|
Sand flies as hosts of monoxenous and dixenous trypanosomatids
Vondráček, Oldřich ; Votýpka, Jan (advisor) ; Jirků, Kateřina (referee)
Phlebotomine sandflies are blood sucking Dipteran and important vectors of various patogens, especially leishmania parasites (Trypanosomatida, Leishmaniinae). Apart from the genus Leishmania they also transmit variety of other parasites and they are considered to be vectors of trypanosomes (genus Trypanosoma) and hosts of some monoxenous trypanosomatids. This Master thesis is focused on the occurrence and development of mono- and dixenous trypanosomatids (other than the genus Leishmania) in sandflies. We studied experimental infections of various species of sandflies and mosquitoes by two species of trypanosomes and one species of monoxenous parasite (Strigomonas galati). All three studied trypanosomatid species were isolated from sandflies. Further concern of the thesis is the transmission of both species of trypanosomes from sandflies to vertebrate hosts and the transmission of monoxenous parasite between insect hosts and also morphological changes of parasite cells during the development in a culture and in the insect and vertebrate hosts.
|
| |
|
Comovement of Stock Markets and Commodities: A Wavelet Analysis
Vavřina, Marek ; Vácha, Lukáš (advisor) ; Princ, Michael (referee)
The thesis applies the wavelet analysis to four developed stock market indices (USA, UK, Germany and Japan), four developing stock market indices (Brazil, China, India, Russia) and four commodities (Gold, Crude oil, Heating oil and Natural gas) and it aims to reveal how they comoved in the period of the Global financial crisis, which began in the USA as the Subprime mortgage crisis. Also the potential presence of contagion caused by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers bank is investigated. In addition the Granger causality test is applied to give a different perspective and to extend the analysis. Empirical results revealed that the wavelet correlation of stock markets and commodities differ significantly when talking about the short-term and the long-term horizon. This information can be utilized in the portfolio analysis. The wavelet analysis revealed contagion coming from the USA to the German and Brazil stock market, Crude oil and Heating oil market after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The Granger causality test indicates that there is a very strong causal relationship between stock markets and commodities and it differs at different scales.
|
|
Notional ambivalence in the work of Scottish writer Alasdair Gray Translation and stylistic analysis
Zeisek, Adam ; Ženíšek, Jakub (advisor) ; Matuchová, Klára (referee)
This BA thesis is concerned with the translation of A history maker, a novel by Alasdair Gray and interpretation and analyses of the methods of translation which were used. It is divided into two parts. The first one is the translation itself which is the main part. The second part deals with the analyses of the translation and methodology that was applied. It focuses on the translation of Scottish dialect and informal speech. The thesis is predominantly aimed at demonstrating some standard translation approaches and practices, using the chosen textual material.
|
|
Cross-Border Contagion: An Empirical Analysis of the Current Financial Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe
Žáková, Kristýna ; Geršl, Adam (advisor) ; Mertlík, Pavel (referee)
The objective of this thesis is to examine cross-border contagion effects during the 2007-09 crisis in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and from all the possible propagation channels, it chooses to focus on cross-border bank loans. It tries to discover which global and local factors had significant influence on the changes in bank loans from banks in source (lending) countries to banks, as well as households, corporations and government in host (borrowing) countries. The main research method is a panel data regression model. The empirical results suggest that both local and global factors had influence on the changes in cross-border loans, i.e. helped to spread the 2007-09 crisis to CEE. The significant local factors were macroeconomic and financial characteristics of both source and host countries, such as their GDP growth differential, interest rate differential, FDI, or profitability and health of the banking sector. The significant global factors were the expected market volatility and investors' risk appetite/aversion which was an indicator of "pure" contagion. The main contribution of this thesis lies in its focus on CEE and the analysis of investors' behavior based on their changing risk appetite.
|
|
Awareness of contagious disease in mind of pupils at basic and secondary schools.
Peštová, Ilona ; Rajsiglová, Ina (advisor) ; Fraiberk, Martin (referee)
Infectious diseases are a very hot topic nowadays in society. In recent years, there were several epidemics, infectious diseases (hepatitis A, Avian influenza, pandemic influenza A) and nobody knows when will the next "new" infection. At the outbreak of epidemics, there is great interest in the company to obtain information about the disease, but often also to unnecessary panic, because the media often publish incorrect information. It would be preferable, in order to improve public awareness and prevent the unnecessary spread of disease. Great emphasis should be given to prevent the disease - primarily on immunization, hygiene rules and principles of safe sex. Quality information should be mainly from teachers in teaching their pupils, as is clear from research books, infectious diseases are only mentioned in textbooks and the number of substantive information in them is missing. The fact that pupils of primary schools and grammar schools with basic information on infectious diseases do not meet in the classroom, evidenced by the results of a survey carried out in the 6th classes and first year at selected elementary schools and grammar schools in Prague. To raise awareness of the pupils in school was to create a methodical manual for teachers, which summarizes information about bacterial and...
|
|
Susceptibility of Individual Fish Species to Koi Herpes Viral Disease - a research study
KOSTLÁN, Jakub
Koi herpes viral disease (hereinafter referred to as "KHVD") is a dangerous viral disease, outbreak of which was recorded in Israel in 1998 for the first time. Due to exhibitions and international fish trade it spread almost to the whole world in the course of the next 17 years and it caused a loss of many tonnes of both breed and consumption carp as well as it inflicted significant economic losses calculated in the tens millions of dollars. The European Union has added the koi herpes viral disease, due to its hazards, to the list of non-exotic diseases. Since 2008 there is a duty to report this infection in the Czech Republic as well. Koi herpes virus classified in the system of viruses as Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is considered the infective agent. Koi carp (Cyprinus carpio koi) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio carpio) are considered the main species susceptible to KHVD. However, it has been proved that the virus may be also detected in tissues of other fish species and in some of them clinical symptoms may appear. It is of high degree of probability that such fish species may play the role of viral communicants and this presumption has already been proved in some species in experimental conditions. With a view to the fact that koi herpes viral disease is incurable and application of a vaccine is impossible in the Czech Republic, for protection of fish breeding it is crucial to prevent bringing the disease in the territory. Mass fish perish caused by KHVD shall be prevented by strict inspection processes of the imported and exported fish, monitoring of the disease spread and responsible breeders' approach. The major objective of this work was to summarise available information about koi herpes viral disease and susceptibility of the individual fish species to this dangerous viral infectious disease in a form of a research study.
|
|
Measuring Sovereign Bond Spillover in Europe and the Impact of Rating News
Claeys, Peter ; Vašíček, Bořek
Although there is by now strong evidence that sovereign risk premia are driven by a common factor, little is known about the detailed linkages between sovereign bond markets. We employ the VAR method by Diebold and Yilmaz (2009) to analyse the strength and direction of bilateral linkages between EU sovereign bond markets using daily data on sovereign bond yield spreads and a common factor. The forecast-error variance decomposition of this FAVAR indicates a lot of heterogeneity in the bilateral spillover sent and received between bond markets. Spillover is more important than domestic factors for all eurozone countries. The CE countries mostly affect each other. Only Denmark, Sweden and the UK are rather insulated from spillover. The spillover has increased substantially since 2007, despite starting from a high level. We use this framework to measure the impact of sovereign rating news and analyse the dynamic linkages between spreads and the ratings of the main credit rating agencies. We find a two-sided relation between rating news and sovereign risk premia. The spillover of rating news is very heterogeneous, and it is substantially stronger for downgrades at lower grades. The impact is often weaker domestically than on bond spreads of other sovereigns. JEL
Fulltext: PDF
|
|
The Integrated Rescue System Activity and the Protection of the Public from a Possible Importation of Highly Contagious Diseases into the Czech Republic by Air Transfer
TOUSECKÝ, Peter
At present time of modern worldwide tourism using air transport, the risk of spreading an infectious disease in the Czech Republic cannot be underestimated. Air transport has become quite common way of travelling for Czech citizens so the travel time has shortened significantly. From this viewpoint Czech residents are at potential hazard of highly infectious diseases (HID). This Diploma thesis deals with biological agents which are divided into four risk groups on the basis of patogenes, a hazard to the staff and possible treatment and prophylaxis. Each of the groups requires different level of protection against the infection and its spread. The groups are graded from 1 to 4, i.e. BSL-1, BSL-2, BSL{--}3 and BSL{--}4. Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) poses a high individual risk of life-threatening diseases where no prevention and treatment are available. This group includes various viral hemorrhanic fevers (VHF) accompanied by heavy tissue bleeding which can be caused by philoviruses, arenaviruses, buniaviruses and flaviviruses. These virus families include viruses like Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, Junin (Argentine VHF), Machupo (Bolivian VHF), Sabia (Brazilian VHF), Guanarito (Venezuelan VHF), Rift Halley fever, Hanta virus, Variola virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and others. Even the hazard of BSL-3 biological agents with, in history well-known, Bacillus anthracis should not be ignored. The hazard of highly infectious diseases (HID) related to tourism consists in the incubation period. Tourists are infected during their stay abroad and on their way back to the Czech Republic the disease is highly developed. The HID transmission to other people confined in the space of the plane is then very simple. The attention is also paid to the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus which showed the possible ways of infection identification and population protection in the Czech Republic together with all subsequent effects.
|
|
Usage possibilities of nontraditional quantitative methods for financial crises prediction.
Hájek, Petr ; Koderová, Jitka (advisor) ; Nováček, Jan (referee) ; Dvořák, Pavel (referee)
Práce je rozdělena na tři části. V teoretické části práce jsou přiblíženy významné krize za posledních několik set let, typologie krizí, selhání finančních trhů dle P. Krugmana, generační modely, cenové bubliny, souvislost kapitálových toků a dluhového problému, nákaza, prevence před krizemi a jejich management. V druhé části jsou v rámci popisu současného stavu bádání v oblasti predikce finančních krizí citovány desítky studií. Jejich výsledky jsou následně porovnány. Pozornost je také věnována definici finanční krize. Ve třetí části je provedena aplikace metody Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) na úlohu predikce finančních krizí. Testovanou hypotézou je předpoklad, že akciové trhy dokáží během jednoho čtvrtletí (64 pozorování akciového trhu) reflektovat budoucí vývoj v měnové politice (během dalších 128 pozorování). Tato hypotéza byla na vzorku 39 zemí, intervalu let 1985 - 2007 a interpretace vývoje úrokových sazeb a měnového kurzu domácí měny vůči USD v disertační práci potvrzena. Uvedená metoda LSI a její studovaná aplikace na akciovém trhu, přestože dokázala nalézt několik krizí i přesně na den, je vhodná spíše pro specifikaci a analýzu křehkých období, kdy ke krizi může dojít, než přímo k předpovídání krizí.
|