The article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the content of key functional strategies of companies in the real sector of the economy. The purpose of the article is to assess the changes in the economic behaviour of companies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to analyse business practices in adapting functional strategies to new risks, and to determine the directions for transforming functional strategies. An analysis of companies’ business practices showed that the pandemic had a significant impact on the economic behaviour of companies, transforming not only their tactics, but also their strategy. The functional strategies of the companies have undergone significant changes - marketing, production, personnel management strategies. The transformation of the marketing sphere is due to new trends in the sphere of consumption that have arisen as a result of the introduction of restrictive measures by states. The changed conditions of production activities necessitated accelerated digitalization and robotization of production, restructuring of supply chains and determined the need for the formation of innovative production strategies that meet the conditions of the Industry 4.0 era. The strategy and tactics of personnel management of companies are adapting to the conditions of the epidemic using a remote work format, digitalization of processes and tasks, and the use of new approaches in management. Based on the results of the study, the authors concluded that the pandemic has highlighted problems in the ability of companies to learn quickly in a rapidly changing environment. Today, the surviving companies are those that have been able to best adapt to unforeseen threats. For them, the coronavirus pandemic is not the cause of the crisis, but a turning point and a unique opportunity to develop in a highly competitive environment.

Energy from hydrogen is an appropriate technological choice in the context of sustainable development. The opportunities offered by the use of energy from hydrogen also represent a significant challenge for mobile technologies and daily life. Nevertheless, despite a significant amount of research and information regarding the benefits of hydrogen energy, it creates considerable controversy in many countries. Globally, there is a lack of understanding about the production process of hydrogen energy and the benefits it provides, which leads to concerns regarding the consistency of its use. In this study, an original questionnaire was used as a research tool to determine the opinions of inhabitants of countries in which hydrogen energy is underutilized and where the infrastructure for hydrogen energy is underdeveloped. Respondents presented their attitude to ecology, and indicated their knowledge regarding the operation of hydrogen energy and the use of hydrogen fuel. The results indicate that society is not convinced that the safety levels for energy derived from hydrogen are adequate. It can be concluded that knowledge about hydrogen as an energy source, and the production safety and storage methods of hydrogen, is very low. Negative attitudes to hydrogen energy can be an important barrier in the development of this energy in many countries.

Sustainable development, logistics, and supply chain are being combined into three increasingly connected and topical global research areas. Therefore, this paper’s novelty identifies and defines the priorities of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable development dimensions in supply-chain- and logistics-management-related studies in the last decade. Knowing logistics and supply chain sustainability focus and orientation is valuable information for researchers and managers to adapt and mitigate their business logistics according to the forecasted trends. The paper provides a systematic and comprehensive review of the literature and is based on 116 scientific papers published between 2010 and 2020 in 73 international journals in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The study defines focus with integrating environmental, social, and economic sustainability for logistics- and supply-chain-related studies. It emphasizes primary and secondary links of investigated studies with 17 United Nations sustainable development goals. The bibliometric analysis also examined keyword relations. One of the main contributions is that economic sustainability was identified as the most represented one-dimensional sustainability focus. It was revealed that supply chain studies integrated all three sustainability dimensions more frequently (50.60%) than logistics studies, which were equally related to studying two- or three-dimensions of sustainability (39.39%). The most significant findings are also that studies were identified to be oriented primarily towards “responsible consumption and production”, “industry, innovation, and infrastructure” and “affordable and clean energy” and secondary especially on “sustainable cities and communities”.

The paper presented the findings obtained by industrial research and experimental development on the use of rare earth metals (REMs) in the production of heavy steel ingots and their impact on the internal quality of the 42CrMo4 grade steel forging. REMs alloying was carried out after vacuuming the steel. A relatively large melting loss of cerium (about 50%) and its further decrease in casting due to reoxidation were observed. Refinement of structure and better mechanical properties of forged bar containing about 0.02 wt.% of Ce compared to that of the standard production were not achieved. The wind power shaft with content of about 0.06 wt.% of Ce showed high amount of REM inclusions, which were locally chained, and in some cases, initiated cracks. Four stoichiometrically different types of REM inclusions were detected in forgings, namely (La-Ce)2O2S + (La-Ce)O2 + SiO2 (minority); oxygen, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony bound to lanthanum and cerium probably bonded with iron oxides La + Ce, MgO, Al2O3 a SiO2; (La-Ce)2O2S, FeO, SiO2, and CaO or CaS.

Abstract. Occupational health problems are rarely underestimated both by employers and employees themselves. Lack of awareness about the impact of the environment on the health of the human body results in more frequent accidents, the sources of which are seen in the health problems of employees. Lifestyle, as well as the management of occupational health and safety, affect work quality and safety. It this paper ailments that have a significant impact on the health of the employee, which are the result of improper management of occupational safety and health in small enterprises, have been presented. The obtained results also indicate factors that cause various health problems among employees, with particular emphasis on stress symptoms.