This thesis provides an overview of mercury distribution in the forest soils located in vicinity of historical and current mercury emission sources. The sites were chosen around Bohemian Karst due to presence of emission source, i.e. iron production processes, cement plants, lime processing plants. The chosen sites were near municipalities of Králův Dvůr, Radotín and Hrádek u Rokycan. From these sites the soils samples were collected from organic and mineral horizons. Average mercury concentration in organic horizons was 288 µg.kg-1, organo-mineral horizons A contained 241 µg.kg-1, anthropogenic horizons M 287 µg.kg-1 and horizons B 56 µg.kg-1 only. The relations among mercury and soil components were tested. Strong link between mercury, soil organic matter (SOM) and sulfur was found. The result indicated that the origin of mercury in soil samples was atmospheric deposition rather than bedrock. High concentrations of oxalate extractable aluminum, iron and manganese in mineral horizons have been explained as the cause of bedrock weathering. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Les réponses des organismes exposés à des perturbations environnementales sont couramment utilisées comme biomarqueurs pour l'évaluation de la qualité des milieux. Ces réponses sont modulées par de nombreux facteurs et apportent des informations différentes selon leur précocité, leur pertinence, leur spécificité ou leur complexité. Dans ce contexte, nous avons étudié une batterie de réponses comportementales de diverses espèces de crustacés d'eau douce d'intérêt écotoxicologique. Nous nous sommes intéressés aux effets d'un stress biotique (i.e. risque de prédation) et/ou d'un stress abiotique (i.e. contamination métallique) sur des comportements à haute pertinence écologique, avec la prise en compte de certains facteurs confondants (i.e. le sexe et la taille des individus). En laboratoire, nous avons étudié les effets : (i) d'une contamination des sédiments sur l'évitement au substrat du décapode A. Astacus, de l'isopode A. Aquaticus et des amphipodes G. Pulex, G.roeseli et D. Villosus, (ii) d'un risque de prédation sur les stratégies d'anti-prédation de G. Pulex, G. Roeseli et D. Villosus, (iii) d'un risque de prédation et d'une contamination de l'eau au cadmium sur les stratégies d'anti-prédation, les dommages cellulaires et les réserves énergétiques de g. Roeseli et d. Villosus, et (iv) d'une contamination de l'eau au cadmium sur l'appariement sexuel de d. Villosus. Nous avons mis en évidence des variabilités inter-espèces fortes, peu de différences inter-sexes et un impact significatif du cadmium sur les réponses testées. Cette étude montre la précocité et la cohérence des comportements et souligne leur importance / Organisms responses to various environmental disturbances are commonly used as biomarkers in the assessment of environmental quality. However, these responses are modulated by many factors and provide different information depending on their precocity, their relevance, specificity and complexity. In this context, we chose to study a set of behavioural responses in various species of freshwater crustaceans of ecotoxicological interest. To achieve this goal, we investigated the effects of biotic (i.e. predation risk) and/or abiotic stress (i.e. metal contamination) on behaviours of high ecological relevance, including some confounding factors (i.e. gender and individual length). In laboratory experiments, we studied the effects of: (i) a sediment contamination on the substrate avoidance in the decapod Astacus Astacus, the isopod Asellus Aquaticus and the amphipods gammarus pulex, gammarus roeseli and dikerogammarus villosus, (ii) a high predation risk on antipredator strategies in G. Pulex, G. Roeseli and D. Villosus, (iii) a high predation risk and a contamination of water by cadmium on antipredator strategies, cell damages and energy reserves in G. Roeseli and D. Villosus, and (iv) a contamination of water by cadmium on the precopulatory behaviour in D. Villosus. We have highlighted a strong interspecies variability and small differences depending on gender. The impact of cadmium was significant on the tested responses. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of behaviours, which can be considered as early warning signals and as relevant tools with high ecological relevance, in the assessment of stress effects and environmental quality

Title: Optimization and stress tests Author: Diana Fašungová Department: Department of Probability and Mathematical Statistics Supervisor: Prof. RNDr. Jitka Dupačová, DrSc., Department of Probability and Mathematical Statistics Abstract: In the thesis we apply contamination technique on a portfolio optimiza- tion problem using minimization of risk measure CVaR. The problem is considered from a risk manager point of view. We stress correlation structure of data and of revenues using appropriately chosen data for this kind of problem and for ge- nerated stress scenarios. From behaviour of CVaR with regard to contamination bounds, we formulate recommendations for the risk manager optimizing his port- folio. The recommendations are interpreted for both types of stress scenarios. In the end, limitations of the model and possible ways of improvement are discussed. Keywords: contamination bounds, stress tests, portfolio optimization, risk mana- gement

In this thesis, a portfolio optimization with integer variables which influ- ence optimal assets allocation, is studied. Measures of risk are defined and the cor- responding mean-risk models are derived. Two methods are used to develop robust models involving uncertainty in probability distribution: the worst-case analyses and contamination. The uncertainty in values of scenarios and in their probabili- ties of the discrete probability distribution is assumed separately followed by their combination. These models are applied to stock market data with using optimization software GAMS.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / DeAnn Presley / Steve Thien / Interest and participation in urban agriculture is growing in many cities throughout the United States. Urban gardeners and farmers produce food on various types of urban lands. Common soil contaminants of urban areas limit the amount of land on which food may safely be grown. The objective of this study was to assess and meet the informational and technical assistance needs of urban gardeners and farmers as well as students enrolled in the introductory soils science course at Kansas State University on the topics of urban soil quality and contamination. A needs assessment survey of urban gardeners and farmers was conducted in four communities; Tacoma and Seattle, Washington, Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri, Manhattan, Kansas, and Gary, Indiana. The survey generated information about what urban gardeners and farmers know, think they know, and want to know about urban soil quality and contamination. Eighty-eight percent of respondents indicated that they do not have knowledge of the best management practices to minimize health risks involved when growing food crops on soils contaminated with lead, cadmium, arsenic or organic contaminants. Our results suggest that urban gardeners and farmers require and want information and guidance on soil testing for common contaminants, interpretation of testing results, and best management practices for growing food on mildly contaminated soils. The students enrolled in the introductory soil science course at Kansas State University are future agricultural and environmental professionals who need skills to address urban soils issues. Most of the students in the Agronomy 305: Soils course are not Agronomy majors. Furthermore, an increasing number of Agronomy 305 students come from urban and suburban communities and/or have interest in working in urban environments upon completion of their undergraduate degree. An urban soils laboratory was developed in response to the future workforce demands as well as the demographics of students enrolled in the Agronomy 305 course. Throughout the semester students evaluated the physical, chemical, and biological properties of a soil from this urban community garden. Reaction of students to the new urban soils lab offering has been positive with 72% of students enrolled in the course reporting that they have interest and need in learning about the urban soil issues covered in the lab course. Overall, student responses about their learning experience in the urban soils laboratory course were positive, indicating that incorporating urban soil principles enhanced their soil science education. Students who participated in the urban soils lab are better prepared, as future agricultural and environmental professionals, to address the educational and technical assistance needs of urban growers.

In this study of preschool children and parents (N=64), we examined relations between two facets of parents' emotion socialization: direct and indirect socialization; three facets of children's emotional competence: emotion expression, regulation, and understanding; and their relations with children's social and emotional adjustment. Few associations were observed between indicators of parents' emotion socialization and among indicators of children's emotional competence, suggesting that these constructs are better understood as multi-faceted, rather than unitary processes. Additionally, aspects of children's emotional competence linked--both directly and indirectly--parents' emotion socialization behaviors and children's social and emotional adjustment. Results are discussed with regard to the role of parents' emotion socialization and children's emotional competence, especially emotion regulation, in children's adjustment during preschool.

RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) has become one of the most widely used techniques to interrogate the transcriptome of an organism since the advent of next generation sequencing technologies [1]. A plethora of tools have been developed to analyze and visualize the transcriptome data from RNA-Seq experiments, solving the problem of mapping reads back to the host organism's genome [2] [3]. This allows for analysis of most reads produced by the experiments, but these tools typically discard reads that do not match well with the reference genome. This additional information could reveal important insight into the experiment and possible contributing factors to the condition under consideration. We introduce PARSES, a pipeline constructed from existing sequence analysis tools, which allows the user to interrogate RNA-Sequencing experiments for possible biological contamination or the presence of exogenous sequences that may shed light on other factors influencing an organism's condition.

Bayou St. John, an urban water body extending south from Lake Pontchartrain, has two anthropogenic structures that regulate flow from the Lake . The City of New Orleans has plans to remove the inner control structure to improve water quality. Field and numerical methods used in this study show removing this structure increased water elevations throughout the Bayou but resulted in lower water elevation signal amplitudes that caused a lower tidal flow exchange from north to south. Bulk Richardson numbers showed mixing was inversely related to flow and the Bayou generally remains stratified. Resuspension of contaminated sediment could negatively impact the local ecology but predicted shear stress values did not reach a critical value (0.1 N/m2) for resuspension. Removal of the waterfall structure will benefit Bayou St. John by decreasing energy losses from the Lake, however a more pronounced tidal signal from Lake Pontchartrain is required to flush the Bayou.

La géophysique procure une vision d'ensemble du sous-sol sous forme de cartes et de coupes et apporte des informations précieuses sur la géologie et l'organisation du sous-sol. Bureau d'étude spécialise dans les diagnostics de sols et la recherche d'objets enterrés, Geoscope, partenaire de la thèse CIFRE, désire développer sa thématique géophysique appliquée aux sites et sols pollués. L'objectif est de localiser, de limiter et caractériser les zones polluées aux hydrocarbures. L’étude porte sur l’impact des pollutions hydrocarbonées sur la réponse géoélectrique, et plus spécifiquement sur la réponse en polarisation provoquée spectrale. Les mécanismes de polarisation, qui peuvent être modifiés par la présence d’hydrocarbures, interviennent sur des gammes de fréquences caractéristiques. La polarisation provoquée spectrale, qui mesure la réponse d’un milieu dans le domaine fréquentiel, apporte des informations plus précises que les autres méthodes géoélectriques qui fonctionnent dans le domaine temporel. Les effets de la présence d’hydrocarbures sont étudiés à différentes échelles : (i) à l’échelle du laboratoire, sur des milieux synthétiques afin d’appréhender les mécanismes de réponse (ii) à l’échelle de deux sites pollués afin de confronter les modèles développés en, laboratoire aux données réelles, d’apprécier les limites des méthodes et d’adapter les protocoles utilisés. / Geophysics provides an overview of the basement in the form of maps and sections and gives valuable informations on the geology and the basement organization. Geoscope, partner of the project, is an engineering office specialized in soil diagnosis and buried objects searching and wants to develop environmental geophysics. The aim is to locate, limit and characterize hydrocarbon contaminated areas.The study focuses on the hydrocarbon contamination impact on the geoelectrical response, and more precisely on the spectral induced polarization response. Polarization mechanisms, which can be modified by hydrocarbons presence, occur on typical frequency ranges. Spectral induced polarization, which measures the response of a medium in the frequency domain, gives more precises informations than others methods which work in temporal domain.The effects of hydrocarbon presence are studied at different scales: (i) at the laboratory scale on synthetic media to understand response mechanisms (ii) across two contaminated sites to compare models developed in laboratory to real data, to evaluate the limits of the methods and to adapt protocols.

Objective was to assess the toxicity of chromium (Cr) contaminated soil (CS) using the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. Specific aims were to determine: (1) survival (LC50); .(2) immunotoxicity as indicated by lysozyme activity, coelomocyte counts, secretory (SR) and erythrocyte rosette (ER) formation, and phagocytosis; and (3) compare effects of CS exposure with those of Cr spiked artificial soil (AS) . CS Cr concentration was 8.78 mg/g with 98.2% being Cr^3+ and 1.8% being Cr^6+. Using 14 d AS protocol the LC50 was 6.49% CS: AS mixture. CS concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0% were sublethal, whereas 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100% CS were lethal. Sublethal exposure caused no immuno- modulation. Exposure to 50% CS: AS mixture for 5 d caused reduced SR and ER formation. Exposure to AS spiked with 0.27% Cr for 5 d resulted in immunomodulation equivalent to 50% CS: AS mixtures. Results indicated the CS to be acutely toxic.