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The increasing spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is paralleled by increasing use of social media for general, positive or negative influences. A systematic review was attempted to evaluate the extent to which research has been done on the three categories of influence of social media and the nature of influence. A search of Google Scholar using the topic of the review itself as the search term, including abstracts also, yielded 32 papers, of which 30 were reviewed under the three categories. More than half of the selected papers were published on the negative influence of social media. Mis (dis) information dominated among the types of negative influences discussed. Many of the papers in all the three categories discussed a few factors related to the observed results. In the case of negative influence, suggestions were given to mitigate the negative influence. This research has implications policymaker and people/organisations responsible for running public health campaigns on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy prices are a widely discussed topic and their development influences everyday life of every person. This paper deals with the development of electricity and natural gas prices in the years 2017 - 2022 with the aim to evaluate this development and determine the impact of extreme events on this development. For the purposes of describing the development, the descriptive analysis of electricity and natural gas time series was used. The impact of extreme events represented by the COVID-19 pandemic was determined using the correlation analysis. The results show that in the monitored period, the development of electricity prices was more stable that the prices of natural gas. However, the correlation between the average increment in the number of patients with COVID-19 and the prices of energy commodities could not be confirmed. To prove the influence the above extreme events, a more complex analysis would be necessary, which would include other factors that could have an impact on energy prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taxes are one of the things all companies have to pay. However, taxation is a big issue for many people in today's uncertain times. The paper aims to compare taxes in Central European countries (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Germany) in the years 2016-2020 and to make predictions for next years. The data used were obtained from publicly available resources - Eurostat and OECD. The situation in the individual states is compared using time series analysis, i.e. by observing the data. Based on the observation, the results are obtained using Excel. The results show that Central European countries are doing better when compared to the other EU countries in terms of taxation (i.e. lower taxes). The results also show the existence of differences between the states of the former Eastern and Western blocs in terms of taxation. According to the estimates of the taxation for the next years, taxation in Central Europe will increase slightly or remain the same in the coming years. The paper also proposes further research including a larger number of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the transformative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development and implementation of advanced technologies in the Czech Republic's assisted retail sector. The pandemic accelerated digital transformation across industries, and retail was no exception. The enforced changes in shopping habits and safety measures have led to a surge in the demand for technology-driven solutions in retail, pushing businesses towards innovation to ensure continuity and resilience. The paper analyzes both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from various assisted retail businesses in the Czech Republic. The research employs a mixed-method approach, incorporating case studies, surveys, and statistical analysis to provide comprehensive insights into the swift technological transformations. The findings indicate a significant increase in the adoption of technologies such as contactless payments, augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) in retail operations. It further reveals the increased use of e-commerce platforms, digital marketing strategies, and mobile applications to promote contactless shopping. A notable aspect of the study is the rise of voice-assisted shopping, demonstrating a technological shift towards more personalized and efficient customer service. The implications of these findings suggest that the pandemic-induced circumstances have revolutionized retail technology in the Czech Republic. It also hints at the potential for other industries to learn from the strategies deployed in this sector. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for further research to assess the sustainability and long-term impact of these new technologies post-pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze how Czech car manufacturers have coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Included are data on manufacturing companies taken from the Cribis database of the CRIF - Czech Credit Bureau a.s., specifically data on ŠKODA AUTO a.s., Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech s.r.o. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic s.r.o. Subsequently, the research comprises economic results, ROS (return on sales) and indebtedness calculated in relation to the aforementioned companies for the period of 2019-2020. The results show that the car manufacturers had greater losses during the COVID-19 pandemic than the year before. Additionally, they became more indebted in 2020 and had lower return on sales than in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses mainly on the advantages and disadvantages of this way of working, as well as its impact on the psyche and performance of employees and, last but not least, its impact on a company's finances. It uses the synthesis of data found on the internet, from selected reliable sources dealing with the same or similar issues. From these sources it is evident that the effects of working from home are rather negative. The most frequently mentioned advantage is the saving of time, caused mainly by the absence of commuting to the office. The most frequently mentioned disadvantage is the absence of personal contact with co-workers. The disadvantage that a company could feel the most is the extension of the length of communication between employees, and thus the extension of work processes. At first glance, it might seem that a company will save money using this form of work, but the reality is that the company's costs may even increase. This is due to the fact that most companies have chosen to work from home only partly, so the costs of running the offices remain the same or slightly reduced at best, and legislation states that the company must reimburse workers for costs incurred by this form of work. It follows from this contribution that, if possible, workers and employers should avoid the practice of working from home, even though it has a positive effect on the pandemic. The potential for further research could be to compare the results of this work with the same research conducted outside of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text focuses on the issue of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the authors focus on capturing, describing and interpreting the perception of online learning through the online tools MS Teams and LMS Moodle. The paper is based on data obtained from a research survey based on a quantitative approach. A self-designed questionnaire was chosen as the data collection tool. The questionnaire survey was conducted electronically among university students in pedagogical fields in the period from November 2020 to March 2021. In total, the authors analysed data from 462 questionnaires received. Not only the basic descriptive results but also the statistical significance of the relationships between the selected variables were evaluated, using adequate parametric and non-parametric tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and trends of the 21st century have significantly influenced marketing and marketing communications of companies. Both marketing and marketing communications are undergoing significant changes, especially depending on the overall development of the economy, market and consumer and the changing strategic goals of companies. Successful companies must adapt to the market, clearly formulate their goals and visions for the future, approach brand building through innovation, imaginative and effective communication, find a way to differentiate them from the competition, ie seek the uniqueness of the offer. These approaches are called "Radical Marketing" or "Reengineering". As a result of the above changes and shifts, we are encountering new trends in 21st century marketing communications, which are also changing consumer behavior and vice versa. Consumer behavior and decision-making is greatly influenced by modern forms of marketing communications. In 2020 came COVID-19 and the global pandemic. The global economy, businesses, the market and the consumer have found themselves in a whole new reality. The reality that has come is and will be. The following months and years will show how reversible or irreversible the current situation is. The aim of the paper is a comprehensive view of current strategies of companies and consumer behavior, the definition of their key changes caused by COVID-19 and outlines the current form of marketing communications and its tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of a COVID 19 pandemic has created a general need for appropriate crisis management. The aim of our paper is to compare the degree of crisis management competencies in three different types of organizations - businesses, health care organizations and self-government organizations. Degree of crisis management competencies was determined by the following factors - quality of crisis communication, the leadership style, the quality of decision-making in times of crisis, team performance and teamwork and the information sharing. The highest level of crisis management competencies was achieved by crisis management in business, which we proved on a sample of 122 companies. The leadership is weakest link of crisis management in all the organizations surveyed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to map the situation of online education in the Czech Republic and compare it with the European one. The research was conducted based on data provided by the Czech Statistical Office and Eurostat. The evaluated data were subsequently compared with findings from the literature search. The findings show that the usage of online courses is 20,8% more than the average in the EU27. And the use of online education materials in the Czech Republic, like the EU27. Online learning is still evolving, it has issues due to the lack of experience, but the potential is growing over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the article is to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the competitiveness of the labour market in Hungary on the economically most developed central as well as the rural areas to illustrate discrepancy. Indicators related to the effectiveness of recovery regarding both human resource management and corporate management are also analysed. A questionnaire survey on recovery from the pandemic was filled in 2021 by 1184 company managers: 61% were received from the central region while 39% from rural areas. The crosstab analysis was applied while processing data. According to our findings, the backlog has decreased in six Hungarian regions except Western Transdanubia, which has been hit harder by the closures and restrictions. The more moderate development of the central region can be due to the presence of its companies on the global market while the catching up of the rural areas was aided by the wage subsidy of businesses operating there. It is worth examining the impact of economic crises on how the differences between the central and rural regions change and also which regions can benefit from the downturn. In conclusion, a crisis might also serve as an opportunity to achieve a balanced economy and regain competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the work was to apply short-term educational activities to primary school pupils and to find out their influence on pupils' attitudes, compared to the traditional way of teaching. We observed differences between the cumulative mean scores of girls (x = 2,1) and boys (x = 2,4). We showed no difference in the cumulative mean scores of 7th and 8th graders. The pre-test data were at the level of statistical significance (p = 0,0521), with the experimental group (E) performing worse on mean score (x = 2,61) than the control group (K) (x = 2,31). The values correlated with the end-of-year grade in the biology and chemistry subjects. A paired t test revealed a statistically significant difference in the experimental group between the cumulative means of the pre-test and post-test (p = 0,0419) and the pre-test and retention test (p = 0,0354). A statistically significant difference was also observed in the individual dimensions (separation, recycling and production). In the control group, there was no statistically significant difference between the individual tests and dimensions. We have demonstrated the effective use of inquiry-based learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the online education of subjects with an economic focus during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the opinions and experiences of university students in the Slovak Republic. The data were collected using a questionnaire, while the research sample consisted of 358 respondents. Data analysis was performed using the Friedman test, the Nemenyi post-hoc test and the Mann-Whitney test. Students consider safety for health to be the biggest advantage and the biggest disadvantage is the lack of development of interpersonal relationships. The necessary technical equipment to implement online education is not a problem for them. We also found some differences in responses based on gender, degree of study and study results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks analysing Twitter social network role in promoting positive behaviour during COVID-19 crisis and exploring the relationship between them. It targets identifying Twitter positive behaviour level differences through variables of gender, age, marital status, residence status, administrative region, and Twitter using size. An online questionnaire was used on a validity-and-stability verified sample of (586) individual Twitter users in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Sample members approved Twitter users' positive behaviour during COVID-19 crisis. They agreed that the positive behaviour level was medium with a Twitter effect of (19.4%). There were both a positive, medium-strong correlation between Twitter daily use and a statistically significant correlation between one - session Twitter using and positive behaviour promotion. However, there were statistically significant differences in positive behaviour promotion when using Twitter between social status favouring singles, residence status favouring residents, age favouring those under 21, administrative region favouring the southern region, usage period favouring network daily and two days - users, and browsing time favouring much Twitter users. The study recommends conducting studies on positive social behaviour and its dimensions to broadly generalise results. Studies on the Internet of behaviour and artificial intelligence are needed to analyse the positive behaviour expected by social networks users to enhance opportunities. It also stressed children and adolescents' digital social education to prepare community members for effective online participation, the activation of public and private services-providing agencies Twitter accounts, interacting positively with users' questions and responses, and substituting fixed stereotypes by interesting interactive patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of restrictions introduced to slow the spread of Covid-19, the number of commuters has significantly decreased and e-commuters increased. This analysis is based on Austrians who had a job prior to the pandemic and who were still working during the survey (whether they worked from home or commuted). Using data from the survey, this article examines changes in the mode of workplace of those who switched to e-commuting. Additionally, the authors were interested in finding out to what extent the e-commuting agreement reduces commuting. The following were done: a systematic review of e-commuting literature, a cross-tabulation of data to examine relationships within data, a McNemar test for workplace examination and a Friedman test with pairwise comparisons for commuting analysis. The data show that the number of e-commuters increased in almost all the surveyed periods except between the pre-Covid time and the easing of the lockdown. The e-working proportion increased on average by 59.74%. Results suggest that the frequency of commutes by cubicles differs significantly in all periods except between the first and second lockdowns, and by e-workers between February and the first lockdown and the easing and the second lockdown. If we look at the average rankings, we see that during the second lockdown, the frequency of cubicle commutes decreased significantly and that of e-workers increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]