The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment training (FIE) in respondents with Parkinson's disease (PD) in comparison with another type of cognitive training. The specific aim of the study was to verify whether there were differences between the effectiveness of the FIE and the training of the individual cognitive domains for cognitive functions in respondents with PD. The study included patients with PD who underwent an examination by a neuropsychological battery before the beginning of the training in order to evaluate the level of cognitive functions. Based on the demographic characteristics and the overall score in the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-II (DRS-II), the respondents (n = 24) were randomly divided into two research groups. The experimental group (EXP) trained using the FIE method for 60 minutes once a week during three months. The control group (CON) trained the individual cognitive domains. After the cognitive training the respondents were examined again in order to detect changes of the level of each one of the cognitive functions. The examination revealed significant differences in the first and the second phases of testing in the EXP respondents (n = 12) in the level of current anxiety (p = 0.024), memory for non-verbal...

During the process of aging, the human mental and physical abilities decline. Olfactory abilities are not an exception. A significant decrease of olfactory capabilities in patients with Parkinson's disease was firstly observed a few decades ago. After the discovery of the relationship between olfactory abilities and cognitive abilities in patients with neurodegenerative disease, the same relationship was also found in healthy aging people. It seems that the factors causing the decline of cognition foremost affect the olfactory functions. A number of studies suggests, that this could lead to a possibility of prediction of the future cognitive decline through the assessment of olfactory decline. Our research followed the results of these studies as a part of the NANOK study. Testing of the smell abilities was done in 2014 and 2015. Participants were screened with the Sniffin 'Sticks. Cognitive functions were tested with an extensive battery of cognitive tests. The processiong of data was divided into two parts. In the first part we tested the olfactory identification and discrimination relationship with the general cognitive abilities and the level of the executive functions. In the second part we tested the possibility of prediction of cognitive functions using the smell identification and discrimination...

Deficient executive functioning influences significantly the ability to manage every day life requirements. Nowdays different structured programmes for EF rehabilitation are available for aquired brain damage patiens. Their efficiency had been confirmed by meta- analysis, yet cognitive-behavioural rehabilitation programmes in clinical praktice still lack some kind of systematic intervention particularly aimed at EF. The topic of the theoretical part is an introduction of selected theoretical models of EF and a summary of existing knowledge about EF rehabilitation. I have created a rehabilitation programme specificly focused on the ability of planning and organizing acitivities, which are complex abilities closely linked to the primary components of EF. This programme was created to help patiens with aquired brain damage to work on improvment of such abilities, whose disruption makes managing every day life requirements difficult. Along with that we tried to improve the quality of their lifes. This programme is also being introduced wihin the theoretical part of this work. Further the process of research is being analyzed. The rehabilitation programme was used with 9 aquired brain damage patiens and it's efficiency was measured. Reasons why I used small-n design are analyzed in detail as well as the...

This study deals with the typologies and the development of municipal orders in Europe. The theoretical basis of the work is important typologies of individual authors dealing with municipal orders of different countries. These typologies are exploring mostly European countries and looking for similarities across municipal systems of individual countries on the basis of some criteria and in relations between central and local levels and through relations between the institutions of local government with each other. Ten chosen European countries which are used in the typologies form empirical part of work. Countries are studied based on criterion development of municipal structures, especially in terms of amalgamation of municipalities and based on the criterion of executive models, especially in terms of direct election of mayors. For each country is studied the development and present situation of these criteria on the basis of which are determined the aims of this study. It is about finding out topicality of typologies and their comparison with the time of their origin to the present state of municipal orders of individual countries. Another aim is points to trends in local politics and gives an indication of possible future trends in terms of municipal orders in Europe.

TITLE: QUALITY OF A PRIMARY TEACHER FROM THE PARENTS AND PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE Author Alena Kolaříková DAPARTEMENT Centre of school management SUPERVISOR PhDr. Jan Voda, Ph.D. ANNOTATION The role of a teacher in society and quality of education are quite often subject of a discussion these days. These discussions are linked with evaluation of quality of teachers, their way of teaching, and also with their approach to pupils and parents. The importance of teaching can be seen in two levels: firstly, the focus is on giving the knowledge, and secondly the focus is on personal development of the pupil, his/her competencies, and personal skills and respect. In this work I will describe various styles of teaching, personal prerequisites and further competencies, as necessary qualities a teacher should have. I will present five basic teaching styles with focus on their positives and risks. In analytical part, I will look up competitions rewarding good teachers and will describe criteria based on which selected teachers are rewarded. By the form of questionnaire, the practical part will try to identify what type of teacher of 1st level Primary school is preferred by the parents / legal representatives, and what type of personal and professional qualities they appreciate the most. KEYWORDS : Teachers' quality,...

The diploma thesis looks at the Rey-Osterrieth figure, its form, administration and its evaluation methods. The thesis describes the administration and test evaluation methods in single Czech manual made by M. Košč and J. Novák and also other used ways of scoring. The thesis attempt to present J.E. Meyers and K. R. Meyers scoring method that is also used by some Czech psychologists. The thesis deals with psychometric attributes of the test as well with emphasis on current available testing standards. One part of the thesis describes the development of some psychological functions by 12 years old children especially in relationship to abilities which are detected by Rey-Osterrieth figure. In practical part of the thesis is presented the main research which deals with procedure of making the test by twelve year old. The tests were evaluated by both mentioned methods with interpretation and analysis of its results. The thesis also looks at new preliminary standards for this age group. The test was also compared with individual results made by Číselný čtverec test.

The main research topic of our study is the issue of re-emigration and repatriation movements into Czechoslovakia after the First World War and the Second World War, in terms of comparative analysis. The study focuses on Czechoslovak executive institutions as key actors of migration movements. It analyzes their competence, financial possibilities and the objectives they pursued by promoting migration. The first part of this study defines the concept of migration and incorporates it into the postwar concept. The study also focuses on migrants (in our case re-emigrants and repatriants) and their efforts to return in Czechoslovakia. The central part contains analysis of the three most important executive state institutions - Ministry of Welfare, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These ministries carried out specific re-emigration and repatriation projects. Our study also draws attention to concepts of "home law" and "citizenship". These two concepts are compared in the third part, from the perspective of executive institutions. This part analyzes the whole process of allocation of citizenship in postwar periods. Our study seeks to answer the questions of what event initiated re-emigration and repatriation processes and what were the intentions of the involved participants. The...

Cognitive flexibility can be described as adaptive ability to change one's behavior in response to the environment. Psychological tests measure cognitive flexibility mainly as an ability to switch between different cues, tasks or objects. This thesis is focused on cognitive flexibility in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). To assess it, participants were tested in two different virtual tests of cognitive flexibility in spatial navigation task: Active allothetic place preference and Active allothetic place avoidance. In one of the tests participants have to navigate in rotating arena towads invisble goal (AAPP). In the other one they have to avoid invisible sector where time is counted upon entering (AAPA). As the sector and goal are visually imperceptible, participants have to use only cues inside and outside the arena and are also informed about entering the sector by sound signal. The sector changes its position from stable position in room frame to stable position in arena frame between conditions. Therefore, participants have to learn to switch between room and arena frame to sucessfully solve the task. Results of this study suggest that OCD patients are significantly worse in estimating position of the goal in AAPP, especially after change of condition. Further comparsion of...

Asymmetry and executive federalism are two unique features that dominate the Canadian political landscape. As a result, federal and provincial governments are in direct negotiations over many current public policy issues, immigration policy notwithstanding. In order to understand the current immigration debate and to evaluate the benefits of greater provincial involvement, it is first necessary to comprehend what motivates provinces to be active in immigration policy-making. Ontario presents an interesting example of a province that used to be quite content with leaving the federal government dominant in the immigration arena but that has recently changed its attitude completely: Ontario is now much more assertive in presenting its demands. Through a comprehensive literature review and a series of interviews of key immigration policy figures, this study analyzes the main motives of Ontario with respect to immigration policy. It finds that they were primarily of economic, demographic, and political nature and that they were mainly connected to the relative decline of Ontario's position within Canada.