This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part analyses recently published data from the Central Grant Registry (CEDR) on state grant distribution in Czechia between 1999 and the present year. In the second part, I link this data to information on political connections established through donations to parties and examine whether politically connected firms are more successful in competing for state grants. I match the donating firms to non-donating but otherwise similar firms using propensity scores based on a number of observable characteristics. The results indicate that donating companies have a 40% higher success rate in receiving state grants compared to non-donating firms. I find that the effect is higher for grants from the state budget than for grants from EU funds, which is consistent with EU-funded grants being subject to stricter regulations. JEL Classification D72, D73, H2, H71, H81 Keywords grants, subsidies, donations, political connections Author's e-mail martin.kopecek@smallhill.cz Supervisor's e-mail miroslav.palansky@gmail.com

This report presents results of an empirical study which investigated how two grade 9 Arts and Culture teachers incorporated mathematics in their Arts and Culture lessons in their classrooms in South Africa. The study was implemented through concept mapping activities undertaken by these Arts and Culture teachers. Data was collected from these concept mapping activities and follow-up interviews with teachers. The analysis of the collected data revealed that teachers grapple with the notion of integration, particularly, when it comes to the transfer knowledge and skills across different learning contexts. Lack of proper training, insufficient teacher knowledge and inadequate support from curriculum designers seem to be the most inhibiting factors for teachers to navigate successfully through the notion of integrated teaching and learning. However, in a bid to deal with these new pedagogical challenges, it was observed that teachers resort to other forms of integration, such as relying on students in order to forge links between subjects of learning. The analysis of data from this study raised important pedagogical issues about the link between integrated teaching and teacher content knowledge, and the apparent need for teachers to transform their identities. Drawing from the theory of situated learning, this study has argued that, although integration between fields of learning is desirable in teaching and learning, it is highly problematic in actual practice. For instance, through this study, it was observed that Arts and Culture teachers struggle to use their knowledge of Arts and Culture and mathematics in order to forge connections between the two fields of learning. The study has also drawn from Bernstein‟s theoretical constructs in order to argue that teachers, particularly those in different learning fields like Arts and Culture and mathematics, intuitively posses different „pedagogical codes‟ which account for their inability to negotiate meaning across different learning contexts. Finally, the study has explored and exploited the argument presented through the van Hiele‟s theoretical framework that students turn to progress quicker in geometry (mathematics) when learning takes place in different styles. I have subsequently used this theoretical framework to argue that connections between Arts and Culture and mathematics should be encouraged at school level, as Arts and Culture could provide an exciting pedagogical environment for the teaching and learning of mathematics, which is often construed to be abstract.

This study investigates the relationships among corporate governance mechanism, firm performance, and executive compensation within Chinese publicly listed firms. The corporate governance structure in China is a unique combination of the Anglo-American model and the German system by including a board of director and a supervisory board simultaneously, and has two monitoring organs, independent directors and supervisory board, co-existing. One of the special features of the Chinese publicly listed firms is their close relationship with the government because most of them were converted from state-owned enterprises at the beginning of the market-oriented economic reform in China. Therefore, we attempt to explore the effects of political connections of their ultimate controllers on corporate governance mechanism, on firm performance, and on executive compensation in China. Our findings indicate a dysfunctional corporate governance system in China, which cannot bring improved firm performance but grant executives high compensations. While we take into consideration the political connections, our results show that they deteriorate corporate governance mechanism, but do not result in inferior firm performance. Robustness tests demonstrate a non-linear effect of corporate governance on executive compensation, jointly depending on the status of a firms political connection and its ownership structure.

Aquesta tesi esta composada per tres assaigs. Cadascún dels assaigs presenta investigació empírica original i independent analitzant els impactes de les connexions politiques sobre l’economia. Els articles fan una contribució significativa a aquesta literatura empírica, al mateix temps que subratllen les limitacions i desafiaments amb els que actualment s’enfronten els investigadors d’aquest camp. La recerca que aquí es presenta aplica desenvolupaments als metodes de recerca empirica que milloren la fiabilitat dels resultats. En el segon capitol s’estima l’impacte d’un aconteixement sorpresa a nivell polític sobre els retorns financers del mercat espanyol. Això inclou els impactes específics en determinats sectors i empreses que estan connectades políticament. En els últims dies de la campanya electoral per les eleccions generals espanyoles de l’any 2004, atacs terroristes van causar la mort de 191 persones que viatjaven en tren a la capital del país, Madrid. Quatre dies mes tard, el partit a l’oposició va guanyar les eleccions generals, en contra de totes les prediccions i enquestes que s’havien fet anteriorment a l’acció terrorista. Aquest canvi d’expectatives presenta una oportunitat única per aplicar tècniques d’event study per contrastar hipòtesis de política econòmica. L’anàlisi mostra que les hipòtesis de captura de polítics per empreses, junt amb problemes d’agència en empreses privatitzades i amb dispersió accionarial, no són rebutjades per les dades. En el tercer capítol, intento superar algunes de les limitacions de la recerca empírica en aquest camp, i exploro l’impacte de les connexions polítiques a les empreses en el rendiment empresarial. Ho faig fent servint les dos principals tècniques empíriques que es fan servir més comunment a la literatura economica: anàlisi centrat en establir les reaccions dels mercats financers a esdeveniments d’índole política; i anàlisi economètric de l’impacte de les connexions polítiques en el rendiment contable de les empreses. Els resultats de l’anàlisi indiquen que en els primers anys dels segle XXI, les connexions polítiques podrien haver tingut un impact negatiu sobre el rendiment de les empreses espanyoles. Tot i que els resultats basats en les reaccions dels mercats financers no són concloents, l’anàlisi economètric sobre mesures contables mostra una relació negativa i estadísticament significativa entre connexions polítiques i beneficis empresarials. Els resultats son consistents quan s’utilitzen diferents variables per mesurar el nivell de connexions polítiques, i també sota diverses especificacions economètriques que incloen regressions amb mètodes de variables instrumentals. Finalment, el capítol 4 considera l’influencia del sector privat en les decisions preses des de l’administració pública. Això contrasta amb l’anàlisi presentat en els dos capítols anteriors i a la majoria de recerca empírica en aquest camp, on el que es considera es generalment l’impacte de les connexions polítiques sobre els resultats econòmics empresarials. L’anàlisi està basat en dades del Regne Unit sobre la concessió de subsidis a empreses per dur a terme recerca i desenvolupament. L’agència responsable de la concessió de subsidis al Regne Unit, la Technology Strategy Board, s’encarrega en primer lloc d’identificar àrees de prioritat tecnològica. Un cop aquestes arees són aprovades i dotades de recursos pel Govern, l’agència s’encarrega de convocar concursos i seleccionar les propostes guanyadores. Els resultats de l’anàlisi suggereixen que el programa de subsidis, tot i ser efectiu en corretgir alguns errors de mercat, està esbiaixat en la distribució dels subsidis cap a aquelles empreses que estan directament connectades amb l’agència. / This thesis is composed by three essays, each presenting independent and original empirical research on the impacts of political connections on the economy. This research makes a significant contribution to such empirical literature. It also highlights the limitations and challenges that are currently faced by researchers in this field and applies developments to the empirical methods which improve the reliability of results. In Chapter 2 I estimate the impact of a surprise political event on the financial returns of the Spanish markets, including the specific impacts on selected sectors and politically connected companies. In the last days of the electoral campaign for the 2004 general election in Spain, on Thursday March 11th 2004, a series of simultaneous terror attacks caused the death of 191 persons in commuting trains in the capital Madrid. Four days later, the opposition party won the election, against all predictions that were made prior to the terror attacks. This change in expectations presents us with a unique opportunity to take advantage of event study techniques to test some politico-economic hypotheses. The analysis shows that such hypothesis of capture of politicians by firms, in itself and combined with agency problems in privatized firms with dispersed shareholdings, is not rejected by the data. In Chapter 3, I undertake to overcome some of the constraints in the empirical literature by exploring the impact of political connections on firm performance by employing the two main empirical approaches that have been applied to ascertain the impact of connections on the performance of firms: analysis of financial markets reactions to political events; and econometric analysis of the impact of political connections on accounting-type measures of firm performance. The results of the analysis indicate that in Spain, in the first years of the 21st century, political connections may have had a negative impact on firms’ profits. Even though results from the financial markets-based analysis are inconclusive, the econometric analysis of accounting-based measures of performance shows a negative and highly statistically significant negative impact of political connections on firm’s performance. The results hold regardless of the particular variable or measure that is used to proxy for political connectedness, and under different considerations of the degree of connections that is considered. The results also hold when controlling for the potential endogeneity that may exist - whereas connections to politicians might result in better (worse) business performance, also changes in business performance might lead to higher (lower) connections. Finally, Chapter 4 considers the influence of the private sector on decisions taken by the public sector. This is in contrast with chapters 2 and 3, and most of the empirical literature on political connections, which consider the impacts of politicians on the economic outcomes of the private sector. The analysis is based on UK data where as in most countries R&D grants are conceded in a beauty contest process. The Technology Strategy Board (TSB), the UK agency responsible for offering such grants, jointly with its funding Government Department, identifies technology and research priority areas, after which specific competitions are run and winning projects selected. The results suggest that whilst the R&D cooperative programme is to an extent effective in targeting the market failures it aims to address, its allocation of grants across the private sector is biased towards connected businesses, after controlling for company and sector specific factors.

This study investigates the relationships among corporate governance mechanism, firm performance, and executive compensation within Chinese publicly listed firms. The corporate governance structure in China is a unique combination of the Anglo-American model and the German system by including a board of director and a supervisory board simultaneously, and has two monitoring organs, independent directors and supervisory board, co-existing. One of the special features of the Chinese publicly listed firms is their close relationship with the government because most of them were converted from state-owned enterprises at the beginning of the market-oriented economic reform in China. Therefore, we attempt to explore the effects of political connections of their ultimate controllers on corporate governance mechanism, on firm performance, and on executive compensation in China. Our findings indicate a dysfunctional corporate governance system in China, which cannot bring improved firm performance but grant executives high compensations. While we take into consideration the political connections, our results show that they deteriorate corporate governance mechanism, but do not result in inferior firm performance. Robustness tests demonstrate a non-linear effect of corporate governance on executive compensation, jointly depending on the status of a firms political connection and its ownership structure.

The modern oil and gas industry of America has seen most of the high quality, easily obtainable resources, already produced, thus causing wells to be drilled deeper in search for unconventional resources. This means Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) must improve in order to withstand harsher conditions; especially the ability of connections to effectively create leak tight seals. This study investigates the use of thread connections in tight gas fields; therefore, an insight into their potential to contribute to fulfilling the energy demands is necessary. Also, a survey of completed projects done in tight gas fields can provide vital information that will establish the minimum requirements thread connection must meet to perform its functions. To make suitable adjustments to ensure safe and efficient operations we must thoroughly understand the many aspects of thread connections. To have this understanding, a review of previous works was carried out that highlights the capabilities and imitations of thread connections. In addition to reviewing previous work done on thread connections; this study measured the viscosity of thread compounds under variable conditions. It was found that viscosity of thread compound falls in the range of 285,667 cP and 47,758 cP when measured between 32.9 degrees F and 121.5 degrees F. This can be very important because thread compound is essential to the function of thread connections. The knowledge of its viscosity can help choose the most suitable compound. By knowing the value of the viscosity of a thread compound it can also be used to form an analytical assessment of the grooved plate method by providing a means to calculate a pressure gradient which impacts the leakage.

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of rhetorical reading interventions on ELL and dominant English speaking college students' perceptions of reading-writing connections, reading performances as measured by the Accuplacer Reading Test, and writing performances as measured by a holistic rubric. ELL, as defined here, refers to a student who is in the process of acquiring English and has knowledge of a first language other than English. The researcher applied a quasi-experimental comparison and treatment group post test design that included four composition classes. The independent variable was the rhetorical reading intervention. The dependent variables included: student reading- writing connection surveys, the Accuplacer Reading Test, and student generated essays. The rhetorical reading intervention applied focused on constructing awareness of an author?s purpose, context, and effect on audience (reader. Reading performance scores for the comparison group indicated an observed change in the mean score from pre-test to post-test of 0 .17. The observed change in the mean score from pre to post test performance for treatment group participants was 9.16. Repeated measures ANOVA test yielded a main effect for pre-post reading performance scores across groups, F (1,70)=16.153, p<.05. Results indicated that comparison group participants displayed minimal change between the pre and post Accuplacer Reading scores; while, treatment group participants reading scores increased significantly. Writing performance scores for the comparison group indicated an observed change from pre-post scores of .74. An observed change was indicated from pre-post scores of 1.02 for treatment group subjects. A repeated measures (ANOVA) test within groups yielded a main effect for pre-post writing performance scores across all groups, F(1,70)= 60.327, p<.05. The greater increase for the treatment group suggests that rhetorical reading interventions had an enhanced positive influence on writing performance scores. The analyses reported suggest varying degrees of the effects, on both reading and writing, the integration of reading with specific rhetorical guidelines appeared to maximize not only the connections between reading and writing, but also provide students opportunities to apply critical thinking skills when reading like a writer. The study provides noteworthy insights for educators in the areas of ELL instruction at the college level and provides information that facilitates bridging the achievement gap between dominant English speakers and ELL students.

In the study of mathematics, one of the most useful, relevant topics explored in secondary mathematics remains the zeros of polynomials. This paper will present various ways to explore this topic while preserving the fundamental concept as a whole. In addition, this paper will reveal some distinct relationships between roots and their behavior within the different branches of mathematics. The purpose of this paper is to show how this topic can be inserted at key points in the developmental curriculum to preserve the autonomy of this vital mathematical concept, allowing students to experience the behavior and value of this topic in a variety of contexts. / text

Reduction theory for systems with symmetry deals with the problem of understanding dynamics on a manifold with an action of a Lie group. In geometric mechanics, this problem can be formulated in the Lagrangian, Hamiltonian or affine connection frameworks. While the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations have been well developed, the results obtained in these setups are based on variational principles and symplectic geometry. These methods cannot be used directly in the affine connection formulation unless additional structure is available. In this thesis, a manifold with an arbitrary affine connection is considered, and the geodesic spray associated with the connection is studied in the presence of a Lie group action. In particular, results are obtained that provide insight into the structure of the reduced dynamics associated with the given invariant affine connection. The geometry of the frame bundle of the given manifold is used to provide an intrinsic description of the geodesic spray. A fundamental relationship between the geodesic spray, the tangent lift and the vertical lift of the symmetric product is obtained, which provides a key to understanding reduction in this formulation. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mathematics & Statistics) -- Queen's University, 2007-07-24 01:00:05.635

The embedment strength of timber with respect to exposure temperature has not been widely studied. Some studies have suggested that the timber totally loses its embedment strength when the timber temperature reaches 300℃. This research concentrates on the embedment strength study of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) timber product exposed to elevated temperatures up to 250℃ using singly bolted connections. Experiments showed that the embedment strength of LVL decreased at a constant rate from 0.08 kN/mm² to 0.025 kN/mm² once the bolt temperature increased from ambient conditions. The embedment strength was then assumed to remain at strength of 0.025 kN/mm² as the bolt temperature continues to increase from 120℃. The difference between the estimated failure load based on Johansen's Equations and the experimental failure load for the connections tested under fire conditions was less than 30%. The estimation was based on bolt strength reduction using NZS 3404, the experimental charring rate and the experimental embedment strength. The predicted failure mode agreed with experimental for all types of connection.