In this work, an electrochemical method based on a cyt c biosensor has been developed, for the detection of selected arsenic and cyanide compounds. Boron Doped Diamond (BDD) electrode was used as a transducer, onto which cyt c was immobilised and used for direct determination of Prussian blue, potassium cyanide and arsenic trioxide by inhibition mechanism. The sensitivity as calculated from cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV), for each analyte in phosphate buffer (pH= 7) was found to be (1.087- 4.488 ×10-9 M) and the detection limits ranging from 0.0043- 9.1 μM. These values represent a big improvement over the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

Στην παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή προτείνονται μεθοδολογίες υπολογιστικής νοημοσύνης για την επεξεργασία και ανάλυση δεδομένων γονιδιακής έκφρασης μικροσυστοιχιών cDNA. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, στο πρώτο σκέλος αναπτύσσονται δύο νέες προσεγγίσεις για την εύρωστη εκτίμηση και διόρθωση του θορύβου υποβάθρου: η διόρθωση υποβάθρου βάσει εκατοστημορίων και η διόρθωση υποβάθρου βάσει παλινδρόμησης loess. Οι προσεγγίσεις αυτές καινοτομούν κυρίως στο ότι χρησιμοποιούν μία εύρωστη εκτίμηση του θορύβου υποβάθρου, γεγονός που τις καθιστά ιδανικές σε περιπτώσεις, όπου τα δεδομένα είναι θορυβώδη. Επιπροσθέτως, αναπτύσσεται ένα νέο, γενικής χρήσεως, πλαίσιο για τη συστηματική αξιολόγηση του βαθμού επίδρασης των μεθόδων διόρθωσης υποβάθρου. Μέσω του πλαισίου αυτού, οι δύο προτεινόμενες προσεγγίσεις, καθώς και άλλες ευρέως χρησιμοποιούμενες μέθοδοι, αξιολογούνται βάσει εφαρμογής τους σε διαφορετικά σύνολα δεδομένων αυτο-υβριδοποίησης, με τις πρώτες να εμφανίζουν ιδιαιτέρως καλή απόδοση. Το πλαίσιο αυτό καινοτομεί στο ότι ενσωματώνει νέα κριτήρια και τρόπους γραφικής απεικόνισης. Τόσο οι προτεινόμενες μέθοδοι εκτίμησης και διόρθωσης θορύβου υποβάθρου, όσο και το πλαίσιο συστηματικής αξιολόγησής τους, συνιστούν μία νέα, ενδελεχή μελέτη που προσανατολίζει στην εφαρμογή ή απόρριψη μίας συγκεκριμένης προσέγγισης, συνεισφέροντας εν τέλει στην κατάκτηση καλλίτερης ποιότητας δεδομένων μικροσυστοιχιών. Επίσης, στο δεύτερο σκέλος της διατριβής αναπτύσσεται ένα νέο, ολοκληρωμένο και γενικής χρήσεως πλαίσιο ανάλυσης δεδομένων μικροσυστοιχιών ούτως, ώστε να διερευνηθεί το ζήτημα εάν στην T-λευχαιμική κυτταρική σειρά CCRF-CEM επικρατούν εγγενείς ή επίκτητοι μηχανισμοί αντοχής στην πρεδνιζολόνη. Συγκεκριμένα, καταλλήλως επιλεχθέντα δεδομένα μικροσυστοιχιών cDNA – που διευκολύνουν την εξέταση τόσο της εξαρτώμενης από τη συγκέντρωση δράσης, όσο και της δυναμικής της ανταπόκρισης στην πρεδνιζολόνη (πρώιμη και όψιμη δράση) – γίνονται αντικείμενο επεξεργασίας και ενδελεχούς ανάλυσης, και βάσει συγκεκριμένων, προ-διατυπωμένων συλλογισμών, προσεγγίζεται το εν λόγω ερώτημα. Το πλαίσιο αυτό είναι καινοτόμο, εφόσον, πέραν του ότι ενσωματώνει μία πρωτότυπη ακολουθία μεθόδων, προσεγγίζει συστηματικά το πρόβλημα της εγγενούς ή επίκτητης αντοχής, συνεισφέροντας, έτσι, στην ευρύτερη προσπάθεια διερεύνησης των επακριβών μηχανισμών αντοχής των λευχαιμικών κυττάρων στα γλυκοκορτικοειδή. Τα αποτελέσματα από την εφαρμογή του στα δεδομένα της εν λόγω κυτταρικής σειράς συνηγορούν υπέρ της ύπαρξης μίας σύνθετης ανταπόκρισης του υπό μελέτη συστήματος στα γλυκοκορτικοειδή, η οποία όμως τείνει περισσότερο προς έναν εγγενή μηχανισμό αντοχής. / In the present Ph.D. thesis, computational intelligence methods for processing and analyzing cDNA microarray gene expression data are designed and developed. More specifically, in the first part of this thesis, the problem of background estimation and correction of two-channel microarray data is addressed and two novel algorithms are proposed, namely the percentiles-based and the loess-based background correction methods. Both approaches are based on the multiplicative model of background, while utilizing robust background noise estimators, thus making them ideal for noisy datasets. Furthermore, a new, generic framework for the systematic evaluation of the impact of the background estimating methodologies is suggested, whereupon the aforementioned methods as well as other approaches are evaluated by application to various publicly available self-self hybridization datasets. As suggested by this thorough, comparative evaluation our algorithms perform very well regarding noise reduction. The evaluation framework, which is based mainly on different and widely used statistical measures, incorporates new criteria and visualization methods. Moreover, it represents a novel, detailed contribution to the examination of the impact of background correction methods to the final interpretation of microarray experiments, conferring explicit guidance on the pros and cons of them and when they should be applied. Additionally, in the second part of this thesis, a new, generic, computational microarray data analysis framework is described, in order to examine the hypothesis of whether the resistant T-cell leukemia cell line CCRF-CEM posses an intrinsic or exert an acquired mechanism of resistance and to investigate the molecular imprint of this, upon prednisolone treatment. More analytically, using the above explained computational analysis workflow, microarray data that enable the examination of both the dose effect of prednisolone exposure and the dynamics (early and late) of the molecular response of the cells at the transcriptomic layer, are systematically analyzed based on specific, predefined formulations. The analysis of the results supports a complex mechanism of action for the cells which seems to favor though more the intrinsic mechanism of resistance.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / In this work, an electrochemical method based on a cyt c biosensor has been developed, for the detection of selected arsenic and cyanide compounds. Boron Doped Diamond (BDD) electrode was used as a transducer, onto which cyt c was immobilised and used for direct determination of Prussian blue, potassium cyanide and arsenic trioxide by inhibition mechanism. The sensitivity as calculated from cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV), for each analyte in phosphate buffer (pH= 7) was found to be (1.087- 4.488 ×10-9 M) and the detection limits ranging from 0.0043- 9.1 μM. These values represent a big improvement over the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. / South Africa

The first part of this thesis introduces basics principles of the Montessori pedagogical system with emphasis on prepared environment. Next part is about examples of prepared environment in professional literature and in the visisted school. The end part deals with application of prepared environment principles in the example of my own pedagogical work in education of children with special needs in education and in self-realisation. In appendix is a set of used didactical material.

The thesis "Controlling and managing a music production in the period of normalization on the example of rock music and its media portrayal" describes and analyses the system of controlling and managing Czechoslovak music production in the period of normalization with a particular attention to the mechanisms that deployed socialist ideological and aesthetical standards in the area of rock music. Additionally, this included a prescriptive media coverage highlighting socialist values using coordinated and centralised management through state institutions. The goal of the thesis is then to reveal a modus operandi of communist cultural policy on the examples of media approach to the trials with leading underground music protagonists in 1976 as rock music was a vehicle for expression their dissent attitude toward the system in an artistic way.

The thesis explores Czechoslovak Spartakiads in the context of modern mythologies theory. The analysis is concerned with reflection on changes of shape and ideological image of the Spartakiad from the 1950s to the 1980s. The thesis explores the Spartakiad as a cultural and sporting event and as an unique type of collective ritual in conditions of socialist dictatorship. The main focus is put on the narratives generated by the Spartakiad tradition and its evolution. Moreover it tries to regard possibilities to define the Spartakiads in the context of aesthetics of performativity. Based on analyzing those signs and cultural meanings, the thesis follows the role of the Spartakiad and Spartakiad-related subjects in formation of mythologies of the changing communist regime and its specific festivity, and also the Spartakiad's function in the process of the dictatorship's self-legitimation and in the promotion of concrete social coexistence models. Particular chapters of thesis are concerned with reflection on Spartakiad narratives in a relation to time and space as principal narratological categories. Last chapter contains a case study dedicated to performances of children and youth in 1955 and 1980 - this case study tries to approximate specific ways of emblematisation of gymnasts in Spartakiad...

La rédaction de ce mémoire a été possible grâce à la bourse d’études supérieures du Canada (BESC M), Joseph-Armand-Bombardier du Centre de Recherche en Sciences Humaines (CRSH) du gouvernement du Canada, 2015. / Cette recherche est basée sur l’hypothèse suivante : la relation entre la société colombienne et la violence a été si constante et profonde que la nouvelle littérature du XXIe siècle est un produit de ce phénomène. Bien que les études académiques portant sur la littérature et la violence en Colombie soient si nombreuses, celles-ci ont été dirigées à l’analyse du violent comme étant un phénomène perturbateur de l’ordre social, que ce soit dès la Violence politique des années 50 et 60, ou bien dès la littérature du narco trafique dans les années 80 et 90. Toutefois, dans la littérature des générations plus récentes d’écrivains, la violence n’est pas nécessairement exercée par des acteurs « traditionnellement » violents qui portent atteinte à l’ordre social, mais ce supposé « ordre » social est déjà essentiellement violent, faisant de la violence une question symbolique, normalisée et profondément enracinée dans l’ensemble de la société. Donc, de quelle façon la violence « traditionnelle » a-t-elle mutée jusqu’à configurer la neo-violence d’aujourd’hui? Quelles sont ses caractéristiques? Mais, surtout, de quelle façon la littérature raconte-t-elle cette nouvelle violence? Le objectif de cette recherche est d’identifier ces nouvelles manifestations de la violence dans la littérature de la première décennie du XXIe siècle ayant été produites pour les écrivains nés pendant les années 70 et le début des années 80. La méthodologie, basée sur l’analyse de romans et de nouvelles d’écrivains colombiens de cette génération, cherche à établir comment la surexposition à une violence endémique a généré de nouvelles formes de voir, de percevoir, de sentir et de narrer le violent au-delà de la description de faits concrets de violence. / This research is based on the assumption that the relationship between the Colombian society and violence is so constant and deep that the new 21st century literature is the result of this phenomenon. Despite the fact that previous academic research on violence and literature in Colombia has largely addressed the topic, this same research has usually approached “violence” as a disruptive phenomenon having an impact on established social orders. That is the case of previous analysis addressing either the 1950s and 1960s’ La Violencia-based literature or the 1980s and 1990s’ drug trafficking literature. However, in the literature of the new generation of writers, violence is not necessarily practiced by traditionally violent actors who intentionally put social order at risk. This social order is in fact essentially violent, which turns violence into a symbolic, normalized, deeply rooted matter in society. Thus, how has “traditional” violence transformed into today’s neoviolence? Which are its attributes? Furthermore, how does literature tell this new violence’s story? The purpose of this research is to identify these new forms of violence made evident in the literature of the first decade of the 21st century that has been produced, in turn, by writers born between the 1970s and the 1980s. The methodology, based on the analysis of novels and short stories by Colombian writers from this period, seeks to establish how overexposure to endemic violence has resulted in new forms of seeing, perceiving, feeling and recounting violence beyond the accurate description of violent facts. / Si bien los estudios académicos sobre el tema de la literatura y la violencia en Colombia son bastante numerosos, estos han estado dirigidos al análisis de la violencia como un fenómeno perturbador del orden social, ya sea desde la Violencia política de los años 50 y 60, o bien desde la violencia del narcotráfico en los años 80 y 90. Sin embargo, en la literatura de las generaciones más jóvenes de escritores, la violencia no es necesariamente ejercida por actores tradicionalmente violentos que atenten contra el orden social, sino que este supuesto orden social es ya esencialmente violento, donde la violencia se manifiesta de manera simbólica, normalizada y profundamente enraizada en la vida social. La investigación se pregunta entonces, ¿de qué manera la violencia “tradicional” ha mutado hasta configurar la neo-violencia de hoy? ¿Cuáles son sus características? Pero, sobre todo, ¿de qué manera esta nueva violencia es contada por la literatura? El objetivo de esta investigación es el de identificar estas nuevas manifestaciones de la violencia en la literatura de la primera década del siglo XXI, producida por los escritores nacidos durante los años 70 e inicios de los años 80. La metodología se basa en el análisis de novelas y cuentos de escritores colombianos pertenecientes a esta generación, para establecer cómo la sobreexposición a una violencia endémica ha generado nuevas formas de ver, percibir, sentir y narrar lo violento más allá de la descripción de hechos concretos de violencia.

Introduction : Le cadre de la gouvernance clinique a été développé afin d’atteindre de hauts standards de qualité de soins et de services, en conjuguant les notions d’amélioration continue de la qualité, d’excellence clinique et d’imputabilité corporative. La présente démarche doctorale avait pour objectif de comprendre le processus d’institutionnalisation de la gouvernance clinique dans un centre de réadaptation. Méthodologie : Une synthèse méta-narrative de 65 documents répertoriés dans 4 bases de données bibliographiques sur la conceptualisation et la mise en œuvre de la gouvernance clinique a été menée. Une étude qualitative de cas unique a été menée dans un centre de réadaptation en déficience intellectuelle et en troubles du spectre de l’autisme, au Québec (Canada). En mobilisant les cinq construits du cadre conceptuel basé sur théorie du processus de normalisation (cohérence, participation cognitive, action collective, suivi réflexif et contexte organisationnel), une analyse thématique des entrevues individuelles auprès de 22 participants (5 administrateurs, 11 gestionnaires et 6 cliniciens) et de 3 groupes de discussion auprès de 8 cliniciens et de 4 proches d’usagers a été menée. Enfin, une analyse d’une centaine de documents administratifs du Centre a été effectuée. Résultats : L’analyse de la littérature a permis de constater que le cadre de la gouvernance clinique est un concept en évolution et encore perçu comme une avenue intéressante pour l’amélioration de la qualité des soins. Toutefois, la confusion autour de sa définition et de sa conceptualisation ainsi que les difficultés de sa mise en œuvre demeurent des enjeux pour les organisations. Par la mobilisation du cadre de gouvernance clinique, la haute direction du centre de réadaptation à l’étude a souhaité systématiser le processus d’amélioration continue de la qualité des services offerts aux usagers et à leurs proches par l’adoption des bonnes pratiques de gouvernance. Ce virage a été bien reçu par les administrateurs et les gestionnaires, résultant sur une participation active et un fort engagement aux activités de leur part. La complexité du cadre et l’absence d’implication des cliniciens dans le processus de mise en œuvre ont créé chez ces derniers une appréhension quant à l’apport de la gouvernance clinique pour la pratique clinique et le bien-être des usagers. Les cliniciens ont dénoncé l’absence d’arrimage entre la théorie et les réalités de la pratique clinique ; la grande vitesse d’implantation et une approche décisionnelle de type top-down comme des enjeux de l’institutionnalisation de la gouvernance clinique. Pour les gestionnaires, les défis ont été la mise en place des moyens de communication efficaces ; l’arrimage des mécanismes de gestion et la disponibilité des ressources humaines. Pour les administrateurs, l’enjeu principal a été l’instabilité des contextes organisationnels interne et externe qui a ralenti la mise en œuvre et freiné l’élaboration d’un processus évaluatif. Conclusion : L’institutionnalisation de la gouvernance clinique dans les établissements non hospitaliers offrant des services sociaux passe par la valorisation de ce concept comme un projet commun au bénéfice de l’usager en vue de renforcer la participation et l’engagement de tous et l’adoption d’une approche de partenariat entre les usagers, leurs proches et les autres acteurs de l’organisation. / Introduction: Clinical governance framework was developed in order to achieve high standards of quality of care and services, by combining the concepts of continuous quality improvement, clinical excellence and corporate accountability. The aim of this doctoral thesis was to understand the implementation process of clinical governance in a rehabilitation center. Methods: A meta-narrative synthesis on the conceptualization and implementation of clinical governance was conducted. 65 tittles screened in 4 international databases were analysing. A qualitative single case study was conducted in a rehabilitation center for intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders, in Quebec (Canada). By mobilizing the five constructs of the conceptual framework based on normalization process theory (coherence, cognitive participation, collective action, reflexive monitoring and organizational context), a thematic analysis of individual interviews with 22 participants (5 administrators, 11 managers and 6 clinicians) and tree focus groups with 8 clinicians and 4 relatives of users were conducted. Finally, an analysis of around hundred administrative documents from the Center was conducted. Results: The literature revealed that the clinical governance framework is an evolving concept and still seen as an interesting avenue for improving the quality of care. However, confusion over its definition and conceptualization, and the difficulties of its implementation remain challenges for organizations. By mobilizing the clinical governance framework, the senior management of the rehabilitation center under study wished to systematize the process of continuous improvement of quality of services offered to users and their families, by adopting good governance practices. This shift was well received by administrators and managers, resulting in active participation and a strong commitment to activities. The complexity of the framework and the absence of involvement of clinicians in the implementation process have created in them an apprehension regarding the contribution of clinical governance to clinical practice and the well-being of users. Clinicians have criticized the lack of alignment between theory and the realities of clinical practice; the high speed of implementation and a top-down decision-making approach as issues of the implementation of clinical governance. For managers, the challenges have been the establishment of effective communications; the alignment of management mechanisms and the availability of human resources. For administrators, the main issue was the instability of the internal and external organizational contexts which slowed down the implementation and the development of an evaluation plan. Conclusion: The implementation of clinical governance in non-hospital facility requires the promotion of this concept as a joint project for the benefit of the user with a view to strengthening the participation and commitment of all and the adoption of a partnership approach between users, caregivers and other actors in the organization.

Cílem této práce je vytvořit neuronovou síť která bude schopna rekonstruovat obličeje z fotografií na kterých je část obličeje překrytá maskou. Jsou prezentovány koncepty využívané při vývoji konvolučních neuronových sítí a generativních kompetitivních sítí. Dále jsou popsány koncepty používané v neuronových sítích specificky pro rekonstrukci fotografií obličejů. Je představen model generativní kompetitivní sítě využívající kombinaci hrazených konvolučních vrstev a víceškálových bloků schopný realisticky doplnit oblasti obličeje zakryté maskou.

This diploma work initially conduct research in the area of descriptions and analysis of time series. The thesis then proceed to introduce the problems of technical analysis of price charts as well as indicators, price patterns and method of Pure Price Action. The method Pure Price Action is demonstrated in this work in two practical examples of its application to real businesses with a view to discovering and analyzing price patterns, as well as analysis and prediction of future price and financial evolution. This analysis is an introduction to the processes of successful business, following on from this we discuss the theme of Pattern Recognition and the Instance Based Learning method. The practical aspect of this work is carried out with the aid of a MATLAB applied algorithm for the analysis of the price pattern Correction for sale and purchase in dynamic time segments, specifically in trading price graphs, like those used for commodities or stock trading. For the analysis of time series we use the Pure Price Action method. The Instance Based Learning method is used by the algorithm to recognize price patterns. The created algorithm is verified on real data of a 5 minute time series of the US Dow Jones price charts for the years 2006, 2007, 2008. The achieved accuracy is evaluated with the aid of Equity Curves.