TITLE: Agebraic Curves in History and School AUTHOR: Bc. Tomáš Fabián DEPARTMENT: The Department of mathematics and teaching of mathematics SUPERVISOR: prof. RNDr. Ladislav Kvasz, Dr. ABSTRACT: The thesis includes a series of exercises for senior high school students and the first year of university students. In these exercises, students will increase their knowledge about conics, especially how to draw them. Furthermore, students can learn about two unfamiliar curves: Conchoid and Quadratrix. All these curves are afterwards used for solving other problems - some Apollonius's problems, Three impossible constructions etc. Most of the construction is done in GeoGebra software. All the tasks are designed for students to learn how to work with this software. The subject discussed is put into historical context, and therefore the exercises are provided with historical commentary. The thesis also includes didactic notes, important or interesting solutions of exercises, possible issues, mistakes and another relevant notes. KEYWORDS: conic, circle, ellipse, parabola, hyperbole, conchoid, quadratrix, trisecting an angle, squaring the circle, rectification of the circle, doubling a cube, Apollonius's problem, GeoGebra

The disertation thesis deals with the problem of marketing communication of universities. The main reason for a choice of the topic of dissertation thesis and solution to the theme of the dissertation thesis was a fact that nobody has paid adequate attention to the problem of marketing communication of universities Marketing communication of university is a complex problem which is a key part of strategic marketing of universities. The main emphasis is put on planning of marketing communication of university. The dissertation thesis proceeds from the latest knowledge in theory of marketing communication as a key part of marketing. The dissertation is based on the analysing and mapping of key groups of stakeholders by the means of Stakeholder Circle Methodology. The text of the dissertation thesis is divided into four main chapters. Chapter one analyses the current situation of the research problem in the Czech Republic and abroad. Chapter two specifies the subject of dissertation thesis, authors' benefits on the theoretical and practical level and the main aims of the dissertation thesis. Chapter three analyses the methodology of the dissertation thesis and all scientific methods and hypothesis of the dissertation thesis in detail. The main results and interpretation of the authors' research are summarized in the chapter four. At the end of this chapter there will be a verification of hypothesis and suggestion of solution of problems. In conclusion there is a summarisation of the benefits of dissertation thesis and fulfilment of dissertations' aims.

Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Entwicklung neuer Methoden zur Untersuchung zirkulärer RNA. Das erste Projekt dieser Arbeit beschäftigte sich mit der Erstellung eines universell einsetzbaren Protokolls zur Generierung einer funktionalisierten zirkulären RNA. Hierbei konnte zunächst erfolgreich eine Vorschrift zur Herstellung unmodifizierter circRNA etabliert werden. Im zweiten Schritt gelang auch die Generierung einer zirkulären RNA mit Alkin-Funktionalisierung. Geringe Ausbeuten gaben Anlass zur Entwicklung eines alternativen Verfahrens, bei dem die Zyklisierung von Kopf-Schwanz modifizierter RNA durch CuAAC vorgenommen werden sollte. Dabei konnte zunächst eine 5‘-azidmodifizierte RNA durch in vitro Transkription gebildet werden, die anschließend am 3‘-Terminus mit einem 3‘ alkinmodifizierten Baustein mit Aminfunktionalität versehen wurde. Daraufhin konnte erfolgreich eine Zyklisierung mittels CuAAC vorgenommen werden. Ein grundlegendes Problem bei diesen Arbeiten war der Nachweis, dass die gebildete RNA tatsächlich in zirkulärer Form vorlag. Im Rahmen des zweiten Projektes dieser Arbeit wurde ein Assay zur direkten Unterscheidung von zirkulären und linearen Transkripten etabliert. Mittels reverser Transkription konnte ein rolling circle Mechanismus mit dem zirkulären Transkript durchgeführt werden, was in einer multimeren cDNA resultierte. Nach Amplifizierung über qPCR ermöglichteeine Gelanalyse den Nachweis eines spezifischen Bandenmusters für das circRNA-Transkript, wohingegen das lineare Transkript lediglich eine monomere Bande generierte. Anschließend erfolgte die Weiterentwicklung des Assays zu einer spezifischen Nachweismethode für zirkuläre RNA in biologischen Proben.Dabei kann eine abschließende Gelanalyse zur Identifizierung von falsch-positiven Ergebnissen genutzt werden. Die hier etablierte Methode ermöglicht künftig einen schnellen und einfachen Nachweis von circRNA beim Screeningvon biologischen Proben. / Circular RNAs belong to the group of long, non-coding RNAs and have gene regulating functions, comparable to miRNA. However, the field of circRNA research is proceeding slowly due to the lack of efficient analytical methods. That‘s the reason why the development of new analytical methods plays a keyrole within characterisation and identification of circRNAs. This thesis comprises two projects dealing on one hand with the creation of a protocol for the generation of functional circRNA on and the other hand, an assay to differentiate circular and linear RNA. For the generation of circRNA a non-modified circRNA was produced as positiv control by using T4 RNA ligase 2. After the addition of a modification step with T4 RNA ligase 1, it was possible to generate circRNA with alkyne functionalization. Due to limited yields of modified circRNA, the protocol was adapted and a protocol for chemical ligation was established. In this new procedure a RNA with 5‘-azido modification was generated by in vitro transcription, followed by incorporation of a 3‘-alkyne modified building block with additional amine funktionality at the RNA-3‘-end. Consecutively, it was possible to perform a cyclization with the double modified RNA by CuAAC. The second project comprises the establishment of an assay in order to differentiate circular and linear RNA. A rolling circle mechanism was utilized by reverse transcription of a circular RNA transcript, resulting in a multimeric cDNA. Following DNA amplification by qPCR, a specific fragmentation pattern for circRNA was verified by gel electrophoresis. In contrast to this, for linear RNA, a monomeric DNA pattern was seen. Subsequently the assay was advanced to a detection method for circular RNA in biological samples. A final gel electrophoresis allows the identification of false-positive results. In the future, the here developed method can be applied for fast and easy detection of circRNAs in biological samples.

En stor bidragande faktor till miljöproblem som global uppvärmning och icke förnybar resursförbrukning är aktiviteter inom fastighetsbranschen. Det beräknas att 40% av all världens koldioxidutsläpp produceras av byggnader samtidigt ses miljöcertifiering av fastigheter som en del av lösningen för att sänka mängden koldioxid och nå hållbar utveckling. Miljöcertifieringar för med sig en rad fördelar, bland annat en minskad användning av naturresurser och ett högre fastighetsvärde. Trots de fördelar som miljöcertifiering för med sig är knappt 1% av det svenska fastighetsbeståndet certifierat. Studiens syfte är att bidra till kunskap rörande vilka barriärer som föreligger samt hur de kan mildras på den svenska fastighetsmarknaden. Denna studie bidrar med unikt material eftersom tidigare forskning är bristfällig på den svensk fastighetsmarknaden. Studien är av mixad metod och använder sig av en kvantitativ online-enkätundersökning samt en intervjustudie om 3 respondenter från den svenska fastighetsmarknaden. Enkätundersökningen utgick från tidigare internationell forskning och intervjustudien möjliggjorde en mer djupgående analys kring den svenska marknaden. De svenska aktörerna i studien ansåg att Brist på efterfrågan hos konsumenter, Höga Kostnader, Låg miljömedvetenhet hos konsumenter och Brist på statliga incitament var barriärer på den svenska fastighetsmarknaden. Brist på tid och extra administrativt arbete identifierades som nya barriärer som inte har blivit belysts i tidigare forskning. Studien visar även på att barriärer kan mitigeras genom företagsstrategier där svenska aktörer automatiserar och standardiserar sina arbetssätt utifrån de krav som miljöcertifikat ställer. / A major contributing factor to environmental problems such as global warming and non-renewable resource consumption are activities in the real estate industry. It is estimated that 40% of all the world's carbon dioxide emissions are produced by real estate and green certificates are seen as part of the solution to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and achieve sustainable development. Green certifications have several benefits, including a reduced use of natural resources and a higher property value. Despite the benefits that green certification brings, just under 1% of the Swedish property portfolio is certified. The purpose of the study is to contribute to knowledge regarding what barriers exist and how they can be mitigated in the Swedish real estate market. This study contributes unique material because previous research is deficient in the Swedish real estate market. The study is of a mixed method and uses a quantitative online survey and an interview study of 3 respondents from the Swedish real estate market. The questionnaire was based on previous international research and the interview study enabled a more in-depth analysis of the Swedish market. The Swedish actors in the study considered that Lack of consumer demand, High Costs, Low environmental awareness among consumers and Lack of government incentives were barriers in the Swedish real estate market. Lack of time and extra administrative work were identified as new barriers that have not been highlighted in previous research. The study also shows that barriers can be mitigated through company strategies where Swedish actors automate and standardize their ways of working based on the requirements set by green certificates.

The status of English as the language of international communication is by now well-established. However, in the past 16 years, research has tried to emphasize the fact that the English spoken in international contact situations and between people with other first languages than English has different needs than the English spoken locally amongst native speakers, resulting in the emergence of English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a scholarly field. However, the impact of findings in ELF has so far only led to a moderate shift in English language teaching. Especially in expanding circle countries, where ELF should have the biggest impact, change is only gradually becoming palpable. Accent and pronunciation, as one of the biggest factors on both identity and mutual intelligibility (Jenkins 2000; 2007) are at the root of discussion. The scope of this study is therefore to examine accent choices and the extent to which native speaker ideology informs the preferences of ten speakers of ELF and 27 German natives with experience in international communication. Both ethnographical and sociolinguistic methods, as well as auditory analysis have been applied and conducted. The auditory analysis of six variables in the recorded speech production of the ten speakers suggests that there is no significant preference of one norm-giving variety over the other. Rather, speakers tend to mix-and-match General American- and Standard Southern British English-like features in their pronunciation. When reporting their accent ideals, the idea of a ‘neutral’ English accent is mentioned by four participants. Neutral accents seem to have been understood as ‘unmarked accents’. Expressed beliefs on their own English pronunciation show a comparatively high level of reflection on and confidence in their own production. Results from a rating task and a survey given to 27 German participants reveal attitudes that are more negatively stacked. While Germans reported openness towards NNS (non-native speaker) accents and showed awareness of the priority of intelligibility over accent choice in both their own and others’ pronunciation, they still largely reported NS accent preference. The ratings of the production from ten ELF speakers confirmed this and showed that ‘neutral’ is equated with native-like. In the light of these findings, issues are discussed that ultimately relate to the influence of NS Englishes, identity and the development of English as an international language.

A considerable part of the global pool of terrestrial carbon is stored in high latitude soils. In these soils, repeated cycles of freezing and thawing creates soil motion (cryoturbation) that in combination with other cryogenic disturbance processes may play a profound role in controlling the carbon balance of the arctic soil. Conditions for cryogenic soil processes are predicted to dramatically change in response to the ongoing climate warming, but little is known how these changes may affect the ability of arctic soils to accumulate carbon. In this thesis, I utilize a patterned ground system, referred to as non-sorted circles, as experimental units and quantify how cryogenic soil processes affect plant communities and carbon fluxes in arctic soils. I show that the cryoturbation has been an important mechanism for transporting carbon downwards in the studied soil over the last millennia. Interestingly, burial of organic material by cryoturbation appears to have mainly occurred during bioclimatic events occurring around A.D. 900-1250 and A.D. 1650-1950 as indicated by inferred 14C ages. Using a novel photogrammetric approach, I estimate that about 0.2-0.8 % of the carbon pool is annually subjected to a net downward transport induced by the physical motion of soil. Even though this flux seems small, it suggests that cryoturbation is an important transporter of carbon over centennial and millennial timescales and contributes to translocate organic matter to deeper soil layers where respiration proceeds at slow rates. Cryogenic processes not only affect the trajectories of the soil carbon, but also generate plant community changes in both species composition and abundance, as indicated by a conducted plant survey on non-sorted circles subjected to variable differential frost heave during the winter. Here, disturbance-tolerant plant species, such as Carex capillaris and Tofieldia pusilla, seem to be favoured by disturbance generated by the differential heave. Comparison with findings from a previous plant survey on the site conducted in the 1980s suggest that the warmer temperatures during the last decades have resulted in decreased differential heave in the studied non-sorted circles. I argue that this change in cryogenic activity has increased abundance of plants present in the 1980s. The fact that the activity and function of the non-sorted circles in Abisko are undergoing changes is further supported by their contemporary carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes. Here, my measurements of CO2 fluxes suggest that all studied non-sorted circles act as net CO2 sources and thus that the carbon balance of the soils are in a transition state. My results highlight the complex but important relationship between cryogenic soil processes and the carbon balance of arctic soils.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personal, social and citizenship education (PSCE) in fostering positive self-esteem in two instrumental case studies which took place in two classrooms of 7-10 year old children (N=40) in France during the 2007-2008 school year. The study used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies including a self-esteem survey administered to pupils in the two case-study classrooms as well as to students in two control classrooms (N=47) at the beginning and end of the school year. Throughout the course of the year a series of semi-structured interviews was also conducted with six focus children selected from each class (2 high, 2 medium and 2 low self-esteem children) as well as with the two class teachers and the parents/step-parents of the focus children. In addition, the study included non-participant observation which focussed on the participation and behaviour of the focus children during PSCE lessons and other lessons through the use of three separate observation schedules. The study found evidence of the important influence of significant others, in particular, parents, peers and teachers, on the focus children’s self-esteem. Although the quantitative analysis of the self-esteem questionnaires showed no statistically significant increase in self-esteem at the group level over time, the qualitative findings indicate that teachers’ relationship with their students, their promotion of responsibility and self-efficacy, and their careful implementation of PSCE practices contributed to increases in individual children’s self-esteem. There was also evidence that the implementation of PSCE activities contributed to improvements in children’s peer relations.

The purpose of this study is to examine, analyse and compare to what extent the preschool teachers' child perspective influences their attitude towards different forms of circle time. More specifically, our aim is, firstly to examine how preschool teachers see children's possibilities for influence and participation depending on the form of circle time, and secondly how children are included or excluded within different forms of circle time. We will be using the following questions as a guidance to draw a conclusion: • To what extent does the preschool teacher's child perspective impact on their approach in circle time? • To what extent does the form of circle time affect the inclusion or exclusion of children according to the preschool teachers? • How is the children's influence and participation affected by different forms of circle time? This is a qualitative study based on both semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers and observations of circle time. The fieldwork was carried out at four different preschools in the Stockholm area. The main theoretical frame is based on several notions that are of importance at preschool: inclusion and exclusion, influence and participation, and preschool teachers approach on children. The results show that the child perspective of the majority of the preschool teachers respects the children's own way of thinking and therefore builds on a free will, leads to a more harmonious atmosphere without demonstrative admonitions. The majority of the preschool teachers prefer circle time with a small number of children in order to be able to show consideration both for the tranquil and the go-ahead child's behaviour. The results also show that circle time with less children improves the children's possibility for influence and inclusion compared to traditional circle time. This is because it gives the preschool teacher more time to focus on and notice every single individual. It is the preschool teacher's responsibility to create a circle time that is interesting for the children. This can be achieved either by giving the children more influence or by allowing them to decide if they want to participate at circle time.

La conception heideggérienne du « cercle de la compréhension » exposée aux §§ 31 et 32 de Sein und Zeit est bien connue et a souvent été analysée, notamment par Hans-Georg Gadamer dans Vérité et méthode (1960) et Jean Greisch dans son commentaire de Sein und Zeit (1994). Mais on a trop peu vu que la théorie du cercle herméneutique déterminait aussi la conception heideggérienne de la philosophie. Notre recherche s’efforcera de le montrer et d’expliquer pourquoi il en est ainsi. Au plan de la méthodologie, nous proposerons, en nous inspirant des commentateurs les plus autorisés (Greisch, Gadamer, Courtine, et al.), un commentaire serré des §§ 31 et 32 de Sein und Zeit, sans oublier le § 63 où Heidegger souligne lui-même la « situation herméneutique » de sa propre enquête, ni le § 68 où se trouve mise en évidence la dimension temporelle du cercle de la compréhension. Nous tâcherons ensuite de montrer en quoi ce cercle affecte la conception heideggérienne de la philosophie telle que présentée au § 7 de Sein und Zeit et dans d’autres textes de Heidegger tels que Les problèmes fondamentaux de la phénoménologie (GA 24). / Heidegger’s understanding of the « hermeneutic circle » presented in §§ 31 et 32 of Sein und Zeit is well known and was analysed, among others, by Hans-Georg Gadamer in Truth and Method (1960) and Jean Greisch in his commentary of Sein und Zeit (1994). However, what has received too little attention is the extent to which the hermeneutic circle theory has a determining influence on Heidegger’s idea and practice of philosophy. Our research will attempt to explain why this is so. In our methodology, guided by the most relevant commentators (Greisch, Gadamer, Courtine, et al.), we elaborate a close analysis of §§ 31 and 32 in Sein und Zeit. This commentary also takes into account § 63, where Heidegger himself underlines the « hermeneutic situation » of his own investigation and § 68 where the temporal dimension of the hermeneutic circle is pointed out. We conclude by trying to demonstrate in what respect the circle influences Heidegger’s interpretation of philosophy, as shown in § 7 of Sein und Zeit and in other texts of Heidegger, such as The Fundamental Problems of Phenomenology (GA 24).

This dissertation focuses on the modern art of Pakistan from 1947-57, more specifically, the role of six important artists who founded the Lahore Art Circle (LAC) in 1952. The group played a pivotal role in the formulation of modernism in Pakistan after its establishment as an Islamic Republic. Framed within postcolonial theories and criticism, this study will address the role of modern art in developing new artistic sensibilities in the nation of Pakistan. In order to understand the context of LAC’s framing of “modernism” and “nationalism” in terms of specific historic and hybrid nexus,my research will provide an investigation of works of only the founding members of the Lahore Art Circle including: Shakir Ali (1924-1975), Sheikh Safdar Ali (1924-1983),Moyene Najmi (1926-1997), Ali Imam (1924-2000), Ahmed Parvez (1926-1979) and Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985). In analyzing the works of individual artists and the role of LAC during the first decade of the establishment of Pakistan as a nation-state, this study provides a framework to understand the specific condition of modernism in Pakistan that was dictated by these artists’ careers and works. Thus, this research investigates how the framing of modernism for these artists took on highly personal, international, incipiently national and distinctly local forms in the early years of the Pakistan after the Partition of 1947. Lastly, it will also examine how the individual LAC artists situated themselves in the discourse between constructing a newly established Pakistani identity within the larger paradigms of international modernism.