The debate on the presence of economic benefits in the European Union (EU) is not over. The study responds unequivocally to this question, with the intensity of economic development in the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and beyond twice as high as that of the countries that joined it this year, i.e. the EU’s old ones compared to the new ones; smoothness – 1.1 times and dynamics – 1.6 times. Another important trend for further development is that, as the level of economic development increases, its smoothness is diminishing. In respect of the context of the EP of all EU Members, it turned out that the higher intensity of enlargement was characterised by higher economic levels, with similar homogeneity and almost identical values for the dynamic indicator. The introduction to the article presents the context of the studies, i.e. two groups of EU Community countries are formed according to their level of economic development and the year of their accession to the Community, as well as a survey scheme. The literature review reveals the methods used to analyse the convergence of economic development in these countries, as members of the Community. The research methodology introduces the indicator of economic development of countries and provides a methodology for assessing its dynamics. The empirical part assesses the dynamics of economic development of both groups of countries and identifies trends in terms of convergence. The discussion section summarises the consolidation and destabilising factors in the EU and the importance of the study carried out in this context. The conclusions present the main results of the studies and outline their further directions. The results of the study can be used both in the EU and for the purpose-oriented decisions of its members on further economic development.

The indoor environment that surrounds us and the elements in it affect not only our mood but also the air quality. Vegetation elements are currently more popular, especially for their aesthetic value but also because of the fact that they affect the physical parameters of the indoor environment such as temperature and humidity. Water elements are a similar example. The presented paper combines these two elements to achieve the best possible level of thermal comfort. Experimental verification of the influence of the living wall on air temperature and humidity took place during the heating season in the city of Brno in the space of the university, while three scenarios were created: the effect of the living wall in a semi-open space, an enclosed space, and a space with a water wall with regulated water temperature. The potential of the water wall is determined based on experimental verification in laboratory conditions. The results show that the synergy of the living and water wall in the indoor space may eliminate the risk of too-low humidity during the heating season.

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The article deals with analysis of the heat balance and temperature microclimate of indoor space of a four-storey building atrium. With regard to the anticipated thermal loads in all functionally connected rooms, investor made a request to verify the thermal stability of the atrium before the implementation stage. Atrium and adjacent rooms are a geometrically complicated inner space which cannot be solved by analytical methods to ensure the required temperature conditions in occupied zone. This led to the creation of a mathematical model of the atrium with the current project solution. The result of the simulation of the existing solutions is that there is not complied desired air temperature in the occupied zone. For this reason, it was developed optimization of existing variant. Optimization was performed in steps as changing temperature of the central air conditioning system, changing number of units and performance of local refrigeration air conditioning. The conclusion of this paper is to evaluate the thermal profiles of temperature stratification in the atrium area and request the required cooling performance of the ventilation system. The article attempts to use computer modelling as a tool for the placement and performance design of ventilation equipment.

Nanotechnology is a perspective manufacturing technology, and in the technical fields, it deals with the production, development and utilization of technologies and materials with dimensions in nanometre sizes (1–100 nm). Nanofilters used in the article for filtration purposes consist from a nanolayer which is applied to a coarse textile backing layer, and they are inserted into the frames as conventional textile filters. The most commonly used materials are PP and PE polymers, as well as carbon, glass and metal filters. With the fabrication of nanotechnology-based filter, it is very important to choose materials, polymers with specific properties, which can be used for filtration function of the product itself. The results given in the main article compare the nanofilters with the main representatives of existing filter products currently available on the market. There is a problem with high pressure loss of the nanomaterial, and when we compare them with traditional filters, it is difficult to use them in technical practice, even if there exists the possibility for us to define the material and the thickness of the layer which are adapted to the application-specific application conditions.