Central Asia is a region located between Europe and Asia, which gained sovereignty after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In the first decade of independence all the countries had to deal with many problems within the states and were not interesting areas for foreign partners. But the situation has changed at the beginning of the new century, when the world faced the question of energy security and the thread of terroristic attacks from the neighborhood of Central Asia. Rich natural resources and key location of this region attracted global players as Russia, China or European Union. They started creating cooperation ties in many areas with Central Asian countries. The goal of this thesis is to describe the evolution and analyze the current state of mutual relations. Moreover to analyze weak and strong points of Central Asian economies and characterize problematic and perspective areas of cooperation, from which involved countries can benefit.

The primary objective of this work is to comprehensively evaluate the capacity of the BRICS to achieve its objectives by mutual cooperation, based on the confrontation of the declared aims of the group itself during its annual summits with real achievements. The secondary aim of the study is to estimate the direction in which the cooperation between the BRICS will be heading in the future and to define possible challenges threatening its success. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part the author describes the genesis of the term "BRICS", and then continues by describing the essential characteristics of individual BRICS countries and their mutual similarities and differences. In the second, main part, the author evaluates the extent of fulfillment of individual goals set during the BRICS summits, taking place annually since 2009. The author evaluates seven selected key goals by analyzing the reasons for their implementation, proposed methods of implementation, the steps taken for their fulfillment, the effectiveness of these steps and the current status. Subsequently, in a similar manner author evaluates several sub-targets. In the third part, the author presents the expectations for the forthcoming BRICS summit, outlines possible directions that will be taken by BRICS in the future and identifies the weaknesses threatening their successful cooperation.

The aim of the research was to investigate how South Africa Further Education and Training learners acquire, recall, process and present information in a digitally enabled environment. To determine how a changing society and technology have influenced the way learners interact with information in an educational environment, recent changes in society and their influences on young people were examined as well as the traits of the generations with respect to character, family life, the future, peers and technology. This revealed that learners today need · material in visual format; · to find or create their own learning content; · fast access to learning material; and · learning material with long-term career value. It was also apparent that they are motivated by technology used in information transfer, are active learners and regard learning as a social activity. The methodology of case study action research was used. Note was taken of measures to ensure reliability and validity and applied to this research to ensure that the findings are valid and reliable as well as generalisable in South Africa beyond the confines of Pinelands High School (PHS). Two case studies observing the learners at PHS were undertaken:- creating web sites for the ThinkQuest web design competition and a building a web-based CV. The learners were heterogeneous and displayed a range of skills, ages, academic abilities and prior experiences. Many different management formats were employed, such as learning at a distance, in a contact environment, with examples and specific or open-ended instructions as well as different forms of motivation, time for the work in hand, etc. The major findings of the research were the influence of peers and importance of external motivation in the form of grades on the learners’ cognitive, affective and physical learning activities in the computer laboratory. Secondary findings indicated the importance of content, examples, instructions, time, mental state, classroom ecology, contact environment and software in the way learners acquired, recalled, processed and presented information. The research concluded with a set of actions that should be taken to ensure successful interaction with information in a digitally enabled environment. / Dissertation (PhD (Computer Assisted Education))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Denna litteraturstudie utgörs av en kvalitativ textanalys av utvald kurslitteratur inom en förskollärarutbildning. Analysen har tagit stöd i Biestas teori om demokratiska dimensioner inom utbildning (Biesta, 2011a). Resultatet i vår studie visar på ett gap mellan det förskollärarstudenter får med sig från kurslitteraturen gentemot hur de ska praktisera och därmed realisera denna kunskap ute i förskolans verksamhet. Tillfällen för samtal och reflektion behövs för att kunna överbrygga detta gap som uppstår, och därmed mildra den osäkerhet som finns för utövandet av det komplexa uppdraget som förskolläraryrket innebär. Samtal och utbyte av erfarenheter kan verka som en bro mellan teorin och praktiken, och därmed är detta ett nödvändigt inslag inom förskollärarutbildning men även i förskoleverksamhet. / This literature study consists of a qualitative text analysis of selected course literature within a preschool teacher education. The analysis has been supported by Biesta's theory of democratic dimensions in education (Biesta, 2011a). The results of our study show a gap between what preschool teacher students get from the course literature in relation to how they should practice and thus realize this knowledge in the preschool's activities. Opportunities for conversation and reflection are needed to be able to bridge this gap that arises, and thereby alleviate the uncertainty that exists for the performance of the complex task that the preschool teaching profession entails. Conversation and exchange of experiences can act as a bridge between theory and practice, and thus this is a necessary element in preschool teacher education but also in bu

This thesis explores the challenges local restaurants face in collaborations within thecontext of food tourism development on Gotland. For the past few years, themunicipality of Gotland as showed interests and efforts in developing the island into asustainable food destination. In this process, collaborations between keys actors, oneof which is local restaurants, is one of the most important components. Therefore,studying the challenges presenting in this area would be beneficial to future strategyand planning for development. This study was conducted through interviews withseveral established restaurants on Gotland to understand their perspectives on theobstacles that hinder co-operations in the food tourism sector. Qualitative methodswith narrative analysis were implemented to evaluate the results. It is shown that localrestaurants face several challenges when collaborating in the process of food tourismdevelopment on Gotland. According to them, the most prominent obstacle is the lackof a main driving force to stimulate a strong and reliable network for collaborationson the island. The paper concludes by proposing the establishment of a Food TourismBoard under Gotland Visitor Association (GFB). This agency will act as the maindriving force to develop and encourage co-operations and related projects in foodtourism on Gotland.

In light of the 2010 recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages that teachers use the target language (TL) "as exclusively as possible," teachers face the necessity of promoting target language use and assessing how their language choices influence their students. The purpose of this study was to analyze teachers' perspectives and practices of whether to use students' first language or the target language. Data from over 100 foreign language teachers, predominantly those in the K-12 sector, were collected through a survey in order to measure how teachers manage the phenomenon of language choice. The findings were analyzed descriptively, categorically, and inferentially to find relationships among teachers in general, as well as within subgroups of participants. Findings indicate that teachers felt using the target language was more of a challenge for academic purposes because of their belief that they should be conducted in the TL. Academic tasks were also reported involving a greater quantity of speech functions, which made them more difficult to complete in the target language. Additional findings showed that teachers in general were most often influenced by student attitudes, motivation, and proficiency as well as their own attitudes, motivation, and proficiency. For certain subgroups, however, when teachers focused more on their own proficiency, motivation, training and experience they were more likely to reach 90% TL use or more. Furthermore, it was found that promoting the target language effectively equated with incorporating many strategies that supported TL goals. The most prevalent techniques found for promoting TL use were preparing for making input comprehensible, giving praise and recognition, and explaining its importance at the beginning of the year. Recommendations for increasing the ability of teachers to face the challenges of TL use are to simplify and increase the academic, social, and managerial purposes for which it can be used, prioritize and focus on the most influential factors of language choice (LC) within teachers' control, and form and promote a plan for TL use built upon a foundation of most effective techniques and practices for optimizing language choices.

Diploma thesis development of Normative Perspectives on Media in Czech Society with Respect to Chosen Verdicts of the Council of Radio and Television Broadcasting" discusses the media policy of the Council. It analyses three different periods which strongly influenced the Council's roles and competencies. First one refers to the fact that Council awarded first nationwide private television broadcasting license to CET 21. This event contributed to the establishment of dual media system as well as invoked numerous discussions. Second studied period discusses about the amendment of Broadcasting Law in 1995, which stripped the Council of one of its important regulatory tools by removing several licensing conditions for the broadcasters. It was followed by the new amendment in 1997 that gave back to the Council several competencies to execute its media policy. Final period examines verdict, when the Council in 2001 awarded digital television licenses which were immediately canceled by the court's decision. Regulation is the main theme of this thesis. It is a part o a certain media policy that results from a particular nature of a society. The theoretical part builds upon the perspectives of normative approaches that are implemented in democratic and non-democratic societies.

As increasing emphasis is being placed on student college and career readiness, instructional approaches seek to develop content and skill proficiency. I gathered student perspectives on teacher expectations and instructional opportunities in core content classes in order to determine if expectation bias influences college readiness preparation in the classroom. Student academic self-concept and college readiness were examined alongside beliefs about teacher expectations and instructional opportunities in a conceptual framework for student perceptions. In this qualitative study, I utilized four focus groups of high school students from two cohorts to analyze perceptions across students from mostly on-level core classes and those from mostly advanced core classes. Findings showed students held high expectations of their own current and future performance, as well as perceived teachers generally hold high expectations, though this was shown through the development of relational capacity rather than instructional opportunities to develop college readiness skills or connect to students' future ambitions. The results of the study provide insight to educators seeking to create stronger connections for students between current educational experiences and future postsecondary opportunities.

The diploma thesis focuses on the performance evaluation of ALMIPA plus s.r.o. using the Balanced Scorecard method. The theoretical part defines the basic theoretical background, which are necessary to understand the issue and the subsequent processing of other parts of the thesis. The analytical part focuses on the introduction of the analyzed company and the financial and strategic analysis of the company. The findings of the analyzes serve as a basis for design part, which is focused on the proposal of implementation of BSC into the company. In four perspectives of BSC are established the strategic goals of the company, established benchmarks and strategic actions, which intention to meet the set goals, improve the company's performance, but also increase its competitiveness.

The master´s thesis focuses on the evaluation of the performance of a selected company using the Balanced Scorecard method. The work is divided into four parts, namely the objectives of the work, methods and procedures of processing, theoretical background, analytical and design part. The theoretical part focuses on measuring the performance of the company and theoretical knowledge gained from the literature, which will then be used in other parts of the work. Through the analytical part of the work, a selected company is introduced and both financial and strategic analysis of the company is performed. The last part of the work is devoted to the creation of the Balanced scorecard model in order to improve the company's performance.