Previous thread rolling methods for the plastic limit are shown to be inadequate and inaccurate. Alternative methods for the plastic limit are shown to be imprecise and unreliable. The strength-based concept and use of the fall-cone test to determine the plastic limit are shown to be flawed. An apparatus that replicates Atterberg’s rolling technique, devised and developed by the author, is described, referred to as the Barnes Apparatus. A thread of soil is rolled between two plates configured to permit extrusion and reduction of diameter with much less operator interference than with the standard test and judgement of the crumbling condition is eliminated. Using a loading device nominal stresses are derived and from dial gauge readings diametral strains are determined for each rolling traverse of the soil thread. Toughness has previously only been studied in an empirical or qualitative manner. From plots of nominal stress vs. strain the workability or toughness of the plastic soil is determined as the work/unit volume. The apparatus and test are appropriate to a wide range of soils. Threads are tested over a range of water contents from near the sticky limit to the brittle state. Good correlations between toughness and water content display an abrupt ductile-brittle transition and give an accurate definition of the plastic limit. From the correlations useful properties are obtained such as the maximum toughness at the plastic limit, the toughness limit, the water content at zero toughness, the stiffness transition, the toughness coefficients, the toughness index and the workability index. An investigation into the significance of the soil thread diameter of 3 mm in the standard plastic limit test has found that as the water content of a soil reduces it undergoes a transition from fully plastic, to cracked, to brittle, largely regardless of the diameter of the thread. It is recommended that the 3 mm diameter requirement is withdrawn from the standard test procedure as unnecessary and emphasis placed on observing the behaviour of the soil thread as it is rolled by hand. A review of the relationship between the clay matrix and the granular particles in a soil has found that the linear law of mixtures and activity index are appropriate only at high clay contents. The terms granular spacing ratio and matrix porosity are introduced to explain the effect of the granular particles on the toughness and plastic limit. An analysis confirms that with small diameter soil threads large granular particles affect the results disproportionately. An aggregation ratio term is introduced to explain the change in toughness in the clay matrix as its water content reduces towards the plastic limit. To assess the effect of granular particles in a clay matrix on the toughness and plastic limit the results of tests conducted on mixtures of a high plasticity clay and silt, and sand particles of two different sizes are discussed. Smaller particle sizes are found to have a greater effect on reducing the toughness and the plastic limit of the clay. In the ceramics industry mixing different clays together to obtain suitable properties is common. The toughness and plastic limits of two pairs of mixed clays do not follow the linear law of mixtures but are dependent on the total clay content and the content of a dominant clay mineral.

Development of the economic situation in recent years raises number of issues, including defining what are the factors of this development and whether it is possible to affect them. This thesis deals with the demographic factors of economic growth; those are factors associated with general population and factors which may have an impact on the country's economy. The main aim of this work is to precisely identify the demographic factor and analyze their development in the Czech Republic since the early 1990s to the present days. Furthermore, the economic development is analyzed along with the indicators of economic activity in sorting by various demographic factors. Special attention is given to the status of working foreigners within the labor market. To emphasize the specifics of the development of the various sectors of national economy the construction industry was selected as a case example. The analysis of the employment in the construction industry was conducted in regard to demographic and economic indicators. To illustrate the results of the analysis column, line and pie charts were used in addition to the figures in the tables.

The objective of this thesis is evaluation of financial health of Pilkington Czech s.r.o. by using chosen methods of financial analysis. It contains concepts of potential solutions of discovered problems, which have to lead in the future to the improvements of financial situation of the company.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to analyse the financial health of the Lukrom company on the basis of the selected financial analysis methods. To determine the financial situation of the company I have used the corporate financial data from 2006 - 2008. The master’s thesis contains some suggestions for the improvement of the current financial situation.

This master´s theses is concerned with a recognition of an economic situation „IVes, l. t. d.“. For the valuation were used techniques of financil analysis, fixing hazards, which affect the company. Their real impact on progress of company, afterwards valuation gained finding and formation of the offer, which will make improvement of situation at the market for the next season.

The aim of this master’s thesis called “Evaluation of the financial situation in the firm and proposal to its improvement” is analyse of the financial situation using selected financial analysis methods. This master’s thesis contains some recommendation for problem solving in the areas of financial management in Raciola company. I have used financial data from 2006 – 2010 in this master’s thesis.

This master´s thesis helps to explain the situation of the Financial Health of the company Vetropack Moravia Glass, a. s. in the year 2006-2010. There were used methods of financial anylysis and the recognized facts were served as a base for suggestions possible solutions which will lead to the improvement of the financial situation in the company.

The thesis „ Evaluation of the financial situacion of a company and proposals for its improvement“ deals with the financial evaluation of the company and its purpose is to provide recommendations for improving financial situacion and competitiveness of the company.

Dans l'industrie bancaire, plusieurs études ont montré l'existence de la gestion du ratio de solvabilité. Toutefois, elles se sont focalisées pour l'essentiel sur la manipulation des provisions et avancent généralement que la gestion du ratio de solvabilité est mise en œuvre en vue d'éviter les coûts réglementaires associés à un ratio inférieur au seuil minimum. Notre thèse examine la pratique de gestion du ratio de solvabilité à travers les ajustements prudentiels qui sont des retraitements que la banque doit opérer pour passer des fonds propres comptables aux fonds propres réglementaires. Les ajustements prudentiels sont composés de déductions et de filtres prudentiels destinés à atténuer l'impact de la volatilité des fonds propres induite par la juste valeur liée à l'application des IFRS. Adoptant une démarche diachronique et une approche instrumentale, l'étude se base sur un échantillon de banques européennes et utilise des méthodes de régression par données de panel, ainsi que des tests de robustesse tels que le bootstrap et la régression quantile. Le principal apport de cette thèse est de montrer que la transformation de l'information comptable en information réglementaire passe par les ajustements prudentiels qui constituent un pont sur lequel une gestion opportuniste du ratio de solvabilité peut être effectuée à travers des variables relatives à la qualité du capital et à la performance opérationnelle de la banque. L'étude montre que la gestion du capital n'est pas l'exclusivité des banques présentant un ratio faible. Enfin, elle permet de ne plus considérer le ratio de solvabilité comme une boîte noire et de l'examiner à travers ses composantes. / Through Earnings Management practices applied to banking industry, several studies have shown existence of Capital Adequacy Ratio Management (CARM). However, they are mainly focused on loss loan provision (LLP) manipulation's and suppose that Capital adequacy ratio management motivation is to reduce regulatory costs imposed when the bank's capital adequacy ratio falls below the minimum. This thesis deals with the possibilities of banks to manage the regulatory ratio via the prudential adjustments, which are corrections made to equity items in the statement of financial position, to safeguard the quality of the supervisory capital and to reduce potential volatility induced by fair value accounting (application of IFRS). Adopting diachronic and instrumental approaches, the study is based on a sample of European banks and uses regression methods by panel data and bootstrap and quantile regression as post estimation and robustness tests. The main contribution of this thesis is to show that the necessary transformation of accounting information into regulatory information by prudential adjustments constitutes a bridge on which a timely CARM could be carried out through variables relating to the quality of the capital and the operational performance of the bank. Furthermore, the results show that CARM is not exclusively dedicated to banks with ratio close to minimum. Finally the results make possible to no longer consider the capital adequacy ratio as a black box and to examine it through its components.

In the field of sustainable finance, Environmental-, Social- and Governance-ratings (ESG) have become an acknowledged measurement of a firm's sustainability performance. The increased awareness of sustainability issues in today's society is undeniable. However, based upon contradicting results from previous research, it was uncertain if investors were rewarding a firm’s sustainability efforts in the form of a lower cost of equity. The purpose of this thesis has therefore been to examine the relationship between sustainability, risk and valuation as well as stock-price behavior in times of crisis regarding large firms publicly listed in the Nordic countries. In order to fulfil the purpose, various multiple regression models have been conducted on quarterly data from the period between 2011 to 2020. The approach chosen to examine if ESG has a relation to the cost of equity has been to calculate the implied cost of equity inferred from consensus forecasts of future financial development and stock price at each point in time, also known as the ex-ante cost of equity. Since the independent variable ESG-score was not likely to be the sole variable to affect the independent variables in our multivariate regression models, we have followed previous studies in the choice of control variables. The empirical results of this study showed a significantly negative relationship between a firm’s ESG-score and the cost of equity. In addition, our results showed a significantly positive relationship between a firm’s ESG-score and both the price-to-earnings ratio as well as the price-to-book ratio while no significant relationship between a firm’s ESG-score and the enterprise value to earnings before interest and taxes ratio could be established. Finally, the results of this thesis showed that firms with a greater ESG-score generated excess returns during the latest market turmoil of 2020 caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. This thesis challenges the value-destruction view of ESG-efforts since our results indicate that investors are pricing sustainability risk with a negative risk premium in line with the value creation approach. No causality test has been performed during this study, however several possible mechanisms by which ESG impacts the valuation and crisis resistance have been discussed based upon previous research and the theoretical framework. We argue for the reduced cost of equity to reflect diminished information asymmetry, a larger investor base, improved growth and cash-flow opportunities as well as reduced risk for litigations as aconsequence of a more sustainable business conduct. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study on the topic has been conducted on the Nordic markets. This study fills thus a research gap on the relation between sustainability, risk andequity market valuation and we sincerely hope to have contributed to academia with new approaches.