European agriculture has recently undergone important changes connected with the reorientation of EU policy towards regional, recreational, and land-use subsidies, and owing to the internal divergence in agriculture itself, which has led to large 'industrial' farming companies on the one hand and small, ecological farms on the other. During the period of transformation, the Czech agricultural sector has been forced to confront these changes and full stability remains a long way in the future. Transformation has thus brought both advantages and disadvantages to all the players involved. The former include the existence of large-scale farms, relatively highly skilled workers, and a cheap labour force, which make Czech agriculture competitive on a European scale. On the other hand, Czech attitudes towards work and respect for the property of others are inadequate; production efficiency and quality are low, whereas the expectations of farmers are high. Czech entrepreneurs have opted for relatively strict, unsocial, win-win strategies and understand their business simply in terms of material profit. Conversely, Western businessmen active in the Czech Republic more highly value the long-term profit, social ties and the symbolic functions of agriculture, though that does not mean they would not prefer 'industrial' forms of farming. The main problem of Czech agriculture is thus the absence of family-type farms rooted in their local, social environment, and there is only limited potential for this to develop. Unfortunately, this fact creates the threat of a 'two-speed' European agriculture: the Western model, combining both small and 'industrial' farms, and the Eastern model, focusing solely on extensive large-scale farming.
Základem sebeuvědomění Slovanů byl jejich jazyk. Dějiny Slovanů jsou proto do velké míry dějinami jejich jazyka. Studie sleduje etnogenezi Slovanů do 6. století. Jejich expanze západním a jižním směrem trvala čtyři staletí a Slované v jejím průběhu projevili velkou asimilační schopnost. Je proto možné, že jejich výchozí domovinou bylo malé území. Právní formou asimilace byl tzv. vrv (šňůra) jako symbolicko-sociální fenomén. Příklad vsi Police ve Slovinsku ukazuje, že pro pochopení slovanské etnogeneze je třeba propojit tři interpretační modely: autochtonní, alochtonní a kulturně asimilační. and A foundation of self-understanding of the Slavs was their language. Therefore, the history of the Slavs is to a large extent the history of their language. The article describes their ethnogenezis up to the 6th century. Their expansion to the west and south lasted 400 years, they had a lot of assimilative power. Therefore, it is possible that their homeland was originally a small territory. Juridical form of the assimilation of foreigners was a so-called vrv (rope) as a symbolic-social phenomenon. An example of village Police (Slovenia) suggests that to understand the ethnogenesis of the Slavs a synthesis of three interpretative models – autochthonous, allochthonous, cultural assimilation – is needed.
In three consecutive years (1998 to 2000), 20 adult grayling Thymallus thymallus (L.) (FL ± SD: 326 ± 43 mm) were radio-tracked during circum reproduction period (February to May) in the River Aisne, Belgium. Before the spawning period, grayling remained consistently in the pool-riffle sequence in which they had been captured. Pre-spawning migration time extended from 7 to 29 March. Distances travelled during the spawning migration ranged from 70 to 4980 m (mean ± S.E.: 1234 ± 328 m). Spawning migrations started under conditions of decreasing water level and increasing water temperature in a thermal range (daily mean T°) from 5 to 8 °C. Spawners remained from 1 to 31 days (mean ± S.D.: 10.4 ± 9.8 days) at the spawning grounds and performed a post-spawning homing from 28 March to 18 April in decreasing water flow and in a thermal range (daily mean T°) from 7 to 11 °C. This study demonstrates that migration patterns of grayling are similar between years, but with a timing adjusted as a response to annual variations of the hydroclimatic conditions.
Ornithologists in Finland recorded the autumn migration of the Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta (L.). In the best year, 1998, 1240 migrants were counted from a bird tower in September. That is, half a million butterflies migrated over a 100-km front. The butterflies were flying above forests riding on cool northerly winds. Radar indicated that a large proportion migrated at high elevations outside the visible range. These records help to resolve an "evolutionary puzzle" of why migrant butterflies and moths travel to northern latitudes when their offspring have limited possibilities of returning south. Until now, the only butterfly for which a high-elevation return migration on northerly winds is known is the American Monarch Danaus plexippus (L.).
Parmi les matériaux qui ont été recueillis en surface sur le site nouvellement découvert en Moravie figurent des fibules, des parures annulaires et d’autres objets qui caractérisent la phase initiale de cet habitat et appartiennent à l’expression artistique des Celtes de la première moitié du IIIe siècle avant J.-C. connue comme Style plastique. Particulièrement remarquable, le manche d’un coutelas avec deux éléments décorés en relief, fondus à cire perdue sur la soie en fer. Les analogies stylistiques les plus proches proviennent de Bohême et de Moravie, mais également de régions très éloignées (Mezek en Bulgarie, région parisienne), dans le contexte des mouvements celtiques autour de l’expédition balkanique de 280 avant J.-C. Il s’agit probablement d’un produit local, témoin important du rôle de la Moravie dans la formation et la diffusion des nouvelles formes d’expression artistique. Il confirme, avec d’autres objets caractéristiques du Style plastique, le rôle central important joué dès la première moitié du IIIe siècle avant J.-C. par l’agglomération de Němčice. and An extraordinary cutlass handle from Němčice. Materials collected at a new site in Moravia unearthed the oldest La Tène period horizon (B2), and yielded finds of brooches, various rings and other items typical for the beginning of the so-called “plastic” style of the first half of the third century BC. Of these, an ornamental cutlass handle stood out in particular. This category of items is entirely unique with its relief decoration of both parts cast over the iron tang using the lost-wax casting method. The closest analogy in terms of style can be found either at Bohemian-Moravian finds, or further at Mezek, Bulgaria, or art works from the Paris area, which are linked to the movement of Celts at the time of the Balkan campaigns in 280 BC. This is apparently a local product offering significant testimony on the key role of Moravia in the rise and spread of new artistic expression. Together with the other finds of “plastic” style, it points to the first half of the third century BC as the date of the beginning of the Němčice agglomeration.