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Increasing affinity of Interferon gamma receptor 1 to Interferon gamma by combining molecular modeling and experimental methods
Mikulecký, Pavel ; Schneider, Bohdan (advisor) ; Šulc, Miroslav (referee) ; Vaněk, Ondřej (referee)
Protein-protein interactions play an important role in nearly all processes of the living cells and the function of many proteins is dependent on their specific interactions with other biomolecules. A reliable tool to modulate these interactions would be invaluable for the development of molecules suitable for diagnostics, medicine, and biotechnology. In this work, we aimed to study the specificity of interactions in the model system of Interferon gamma receptor 1 (IFNgR1) and its natural ligand Interferon gamma (IFNg), important in innate immunity. We searched for mutations within the interferon receptor molecule IFNgR1 to modulate (increase as well as decrease) its affinity to IFNg by in silico analysis of the existing crystal structures of the complex between IFNgR1 and IFNg. We modeled amino acid substitutions and gauged how they influenced the interaction using empirical force field implemented in software FoldX. All selected promising IFNgR1 variants were expressed in Escherichia coli, purified to homogeneity, characterized, and kinetics of their interactions with IFNg was measured by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). The first set of IFNgR1 variants included mutations on the interface of the IFNg/IFNgR1 complex. According to our SPR measurements, the affinity of most of these receptor...
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Hungary 1956: from a reform of socialism to a national uprising
Adamec, Jan ; Vojtěchovský, Ondřej (advisor) ; Pelikán, Jan (referee) ; Irmanová, Eva (referee)
Jan Adamec, Hungary 1956: from a reform of socialism to a national uprising Dizertační práce Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Filozofická fakulta, Ústav světových dějin, Praha, 2015 Abstract The theses aims to analyze the crisis of the Hungarian Communist regime in 1956. It begins with the internal party struggle between Prime Minister Imre Nagy and First Secretary Matyás Rákosi in 1953-1955. Khrushchev's destalinisation initiative in 1956 triggered a new wave of conflicts. The crisis within the Communist Party was then deepened by the demise of Rákosi and the installation of Ernő Gerő as his successor in July 1956 and the emotionally charged reburial of László Rajk. The crisis coincided with grave economic shortages and rising dissatisfaction in the countryside. Encouraged Hungarian students organized demonstrations on 23 October 1956 that grew into mass riots against the regime. New agents that then played a key role in the events in question entered the political arena. Firstly, the Soviet army intervened on behalf of the Hungarian Communist leadership; however, it failed to restore order or suppress the mass movement. Secondly, dozens of guerrilla-like insurgent groups fought enthusiastically against the Soviets. Khrushchev contemplated postponing the use of military force for a brief period of time;...
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Study of function and molecular architecture of fungal nitrilases applicable in biocatalysis
Veselá, Alicja Barbara ; Martínková, Ludmila (advisor) ; Macek, Tomáš (referee) ; Teisinger, Jan (referee)
Nitrilases are enzymes which catalyze the hydrolysis of a nitrile into the corresponding carboxylic acid and ammonia. These enzymes are potentially applicable in biocatalysis and bioremediation because of their advantages over the conventional (chemical) methods of nitrile hydrolysis (lower demand for energy, safety, simplicity, high yields, selectivity). In this work, genome mining was used to search for the sequences of hypothetical nitrilases from filamentous fungi. The amino acid sequences of previously characterized fungal nitrilases were used as the templates. Then the new synthetic genes together with other genes from our nitrilase library were expressed in E. coli and the substrate specificities of the enzymes thus produced were compared. Significant attention was focused on the relationships between the sequence of the enzyme and its substrate specificity. The arylacetonitrilases from Arthroderma benhamiae (NitAb) and Nectria haematococca (NitNh) were purified and characterized. Their substrate specificities, kinetic parameters, pH and temperature profiles and subunit and holoenzyme size were assessed. NitAb and NitNh together with other recombinant fungal nitrilases were employed in the hydrolysis of high concentrations of (R,S)-mandelonitrile in a batch or fed-batch mode. Nitrilase from...
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Empathy of Teacher in Educational Theory and Practice
Štěrba, Radim ; Bendl, Stanislav (advisor) ; Dvořáček, Jiří (referee) ; Linková, Marie (referee)
The thesis deals with the theme of empathy of teacher in educational theory and teaching practice. Its objective is to bring on an analysis of major Czech and foreign educational theories an overview of empathy as specific skills of teacher, its development and position within the given educational concept. The theoretical part first deals with the development of the concept of empathy in the context of psychology, differences between the concepts of sympathy and empathy, its relationship to sex, emotional intelligence, sociability, then focuses on empathy in the context of educational communication at school. The main part consists of analysis of important domestic pedagogical concepts of domestic authors, such as Comenius, Lindner, Úlehla, Chlup, Uher and Příhoda. Among foreign authors are, for example, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart, Dewey, Steiner and Rogers. The aim of the empirical part is to implement and with the use of relevant research tools to verify the effectiveness of the learning program developing empathy of future teachers. The thesis should contribute to a deeper understanding of empathy in the educational process, both within the theoretical, based on reflection of this phenomenon in educational theories, and especially in practice in connection with the preparation of future...
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International Company Law
Lokajíček, Jan ; Pauknerová, Monika (advisor) ; Ondřej, Jan (referee) ; Kunz, Oto (referee)
This dissertation deals with international company law, namely with piercing the corporate veil doctrine. The dissertation is divided, apart from introduction and conclusion, into 5 chapters. Chapter I deals with general definition of the doctrine. Chapter II explains that the complexity of the doctrine is caused by a fact that it actually consists of several related questions. This Chapter offers an answer to the most serious one - the predictability of use of the doctrine. Chapter III discusses current questions related to the piercing. Chapter IV brings an analysis of use of the piercing in chosen developed legal orders including a comparison summary. Finally, Chapter V is devoted to possibility of use of the doctrine in Czech law. Key words: International company law; piercing the corporate veil; breakthrough of the property independence; limited liability of shareholders; capital companies; economic analysis of law; closely held corporations; voluntary and involuntary creditors.
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Contemporary Cirkus as a Dramatic Art. From Contemporary Cirsuc Performance Analysis to is Aesthetic Discourse
Štefanová, Veronika ; Christov, Petr (advisor) ; Drozd, David (referee) ; Pšenička, Martin (referee)
This dissertation introduces contemporary circus as a type of dramatic art. The work thus provides a basic framework for the analysis of contemporary circus and suggests a terminology for the designation of its specific traits. This terminology is derived first and foremost from the Czech theatre studies environment. The theoretical delineation of contemporary circus stems from selected theses from Otakar Zich's The Aesthetics of Dramatic Art and Erika Fischer-Lichte's The Transformative Power of Performance: A New Aesthetics. Contemporary circus, which is depicted as belonging to several discourses - historical, aesthetic, cultural policy and pedagogical, is described from a formal as well as content-focused point of view in order to best point out how the circus element changes and takes on meaning in relation to its theatrical counterpart. The thesis is subdivided into five parts. The introduction outlines the key theme, goals and methodology as well as terminology and theories which provide the work with a suitable point of departure. The Contemporary and Traditional Circus chapter describes the history and development of traditional as well as contemporary circus in selected countries (France, Canada, USA, Scandinavia) which are considered significant within the context of circus arts...
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Laboratory Investigation of Dust Grain Charging
Beránek, Martin ; Němeček, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Jusko, Pavol (referee) ; Nehasil, Václav (referee)
The present thesis is focused on study of dust grain charging. The experimental part covers interaction between dust grains and high-energy electrons and self-discharging of grains by both field electron emission and field ionization. The second part of the thesis describes construction and evaluation of a linear electrodynamic trap of the novel design. We have observed charging of small dust grains towards high positive electric potentials when bombarded by the high-energy electron beam. We have described an increase of the secondary electron- electron emission yield from negatively charged grains due to the surface field. Further, self-discharging characteristics for both positively and negatively charged grains were measured. The relationship between discharging rate and the rate of the flow of atoms leaving the grain surface due to diffusion was observed for positively charged grains. This suggests significantly lower surface field necessary for ionizing such atoms compared to the ionization of atoms of surrounding gas and compared to the typically published field ionization thresholds. Based on the design published in the master thesis, a linear quadrupole trap of novel design was constructed. Testing measurements confirmed functionality and expected characteristics of the trap. In addition, effects of...
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Study of ambiguities of Quantum Chromodynamics predictions in hard processes
Posolda, Petr ; Chýla, Jiří (advisor) ; Dolejší, Jiří (referee) ; Rameš, Jiří (referee)
The thesis is devoted to phenomenological investigation of ambiguities of QCD predictions coming from renormalization and factorization procedures. We studied predictions for e+ e− annihilation and jet production in proton-proton collisions. In the former case, we analyzed the dependence on RS up to fourth order at low and high energy region. We particularly focused on the Principle of Minimal Sensitivity as a guide for optimal choice of renormalization scheme. It is shown that a proper choice of RS is important especially at low energies where for example commonly used MS RS implies negative and unstable predictions, and that PMS optimized result don't suffer any of these drawbacks at studied cases. In the second part of the thesis, the dependence of NLO jet cross-section on renormalization and factorization scales is studied for total energy 1.8, 7 and 14 TeV. It is shown that PMS again provides qualitatively reasonable and stable results and seems to be relevant also for processes with hadrons in initial state. 1
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Vegetation of post-mining sites determines soil microbial community structure and soil processes
Urbanová, Michaela ; Baldrian, Petr (advisor) ; Bárta, Jiří (referee) ; Chroňáková, Alica (referee)
Vegetation of post-mining sites determines soil microbial community structure and soil processes Mgr. Michaela Urbanová Abstract The aim of this thesis, which consists of four published articles, was to investigate the effect of vegetation on soil microbial communities and processes in de novo developing soil substrate on the brown-coal spoil heaps in the surrounding of city Sokolov. Spoil material - soil clayey substrate, which had been gradually mined from the opencast brown coal mine, stratified onto spoil heaps and reclaimed by assisted afforestation with selected tree species or left for spontaneous plant succession, changes its biotic and abiotic characteristic in the course of time and particularly under the influence of plants. Changes of spoil substrate characteristics are related to the growth of plant roots and particularly also to the production of plant biomass, which is decomposed gradually and takes part of soil, where participates to soil organic matter. The process of plant dead materials decomposition and transformation is the function of the activity of soil organisms and among them notably soil microorganisms. Moreover, the presence of many of them is closely related to the presence of vegetation, whose symbionts or pathogens are. The exact mechanisms of the plant-microbes interactions...
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Concrete poetry in the literary communication in the foreign language teaching
Divišová, Lucie ; Mocná, Dagmar (advisor) ; Křivánek, Vladimír (referee) ; Hník, Ondřej (referee)
Disertační práce Konkrétní poezie v literární komunikaci ve výuce cizího jazyka Mgr. Lucie Divišová ABSTRACT We have formulated the research problem in the doctoral thesis called Concrete poetry in the literary communication in the foreign language teaching as a problem of reception of concrete poetry which is a distinctive and atypical poetry genre as well as its potential integration into the teaching of French as a foreign language to specific groups of university students. In the end we change the subject from the substantive theory which says something just about the reception of concrete poetry in students in question in particular conditions (in four specific groups of university students) to formal theory (which says something about the phenomenon itself; how and why the concrete poetry deepens relationship to the foreign language as well as to its linguistic and literary aspect, and about the contribution of the integration of the poetic, or the more precisely literary text into the foreign language teaching in general). The aim of our action research is to contribute to the extension of the expert knowledge which in our case consists in combining literary-scientific knowledge with the topic of concrete poetry and a didactic and theoretic knowledge and subsequently in transformation of this...
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