A geração de resíduos orgânicos juntamente com a erosão, são dois grandes problemas ambientais mundiais. São responsáveis pela redução da produtividade agrícola e pelos altos impactos ambientais. O presente projeto teve como objetivo a utilização de resíduos orgânicos gerados na agropecuária, na forma de composto orgânico, para a recuperação de áreas degradadas pela erosão hídrica. Foram avaliados os efeitos de quatro doses de composto (0, 20, 40 e 100 Mg.ha-1) na recuperação dos solos degradados por erosão. Somado a isto foi também avaliado o efeito da dose de composto sobre o processo de encrostamento superficial do solo. O projeto foi composto por dois experimentos, um com a ausência da erosão e o outro com presença de erosão (remoção de uma camada de 50 cm de solo), sendo realizados concomitantemente na mesma área. O delineamento experimental usado para cada experimento foi o inteiramente casualizado com 4 tratamentos (0, 20, 40 e 100 Mg.ha-1) e 4 repetições. Para o monitoramento da recuperação do solo e do processo de encrostamento em função das diferentes doses de composto, amostras deformadas e indeformadas de solo foram coletadas para análises físicas e químicas de rotina, para medidas da densidade do solo, para confecção de curvas características de retenção de água, e para análises micromorfológicas e de imagens. No campo foram realizados o monitoramento da chuva, da condutividade hidráulica e da infiltração de água no solo. Ficou claro que com o aumento da dose de composto orgânico aplicado no solo, melhor era a condição química do mesmo. Os valores dos elementos aumentavam conforme a dose de composto era também aumentada. A ação da matéria orgânica no solo colaborou com um aumento na retenção de água no solo a partir das doses de 40 e 100 Mg.ha-1. Esta melhor retenção de água favoreceu juntamente com a química, o crescimento das culturas no período seco garantindo assim uma maior produção de matéria seca das culturas implantadas, principalmente na dose de 100 Mg.ha-1. Com o aumento da porosidade do solo ao longo do tempo estudado em todas as doses de composto aplicado, a densidade do solo diminuiu onde o composto estava presente, se tornando mais constante em altas doses seus valores. A condutividade hidráulica do solo foi reduzida ao longo dos dois experimentos para todas as doses de composto aplicado. Essa redução pode ser explicada pelo aumento do encrostamento superficial do solo ao longo do tempo principalmente nas doses de 0 e 20 Mg.ha-1, dificultando a infiltração de água no solo. Portanto, a aplicação de altas doses de composto orgânico aceleram a recuperação dos atributos químicos e físicos do solo, assim como colaboram na redução da formação de vesículas nas crostas superficiais e diminuem os efeitos do impacto das gotas de chuvas na formação do encrostamento. / The generation of organic waste along with soil erosion are two major environmental problems worldwide. They are responsible for the reduction of agricultural productivity and high environmental impacts. The objective of this dissertation is the use of organic waste generated in agriculture, in the form of organic compost, for the recovery of degraded areas by water erosion. The effects of four doses of compost (0, 20, 40 and 100 Mg.ha-1) in the recovery of degraded soils by erosion, was tested. Added to this, the effect of the dose of compost on the process of soil surface crusting surface was also tested. The project was composed of two experiments, one with no erosion and the other with erosion (removal of a layer of 50 cm of soil), conducted concurrently in the same area. The experimental design for each experiment was completely randomized with 4 treatments (0, 20, 40 and 100 Mg.ha-1) and 4 replications. For the monitoring of the recovery of soil and the process of crusting according to the different doses of compost, deformed and undeformed soil samples were collected for routine physical and chemical analyses soil density evaluation, determination of the characteristic water retention curve, and for micromorphological and image analysis. In the field, rain, hydraulic conductivity and soil water infiltration were monitored. It was clear that with the increasing doses of organic compost used in the soil, the chemical condition meliorated. The content of the nutrients increased as the dose of compost was also increased. The action of organic matter in the soil collaborated with an increase in its water retention mainly for doses of 40 and 100 Mg.ha-1. This better water retention helped, together with the chemical recuperation, in the growth of the crops in the dry season thereby ensuring a higher dry matter yield, mainly in the dose of 100 Mg.ha-1. The increasing soil porosity over time observed in all doses of compost applied, led to a decrease in the soil density. The hydraulic conductivity of the soil was reduced in both experiments for all the applied compost doses. This reduction can be explained by the increase of the soil crusting process over time, especially in the doses of 0 and 20 Mg.ha-1, hampering the water infiltration in the soil. Therefore, the application of high doses of organic compost accelerates the recuperation of the chemical and physical attributes of the soil. It also collaborates in reducing the formation of vesicles in the superficial crust and decreases the effects of the impact of the raindrops on the crust formation.

A geração de resíduos orgânicos juntamente com a erosão, são dois grandes problemas ambientais mundiais. São responsáveis pela redução da produtividade agrícola e pelos altos impactos ambientais. O presente projeto teve como objetivo a utilização de resíduos orgânicos gerados na agropecuária, na forma de composto orgânico, para a recuperação de áreas degradadas pela erosão hídrica. Foram avaliados os efeitos de quatro doses de composto (0, 20, 40 e 100 Mg.ha-1) na recuperação dos solos degradados por erosão. Somado a isto foi também avaliado o efeito da dose de composto sobre o processo de encrostamento superficial do solo. O projeto foi composto por dois experimentos, um com a ausência da erosão e o outro com presença de erosão (remoção de uma camada de 50 cm de solo), sendo realizados concomitantemente na mesma área. O delineamento experimental usado para cada experimento foi o inteiramente casualizado com 4 tratamentos (0, 20, 40 e 100 Mg.ha-1) e 4 repetições. Para o monitoramento da recuperação do solo e do processo de encrostamento em função das diferentes doses de composto, amostras deformadas e indeformadas de solo foram coletadas para análises físicas e químicas de rotina, para medidas da densidade do solo, para confecção de curvas características de retenção de água, e para análises micromorfológicas e de imagens. No campo foram realizados o monitoramento da chuva, da condutividade hidráulica e da infiltração de água no solo. Ficou claro que com o aumento da dose de composto orgânico aplicado no solo, melhor era a condição química do mesmo. Os valores dos elementos aumentavam conforme a dose de composto era também aumentada. A ação da matéria orgânica no solo colaborou com um aumento na retenção de água no solo a partir das doses de 40 e 100 Mg.ha-1. Esta melhor retenção de água favoreceu juntamente com a química, o crescimento das culturas no período seco garantindo assim uma maior produção de matéria seca das culturas implantadas, principalmente na dose de 100 Mg.ha-1. Com o aumento da porosidade do solo ao longo do tempo estudado em todas as doses de composto aplicado, a densidade do solo diminuiu onde o composto estava presente, se tornando mais constante em altas doses seus valores. A condutividade hidráulica do solo foi reduzida ao longo dos dois experimentos para todas as doses de composto aplicado. Essa redução pode ser explicada pelo aumento do encrostamento superficial do solo ao longo do tempo principalmente nas doses de 0 e 20 Mg.ha-1, dificultando a infiltração de água no solo. Portanto, a aplicação de altas doses de composto orgânico aceleram a recuperação dos atributos químicos e físicos do solo, assim como colaboram na redução da formação de vesículas nas crostas superficiais e diminuem os efeitos do impacto das gotas de chuvas na formação do encrostamento. / The generation of organic waste along with soil erosion are two major environmental problems worldwide. They are responsible for the reduction of agricultural productivity and high environmental impacts. The objective of this dissertation is the use of organic waste generated in agriculture, in the form of organic compost, for the recovery of degraded areas by water erosion. The effects of four doses of compost (0, 20, 40 and 100 Mg.ha-1) in the recovery of degraded soils by erosion, was tested. Added to this, the effect of the dose of compost on the process of soil surface crusting surface was also tested. The project was composed of two experiments, one with no erosion and the other with erosion (removal of a layer of 50 cm of soil), conducted concurrently in the same area. The experimental design for each experiment was completely randomized with 4 treatments (0, 20, 40 and 100 Mg.ha-1) and 4 replications. For the monitoring of the recovery of soil and the process of crusting according to the different doses of compost, deformed and undeformed soil samples were collected for routine physical and chemical analyses soil density evaluation, determination of the characteristic water retention curve, and for micromorphological and image analysis. In the field, rain, hydraulic conductivity and soil water infiltration were monitored. It was clear that with the increasing doses of organic compost used in the soil, the chemical condition meliorated. The content of the nutrients increased as the dose of compost was also increased. The action of organic matter in the soil collaborated with an increase in its water retention mainly for doses of 40 and 100 Mg.ha-1. This better water retention helped, together with the chemical recuperation, in the growth of the crops in the dry season thereby ensuring a higher dry matter yield, mainly in the dose of 100 Mg.ha-1. The increasing soil porosity over time observed in all doses of compost applied, led to a decrease in the soil density. The hydraulic conductivity of the soil was reduced in both experiments for all the applied compost doses. This reduction can be explained by the increase of the soil crusting process over time, especially in the doses of 0 and 20 Mg.ha-1, hampering the water infiltration in the soil. Therefore, the application of high doses of organic compost accelerates the recuperation of the chemical and physical attributes of the soil. It also collaborates in reducing the formation of vesicles in the superficial crust and decreases the effects of the impact of the raindrops on the crust formation.

Rentgenová počítačová tomografie je metoda sloužící ke 3D zobrazování vnitřní struktury objektů. Mikrostruktura objektů ukrývá důležité informace, které mohou být použity k jejich charakterizaci. Tato práce podává spojení mezi datasety získanými pomocí rentgenové počítačové mikrotomografie a oblastí statistického zpracování dat. Výstupem metody, pak bude klasifikace vzorků na základě informací o jejich mikrostruktuře. Z výsledků klasifikace vzorků, pak můžeme vyvodit různé hypotézy týkající se původu vzorků. Tato práce by mimo jiné mohla sloužit jako takový nový vhled do problematiky kombinace dat různého původu, pomocí metod statistické analýzy.

The diploma thesis presents a media image of one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Mixed Martial Arts, abbreviation MMA, has a history in the Czech Republic since the 1990s. The media portrayal of male and female Mixed Martial Arts represents one of the aspects that are not fully covered in the Czech Republic. With the help of qualitative and quantitative content analysis, articles from the four most read Czech printed periodicals are explored - Blesk, Mladá Fronta DNES, Právo and Sport and four Czech news websites - Blesk.cz, iDNES.cz, Sport.cz and iSport.cz. A total of 1331 articles are analyzed in the research. The main goal of the work was to map the media image of this sport and to point out possible differences in referring to female and male athletes. The results of the research showed that although the female MMA received significantly less media attention, there was no downplay on the abilities of the female athletes. The secondary goal of the work was to discover and analyze possible stereotypes that are associated with Mixed Martial Arts. Out of a total of 1331 articles, stereotypes were traced only in 34 cases. The analysis traced a stereotype associated with the characteristics and visage of female athletes and a stereotype called Bad Guys, which portrayed MMA as a brutal sport.

Heart disease is the major cause of death in the developed world. Due to its fast, portable, low-cost and harmless way of imaging the heart, echocardiography has become the most frequent tool for diagnosis of cardiac function in clinical routine. However, visual assessment of heart function from echocardiography is challenging, highly operatordependant and is subject to intra- and inter observer errors. Therefore, development of automated methods for echocardiography analysis is important towards accurate assessment of cardiac function. In this thesis we develop new ways to model echocardiography data using Bayesian machine learning methods and concern three problems: (i) wall motion analysis in 2D stress echocardiography, (ii) segmentation of the myocardium in 3D echocardiography, and (iii) standard views extraction from 3D echocardiography. Firstly, we propose and compare four discriminative methods for feature extraction and wall motion classification of 2D stress echocardiography (images of the heart taken at rest and after exercise or pharmalogical stress). The four methods are based on (i) Support Vector Machines, (ii) Relevance Vector Machines, (iii) Lasso algorithm and Regularised Least Squares, (iv) Elastic Net regularisation and Regularised Least Squares. Although all the methods are shown to have superior performance to the state-of-the-art, one conclusion is that good segmentation of the myocardium in echocardiography is key for accurate assessment of cardiac wall motion. We investigate the application of one of the most promising current machine learning techniques, called Decision Random Forests, to segment the myocardium from 3D echocardiograms. We demonstrate that more reliable and ultrasound specific descriptors are needed in order to achieve the best results. Specifically, we introduce two sets of new features to improve the segmentation results: (i) LoCo and GloCo features with a local and a global shape constraint on coupled endoand epicardial boundaries, and (ii) FA features, which use the Feature Asymmetry measure to highlight step-like edges in echocardiographic images. We also reinforce the traditional features such as Haar and Rectangular features by aligning 3D echocardiograms. For that we develop a new registration technique, which is based on aligning centre lines of the left ventricles. We show that with alignment performance is boosted by approximately 15%. Finally, a novel approach to detect planes in 3D images using regression voting is proposed. To the best of our knowledge we are the first to use a one-step regression approach for the task of plane detection in 3D images. We investigate the application to standard views extraction from 3D echocardiography to facilitate efficient clinical inspection of cardiac abnormalities and diseases. We further develop a new method, called the Class- Specific Regression Forest, where class label information is incorporating into the training phase to reinforce the learning from semantically relevant to the problem classes. During testing the votes from irrelevant classes are excluded from voting to maximise the confidence of output predictors. We demonstrate that the Class-Specific Regression Random Forest outperforms the classic Regression Random Forest and produces results comparable to the manual annotations.

The dissertation The Media Image of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident on the Pages of Selected Czechoslovak/Czech and American Press based on contemporary press shows the way the Chernobyl nuclear accident was depicted in the press and the way its media image developed. The paper introduces historical context such as the Soviet-American relationships and ecological activities in the CSSR. Last but not least it describes causes, course and consequences of the Chernobyl accident. In the analysis only Czechoslovak/Czech and American press from the period from 1986 until 2011 was used. This procedure enabeled putting down and analysing the accident's media image in particular dailies and its transformation through the time. It also enabeled the confrontation between the Czechoslovak/Czech and the American press depiction. The contribution of this disertation is in the fact that it complements previous studies about the Chernobyl accident which primarily dealt with its ecological, health, social and economical consequences. A more extensive study about its media depiction was missing until now.

No description available.

The combination of X-ray imaging and diffraction techniques provides a unique tool for structural and mechanical analysis of engineering components. A variety of modes can be employed in terms of the spatial resolution (length-scale), time resolution (frequency), and the nature of the physical quantity being interrogated. This thesis describes my contributions towards the development of novel X-ray “rich” imaging experimental techniques and data interpretation. The experimental findings have been validated via comparison with other experimental methods and numerical modelling. The combination of fast acquisition rate and high penetration properties of X-ray beams allows the collection of high-resolution 3-D tomographic data sets at submicron resolution during in situ deformation experiments. Digital Volume Correlation analysis tools developed in this study help understand crack propagation mechanisms in quasi-brittle materials and elasto-plastic deformation in co-sprayed composites. For the cases of crystalline specimens where the knowledge of “live” or residual elastic strain distributions is required, diffraction techniques have been advanced. Diffraction Strain Tomography (DST) allows non-destructive reconstruction of the 2-D (in-plane) variation of the out-of-plane strain component. Another diffraction modality dubbed Laue Orientation Tomography (LOT), a grain mapping approach has been proposed and developed based on the translate-rotate tomographic acquisition strategy. It allows the reconstruction of grain shape and orientation within polycrystalline samples, and provides information about intragranular lattice strain and distortion. The implications of this method have been thoroughly investigated. State-of-the-art engineering characterisation techniques evolve towards scrutinising submicron scale structural features and strain variation using the complementarity of X-ray imaging and diffraction. The first successful feasibility study is reported of in operando stress analysis in an internal combustion engine. Finally, further advancement of ‘rich’ imaging techniques is illustrated via the first successful application of Time-of-Flight Neutron Diffraction Strain (TOF-NDST) tomography for non-destructive reconstruction of the complete strain tensor using an inverse eigenstrain formulation.

Es werden hydrostatisch stranggepresste Aluminium/Magnesium-Verbunde untersucht. Mittels verschiedener Rissdetektionsmethoden wird die Beschaffenheit des Interface analysiert. Es erfolgt die Bestimmung von Fließkurven der verpressten Einzelwerkstoffe bei Raumtemperatur. Des Weiteren erfolgen Eigenspannungsanalysen mit dem Bohrlochverfahren und einer speziellen numerischen Auswertungsmethode, welche den Entstehungsprozess der Eigenspannungen berücksichtigt. Zur Analyse der Festigkeitseigenschaften und des Deformationsverhaltens des Interface werden Biegeversuche in einem erweiterten Temperaturbereich durchgeführt. Die Deformationsanalyse erfolgt mittels Digital Image Correlation. Des Weiteren finden in den Festigkeitsuntersuchungen Push-Out-Versuche Anwendung. In bruchmechanischen Analysen wird die Interfacerissspitze von speziell entwickelten Proben unter Mode I-Bedingungen, bezogen auf den homogenen Fall, beansprucht. Die bruchmechanischen Größen – kritischer betragsmäßiger Spannungsintensitätsfaktor und kritische Energiefreisetzungsrate – werden auf Basis der Experimente, der numerischen Simulation der Rissspitzenbeanspruchung sowie der für die linear-elastische Bruchmechanik des Interfacerisses geltenden Nahfeldgleichungen berechnet. / Hydrostatic coextruded aluminum/magnesium compounds are analyzed. By means of different methods of crack detection, the quality of the interface is investigated. Plastic behavior of the basic materials at room temperature is determined. Furthermore, residual stress analyses are performed using the hole drilling method and a special numerical evaluation procedure, which considers the formation process of the residual stresses. The strength and deformation behavior of the interface are determined by means of bending tests in an extended temperature range. Digital Image Correlation is used to analyze the deformation. Furthermore, push out tests are performed to determine the interface strength. In the course of fracture mechanical analyses, the crack tip of specially developed specimens is stressed under Mode I conditions (relating to homogeneous material). The fracture mechanical values – critical absolute value of the stress intensity factor and critical energy release rate – are determined by the use of experiments, numerical analyses of the crack tip fields as well as the equations of the linear elastic near field equations of interface fracture mechanics.