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Differences and similarities on the approaches of buyers from X and Y generations regarding sustainable procurement
Lacour, Maxime ; Štěrbová, Ludmila (advisor) ; Geniaux, Isabelle (referee)
Responsible procurement has become a real challenge for companies following the current trends of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and more and more ethic-oriented customers. Differing from the concept of green procurement this concept of responsible procurement supports the willingness of companies to have ethic and sustainable supplies. The usual criteria in procurement such as price performances innovation terms and time of payment have increasingly been coupled with more ethic-oriented ones. These criteria related to ethics combine both social and environmental responsibilities of suppliers and stakeholders such as energetic savings and the possession of a particular certification. Currently many call for tenders set ecological requirements for suppliers or subcontractors even in non-strategic procurement activities. The goal of this thesis is about comparing this approach to responsible procurement between buyers from the X and Y generation: do they share the same ideas and priorities concerning responsible procurement? For both of these generations are the advantages and drawbacks of responsible procurement similar?
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Chytrá a udržitelná města v kontextu vědecké a inovační strategie EU
Horniecká, Marie ; Žamberský, Pavel (advisor) ; Procházková Ilinitchi, Cristina (referee)
The thesis explores how the EU support to research and innovation towards urban sustainability is designed, what the existing EU intiatives striving for achieving smart and sustainable cities are. The analysis of theoretical approaches forms the basis for developing the definition of smart and sustainable city for the purpose of this thesis. An overview of the principal EU strategic documents which address urban sustainability together with European networks is provided in order to demonstrate the linkage to the research Framework Programmes. A separate chapter is devoted to the analysis of the most pressing challenges European cities face nowadays. Database of EU funded research and innovation calls and projects is examined (E-CORDA). Calls and projects related to urban areas are identified and juxtaposed with the urban problems. Final recommendations concern with social aspects of sustainability which should be, in the author's opinion, addressed in future EU research Framework Programmes with a particular attention.
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Urbanization in China: Sustainability of Chinese Cities
Králíková, Petra ; Stuchlíková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Neumann, Pavel (referee)
The aim of the master thesis is to characterize development trends of Chinese urbanization since the establishment of People´s Republic of China until today, approaches to these trends and evaluate their sustainability. Thesis includes four main parts. The first part introduces main urbanization theories: Stages of Urban Development, Differential Urbanization, and Environmental Kuznets Curve. The second part characterizes the development of Chinese urbanization, defines two main determinants of the future development and tries to cover different potential future scenarios. The third part deals with Chinese urban policies, such as five-year-plans, Urbanization plan and reforms. After that, the sustainability issue is evaluated. Last part of the thesis deals with urbanization trends and policies in Chongqing municipality.
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Serverless single page application in JavaScript
Zikmund, Marian ; Pecinovský, Rudolf (advisor) ; Suchan, Vladimír (referee)
The goal of this thesis is to design and develop a framework for building modern single- page application in the JavaScript programming language and describe this approach to development. The work also contains the documentation for a more comfortable use and customization. The content is divided into eight chapters. The introduction is followed by the retrieval of information resources, including the specifics of the JavaScript programming language and explanation of the formation of single-page application. The description of the basic principles of their functioning, motivation and justification, when and why this approach is appropriate is also included. The work is primarily focused on the issue of single-page application, for which the use of the JavaScript programming language is crucial. For this reason, this work provides a whole chapter about this programming language, also including a description of its history and role in the context of others. Below are the common characteristics of single-page applications frameworks, built on top of the library ReactJS, whose formation is engaged in the following chapter. The developed framework also contains the user guide. The practical outcome of this work is an open source framework for creating serverless single-page applications, which is due to its architecture and documentation appropriately adaptable.
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Řízení IS/ICT se zaměřením na sourcing služeb informačního systému
Šebesta, Michal ; Voříšek, Jiří (advisor) ; Havlíček, Zdeněk (referee) ; Příklenk, Oldřich (referee) ; Král, Jaroslav (referee)
Research on outsourcing has been around for several decades, while recent evolution in the information systems discipline towards ICT service commoditization significantly changes the context of decision-making. Services that are available on-demand via the Internet allow organizations implementing functions they demand in a fraction of time. This trend represents a chance for organizations seeking to use advanced ICT services without a need of major investments. Problem is the current lack of guidelines and tools for managing ICT services and their outsourcing. Given the trends on the ICT service market, it is expected that much of the IT management in the future will encompass the ICT services and utilize service-level structures. Methods currently available are either too broad or encompass only small part of the whole problem. Ad-hoc or unsound decisions in this area might cause major complications in terms of quality, usability, integration, and consequently influence total cost of organizational IT. Organizations need to either revise existing models or propose and implement completely new models to manage their IS/ICT. This thesis deals with the management of IS/ICT with focus on the ICT services outsourcing. It discusses available sourcing models in the literature and links them to the various interconnected areas. Based on these areas, it presents an integrated view on IT outsourcing strategies. Most importantly the thesis proposes an original concept for decision-making about outsourcing of ICT services named the SOURCER framework. This approach utilizes the presented outsourcing strategies, and introduces a complex methodology and decision-making criteria that will assist organizations with selection of ICT services in order to maintain and manage a most suitable ICT service portfolio. The decision-making is based on four essential viewpoints: function, costs, time, and quality. These viewpoints are discussed, individually analyzed, and serve as a basis for further research. The whole framework is developed and validated according to Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). Individual components are evaluated using a survey among a group of selected IT managers. Proof of concept is then established by a case study on framework use in a real organization. This case study covers strategy specification, business--IT alignment, specifying service architecture and its interconnections, outsourcing, and management of the ICT service portfolio.
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Clustering and regression analysis of micro panel data
Sobíšek, Lukáš ; Pecáková, Iva (advisor) ; Komárek, Arnošt (referee) ; Brabec, Marek (referee)
The main purpose of panel studies is to analyze changes in values of studied variables over time. In micro panel research, a large number of elements are periodically observed within the relatively short time period of just a few years. Moreover, the number of repeated measurements is small. This dissertation deals with contemporary approaches to the regression and the clustering analysis of micro panel data. One of the approaches to the micro panel analysis is to use multivariate statistical models originally designed for crosssectional data and modify them in order to take into account the within-subject correlation. The thesis summarizes available tools for the regression analysis of micro panel data. The known and currently used linear mixed effects models for a normally distributed dependent variable are recapitulated. Besides that, new approaches for analysis of a response variable with other than normal distribution are presented. These approaches include the generalized marginal linear model, the generalized linear mixed effects model and the Bayesian modelling approach. In addition to describing the aforementioned models, the paper also includes a brief overview of their implementation in the R software. The difficulty with the regression models adjusted for micro panel data is the ambiguity of their parameters estimation. This thesis proposes a way to improve the estimations through the cluster analysis. For this reason, the thesis also contains a description of methods of the cluster analysis of micro panel data. Because supply of the methods is limited, the main goal of this paper is to devise its own two-step approach for clustering micro panel data. In the first step, the panel data are transformed into a static form using a set of proposed characteristics of dynamics. These characteristics represent different features of time course of the observed variables. In the second step, the elements are clustered by conventional spatial clustering techniques (agglomerative clustering and the C-means partitioning). The clustering is based on a dissimilarity matrix of the values of clustering variables calculated in the first step. Another goal of this paper is to find out whether the suggested procedure leads to an improvement in quality of the regression models for this type of data. By means of a simulation study, the procedure drafted herein is compared to the procedure applied in the kml package of the R software, as well as to the clustering characteristics proposed by Urso (2004). The simulation study demonstrated better results of the proposed combination of clustering variables as compared to the other combinations currently used. A corresponding script written in the R-language represents another benefit of this paper. It is available on the attached CD and it can be used for analyses of readers own micro panel data.
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Use of Interest Rate Models for Interest Rate Risk Management in the Czech Financial Market Environment
Cíchová Králová, Dana ; Arlt, Josef (advisor) ; Cipra, Tomáš (referee) ; Witzany, Jiří (referee)
The main goal of this thesis is to suggest an appropriate approach to interest rate risk modeling in the Czech financial market environment in various situations. Three distinct periods are analyzed. These periods, which are the period before the global financial crisis, period during the financial crisis and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and calming subsequent debt crisis in the eurozone, are characterized by different evaluation of liquidity and credit risk, different relationship between financial variables and market participants and different degree of market regulations. Within this goal, an application of the BGM model in the Czech financial market environment is crucial. Use of the BGM model for the purpose of predicting a dynamics of a yield curve is not very common. This is firstly due to the fact that primary use of this model is a valuation of interest rate derivatives while ensuring the absence of arbitrage and secondly its application is relatively difficult. Nevertheless, I apply the BGM model to obtain predictions of the probability distributions of interest rates in the Czech and eurozone market environment, because its complexity, direct modeling of a yield curve based on market rates and especially a possibility of parameter estimation based on current swaptions volatilities quotations may lead to a significant improvement of predictions. This improvement was also confirmed in this thesis. Use of swaptions volatilities market quotations is especially useful in the period of unprecedented mone- tary easing and increased number of central banks and other regulators interventions into financial markets that occur after the financial crisis, because it reflects current market expectations which also include future interventions. As a consequence of underdevelopment of the Czech financial market there are no market quotations of Czech koruna denominated swaptions volatilities. I suggest their approximations based on quotations of euro denominated swaptions volatilities and also using volatilities of koruna and euro forward rates. Use of this approach ensures that predictions of the Czech yield curve dynamics contain current market expectations. To my knowledge, any other author has not presented similar application of the BGM model in the Czech financial market environment. In this thesis I further predict a Czech and Euro area money market yield curve dynamics using the CIR and the GP models as representatives of various types of interest rates models to compare these predictions with BGM predictions. I suggest a comprehensive system of three criteria, based on comparison of predicti- ons with reality, to describe a predictive power of selected models and an appropria- teness of their use in the Czech market environment during different situations in the market. This analysis shows that predictions of the Czech money market yield curve dynamics based on the BGM model demonstrate high predictive power and the best 8 quality in comparison with other models. GP model also produces relatively good qua- lity predictions. Conversely, predictions based on the CIR model as a representative of short rate model family completely failed when describing reality. In a situation when the economy allows negative rates and there is simultaneously a significant likelihood of their implementation, I recommend to obtain predictions of Czech money market yield curve dynamics using GP model which allows existence of negative interest rates. This analysis also contains a statistical test for validating the predictive power of each model and information on other tests. Berkowitz test rejects a hypothesis of accurate predictions for each model. However, this fact is common in real data testing even when using relatively good model. This fact is especially caused by difficult fulfilment of test conditions in real world. To my knowledge, such an analysis of the predictive power of selected interest rate models moreover in the Czech financial market environment has not been published yet. The last goal of this thesis is to suggest an appropriate approach to obtaining pre- dictions of Czech government bonds risk premium dynamics. I define this risk premium as a difference between government bond yields and fixed rate of CZK IRS with the same length. I apply the GP model to describe the dynamics of this indicator of the Czech Republic credit risk. In order to obtain a time series of the risk premium which are necessary for estimation of GP model parameters I firstly estimate yield curves of Czech government bonds using Svensson model for each trading day since 2005. Resulting si- mulations of risk premium show that the GP model predicts the real development of risk premiums of all maturities relatively well. Hence, the proposed approach is suitable for modeling of Czech Republic credit risk based on the use of information extracted from financial markets. I have not registered proposed approach to risk premium modeling moreover in the Czech financial market environment in other publications.
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Leisure activities for children with hearing handicap
SEBENIOVÁ, Tereza
The topic of my bachelor thesis is: "Leisure Time Activities for Hearing-Impaired Children". The theory part of my bachelor thesis explains what hearing impairment means and the associated concepts, and it further presents special education as an academic discipline and surdopaedia as its branch. The final theory part defines the concept of leisure time and describes the organisations and institutions that offer leisure time activities. The thesis is aimed to determine the offer of leisure time activities for hearing-impaired children in České Budějovice. The research part is focused to identify how hearing-impaired children spend their leisure time, and to gather information from people who work with hearing-impaired children. To further illustrate this issue, it was necessary to find out in the organisations that offer leisure time activities whether they have some clients amongst hearing-impaired children and whether their organisations enable at all to work with such handicapped children. The research part was implemented using qualitative research and the method of controlled interview. The research was carried out in the period of four months from January to April 2011. Interviews were conducted in three target groups - the S1 set comprised hearing-impaired children, S2 covered teaching staff, and S3 included organisations and specialists who offer leisure time activities, or children and youth organisations. A total of 20 interviews were conducted with hearing-impaired children, 3 interviews with school staff and the staff of the Special Education Centre for Hearing-Impaired People, 1 interview with the interpreter from the Basic Deaf Organisation, and 9 interviews with the staff of the organisations that offer leisure time activities. The research results show that children who do not depend on communication using the sign language spend their leisure time similar to their intact peers. Further it was determined that no specific afternoon club is available for hearing-impaired children in České Budějovice, but none of the approached organisations offering leisure time activities resist to work with such handicapped children. The gathered knowledge can inspire parents of hearing-impaired children to improve how their children spend leisure time. The knowledge could also be used by organisations and institutions that offer leisure time activities.
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The capacity of the European Union to form a common foreign policy: The approach towards Russia during the crisis in Ukraine
Grycová, Adéla ; Rolenc, Jan Martin (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
The thesis deals with the issues of framing and europeanization of the foreign policy of the European Union in the context of an actorness of the EU. These two theoretical concepts are applied on the case of an approach of the Czech Republic and European Union towards Russian Federation during the crisis in Ukraine. The aim of this thesis is to find out if the European Union is capabble of affecting the behaviour of a member state in order to create unified and operational foreign policy. The first chapter deals with teoretical definition of the two concepts and detailed description of the stances of Czech Republic and European Union follows in the second one. On the basis of these chapters the assessment is conducted. The last part firstly concludes if any attempt of influecing is present and secondly the success rate of the attempt is evaluated.
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