Through creative and theoretical research, this practice-led PhD project investigates the conditions that facilitate embodied sensory awareness within digital inter-media installation. Central to this exploration are questions concerning ‘immersion.’ The research uses this term to describe a transformation in perception that allows us to shake off representational and symbolic meaning in favour of embodied, sensory and intuitive awareness within an installation space. Drawing from embodied memories of immersion in natural and spiritual environments, I consider the elements that contributed to these experiences and ask whether it is possible to create this sense of immersion in art. I then consider the elements that produce immersive, inter-media environments including space, sound, light, and projected moving images. Drawing on theoretical and artistic precedents, I propose a set of principles for producing a sense of embodied sensory immersion. The practical outcomes of the research - three digital inter-media installations included in the exhibition, in an other light - incorporate different combinations and treatments of these material elements to investigate and test the proposed principles.

The collection of sonnets Rings of a Thundering Tree (2000), by R.K. Belcher, is rich in metaphorical imagery; lending itself particularly well to textual analyses of imagined sensory perceptions. Although perspectives on or theories about metaphor can be deployed in such analyses, an imagined sense of sensory perception in itself theoretically frames the study of this poetic imagery. In this regard, the titles of the sonnets within this collection and their themes, as well as the title of the collection and the theme of ”South African decay” (with which this title is linked), are explored with an emphasis on imagined sensory experiences. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

The goal of my diploma thesis is introduce one of alternative direction {--} music therapy, to outline the sphere of specific learning and behavior disorders, and also to give a guide, how to apply components of music therapy during the work with children with these disorders. The thesis consists of two parts {--} a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part focuses on defining key terms, such as music therapy, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysortographia, dyscalculia, dyspinxia, dysmusia, dyspraxia. In my work I aim to clarify the question of ADHD and try to point out the relation of particular learning and behavior disorders. The practical part includes twenty activities that were made firstly according to a methodical manual written by M. Beníčková and Z. Vilímek, who use the Czech method of music therapy {--} Music of body, and secondly on the base of casuistry of two boys attending special practical school. Each activitiy should develop particular skills, comprises tools, motivation, its own description and analysis coming out of a practical accomplishment. The method of observing was used for the evaluation.

Dans le cadre de la robotique mobile extérieure, les notions de perception et de localisation sont essentielles au fonctionnement autonome d’un véhicule. Les objectifs de ce travail de thèse sont multiples et mènent vers un but de localisation et de cartographie simultanée d’un environnement extérieur dynamique avec détection et suivi d’objet mobiles (SLAMMOT) à l’aide d’un unique capteur extéroceptif tournant de type radar dans des conditions de circulation dites "réalistes", c’est-à-dire à haute vitesse soit environ 30 km/h. Il est à noter qu’à de telles vitesses, les données acquises par un capteur tournant son corrompues par le déplacement propre du véhicule. Cette distorsion, habituellement considérée comme une perturbation, est analysée ici comme une source d’information. Cette étude vise également à évaluer les potentialités d’un capteur radar de type FMCW (onde continue modulée en fréquence) pour le fonctionnement d’un véhicule robotique autonome. Nous avons ainsi proposé différentes contributions : – une correction de la distorsion à la volée par capteurs proprioceptifs qui a conduit à une application de localisation et de cartographie simultanées (SLAM), – une méthode d’évaluation de résultats de SLAM basées segment, – une considération de la distorsion des données dans un but proprioceptif menant à une application SLAM, – un principe d’odométrie fondée sur les données Doppler propres au capteur radar, – une méthode de détection et de pistage d’objets mobiles : DATMO avec un unique radar. / In outdoor robotic context, notion of perception and localization is essential for an autonomous navigation of a mobile robot. The objectives of this PhD are multiple and tend to develop a simultaneous localization and mapping approach in a dynamic outdoor environment with detection and tracking of moving objects (SLAMMOT) with a unique exteroceptive radar sensor in real driving conditions, around 30 km/h. At such high speed, data obtained with a rotating range sensor are corrupted by the own vehicle displacement. This distortion, usually considered as a disturbance, is analyzed here as a source of information. This study explores radar frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) technology potential for mobile robotics in extended outdoor environment. In this work, we propose : – a distortion correction on-the-fly with proprioceptive sensors in order to realize a localization and mapping application (SLAM), – a line based SLAM evaluation method, – a consideration of distortion in a proprioceptive purpose for localization and mapping, – an odometry principle based on Doppler velocimetry provided by radar sensor, – a detection and tracking of mobile objects : DATMO, with a unique radar sensor.

Title: Against Dualism - Conceptual Art in the Context of Functional-Normative Theory Author: Michaela Brejcha Department: Department of Aesthetics Supervisor: Mgr. Ondřej Dadejík, Ph.D. Abstract: The present dissertation thesis focuses on the problem of theoretical reflection of conceptual art in Anglo American aesthetic discourse in the second half of 20th and the beginning of 21st centuries. It is based on the claim of many conceptual artists and also some theoreticians, which emerged in the nineteen- fifties, that the conceptual art or tendencies have nothing in common with aesthetics or aesthetic theory. This work shows that this presumed discord draws on reduced understanding of what is the aesthetics and, at the same time, this understanding itself is based on the dualistic paradigm, which presents one of the most fundamental frames for our approach to reality. In the context of analysis of selected texts of Anglo American aesthetics, eight particular distinctions of dualism will be defined, which to a great extent contributed to the rejection of aesthetics by conceptual artists, and on the other hand to bad recognition of conceptual art by the aesthetic theory. As an alternative to the dualistic approach in the context of definition of conceptual art, the fluid and dynamic conception of aesthetics...