ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe aim of this popularing scientific article is to give a comparison of the development of mortgage market in individual years, in order the reader has a certain understanding of how banking houses managed to, quite flexibly, react to new economic situations, especially to the financial crisis. Three dominant entities of the mortgage market, namely Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka and Hypoteční banka, are being compared in the article; both in terms of the volume and the number of newly provided mortgage loans. This article was written as an outcome of the research project „Vybrané aspekty finančních trhů EU“, which took place at the Technical university of Liberec in 2011, and was financially supported by the university as a part of the “Studentská grantová soutěž“, a contest aiming to support university research projects.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_01.pdf2011-12-31716MarkétaBartoňová1AUTHORJanMačí2AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEVarious legal and voluntary types of environmental tools are used for environmental protection. This article aims at defining the environmental policy of the Czech Republic, classifying its tools and focusing on some of them in depth. First, the article classifies the environmental policy from the point of view of the National Policy on environment and it lists the environmental tools listed in the National Policy document. The other part is focused on the appraisal of the ecological tax reform up to now as one of the tools influencing the environment within the environmental policy of the state. In the final part the article focuses on the environmental accounting in more detail, as a voluntary instrument of the state environmental policy.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_02.pdf2011-12-311728MonikaBartošová1AUTHORMarieVondráčková2AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThis article presents reflections on the need to support the social volunteering for older people. The author examines the extent to which this support has changed in the past five years in the region of Jelenia Gora. She refers here to her own observations made during participation in the conference organized by the Euroregion Neisse and Hochschule in Görlitz in 2006. These observations are confronted with the results of a survey carried out by students of KPSW in Jelenia Gora. On this basis, the author presents an assessment of the problem and gives examples of suggestions on how to better involve the local environment in such actions aimed at senior citizens in the region of Jelenia Gora.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_03.pdf2011-12-312936DanielaBecelewska1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe economic position of the Liberec region is highly influenced by geographical proximity of the neighbouring states (Germany and Poland). This closely affects not only the potential of cooperation between companies on both sides of the borders, but also the "shopping tourism". We can come across these visitors in shopping centres, recreation areas, entertainment centres, at sports events, etc. The article describes partial results of primary research on the behaviour of customers in the Czech- German part of the Euroregion Neisse - Nisa - Nysa (ERN). The main objective of the research was to identify the purchase behaviour in the Czech-German part of the ERN and analyze relevant dissimilarities. This article deals with a partial objective – to ascertain reasons for visiting the Czech-German border region.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_04.pdf2011-12-313745JaroslavaDědková1AUTHORIvetaHonzáková2AUTHORSvětlanaMyslivcová3AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe European Commission has been seeking to gradually integrate the European mortgage credit markets for several years; the Commission considers this activity as a priority for more efficient functioning of the European Union (EU) financial system. The reason is a relatively high volume of not repaid balances of mortgage loans on housing in the EU member countries, which represents approximately 50 % of the EU GDP. The result of these efforts was a publication of so called White Paper on the Integration of the EU Mortgage Credit Markets in 2007. This document summarizes the measures for improving efficiency and competitiveness of the EU mortgage credit markets. However, the document was discussed and consequently accepted at the time when nobody assumed the critical development in the area of mortgage credit financing and the subsequent reaction of financial markets.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_05.pdf2011-12-314653ŠárkaHyblerová1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe article deals with the issue of comparing the approaches to the measurement of disparities in the European Union and in the Czech Republic. Some methods applied to determine the disparities are common both in the European Union and in the Czech Republic, where regional disparities are measured at the national level (Czech Statistical Office) and the regional level as well, whereas the results are mainly used by the regional management. At the level of municipalities no measurement of disparities could have been carried out so far. Within the scope of the research program of the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, a new methodology for the identification of the dynamics of economic development of municipalities was developed. This methodology was certified under the registration number 03-ÚÚR-259-2011/01-WD-30-07-1 and it allows for the measurement of disparities even at the level of particular municipalities.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_06.pdf2011-12-315463HelenaJáčová1AUTHORJaroslavaSyrovátková2AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThis paper concentrates on the assessment of health care efficiency in the Czech Republic. The health care sector is a special industry. For that reason, efficiency measurement calls for special approaches and methods. Drawing partially from international experience this paper presents two approaches of efficiency measurement illustrated by two university hospitals in the Czech Republic. In our study to lay some common ground we firstly compare the funding system and then we apply financial measures for measuring effectiveness and subsequently we employ non-financial indicators. The case studies illustrate that both kinds of measures are necessary to capture the complex environment and diverse activities in the health care system. Moreover, combination of both methods provides better outcome for efficiency measurement.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_07.pdf2011-12-316475IrenaJindřichovská1AUTHORRadkaPešková2AUTHORIvanaFunková3AUTHOREvaNesládková4AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe paper introduces experience with regional disparities in the EU and focuses mainly on regional development in England. Based on information from the EU, there is no complex methodology to classify the indicators of regional disparities across Europe. European Statistical Office (Eurostat) generally uses twelve main groups of indicators (demography, GDP, income, labour market, labour productivity, urban statistics, science and technology, structure of entrepreneurship, transport, tourism, education and agriculture). As an example of the evaluation of regional development in the EU, ESPON regional classification of Europe can be used. Each EU member applies a different regional policy and methods to eliminate differences between regions within a state. The second part of the contribution briefly introduces an approach to the regional disparities in the Czech Republic and its regional policy. The last part of the paper is focused on the regional policy in England and its future perspectives connected with the establishment of the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The paper was written with the financial assistance from the Ministry for Regional Development research and development project ”Innovation Approach to Analysis of Disparities on Regional Level“ No. WD-30-07-1.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_08.pdf2011-12-317685MiroslavaLungová1AUTHORKateřinaMaršíková2AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLERegional innovation systems (RIS) are a relatively new instrument in regional policy. It was developed from the National Innovation System in 1990s according to the fact that innovation was the most important instrument for regional development. There is huge literature about RIS and many studies about its application or operation. There are also many definitions of RIS and many approaches to its proper use. However, there could be some problems with its successful application in the region. Because of that this paper will provide summarization of the basic information on RIS. The paper will summarize the useful information about the definition of RIS and about approaches to dividing RIS into categories according to the development of each region where this tool is used. The core information of this paper will be in the definition of the components of RIS, which provide us the methodology, which can be used to identification of successful RIS in regions.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_09.pdf2011-12-318693KateřinaMaťátková1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe phenomenon of transition from studies to work belongs to key issues of contemporary social research and social interest. The research shows that economic and social success of individuals has been more and more determined by the quality of education and social competences obtained during their studies. With regard to specific conditions of Nisa Euroregion the problem here is solved from the Euroregional point of view. The partial results of the poll and analysis provide material and statistical data which are to be a part of the author´s further investigation. However, they also provide important information for the research of other companies involved, e.g. County Council of the Liberec Region, Regional and District Chambers of Commerce in Liberec and Unemployment Office in Liberec, and therefore help to improve the social and economic conditions young people have when entering Euroregional market of job opportunities.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_10.pdf2011-12-3194100HelenaNeumannová1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe article deals with the Investors in People Standard. This is a standard that comes from the United Kingdom and can be applied for the purposes of making human resources management more efficient in both profit-making and non-profit-making organizations. The first part explains how the Investors in People Standard is linked to Corporate Social Responsibility activities and other standards in this area. The other parts then deal with the Investors in People Standard more specifically. The article introduces the outcome of the questionnaire survey conducted among the organizations in the Czech Republic which have been certified according to this Standard. The survey was carried out by the Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Economics, in March 2011. The survey addressed 23 organizations successfully certified according to the Investors in People Standard.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_11.pdf2011-12-31101110MartinaOrtová1AUTHORPetraŠpačková2AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThis contribution examines the role of webquests in undergraduate study programmes. When working with webquests, students develop different types of intelligence: intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, logical-mathematical intelligence. They are encouraged to merge their isolated bodies of knowledge gained in discrete disciplines. Students are actively engaged in constructing their knowledge. This modern approach to teaching encourages students to research a vast amount of varied information and helps them to organize problem- solving processes, which adds another layer to the learning process. It transfers the learning situation into a more stimulating and memorable event. By structuring it carefully and leading students from a simple task to more sophisticated ones, teachers offer an enjoyable and meaningful learning adventure that students will also appreciate and utilise in their career.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_12.pdf2011-12-31111120StanislavaPavlíková1AUTHORIvanaPekařová2AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe energy concept of Germany for the period up to the year 2050, which has been approved of by the German federal government, allows for a real increase in GDP to 139% in comparison to the year 2008. At the same time, in this period a reduction in energy consumption by 50 % is expected together with a reduction of emissions in the primary energy consumption by 85 %. This should materialize in spite of increased energy efficiency in all social areas, and despite the termination of using energy produced in nuclear power plants. The last mentioned issue implies a fundamental change in the structure of primary energy, while the share of renewable energies will have been increased to 50% and electricity production to 80% by the year 2050. Due to these requirements the German energy concept is to be understood as the most environmentally demanding long-term concept in the world.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_13.pdf2011-12-31121128WilhelmRiesner1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe article presents the results of the author’s own research, performed in the early 2011 and covering a sample of 92 organisations operating in Poland. The research led to identification of the key problems related to maintaining and improving quality management systems. Those include the ISO 9001 requirements on: defining and attaining quality objectives; ensuring adequate levels of staff knowledge, competence and awareness; ensuring proper internal communication, production process, analysis of customer needs and satisfaction levels; as well as process management.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_14.pdf2011-12-31129135PiotrRogala1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe question of EU competitiveness is usually associated with the problems of economic, social and territorial cohesion. In recent few years, the topics about measuring and evaluating competitiveness have generated keen interest among researchers. The problem is mentioned mainly in the context of the lack of a main stream approach to the evaluation of competitiveness measuring. The aim of the paper is to analyse the European Union’s data base leading to the identification of convenient indicators for for evaluation of the level of EU cohesion and competitiveness across the EU Member States and regions. When focusing on differences among individual states and regions, evaluation of competitiveness and cohesion should be measured through the complex economic, social and environmental criteria that can identify the areas of countries and regions which cause the main disparities.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_15.pdf2011-12-31136146MichaelaStaníčková1AUTHORLukášMelecký2AUTHOREvaPoledníková3AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEWriting academic texts in English is an inevitable part of work of all academics and researchers. It is, however, often the case that scientifically excellent contributions are not published because of their lack of accuracy. Moreover, mistakes seem to be universal, articles being among the most frequent ones. This paper pursues the following aims: 1) systematically describe and categorize the use of articles in academic texts, 2) determine the most common mistakes in the use of articles made by L1 Czech writers, and 3) delimitate the problem areas and possible remedial steps. Four thousand and forty eight articles have been excerpted from six scientific texts in American English, classified and analyzed. Mistakes have been studied on scientific articles written by Ph.D. students with the conclusion that they can generally be classified into three areas. These areas should then logically represent the focus of instruction.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_16.pdf2011-12-31147154RenataŠimůnková1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThis contribution looks at the influence which the level of economic performance has on the level of innovation potential in the Czech Republic. One of more ways is described on how to approach the resolved problem, which is either verification or rejection of this assumption: “The weak regional potential for innovation is the cause of the regional economic backwardness”. A few methodologies have been developed by some subjects and used for the evaluation of the regional innovation potential level in the Czech Republic, but the availability of their outputs differs, which causes difficulties in further processing. Next, many methodologies are used by different subjects in the Czech Republic for the evaluation of the regional economic performance level. It was verified that Czech regions with strong innovation potential are better performing economically and are wealthier than those with low innovation potential.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_17.pdf2011-12-31155164EvaŠtichhauerová1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEEach business entity competing for its competitive advantage on the market is currently aware of the importance of research, development and innovation. The hypothesis states: “The companies knowing methods for technologies´ evaluation are profitable”. This paper is focused mainly on the area of the economy of renewable energy sources, resp. on the valuation of selected technology in this area. First the process of industrial research and development is mentioned in the introduction; the list of possible methods that can be used for various technologies evaluation follows; and in the final part of the paper the specific real case study of the small Hydroelectric Power Plant project valuation is demonstrated. The method of ENPV (including the decision tree, probabilities and net present value) was chosen; four possible scenarios are presented in the paper. Finally the best scenario has been selected and the hypothesis confirmed.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_18.pdf2011-12-31165173PavlaŠvermová1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEThe paper deals with the role of e-learning in foreign language teaching. For the use of the Internet in online teaching it is necessary that teachers had certain media competences that are becoming an integral and important part of the teacher’s qualification. In order to produce electronic teaching materials, the teacher is forced to use the computer unlike a common user does. Further professional training towards media competences has been offered to teachers of foreign languages within two projects financed from the European funds (ESF). In years 2006-2008 there was realized the project called “Electronic Media in Teaching” which was supported from the ESF money and the budget of the Czech Republic. The teachers orientate in the use of so called social networks in their teaching and learn the concepts: forum, blog, wiki, podcast, web quest and others.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_19.pdf2011-12-31174180IrenaVlčková1AUTHOR

ORIGINAL_ARTICLEAfter the abolition of border checks at international borders, prostitution began to flourish in Europe. Minors have been increasingly involved in the sale of sexual services. The problem of "piggies" is generally a quiet drama of children for whom prostitution is a way to earn their living; only rarely is it detected. The aim of this analysis is to highlight a wide range of behavioural signs of conditional prostitution. This difficult issue has been described by Robert Glinski. Due to his work, we can look into the world of underage boys engaged in prostitution.https://acc-ern.tul.cz/archiv/PDF/ACC_2011_3_20.pdf2011-12-31181189NataliaZatka1AUTHOR