In this thesis, I explore the works of Kenneth Grahame in light of what some critics have deemed “literary paganism”. I argue that Grahame employs certain “pagan” tropes in order to launch a critique of modern culture. Grahame upholds a classical vision of leisure that rejects the ideology inherent to urbanization. His critique of modernity relies on a literary persona indicative of an alternative attitude to that of the middle class fin de siècle urban culture. His short stories add to this critique in their presentation of childhood as a pre-converted pagan existence which en-kindles a sense of disappointment with routinized adult life in the modern city. The Wind in the Willows embodies Grahame's vision of true leisure which is depicted in both the River Bank animals and their wetland ecosystem itself. By paying close attention to the pagan themes in Grahame’s writing, we gain a comprehensive view of his often misunderstood body of work.

The final thesis covers a situation of a second housing in Czech Republic. It analyzes an origin and a development of this phenomenon during 20th century. Thesis is focused on the second half of 20th century especially, emphasizes the variety of motivations for having the hobby of second housing and also discusses the issues with constructions or reconstructions of cottages and chalets. Particularly, insufficiencies of building materials and lack of craft services that are closely related to underground economy, which is also discussed here.

Diploma thesis called Use of bike potencial of Prague and its suburbs, business plan is based on idea to implement these information in reality and launch it as soon as possible. Its task is to research the theoretical literature on leisure activities and their socio-cultural and economic context with accent on domestic and foreign tourists. Integral part is of course theoretical proces of making this kind of business plan according on the type of organization and its targets supplemented by practical examples similiar companies making business in this area. Thesis also contains industry, area and also closer idea specifications. One of the main resources is already operating company in this area called BIKO which concentrates its efforts mainly on foreign tourists.

The main purpose of this thesis is business plan of new family fun center and evaluates its business plan. The diploma thesis is divided to two parts. The first part of thesis concentrates on theoretical part and prepares basis for the practical part and deals with issues in its spare time from different angles, the actual business plan and selecting appropriate legal forms of business. Second part includes business plan which will be used for dealings with financial institutions and investors. The business plan contains all the key parts such as the introduction of company, PEST analysis or analysis of competitors, marketing plan, operation and financial plan.

The Diploma thesis deals with the leisure time of youth in the seventies of the 20th century in Czechoslovakia. It compares two forms of spending leisure time. Those are the official activities that were organized by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia by the Socialist Union of Youth and unofficial alternatives that are ideologically opposed communism. The aim of this Diploma thesis is to contribute to the analysis of spare time of youth in the seventies of the 20th century. How did exactly the young generation of seventies in Czechoslovakia spend their free time and what opportunities did they really have. The conclusions of the thesis should then contribute to the development of further research in the area of free time of socialist society.

Services are becoming increasingly important. Almost two-thirds of the world’s total economic output is accounted for by services. Moreover, the leisure services industry is one of the fastest growing industries around the world. The global growth rate was more than 6% per year in the last five years. The global leisure services industry is expected to be worth $3.4 trillion by 2010, with a growth rate of 6.1% for the 2005-2010 period. Marketers should focus on value-creating processes that involve customers as co-creators of value, because marketers cannot create or deliver customer value alone. Therefore, assessing consumers’ value perceptions can provide informative feedback that marketers can use to adjust their market offerings and meet consumers’ needs and expectations more effectively. This replication study investigated the application and relevance of Petrick’s (2002:119) SERV-PERVAL scale as a measure of consumers’ perceptions of service value in mid-scale restaurants. The SERV-PERVAL scale measures five dimensions of perceived value, namely perceived quality, emotional response, monetary price, behavioural price and reputation. The results should assist marketers to decide how best to influence overall value perceptions and favourable behavioural intentions amongst target markets through understanding how consumers make purchase decisions based on their perceptions of value. First, a conceptual framework of the relationships between perceived value and its antecedents and consequences was synthesised from the leisure marketing literature. Then the study surveyed students at the University of Pretoria and asked them to report their perceptions of a dining experience at a mid-scale restaurant. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse the data. Two multiple regression models were tested. The findings provided support for the conceptual framework, as well as evidence for the relevance of utilising the SERV-PERVAL scale to measure the value perceptions of South African restaurant patrons. The significance of the two multiple regression models, analysed in the replicated study, was established. Seven hypotheses were tested. In only two cases, the null hypotheses could not be rejected in favour of the alternative hypotheses. The results of the first multiple regression model indicate that consumers' emotional response is the best predictor of their overall perceptions of value. Thus, mid-scale restaurant managers should enhance the pleasurable attributes of the service experience (e.g., background music; interior decoration and lighting; air-conditioning and scent) in order to enhance the consumer's dining experience. The results of the second multiple regression model indicate that consumers' perceived value is a better predictor of consumers' favourable behavioural intentions than satisfaction. An implication for managers is that they can increase their consumers' perceptions of value by enhancing the pleasurable attributes that consumers' experience, a well as the quality and the monetary price of services as perceived by the consumers. It is also important to maintain the level of the services' behavioural price and reputation perceived by consumers. However, managers need to identify the attributes that add pleasure to their target customers and understand how to employ them effectively. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Marketing Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Nationally and internationally the integration of people with disabilities into mainstream society is gaining attention. Leisure and sport play important roles in this integration process. Few services and opportunities, however, exist for people with disabilities to participate equally in society. It seems that recreation providers focus primarily on recreation programs for able-bodied people in communities. These inequalities are realized. It is also documented in the National Sport and Recreation Act (1998) that the development of sport and recreation opportunities for people with disabilities is important. Due to the numerous health benefits of leisure participation, lifelong participation needs to be encouraged when leisure opportunities are developed and implemented in communities. It is important that people with disabilities derive maximum benefit from sport and recreation involvement to ensure continued participation throughout the lifespan. Individuals derive maximum benefits from sport and recreation activity involvement when they perceive freedom during these activities. These activities range from athletics and soccer to chess and art. “Perceived freedom” is the central indicator of leisure functioning. Freedom can only be experienced when the learners with physical and learning disabilities experience satisfactory levels of leisure competence, control during leisure activities, needs satisfaction and depth of involvement as components of leisure functioning. The following hypothesis was formulated for the study: “Leisure functioning of learners with learning and physical disabilities does not contribute to an independent leisure lifestyle”. The aims of this study were to determine the following components of leisure functioning through the use of the standardised Leisure Diagnostic Battery (LDB): <ul> <li>leisure competence of learners;</li> <li>being able to control the process and outcomes of leisure participation ;</li> <li>needs satisfaction and</li> <li>depth of involvement in leisure activities.</li></ul> Data collected in this study were processed by means of quantitative research. Research methods included an external environmental analysis (literature reviews), an internal environmental analysis (internal policies and programs and interview), and a questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of learners (38%) with physical and learning disabilities at an ELSEN (Education for Learners with Special Education Needs) School in Tshwane. It was found that learners at the ELSEN School had an 85% (63.73/75) leisure functioning rate. The learners with learning disabilities had a slightly higher leisure functioning rate of 85.32% (63.99/75) than the learners with physical disabilities with an 84.27% (63.2/75) rate. The high level of leisure functioning indicated that the learners perceived high levels of freedom during their leisure participation at the school. The formulated hypothesis could therefore not be accepted. The leisure functioning of the learners are high and should therefore contribute to an independent leisure lifestyle. In order to utilize the full potential of the leisure activities at the school the following aspects are suggested for further research: <ul> <li>In order to increase leisure participation at the school, constraints hindering participation need to be determined.</li> <li>Assessment of a broader base of learners (including all the grades) would be recommended for further planning of programs and activities.</li></ul> / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / unrestricted

Orientador: Heloisa Turini Bruhns / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação Fisica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T00:20:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Brito_TelmaMedeiros_M.pdf: 1762849 bytes, checksum: 089b11a9087726a2cfd0a971d965f7b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A presente pesquisa visa o estudo dos cruzeiros marítimos enquanto alternativa de lazer, com foco nas décadas de 1950 e 1960, relacionando-os com o momento atual. Tal estudo pretende auxiliar os profissionais de Educação Física, os quais estão sendo bastante requisitados para desenvolverem e planejarem as diversas atividades de lazer a bordo dos cruzeiros. O trabalho inclui ainda o levantamento histórico mundial dos cruzeiros, bem como o panorama histórico brasileiro. São apresentados conceitos de cruzeiros marítimos utilizados por diferentes autores nacionais e internacionais numa visão crítica, polemizando as abordagens. Apresenta, ainda, as principais características dos cruzeiros, criando um paralelo com o passado e abordando a evolução que o conceito de lazer ganhou neste setor nos últimos anos, incluindo as principais atividades de lazer desenvolvidas a bordo dos navios de cruzeiro. Aborda também as relações entre o lazer e o turismo introduzindo o cruzeiro marítimo neste panorama, relacionando-o com as questões do tempo 'livre', do prazer, do ritmo que as atividades de lazer toma a bordo e das sensações que podem ser experimentadas pelo corpo em alto mar. A análise dos cruzeiros nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 busca o simbólico que aflora no imaginário popular na atualidade, resgatado por meio de pesquisa documental. O estudo aborda ainda a questão do 'tempo morto', inevitável nos deslocamentos em viagens e sua otimização nos cruzeiros. A pesquisa comparativa-exploratória não pretende esgotar o tema, mas busca contribuir como um passo inicial para estudos mais aprofundados do lazer a bordo dos cruzeiros marítimos / Abstract: The present research aims the study of cruises as an alternative for tourism, focusing the decades 1950 and 1960, relating them to the present. This study aims to aid the professionals of Physical Education, who are being very required to develop and plan leisure activities related to the body on board cruise ships. Includes the research of cruise history in the world as well as the brazilian panorama. It will presents cruise definitions of national and foreign authors in a critical view of the approaches. Presents also the main cruises characteristics, creating a parallel with the past and coments the evolution of leisure concept has gain in the industry lately, including the main leisure activities on board cruise ships. Studies the relation between leisure and tourism, introducing cruising int he panorama, relating it to the not working time, pleasure, rhythm of the leisure activities on board and body sensations experienced in high sea. The analisys of cruises in the decades of 1950 and 1960 searched for symbols created presently on commom sense imaginary, recovered through a documental investigation. The study comments the 'dead time', inevitable during travel transportation and its optimization on cruises. The comparative-exploratory investigation do not intend to exhaust the theme, but aims to contribute as an initial step for deeper studies / Mestrado / Educação Fisica e Sociedade / Mestre em Educação Física

Orientador: Heloisa Turini Bruhns / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação Fisica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T22:41:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pimentel_GiulianoGomesdeAssis_D.pdf: 1546010 bytes, checksum: 12af1d0d91aa42d43ff9d5a7dc90be81 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Vôo livre é uma atividade física de aventura na natureza (AFAN) cuja característica é decolar de um local elevado e manter-se voando com a utilização de correntes de ar. No país há mais de 5.000 praticantes, entre pilotos e pilotas de parapente e asa-delta. A maioria desses praticantes de vôo livre o realiza como opção de lazer, tendo forte relação com seu estilo de vida e com a formação de redes de socialidade. Via de regra não se voa sozinho, mas em grupos de afinidade. Outra característica societal é que homens e mulheres voam juntos. Embora fosse esperado encontrar corpos jovens e atléticos, fatores como a tecnologia, permitem que diferentes pessoas participem: a quantidade de pessoas com idade acima dos 30 anos nesse esporte é destacável. Geralmente são os mais jovens que se arriscam nessas aventuras. Intriga ainda o fato de o vôo livre ser adotado como lazer de pessoas comuns do cotidiano, já que apresenta riscos à vida. Nesse sentido, o estudo considerou socialidade, corpo e risco como dimensões essenciais à compreensão desta AFAN. Considerando os problemas já mencionados, o objetivo foi compreender significados dados ao risco, ao corpo e à socialidade a partir da prática corporal do vôo livre. Para tanto, numa apropriação da pesquisa etnográfica, foi realizado estudo de campo por meio de observação participante, entrevistas e registros de imagens em Terra Rica, Paraná. Vinte e duas pessoas participaram das entrevistas. A amostra foi intencional e não probabilística, determinada pela saturação dos dados. O referencial teórico de base foi buscado em Michel Maffesoli, privilegiando suas discussões sobre socialidade, potência da socialidade, nomadismo, tribalização, sensibilidade teórica, razão sensível, teoria erótica, ética da estética e enraizamento dinâmico. Destacam-se entre as evidências descritas: a ênfase racional no trinômio equipamento-piloto-condição; a efervescência societal em torno do vôo como estilo de vida; a estruturação dos momentos do vôo analogamente ao ritual; a percepção sensível da espiritualidade e da natureza na fase de suspensão; ambigüidades e contradições nas práticas e representações sobre corpo e risco. Numa vida pautada pela rotina e estresse, o vôo surge como um pólo diferenciado. As pessoas transitam entre essas duas esferas (cotidiano e lazer), evidenciando o enraizamento dinâmico na contemporaneidade. Nessa prática corporal, que explora liminarmente as emoções em situação de risco, pilotos incorporam a lógica de se auto responsabilizarem pelos erros. Assim mesmo, dado o risco real implicado, não existe um corpo ideal imune à imponderabilidade dos acidentes. Desta forma, aspectos de uma racionalidade sensível, como a solidariedade grupal ou a intuição, se fazem incorporadas na experiência dos voadores e voadoras como uma complementaridade ¿ contraditória ¿ à técnica e à tecnologia na gestão dos riscos no vôo livre. Essas interações, não passíveis de síntese, reforçam a tese de que risco, corpo e socialidade são elementos prioritários no entendimento da coletividade de sujeitos que praticam um esporte de risco num momento de suas vidas não mais relacionado à juventude / Abstract: Hand Gliding is an adventurous physical activity in nature (APAN) whose feature is to take off from a high place and keep flying by using the draughts of air. In Brazil, there are more than 5,000 sports people, including pilots of hang glides and parachutes. Most of these hang gliders fly for leisure, and it has strong relation with their life style and with socializing nets formation. Usually they do not fly by themselves, but in groups of affinity. Another society feature is that men and women fly together. Although young and athletic people are expected, some factors, such as technology, allow different people to participate, and the number of people over 30 years old in this sport is remarkable. Generally, only young people take these risks. It is also intriguing the fact that hang gliding is adopted as leisure by ordinary people, as it has perils of life. Thus, this study has considered socialization, body and risk as essential dimensions to understand this APAN. Taking the mentioned problems into account, the objective was to understand the meanings given to risk, body and socialization from hang gliding corporal practice. To that, appropriating ethnographic research, a study was performed by observing the people and interviewing them and also through images recorded in Terra Rica, Paraná. Twenty two people were interviewed. The sample was intentional and not probabilistic, determined by data saturation. The theoretical base reference was taken from Michel Maffesoli, with relevance to his discussions on socialization, socialization potency, nomadism, tribalization, theoretical sensitiveness, sensitive reason, erotic theory, esthetic ethic and dynamic root taking. Among the reported evidences there are outstanding ones: rational emphasis on the trinomial equipment pilot-condition; gathering effervescence around flight as a life style; structure of moments of flight similar to rites; sensitive perception of spirituality and nature in suspension phase; ambiguities and contradictions in practices and representations about body and risk. In a life replete of routine and stress, the flight comes as a different pole. People transit between these two ambits (routine and leisure), showing dynamic root taking in contemporaneity. In this corporal practice, that explores emotions in risky situations, the pilots incorporate the logic of being responsible for the mistakes, even though there is not an ideal body immune to imponderability of the accidents, given the real risk. Consequently, aspects of a sensitive rationality, as group sympathy or intuition are incorporated in fliers¿ experiences as complements ¿ contradictory ¿ to technique and technology in risks managing in hang gliding. These interactions, not able to be synthesized, support the thesis that risk, body and socialization are prior elements when understanding the collectivity of subjects that do a risky sport in a certain moment of their lives not related to youth anymore / Doutorado / Estudos do Lazer / Doutor em Educação Física

Orientador: Heloisa Turini Bruhns / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação Fisica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T22:31:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marinho_Alcyane_D.pdf: 10179750 bytes, checksum: 229cce75f16e3c4123c58203d0d01e34 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: O lazer está sendo entendido como um interessante ponto de partida para aguçar a compreensão das mais variadas relações que se estabelecem entre os seres humanos, desde que não seja considerado de forma isolada, mas em profunda conexão com outras esferas da vida humana. O surgimento de novas tecnologias, criadoras de novas possibilidades no lazer, conduzem-nos a um repensar sobre os significados de proximidade, distância, individualidade, sociabilidade, mobilidade, errância, realidade, ficção, meio ambiente e aventura. Nesta perspectiva, o objetivo deste estudo é investigar a idéia de aventura inserida nas atividades realizadas na natureza, refletindo por que este é um termo tão utilizado na contemporaneidade. Esta pesquisa refere-se a uma investigação na área de estudos do lazer, a qual privilegia o enfoque da "razão sensível", enfatizando uma sinergia entre a razão e o sensível, no sentido de potencializar o afeto e o emocional a se tomarem ferramentas metodológicas servindo à reflexão epistemológica e auxiliando na compreensão dos múltiplos fenômenos sociais. Portanto, este estudo constitui-se em uma pesquisa qualitativa, cuja abordagem trabalha com um universo de motivos, aspirações, valores, crenças e atitudes, correspondendo a um espaço mais profundo dos processos, relações e fenômenos, os quais não podem ser reduzidos à operacionalização de variáveis. As fundamentações conceituais sobre a temática abordada foram buscadas, principalmente,junto à Sociologia, Educação Física e Antropologia, áreas estas as quais, conjuntamente, contribuem e sustentam as discussões estabelecidas. Este estudo foi desenvolvido concomitantemente por meio de duas pesquisas complementares: bibliográfica e de campo. Por meio da pesquisa de campo, baseada em dois instrumentos (entrevista semi-estruturada e observação participante) foram investigados: os motivos que fazem as pessoas se deslocarem para ir ao encontro das atividades de aventura na natureza; bem como, seus gostos, comportamentos, valores, etc; as formas de envolvimento dos praticantes com tais práticas e como se dá a interação entre os grupos de praticantes; como se estabelecem as relações das atividades de aventura na natureza com o cotidiano urbano, no trabalho, na família, etc. Todas estas investigações estão atreladas ao interesse principal: como os praticantes percebem a aventura e a natureza. O fio condutor deste trabalho é o levantamento de elementos que, possivelmente, estão presentes nas atividades investigadas para que sejam consideradas aventuras pelos praticantes. ... Observação: O resumo, na íntegra, poderá ser visualizado no texto completo da tese digital / Abstract: Leisure has been understood as an interesting starting point to enhance comprehension of most varied relationships among human beings, provided that it is not considered in an isolated way, but in deep relation with other sectors of human life. New technologies create new possibilities of leisure, and lead us to rethink about the meanings of proximity, distance, individuality, sociability, mobility, errantry, reality, fiction, enviromnent and adventure. In this perspective, the purpose of this essay is to investigate the idea of adventure found in activities performed in nature, and to reflect why this is a term so used in contemporary life. This research refers to an investigation in the area of leisure studies, which privileges the focus on the "sensitive reason", emphasizing a synergy between reason and sensitiveness, in the sense of making affection and emotion to be used as methodological tools for epistemological reflection and helping in the understanding of the multiple social phenomena. Therefore, this essay is constituted by a qualitative research, which approaches an universe of reasons, aspirations, values, faiths and attitudes, corresponding to a deeper space of processes, relations and phenomena, which cannot be reduced to the operation of variables. The conceptual basis of the theme was found mainly in Sociology, Physical Education and Anthropology; those areas jointly contribute and support the discussions. This study was developed concurrent1y through two complementary researches: bibliographical and field research. Through the field research, which was based in two instruments (semi-structured interview and participant observation), the following was investigated: the reasons why people go to adventure activities in the nature; people's tastes, behaviors, values, etc; the forms of involvement of participants with such practices and how the interaction among the groups of participants occurs; how adventure activities in nature relates to the urban life, to work, family, etc. All those investigations relate to the main interest: how participants realize adventure and nature. The mainstream of this essay is to research elements that possibly are present in the investigated activities so that they are considered adventure by the participants. ... Note: The complete abstract is available with the full electronic digital thesis or dissertations / Doutorado / Estudos do Lazer / Doutor em Educação Física