Nations have always competed vigorously during the bidding process to host mega sporting events. The selection of the host nation is a much anticipated decision that results in the promotion of a country on a global platform. In this paper, I use a market adjusted return (index) model to conduct an event study in order to examine abnormal returns in the stock market surrounding the selection of a nation for the Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. I also focus specifically on the construction and industrial sectors, as well as analyze the impact of selection on the nation emerging as the runner up in the bidding process. The research finds that the outcome of the selection process is partially anticipated by investors, resulting in a market reaction that does not accurately measure the financial impact of hosting the event. As developing nations have demonstrated an increased interest in the hosting of events over the years, this paper also addresses the resulting policy implications, as well as the opportunity cost and the economic effects of crowding out and substitution.

Muzikinis ugdymas – viena iš pagrindinių estetinio ugdymo sudedamųjų dalių. Muzikavimas teikia vaikui teigimų emocijų, kurios yra būtina sąlyga normaliam ir visapusiam vaiko vystymuisi. Esminiai mokyklinio amžiaus vaikų muzikinio ugdymo tikslai yra „įauginti“ vaiką į tautos muzikinę kultūrą, formuoti gerą muzikinį skonį, estetinį muzikos suvokimą, lavinti muzikinius gabumus, mokėjimus bei įgūdžius. Muzikos vadyba – sudėtinga veikla, kuri užima ypatingą vietą mūsų besikeičiančioje visuomenėje. Tyrimo tikslas - išsiaiškinti muzikinių renginių organizavimo vadybinius aspektus. Šiame darbe aptarti populiariausi mokinių muzikiniai konkursai, t.y. Dainų šventė, dainų dainelė ir Tramtatulis (liaudies kūrybos atlikėjų konkursas), nagrinėjami muzikinių renginių organizavimo aspektai bei jų vadyba, o taip pat muzikinis ugdymas bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose Lietuvoje. Išanalizavus pedagoginę ir psichologinę bei muzikologinę literatūrą, paaiškėjo, kad naujoviškas požiūris į vadybą, šiuo atveju muzikinio renginio organizavimo valdymą, padeda siekti sėkmingų veiklos pokyčių. Remiantis tyrimo rezultatais galima teigti, kad dauguma mokinių tik iš dalies patenkinti mokyklos organizuojamais renginiais, jų kokybe. Vienas iš pagrindinių vadovo - vadybininko sugebėjimų, reikalingų kiekvienam, tai sugebėjimą ir patirtį paversti veikla. Be didžiulio kūrybiškumo, intuicijos, kompetencijos įvairiose veiklos srityse, žinių, meninio jautrumo ir tolerancijos būtina meilė menui, entuziazmas. Tai ir yra... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Musical training is one of the basic components of aesthetical education. Exposure to music gives a child positive emotions, which are necessary for his normal and comprehensive development. The essential purpose of musical training among young children is to “grow the child into” the musical culture of the nation, form good musical taste, aesthetical understanding of music, cultivate musical abilities, knowledge and skills. Music Management is a complicated activity, which takes a very special place in our growing and changing society. The purpose of research is to clarify the aspects of the management of musical events. The paper discusses the most popular pupils musical competitions for example the Song Festival, “Dainu Dainele”, Tramtatulis (the competition for national music performers), analyzes aspects of musical events organization and management, musical education training in general education schools throughout Lithuania. After analyzing pedagogical, psychological and musical literature, it became clear, that new points of view to the management, in this case-musical events organization management, helps reaching successful changes in this area. Based on results of this research it can be said, that most of the pupils are only partly satisfied with the musical events that schools are offering and the quality of such events. One... [to full text]

Darbo problema: ar sporto renginiai yra populiarūs ir reikalingi mokyklose? Tyrimo objektas: mokinių ir mokytojų nuomonė apie mokykloje organizuojamus sporto renginius. Tyrimo tikslas: nustatyti ir palyginti mokinių ir mokytojų nuomonę apie mokykloje organizuojamus sportinius renginius. Baigiamojo darbo uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti mokykloje organizuojamų sportinių renginių dažnį, rūšis ir požiūrį į juos mokytojų ir mokinių nuomone. 2. Nustatyti sportinių renginių lankomumą mokytojų ir mokinių nuomone. 3. Nustatyti veiksnius, skatinančius dalyvauti sportiniuose renginiuose mokytojų ir mokinių nuomone. 4. Nustatyti sportinių renginių poreikį ir jų poveikį kitiems dėstomiems dalykams mokytojų ir mokinių nuomone. Išvados: 1. Mokytojų ir mokinių nuomone sporto renginiai mokyklose yra organizuojami kas 3 – 6 mėnesius. Dažniausiai mokyklose yra organizuojami sporto renginiai susieti su krepšiniu. Mokiniams yra suteikiamos tinkamos sąlygos lankytis sportiniuose renginiuose, kurių laikas yra suderinamas su pamokų laiku ir renginiuose gali dalyvauti visi norintieji. Mokytojai dažniau nei mokiniai teigiamai vertina mokyklose organizuojamus sportinius renginius. 2. Mokiniai dažniau nei mokytojai mano, jog sportiniais renginiais labiau domisi berniukai. Mokiniai dažniau nei mokytojai mano, kad aktyviausi sporto renginiuose yra 8-10 klasių moksleiviai. Mokiniai dažniau nei mokytojai nurodė, kad moksleiviai dažniausiai lankosi tik tam tikro pobūdžio renginiuose. 3. Vyksiančiais sporto... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Problem: are sporting events popular and required at school? Object: teachers and students opinion about sporting events organized at school Purpose: to determine and to compare students' teachers' opinions about sports events organized at school. Tasks: 1. To set frequency, type, teachers and students approach to sporting events organized at school. 2. To set attendance of sporting events by students' and teachers' opinions. 3. To identify factors that encourage participation in sporting events by students' and teachers' opinions. 4. To identify need of sporting events and their effect to other taught school subject. Conclusions. 1. Teachers` and students` consider that school sporting events are held every 3-6 months (p = 0.209). More often at schools are organized sports activities related to basketball (p = 0.432). Students have right conditions to visit sporting events, which are consistent with their school time and open to all who want to participate in them (p = 0.251). Teachers more often than students assess sporting events at schools better (p = 0.000). 2. Students more often than teachers believe that boys are more interested in sporting events (p = 0.043). Students more often than teachers believe that the most active in sporting events are students of grade 8-10 (p = 0.041). Students more often than teachers indicate that students usually visit only certain types of events (p = 0.004). 3. Students are interested of ongoing sporting events presenting them... [to full text]

Increased international competitiveness to host sport mega-events indicates their perceived value in stimulating regional and national economic, social and cultural development. In the context of broader governmental public opinion management strategies, sport mega-events hold the potential to mobilize soft power resources of the host country, expressed in values, culture and policies, and engage with and influence the publics of other countries. This thesis investigates the significance of sport mega-events for the host country’s public diplomacy strategies and practice by exploring the concepts of public diplomacy, sport mega-events, soft power and national image within a multi-disciplinary conceptual framework. The analysis of scholarly literature, official and media reports reveals how aspects of reputation, credibility, and legitimacy guide both foreign public opinion and the practice of public diplomacy in conjunction with sport mega-events. Moreover, international reputation of the host nation, including status, prestige and image, appeared to benefit the most as a result of strategic application of sport mega-events to public diplomacy. This can be achieved by proving functional reputation though demonstration of financial and organizational success. Alternatively, social reputation of the host is at risk of sustaining considerable damage as a result of resistance from social activists groups, thus requiring extensive damage control efforts of the host country's image. The conclusions drawn from this study raise significant questions about the potential of sport mega-events being effectively used for public diplomacy and the experience of the host governments, revealing functional competence as having the greatest potential to influence public diplomacy strategy built around hosting sport mega-events.

The primary goal of the study was to identify key success factors for the management of wedding tourism in South Africa. This goal was achieved by firstly conducting a literature study to determine the key success factors of strategic management for special events as stated in books, articles and other sources. Secondly, wedding tourism was analysed to provide an overview of the wedding tourism industry and weddings as tourism products. Thirdly, the results of the empirical research were discussed followed by the conclusions and recommendations made with regard to further research. From the literature study, aspects regarding strategic management were discussed namely, the strategic management process, marketing for special events, human resource management, financial management and operational management. These aspects were included in the questionnaires for the empirical research. Two different questionnaires were developed, one for wedding planners and one for owners/managers of wedding venues in the Gauteng and North West provinces. The purpose of the questionnaires was to gather information on the key success factors for wedding tourism and to gain insight of the wedding tourism industry. Personal interviews were held with wedding planners and owners1 managers of wedding venues; questionnaires were also distributed via email. All the data was processed by the North-West University's Statistical Consultation Services. A confirmatory factor analysis was done to produce a small amount of factors. The following factors were identified: strategic planning; SWOT analysis, human resources, financial management, market segmentation, promotion and operational management. After analysing the data it was clear that operational services like ensuring high levels of hygiene, having a liquor license, accessibility, secure parking and that services must meet the needs of guests were considered extremely important aspects for a wedding venue. The following aspects were considered extremely important by wedding planners: services must meet the needs of guests, offer unique products and develop a checklist as control mechanism. Owners of wedding tourism products and wedding planners have to consider and apply the key success factors in order to grow the industry and create sustainable products. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The purpose of this study was to identify tourist profiles as a segmentation variable for three festivals (Innibos, Oppikoppi and Volksblad). Numerous segmentation studies have been done in the past; however, few were done where profiles were used as variables for segmentation of arts festivals. Market segmentation is the way in which tourism companies divide a market into smaller, more clearly defined groups that share similar needs, wants, and characteristics. Segmentation is important in order for a destination to target the right kind of visitor. Other reasons for doing this type of research is to increase the number of new tourist arrivals; to increase the length of stay of tourists; the amount of tourist expenditure per visitor stay and to broaden the activities and shows that are offered. Research for this study was undertaken at three festivals. These festivals are Innibos, Volksblad and Oppikoppi respectively. Questionnaires were distributed randomly during the course of the festivals. Data collection was done by field workers who distributed questionnaires to the attendants of the festivals. At each of the three festivals questionnaires were interviewer administered and the "recall method" was used, where respondents had lo recall their spending. It was also a destination-based survey, where interviews were held on-site during the event. Different sites were chosen to limit response bias towards a certain group of festival attendants. The questionnaires were distributed throughout the course of the three festivals respectively. The data was used to compile graphs and tables so that a profile of each festival can be designed. Correlations between the three festivals and their profiles were made. In this case the effect size is given by w= √(x2/n), where x2 is the usual Chi-square statistic for the contingency table and n is the sample size. In the special case of a 2x2 table, the effect size (w) is given by phi (Φ) coefficient. Note that the effect size is again independent of sample size. Oppikoppi has an average of 10 000 attendants, lnnibos and Volksblad have an average of approximately 30 000 attendants per year. The sample size of 400 questionnaires for Volksblad and 400 questionnaires for lnnibos was anticipated and 200 for Oppikoppi. The variables that were the focus point of this study were gender, occupation, language, province where the attendants reside, travel group size and number of days at festival. This information can contribute to better marketing and more targeted markets for a larger number of attendants. The organiser can determine what type of entertainment, music, song and dance can be packaged and marketed as a unique product. The research indicated that organisers from Volksblad and lnnibos can focus more on family entertainment that is suitable for the whole family. Oppikoppi is a rock festival and therefore the organisers can get more rock bands, especially Afrikaans rock. All three festivals are for Afrikaans speaking people so they can use Afrikaans magazines and newspapers as well as Afrikaans radio stations to market these festivals in the province of deliverance as well as bordering provinces. The study contributes to the information of the larger festivals that already exists like Aardklop, Grahamstown and KKNK. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

At large sporting events (LSEs), e.g. football matches and athletics events, the user experience has been shown to be highly variable (Nilsson, 2004; Nilsson et al. 2004). Reported problems include a lack of social interaction with fellow spectators, and insufficient relevant information on the events or the sporting action taking place (Nilsson, 2004; Nilsson et al. 2004; Esbjornsson et al. 2006; Jacucci et al. 2005). A possible solution is personalisation, making the mobile application adapt to the user, ensuring that only relevant information is retrieved and presented in a way that is suitable. This thesis is devoted to studying the user experience related to mobile personalization at LSEs. It aims to investigate how personalized mobile applications at LSEs can render the user experience more active and engaging in a contextually, socially and culturally relevant way. The thesis reviews different theoretical approaches to help to understand the concepts of interest e.g. personalization and user experience (Chapter 2). Research methods are also discussed including the challenge of adapting user-centred methods into the Chinese culture (Chapter 3). This thesis investigates the user experience of mobile personalization at LSEs by following the circle of user-centred research: It starts to consider user requirements and user experience at LSEs and derives the usage patterns that personalized mobile applications could usefully support (Chapter 4). Then it explores the relevant contextual factors at LSEs which could be used to prescribe the behaviour of a personalizable mobile application (Chapter 5). Next, it describes the user-centred process used to design personalizable interfaces for mobile applications used at LSEs. Four key elements of design are considered: content, conceptual, interaction and presentation design (Chapter 6). The final outputs of the design process were two personalized mobile prototypes for Chinese users at LSEs. These included versions based on either (1) user-initiated or (2) system-initiated personalisation. Finally it investigates the impact on user experience of mobile personalization at LSEs in two empirical studies (a field experiment and a lab-based experiment) with these prototypes (Chapters 7 and 8). Mobile personalization is shown to result in an enriched user experience across a range of activities that a spectator would undertake at a large sporting event. The thesis discusses primarily the effective design of mobile personalization, the design implications at LSEs, user experience design, and research methods for Chinese users (Chapter 9). In conclusion (Chapter 10), specific contributions and avenues for future work are highlighted.

In this paper, I have examined the records management functions during extraordinary events from the perspective of what is documented, archived and made available regarding voluntary staff participation. Work organization during extraordinary events, also called emergency prepardness system, is based on work resources from regular employees in state and local government and in addition voluntary human resources. Records management is essential for organizations and society to protect and preserve reliable documents that evidence that the measures implemented and to support future actions, decisions and lessons learned. I chosed to perform an instrumental case study on the forest fire in Västmanland 2014 to create an image of the records management in extraordinary events. The survey has been focused on how the volunteer staff have been included in the documentation and where and how much is retained and archived. The case study has been carried out on the basis of grounded theory with data processing and analysis of documents and interview responses. The results of data processing gave a picture that records management was deficient during the fire and also afterwards with archiving and accessibility. Various professional groups performed the documentation for different purposes, in different records management systems, but without common practice and no one had overall responsibility for records management. It is missing a lot of written documentation regarding the voluntary efforts of staff at the extraordinary event, both among non-governmental organizations NGOs, voluntary defence organizations and authorities. Documentation is available only to a small extent and with varying factual content which makes it impossible to get an overall picture and it is difficult to know where the documents are archived. A further analysis of the results from the grounded theory-processing and some policy documents generated suggestions for improvements to include volunteer staff into the documentation in extraordinary events. The proposals deals with: a coordinating organization given the task of coordinating the guidelines for records management so that they are applicable for extraordinary events, and customized for different scenarios of events and different types of organizations participating in the work; that the archive theoretical model records continuum is used in the creation of strategies; to observe the laws and regulations that concern records management and extraordinary events; to appoint a person responsible for records management of each organization in emergency preparedness system; that authorities, municipalities and county councils continually train and practice their regular staff, elected officials and voluntary agreements personnel in processes of records management during extraordinary events; to introduce a common archive authority that collects, preserve and provide documentation regarding the work of extraordinary events. / I den här uppsatsen har jag undersökt hur dokumenthanteringen fungerar vid extraordinära händelser utifrån perspektivet vad som dokumenteras, arkiveras och tillgängliggörs gällande frivilligpersonals medverkan. Arbetsorganisationen vid extraordinära händelser, även kallat  samhällets krisberedskap, är uppbyggd på arbetsresurser ifrån ordinarie anställd personal i stat och kommun samt därtill frivilliga personalresurser. Dokumenthantering är väsentligt för organisationer och samhället för att skydda och bevara tillförlitliga dokument som belägg för att åtgärder genomförts och som stöd för framtida åtgärder, beslut och lärdomar. Jag valde att utföra en instrumentell fallstudie på skogsbranden i Västmanland 2014 för att skapa en bild av dokumenthanteringen vid extraordinära händelser. Undersökningen har gällt hur frivillig-personal har inkluderats i dokumentationen samt var och hur mycket som finns bevarat och arkiverat. Fallstudien har genomförts utifrån grundad teori med databehandling och analys av dokument och intervjusvar. Resultatet från databearbetningen gav en bild att dokumenthante-ringen var bristfällig under branden och även efteråt med arkivering och tillgängliggörande. Olika yrkesgrupper utförde dokumentation för olika ändamål, i olika dokumenthanterings-system, utan gemensamma rutiner och ingen hade ett övergripande ansvar för dokument-hanteringen. Det saknas en hel del skriftlig dokumentation om frivilligpersonalens insats vid den extraordinära händelsen, både hos frivilligorganisationer, frivilliga försvarsorganisationer och myndigheter. Dokumentation finns bara i liten utsträckning och med varierande faktainnehåll vilket gör det omöjligt att få en helhetsbild och det är svårt att veta var dokumentation finns arkiverad. En fortsatt analys mellan resultatet från grundad teori-bearbetningen och några styrdokument genererade förslag till förbättringar för att dokumentation om frivilligpersonal ska bli inkluderad vid extraordinära händelser. Förslagen behandlar: att en samordnande instans får uppdraget att samordna riktlinjer för dokument-hanteringen så att de blir tillämpbara vid extraordinära händelser och anpassade för olika scenarion av händelser och olika typer av organisationer som deltar i arbetet; att arkivteoretiska modellen records continuum används i skapandet av strategier; att beakta de lagar och förordningar som finns för dokumenthantering och extraordinära händelser; att utse en ansvarig för dokumenthantering hos varje aktör inom samhällets krisberedskap; att myndigheter, kommuner och länsstyrelser kontinuerligt ska utbilda och tillsammans öva sin ordinarie personal, förtroendevalda och frivillig avtalspersonal i processer av dokumenthantering vid extraordinära händelser; att införa en gemensam arkivinstans som samlat kan bevara och tillhandahålla dokumentation gällande arbetet med extraordinära händelser.

Global sport competitions such as the Olympics and the World Cup were founded following universal principles of unity and peace and aiming to be celebrations of sportsmanship. Nowadays, however, they go beyond sport, being constructed as global media events in which both politics and media play an essential role. Caught in this triangle, the Olympics and the World Cup have re-emerged in the past years as sites of protests, after decades of relative calmness in this sense. This represents the point of entry into the analysis of global broadcasters, giving the chance to examine the way in which Al Jazeera English, BBC World News and Russia Today represent the protests they put in relation to sport competitions happening in different parts of the world. The chosen case studies are the London Olympics 2012, Sochi Olympics 2014 and Brazil World Cup 2014. The comparative analysis allows the drawing of similarities and differences between both the case studies and the broadcasters overall. The findings show that protests are dealt with differently according to the sport event they are related to, since some of them are legitimized and others are not. A major distinction, therefore, results in the manner in which the broadcasters use the protests in order to depict a certain version of the world. Global broadcasters offer, thus, multiple perspectives on the world as they carry what appears to be a heavy cultural baggage of the societies of origin.

M.A. / Condemnation (by various biblical writers) of certain practices found among st the Israelites which led ultimately to the Exile have often been viewed from two opposite views. The believer in the Bible simply accepted the condemnation at face value, and without question, whereas the scholar sought to explain it in terms of extra-biblical knowledge of the history of other civilisations which often threw doubt on the accuracy and veracity of the biblical record. This mini-dissertation seeks to show that it is possible to accept the viability of the biblical account in terms of the extra-biblical sources.