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Surface ozone influence on native vegetation: results based on ozone visible symptoms and stomatal flux
Matoušková, Leona ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Albrechtová, Jana (referee) ; Hovorka, Jan (referee)
Regarding the vegetation, the most affected areas by high levels of surface ozone (O3) are the mountain ridges. Our study has been carried out in the Jizerske hory Mts. High O3 levels together with the convenient environmental conditions for stomatal conductance could be a threat for the health of recovering ecosystems in this area. The aims of this study was both to assess the influence of O3 on vegetation in the Czech mountains and to provide recommendations and outlooks for possible future using of relatively new methods (visible symptoms and stomatal O3 flux modelling) used for O3 impact assessment on native vegetation in the field; that means physiologically relevant methods for the determination of O3 influence. During 2006 and 2007, O3-like visible symptoms were assessed on the leaves of seven species at four sites. Symptoms on only two species (Fagus sylvatica L. and Rubus idaeus L.) have been determined as O3-induced. To our knowledge, it is the first study in the Czech Republic in which the O3-like symptoms on native plants have been verified by the Ozone Validation Centre for Central Europe. Our results based on O3-induced symptoms indicate that ambient O3 is likely to have a much lower impact than expected, considering the measured O3 concentrations (measured with passive samplers) and...
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Climate Skepticism in the Czech Republic: Countermovement and Its Strategies
Vidomus, Petr ; Loužek, Marek (advisor) ; Strmiska, Maxmilián (referee) ; Vráblíková, Kateřina (referee)
The climate change skepticism has been becoming a more and more distinct and apparently increasing social phenomenon. To date, western scholars have described the different forms it can take and the factors supporting its increase. In the recent years, we've been observing some signs of a similar trend in the Czech Republic because the number of people who find the anthropogenic climate changes significant has been decreasing and the proportion of the "skeptic population" has been growing. Although in the first part of this paper I present an overview of data concerning the "public climate change skepticism" (available poll data), its primary focus is on the research of activities carried out by individuals and groups that relativize the importance of climate changes constantly, publically and in a more or less organized manner. In such case we can talk about a certain form of a countermovement against the environmentalism and the mainstream climatology. This paper draws mainly from a qualitative study conducted between 2011 and 2014 by means of semi-structured interviews with active Czech climate change skeptics. The goal of the study was to describe the strategies of climate change skeptics actions in the changing political and discursive environment, the forms of their organization and the...
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Imprints of history in post-agricultural forests
Vojta, Jaroslav ; Suchara, Ivan (advisor) ; Honnay, Olivier (referee) ; Tichý, Lubomír (referee)
IMPRINTS OF HISTORY IN POST-AGRICULTURAL FORESTS Ph.D. Thesis Jaroslav Vojta Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science Praha, 2010 Promotor: Ivan Suchara List of original papers I. Relative importance of historical and natural factors influencing vegetation of secondary forests in abandoned villages (Jaroslav Vojta - Preslia 79: 223-244) II. Land use legacies in post-agricultural forests in the Doupovské Mountains, Czech Republic (Martin Kopecký & Jaroslav Vojta - Applied Vegetation Science 12: 251-260) III. Woody vegetation continuity, topography, and distance to ancient forests have complex effects on the vegetation and species richness of abandoned pastures (Lucie Drhovská & Jaroslav Vojta - submitted) 1 Introduction Land use changes have had a profound effect on vegetation cover. Often, succession results in the recovery of forests on former agricultural land. As areas of post-agricultural forests become increasingly prominent in landscapes of developed countries, these processes have attracted the attention of ecologists. Many questions have arisen regarding the possibility of restoring original forest communities on former agricultural lands (Flinn and Vellend, 2005; Hermy and Verheyen, 2007). At the same time, current and past land use changes could be seen as "natural experiments" that could...
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New findings in Taxonomy and Chemistry of the Genus Lepraria Stereocaulaceae, Lichen-forming fungi)
Slavíková, Štěpánka ; Liška, Jiří (advisor) ; Bérešová, Anna (referee) ; Sipman, Harrie J.M (referee)
I 3. SulruRny oF THEMArNREsuLTsoF THETHEsts The submittedthesis includes seven papers discussing new findings in morphology, chemistry,eco|ogyanddistributionofthegenusLepnia andsomeother|ichens.HereinaÍter themainÍesu|tscomingoutofthesepapersaÍelisted. í. During own chemotaxonomicresearch oÍ the genus Leprarla, severaI species newforthesciencehavebeendescribed_ LeprariacelaÍaS|aviková,L. granulataS|aviková. L.humida S|avíková& orange, and L. ťoensberyianaBayerová& Kukwa (Bayerováet a|. 2005,Slaviková-Bayerová& Fehrer2007,S|avíková-Bayerová& orange2006).Furthermore, othertaxaprovisionallynamedLepnria sp. BG, L. sp. G, and L. sp. H havebeen introduced, whose taxonomicstatusis not yet entirelyclear.In addition,therehas been founda taxon Leprariasp.,whichis chemica||ysimilarto the speciesL. atlanticaorange,difíeringhowever in morphology(S|avíková-Bayerová2006).The taxon is either a yet undescribedspecies or an extremeform of L. atlantica.The examinalionof more materialto clarifythe identity of thesetaxawillbe required. 2. ln the species L. atlantica,L. celata,L. jackii, L. granulata,L. humida,L. sylvicolaOrange, andL. ťoensbe4giana,the presence of hyphae gÍowingoften into cracks and cavities oÍthesubstratumWith the tendencyto penetrateit was found out (s|avíková.Bayerová & FehÍeÍ2007, S|aviková.Bayerová& orange...
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Hyaluronan in chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells
Dvořáková, Jana ; Kobylka, Petr (advisor) ; Handl, Milan (referee) ; Petr, Jaroslav (referee)
6 SUMMARY OF THE THESIS The main aim of the project was to develop a methodological approach of in-vitro chondrogenic graft preparation. This graft should utilise mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) seeded in a hyaluronan based scaffold. A review of known hyaluronan derivatives with a potential for biological applications was prepared in the first phase of the project. (Sedova, Knotkova et al. 2007) As a result of the review, a hydrogel based on tyramine derivative of hyaluronan cross-linked by peroxidase (HA-TA scaffold) was chosen for the following research. A sufficiently rich, reliable and ethically acceptable source of MSCs was required. Washed bone marrow collection sets remaining after bone marrow collection for transplantation purposes was demonstrated to meet these needs. (Dvorakova, Hruba et al. 2008) MSCs reveal specific features, namely low seeding density and morphological changes during culture, which may affect the outcome of cell viability measurements in experiments. In order to solve this complication, three different methods of cell viability determination were compared, and the luminiscent detection of intracellular ATP was recommended for MSC applications. (Vistejnova, Dvorakova et al. 2009) Hyaluronan influence on chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs was evaluated in a pellet micromass system...
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Systematics and palaeoecology of the Late Cretaceous plants in the Klikov Formation, southern Bohemia
Heřmanová, Zuzana ; Kvaček, Jiří (advisor) ; Teodoridis, Vasilis (referee) ; Halamski, Adam (referee)
9 | Abstract The present thesis focuses on plant fossils from the Klikov Formation (late Turonian - Santonian).This formation forms the basal part and the most widespread unit of the South Bohemian Basins, containing numerous leaf impressions, fossil plant reproductive struc- tures and diverse pollen spectra. In 2007, extremely well preserved assemblages of fruits, seeds and flowers were found in the Zliv - Řídká Blana locality, preliminarily reported in this work. Plants of the Normapolles complex predominate in the pollen assemblages, as well as in the fossil reproductive structures.This work suggests that Budvaricarpus and Caryanthus, members of the Normapolles complex, are closely related to extant Rhoipte- lea, which is a sister group of the recent Juglandaceae. Fossil insect eggs also occur in the Klikov Formation. Due to their similar shape and size, they are easily confused with small fruits and seeds. Two species of fossil insect eggs, Palaeoaldrovanda splendens and Knoblochia cretacea, were originally misinterpreted as angiosperms seeds.They are revised here - both species are interpreted in this work as fossil insect eggs. Based on characters like perforated walls, and basal and apical projections, they appear most similar to eggs of recent Lepidoptera and Phasmatodea. Palaeoecological evaluation...
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Commented Translation: Home Studio Acoustics (Sound on Sound 12/2007)
Sedláček, Jakub ; Mraček, David (advisor) ; Špirk, Jaroslav (referee)
The goal of this thesis is to translate the article Room For Improvement: A Guide To DIY Studio Acoustics published in the Sound On Sound magazine in December 2007 from English into Czech and then, in the commentary section, to work out its translation analysis, describe the main issues encountered during translation, defend the method of translation we opted for and solutions to individual problems. A reformatted copy of the source text is attached. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Less common metabolites of steroid hormones in human physiology and pathophysiology.
Máčová, Ludmila ; Hampl, Richard (advisor) ; Rauch, Pavel (referee) ; Černý, Ivan (referee)
The thesis focuses on selected, yet unsolved question of the role of less common steroids and SHBG as a junction of three endocrine systems. Answering these questions may help to understand the complex mechanism of action of these hormones on the human organism. This thesis is based on five author and co-written studies mostly published in foreign scientific journals. In the case of studies of metabolites 16α-OH-DHEA and 7-oxo-DHEA (Zamrazilová et al., 2007; Kazihnitková et al., 2007) were focused on the development of appropriate methodological approach because recently used methods showed a low sensitivity and specificity. We developed and statistically evaluated new RIA methods which are rapid, sensitive and inexpensive. Both of them can be used in other research even in routine practice. New methods were also used to determine the metabolites in a statistically significant sample of healthy human population. In another study (Zamrazilová et al., 2010) we examined the relationships of selected steroid metabolites and SHBG in patients with CAH. We assumed that SHBG may act as a non-steroidal laboratory parameter reflecting the effectiveness of substitution therapy in these patients. Our assumption was not confirmed. We observed lower levels of SHBG which at least in women reflect effects of...
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The Gabriel-Roiter measure in representation theory
Krasula, Dominik ; Šťovíček, Jan (advisor)
The Gabriel-Roiter measure is a module-theoretic invariant, defined in 1972 by P. Gabriel. It is an order-preserving function that refines a composition length of a module by also taking lengths of indecomposable submodules into account. We calculate all Gabriel-Roiter measures for finite-length representa- tions of an orientation of a Dynkin graph D4 and an orientation of a Euclidean graph ˜A3. In 2007, H. Krause proposed a combinatorial definition of the Gabriel-Roiter measure based on other length functions instead of composition length. We study these alternative Gabriel-Roiter measures on thin representations of quiv- ers whose underlying graph is a tree. 1
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The Determinants of Non-Performing Loans in Banking Sectors in Central and East European Countries
Ning, Zixi ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Chondrogiannis, Ilias (referee) ; Szobi, Pavel (referee)
Tento článek zkoumá determinanty nesplácených úvěrů (NPL) napříč 52 komerčními bankami v 11 zemích střední a východní Evropy (CEE), včetně Bulharska, Chorvatska, České republiky, Estonska, Maďarska, Lotyšska, Litvy, Polska, Rumunska, Slovenska, a Slovinsko, v období od roku 2007 do roku 2022. Studie využívá statické i dynamické panelové analýzy dat, využívající fixní efekty, náhodné efekty, jednokrokový systém zobecněné metody momentů (GMM) a dvoukrokové systémové modely GMM k vyhodnocení vliv makroekonomických faktorů a faktorů specifických pro banky na úvěry v selhání. Zjištění ukazují, že růst HDP, míra nezaměstnanosti, indexy cen akcií, návratnost aktiv a rezervy na ztráty z úvěrů významně ovlivňují ukazatele nesplácených úvěrů. Studie zdůvodňuje existující literaturu a zároveň přináší nové poznatky o řízení rizik spojených s nesplácenými úvěry. Poskytuje na důkazech podložená doporučení pro tvůrce politik a komerční banky, zaměřená na zmírnění potenciálních rizik a posílení finanční stability. Výzkum unikátním způsobem kombinuje různé ekonometrické modely a nabízí komplexní vyhodnocení jak makroekonomických dopadů, tak specifických bankovních determinant na ukazatele NPL. Tento široký přístup nejen potvrzuje významný vliv identifikovaných proměnných, ale také zdůrazňuje složité interakce mezi...
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