Aim: To translate the Perinatal Grief Scale questionnaire (short version) into the Czech language, assess its reliability and validate its use for measuring perinatal grief intensity in the Czech Republic. Design: A validation study. Methods: The Perinatal Grief Scale was, with the authors' consent, translated using the translation/back translation method. The focus group translation method was used for the final version of the translation. This version was tested on a group of 87 women who experienced perinatal loss in the Czech Republic between 2007 and 2013. The Czech short version of the Perinatal Grief Scale (CzSVPGS) was validated using exploration and confirmation factor analysis while its reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Psychosocial correlations of the CzSVPGS were assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: We found that the CzSVPGS may be used as a single factor scale while maintaining all elements of the original scale. The unrotated solution of the exploration factor analysis estimated a strong factor (60.5% of total variance) that has a satisfactory burden in all 33 items. The reliability of this research tool as measured by Cronbach's alpha (α = 0.9545) was high. Conclusion: We recommend that the CzSVPGS is used to objectivize grief intensity in women after perinatal loss and to identify high-risk women who are more vulnerable so that the healthcare system could help them.

The authors empirically explore whether and to what extent the content and thematic structure of television news infl uence the perceived importance of an issue among the population. They present several methodological and conceptual innovations to traditional agenda-setting research. First, they utilise a data set that is somewhat unique in the Czech scientifi c community. It was constructed by combining data from repeated public opinion surveys and from content analysis of television news; both segments were collected over a period of more than four years. Unlike in most research, the data are not aggregated before the analysis. Second, the authors' choice of issue overcomes the problem of endogeneity that is ubiquitous in agenda-setting research. Third, the authors employ hierarchical linear models to represent adequately the multi-level and clustered data structure and to obtain unbiased estimates of model parameters. Finally, in addition to using standard measures of the intensity of media exposure, they utilise a rather unique set of explanatory variables that represent the homogeneity of media coverage and the relative salience of the issue. They conclude that the media salience of an issue does indeed increase its perceived importance among the population, but media homogeneity and relative salience induce no effect on perceived importance. Owing to a number of methodological improvements, the authors' results are more robust than those produced in previous research.

PurposeThis case study of the readiness of engineering companies for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) presents how surveyed key figures manage the implementation of I4.0. The research comprised a census of larger and medium-sized engineering companies in the Pilsen region of the Czech Republic. The selected region is characterised by a long industrial tradition and a high concentration of technical and technology-oriented companies. The survey questionnaire monitors a wide range of topics. In this text, the authors present the results only from selected areas. In particular, the authors examined: (1) the use of I4.0 technologies in individual areas, (2) the level of the digital strategy (DS), (3) factors influencing investments in I4.0 technologies, (4) the impact of I4.0 on the workforce and (5) existing threats to I4.0 implementation. The purpose of this paper is to show how key figures with a real impact on the implementation of I4.0 think and act in practice (as opposed to declarations).Design/methodology/approachIn the presented article, thanks to the unique data obtained in the form of a census in the selected, traditionally engineering-oriented Pilsen region, and within the highly industrially oriented Czech Republic, the authors explored the state of readiness of companies for implementation of I4.0. The obtained data allowed the authors to present, in a suitably descriptive way, the current level, with respect to the future, of the planned use of I4.0 principles in the surveyed companies. They monitored not only the state of the adoption process (Industry of 4.0 technologies) compared to the declared proclamations but also which phenomena represent key obstacles.FindingsFirst, medium-sized companies have barely implemented I4.0, whereas I4.0 is more often implemented in larger companies, especially the so-called DS aspect of I4.0. Furthermore, it appears that larger companies also clearly consider I4.0 more often and see it more significantly as a key success factor. Second, the survey highlighted the fact that customer satisfaction is the determining impetus for the introduction of I4.0. It can be assumed that with an increase in pressure from customers and a decrease in the price of technology, the introduction of I4.0 will increase. The third important finding is that the authors can observe a kind of two-stage flow of innovation in the results. The transformation towards I4.0 is approached by larger companies first, because they are more sensitive to customer satisfaction, are looking for new opportunities, and have greater resources to cover the costly implementation of innovations.Originality/valueIn the presented article, thanks to the unique data obtained in the form of a census in the selected, traditionally engineering-oriented Pilsen region, and within the highly industrially oriented Czech Republic, the authors explored the state of implementation of I4.0. The obtained data allowed the authors to present, in a suitably descriptive way, the current level, with respect to the future, of the planned use of I4.0 principles in the surveyed companies.

In this article the authors interconnect the framing and agenda-setting theories of mass-communication effects. They postulate that the framing process creates conditions for the agenda-setting process and argue that differently framed news have different effects in the agenda-setting process. They hypothesise that issue-specifi c frames, episodic frames, and value frames have a stronger agenda-setting effect than generic frames, thematic frames, and strategy frames and suggest explaining the role of frames in the agendasetting process through the theory of cognitive dissonance. The hypotheses are tested using matched panel survey data on respondents' personal agendas and using a content analysis of the media in relation to one particular issue. The selected issue -the restitution of property to the Catholic Church -was chosen because it contains a rich combination of frames. Moreover, this is an issue on which it is possible to study the effect of a 'focusing event', which may have an additional and distinct effect in addition to the 'regular' frames. The authors show that differently framed news do indeed have distinctive effects on personal agenda-setting. Some frames have a strong positive effect, while others have no effect. They even identify one frame that appears to have a slightly negative net effect on personal agenda-setting. This is a somewhat revolutionary fi nding, since it demonstrates that, unlike the predictions made by the agenda-setting theory, people may (under certain conditions) react to the heightened media exposure of an issue by denying its importance.

The exploratory sandbox for blockchain services, Lithopy, provided an experimental alternative to the aspirational frameworks and guidelines regulating algorithmic services ex post or ex ante. To understand the possibilities and limits of this experimental approach, we compared the regulatory expectations in the sandbox with the reallife decisions about an "actual" intrusive service: contact tracing application. We gathered feedback on hypothetical and real intrusive services from a group of 59 participants before and during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic (January, June 2020, and April 2021). Participants expressed support for interventions based on an independent rather than government oversight that increases participation and representation. Instead of reducing the regulations to code or insisting on strong regulations over the code, participants demanded hybrid combinations of code and regulations. We discuss this as a demand for "no algorithmization without representation." The intrusive services act as new algorithmic "territories," where the "data" settlers must redefine their sovereignty and agency on new grounds. They refuse to rely upon the existing institutions and promises of governance by design and seek tools that enable engagement in the full cycle of the design, implementation, and evaluation of the services. The sandboxes provide an environment that bridges the democratic deficit in the design of algorithmic services and their regulations.