The relationships between muscle-tension level, motoric-activity level, and academic performance in the laboratory setting are investigated. Three participants were reinforced for reducing and increasing their tension levels, alternately, while engaged in a simulated academic task, and the effects of each on the rate of activity and academic performance were measured. Measures were also obtained on the rate of activity and occurrence of problem behavior in the subject's homes. Significant treatment differences were found which support a direct relationship between tension and activity level so that a decrease in EMG level was associated with a decrease in motoric activity, and an increase in EMG level was associated with an increase in motoric activity. The efficacy of using EMG biofeedback to train relaxation in children with activity-level problems to control their symptoms is supported, especially where such a technique can be used in a specific task-oriented situation.

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The signal resulting from the IR-FSE sequence has been thoroughly analyzed in order to improve the accuracy of quantitative T1 mapping of the human brain. Several optimized post-processing algorithms have been studied and compared in terms of their T1 mapping accuracy. The modified multipoint two-parameter fitting method was found to produce less underestimation compared to the traditional multipoint three-parameter fitting method, and therefore, to result in a smaller T1 estimation error. Two correction methods were proposed to reduce the underestimation problem which is commonly seen in IR-FSE sequences used for measuring T1, especially when a large turbo factor is used. The intra-scan linear regression method corrects the systematic error effectively but the RMSE may still increase due to the increase of uncertainty in sequences with large turbo factors. The weighted fitting model corrects not only the systematic error but also the random error and therefore the aggregate RMSE for T1 mapping can be effectively reduced. A new fitting model that uses only three different TI measurements for T1 estimation was proposed. The performance for the three-point fitting method is as good as that of the multipoint fitting method with correction in the phantom simulation. In addition, a new ordering scheme that implements the three-point fitting method is proposed; it is theoretically able to reduce the total scan time by 1/3 compared to the TESO-IRFSE sequence. The performance of the three-point fitting method on the real human brain is also evaluated, and the T1 mapping results are consistent to with the conventional IR-FSE sequence. More samples of true anatomy are needed to thoroughly evaluate the performance of the proposed techniques when applied to T1 mapping of the human brain.

Evaluation of the tableting mixtures containing the paracetamolum by the parameters of the equation of compression The diploma thesis deals with effect of paracetamol on the parameters of compression equation. These parameters characterize compression process in the individual phases of compression: precompression phase, phase of elastic deformation and phase of plastic deformation. Paracetamolum was studied in the five mixtures, where it occurred in different ratio with microcrystalline cellulose. Looseness, Carr's index and Hausner ratio were evaluated for each mixture. The sizes of reductions ai, sizes of energies Ei and Ri, "half-pressures" pHi and the velocity constants 1/ti were calculated using three-exponential equation of compression for the individual phases of pressing. The results showed poor flow properties of tableting mixtures and thus its unsuitability for direct compression. The results of the study have revealed that increasing amounts of paracetamolum in the mixture increase reduction of volume a1 and velocity of volume change 1/t1 in dependence on the amount of the extruded air and decrease the required energy due to the smooth surface and less friction during the precompression phase. Reduction of volume a2 decrease with the increase of content of paracetamol due to...

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical Technology Student: Natália Pribylincová Consultant: Doc. RNDr. Milan Řehula, CSc. Effect of ascorbic acid on the parameters of compression equation Many mathematical models describing the compressing process are widely used in the development of new medicinal products in form of tablets. This process can be evaluated by means of compaction equations or throughout the viscoelastic properties. Compaction equation expresses dependency on height, volume or density of the used material which is being compressed by the applied compacting pressure. Based on the gained parameters, it is possible to describe specifically various stages of the compaction process, to determine characteristic properties of the studied material and accordingly to examine its mechanism. This thesis deals with the impact of the ascorbic acid on the parameters of compaction equation. The paperwork evaluates a mixture consisting of ascorbic acid (AA) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in the ratio of MCC : AA 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, 0:100. . The mostly used compression equations are described in the theoretic part. The three - exponential equation by Řehula created at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology at Charles...

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical Technology Student: Tisoňová Zuzana Consultant: Doc. RNDr. Milan Řehula, CSc. Compacting process is mathematically expressed by compression equations. It is characterized by various parameters of equations. The equation expresses the dependence of the volume, density and height on compacting pressure. In this paperwork, the parameters of compacting equation are evaluated and the pre-loading phase, the phase of elastic deformation and the phase of plastic deformation are studied. This thesis deals with impact of ibuprofen on the parameters of compaction equation. Five mixtures which included microcrystalline celulose and ibuprofen in different ratio 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 were studied. Results were based on the three-exponential equation. They were evaluated thanks to box plots. From the results obtained, it is obvious that with decreasing amount of microcrystalline cellulose, the parameter a1 has increased and the parameter E1 also slightly has increased. The composition of the used material didn't have any huge influence on parameters 1/t1 and pH1. During the phase of elastic deformation, the parameters a2 and E2 with decreasing amount of ibuprofen have decreased. On the other hand, the...

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical Technology Student: Jakub Šmíd Consultant: Doc. RNDr. Milan Řehula, CSc. Effect of acetylsalicylic acid on the parameters of compression equation Compacting process can be expressed mathematically by compression equations. It is characterized by various parameters. The compression equation expresses the dependence of the volume, density and height on compacting pressure. This paper evaluates the parameters of the compaction equation and study pre-loading phase, the phase of elastic deformation and the phase of plastic deformation. This thesis examines effect of acetylsalicylic acid on the parameters of compaction equation. Tablets were compressed from five mixtures. Mixtures contained acetylsalicylic acid and microcrystalline cellulose in different ratios 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 0:100. The results were obtained using the three-exponential equation. Evaluation was carried out by using box plots.

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical technology Supervisor: Doc. RNDr. Milan Řehula, CSc. Title of Dissertation: Validation of a new method for the evaluation of stress relaxation of tablets Keywords: tablets, stress relaxation test, elastic and plastic deformation The theoretical part of this thesis deals with the elastic relaxation of tablets. It describes various methods used in the evaluation of elastic recovery of tablets. The present work explores the factors affecting the elastic relaxation of tablets. The experimental part is focused on the stress relaxation test. Until present only one delay was studied. This work studies the stress relaxation after relieving tablet. The parameters A2, T2 and P2 were reviewed. The relationship between the parameters P2 and compression force relief were studied. For experiments microcrystalline cellulose Avicel PH 102 (MCC) was used. Tablets were compressed in a device used for testing the strength of the material in pressure and tension T1-FRO 50. For the determination of the stress relaxation test, the tablets were compressed with 180 sec first delay. The second delay was always 60 sec but it was measured from certain decrease of pressure (7 kN, 6 kN, 5 kN, 4 kN, 3 kN, 2 kN, 1 kN and 0.1 kN). To...

Dans ce travail nous considérons des problèmes de planification de production sur plusieurs sites avec transport de produits entre ces sites. L’objectif est de synchroniser les deux problèmes (planification et transport) et de construire une solution globale. Le système de production sur chaque site est modélisé comme un problème de Capacitated Lot-Sizing où nous travaillons avec stock et ressources. Le transport de produits entre les sites se ramène à une version simplifiée du Vehicle Routing Problem où le temps est discrétisé. D’abord nous proposons un modèle linéaire en nombres entiers que nous appelons le « Lot-Sizing and Vehicle Routing Problem » (LSVRP). Puis nous présentons deux cas particuliers : le Single-item LSVRP (SLSVRP) et le Single-level LSVRP (1-LSVRP). Les problèmes sont traités ici par six heuristiques que nous avons développé. Quatre de ces méthodes sont des heuristiques qui utilisent la programmation en nombres entiers et prennent en compte la relaxation linéaire de quelques variables du problème. Elles s’appuient sur l’exploration partielle de l’arbre de décision et la fixation de variables. Les deux autres sont spécifiques pour les cas particuliers. La première, qui traite le S-LSVRP, est basée sur la propagation des ordres de production sur chaque site. Puis à chaque itération elle calcule le plan de transport compatible et essaie d’améliorer la solution en modifiant la production sur les sites. L’autre méthode consiste en une relaxation lagrangienne qui travaille sur une modélisation du 1-LSVRP en un problème de flot. Des résultats numériques et des analyses sont présentés pour évaluer l’efficacité de ces heuristiques. / In this work we consider some problems of scheduling both a production distributed on several sites and the transportation of items between those sites. By doing so, the objective is to synchronize the two components and to build a better overall solution. The production system on each site is modeled as a Capacitated Lot-Sizing Problem where stock both on resources and produced items is available. The inter-site items transportation is a simplified version of the Vehicle Routing Problem where time is discretized. We first propose a mixed integer linear programming formulation that we call “The Lot-Sizing and Vehicle Routing Problem” (LSVRP). Then we present two particular cases : The Single-item LSVRP (S-LSVRP) and The Single-level LSVRP (1-LSVRP). All those cases are treated here by the six heuristics we develloped. Four of those methods are MIP based heuristics and take in account the the linear relaxation of some variables of the problem. They rely on partial decision tree exploration along with variable fixing. The other two are specifics for the two particular cases. The one who treats the S-LSVRP is based on production order propagation over the sites. Then, at each iteration, it computes a compatible transportation schedule and it tries to improve the solution by modifying the production on the sites. The other method consists in a lagrangian relaxation that works with an adaptation of the 1-LSVRP into a flow problem. Computational results and analysis are presented to evaluate the efficiency of those heuristics.

Als nicht-invasive Methode bietet die magnetische Kernspinresonanztomographie durch ihre Vielzahl an messbaren Größen wie Wassergehalt und Flussgeschwindigkeiten gute Voraussetzungen, um funktionelle Abläufe in Pflanzen und insbesondere Pflanzenwurzeln zu untersuchen. Für funktionelle NMR-Mikroskopie notwendige Hardware und Methoden wurden in dieser Arbeit entwickelt und angewendet. Aufgrund der starken Suszeptibilitätsunterschiede in den Proben und der notwendigen Zeitauflösung für funktionelle Studien, lag das Hauptaugenmerk dabei auf Turbospinechomethoden (auch als RARE bekannt). Im Rahmen des Hardwareaufbaus wurde ein neuartiges, modulares Probenkopfkonzept entwickelt. Außerdem war es notwendig geeignete Probengefäße und Pflanzenhandlingsysteme zu entwerfen, die die Anbringung einer HF-Spule im Wurzelbereich erlauben. Für die Auswertung gemessener Parameterkarten wurde eine Software geschrieben, mit der interaktiv Mittelwerte entlang geschlossener Pfade berechnet werden können, angepasst an den grob radialsymmetrische Aufbau der Pflanzenwurzeln. Als Grundlage für biologische Aussagen anhand von T1-, T2- und Spindichtekarten wurden aus einer umfangreichen Literaturrecherche die bekannten Zusammenhänge zwischen diesen Parametern und physiologischen Größen zusammengestellt. Ergänzend wurde das Verhalten einer monoexponentiellen Beschreibung der Relaxation von mehr-Kompartimentsystemen und von deren Durchmischung untersucht. Eine Computersimulation der Diffusion zwischen Volumenschichten mit unterschiedlichen Relaxationszeiten wurde implementiert. Damit konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Reichweite der Durchmischung der messbaren Relaxationszeiten bei freier Diffusion abhängig ist von der Diffusionsweite, die nach der Einstein-Smoluchowski-Gleichung aus der jeweils lokalen Relaxationszeit resultiert. Damit ergibt sich eine grundsätzliche Limitierung der räumlichen Auflösung von Relaxationszeitkarten und auch des jeweiligen Relaxationszeitkontrastes in NMR-Bildern. Daneben erklärt der Effekt der durch Diffusion vermittelten Relaxation auch den hellen Ring, der in NMR-Bildern die Wurzeln in Nährlösung umgibt. Die hauptsächliche Anwendung der entwickelten Methodik auf biologische Fragestellungen bestand in der Untersuchung der Reaktion von Maiswurzeln auf Trockenstress. Erstmals konnten dabei im Rahmen dieser Arbeit Kavitationen der Wassersäule im Xylem von Wurzeln sowie deren Wiederbefüllung nach Wiederbewässerung der Pflanzen direkt beobachtet werden. Bei der weiteren systematischen Untersuchung zu Kavitationen gelang es auch, die bislang unbekannte Geschwindigkeit zu bestimmen (Größenordnung 1mm/min) mit der die kavitierten Bereiche von unten mit einer neuen Wassersäule gefüllt werden. Außerdem konnte mit Hilfe von Flussgeschwindigkeitskarten nachgewiesen werden, dass Gefäße mit Kavitationen nach der Wiederbefüllung ihre volle Funktionalität wiedererlangen können. Aus solchen Flusskarten konnte auch der Volumenfluss berechnet und z.B. mit der Transpirationsrate verglichen werden. Die gemessenen T1- und Spindichtekarten bieten viele Hinweise auf die Funktion der unterschiedlichen Gewebetypen der Wurzel während des Trockenstresses und bei der Wiederbefüllung. Insbesondere T1 erwies sich als aussagekräftiger Parameter für die Beurteilung von aufgetretenen Gewebeschäden. Als Grundlage für zukünftige Studien wurden verschiedene Messungen mit Kontrastmittel im Umgebungsmedium der Wurzeln durchgeführt, sowie eine 3D-Turbospinechosequenz implementiert, mit der auch die interne Struktur der Wurzeln und ihrer Verzweigungen dargestellt werden konnte. / MR imaging methods allow the non-invasive determination of values such as flow velocity and water content. Therefore, these methods provide a perfect means for the in-vivo examination of plants together with their surrounding medium. It was the aim of this PhD thesis to develop necessary hardware and software methods for functional studies on plant roots. Because of the large susceptibility differences of these samples and to provide a sufficient time resolution for functional studies especially RARE sequences were used and optimized for the examination of roots. Corn plants were grown in specially designed glass tubes which provided a narrow part for the inclusion of an RF Helmholtz coil. A new, patented concept for modular MR probes was designed. It allows the construction of probes that are adapted to the needs of certain samples like climate chamber probes for plants, without the limitation caused by fixed frequencies for the RF channels. A method to average values of tissues that are composed of concentric layers, like corn roots, or exhibit radial value gradients was implemented. An intense literature research about the known dependency of T1 and T2 on physiologic aspects of plant tissue was performed, resulting in a compilation of relaxation influencing effects. This compilation serves as a basis for the interpretation of the biological experiments. Further theoretical considerations dealt with the effect of a mono exponential description of the relaxation within multi compartment systems and after mixing the contents of these compartments. A computer algorithm was implemented to simulate the free diffusion between volumes that exhibit different relaxation values. It could be shown that transition regions of "mixed" relaxation values occur on the edges of those volume regions. The width of these transition regions can be determined by the Einstein-Smoluchowski-Equation for the diffusion displacement, using the underlying relaxation values as the diffusion time. This effect is a fundamental limitation to the spatial resolution of relaxation maps and to the contrast that those relaxation values create in MR images. Based on this finding, the cause for the bright ring that surrounds roots within nutrient solution in MR images could be explained. It results from the diffusion driven in-flow of quickly relaxing magnetisation from the outer part of the roots into the free solution. The most important biological results of this PhD thesis concern the reaction of plant roots to drought stress and rewatering. In the context of these drought stress experiments, cavitations of the sap in the xylem vessels on the roots could be observed for the first time using MR. In addition, the refilling of these cavitated vessels was monitored systematically. It was possible to measure the velocity of the newly ascending sap level, which was calculated to be in the order of 1mm/min. Using flow imaging, it was also possible to confirm the regained functionality of the refilled vessels for the first time. Based on flow maps, also the volume flow could be calculated and e.g. could be compared to the transpiration rate of the plants. The T1 and spin density maps acquired during the stress experiments give information about the function of the different tissues during desiccation and rewatering. Especially a strong decrease in T1 in the cortex of certain roots could be correlated with an irreversible damage to the tissue. To provide a further basis for future studies, experiments on the uptake of the MR contrast agent Gd-DTPA by the roots were performed. Also a 3D RARE microscopy sequence was implemented and used to follow the inner structure of the branching of a side root.