Milking stools in the collections of the National Cultural History Museum: an investigation of typology. In this study the physical or other characteristics that might typify the traditional milking stool is investigated. This was done by studying a comparable group of eighteen examples from the Anthropology and Cultural History collections of the National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria. Six of the objects in the group studied had already been associated with the Afrikaans catchword ‘melkstoel’, hence the primary sources that informed the research included the museological data from the existing documentation of the Museum. The investigation confirmed that corresponding physical attributes, especially that pertaining to construction, could be identified in the group studied. It was also found that the objects had seen multiple, but indeterminable, functional applications. Since fifteen of the eighteen examples studied were essentially anonymous, as no documented provenance existed, their origin, history and meaning could not be established. The research was therefore extended to secondary sources, being textual descriptions and images, from which associations and correlations between the group studied and milking stools, especially from Western Europe and the English-speaking world, could be affirmed. Moreover, such links were also found to exist with other stools and certain vernacular chair typologies of shared approach, especially as to their construction. Findings identified certain typological features of the milking stool, but also a symbolic and metaphorical association. Multiple functions of and applications for the milking stool could be ascertained. AFRIKAANS : In hierdie studie word ondersoek ingestel of enige eienskappe, fisies of andersins, die tradisionele melkstoeltjie tipeer. Dit is onderneem aan die hand van ‘n studiegroep van agtien soortgelyke voorwerpe uit die Antropologie-versameling en die Kultuurhistoriese versameling van die Nasionale Kultuurhistoriese Museum, Pretoria. Dié primêre bronne word in die ondersoek ondersteun deur museale bronne ontsluit uit die Museum se dokumentasiesentrum, waar ses van die voorwerpe in die studiegroep reeds assosieer is met die trefwoord ‘melkstoel’. Die ondersoek het bevestig dat sekere fisiese kenmerke van die studiegroep, veral in hul konstruksie, dui op groepsverband. Daar is ook bevind dat die voorwerpe vir meervoudige, maar onbepaalde, funksies gebruik is.Van die agtien voorwerpe in die studiegroep is vyftien van anonieme herkoms, sodat hul oorsprong, geskiedenis en betekenis nie met sekerheid vasgestel kon word nie. Die navorsing is daarom uitgebrei na tekstuele beskrywings en beelde, as sekondêre bronne, om hierdie en ander kenmerke te ondersoek. Hieruit is die studiegroep in verband gebring met melkstoeltjies uit veral Wes-Europa en die Engelssprekende wêreld, asook ander stoeltjies en volkstoele wat soortgelyke eienskappe en konstruksiekenmerke het. Bevindings dui op bepaalde tipologiese kenmerke van ‘n melkstoeltjie, maar ook ‘n wyer, assosiatiewe begrip wat manifesteer in beeldspraak en ‘n metaforiese konteks. Meervoudige gebruike en aanwendings van die melkstoeltjie is nagespeur. Copyright / Dissertation (MInt)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

Creatine is nitrogen-containing organic acid which naturally occurs in the human body. The aim of this work was to determine the optimal dose of creatine in combination with vitamin C and magnesium for male respondents aged 18-26 years. They were divided into two groups differing in the creatine dosage. Group 1 took smaller dose of creatine (3 g per day) and group 2 higher dose of creatine (10 g per day). Both groups took both magnesium and vitamin C at constant doses throughout the study. The effects of significantly different dose of creatine in the individual groups were compared with each other in terms of the performance of individuals in the powerlifting, the anthropological changes and the overal metabolism of the intakes. In all disciplines of powerlifting, group 1 recorded higher average weight gains, which were not found to be statistically significant at a significance level of alpha 0,05. Anthropological changes were measured using the InBody 160 and a diagnostic measuring tape. In both cases, group 1 recorded better results than group 2, but these results were not statistically significant at a significance level of alpha 0,05. The total metabolism of the accepted dietary supplements was investigated through analytical methods. The urine of each respondent was regularly collected and subsequently analyzed during the research. Determination of creatinine, a creatine waste product, was performed by UV-VIS spectrophotometry using the Jaffe reaction. Vitamin C was analyzed by RP-HPLC. Magnesium was determined by the ICP-OES method. After creatine suplemantion of 3 per day, group 1 showed a slight increase in creatinine in the urine, but still in the physiological range. At the significance level alpha 0,05 there was no statistically significant difference. Group 2 showed an increase above the physiological limit which was already a statistically significant difference. Overall, creatine supplementation of 3 g per day has been found as a sufficient intake of creatine needed to build up muscle mass, increase energy metabolism and overall physical performance. The metabolization itself works very well and within the physiological values.

Sex estimation is a challenging problem in both forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. Sexual dimorphism is most noticeably displayed by the pelvis; however in instances when it is not preserved, sex is estimated by skull. There is a multitude of approaches that use the skull, however, their population specificity and variable sexual dimorphism oscillation reduces their effectiveness (Bruzek and Murail, 2006). We base our contribution on the study by Abdel Fatah et al. (2014) that estimates sex based on exocranial and endocranial surfaces with a high success rate of 97%. Our approach uses anonymized CT scans of skulls from recent french population, from which the exocranial surface was segmented. On these surfaces, CPD-DCA (Dupej et al., 2014) was performed. We analyzed both form and shape (form after size normalization) of these surfaces in 104 skulls (53 males, 51 females) aged 18 to 92 years. The mean age was 58 years in females and 52.46 years in males. Classification was performed using support vector machines (SVM) with a radial kernel. Leave-one-out crossvalidation was also applied. The highest success rate (87.5 %) was achieved with the first 27 principal components of form. Classification of shape was less accurate by only 2 %. Even though our success rate was lower than that of Abdel...

This master's work was focused on the assessment of sexual dimorphism of external and internal morphology of frontal bone. Sexual diagnosis based on external surface of frontal bones and volume and surface of frontal sinuses was carried out using geometric morphometrics methods. Our approach used anonimized CT scans of 103 skulls from recent Czech population, from which 3D models of frontal bones and frontal sinuses were created. At first the analysis was aimed at studying form and shape of external surface of frontal bone. Our methodology is based on the work of Musilová et al. (2016) that estimates sex using exocranial surface of the entire skull. We analyzed variability and tested differences in males and females frontal bones. The main target of this work was sex classification. The highest success rate acquired 86,41 % with the first 20 main components of form. The following part of this study was focused on sex estimation using the methodology developed by Bulut et al. (2016), which was applied in Turkish population. This method classified Czech males and females with accuracy 70,87 %. In order to complete sex determination based on the frontal bone we also used classification of the radius of the frontal bone curvature with success rate of 77,66 %. The attention was also paid to studying...

This thesis is based on a qualitative research which followed the construction process of a self-sustaining house Earthship that is located in the larger centre of Prague. I am making use of Tim Ingold's approach of ecological anthropology which allows me to track the lines of the material flow and the exchange of materials which take place within the house and during the construction process of the Prague Earthship. Apart from humans there are other actants involved in these construction processes, that is non-human materials and elements of the natural environment which the building is an integral part of and which it is embedded in. With the help of the Ingold's concept of meshwork I interpret the Earthship as a living and dynamic organism, which is connected to its environment and which is through its becoming involved in various social processes. The materiality of the building navigates actions of its builders and residents and directs them to changing their life style and everyday practices towards more sustainable consumption.

Diploma thesis, which is based on Anna Wierzbicka's natural semantic metalanguage theory, discusses certain specific features of Czech language worldview and compares them with specific features of English language worldview. This intercultural comparison is made possible by the cultural neutrality of the natural semantic metalanguage which serves as a language in which explications of analyzed words are formulated and compared to their English counterparts. Analyses of Czech keywords are based mainly on the use of dictionaries (explanatory and etymological dictionaries and dictionaries of phrases and idioms) and Czech corpora. The analysis aims to show differences between Czech and English cultural norms and values as reflected in different semantic structures of analyzed concepts, which presumably indicate deeper differences in perceiving and interpreting reality in both languages.

The aim of this musical anthropology thesis focuses on "medieval music" as practiced by fans of historical fencing in the form of living history on the example of two Czech bands - Subulcus and Medieval Open Band as part of project Prácheňská manství. In my thesis I focus not only on sound and musical instruments, but also on the behavior of actors and their conceptualization of the Middle Ages, according to the concepts of music as culture of Allan Merriam, resp. of music as social life of Thomas Turino. I combine here the basic ideas of ethnomusicology with the ideas of musical memory in connection with the contemporary concepts of social memory and, last but not least, with the concepts of "golden age", nostalgia, staged authenticity and invented traditions. The point of this work is to bring about the origin and form of music that the actors understand as medieval, although not always comes the repertoire from the Middle Ages.

The goal of this musical anthropology qualitative research, mainly based on the field work, is to describe, analyze and interpret the process of construction of local identity of an alternative bands in Moravian Slovácko. The subject of this research are mainly two music bands from Slovácko - PSCrew and 12:PIET. PSCrew band represents hip-hop style and 12:PIET ranks among punk style bands. The musical production of these bands is defined (using an emic term) as an alternative folklore. With a use of theoretical concepts of stereotype and partially also retro and revival, I tried to demonstrate how these alternative musicians with an emphasis to their authenticity by the means of their musical spheres (so called soundscapes) pursue their notion of what is considered to be related to Slovácko and how the negotiation of their local identity is involved. For that the locally defined stereotypes are often used. These are typically recontextualized by its adaptation into the form that reflects the postmodern period.

Stefan SCHOLZ Methodical study to the bilateral research project about mutual relationship of sacral architecture of the 13. century in the bohemian and austrian lands Abstract: To begin with the basic conditions for the interdisciplinarity and internationality of the whole research, and the necessity of a parallel survey on the profane level, will be defined. Then the main subject of the project will be linked to a wider context of the Central European integration processes in the early and high middle ages - from there results the necessity of secondary studies on Central European long term basic structures and framework developments from the 10th to the mid 13th century, as well as of historiographic context-studies to the reign of King Otakar Přemysl II. (1252- 1278). In this way the core the project will be defined: the forms of expression of the Central European integration processes in sacral and profane architecture and the settlement, urban, social and legal patterns in the bohemian, moravian, silesian and austrian towns, above all in the 3rd quarter of the 13th century. The relative chronological system of the main stylistic streams and positions of the middle european sacral architecture in 13. century shows many contrasts between the impacts of french and burgundian gothic style, the...

1 Abstract This diploma thesis aims to describe the practices of the low-threshold center for homeless women "Mezi svými" by which the principles of critical social work are being executed and negotiated in the broader context of "antiradical" Czech social work (Valová and Janebová, 2015) and its discourse "reintegration ". In general, social work is expected to provide its clients with protection against social exclusion or to support their reintegration into society. However, in a situation where employment is considered a key element of integration, social work gets into some difficulties because it cannot create jobs on its own (Castel, 2003). Hence I investigate how peer and social workers find a balance between 1) the ideals of critical social work that organizations subscribe to, and 2) the need to "integrate" women back into the system, activate them, and motivate them to find work. In seeking answers to this question, I pay special attention to the asymmetry of power that characterizes the relationship between social workers and their clients, and I observe the role that peer workers play in sharing power with clients. Key words: Feminist anthropology, intersection of disadvantages, critical social work, power, women in social distress, peer workers, reintegration, work.