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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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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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Confidence Cycles and Liquidity Hoarding
Audzei, Volha
Market confidence has proved to be an important factor during past crises. However, many existing general equilibrium models do not account for agents’ expectations, market volatility, or overly pessimistic investor forecasts. In this paper, we incorporate a model of the interbank market into a DSGE model, with the interbank market rate and the volume of lending depending on market confidence and the perception of counterparty risk. In our model, a credit crunch occurs if the perception of counterparty risk increases. Our results suggest that changes in market confidence can generate credit crunches and contribute to the depth of recessions. We then conduct an exercise to mimic some central bank policies: targeted and untargeted liquidity provision, and reduction of the policy rate. Our results indicate that policy actions have a limited effect on the supply of credit if they fail to influence agents’ expectations. Interestingly, a policy of a low policy rate worsens recessions due to its negative impact on banks’ revenues. Liquidity provision stimulates credit slightly, but its efficiency is undermined by liquidity hoarding.
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A pair of phase-synchronized semiconductor lasers for length metrology
Hucl, Václav ; Holá, Miroslava ; Čížek, Martin ; Řeřucha, Šimon ; Pham, Minh Tuan ; Pravdová, Lenka ; Lazar, Josef ; Číp, Ondřej
Semiconductor lasers are increasingly widespread in areas that have been so far dominated by He-Ne lasers. One of such areas is the length metrology, where He-Ne laser operating at 633nm wavelength is still a traditional source of coherent light for laser interferometers distance measuring. The advantages of semiconductor lasers compared with He-Ne laser are greater optical power and a significantly wider range of wavelength tuning without mode jumps. Another advantage is the possibility of frequency modulation of wavelength of the laser diode by directly changing the injection current. The benefits predetermine these laser diodes for the realization of dual-frequency laser sources for heterodyne interferometry. In this case, using a phase-locked loop technique the optical frequency of a laser diode is locked to the optical frequency of another laser diode with a certain frequency offset in the MHz order. In our contribution we present utilization of DBR laser diodes in implementing a dual-frequency laser source for laser interferometry with heterodyne detection.\n
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Optical frequency references
Hrabina, Jan
Optical frequency references based on absorption cells represent a traditional and essential tool for frequency locking of precise laser standards. One of the most often used absorption media is a molecular iodine 127I2, which offers a rich atlas of strong and narrow absorption lines across mostly whole visible part of optical spectrum. The main disadvatage of this media can be seen in its high corrosivity and sensitivity to presence of foreign substances. This contribution is oriented to comparison of possible measurement methods for bulk- and also optical fiber- based iodine absorption cells quality and chemical purity testing.\n\n
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Phase coherent transfer of stable optical frequency for sensory networks
Čížek, Martin ; Pravdová, Lenka ; Hucl, Václav ; Řeřucha, Šimon ; Hrabina, Jan ; Mikel, Břetislav ; Lazar, Josef ; Číp, Ondřej
Using long-haul optical fiber links for phase coherent transfers of stable optical frequencies has been developed by metrological laboratories for at least a decade. Present boom of optical fiber sensors puts a demand on transferring this technology from laboratories to industrial practice. A remote calibration of fiber Bragg grating tensometers can be an example. In our contribution we present a 306 km long fiber link between laboratories of ISI in Brno and CESNET in Prague. The line uses a telecom fiber with a dedicated DWDM window at 1540-1546 nm. The setup implements a phase coherent transfer of a laser standard working with 1540.5nm wavelength and a bi-directional transfer of 1PPS timestamps from radiofrequency standards at the both ends of the line. A long-term measurement of transport delay fluctuations and relative stability of the line are discussed.
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Forecasting realized volatility: Do jumps in prices matter?
Lipták, Štefan ; Baruník, Jozef (advisor) ; Šopov, Boril (referee)
This thesis uses Heterogeneous Autoregressive models of Realized Volatility on five-minute data of three of the most liquid financial assets - S&P 500 Futures index, Euro FX and Light Crude NYMEX. The main contribution lies in the length of the datasets which span the time period of 25 years (13 years in case of Euro FX). Our aim is to show that decomposing realized variance into continuous and jump components improves the predicatability of RV also on extremely long high frequency datasets. The main goal is to investigate the dynamics of the HAR model parameters in time. Also, we examine if volatilities of various assets behave differently. The results reveal that decomposing RV into its components indeed im- proves the modeling and forecasting of volatility on all datasets. However, we found that forecasts are best when based on short, 1-2 years, pre-forecast periods due to high dynamics of HAR model's parameters in time. This dynamics is revealed also by a year-by-year estimation on all datasets. Con- sequently, we consider HAR models to be inapproppriate for modeling RV on such long datasets as they are not able to capture the dynamics of RV. This was indicated on all three datasets, thus, we conclude that volatility behaves similarly for different types of assets with similar liquidity. 1
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Retargetable Analysis of Machine Code
Křoustek, Jakub ; Janoušek, Jan (referee) ; Návrat,, Pavol (referee) ; Kolář, Dušan (advisor)
Analýza softwaru je metodologie, jejímž účelem je analyzovat chování daného programu. Jednotlivé metody této analýzy je možné využít i v dalších oborech, jako je zpětné inženýrství, migrace kódu apod. V této práci se zaměříme na analýzu strojového kódu, na zjištění nedostatků existujících metod a na návrh metod nových, které umožní rychlou a přesnou rekonfigurovatelnou analýzu kódu (tj. budou nezávislé na konkrétní cílové platformě). Zkoumány budou dva typy analýz - dynamická (tj. analýza za běhu aplikace) a statická (tj. analýza aplikace bez jejího spuštění). Přínos této práce v rámci dynamické analýzy je realizován jako rekonfigurovatelný ladicí nástroj a dále jako dva typy tzv. rekonfigurovatelného translátovaného simulátoru. Přínos v rámci statické analýzy spočívá v navržení a implementování rekonfigurovatelného zpětného překladače, který slouží pro transformaci strojového kódu zpět do vysokoúrovňové reprezentace. Všechny tyto nástroje jsou založeny na nových metodách navržených autorem této práce. Na základě experimentálních výsledků a ohlasů od uživatelů je možné usuzovat, že tyto nástroje jsou plně srovnatelné s existujícími (komerčními) nástroji a nezřídka dosahují i lepších výsledků.
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Acceleration of Object Detection Using Classifiers
Juránek, Roman ; Kälviäinen, Heikki (referee) ; Sojka, Eduard (referee) ; Zemčík, Pavel (advisor)
Detekce objektů v počítačovém vidění je složítá úloha. Velmi populární a rozšířená metoda pro detekci je využití statistických klasifikátorů a skenovacích oken. Pro učení kalsifikátorů se často používá algoritmus AdaBoost (nebo jeho modifikace), protože dosahuje vysoké úspěšnosti detekce, nízkého počtu chybných detekcí a je vhodný pro detekci v reálném čase. Implementaci detekce objektů je možné provést různými způsoby a lze využít vlastnosti konkrétní architektury, pro urychlení detekce. Pro akceleraci je možné využít grafické procesory, vícejádrové architektury, SIMD instrukce, nebo programovatelný hardware. Tato práce představuje metodu optimalizace, která vylepšuje výkon detekce objektů s ohledem na cenovou funkci zadanou uživatelem. Metoda rozděluje předem natrénovaný klasifikátor do několika různých implementací, tak aby celková cena klasifikace byla minimalizována. Metoda je verifikována na základním experimentu, kdy je klasifikátor rozdělen do předzpracovací jednotku v FPGA a do jednotky ve standardním PC.
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