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Copyright of Analyses de Population & Avenir is the property of Population & Avenir and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The presented text builds upon 4 years of applied research intended to support the transformation of a Czech Catholic diocese into a more participative organisation, internally and externally. This process allowed us to see different positions in the relationship between the religious and the secular within the highly secularised Czech Republic. In some places, the religious and the secular appeared incompatible. Elsewhere they influenced each other and intermingled. And still, in other places, the religious escaped horizontal opposition to the secular and differentiated itself vertically as a transcendental other. In all cases, it was evident that we cannot consider the religious and the secular as categories which define mutually competitive worlds. This definitional opposition is disappearing, and the terms are losing clarity as well as the capacity to organise the lives of Western subjects. We suggest using Dalferth's differentiation of R-secularity and D-secularity as a tool to gasp this shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Language Policy is the property of Liverpool University Press / Journals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Most upper Homerian and Ludfordian retiolitines have a tubarium with hexagonal meshes and a zigzag pattern in the middle part of their lateral walls, a shallow ancora umbrella, and a free nema. Hoffmanigraptus varsoviensis n. gen., n. sp. is described from isolated, three-dimensional material, from the upper part of the Colonograptus praedeubeli Biozone (upper Homerian, Silurian) of Poland, Baltica, and represents one of the earliest forms with this construction. This type of tubarium is represented by the upper Homerian Doliograptus Lenz & Kozłowska-Dawidziuk, 2002 and Spinograptus Bouček & Münch, 1952, differing from Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. mainly in larger proximal lateral orifices, pattern of clathrial lists on lateral walls, as well as size and shape of tubaria. Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. has a tubarium widening medially, tapering towards the distal end and forming a finite tubarium, with a possible three-vaned nematularium. Flattened specimens Plectograptus? ovatus Kozłowska, Lenz & Štorch, 2001 and Plectograptus? karlsteinensis Kozłowska, Lenz & Štorch, 2001, preserved on a rock surface from the Barrandian area are assigned to the new genus. They are of the same upper Homerian age, and show the main features of the new form. Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. is regarded as an early member of the Plectograptus clade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1990 the Cistercian monastery of Vyšší Brod in Czech Republic again welcomed monks within its walls after four decades of absence during the communist regime. The reestablishment of monastic life brought new negotiations about the position of the monastery in society. The Cistercian community seeks to revive the place as the place of Cistercian spirituality. Exploring the different layers of memory related to the monastery, we analyse the heterogenous aims in reasserting the monastery in its social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female journalists worldwide still struggle for adequate representation in leadership positions. This study contributes to the (mainly Western) scholarship on gender barriers in journalism by exploring the mechanism of vertical gender segregation in the journalistic profession in the Czech Republic, a non-Western country with the legacy of a women’s emancipation project sponsored by the former communist regime. Semi-structured interviews (N = 17) with female journalists in leadership positions revealed five main barriers: overall gender inequality in the Czech society; family and household responsibilities; lower self-esteem and ambition in women; sexism and sexual harassment; and masculine newsroom culture and “old boys’ clubs.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L’article présente les résultats de la recherche menée sur les programmes des études philologiques de français réalisés par les facultés des lettres et de pédagogie en République tchèque et en Slovaquie. L’objectif est de constater si ces programmes prêtent attention à la spécificité du français de spécialité et s’ils tiennent compte de l’employabilité plus large de leurs diplômés. L’article pose aussi la question de savoir si les futurs enseignats de français tchèques et slovaques sont mis en courant de la spécificité de la didactique de la langue sur objectifs spécifiques propice à l’application dans les écoles secondaires de spécialité et dans le milieu professionnel.

Copyright of Studii de Ştiintă şi Cultură is the property of Studii de Stiinta si Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Résumé: L'étude porte sur l'inobservation du salaire minimum dans dix pays d'Europe centrale et orientale dotés de cette institution. Les auteurs estiment la fréquence et la gravité des infractions à partir des données de l'EU‐SILC (2003–2012), en reprenant la méthode de Bhorat, Kanbur et Mayet (2013). Ils tiennent compte dans leurs régressions des caractéristiques individuelles, des caractéristiques de l'emploi et des données macroéconomiques. Les infractions restent relativement peu fréquentes mais touchent d'abord les groupes que les politiques de salaire minimum devraient protéger. Par ailleurs, la hausse du rapport entre salaire minimum et salaire moyen dans le temps s'accompagne d'une hausse de la fréquence des infractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of popular culture can offer a better understanding of spatial representations prevailing in the everyday discourse than the insights inferred from official statements or mainstream scientific textbooks. Our everyday thinking about Central European space might be significantly different from representations outlined in texts written by intellectuals and politicians. In fact, there is a telling absence of common features among representations of different Central European countries in Czech films. These representations shape the process of meaning-making and they can help us better grasp the position of a country in relation to its neighbors too. Except for Germany and Slovakia, other actors from the immediate vicinity are virtually non-existent in Czech visual popular culture. While Germans are mostly male Nazi soldiers, Slovakia is described as an underdeveloped, mountainous territory with oversupply of beautiful, vivacious women. Data from 50 box-office hits and critically acclaimed movies produced during the last 20 years illustrate this argument. Such a systematic study of popular culture is not only more revealing than a simple focus on a few illustrative artworks, but it also increases the added value of discourse analysis that pays attention to predication and membership categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Knowledge & Management of Aquatic Ecosystems is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Yearbook of International Law is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Thylacocephala Pinna, Arduini, Pesarini & Teruzzi 1982 are among the most enigmatic arthropods. Their fossil record is very patchy both geographically and stratigraphically. In this paper we describe the first thylacocephalan known from the Carboniferous (Mississippian) of Europe, Concavicaris viktoryni sp. nov. Until now Carboniferous representatives of Thylacocephala were know exclusively from the U.S.A. We discuss the stratigraphic and geological context of occurrence of this new species as well as form and function of the unique carapace micro- and macro-ornamentation. A shape and assumed function of the characteristic lirae on the C. viktoryni sp. nov. carapace present an important supporting argument for the supposed free-swimming or pelagic mode of life in thylacocephalans. Palaeobiogeographical and evolutionary aspects of surprisingly rich but local occurrence of thylacocephalans in the Lower Carboniferous of the Moravian karst are discussed. Possible sympatric evolution from its predecessor Concavicaris incola is also pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Knowledge & Management of Aquatic Ecosystems is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Synergies Europe is the property of GERFLINT (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches pour le Francais Langue Internationale) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

L'article décrit les résultats de la recherche conduite sur la manière dont les citoyens appréhendent la politique. Nous avons fait quatre-vingt-dix entretiens autobiographiques avec des citoyens et trente avec des hommes politiques. Nous avons découvert quatre types de récit de crise et quatre repertoires conversationnels de la politique. Le sens des récits de crise dépend de l'emploi d'un répertoire spécifique.The article describes results of qualitative research of how people relate themselves to politics. We conducted ninety in-depth autobiographical interviews with citizens and thirty with politicians. We have found four types of narratives of crises and four conversational repertoires of politics. The meaning of narratives of crises depends on the use of a concrete conversational repertoire.

A fragment of a Burgess Shale-type fossil, bivalved arthropod Tuzoia Walcott, 1912, is described from shales of the mid-Cambrian Buchava Formation in the Skryje–Týřovice Basin, Central Bohemia, Czech Republic. It is the second recorded find of Tuzoia from West Gondwana. Uncrushed and uncoloured preservation of the tuzoiid valve is consistent with the very thin non-mineralised cuticle described for this taxon. This new occurrence of the genus Tuzoia , as well as the earlier described genera Wiwaxia and Hurdia , indicate the presence of a Burgess Shale-type fauna in several stratigraphical levels of Cambrian sequence of the Skryje–Týřovice Basin. Distribution of other exceptionally preserved specimens established in the Buchava Formation is briefly summarized and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have Czech films of fiction portrayed, since 1990, the forced migration after World War II of “Germans” from Czechoslovakia? Two significant films—Habermann (2010), by Juraj Herz, and Alois Nebel (2011), by Tomas Lunak,—serve to present the social, political and artistic issues related to producing and diffusing in the Czech Republic narratives about dramatic events from the past. How do these cinematic narratives reflect debates about interpreting this past? They help shape collective images of recent history in the context of current attempts in the Czech Republic to rewrite the “grand national narrative”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the polarization of political and academic discourses about the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, does the theater manage to present an alternative discourse? Taking theater to be a social practice, this analysis of a corpus of plays created between 1990 and 2013 focuses on their presentation of events, the response of the public, the social changes advocated on stage and the actual effects. Theater allows not only for passing historical information and comparing the divergent opinions of Germans and Czech but also for lifting the issue to a higher level, such as the history of humanity. By intentionally recreating events on stage, theater can present novel thoughts about how to contextualize narratives about the German past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The middle Cambrian Jince Formation of the Příbram–Jince Basin is globally renowned as a classical repository of well-preserved skeletal marine fauna, including abundant remains of trilobites. An exceptionally preserved articulated exoskeleton of middle Cambrian trilobite Conocoryphe sulzeri (Schlotheim, 1823) exhibits a prominent palaeopathological anomaly interpreted here as a healed traumatic injury. We suggest to attribute the extensive damage of the right side of the cephalon and three anterior-most right thoracic pleurae to a failed predatory attack. The anomalocaridid genus Hurdia and the large bivalved arthropod Tuzoia represent two potential candidates for durophagous predators responsible for the described trilobite injury. The large size of healed injury demonstrates a high level of exoskeletal regeneration in trilobites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional lobbying, appearing in central Europe thanks to the opening of markets to foreign investors, is a new source of jobs in the public sphere. Who occupies this profession, which is not very institutionalized and is ambivalent for public opinion? And what are their expectations? Are these middlemen between the private and public sectors involved in politics? A typology of lobbyists and an analysis of them as a professional group helps provide answers. This typology's major criterion of differentiation, which most lobbyists have in common, is a stint in the public sector. But it apparently has a paradoxical function. While fostering a practical and symbolic dependence on the public sphere, it provides lobbyists with control over the resources necessary for developing an autonomous status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1989, the Rom question has been the focus of many a debate in the Czech Republic and of several publications. Rom and pro-Rom periodicals in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 are systematically examined in order to analyze changes in the frameworks used to interpret the Rom and pro-Rom movement over this period. This frame analysis shows how the frameworks used for a diagnosis or prognosis or for analyzing motivations evolved during this period as a function of: changes in government policies for integration; the intensity of far-right violence; public debates; and funding for the movement. The predominance of interpretations of a political sort or in terms of civil rights in 1992 were gradually dispelled in favor of a socioeconomic view of the movement's demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to replace pay-as-you-go pension schemes with private funded systems came to a halt in Central and Eastern Europe after 2005. However, more recently, the region has witnessed two belated reformers: the Czech Republic and Romania. Both countries decided to partially privatize pensions despite the rising tide of evidence concerning the challenges associated with the policy. We argue that while part of the domestic political elite remained supportive of private funded pensions, the difficulties experienced by earlier reformers and reduced support from International Financial Institutions led to the adoption of small funded pension pillars. Such cautious attempts at privatization might become more common in the future as large reforms have proven politically unsustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of changes in water temperature and flow on selected water quality parameters, as one of the consequences of climate change, were studied in river catchments in the Czech Republic with little anthropogenic influence. The impact of climate change was manifested by an increase in stream temperature by 1.15°C over 28 years. The selected water quality parameters were dependent on flow, with up to 10-fold increases in the concentrations of ammonia, phosphorus and chlorophyll-aat minimum flow levels. In river catchments with point source pollution predominating, significant pollution with ammonia nitrogen was observed. The influence of increased water temperature compared to flow rates was generally less marked and, with the exception of chlorophyll-a, rather positive. For existing land management and utilization of these river catchments, extreme changes in flow rates will influence the water quality more substantially than the water temperature itself.Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction. Saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.) is a promising fruit species originating from North America. Among pomaceous fruits, saskatoon berries are a valuable source of chemical compounds with an antioxidant effect. Materials and methods. The total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and their correlation associated with the total antioxidant capacity of fruit of five particular cultivars were ascertained. Reactive oxygen species (specifically nitric oxide, superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical) and antioxidant activity in the liver lipid system of their methanolic extracts were also assessed. Results and discusssion. In saskatoon berry cultivars the total contents of phenolic compounds ranged from (2.52 to 3.82) g gallic acid Eq·kg–1 of fresh mass, while the values of total antioxidant capacity were observed to be from (4.17 to 5.29) g of ascorbic acid Eq·kg–1 of fresh mass. High correlation coefficients between phenolics as well as flavonoids and antioxidant capacity were calculated (r2 = 0.8921 and r2 = 0.9901, respectively). Nitric oxide, superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical and antioxidant activity in the liver lipid system of saskatoon berry fruit methanolic extracts (10%) were provided for the first time. In the case of nitric oxide, the inhibitions were 21.08–27.52%; as regards superoxide anion, they were 25.14–30.73%; concerning hydroxyl radical, 18.25–21.18%, and in respect of antioxidant activity in the liver lipid system, 7.90–8.38%. These inhibitions are stronger than, e.g., in apples which are the most important species of pomaceous fruit worldwide. Conclusions. Saskatoon berry fruit could be a suitable supplement for modern human nutrition. Furthermore, our work contributes to the popularisation of this pomaceous species, with the focus on its potential in relation to high antioxidant strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two orthothecid hyoliths, Gracilitheca astronauta n. sp. and Nephrotheca sophia n. sp. are described from the “middle” Cambrian Buchava Formation of the Skryje-Týřovice Basin in the Czech Republic. The new forms are based on about thirty well-preserved external and internal moulds of both conchs and opercula. Gracilitheca astronauta n. sp. is classified under the family Gracilithecidae Sysoev, 1972 and may be distinguished by clearly triangular cross-section of the conch, whereas Nephrotheca sophia n. sp. is characterized by transversally elongated cardinal processes reaching the lateral opercular margin and is combined with the family Orthothecidae Sysoev, 1958 emended Malinky, 2009. Several specimens of G. astronauta show operculum preserved inside of the conch. Stratigraphic ranges and geographic distributions within the Skryje-Týřovice Basin are established for both taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]