Design is reemerging again as an active system of enquiry for cultural production with a wide ranging set of methods - not only to address short-term formal problems and limited functions, but as a discipline that is uniquely placed in its relations to other fields of visual culture, special settings and textual production. A new generation of designers are currently reassessing the positions within graphics, product design and architecture and picking up loose ends of progressive historic developments.

In many Western societies grandparents take on the role of occasional or short-term care providers of their grandchildren. However, recent years have witnessed a significant increase, both in Australia and overseas, in the number of children being raised by their grandparents due to the inability of the children’s parents to effectively meet their parenting responsibilities.This study is an interpretive inquiry that seeks to understand the meanings grandparents attach to their experiences of the grandparent-as-parent role, rather than the traditional grandparent role. The study also investigates how assuming the non-traditional grandparent role has influenced the identity of grandparent caregivers. A narrative inquiry approach was employed to ‘hear the voices’ of 34 grandparents who were raising their grandchildren in NSW, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with each of the participants and their narratives were subsequently analysed through the lens of identity theory.Findings from the study reveal that grandparents experience a significant degree of roleidentity conflict in their grandparent-as-parent role. The loss of their traditional grandparent role, together with the shift in commitment to the grandparent-as-parent role, has resulted in a ‘space of difference’ between the ‘ideal’ and the ‘real’ of being a grandparent. This ‘space of difference’ is made up of a series of binary experiences described as myth/reality, visible/invisible, deserving/undeserving, voice/silenced, included/excluded, which appear to have consequentially impacted grandparents’ selfesteem and self-verification processes. The study posits that grandparents lack adequate support, or doulia, resulting in a prevailing belief that their commitment to the grandparentas- parent role is not publicly acknowledged nor afforded the justice it deserves.The study concludes that both policy and practice in NSW have failed to recognise and address the complexity of experience, or the ‘space of difference’ occupied by grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and provides a number of recommendations in response to the grandparent experiences narrated through this research.

In many Western societies grandparents take on the role of occasional or short-term care providers of their grandchildren. However, recent years have witnessed a significant increase, both in Australia and overseas, in the number of children being raised by their grandparents due to the inability of the children’s parents to effectively meet their parenting responsibilities.This study is an interpretive inquiry that seeks to understand the meanings grandparents attach to their experiences of the grandparent-as-parent role, rather than the traditional grandparent role. The study also investigates how assuming the non-traditional grandparent role has influenced the identity of grandparent caregivers. A narrative inquiry approach was employed to ‘hear the voices’ of 34 grandparents who were raising their grandchildren in NSW, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with each of the participants and their narratives were subsequently analysed through the lens of identity theory.Findings from the study reveal that grandparents experience a significant degree of roleidentity conflict in their grandparent-as-parent role. The loss of their traditional grandparent role, together with the shift in commitment to the grandparent-as-parent role, has resulted in a ‘space of difference’ between the ‘ideal’ and the ‘real’ of being a grandparent. This ‘space of difference’ is made up of a series of binary experiences described as myth/reality, visible/invisible, deserving/undeserving, voice/silenced, included/excluded, which appear to have consequentially impacted grandparents’ selfesteem and self-verification processes. The study posits that grandparents lack adequate support, or doulia, resulting in a prevailing belief that their commitment to the grandparentas- parent role is not publicly acknowledged nor afforded the justice it deserves.The study concludes that both policy and practice in NSW have failed to recognise and address the complexity of experience, or the ‘space of difference’ occupied by grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and provides a number of recommendations in response to the grandparent experiences narrated through this research.

Nowadays the organic food is more and more preferred part of our consumption. The reasons of this situation are better knowledge of these products and easier ways how to buy them. Specialized organic food salesrooms become very important place of organic food sale, place of experience transfer and new information learning.The main aim of this thesis has been the organic food sales analysis in specialized organic food salesrooms, especially organic food sales strategy, assortment of goods, sales conditions and sales culture in reference to last two years. The results of the analysis are the detection of strengths and weaknesses of organic food sale and demand comparison of regional production offer in specialized organic food salesrooms.

Cette thèse étudie la question de l'idiomaticité dans la pratique musicale de l'improvisation libre. Notre enquête débute avec une discussion sur les difficultés qu'implique toute tentative de délimiter cette activité ou de la définir en termes positifs. En effet, le produit d'une performance improvisée émerge au moment de la prestation et s'évanouit immédiatement. Ce fait a poussé de nombreux musiciens et chercheurs à classer cette pratique comme étant « non-idiomatique » (et donc comme étant résistante à l'analyse sémiotique), une désignation qui a été popularisée par Derek Bailey dans son oeuvre pionnière Improvisation. Cependant, malgré son apparent caractère insaisissable, le genre a été capable de subsister depuis plusieurs décennies et continue a se propager à de nouvelles scènes musicales à travers le monde, supporté par un ensemble relativement consistant de préoccupations idéologiques et esthétiques quiunissent et habilitent ses praticiens et admirateurs. En utilisant un modèle sémiotique triadique dans la tradition de C.S. Peirce et en considérant les différents aspects de l'improvisation libre à la lumière de sa théorie des catégories, nous sommes capables d'élaborer une analyse sémiotique des aspects émergents/évanescents de l'improvisation libre, ainsi que de ses propriétés plus durables/idiomatiques. L'improvisation libre n'est pas du tout, comme aiment l'affirmercertains, libre de toutes conventions. Un des accomplissements de cette thèse est de déconstruire de mythe de la non-idiomaticité de l'improvisation libre et de démontrer que les engagements idiomatiques particuliers de cette pratique ont tout simplement été déplacés, abandonnant pour la plupart les idiomes formels (tels des approches génériques, codifiées et reconnaissables à la tonalité et au rythme) pour privilégier des codes de conduite qui rendent l'activité cohérente et signifiante à ses participants. Les témoignages d'improvisateurs révèlent qu'ils sont largement motivés par des préoccupations et principes similaires. Quant à la valeur momentanée reconnue de n'importe quel aspect formel d'une performance improvisée, c'est grâce à l'implémentation soudaine de conventions localisées et habituellement de trèscourte durée (que nous appelons « entente ») que les musiciens arrivent à cette reconnaissance mutuelle (mais toujours contingente). Les improvisateurs tendent à vouloir déconstruire ces conventions formelle émergentes assez rapidement. Ils comptent ne laisser aucun engagement formel se solidifier au delà d'un certain caractère liminaire qu'ils jugent désirable dans le cadre de leur activité. Finalement, n'importe quel indicateur pour mesurer le succès d'une performance improvisée doit se référer soit aux principes unificateurs qui soutendent la pratique et représentent le coeur de sonidiomaticité, soit aux exigences momentanées imposées par l'entente. / This thesis studies the question of idiomaticity in the musical practice of free improvisation. Our enquiry begins with a discussion on the difficulties of delineating this activity and of defining it in positive terms. The production of improvised performances indeed emerges at the moment of its delivery and is immediately fleeting. This has led many musicians and writers to classify the practice as "non-idiomatic" (and thus resistant to semiotic analysis), a designation popularized by Derek Bailey in his pioneering book Improvisation. Yet despite its apparent elusiveness, the genre has been able to endure for several decades and keeps spreading to new music scenes throughout the world, supported by relatively consistent ideological and aesthetic preoccupations that unify and enable its practitioners and fans. By using a triadic semiotic model in the tradition of C.S. Peirce and by considering the different aspects of free improvisation in the light of his theory of categories, we are able to give a semiotic account of both the emergent/evanescent and the enduring/idiomatic aspects of free improvisation. Free improvisation is not at all, as some would hope, free from all conventions. One of the accomplishments of this thesis is to deconstruct the myth of free improvisation's non-idiomaticity and demonstrate that the practice's particular idiomatic commitments have merely been shifted away from formal idioms (such as generically codified and recognizable approaches to tonality and rhythm) and onto codes of conduct that keep the activity coherent and significant for its participants. Musician testimonies reveal that the practices of free improvisers are indeed motivated by similar underlying concerns and principles. As for agreements on the momentary value of any of the improvised performance's formal aspects, they find mutual (if contingent) recognition through short-lived localized formal conventions that we call "entente". Improvisers, however, typically playfully deconstruct these emergent formal conventions rather expeditiously; they are intent on not letting any formal commitments solidify beyond a desired liminal capacity. In the end, any gauge for the success of an improvised performance must refer either to the underlying unifying principles that make up the core of its idiomaticity or to the momentary exigencies of entente.

In the past 30 years there has been a rapid and exponential growth in the numbers of people electing to complete all or part of their studies outside of their country of origin. This phenomenon has attracted considerable research attention, not least from those who are interested to describe the benefits seen to accrue from the opportunity this provides for an extended encounter with linguistic and cultural diversity. Notably, the widespread assumption that this can generate a new form of learning, commonly referred to as intercultural learning, which is understood to comprise increased tolerance, empathy and openness to the linguistic and cultural other. Despite the limited research data to substantiate these claims, among those interested to develop educational responses to globalization, the potential of intercultural contact to generate intercultural learning has considerable appeal and has been co-opted in the development of policy and practice to promote global citizenship at all levels of education. This has contributed to the emergence of a particular discourse about intercultural learning and is further fuelling the development of both short and long-stay study abroad programmes. This discourse is, however, increasingly called into question on account of the perceived overly-simplistic constructions of interculturality and learning on which it is premised. In particular, there is a growing recognition of the need to develop situated accounts of people’s everyday encounters with linguistic and cultural others which acknowledge the exigencies of the setting, as well as the impact of wider political economic and historical discourses on their positioning in intercultural encounters. The generation of ‘thick’ descriptions of people’s lived experiences of interculturality in global educational contact zones, it is argued, can lead to a more nuanced account of the intercultural learning these can afford. This was the aim of the study reported in this thesis. The study undertaken explores the relationship between an experience of interculturality and learning among 14 international students during their year-long sojourn at a university in the UK. Drawing upon a socially constructed relational understanding of learning informed by the transactional and dialogic conceptualization of learning developed by Dewey and Bakhtin among others, the study sought to generate a narrative account of participants’ experiences and learning generated from periodic individual and group interviews over the year as well as reflective accounts in participants portfolios and other opportunistic conversations recorded in the researcher log. Primary analysis of the data revealed that participants’ experiences generated a number of forms of learning. One of these, ‘learning about self in relation to linguistic and cultural other’ was identified as a form of intercultural learning, comprising learning to be more open to the other and learning about linguistic and cultural positioning. This was subsequently explored in more depth, revealing a complex interplay between these two elements and the strategic actions taken by participants to manage their encounters with linguistic and cultural others. These results revealed considerable differences in the learning trajectories and outcomes resulting from their intercultural encounter. The findings also point to the importance of sustained commitment to intercultural dialogue on the part of individuals and the perception of their ethical treatment by others as important to the direction their learning trajectories take. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that while an encounter with linguistic and cultural other may lead to increased tolerance, empathy and openness to other associated with the way intercultural learning is employed in much of the research literature, the strategic actions learners take to negotiate their linguistic and cultural positioning will critically inform the extent to which they develop these qualities. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the ways in which a situated and relational conceptualization of interculturality and learning is seen to contribute to a more informed and deeper understanding of the sorts of intercultural learning that are made possible by an intercultural encounter. I also identify a number of research agendas which can build upon the insights provided by the study.

The ame of this thesis is a partial analysis of survey, which preceded the elaboration of thesis and was prepared by a wider team. Secondary school students and older elementary school students took a test focused on problem solving skills and information literacy abilities in geography. Specifically: searching for data in a table, comparing tables with graphs, working with maps (searching for data and information, comparing with other resources), asking questions (searching for the causes of the current state of some phenomena), analysing data from different types of resources (tables, graphs, maps), transcribing data from table to the graph, and independent thinking on the basis of the information given. Apart from the test, they also filled out a survey on their opinions about the test questions and the frequency of practicing these skills in the classroom. Their teachers filled out the analogical survey. This thesis is analysing the part of survey results and it's specifically focused on the relation between the teachers' and the students' views on the test results and the tested skills and abilities.

The purpose of the thesis is to explore excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL), its philosophical underpinnings, pedagogical implications and possibilities. How pedagogic devices can be used to encourage tutors' reflections on EBL, and is concerned with producing and sharing knowledge in relation facilitating student-centred teaching and learning practices. The study is in the tradition of practitioner research, where my role was that of an educational developer at the Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-based Learning. It is centred around the development of EBL models as pedagogic instruments to facilitate tutors' reflections on their practice. The thesis investigates how to facilitate the incorporation of more student-centred approaches into tutors' practice in a UK university through employing EBL models as a tool for reflection, how these models were introduced to tutors, and the findings from the process. A critical action research approach was undertaken for the educational development practitioner research journey. The primary methods of data collection consisted of interviews with students and tutors, and data obtained during individual reflections and group discussions in a series of workshops that involved tutors studying EBL models. Thirty-one tutors were involved in these workshops and interviews where they quantitatively and qualitatively explored multiple dimensions of teaching and learning. Content analysis of the results was conducted on the data with an emphasis on dilemma analysis to gain insights into tutors' decisions about their practice, and an empirical abductive strategy was employed to inform the development of new EBL models. In the course of the action research phases two new EBL models were iteratively developed informed by the literature and stakeholders. Finally, a new Student Involvement in Learning and Teaching Model was proposed, empirically abducted from student narratives derived from photo-elicited interviews. This Model constituted the development of a new conceptual framework for thinking about EBL within the context of broader teaching and learning practice. This study articulates new student involvement dimensions which conveyed the nature of power within the proximal processes of teaching and learning. The thesis contributes towards the practice of educational development by documenting both the process and outcomes of introducing EBL and learning and teaching models to tutors as reflective instruments, and by proposing a new perspective on excellence in EBL where student involvement is enhanced when reciprocal power relationships exist in the proximal processes between tutors and students. Tutor decisions were framed as a series of dilemmas created by external contextual influences (the University social micro, meso, exo and macro-systems); and internal factors (the tutors' personal force-resource characteristics) which affected tutors' reported actual and espoused ideal practice. The data demonstrated that most tutors espoused including more EBL, but they preferred an incremental change in their practice.

This exegesis interrogates the mental illness Pure Erotomania, the rare delusional disorder which presents with the sufferer having the delusional (and therefore unshakeable) belief that the person they objectify is in love with them. My play Yellow Roses in Fortitude Valley is about one woman's emotional journey as she is relentlessly stalked by a Pure Erotomanic male. It is a fascinating mental illness, which includes all the 'box office type' features, which make it an exciting and frightening subject to write a dramatic work about. It is confusing, illusory, surreal and frightening, but best of all for the writer and audience it is a real human condition. Yellow Roses in Fortitude Valley is written in a style that truthfully represents and portrays the journey and struggle for both the victim and the sufferer. The research undertaken for both the play and exegesis was a hybrid of many overlapping disciplines involved in the current discourse. As a recently diagnosed and recognized disorder, it is still new territory for professionals in the field and for audience members. I believe this makes it an opportune time for an academically researched creative project to enter into current discourse. Previous creative works on this topic, some of which I have interrogated, have approached the issue of stalking as a predator/victim scenario, an unrequited love or a domestic violence situation. I wished to portray the stalking as a mental illness in the form of the psychiatric disorder Erotomania, my approach undertaking to explain victim impact and the prolonged and chronic course of Erotomanic stalking. I also wished to illustrate the underlying themes which I uncovered during my research, being; female victims of sex crimes; dominant patriarchal ideology; and the current interventions in stalking by the legal and mental health systems.

Using questionnaire enquiry, this diploma thesis tries to find out the level of knowledge of single members of basic rescue bodies involved in the Integrated Rescue System of the Czech Republic in the area of nerve agents and subsequently compare this knowledge of single basic bodies. Another aim, which is based on literature examination and information available, is to suggest an appropriate procedure for Integrated Rescue System action in case of misuse of nerve agents by terrorists. The suggested procedure of activities of bodies involved in the Integrated Rescue System could serve as an example for establishing a model plan of activities of bodies involved the Integrated Rescue System in case of events with suspicion of terrorist attack performed by nerve agents or other highly toxic chemical agents. A comprehensive overview on nerve agents could be used for deepening and broadening of knowledge of single Integrated Rescue System bodies. Although such a terrorist attack has not happened in the Czech Republic yet, it cannot be excluded that it will occur in the future. Hence it is very important so that the Integrated Rescue System is perfectly equipped both materially and technically, and single Integrated Rescue System bodies are trained and educated systematically. It is better to be theoretically and practically well prepared, and never to use this knowledge and skills than to improvise and rely on decision carried out only on the place of disaster.