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Changes in structure and phase composition in the surface of tram rail
Švábenská, Eva ; Roupcová, Pavla ; Schneeweiss, Oldřich
We have investigated structure and phase composition of surface layer of tram rails after long time running and the results were compared with those obtained on the original part of material. Changes due to effects of severe plastic deformation together with thermal shocks by friction process were expected. The information about structure and phase composition was obtained by optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-Ray Powder Diffraction, Mössbauer Spectroscopy and Glow Discharge Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES) and this was completed by microhardness measurements. The results show that the surface layer in comparison with the original material exhibits important changes in grain structure, an increase in microhardness and high content of iron oxide and hydrooxides. According to the depth profile of the chemical composition measured by GDOES there is an increase in carbon content in the surface layer which can be effect of up-hill diffusion.
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STRAIN ENGINEERING OF THE ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF 2D MATERIALS
del Corro, Elena ; Peňa-Alvarez, M. ; Morales-García, A. ; Bouša, Milan ; Řáhová, Jaroslava ; Kavan, Ladislav ; Kalbáč, Martin ; Frank, Otakar
The research on graphene has attracted much attention since its first successful preparation in 2004. It possesses many unique properties, such as an extreme stiffness and strength, high electron mobility, ballistic transport even at room temperature, superior thermal conductivity and many others. The affection for graphene was followed swiftly by a keen interest in other two dimensional materials like transition metal dichalcogenides. As has been predicted and in part proven experimentally, the electronic properties of these materials can be modified by various means. The most common ones include covalent or non-covalent chemistry, electrochemical, gate or atomic doping, or quantum confinement. None of these methods has proven universal enough in terms of the devices' characteristics or scalability. However, another approach is known mechanical strain/stress, but experiments in that direction are scarce, in spite of their high promises.\nThe primary challenge consists in the understanding of the mechanical properties of 2D materials and in the ability to quantify the lattice deformation. Several techniques can be then used to apply strain to the specimens and thus to induce changes in their electronic structure. We will review their basic concepts and some of the examples so far documented experimentally and/or theoretically.
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Micro-electromembrane extraction across multiple aqueous and organic phases for selective pretreatment of raw biological samples
Kubáň, Pavel ; Boček, Petr ; Seip, K. F. ; Gjelstad, A. ; Pedersen-Bjergaard, S.
Micro-electromembrane extraction (μ-EME) across multiple aqueous and organic\nsolutions was developed for selective extractions of various analytes from untreated\nbiological samples. The novel approach requires μL volumes of samples and organic\nsolvents, which form consecutive immiscible plugs in a transparent polymeric capillary\nand the extraction process is accelerated by application of d.c. voltage. Number of the\nplugs, their composition, volume and sequence in the extraction capillary can be chosen\nspecifically for each particular application and high variability and selectivity of the\nextraction process can be achieved. In this contribution, we demonstrate suitability of\na five-phase μ-EME system for simultaneous extractions of cations and anions from\nurine and for selective extractions of basic analytes based on their acid-base strength\nfrom plasma.
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ELECTRON BEAM REMELTING OF PLASMA SPRAYED ALUMINA COATINGS
Matějíček, Jiří ; Veverka, J. ; Čížek, J. ; Kouřil, J.
Plasma sprayed alumina coatings find numerous applications in various fields, where they enhance the properties of the base material. Examples include thermal barriers, wear resistance, electrical insulation, and diffusion and corrosion barriers. A typical structure of plasma sprayed coatings, containing a multitude of voids and imperfectly bonded interfaces, gives them unique properties - particularly low thermal conductivity, high strain tolerance, etc. However, for certain applications such as permeation barriers or wear resistance, these voids may be detrimental.\nThis paper reports on the first experiments with remelting of plasma sprayed alumina coatings by electron beam technology, with the purpose of densifying the coatings and thereby eliminating the voids. Throughout the study, several parameters of the e-beam device were varied - beam current, traverse velocity and number of passes. The treated coatings were observed by light and electron microscopy and the thickness, structure and surface morphology of the remelted layer were determined and correlated with the process parameters. Based on the first series of experiments, the e-beam settings leading to dense and smooth remelted layer of sufficient thickness were obtained. In this layer, a change of phase composition and a marked increase in hardness were observed.\n
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Sorption and Stabilization of Metals/Mettalloids by Innovative Synthesized Sorbent Amochar.
Ouředníček, P. ; Trakal, L. ; Komárek, M. ; Pohořelý, Michael
Remediation of contaminated soil which is based on stabilization and immobilization of potential\nhazardous substance by sorption materials has been studied intensively nowadays. Biochar – activated organic carbon belongs to this group of stabilizing agents which can adsorb wide range of contaminants, including metals/metalloids. Surface area of the biochars is quite large in general and functional groups (e.g. COO–) can form chelates or alkaline elements on the surface, which is represented by cation exchange capacity. Altogether with the high pH values (7.00 – 10.00), biochars are quite effective sorbents and can adsorb metals/metalloids from the solution (ground water), especially in acidic soils (in the environments affected by intensive mining activities). Sorption\neffectiveness can be increased (especially for As (V) or Cr (VI) sorption) by modification of biochar by various types of secondary oxides. Innovative sorbent AMOchar (AMO + biochar) has been synthesized currently. The product was prepared by adding of biochar to the reaction solution during amorphous manganese oxide (AMO) synthesis. The AMOchar was formed mainly by Mn-oxalates which had coated surface of the pristine biochar. AMOchar composite was able to remove significantly higher amounts of various metal(loid)s from the solution despite the rather high pH of the material. Sorption effectiveness was high not only in case of Pb (II) sorption (almost 99%), and Cd(II) (51.2%), but also a very high amount of As(V), 91.4%. Additionally, both AMOchar composite was able to reduce Mn leaching. This can avoid potential post-contamination caused by the dissolution of less stable Mn-oxalates as observed in the pure AMO.
Fulltext: content.csg -  PDF
Plný tet: SKMBT_22316111113040 - PDF
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Plasma spraying from liquids: plasma liquid interaction and coating build up
Tesař, Tomáš ; Mušálek, Radek ; Medřický, Jan ; Lukáč, František
Plasma spraying from liquid feedstocks is a rapidly developing field of thermal spraying since the coatings prepared from liquids exhibit some unique features, such as high hardness, thermal shock resistance or low thermal and electric conductivity. The key factor influencing the final coating character and properties is the input material which may be in the form of a suspension or a solution. Parameters of the selected suspension (solids concentration, viscosity, surface tension, chemical composition, etc.) or solution (concentration, etc.) determine its interaction with the plasma jet which strongly influences the coating buildup. This proceeding introduces the problematics of the interaction between the liquid feedstock material with the plasma jet and presents the way of evaluation of the coating buildup.
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Arctic tundra dendrochronology
Lehejček, Jiří ; Svoboda, Miroslav (advisor) ; Monika, Monika (referee)
Historically unprecedented environmental change in the Arctic ecosystems is often given into the context of its past and possible future development. In the region where instrumental meteorological observations are scarce archives need to be investigated in order to address this issues. The comprehensive synthesis one of the archives: long-live circumpolar evergreen Juniperus communis L. shrub is presented here. 20 individuals from southwest Greenland were investigated at the cell anatomy level to understand the ecology of the species and unhide its potential for environmental and climate reconstructions. The findings are as follows:
i) Stop of exponential cross-sectional conduit-lumen widening with increasing age is in contrast with conduit-lumen nature of trees. This indicates that shrubs do not need to saturate their water and nutrient demands via traits of classical hydraulic conductivity law but rather developed different mechanisms. Extreme weather conditions result in prostrate growth form. However, different weather factors probably influence shrub growth differently: While snow and wind act mechanically (a), temperature influences the form of growth physiologically (b). a) So long as the young shrub stem has high resilience to bend back to an upright position after snow melt and so long as it can withstand the wind during the vegetation season it most likely grows upright and the conduit-lumens widen. b) Temperature, resp. freeze-thaw events are responsible for the shrubs preference of safety (finite size of conduit-lumens) over hydraulic efficiency, thus not allowing for more primary growth. All of these (and other) factors are apparently working together and the transition of vertical to more horizontal growth is gradual. As a consequence, the conduit-lumen sizes may not have to be further increased (due to ecophysiological restrictions possibly also must not) because water is no longer transported against gravity.
ii) Observed age/growth trend has to be taken into consideration for further employment of the wood anatomical parameter in paleoenvironmental studies. That is, shrub cell parameters can only be used for this purposes if correctly detrended. This allows for more accurate as well as longer reconstructions because youth trend was often neglected in reconstructions based on shrub annual-rings.
iii) The south-western Greenland Ice-Sheet (GrIS) melt rates reconstruction is presented for the whole 20th century. This part of GrIS is considered as the most active. According to the presented reconstruction current GrIS melt rates are not uncommon for the last century being comparable to first decades of 20th century. This finding is particularly important contribution to the debate on Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Too high fresh water inputs into the Northern Atlantic from GrIS melting may slow down or even stop the AMOC which would result in more continental climate in Europe. Presented results indicate that this threshold lies higher than observed current melt rates of GrIS.
Fascinating Juniperus comunnis species has shown to be able to address many ecological as well as environmental open questions and due to its longevity and abundant distribution has a great potential to become an important player in the Arctic research.
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Nutritional analysis and optimization of breeding of selected species of edible insects under conditions of the Czech Republic with regard to human health
Adámková, Anna ; Kouřimská, Lenka (advisor)
All over the world, the edible insects are considered a highly nutritious food with high protein and fat content. However, the nutritional value of insect is not constant. It can be affected by species, developmental stage, rearing technology or nutrition.
Therefore, this thesis was aimed at obtaining the selected nutritional value of edible insects. Analyses were focused on the determination of the crude protein content, fat content, fatty acid profile and sterols in selected species of edible insects, which can be commonly reared in the Czech Republic. At the same time we also analysed samples of insects reared on the island of Sumatra to evaluate the influence of the climate on the nutritional value. The main aim of the thesis was the determination of optimal breeding conditions, developmental stages and feed rations for obtaining good production of insects with nutritional properties suitable for human nutrition. The analyses showed a high nutritional value of selected insect species, but also confirmed the significant differences in the content of individual nutrients between different species depending on the climate conditions and developmental stage. Comparing the fat and crude protein content in edible insects and other conventional sources of meat it has been found, that the examined insect is similar to beef concerning the fat and crude protein content. The results obtained are the basis for determining the appropriate rearing conditions and developmental stages for obtaining insect with the desired nutritional properties for human nutrition.
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Population genetic analysis of Old Kladruber horse
Vostrá Vydrová, Hana ; Majzlík, Ivan (advisor) ; Karel, Karel (referee)
The Old Kladruber horse, along with the Lipizzaner horse, Andalusian horse and Lusitano horse, is of the original Italo-Spanish type. The Old Kladruber horse is kept in two colour varieties (grey and black). Because the population is closed, there is a concern about the loss of genetic variation. The genetic diversity and population structure were analysed in the Old Kladruber horse breed based on the pedigree information of animals that were registered in the Studbook to identify factors that may have affected the genetic variability of the breed. Pedigree records collected from 1729 to 2013 contained information on 7971 animals that were used in the analyses. The pedigree depth was up to 33 generations, with an average of 15.1 complete generations. The effective number of founders and ancestors contributing to the current genetic pool was 92.69 and 17.16, respectively. The average values of the inbreeding coefficient were as follows: 13% (with a maximum value of 29%) for the reference population (individuals that can currently take part in reproduction, n=612), 11% for the grey variety (with a maximum value of 25%) and 15% for the black variety (with a maximum value of 29%). The proportion of inbred animals was high (99%). The average rate of inbreeding in the reference population was 1%: 0.8% for the grey variety and 1.1% for the black variety, and the respective estimates of the effective population sizes were 52 for the reference population, 62 for the grey variety and 45 for the black variety. The estimated percentage of genetic diversity lost due to non-random mating within subpopulations and the reference population was 1.0, 1.0 and 1.2%, respectively. The total loss of genetic diversity in the reference population, in the grey variety and in the black variety was 11%, 13% and 17%, respectively.
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Information content in vocalization of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus): individual distinction and recognition of predators
Baklová, Aneta ; Baranyiová, Eva (advisor) ; František, František (referee)
Guinea pigs represent domesticated precocious rodents which became common pets. From the first day after birth they are fully vocal. This thesis was devoted
to the vocalization of pups. The aim of the thesis was to 1) determine the age when the vocal individuality in whistle sound is demonstrable; 2) test possible ultrasonic signals emitted by young guinea pigs; 3) study the antipredator reactions and alarm calls to aerial (bird of prey) and terrestrial (dog) predators and human (control test).
A total of 16 guinea pig pups were tested for vocal individuality, 28 pups
for ultrasonic vocalization and 27 adolescents for predator recognition. When testing vocal ontogeny during the first 9 days after birth, I observed changes in temporal, frequency and parameter of intensity . When I test vocal individuality by cross-validated discriminant function analysis (DFA) based on ten acoustic parameters, calls were classified to correct animals with following success: day 1 = 71.9%, day 3 = 58.8%, day 5 = 53.10%, day 7 = 50.60% and day 9 = 63.10%. The highest frequency in whistle was 30.03 kHz. In predator discrimination reactions as freezing, fleeing and vigilance were observed. In the presence of dog, guinea pigs reacted for the longest time and most frequently by freezing. When confronted with a bird of prey, I observed for a longest time and most often fleeing and then freezing. When exposed to a human, guinea pigs showed mostly vigilance. Almost no vocalization was observed except for two events
of alarm calls - drrr as in the presence of dog and chirrup as reaction to bird of prey.
The following conclusions can be drawn from the presented results: 1) vocal individuality of guinea pigs is demonstrable immediately after birth and the rate
of individually different vocal parameters changes with age; 2) guinea pigs are able
to produce sound up to 30 kHz, i.e. within the ultrasound range, but signals of high frequencies are not crucial for their communication; 3) guinea pigs discriminate between terrestrial and aerial predators, but they emit alarm calls rather rarely.
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