Polysaccharides are now popularly used in paper technology since they are able to improve mechanical properties of the paper. Xylan and pectin are two natural polymers that have a wide range of applications nowadays. These two polysaccharides can be used in their native forms as well as derivatives. In this study, xylan and pectin were modified to obtain cationic derivatives before adding into the paper for enhancement. The work was motivated by the fact that xylan and pectin share the same negative surface properties as cellulose. This leads to a slight repulsion effect between them once they are close. Their cationic derivatives, therefore, are believed to strengthen the paper due to electrostatic interactions between two oppositely charged objects beside hydrogen bonds. To fulfil the purposes, oat spelt xylan and apple pectin were chemically modified using different modification methods, including oxidation, amidation, and a combination of these two methods. A quantitative method to determine the adsorbed amount and relative retention capacity of xylan onto paper using high performance liquid chromatography was also developed. The results show that oat spelt and apple pectin, as well as their modified derivatives, can improve the paper mechanical properties. The oat spelt xylan significantly enhances the tensile strength, however, this contribution has a saturation level in correlation with the relative retention capacity of the xylan onto cellulose. The best retention capacity is achieved when 5% of xylan is added. This finding provides a practical approach to the application of xylan as a paper additive in consideration of economic issues. Although the application of apple pectin and its amidated derivatives in paper is rather rare, some interesting points have been discovered in this work. Among the apple pectin samples used, only the ones with low degree of esterification give a slight enhancement in tensile index at 5% dosage. The results also suggest that the dosage of the pectin added into the paper should not exceed 5% due to its viscous property at high concentrations.

Although scoliosis is defined as a deviation of the spine in the frontal plane above 10ř according to Cobb, the spine is deformed in three planes. The chest is also affected at the same time. The most common type is idiopathic scoliosis, which has multifactorial etiopathogenesis. The thesis summarizes available information on kinesiology of the spine, classification of idiopathic scoliosis, its incidence, etiology, diagnostics, treatment and specific physiotherapeutic exercises. The practical part is devoted to assessing the symmetry of the patient's torso from the photographic documentation of the posture by SCODIAC 2.3. Indices evaluating hull asymmetry from the back or front (POTSI, ATSI) result from mathematical calculation. The smaller the number, the more symmetrical the posture. Correlation of POTSI index and Cobb angle is explored. 20 patients (18 girls and 2 boys) with idiopathic scoliosis up to 47ř according to Cobb aged between 7 to 18 years were selected for the study. All patients were subjected to anamnestic data collection, kinesiology analysis and a questionnaire. The results were statistically processed. SCODIAC software is one of the options offered to evaluate torso asymmetry and assess posture changes after therapy. It acts as a feedback for a physiotherapist and motivates...

Hnízdilová, M. Distribution of household incomes in the Czech Republic. Diploma thesis. Brno: Mendel University, 2019. This diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of household incomes in the Czech Republic in total and in terms of the status of the head, the number of children, age, size of the municipality, education and region. The data are obtained from the Czech Statistical Office. The aim of the thesis is to compare the incomes of individual types of households from years 2008, 2012 and 2016 in terms of selected factors. The distribution of incomes will be captured using the Lorenz curve estimate. The study of the income distribution will be supplemented by calculation of Gini index, medial and selected quantities. Furthermore, households at risk of income poverty will be identified and measures to reduce income poverty will be proposed.

The current study examined the change in articulatory patterns when speakers were asked to increase and decrease their speaking rate by matching metered and rhythmic audio recordings and by matching metered and rhythmic audiovisual recordings. There were 10 participants, five male and five female, ranging in age from 20 to 36 with a mean age of 25. Participants spoke the sentence "Don't fight or pout over a toy car"under rhythmic, metered, fast and slow conditions and in response to audio only or audiovisual models, resulting in eight speaking conditions: audio metered fast, audiovisual metered fast, audio metered slow, audiovisual metered slow, audio rhythmic fast, audiovisual rhythmic fast, audio rhythmic slow, and audiovisual rhythmic slow. Each participant had five sensors glued to their tongue, teeth and lips and articulatory movements were recorded with an NDI Wave electromagnetic articulograph. 10 tokens of the target utterance were analyzed for duration and Spatiotemporal Index (STI). STI was then computed for the vertical movements of the tongue, jaw and lower lip, as well as lip aperture in order to measure variability of speech movements over multiple sentence repetitions. Stroke metrics based on the speed history of the articulators were also computed in order to reveal average kinematic features of articulatory gestures, or the individual. movement strokes that occurred between successive speed minima in running speech. Statistical analysis revealed that STI measures did not change significantly in response to the different rate conditions. This study demonstrated that in neurotypical individuals, articulatory patterns including stroke count, onset speed, peak speed and hull area changed significantly in faster or slower speech. Additionally, the results revealed that both metered and rhythmic cues and both audio and audiovisual cues are effective in decreasing and increasing speaking rate without significantly impacting the STI (i.e., consistency) of articulatory movements. Therefore, it may be that a speaker's efforts to match the audio and audiovisual cues in real-time more significantly affected articulation patterns than whether cues were rhythmic, metered, audio or audiovisual.

La estabilidad de las pendientes rocosas se considera crucial para la seguridad pública en las carreteras, así como también para la seguridad del personal y los equipos que trabajan en los cortes de roca. La inestabilidad y fallas en taludes rocosos se producen debido a muchos factores, como la geometría, las discontinuidades geológicas, el material del talud, y las condiciones climáticas severas. Así también como las cargas externas, las fuertes precipitaciones y la sismicidad que podrían jugar un papel importante en la falla. En esta tesis se desarrolla el método cinemático y el método empírico de “Índice de Riesgo” (tomado del inglés “Hazard Índex”) para la evaluación de la estabilidad del talud en la carretera Tarapoto- Yurimaguas, donde el talud corresponde a una roca residual tipo arenisca de baja resistencia, con alta precipitación por ser zona tropical y ubicada dentro de una zona sísmica. Se identifican los posibles tipos de falla mediante el análisis cinemático basado en la dirección del rumbo y buzamiento de las discontinuidades, se analiza las fallas encontradas con respecto al factor sísmico, y la condición de la estabilidad con el método empírico “Hazard Index” con respecto al factor de precipitación para así identificar la condición de estabilidad y mostrar el resultado. La tesis destaca algunas limitaciones de los métodos utilizados. / The stability of rocky slopes is considered crucial for public safety on the roads, as well as for the safety of personnel and teams working on rock cuts. Rock slope instability and failure occur due to many factors such as geometry, geological discontinuities, slope material, and severe weather conditions. As well as external loads, heavy precipitation, and seismicity that could play an important role in the failure. In this thesis we develop the kinematic method and the empirical method of "hazard Index" for evaluating the stability of the slope on the Tarapoto-Yurimaguas road, where the slope corresponds to a residual rock Low resistance sandstone type, with high precipitation as it is a tropical zone and located within a seismic zone. Possible types of failure are identified through kinematic analysis based on the direction of heading and dip of the discontinuities, the failures found are analyzed with respect to the seismic factor, and the condition of stability with the empirical method "Hazard Index" with respect to to the precipitation factor to identify the stability condition and show the result. The thesis highlights some limitations of the methods used. / Tesis

Despite mounting evidence, a question still exists as to the true clinical relevance of varying degrees of malnutrition, the role of currently measured nutritional parameters in identifying malnutrition and predicting clinical risk in individual patients, and the efficacy of nutritional therapy. This study was designed to document the usefulness of the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) as a predictor of clinical course. The nutritional assessments and clinical records of 328 subjects in a Veterans Administration Hospital were reviewed, PNI and complication rates were determined for each of the subjects, and the data statistically analyzed. The PNI was found to be a useful indicator of malnutrition and predictor of clinical course. The PNI appeared to be a more sensitive index of clinical outcome than did comparison of individual nutritional parameters to accepted norms, although it accounted for only 17% of the information needed to predict clinical course perfectly.

Regional assessments of droughts are limited and meticulous assessment of droughts over larger spatial scales are often not substantial. Understanding drought variability on a regional scale is crucial for enhancing resiliency and adaptive ability of water supply and distribution systems. Moreover, it can be essential for appraising the dynamics and predictability of droughts based on regional climate across various spatial and temporal scales. The drought analysis of the past was carried out with the development of a high-resolution dataset (1km×1km) for three drought-prone regions of India between 1950 and 2016. In the study the monthly values of self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI), incorporating Penman–Monteith (PM) approximation, which is physically based on potential evapotranspiration. Climate data were statistically downscaled using the delta downscaling method and was formulated to form a timeline for characterizing major drought events that occurred in the past. The downscaled climate data were validated with the station observations. Major severe drought events that occurred between 1950 and 2016 were identified and studied with greater emphasis to the drought situation in smaller spatial extent such as districts, villages or localities. A timeline of drought events within the period of study was also prepared to have an understanding of the severity of drought in all three regions.Likewise, the future drought durations are projected for droughts of different levels of severity and assessed in the same regions of India. Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulated precipitation and climate data were used for near‐future (2015–2044) for different shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs). scPDSI, was used again based on its fairness in identifying drought conditions which accounts for the temperature as well. Gridded rainfall and temperature data of spatial resolution of 1km were used to bias correct the multi-model ensemble (MME) mean of 7 Global Climatic Models (GCMs) from CMIP6 project. Equidistant quantile-based mapping was adopted to remove the bias in the rainfall and temperature data and were corrected at the monthly scale. The downscaled climate data exhibited good statistical agreement with station data with correlation coefficient (R) ranging from 0.83 to 0.93 for both precipitation and temperature. Drought analysis indicated several major incidences over the analysis time period considered in this work, which truly adheres to the droughts recorded in qualitative reports of meteorological institutions in those regions. The drought study of the past helped to understand the situation in local levels and understand the necessities that can be opted for the future by proper management of water resources. While the outcome of the future prediction of drought duration suggests multiple severe to extreme drought events in all three study areas of appreciable durations mostly during the mid-2030s under the SSP2-4.5 scenario. The severe drought durations under the SSP2-4.5 scenario were found to be ranging around 25 to 30 months in 30 years period of the near future. The high-resolution drought index proved to be key to assess the drought situation for both the past and the future in three different drought-prone regions of India.

Communication systems have remained almost unchanged since the invention of the superheterodyne receiver in 1918 by the US engineer Edwin Armstrong. With the introduction of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technologies, Index Modulation appears to be the promising technology to revolutionize the traditional radio-frequency (RF) chain. Index modulation is a high-spectrum, energy-efficient, simple digital communication technique that uses the states of the building blocks of a communication system. In this study, we have focused on the use of radiation patterns scattered by antenna arrays or a metasurface as indices that are encoded as data bits. Initially, we explore sets of 𝑁tx transmitting point source antennas located on the XY plane; we assume that every antenna has phase tunability capability. The phase, the position in space, and the size of the array determine the shape of the far-field radiation pattern. Following the antenna excitation, a set of 𝑁rx receiver antennas spread at specific locations of the spherical space measures the incoming power signal, allowing the sampling of the radiation pattern that is demodulated into information bits.This work is focused on the characterization of the measured radiation patterns under different system and channel variables and their direct effect on the Bit Error Rate.

The purpose of this study was to develop a food quality index that can provide practical information to both consumers and professional people. The Index of Food Quality (IFQ) is a simple computerized tool based on a concept of nutrient density. The IFQ was designed to organize and clarify the present body of food composition data into a form that is directly applicable to dietary problems. The IFQ provides a method of analyzing food quality based on energy needs. The nutrient contents of foods are compared to essential nutrient standards with calories as a common denominator. In developing the IFQ, the nutrient standards were usually derived from the FDA's recommended Daily Allowances (USRDA), and the value of 2300 kcal represented an average adult requirement for energy. An index number of "1" for a particular nutrient in a given food indicates that the amount of that food yielding just sufficient energy per day to maintain weight and good health will also contain exactly the recommended daily allowance of that nutrient. We developed an index number for each nutrient in each food considered in this study. A profile of index numbers was then derived for each food. One can assess whether he is meeting the RDA by calculating whether the foods he eats additively give a value of one or greater for each nutrient area. A computer program was developed that computes the nutrient indices and prints them in tabular and bar graph forms. The program is written in FORTRAN and was developed for use with a Burroughs B6700 digital computer, but is readily compatible with the IBM 360/40 system as well. The program can evaluate a single food, various foods, and combinations of foods (i.e., diets, menus, or recipes) by printing its (their) nutrient profile. The graphs reflect the nutrient quality of a food, whether it is used as a sole source of energy or as it usually contributes to the diet (serving size). Menus, recipes, and diet profiles are presented as the sum of the nutrient contents of their individual foods and are printed as composite graphs. Nutrient data is being stored on tape and on disk. As it becomes available, new data may be written out on the disk file for later intra or inter-program use, either adding to or updating old values in the library. The IFQ program is completely flexible because every parameter can be expanded and/or modified to fit the data at hand. It can be adjusted to represent guidelines for a general population or be tailored to reflect individual or special group needs. In general, the program can compare any type of data to a reference value and produce the results in a bar graph profile. Data input is minimal. The program requires only the processing of the entry cards and a single index value per food or ingredient to print a typical graph. Modification in output requires only a code change in the entry cards and/or the input of additional special nutrient values not already stored on disk. The efficiency and speed of the modern high-speed computer coupled with a program that requires a minimum of card handling makes the IFQ a useful, rapid, and inexpensive tool for nutritional analysis and planning.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the degrees of proneness to the self-conscious emotions of nonruminative guilt, ruminative guilt, and shame and several indices of psychological functioning, including depression, narcissism, anger, dysphoric affect, cooperation, need for affection, and self-inspection, in a college population. Gender differences were also examined. A measure of psychological functioning (the Rorschach) and a measure of guilt- and shame-proneness (the Test of Self-Conscious Affect--Modified) were administered to 91 college students (43 males and 48 females). Females reported higher levels of all three self-conscious emotions. The only gender difference found among the psychological functioning variables was higher levels of narcissism for males. For the total sample, cooperation was related to nonruminative guilt, whereas an unhealthy level of need for affection was related to ruminative guilt and shame. When males and females were considered separately, depression was related to ruminative guilt in males, but not in females. Narcissism was related to all three emotions for males, but not for females. An absence of dysphoric affect was associated with nonruminative guilt in females. Cooperation and self-inspection both correlated with nonruminative guilt for females, but not for males. The predominant emotion related to unhealthy levels of need for affection was shame for males but ruminative guilt for females. Preliminary results from 21 subjects with positive DEPI scores differed from the results of the entire sample in the relationships between the self-conscious emotions and dysphoric affect, self-inspection, and cooperation. Study results were discussed in light of the different levels of awareness at which the Rorschach and the TOSCA--M assess emotions and psychological functioning. Socialization of gender differences in guilt- and shame-proneness was also discussed. Implications for treatment, future research, and creation of future assessments of guilt- and shame-proneness were examined.