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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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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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Growth dividend from the financial markets integration in the Eurozone after the adoption of the single currency
Hassairi, Nail ; Gapko, Petr (referee) ; Dědek, Oldřich (advisor)
The introduction of the common currency in part of the European Union was a landmark event. It raised eyebrows, expectations and gloomy forecasts. Optimists saw the currency bringing about efficiencies in variety of different ways and industries. This thesis is preoccupied with financial markets. The thesis of this work is that Euro triggered integration on financial markets in countries that joined the project of common currency. The work is trying to gauge this ongoing financial integration and find a measure that would represent it. After finding this measure it is a goal of this paper to estimate if the ongoing financial integration contributed to higher growth prospects in the economies involved.
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Total contents and speciation of arsenic and selenium in plants growing in soils with different physico-chemical properties
Tremlová, Jana ; Száková, Jiřina (advisor) ; Vymazal, Jan (referee)
This dissertation thesis deals with uptake, accumulation and transformation of arsenic and selenium in plants growing on soils with different chemico-physical soil properties. The contents of arsenic were investigated in 99 wild plant species, coming from 27 different families and 6 different vegetables growing in arsenic contaminated soils. The results suggest that there are species-specific mechanisms which protects certain plants from the excessive uptake of arsenic from the soil. On the other hand, there are plants using a strategy of accumulation, which theoretically may increase the risk of arsenic entry into the food chain, whether through grazing cattle and wildlife or through consumption of vegetables growing on arsenic contaminated soils. The most prevalent arsenic compounds are AsV and AsIII. Other arsenic compounds occure as minor species. An important finding was detection of arsenobetaine in Plantago lanceolata L. and Carex praecox Schreb ..
The contents of selenium were examined in 73 species of wild plants, coming from 29 different families. The results suggest that naturally low levels of selenium in the soil of selected locations along with a low capability of selenium uptake via collected plant species lead to the low content of selenium in plant biomass which may contribute to selenium deficient throughout the food chain. Foliar application of selenate on wild plant communities and on some types of vegetables in our case Brassica oleracea var. italica can have a positive impact on increasing the selenium content in the aboveground biomass of these plants and by extension, increase the selenium content in the human diet. Dominant selenium compounds in the aboveground biomass of the analyzed plants were SeVI and selenomethionine, with variable proportion of other commonly occurring organic selenium compounds, which is mainly affected by plant species.
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Non-invasive methods for sex and steroid homones determination in gibbons of the genus Nomascus
Bolechová, Petra ; Bartoš, Luděk (advisor) ; Pavel, Pavel (referee)
The gibbon primates of the family Nomascus are classified as critically endangered species, and, to date, basic understanding and information about their biology is missing. With regard to the status of these animals in the wild and captive populations in zoos, being familiar with their reproduction, may improve captive breeding programs. Data collection in this study was to be carried out by the practical use of non-invasive methods (polymerase chain reaction for DNA extraction and enzyme immunoassays), using faecal samples for analysis. The first method, polymerase chain reaction, was used for sex determination in juveniles, because of their coat colour and visual similarity of secondary sex characteristic in both sexes; it is not possible to determinate sex without handling the animal. Another main purpose of this study is to try and answer the hypothesis regarding the ovarian cycle of females, factors influencing their hormone concentration and also the onset of sexual maturity in females and the timing of their fur colour change. Hypotheses were checked by monitoring the concentration of progesterone and oestrogen faecal metabolites and by evaluation of the composition of breeding groups of gibbons with the ZOO influence. During a four year period (from 2010 till 2014), there were a total of 51 animals analysed from 16 different zoos with a faecal sample count totalling 1618 samples. The results confirmed the use of noninvasive methods for sex determination, and thus ensuring the maximum welfare standards. Endocrinological analysis confirmed the hypothesis of the influence of the environment (ZOO) to the hormone concentrations and female´s pregnancy effect in conjunction with her age on the final results of the male - father hormone concentrations. The initial information in this study is the confirmation of the onset of ovarian cycle in young females without connection to their fur colour change and a significant factor of a mother´s impact and her territoriality. This study is the first to present a long term monitoring of ovarian cycles in females and hormone concentrations of other individuals, both male and female, and from various age groups. The results allow us to understand the possible impact of zoo environments on the reproductive status of these gibbons and contribute to the general improvement of breeding management.
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Methodology of highly reliable systems design
Straka, Martin ; Gramatová, Elena (referee) ; Racek, Stanislav (referee) ; Kotásek, Zdeněk (advisor)
In the thesis, a methodology alternative to existing methods of digital systems design with increased dependability implemented into FPGA is presented, new features which can be used in the implementation and testing of these systems are demonstrated. The research is based on the use of FPGA partial dynamic reconfiguration for the design of fault tolerant systems. In these applications, the partial dynamic reconfiguration can be used as a mechanism to correct the fault and recover the system after the fault occurrence. First, the general principles of diagnostics, testing and digital systems dependability are presented including a brief description of FPGA components and their architectures. Next, a survey of currently used methods and techniques used for the design and implementation of fault tolerant systems into FPGA is described, especially the methods used for fault detection and localization, their correction, together with the principles of evaluating fault tolerant systems design quality. The most important part of the thesis is seen in the description of the design methodology, implementation and testing of fault tolerant systems implemented into FPGAs which uses SRAMs as the configuration memory. First, the methodology of developing and automated checker components design for digital systems and communication protocols is presented. Then, a reference architecture of a dependable system implemented into FPGA is demonstrated including several fault tolerant architectures based on the use of partial dynamic reconfiguration as the mechanism of fault correction and the recovery from it. The principles of controlling the reconfiguration process are described together with the description of the test platform which allows to test and verify the design of fault tolerant systems based on the methodology presented in the thesis. The experimental results and the contribution of the thesis are discussed in the conclusions.
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Methodology of highly reliable systems design
Straka, Martin ; Kotásek, Zdeněk (advisor)
In the thesis, a methodology alternative to existing methods of digital systems design with increased dependability implemented into FPGA is presented, new features which can be used in the implementation and testing of these systems are demonstrated. The research is based on the use of FPGA partial dynamic reconfiguration for the design of fault tolerant systems. In these applications, the partial dynamic reconfiguration can be used as a mechanism to correct the fault and recover the system after the fault occurrence. First, the general principles of diagnostics, testing and digital systems dependability are presented including a brief description of FPGA components and their architectures. Next, a survey of currently used methods and techniques used for the design and implementation of fault tolerant systems into FPGA is described, especially the methods used for fault detection and localization, their correction, together with the principles of evaluating fault tolerant systems design quality. The most important part of the thesis is seen in the description of the design methodology, implementation and testing of fault tolerant systems implemented into FPGAs which uses SRAMs as the configuration memory. First, the methodology of developing and automated checker components design for digital systems and communication protocols is presented. Then, a reference architecture of a dependable system implemented into FPGA is demonstrated including several fault tolerant architectures based on the use of partial dynamic reconfiguration as the mechanism of fault correction and the recovery from it. The principles of controlling the reconfiguration process are described together with the description of the test platform which allows to test and verify the design of fault tolerant systems based on the methodology presented in the thesis. The experimental results and the contribution of the thesis are discussed in the conclusions.
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The contributions of the sections (NACE-CZ) to the creation of gross value added
BEDNÁŘOVÁ, Monika
The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the contributions of the sections (NACE-CZ) to the creation of gross value added. The first part of this thesis described the theoretical concepts relating to national economic gross value added. Analytical processes were used for the calculations, which may be used only if we are dealing with an additive link between individual factors. The sections' contributions to the creation of national eco-nomic gross value added were evaluated in the practical part, on the basis of the proc-esses set forth in the methodology. In the given time horizon, contributions by institu-tional sectors and groups of sections classified according to the level of technology showed a certain dependency on the actual economic cycle. Although the strongest in-stitutional sector is non-financial enterprises, they were the ones most affected during the crisis period, together with government institutions. On the contrary, the financial institution sector showed a strong position during the crisis period. In terms of the grouping of the sections according to the level of technology, the greatest contribution to national economic gross value added is by groups B1 and B2. The influence of the economic cycle was noted in all the groups but, according to the results, group C did not react quite as sensitively as the other groups.
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Personal income taxation from employment, self-employment and rental income in 2014
HOUFOVÁ, Petra
The aim of my diploma thesis is to analyze the principles of personal income taxation including social contributions and health insurance. Overall personal income tax is composed of five different partial tax bases. The first partial tax base consists of income from employment, the second one is self employed income, the third is income from rental property, the fourth is income from capital and the last is "other income". This thesis will deal with the first four partial tax bases. In the theoretical section I have described the most important concepts of personal income tax structure, social contribution and health insurance. The practical part is divided into four chapters according to partial tax base. I have chosen six different amounts from 100 000 CZK to 5 000 000 CZK which were used for tax calculation. The main goal is to compare partial tax bases of personal income tax in 2014.
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Role and competences of the nurse in compared with Czech Republic and Namibia
KLYNCYPAROVÁ, Hana
Theoretical grounds The nursing profession among the professions and mission. Job nurse is one of very important professions. Nurse is an independent worker who has an irreplaceable role in the provision of care. In practice, certain roles, such as the role of a caregiver, the educationalist, communicator, the role of the lawyer, consultant, person, who brings the change, manager and researcher. These roles are constantly interacting and are interconnected. Health care has multidisciplinary and multiprofessional character. Although each of these professions contribute to care in a unique way, all share certain skills that are necessary to ensure the quality of care. Over the years there have been increasing professional skills and increase competencies. Expanded the range of services for which they previously did not have the competence or sisters had a written authorization of a doctor. This work is made up of theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical part provides an overview and information on the field of nursing and its history, dealing with the care system and education system in the Czech Republic and Namibia. The following list of findings roles and their importance in the nursing profession. The last part deals with the competencies of nurses in both countries. The aim of the thesis: The aim of the study was to determine the roles and responsibilities of nurses in the Czech Republic and Namibia. To to obtain this information were chosen research question what role nurses advocate in the Czech Republic and Namibia, and what are nurses in the Czech Republic and Namibia competence. Methods: To ensure the necessary data and information was chosen qualitative research through deep interviews. Nurses who were interviewed were from a hospital in the Czech Republic and nurses from hospitals in Namibia Keetmanshoop. All interviews were recorded on a Dictaphone andwritten down on the paper. Results: Recorded interviews were analyzed after writing down, we were using paper and pencil methods. Dialogs were openly coded. The analysis of these data arose following categories: the role of caregivers, the role of the teacher, communicator, the lawyer's role, the role of counselor, role of person who brings the change, the role of leader, manager's role, the role of researcher and categories of competence. Individual categories were assigned to subcategories. All informationwere are illustrated by clear diagrams of the individual categories. Conclusion: The Research shows that nurses have a general maintenance of the roles and competencies, actually both of sides, Namibia and Czech Republic also. both groups were mostly able to define roles in nursing care. Surprisingly czech nurses most failed in the role of the Advocate, while African colleague have proven to be very informed. Research also showed negative effect of paperwork and administration in czech system. Nurses having feeling they do not provide active care as they would be able to. Czech nurses seems also low initiative and ambitious, Czech nurses do not desire for increasing competence on the other hand African nurses, who have more competencies, want still more, than they already have.
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