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Nature and Man in the novel "Devil´s Pool" by George Sand.
TROJANOVÁ, Lucie
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relation between a villager and nature in the novel The Devil´s Pool by George Sand as well as to explain their mutual attitudes. It determined the role of the nature in The Devil´s pool in the life of the villager. After that , thanks to some specific situations experienced by leading characters, we were shown to what extent nature influences a man and how the man itself respond to this influence. In the first part of my thesis I extensively described George Sand´s biography to emphasize her intellectual interest in various spheres of an artistic and scientific life. In the next chapter I discussed Sand´s relationship to the nature in Nohant to explain author´s creative background and inspiration. The core of the thesis consists of literary analysis of the novel in terms of composition, theme and language. By means of the analysis I tried to determine the above mentioned aim.
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"Very much a woman of reason and propriety": Ann Radcliffe's female gothic romances and their eighteenth-century contexts
Klosová, Kateřina ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
In 1977 Ellen Moers in her Literary Women coined "Female Gothic" as a new term in literary criticism. In this she seemed to be laying the foundation for a new conception and specific way of thinking about women writers as related to the Gothic genre. Moers in her critical book on women's writing claims that the Female Gothic is "easily defined: the work that women writers have done in the literary mode that, since the eighteenth century, we have called the Gothic"1. Nevertheless, along with other terms, Female Gothic was quickly adopted by the feminist critics and especially during the eighties of the twentieth century its interpretation underwent distinct changes. As Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik observe, since the late seventies "it has been increasingly acknowledged that women writers have made use of the non-realist Gothic mode in order to explore the problematic nature of female subjectivity in Western patriarchal culture"2. Thus, what was originally conceived of as a specific coinage for the Gothic novels distinct by their female authorship, became a term encompassing the specificities of both woman style of writing and of the woman character as a means for the exploration of female experience. The application of the term became more focused and consequently rather limited in the late 1980s. This was...
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Microbiota of the digestive tract of bees and related insect and the influencing facftors
Hroncová, Zuzana ; Havlík, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Kalous, Lukáš (referee)
This thesis consists of six research chapters, out of which, five have already been published in research journals, 1 is in the process of submission and the last chapter presents original unpublished confidential data in the process of manuscript preparation.
The research presented in this thesis concerns the complex mechanisms of bees and wasps immune system focused on microbiota as component of immunity. As shown in the introduction, highly social and managed species of bees like honey bees and bumble bees, play key roles in natural and agricultural ecosystems worldwide. Recent losses of bees have been attributed to pesticide exposure, poor nutrition, increased parasite loads and habitat degradation. Over the past several years, governments, beekeepers, and the general public worldwide have become concerned by increased losses of honey bee colonies, calling for more research on how to keep colonies healthy. Our main aim was to explore the complex mechanisms of bees and related species gut bacterial populations, their links to insect immunity and investigate the opportunities for an intervention. Part of our aim was to characterise the bumble bee and wasp gut microbiota using 16S RNA sequencing in a search for potentially novel bacterial species.
We have tried to explain how microbiome interacts with the host and showed that major members of these communities appear to benefit the host. The simple gut communities of social bees present ideal model systems to investigate the underlying evolutionary and genetic processes of such interactions. Information based on our results may help in the design of proper probiotic supplementation strategies with respect to physiological conditions in the honey bee gut.
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Run on Money Market Mutual Funds in 2008.Old Fashioned Panic or Rational Response?
Kovář, Kamil ; Chytil, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Mirvald, Michal (referee)
Money market mutual funds (MMMFs) constitute one of the largest parts of modern financial system. Their nature is such that for a long time they were seen as perfectly safe investment, on par with insured banks. However, dramatic events of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 result in what was called run on MMMFs. This run on MMMFs which occurred in September 2008 was one of the most important parts of financial crisis of 2007-2008. This paper attempts to understand why large scale withdrawals from MMMFs occurred and if these withdrawals followed some clear pattern. In order to do this I construct several models which test whether runs on MMMFs were discriminate or indiscriminate in relation to their portfolio holdings. These models are tested on novel dataset. Results of these tests proved to be conclusive only partly, as time variables indicate that in at least one week of September 2008 the runs were indiscriminate, but concerns about the correctness of the specification remains.
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Applications of experimental mineralogy to Te containing systems: Crystal structures, phase relations
Laufek, František ; Rieder, Milan (advisor) ; Palatinus, Lukáš (referee) ; Johan, Zdeněk (referee)
This dissertation contributes to the crystal chemistry of Te. The primary goals of the thesis are synthesis and crystal structure analysis of new Te-bearing ternary phases. The first part of the thesis shows significance of experimental mineralogy in research of Te containing systems. It briefly describes a novel approach to the study of new mineral species - the possibility of using synthetic analogues for their detailed mineralogical characterization. The results of the experimental mineralogical study in the Ni-Sb-Te ternary system at 400řC are reported in the second part. According to the performed experiments, two solid solutions λ1- Ni(Sb1-xTex)1+y (0<x<1, where 109.09.0 ≤≤⇒≥≈∀ yx ) and λ2 - NiSb1-xTe2x (0.28<x<0.66) dominate the system at 400řC. A characteristic feature of most phases present in the Ni-Sb-Te system at 400řC is apparent tendency to the Sb - Te substitution. The third part deals with the characterisation of the new mineral pašavaite Pd3Pb2Te2, which was found at the Noril'sk-Talnakh Ni-Cu camp, Russia. The synthetic Pd3Pb2Te2 phase was used for thorough mineralogical characterization of this new mineral species. Pašavaite displays orthorhombic symmetry, space group Pmmn. The structural identity between natural grains and synthetic Pd3Pb2Te was supported by the EBSD study. The...
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Novel hydrogels based on polysaccharides for soft tissue regeneration: preparation and characterization
Nedomová, Eva ; Abdellatif, Abdelmohsan (referee) ; Vojtová, Lucy (advisor)
Předložená diplomová práce se zabývá přípravou, síťováním a fyzikálně-chemickou charakterizací hydrogelů na bázi polysacharidů. Cílem práce bylo vyvinout elastické filmy, které by mohly být použity pro vlhké hojení ran. Teoretická část shrnuje současné způsoby regenerace měkkých tkání a jejích náhradách (ať už se jedná o přírodní nebo syntetické materiály). Zároveň jsou zdůrazněny základní informace o přírodních polysacharidech (chemická struktura, rozpustnost, tepelná a pH stabilita atd.), jejich modifikace a chemické síťování. Experimentální část je zaměřena na modifikaci přírodní gumy Karaya tak, aby transparentní hydrogely měly nastavitelnou hydrolytickou stabilitu. Vzorky byly analyzovány pomocí FTIR, TGA následované vyhodnocením bobtnání a hydrolytické degradace. Z výsledků vyplynulo, že chemická modifikace zvýšila stabilizaci elastického filmu z přírodního polysacharidu ve vodě až na 25 dní. Díky řízené degradaci a vysoké absorpci vody (85 - 96%) jsou tyto nové hydrogely využitelné především pro vlhké hojení ran (např. popálenin).
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Intracellular trafficking of an anti - Amyloid Protein Precursor antibody.
Zitko, Jan ; Doležal, Martin (advisor) ; Trejtnar, František (referee)
Intracellular trafficking of an anti-Amyloid Protein Precursor antibody Alzheimer's disease is characterized by over-accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide (Aβ) in the brain. Aβ is produced by proteolytic cleavage of beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β- and γ-secretases. Novel monoclonal antibody, 2B12, has been shown to bind to β-secretase cleavage site of APP, reducing the production of APP, presumably by preventing the cleavage by steric hindrance. 2B12 is hypothesized to bind to APP molecules exposed on the cell surface and to be internalized in the form of complex with APP via natural endocytic pathway. This hypothesis was confirmed by San Pei Ho's (2007), who followed the internalization of 2B12 in living astrocytoma MOG-G-UVW, cells in time-course experiment. This project is focused on intracellular trafficking of 2B12 and its localization within specific cellular compartments. Experiments were performed with fixed astrocytoma MOG- G-UVW cells (constitutively expressing APP). Originally planned experiments with live cells could not be performed due to decreased stability of 2B12 (causes remain unknown). 2B12 was tested for colocalization with polyclonal affinity purified antibodies labelling subcellular markers (proteins) associated with compartments known to participate in APP...
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Investigation of sugar modified pyrimidine nucleosides as potential inhibitors of Thymidine (TP) and Uridine (UP) phosphorylasis
Růžičková, Markéta ; Wsól, Vladimír (advisor) ; Boušová, Iva (referee)
1 Abstract of the thesis RŮŽIČKOVÁ M.; INVESTIGATION OF SUGAR MODIFIED PYRIMIDINE NUCLEOSIDES AS POTENTIAL INHIBITORS OF THYMIDINE (TP) AND URIDINE (UP) PHOSPHORYLASE Key words: uridine phosphorylase, thymidine phosphorylase, nucleoside, inhibitor, anticancer chemotherapy, substrate specifity The work deals with the investigation of novel potential inhibitors of recombinant thymidine and uridine phosphorylases from E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The main goals of this study are the determination of kinetic parameters for natural substrates (thymidine and uridine) for recombinant TP and UP, assessment of the role of phosphate anion in the enzymatic transformations and search for new inhibitors of TP and UP. Study of UP and TP substrate specifity and activity under the various reaction conditions is desired to obtain better view to their functions and to design novel structures of potencial inhibitors. The determination of the Michaelis constant KM and reaction rate Vmax was performed at the spectrophotometer Varian Cary-300 Bio. The representation of obtained kinetic data we used the Lineweawer-Burk plot. The next point of my work was the determination of the enzymatic activity and their substrate specifity for some pyrimidine analogues by HPLC analysis of reaction mixtures. Tested compounds...
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Ecological and evolution strategies of necrophagous beetles (Coleoptera)
Jakubec, Pavel ; Růžička, Jan (advisor) ; Petr, Petr (referee)
Necrophagous beetles (Coleoptera) are very interesting and diverse ecological group of species with an immense impact on a natural nutrient cycle. Their main food source and breeding ground are carrions of vertebrates, human remains included. This relationship is often used in various ways by forensic entomology, but its potential was not jet fully reached, because our knowledge of biology and ecology of these beetles is very much incomplete. In this thesis I would like to explore geographic distribution, ecological requirements and developmental biology of several Central European necrophagous beetles as an outcome of their ecological and evolution strategies. For that I raised three broad research questions. Which factors are determining the local abundance of carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)? How the current geographical distribution of open-landscape carrion beetles looks like in the Czech Republic? How the temperature affects the development of Sciodrepoides watsoni (Spence, 1813)? We found out that soil type can have significant effect on abundance of carrion beetles. They showed preference for chernozem -- Nicrophorus antennatus (Reitter), N. germanicus (Linnaeus), N. interruptus (Stephens), N. sepultor (Charpentier), Silpha obscura obscura (Herbst), T. sinuatus (Fabricius) or for fluvisol as did N. humator (Gleditsch). These findings support our hypothesis that soil type could be an important factor determining the occurrence of necrophagous European carrion beetles. To collect novel data of the current geographical distribution of carrion beetles we used 420 baited pitfall traps at 84 localities, and we collected 71 234 specimens of 15 silphid species. Among them, three endangered carrion beetle species listed on the Czech Red List of Invertebrates, were found. Two are vulnerable thermophilic species of open landscapes, Nicrophorus antennatus (Reitter, 1884) (collected around Louny and Židlochovice) and Nicrophorus germanicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Louny, Zábřeh and Židlochovice). The third is the near threatened species, Nicrophorus sepultor Charpentier, 1825 (collected around Louny, Kutná Hora, Zábřeh and Židlochovice), which also prefers open landscapes. We studied development of common Holarctic beetle Sciodrepoides watsoni under five constant temperature regimes in laboratory (15, 18, 21, 25 and 28°C). Parameters of thermal summation models and their standard errors were calculated for each developmental stage (egg, three larval instars and pupae). We also find a new character for larval instar determination (head width) and proposed novel approach for future studies of size-based characters in instar determination.
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