Mosquitoes spread diseases that shorten and worsen the lives of many people, chiefly children in poor countries, around the world. Since Ronald Ross' discovery at the end of the nineteenth century that mosquitoes transmit malaria, field entomologists have collected a great deal of information about mosquito ecology. Despite this tremendous effort, there still remain significant gaps in our knowledge of mosquito ecology, in part, reflecting the significant variation in mosquito ecology across species and geographies. The main aim of this thesis is an attempt to synthesise the substantial information that field entomologists have collected on mosquito lifespan. In Chapters 2 and 3, I conduct meta-analyses of the two predominant approaches used to estimate mosquito lifespan: mark-release-recapture experiments and female mosquito dissection-based studies, respectively. These analyses produce estimates of mosquito lifespan by species and genus, and more broadly, allow for an appraisal of these two experimental approaches. In Chapter 4, I describe a recently developed approach, known as near-infrared spectroscopy, which enables estimation of the age of individual mosquitoes, and then perform an in silico analysis to explore the use of this technology for estimating the average lifespan of wild populations of mosquitoes. The emergence of mosquito resistance to the main insecticides used in vector control, along with the concerning recent discovery that the malaria parasites in Asia are becoming resistant to arteminisin - an important drug used to treat malaria - highlight the need for novel approaches to control disease transmission. Some recently-proposed approaches involve genetic modification of the mosquito vectors, for example, to render them incapable of acting as hosts for disease or to reduce their fecundity. In Chapter 5, I model the impact of a release of mosquitoes carrying a genetic construct known as a homing endonuclease, which has been constructed to bias the sex of mosquito offspring towards males, in computational environments that capture some facets of the real life landscapes where mosquito borne disease is rife. About a century ago, the famous Italian Malariologist Giovanni Grassi declared that malaria was a "giant with clay feet"; reflecting the optimism, in some academic circles at the time, that eradication of this terrible disease would soon occur. Unfortunately, a century of often unsuccessful attempts to control and eradicate malaria, and other mosquito borne diseases, would follow Grassi's statement, meaning that this fight is likely to continue throughout the twenty-first century. We now know much more about mosquitoes and mosquito borne disease than we did a generation ago, but there is still crucial information that we do not. In this thesis, I argue that in order to make significant inroads to disease eradication, further research on mosquito ecology is crucial. Only when we better understand our unwitting mosquito foe, can we design and implement effective disease control measures that are so desperately needed in those most desperate parts of the world.

This text talks about a family invited to face their family album. To do that, it was considered this time, in which families relation nets are (re) configured and established in another manner. In this way, due to the complexity of this theme, this album was considered as a liquid family album. These facts are pointed in order to cause curiosity about a family album and then reflect about it as a reason for other senses and knowledge as well as a dispositive of conversation in investigations related to education. From this perspective, it was done some inferences about a liquid family album that has among its images/senses/characters a subject with mental disability. This is because the main objective of this study consists in asking about the liquid family configuration and also about the place and non-place of the subject who has the mark mental disability in this relation net. With this investigation, it is proposed the (de) construction of the mark mental disability based on the configuration of the liquid family and the studies about this liquid time (ephemeral, volatile, in bitter (de) construction of concepts, marks, values, tendencies ), described by some scholars, specially by Zygmunt Bauman. Thus, it was talked about something that has been produced, that is product and produces contemporary time. / Este texto disserta a respeito de uma família convidada a um enfrentamento com o seu álbum de família. Para isso, levou-se em consideração este tempo, em que as redes de relações familiares (re) configuram-se e se estabelecem de outra maneira. Sendo assim, devido à complexidade dessa temática, considerou-se esse álbum como sendo um álbum de família líquida. Esses elementos são considerados a fim de curiosear um álbum de família, e, assim, problematizá-lo como disparador de sentidos outros e de conhecimento, bem como um dispositivo de conversação na investigação em educação. A partir dessa perspectiva, fizeram-se algumas inferências acerca de um álbum de família líquida que tem, dentre as/os suas/seus imagens/sentidos/personagens, um sujeito que carrega a marca deficiência mental. Isso porque, o propósito deste estudo consiste em se perguntar sobre a configuração de família líquida e o lugar ou não-lugar do sujeito que carrega a marca deficiência mental nesta rede de relações. Com esta investigação, propõe-se a (des) construção da marca deficiência mental, tendo em vista a configuração de família líquida e os estudos sobre este tempo líquido (efêmero, volátil, em crônica (des) construção de conceitos, marcas, valores, tendências...), descrito por alguns teóricos, especialmente por Zygmunt Bauman. Desse modo, dissertou-se acerca de algo que está sendo produzido, é produto e produz a contemporaneidade.

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The topic of this thesis is the problem of trademark infringement examined in the context of the development of legal jurisdiction. This also includes aspects of unfair competition, and in most of the cases a couple of factors are involved.I use Czechoslovakian, Czech, as well as some European court verdicts in relation to different legal regulations.

It is Islamic banking that has been conquering the world in recent years. That is why the thesis is devoted to this topic. As the interest is forbidden by Islam, the Islamic banking works on different principles from those practised by conventional banks. The thesis distinguishes two basic methods -- the profit-and-loss sharing and mak-up method. The Islamic banks use both to gain profit. There are three parts of Turkish bank system and one of them is formed by so called "participation banks". The participation banks represent the Islamic banking. One of the members of the "participation banks" group is the Al Baraka bank, whose financial statements are hereinafter analyzed. The financial statements stated above are not much different from the general model of financial statements issued by Islamic banks. However the "book premise" that the biggest part of assets should be created by the transactions based on the profit-and-loss sharing method is denied.

This thesis presents a participant's history of the development of the woodworkers' union in the Alberni Valley of British Columbia during the period 1935 to 1950. It is developed through Mosher's own accounts, which are treated as narratives, as the way of most effectively presenting his "insiders point of view". Mosher's interpretation, from his position as a logger, a local union leader, and a Communist Party member, adds to our understanding of the union movement by providing the perspective from the Left and information on the processes of unionization. In spite of the central position held by the union movement in the social structure of British Columbia, and the importance of the IWA within that movement, both have been under researched. Mosher's accounts are given in the context of the documentary history of the union movement and the IWA, and his narratives create a challenging interpretation in response to those established accounts. Comparisons are drawn between the interpretations of the same issues given by Mosher and by the documentary sources. Mosher's accounts express the themes and values important to his alternative history, such as the need for a union and the leadership role of the Communist Party in improving work conditions, which he claims has not before been acknowledged. This thesis is based on the assumption that there is no one true version of history. History is viewed as a process in which differing interpretations continually add to our overall understanding of a subject. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

El lenguaje inclusivo, con una ‘e’ como marca de género inclusivo neutro, está creciendo en partes del mundo hispanohablante, como una manera de incluir a todos, todas y todes, pero al mismo tiempo encuentra una oposición fuerte, expresada por lingüistas, escritores y hablantes, que no consideran un cambio lingüístico necesario. Esa resistencia puede tener muchas diferentes razones, como la preservación de la lengua, el conservadurismo, el sexismo, la transfobia, y el desconocimiento. En este trabajo se analiza las actitudes hacia el lenguaje inclusivo, y los factores que puedan influir en ellas, para de esta manera llegar a una comprensión mejor de los obstáculos en el camino hacia la inclusión del lenguaje. Se hace una encuesta para investigar que correlaciones hay entre las diferentes áreas: política y sociedad, sexismo e identidad, lenguaje en general, y lenguaje inclusivo; igualmente que el conocimiento del asunto, el sexo y la edad. Se llega a las conclusiones que los que votan por la derecha tienen actitudes más negativas hacia el lenguaje inclusivo, y que los con más conocimiento de la variante con ‘e’, los que opinan que el lenguaje es excluyente, y las mujeres, tienen actitudes más positivas. / Inclusive language, with an ‘e’ as a neutral inclusive gender mark, is growing in parts of the spanish speaking world, as a way of including everybody, but at the same time it is facing a strong opposition, expressed by linguists, writers and language users, who do not consider a linguistic change necessary. This resistance can have many different reasons, like the preservation of the language, conservatism, sexism, transphobia, and lack of knowledge. This paper analyzes the attitudes towards inclusive language and the factors that might have influence on them, to, in that way, be able to come to a better understanding of the obstacles to the inclusion of the language. A survey is done to investigate the correlations between these different areas: politics and society, sexism and identity, language in general, and inclusive language; as well as the knowledge of the matter, gender, and age. The conclusions drawn are that those who vote for the right have more negative attitudes towards inclusive language, and those with more knowledge of the variant with ‘e’, those who consider the language to be exclusive, and women, have more positive attitudes. / Inkluderande språk, med ett ‘e’ som neutral inkluderande genusmarkör, växer i delar av den spansktalande världen som ett sätt att inkludera alla, men möts samtidigt av ett starkt motstånd, från lingvistiker, författare och språkbrukare, som inte anser att en lingvistisk förändring är nödvändig. Detta motstånd kan ha många olika anledningar, såsom bevarandet av språket, konservatism, sexism, transfobi och bristande kännedom. I det här arbetet analyseras attityderna mot inkluderande språk och de faktorer som kan påverka dessa, för att på så sätt få en bättre förståelse av hindren på vägen till språkets inkluderande. En enkät görs för att undersöka vilka korrelationer som finns mellan följande områden: politik och samhälle, sexism och identitet, språk i allmänhet, och inkluderande språk; liksom kännedom om ämnet, kön och ålder. Slutsatser som kan dras är att de som röstar höger har mer negativa attityder till inkluderande språk och att de med större kännedom om varianten med ‘e’, de som anser att språket är exkluderande och kvinnor, har mer positiva attityder.

This master's thesis is dealing with the usage of augmented reality for a layout of a flat proposition. The aim of this work is to create a system which detects markers on the walls using ARToolKit library. The position of the used in flat is determined by using the markers. Then the system disposes the user's position for operate with a camera in a 3D modelling program called Google SkretchUp. The system is consisted of a server and a client part. The server one copes with the incoming video in which it detects the markers and evaluates the position of user by the help of the markers. The client part of the system is represented by a plugin module for 3D modelling program Google SkretchUp. A client is asking the server for the positions of the user in the flat model and consequently he set the camera in the program Google SkretchUp according to these positions. The client is also asking for the individual pictures from the video which he shows against the background of Google SketchUp and thanks to this, he creates a view of a real scene extended of virtual objects.

Keywords Gilbert Simondon, Bernard Stiegler, Mark B. N. Hansen, philosophy, media, technology, humanism, individuation, information Abstract This text has two parallel objectives. First, to introduce the original work of french philosopher Gilbert Simondon. Second, to show its potential of his philosophy in relation to our thinking about the current media-techno- logically conditioned environment in which we live and through which we understand the world. I have two motivations for the first objective. First, the work of Gilbert Simondon is still completely unknown in Czech Repub- lic, therefore I find it necessary to offer to the reader the introduction of his work. Second, without such introduction it would be very difficult to ope- rate with his crucial concepts in the work of his contemporary interpreters whose contributions I will discuss in the second part of the text. The se- cond objective is motivated with my interest in delimitation of speculative and materialistic line of thinking based on the work of Gilbert Simondon. Such thought with its description of the world is in clear opposition with anthropocentrism. Nevertheless, it cannot be considered as a part of object oriented ontology neither. I'm not going to show the importance of Gilbert Simondon for media theory in this text. Rather, I will...

This thesis aims to present a method for detection of faults (burn marks) on insulator using only image processing algorithms. It is accomplished by extracting the insulator from the background image and then detecting the burn marks on the segmented image. Apart from several other challenges encountered during the detection phase, the main challenge was to eliminate the connector marks which might be detected as burn-marks. The technique discussed in this thesis work is one of a kind and not much research has been done in areas of burn mark detection on the insulator surface. Several algorithms have been pondered upon before coming up with a set of algorithms applied in a particular manner. The first phase of the work emphasizes on detection of the insulator from the image. Apart from pre-processing and other segmentation techniques, Symmetry detection and adaptive GrabCut are the main algorithms used for this purpose. Efficient and powerful algorithms such as feature detection and matching were considered before arriving at this method, based on pros and cons. The second phase is the detection of burn marks on the extracted image while eliminating the connector marks. Algorithms such as Blob detection and Contour detection, adapted in a particular manner, have been used for this purpose based on references from medical image processing. The elimination of connector marks is obtained by applying a set of mathematical calculations. The entire project is implemented in Visual Studio using OpenCV libraries. Result obtained is cross-validated across an image data set.