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Influence of meadow management on the migration behavior of selected species of butterflies
Bubová, Terezie ; Langrová, Iva (advisor) ; Farkač, Jan (referee)
Migrations are the key process and one of the basic biological features, which allow survival of endangered species in fragmented landscape. In the last decades, agriculture intensification, industry and urbanization caused that number of natural butterfly habitats has significantly decreased. The localities originally suitable for butterflies are currnetly converted to farmland or building plots. This PhD thesis aimed to find a compromise solution of meadow management, which should allow a commercial use and concurrently do not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered or threatened species. The main idea of this study was in the intentional emigration causing in the middle of flight period, which should lead into resettlement of the population to another (potentially more suitable) locality. Possibility of aimed manipulation with butterfly emigrations would be considered as a major breakthrough in their protection.
The investigated species Phengaris nausithous (Bergsträsser, 1779) and Phengaris teleius (Bergsträsser, 1779) are both considered to be flagship species for protection of European butterflies at open meadows. This study is based on research, which was carried out in 2013-2015 at 17 patch in localities Dolní Labe, Czech Republic. In above mentioned years, one selected meadow was mowed in the middle of flight season and the emigrations were then monitored using mark-release-recapture method. Results of population and migration characteristics were calculated in MARK 8.1 software. Subsequently, the effect of mowing on emigration (comparison of emigrations from the meadow before and after mowing) was evaluated using Statistica 13.
The hypotheses of this study were based on the assumption, that the loss of resources after well-timed mowing should increase the activity of adult butterflies. During the monitoring, number of emigrations was increased only in flight season 2015. Unfortunately, the statistical evaluation did not show significant effect of mowing on migrations. On the other hand, the hypothesis dealing with colonization of nearest meadows was confirmed.
Effect of intentional emigration caused by management interventions was unfortunately not proved. However, we found out, that even though the population at one mowed meadow decreased clearly, the metapopulation size at the locality remained more or less stable.
At investigated (mowed) meadow, there was observed a sharp decline of P. nausithous abundance. On the other hand, P. teleius population was only slightly reduced. It is therefore conceivable, that P. teleius are not as susceptible to innapropriate term of mowing. The results obtained in our research conclusively displayed no possible positive effect of mowing in the middle of flight season and a necessity of suitable management maintenance at localities inhabited by Phengaris butterflies.
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Antioxidant, anti-proliferative and immunomodulatory effect of fruits, vegetables and mushrooms in vitro
Doskočil, Ivo ; Havlík, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Orsák, Matyáš (referee)
Recently there has been an increasing interest in discovering of new species of plants and mushrooms which have antioxidant or anti proliferative activity. The interest is caused by the fact that these species have medicinal and food utilization. These properties of plants and mushrooms can be used when dealing with many diseases which may be connected with oxidative stress (inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and tumour disease, etc.).
The thesis propounds characteristics of in vitro antioxidant and anti proliferative activity of 19 types of juices and 28 methanol extracts of fruits and vegetables, which are common parts of a diet. In the thesis there are also characteristics of 13 ethanol extracts of edible mushrooms of the order of Polypore (Popyporales). Antioxidant activity was quantifie by 2, 2 diphenyl 1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), and inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production. Cytotoxicity was measured by MTT (3 (4,5 dimethylthiazol 2 yl) 2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide. Immunomodulatory activity was determined by an assay of phagocytic activity of human neutrophil granulocytes. Further a total phenolic content (TPC) and total beta glucan content were investigated; these are considered to be the potentially active constituents participating in mentioned activities.
From the obtained results it is evident that juices (TPC = 1603.2 mg GAE/L; ORAC = 438.5 umol TE/g)
and a bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) fruit extract (ORAC 836.6 umol TE/g; DPPH = 404.6 umol TE/g) showed
the highest antioxidant activity of all tested samples of fruits and vegetables. Capsicum (Capsicum L.)
juices (TPC = 642.1 mg GAE/L; ORAC = 127.9 umol TE/g) and a radish (Raphanus sativus L.) extract
(ORAC 724.5 umol TE/g; DPPH = 52.2 umol TE/g) also proved to have the high values of antioxidant activity. From the tested fruits and vegetables the following inhibited to produce a nitric oxide: onion (Allium cepa L) juices (lowered the NO production by 57%), tangerine juices (Citrus reticulata Blanco)(by 52%), broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis italic) extract (by 21%), and orange (Citrus sinensis Pers.) extract (by 10%). Concerning edible
mushrooms, Lentinus tigrinus (Bull.) Fr. (TPC = 216.2 umol GAE/g of extract), Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Kras (TPC = 257.9 umol GAE/g of extract), and Royoporus badius (Pers.) A.B. De (TPC = 257.8 umol GAE/g of extract) presented the highest phenolic content. Sparassis crispa (Wulfen) Fr. (117.4 mg/g of extract) had the highest content of beta glucan. Substantial effect on phagocytic activity of granulocytes was noticed in connection with Neolentinus lepideus (Fr.) Redhead & Ginns, Polyporus squamosus (Huds.) Fr., and S. crispa. In connection with the latter of mentioned mushrooms, a moderate inhibitory effect towards HT 29 human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line
(IC50 = 107 ug/ml of extract) was noticed.
The results indicate that the tested plants and mushrooms can be beneficial when reducing the negative effects of oxidative stress. The oxidative stress has been recognized as a contributing factor to a whole range of diseases and the reduction of the oxidative stress may lead to the decrease in the possibility of the diseases´ progression. The results show the possible favourable effects on the human health. When evaluating the results, the following fact should be taken into consideration; the in vitro tests and screenings are considered to be the first phase of systematic research of the effects and serve for the choice of respondents for further detailed studies.
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Feasibility Study of an Interactive Medical Diagnostic Wikipedia
Grim, Jiří
Considering different application possibilities of product distribution mixtures we have proposed three formal tools in the last years, which can be used to accumulate decision-making know-how from particular diagnostic cases. First, we have developed a structural mixture model to estimate multidimensional probability distributions from incomplete and possibly weighted data vectors. Second, we have shown that the estimated product mixture can be used as a knowledge base for the Probabilistic Expert System (PES) to infer conclusions from definite or even uncertain input information. Finally we have shown that, by using product mixtures, we can exactly optimize sequential decision-making by means of the Shannon formula of conditional informativity. We combine the above statistical tools in the framework of an interactive open-access medical diagnostic system with automatic accumulation of decision-making knowledge.
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Grammars with Restricted Derivation Trees
Koutný, Jiří ; Janoušek, Jan (referee) ; Vojnar, Tomáš (referee) ; Meduna, Alexandr (advisor)
V této disertační práci jsou studovány teoretické vlastnosti gramatik s omezenými derivačními stromy. Po uvedení současného stavu poznání v této oblasti je výzkum zaměřen na tři základní typy omezení derivačních stromů. Nejprve je představeno zcela nové téma, které je založeno na omezení řezů a je zkoumána vyjadřovací síla takto omezené gramatiky. Poté je zkoumáno několik nových vlastností omezení kladeného na cestu derivačních stromů. Zejména je studován vliv vymazávacích pravidel na vyjadřovací sílu gramatik s omezenou cestou a pro tyto gramatiky jsou zavedeny dvě normální formy. Následně je popsána nová souvislost mezi gramatikami s omezenou cestou a některými pseudouzly. Dále je prezentován protiargument k vyjadřovací síle tohoto modelu, která byla dosud považována za dobře známou vlastnost. Nakonec je zavedeno zobecnění modelu s omezenou cestou na ne jednu, ale několik cest. Tento model je následně studován zejména z hlediska vlastností vkládání, uzávěrových vlastností a vlastností syntaktické analýzy.
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Navigation of mobile robots
Rozman, Jaroslav ; Matoušek,, Václav (referee) ; Šolc, František (referee) ; Zbořil, František (advisor)
Mobile robotics has been very discussed and wide spread topic recently. This due to the development in the computer technology that allows us to create better and more sophisticated robots. The goal of this effort is to create robots that will be able to autonomously move in the chosen environment. To achieve this goal, it is necessary for the robot to create the map of its environment, where the motion planning will occur. Nowadays, the probabilistic algorithms based on the SLAM algorithm are considered standard in the mapping in these times. This Phd. thesis deals with the proposal of the motion planning of the robot with stereocamera placed on the pan-and-tilt unit. The motion planning is designed with regard to the use of algorithms, which will look for the significant features in the pair of the images. With the use of the triangulation the map, or a model will be created. The benefits of this work can be divided into three parts. In the first one the way of marking the free area, where the robot will plan its motion, is described. The second part describes the motion planning of the robot in this free area. It takes into account the properties of the SLAM algorithm and it tries to plan the exploration in order to create the most precise map. The motion of the pan-and-tilt unit is described in the third part. It takes advantage of the fact that the robot can observe places that are in the different directions than the robot moves. This allows us to observe much bigger space without losing the information about the precision of the movements.
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Comparison of the performance of economic entities
LUKŠ, Mirek
The diploma thesis deals with a construction of the appropriate comparative model on the methodical basis of multi-criteria evaluation of alternatives, which are based on the economic indicator considered as a standard for determination the specific order of the companies in this thesis compared. Moreover, there is further a comparison incorporated, which consists of the position of in the thesis selected comparative model against regularly existing models such as specifically the Altman index (Z-score) and the index IN99. An integral part of the thesis is also a graphical analysis of the specific the model entering inputs such as indicators, criterions, which are considered to be a crucial part for the correct utilization of the model.
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Portfolio diversification
ŠÍP, Martin
The goal of this bachelor thesis is to show how the choice of stocks impacts the portfolio diversification in relation to risk and return. The risk was calculated as standard deviation and historical return rate was considered. The theoretical part explains basic terms related with portfolio diversification, Markowitz model, capital stock and most important factors that lead to the optimal portfolio creation such as return, risk and covariance. The practical part explains in detail, how to create an optimal portfolio. Ten companies from different sectors were randomly chosen for this bachelor thesis. These companies' shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The covariance of these shares is lower than one. The next step was to calculate historical return rate and historical risk of portfolios. The highest value of historical return rate was 2.31 % and the lowest value of historical risk achieved 22.77 %. Subsequently, the efficient frontier was determined. The efficient frontier is the set of optimal portfolios that offers the highest expected return for a defined level of risk or the lowest risk for a given level of expected return. The lowest value of portfolio risk was 2.97 % with a return of 1.38 % and the highest value of portfolio risk was 4.03 % with a return of 2.13 %. The investor chooses the portfolio which maximizes his expected benefit.
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Single cell expression analysis of genes with potential mrna gradient in mouse oocytes
Dorosh, Andriy ; Margaryan, Hasmik ; Vodička, Martin ; Ergang, Peter ; Šídová, Monika ; Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina
In frogs, there are clearly visible differently pigmented animal and vegetal poles of the egg determined before fertilization and leading to asymmetrical divisions. Mammalian egg does not show any comparable differentiation and it has been generally accepted that even the individual blastomeres in 2-cell and 4-cell embryos are homogenous. However, recent findings suggest that those blastomeres display different gene expression patterns and might already possess some inclinations to specific cell lineages. We therefore raised a question, whether there could be any mRNA or protein gradients in pre-fertilization oocytes similar to a previously described amphibian egg one. In mammalian eggs, there is a membrane region that is poor in microvilli, cortical granules are absent beneath plasma membrane and sperm cells generally do not bind to this location. This microvilli free region also covers the egg nucleus, and cytoskeleton localization differs markedly to the rest of the cortical space, forming actin –myosin II cortical cap/ring and is considered as animal pole. The purpose of this study was to determine gene products that can be detected at single cell level using qPCR and display gradient like distribution in mature oocytes. We checked expression of 12 selected genes in a pool of 10 oocytes and single mature oocytes. Then, we analysed gene expression in fixed intact oocytes and those undergoing laser capture microdissection procedure (LCMD). Eventually, we have determined six candidate genes for the study of intracellular spatial gene expression in mature mammalian oocytes by subcellular qPCR and in situ hybridization.
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The Use of the Addictive Drugs by the Seniors
KOPAČKOVÁ, Dominika
The bachelor thesis deals with using addictive substances by senior citizens. The age cathegoty 60+ should not be omitted when speaking of using addictive substances. Even senior citizens are users of some addictive substances, especially drugs. The thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and explorative one. There are four chapters in the theoretical part (Old age and ageing, Substance addiction, Addictive substances and their classification, Usage of addictive substances in the old age) and summarizes the knowledge from recent literature about this topic. First, the old age and ageing are described. This chapter deals with ageing and old age of the human. This work describes the right mental hygiene, too. Multi-factorial manifestation of the old age (biological, psychological and social) is mentioned as well. In the second chapter there are described the factors that increase probability of the addiction origin. These factors can be genetic, biological, and psychological. There are mentioned some system models of the formation, development and maintenance of addiction, dependence and definition of the signs that addiction manifests. The third chapter divides addictive substances between legal and illegal. There are their effects, impacts on the human organism decribed. The group of legal addictive substances are included tobacco, alcohol, drugs and certain foods. Illegal substances represented here by cannabis, hallucinogens, stimulants, opiates. The last fourth chapter focuses directly on the addictive behaviour of the senior citizens. Seniors are also users of substances with addictive potential. At first alcoholism is mapped, other chapters devote addiction to nicotine, drugs and narcotics. The main goal of the thesis is to determine whether seniors use an addictive substance. A partial goal of is to find out the extent and cause of using addictive substances by the senior population. To find out these goals there were used the principles of quantitive research. To collect the data there were used questionnaires, created all by the author. The questionnaires were created with open and closed questiones and used in the printed form. The research has been conducted in Sušice and its close surroundings in February 2015. Respondents were the people with the least age limit of 70 years. These were 40 people living in their households or home for elderly. The results show that also amongst senior citizens can be found those ones who use the addictive substances. Current problem are by the doctor prescribed drugs. Today´s senior citizen uses drugs regularly, very often also combination of more drugs. Seniors often use medication to relieve the pain because the pain occurs more frequently. They use drugs to help them sleep better, too. The next group of addictive substances, which this chapter deals with, are drugs with a shoothing effect. There are smokers between the senior citizens who bare this bad habit from their midlife. Some research shows that cannabis helps people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer´s disease. Seniors do not use cannabis for these purposes because it is not legal. Alcohol is drunk by older people on occassion, on the other hand there are also people who drink such an amount that is not considered as not-risky. Seniors do not drink so much on one occasion, compared to the young generation. In the thesis this problem is described more detailed. Results of the research can be used by lay public to understand issues of addictive substances better. This thesis can be source of information for students of healt-social fields of study and it can improve the awareness about reasons of using addictive substances amongs senior citizens.
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