relationship

Virginia Woolf belongs to one of the most significant and original writers of the twentieth century. She was known for her feministic attitudes and denial of traditional gender roles as the social construct. She often criticized the unequal position of women in the patriarchal society and its homophobic tendencies. She used experimental approaches towards literature and writing such as so-called "stream of consciousness" in a form of inner monologue, thus she became the leading figure of the modernistic movement in Britain. The theoretical part of this paper deals with the person of Virginia Woolf as a writer and an intellectual. Her opinions about feminism, gender and androgyny are compared with the general atmosphere of the early twentieth century society. Further, the paper describes the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Victoria Sackville-West which was the impulse for writing the novel Orlando (1928). This novel was inspired by Sackville-West and the story of her life and partially reflected their relationship. The last chapter deals with the novel Orlando itself and how it reflects not only the affinity between Woolf and Sackville-West, but also Virginia Woolf's own thoughts and viewpoints concerning the ambiguity and complexity of gender and other topics such as artistic creativity, inspiration, importance of fame and meaning of human life in general.Teoretická část této práce se zaměřuje na postavu Virginie Woolf jako spisovatelky a intelektuálky. Její názory na feminismus, pohlaví a androgynii jsou srovnávány s obecnou atmosférou ve společnosti na počátku dvacátého století. Dále práce popisuje vztah Virginie Woolf s Victorií Sackville-West, který byl podnětem k napsání románu Orlando (1928). Tento román byl inspirován Sackville-West a jejím životem a částečně odráží jejich vztah. Poslední kapitola se zabývá románem Orlando samotným a jak odráží nejen náklonnost Woolf a Sackville-West, ale také myšlenky a stanoviska samotné Virginie Woolf týkající se nejednoznačnosti a složitosti pohlaví a dalších témat jako je například umělecká kreativita, inspirace, důležitost slávy a význam života člověka vůbec.Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistikyDokončená práce s úspěšnou obhajobo

Following Gibbs States Adiabatically - The Energy Landscape of Mean Field Glassy Systems

We introduce a generalization of the cavity, or Bethe-Peierls, method that allows to follow Gibbs states when an external parameter, e.g. the temperature, is adiabatically changed. This allows to obtain new quantitative results on the static and dynamic behavior of mean field disordered systems such as models of glassy and amorphous materials or random constraint satisfaction problems. As a first application, we discuss the residual energy after a very slow annealing, the behavior of out-of-equilibrium states, and demonstrate the presence of temperature chaos in equilibrium. We also explore the energy landscape, and identify a new transition from an computationally easier canyons-dominated region to a harder valleys-dominated one.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure