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As a societal phenomenon, festivals and planned events are discussed in a wide policy context. They have entered a broader discussion with regard to sustainability in which the factors that contribute to being sustainable are part of a new paradigm of responsibility for festivals and events. Recognition that this includes responsibility for socio-cultural impacts has gained traction in the academic literature. However, only minor attention has been given to the dynamics and competencies affecting the decision making of festivals and events leadership as it influences these. As the needs of festival stakeholder are changing, so too consideration of new competencies and new platforms for transformation are required. This critical appraisal provides a significant consideration of my research in this subject area. At the core of the appraisal are nine peer-reviewed journal papers, two peer-reviewed research book chapters and one peer-reviewed conference paper. These reveal the contribution over the last ten years made to the body of knowledge in the research area of leadership, futures and sustainable development of festivals and events. The pragmatist paradigm that had guided the work, and the integration of research methods germane to the stage of the research cycle and the layering of knowledge is discussed. A principal tenet of the research is creation of knowledge which is both academically rigorous and socially useful. The contribution of my work to knowledge and understanding is established in three key theme areas of festivals and events leadership values and influences; festivals and events context and stakeholders; and festivals and events futures. For both academic and the festival and event providers, practical benefits of extending the capacity of leadership competencies and awareness – and the obstructions to this – are shown, with methodologies for future visioning and future proofing observed and discussed. Limitations of the work and future research proposals conclude the work.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Daniel M. O'Brien / In recent years, the price volatility in agricultural commodity prices, as well as agricultural input costs, has drastically increased. Today’s famer is faced with difficult decisions concerning when to market their crop, as well as when to secure various inputs. An increase in information availability, coupled with increasing price fluctuations, can make these decisions even more difficult for producers. Although seasonal trends, forecasts, and technical market analysis can be helpful, market efficiency prevents accurate prediction of agricultural prices. Because marketing decisions can be difficult to make, the easiest decision for a producer to make is to not make one at all. However, failure to make sound risk management decisions can be extremely costly to a producer. There are two primary factors that impact a producer’s bottom line: cost of production and grain marketing decisions. Each producer has their own unique cost of production that changes throughout the year. Variable input costs can be volatile within a single growing year, and often the need for certain inputs changes. Marketing decisions and timing can be an even bigger factor in a producer’s gain or loss. Since price prediction is impossible, a producer’s time may be better spent focusing on information they can control. The purpose of this thesis was to test and evaluate a cost of production, crop insurance, and grain marketing calculator with a group of corn and soybean producers in Southeast Nebraska. It is hypothesized that providing customers with a multifaceted, integrated farm management and marketing decision making tool should help them be able to make more profitable risk management and marketing decisions. By knowing how factors as changing expenses impact cost of production and how grain sales impact revenues and profitability per acre, it is hypothesized that users will make more profitable farm management and marketing decisions. In October and November of 2014, twenty corn and soybean farmers were presented with the Grain Marketing Calculator. Grain sales in the 2014 and 2015 crop years were to be entered into the calculator by participating producers as they make their grain sales. Annual production history (APH), revenue protection insurance information, actual or expected yields, and total acres of each crop were entered into the calculator during the initial producer calculator rollout. Generalized costs were entered into the calculator prior to the producer rollouts. Participants were able to change the generalized costs to their actual costs if they chose to do so. Data were gathered from the participants using the Grain Marketing Calculator in March of 2015. Participants weighted average futures sales, weighted average cash sales, percent of APH sold, and percent of total production sold were collected. In March of 2015, the same information from another group of producers who did not use the Grain Marketing Calculator was collected. The two groups average results were compared to each other and regression analyses were done to determine statistical significance of the impact on the test groups’ results. At the end of the experiment, feedback was gathered from participants and improvements were suggested.

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Tato diplomová práce vznikla jako reflexe intenzivního rozvoje českého kapitálového trhu reprezentovaného především Burzou cenných papírů Praha a.s. a jeho přibližování se ke světovým plně sofistikovaným trhům (světovým burzám cenných papírů) cestou rozšíření produktového portfólia o produkty derivátového charakteru. Mezi produkty nově obchodované na Burze cenných papírů Praha, a.s. patří od roku 2006 futures, pákové investiční certifikáty a warranty. Předložená práce se věnuje finančním futures na akciový index PX. Tato diplomová práce si klade za cíl popsat vyčerpávajícím způsobem obchodování s futures kontrakty na českém kapitálovém trhu napříč celým životním cyklem tohoto derivovaného produktu. Práce tak seznamuje čtenáře s bázickými charakteristikami futures kontraktů, s vypořádáním futures obchodů, se způsoby řízení rizik, s výpočtem denních zisků a ztrát vyplývajících z držby těchto kontraktů a v neposlední řadě se věnuje modelům ocenění futures.

The principal aim of this graduation thesis is to characterize technical analysis including its application to chosen investment instrument. The begining of the thesis consists of the main investment approaches in the capital markets and their comparison with technical analysis. Afterwards, the definition and targets of technical analysis are given. Further, the work focuses on the Dow Theory as the main basis of the contemporary technical analysis and mentions other approaches in technical analysis. Then, the instruments of technical analysis are introduced. Graphical methods are only outlined whereas technical indicators are the focus of attention. There is the selection of twelve of them including their construction and usage. Finally, the application of chosen technical indicators belonging to chosen financial instrument is given and achieved results are commented.

This thesis is concerning the problematic of derivatives which can be applicable for commodity risk hedging. The futures contracts and options are utilized for hedging commodity risk on oil market. For purposes of this work is designed a trading strategy, which consists of exponential moving average and expiration cycle of the options. The strategy is tested on historical oil prices. Because the strategy shows promising outputs it was employed on setting options strategy as well. The hedging options strategy collar is tested on historical prices of oil. Testing on historical prices discovered that it is profitable for processor to hedge the oil price by futures contracts. For producer it is more profitable to hedge the price by employing standard collar strategy. On the other side the bear collar strategy generated quite unconvincing outputs for processor. When the out-the-money bear collar war modified into in-the-money bear collar the outputs were satisfactorily profitable.

Teoreticko-metodologická část: Charakteristiky futures kontraktů, specifika STIR futures, specifika LIFFE Aplikační část: Analýza tržní struktury STIR futures na LIFFE, doporučení k obchodování na LIFFE