Masaryk University Research Articles

Isokinetic strength of the wrist in male aikido athletes

Physiological research in general on aikido is scarce. Although many aikido techniques use extreme wrist flexion and extension that may lead to injury, no information is available on isokinetic strength of the upper extremities in aikido. The purpose of the current study was to assess isokinetic strength of the wrist in recreational aikido athletes. Material and Methods. Male aikido practitioners (n=13, 33.23±7.94 years, 180.62±8.03 cm, 80.31±13.10 kg) were recruited from a summer camp organized at Masaryk University. Subjects were tested on a Cybex Humac Norm at 120o, 180o and 240o/sec on both left and right wrists. A 3-way (Side x Movement x Angular Velocity) Anova with repeated measures on the second and third factors was used to assess the differences between right and left wrist extension and flexion by angular velocity. The level of significance for all analyses was set to an effect size of 0.20. Results. There was a Movement x Angular velocity interaction (partial eta2 = 0.859, 95% CI: 0.451– 0.954). Simple effects analysis showed that wrist extension at 240o/sec (13.27 ± 3.18 Nm) was lower than wrist flexion (23.55 ± 6.66 Nm) at the same angular velocity (d = 2.050, 95% CI: 0.123 – 3.978) but the effect was not clear. Flexion at 120o/sec (31.64 ± 8.06 Nm) was higher than at 180o/s (28.50 ± 7.10 Nm) but the effect was also not clear: d = 0.430 (95% CI: -2.375 – 3.235). Larger sample size will be needed to arrive at a definitive conclusion. More research is required with aikidokas varying in age and experience. Female practitioners should be investigated as well. Future research should also include the positions at peak torque. Aikidokas have weaker handgrip strength than other combat sports/martial arts athletes. Based on the current results, strength exercises for wrist extension in aikido athletes may be indicated, especially when using weapons, where extension is more important in hand techniques.

Farewell to Antonín Bartoněk, professor emeritus of the Department of Classical Studies at Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno : Antonín Bartoněk (*October 29th 1926 – †May 30th 2016)

Farewell to Antonín Bartoněk, professor emeritus of the Department of Classical Studies at Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno : Antonín Bartoněk (*October 29th 1926 – †May 30th 2016)

Programmes of Supporting the Educational Needs of Romani Pupils in the Czech Republic

This study presents relevant information collected during practical work and research findings related to forms of work with children, young people and adult members of the Romani ethnic group focusing on improving their educational attainment. The paper reflects selected findings obtained during the work of the Centre of Multicultural Education at the Department of Social Education at the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in Brno over a period of more than ten years.

I Like to Solve Problems like an Adult — Global Storylines As a Way of Global Education

Drama techniques such as role playing or structured drama are widespread and frequently used methods of supporting the activity and participation of students in learning. Less known method which combines elements of drama education with global social issues is a Scottish method called Global Storylines. Within a three-year partnership project entitled "Expanding Participatory Teaching of Global Issues in the Primary Schools by Global Storylines Method" in whichthe Centre for Global Education NaZemi and the Institute for Research in Inclusive Education of Faculty of Education of Masaryk University participated, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,three principal research goals were followed: Global Storylines effect on the participation of students in education; Global Storylines supportive role in teaching global issues, and inclusive potential of Global Storylines method. In the first cycle of the method implementation the research sample consisted of 6 teachers from two elementary schools and one kindergarten, in the second cycle of 16 teachers from seven elementary schools and one kindergarten. To fulfill the research project the following qualitative research methods were used: repeated direct observation in classes (3–4 observations in each class), individual and group interviews with teachers and students, analysis of written teacher’s reflections of the story episodes and the analysis of other outcomes such as students’ works and photographs taken by teachers. The survey showed a high motivational influence on the activity level of students and their participation in education. Building a fictional community, which is the basis of work with the story, positively contributed to the development of imagination of students, strengthening their cooperation, self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. A linking has been detected between the level of participation and the inclusive potential of the method. Creating a new identity allows students and teachers to secede from existing social roles and gain a whole new perspective of each other. Students appreciated the privileges associated with adulthood, especially decision-making power and respect, while teachers welcomed the opportunity to leave the role of authority and become part of a community of learners.

Thinking creatively: Introducing new didactic methods into a course in English for Laboratory Technicians

AbstractAs a prestigious institution, well-known for its progressive and dynamic teaching and research activities, the Language Centre of Masaryk University launched, in June 2012, the IMPACT Project, which came to a successful end in April 2015 and became one of the crucial turning points in its history. Among the numerous innovative activities included in the project, revision of the existing ESP courses has had a considerable importance both for teachers and students. As part of the project initiative, English for Laboratory Technicians is one of the courses which have undergone substantial changes. These concern primarily the curriculum, based originally on a textbook and rebuilt significantly so that its structure corresponds more closely to students’ needs. I argue that these changes prompted a shift in the teaching approach as the previously used textbook promoted different strategies. I first present a short, general introduction to this course and then describe its specific features. Three basic methodological building blocks underpinning the practical teaching process are then introduced and briefly discussed: the concept of creativity, collaborative learning and motivation. In the second part, the article outlines one particular teaching unit in order to demonstrate the practical impact of the theoretical starting points with a view to showing possible limitations as well as opportunities for making further progress in the development of successful teaching techniques.

Climate Change Awareness and Attitudes Among Adolescents in the Czech Republic

The distribution of climate change awareness of Czech adolescent students and their climate change related attitudes are analysed in this study. Even though the influence of accessed information on actual behaviour is usually described as rather small by most experimental studies, we argue that the effect of knowledge on specific behaviour becomes significant in a long time perspective. The main focus of the study is thus to offer a segmentation of youth in the issue of climate change related to information sources they trust and also related to the type of information on climate change – such as documents, processes, terms or numeral data.A sample of students from Masaryk University and several grammar schools from Czech Republic participated in the quantitative study focusing on their knowledge of climate change, information sources they use and proenvironmental attitudes.The survey highlighted the extremely low level of students’ knowledge. A strong tie between the amount of accessed information and evaluation of the seriousness of climate change was found. Trust in scientific evidence and effort not to rely only on one source of information does correlate with respondent awareness. Students, who understand climate change well, are often post-materialists. On the other hand, informed students do not feel greater concern and are not more globally focused than others. Although there is no clear relation between awareness and levels of consumerism, the more were the students informed, the more they feel their personal responsibility for climate change. Females are not on average better informed then males, but their feeling of personal responsibility is much higher. The study thus confirmed general expectations about unspecific awareness of climate change in the specific context and presented segmentations of the public for further social-marketing purposes.

Standards of Transport Services – Central Strategy versus Regional Priorities – Workshop Report of the 9th Telč Seminar

On a traditional autumn date, 6 and 7 November 2014, the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the Masaryk University in Brno in cooperation with the Institute of International Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague (both Czech Republic) organized 9th Telc Seminar, which took place in the University Centre of the Masaryk University in Telc (Czech Republic). The main topic of the seminar, supported by a grant by Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, was Standards of Transport Services – Central Strategy versus Regional Priorities. The second part of the seminar consisted of a panel discussion aimed at defining standards of regional transport; moderated by Martin Kvizda and Daniel Seidenglanz (both Masaryk University Brno) and featured Miroslav Marada (Charles University Prague; focusing on transport geography), Petr Psenicka (SŽDC - Railway Infrastructure Administration), Lumir Pecený (University of Žilina; focusing on transport engineering), and Tomas Pospisil (CD – Czech Railways Inc.). As a follow-up of a foregoing discussion, several basic issues were opened which gave rise to a lively discussion in which not only panel speakers engaged, but other participants in the seminar, too: Which type of transport needs should be serviced by subsidized regional transport? What should be the spatial definition of regional transport? Which is the optimum temporal standard of regional transport? What does a suitable party ordering regional transport look like? How to co-ordinate regional transport with its long-distance counterpart?

European Mire Vegetation Database: a gap-oriented database for European fens and bogs

The attempt to produce a harmonized classification of European mires and to conduct a syntaxonomical analysis on the basis of individual releves has led to the creation of the European Mire Vegetation Database (GIVD ID: EU-00-022, http://www.givd.info/ID/EU-00-022). The database is managed by the Mire Ecology Working Group (Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Brno). In May 2015 this database was comprised of 10,147 releves of the classes Scheuchzerio palustris-Caricetea nigrae and Oxycocco-Sphagnetea published in various monographs, manuscripts or journals, but not stored in any other national or regional electronic vegetation databases. Only releves where bryophytes were identified as well as vascular plants were computerized. Most of the newly digitized data are from Northern and Southeastern European regions. Geographical coordinates are available for individual vegetation plots, their accuracy depends on the precision of the location description given. The European Mire Vegetation Database has been integrated in the European Vegetation Archive as a repository of mire vegetation not included in other national or regional databases.

Anion Binding Inside a Bambus[6]uril Macrocycle in Chloroform.

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Prof. Vladimir Sindelar from Masaryk University, Czech Republic. The cover picture shows the bambusuril macrocycle which binds various inorganic anions in the center of its cavity with high affinity and selectivity in chloroform. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/cplu.201500345.

The Moravian crossroad : Mathematics and mathematicians in Brno between German traditions and Czech hopes

Siysma Abstract. In the paper, we study the situation of the mathematical commu- nity in Brno, the maintown of Moravia, between 1900 and 1930. During this time, the First World War and, as one of its consequences, the creation of the new independent Czechoslovakia, created a major perturbation and was the occasion of a reorganization of the community. Its German and Czech sides were in particular constantly looking for a renewed cohabitation which proved difficult to establish along the sliding of political power from the Germans to the Czechs . We try to illustrate how before the war the main place for math- ematics in Brno was the German Technical University whereas after the war it became the newly created Masaryk university.

Erratum to: Bioaccumulation in aquatic systems: methodological approaches, monitoring and assessment

The online version of the original article can be found under doi: 10.1186/s12302-014-0036-z .

Editorial 10 (1)

Editorial 10 (1)

Motivation of University Students as Future Entrepreneurs

This paper looks at the issue of motivating individuals entering into the business environment through the establishment of new businesses. The paper has been inspired by findings from the analysis of secondary data, in particular from questionnaire surveys carried out by renowned institutions in both the Czech Republic and across Europe. Attention is then focused on students from Masaryk University who are expected to enter the business environment. The questionnaire survey was aimed at students from the Faculty of Economics and Administration, as well as students from the Faculty of Law. The results are an important output for developing further methods in terms of their practical application in improving the preparation of students for their future careers.

Thalassemia Modular Stratification System for Personalized Therapy of Beta-Thalassemia (THALAMOSS)

Thalassemia Modular Stratification System for Personalized Therapy of Beta-Thalassemia (THALAMOSS)

Learning Conditions - Part of the Support System for Pupils in an Inclusive Classroom

A classroom in an inclusive school is the main place where the learners’ diversity is accepted, appreciated and worked with. However, a classroom is part of a wider school system and also general educational system from which the diversity support is derived. For successful implementation of inclusion in practice, suitable conditions must be created. In this paper we introduce The Support System for Pupils with Diverse Abilities which was created within the six-year research project which was realized at the Masaryk University in Brno. We are going to introduce the individual areas of the whole system and subsequently, we are going to focus on the conditions of inclusive education at the classroom level.

Laboratory Experiments in Teaching Public Economics and Policy

Abstract This paper deals with classroom experiments in economics, which have been derived from laboratory experiments. These experiments cover a broad range of topics, from strictly economic ones (like market games or auctions) to those with overlaps to other domains such as public policy. The paper discusses different methodologies of research and classroom experiments, introduces the benefits of the latter and presents a concrete teaching experiment used in public economics courses at the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University. Another link between economic experiments and public policy is outlined here as well, namely the importance of experimental results for public policy makers.

NIDA-ISAM FELLOWSHIP: EXCESSIVE INTERNET USE AND ITS CORRELATION WITH NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES IN 25 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

1Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Families, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic2Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Akureyri

Report on the 8th International Conference on Autonomous Infrastructure, Management, and Security (AIMS 2014)

This article is a report of the IFIP AIMS 2014, which was held at Masaryk University, Czech Republic from June 30 to July 3, 2014. AIMS 2014 focused on the theme “Monitoring and Securing Virtualized Networks and Services”. The focus of the 2014 edition of the AIMS conference series was re-defined in comparison with earlier editions. AIMS 2014 positions itself in the network management community as an educational venue for Ph.D. students and young researchers. The AIMS program included hands-on tutorials and labs, a keynote, technical sessions and Ph.D. Workshop sessions, but also an educational session for training young academics on transversal topics. The highlights on each of the parts of the AIMS 2014 program are summarized in this article.

Celebrating Bidleman's 1988 "atmospheric processes".

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVGuest CommentNEXTCelebrating Bidleman’s 1988 “Atmospheric Processes”Elisabeth Galarneau*, Janet Arey, Roger Atkinson, Jordi Dachs, Steven Eisenreich, Tom Harner, Ronald A. Hites, Gerhard Lammel, Rainer Lohmann, Donald Mackay, Mustafa Odabasi, James F. Pankow, Martin Scheringer, Deborah Swackhamer, Yucel Tasdemir, and Frank WaniaView Author Information Environment Canada University of California, Riverside University of California, Riverside CSIC—Spanish National Research Council Vrije Universiteit Brussel Environment Canada Indiana University Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and Masaryk University University of Rhode Island Trent University Dokuz Eylul University Portland State University ETH Zürich and Leuphana University Lüneburg University of Minnesota Uludag University University of Toronto ScarboroughCite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015, 49, 3, 1235–1236Publication Date (Web):January 13, 2015Publication History Published online13 January 2015Published inissue 3 February 2015https://doi.org/10.1021/es5061403Copyright © 2015 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views1083Altmetric-Citations2LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (135 KB) Get e-AlertsSUBJECTS:Deposition,Impurities,Organic compounds,Separation science,Thermodynamic properties Get e-Alerts

Analysis of Behavior With Features of Addiction and Primary Prevention for Full-time Students at Masaryk University

The aim of the research studies presented here was a description and analysis of potentially addictive behavior in a sample of full-time students at Masaryk University and its possible prevention. There were 3 anonymous questionnaire studies , first charted in a sample of 9,993 respondents experience with addictive drugs of legal and illegal type, their opinions and attitudes. In the second study there were interviewed 2,475 people on issues aimed at potentially hazardous activities, especially virtual drugs. The third investigation in a sample of 2,176 people concerned primary prevention activities at the University, their efficiency, attractiveness, student involvement. The collected data were electronically recorded and subjected to statistical processing (descriptive statistics, chi-square test and its modifications, Fisher exact test). The results showed that the most commonly used addictive substances in the sample were alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, cannabis, to lesser extent also hallucinogens, depressants not requiring prescription and dancing drugs. Respondents normally work with a computer, internet and mobile phone, usually an hour a day. One fifth of the sample was addressed with addiction prevention, almost exclusively in the classroom. In primary prevention there are used mainly monologue lectures on the issue of alcohol and nicotine, which lack feedback, interactivity, adequate length, continuity and systematicity.