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Political Connections and Public Procurement: Evidence from the Czech Republic
Palanský, Miroslav ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
According to the existing literature, political connections can add value to the connected firms. This thesis analyzes whether political connections created by donations to political parties affect the allocation of public funds through procurement spending in the Czech Republic. Using a novel dataset on all corporate political contributions made between 2006 and 2013, it focuses on the extreme change in control of the regional councils following the 2008 elections. We start by observing the general patterns of behavior of regional governments as contracting authorities which seem to support the potential of corruption. In the second part, we focus on the effects of donations to the two most powerful political parties in the regional councils during the examined period on regional public procurement outcomes. The applied econometric methods suggest that donating companies win public contracts of higher value compared to non-connected firms in times when their supported party is in power. Controlling for the size of the firms, the results remain significant and confirm the notion that larger companies win contracts of higher value than smaller firms. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Evolution of sting and associated venom gland in Hymenoptera (Aculeata)
Matějková, Zuzana ; Straka, Jakub (advisor) ; Šobotník, Jan (referee)
Theme: Evolution of the sting and associated glands in Hymenoptera (Aculeata) Author: Zuzana Matějková Supervisor: Mgr. Jakub Straka, Ph.D. Abstract A stinger is a synapomorphy of Aculeata group. The branch of Aculeata has cleaved from the Parasitica group - they both belong to the order Apocrita. The stinger of Aculeata has evolved from a former ovipositor - though the function of laying eggs has been lost. Besides venom gland several other glands including Dufour's gland vent into a stinger. The original (parasitic-predator strategy- binding) function of the gland excretes is a paralysis of the prey. In social Aculeata it gains a defensive function - associated with a possible act of autotomy of the stinger. The stinger and associated glands are also a source of pheromones and small peptides with an antimicrobial function. These peptides act together with other venom components and they help to improve its effectiveness.
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Gender blending and queer performativity in the music videos of Lady Gaga
Sekyrová, Karolína ; Sloboda, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Martinová, Marta (referee)
This bachelor thesis examines how queer performativity and gender blending are shown in the music video clips of Lady Gaga. The thesis attemp to find and analyse through the means of the semiotic analysis and explain their meaning. The thesis is based on theoretical gender definition and on two constructivism concepts: Doing gender by West and Zimermann and gender performativity by Judith Butler. The thesis employs the queer concept as the reconstruction of sexual minorities but also as an analytic lens that deconstructs the normative social structure. The author defines the various elements leading to gender blending and queer performativity in four music videos clips and concluded that Lady Gaga repeatedly violates gender stereotypes and disturbs the majority view on heteronormative social settings by using specific videos elements representing different kinds of sexuality in her music videos.
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Immigration Policy of France during presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy
Šubertová, Aneta ; Matějka, Ondřej (advisor) ; Bauer, Paul (referee)
Šubertová Aneta Abstract My bachelor thesis, "Immigration Policy of France during the Presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy" deals with the attempts of french government to reform french immigration legislation and implement stricter immigration policy towards foreigners. The issue of immigration is one of the top domestic policy issues today and was also used in the presidential election campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. During the financial crises increased xenophobia in French society. Government tried to implement a selective immigration policy and deeper integration foreigners to the french society. They also tried to restrict immigration based on the right to family reunification, which is currently the main part of immigrants in french society. This thesis is theoretical analysis, which map and analyze the main laws that the government adopted to restrict the flow of immigration. I analyze immigration law from 2007, which should restrict family reunification and law from 2011, which implemented 3 directive of European Union into the French law. I also mention the repatriation of Roma into the country of origin. These measures provoked a stormy reaction in the professional and general public but also among deputies and Senators. Severely measures were finally canceled because of their failure or criticism.
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Social and political functions of poetry in media communication
Knéblová, Michaela ; Jirák, Jan (advisor) ; Batistová, Anna (referee)
The thesis examines the role of poetry from the official Czechoslovak Communist Party newspaper Rudé právo ("Red Law") between 1948 and 1953. It analyzes and interprets selected poetry in the context of major holidays and events, and uses this to describe some of the myths of the time and their symbolic meaning. Using essays and public speeches from thematic conferences and congresses, it describes the development of poetry and journalism in this crucial historical period as well as examines their role and mission. This is used to report on socialist realism in literature and provide testimonies of prominent political and cultural figures of the time on literature, poetry, and journalism. Furthermore, it shows how the front pages of Rudé právo were designed on special occasions and what some of the texts contained. The thesis also introduces the most important socialist holidays, explains their context, and opens up the issue of the societal role of them and the way they are presented. Finally, the thesis also contains information on the the "Pracující do literatury" ("Workers for Literature") campaign. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Decision-making under risk, betting
Herold, Martin ; Hlaváček, Jiří (advisor) ; Pěkná, Martina (referee)
The volume of money bet on the Czech market already exceeded one hundred billion and continues to increase. Therefore, the demand for relevant analysis concerning behaviour of players grows. This thesis aims to study decision making under risk in the environment of gambling and illuminates the discrepancies, provided risk averse consumers are the bettors. The thesis asks the question why people are willing to participate in games with negative expected value and what is their real motivation for gambling, what phenomena determine their view on betting opportunity and how they cope with theoretical models. The theoretical part focuses on existing models of decision making under risk theory and critically evaluates their ability to plausibly reflect reality. Consequently, models such as the expected value, expected utility and prospect theory are introduced, including other basic concepts. In the second section, socioeconomic determinants of player's behaviour are evaluated, improving expected utility theory. In the final section, the thesis demonstrates gathered evidence and possible improvements of the prospect theory model. Although conclusions are not unequivocal, the work provides a comprehensive insight into the utility theory and decision making under risk in an environment of betting.
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Concept of human being during categorization process in birds
Kocourková, Zuzana ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Exnerová, Alice (referee)
Quick and successful recognition and categorisation of a potential social or sexual partner as well as dangerous predators is an essential ability for each animal. Creation of categories and cognitive processes required to do so are of great importance to uderstanding to cognition of other species than human. This thesis aims primarily on categorisation experiments using pigeons. Recognition and categorisation might be exercised via a concept (a mental representation). Exercise of this highly evolved approach in pigeons is a subject of a dispute. This thesis goes through and evaluate research on categorisation and presence of a concept, mainly a concept of a human being. It answers what type of concept is utilised and introduces a conclusion of pigeons having a concept and an ability to exercise it. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Trading Volume and Volatility in the US Stock Markets
Juchelka, Tomáš ; Šopov, Boril (advisor) ; Džmuráňová, Hana (referee)
This thesis investigates the relationship between trading volume and stock re- turn volatility using GARCH model in the framework of Mixture of Distri- bution Hypothesis. Analysis is carried out for five well-known stocks selected from the American S&P500 stock index. Our approach was to extend the vari- ance equation of the well known GARCH model on the trading volume which was split into three explanatory variables capturing different effects of volume on volatility. Apart from the relationship itself, we examined the changes of GARCH and ARCH parameters after the inclusion of volume, implicitly testing the Mixture of Distribution Hypothesis. Interesting results and implications for future research were identified. Firstly, we highlight the appropriateness of the volume decomposition into expected and unexpected volume, where all the vol- ume parameters turned out to be statistically significant. General observation was that the increase of both expected and unexpected trading volume leads to the increase of volatility. On the other hand, negative volume shocks tend to decrease it. Eventhough we performed the analysis with lagged and also contemporaneous volume, we were not able to confirm that the inclusion of volume leads to insignificance of the ARCH and GARCH parameters, thus not confirming the...
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