This work deals with the determination of metals in soils taken close to the railway. Copper, zinc, nickel and chromium were selected as indicators of the environment contamination. Samples were taken from three localities in South Bohemia. These localities were chosen on the basis of different types of railway tracks (electrified and nonelectrified) and different frequency of train connection. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used for the determination of the metals. An AAS Thermo Scientific iCE 3500 spectrometer served to determine individual analytes. The highest level of copper pollution was detected for samples taken close to the railway with electrified track and with high frequency of train connection. The highest Cu concentration (66.30 mg/kg) was determined in the soil sample from 20cm depth. The highest level of zinc pollution was detected for samples taken in the distance of 3 m from the railway with electrified track and with high frequency of train connection. The highest Zn concentration (641.77 mg/kg) was determined in the soil sample from 30cm depth. The highest concentrations of other metals (Ni and Cr) were detected for the railway with nonelectrified track and with low frequency of train connection. The highest concentrations of Ni and Cr were 21.89 and 54.89 mg/kg, respectively. These concentrations were obtained for samples taken close to the railway.

Investigation of creatine- and adenylate phosphates involvement in fish spermatozoa metabolism is of high interest for fish spermatology. These compounds are necessary to support normal physiological state and motility of spermatozoa. The simultaneous changes in content of creatine- and adenylate phosphates in fish spermatozoa prior and during their motility are quite unclear. Therefore, studying and development of new methods for the quantification of creatine- and adenylate phosphates in spermatozoa of different fish species under such physiological conditions as maturation and in vitro manipulation are of high importance. One of the study outputs is the developed LC/HRPS (liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution product scan) method for the analysis of creatine- and adenylate phosphates content in fish spermatozoa (Chapter 2). Its main advantage is the possibility to detect and quantify several compounds (creatine, creatine phosphate (CP), AMP, ADP, ATP, and cAMP) simultaneously to obtain maximum information with minimum analytical effort. The method was validated taking into account such key parameters as limit of quantification, selectivity, recovery and repeatability. It represented an excellent performance allowing determination of target compounds in highly diluted fish sperm samples. Consequently, the method was applied for the quantification of aforementioned substances during sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) spermatozoa maturation and in vitro manipulation with sperm of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus maraena) and European eel (Anguilla Anguilla). The present study showed that immature sterlet spermatozoa are not able to initiate motility. Significant decrease of CP and stable levels of ATP and ADP content during their maturation were found. The critical importance of ATP regeneration system and oxidative phosphorilation for the maturation process of sterlet sperm as a prerequisite for successful fertilization was assumed (Chapter 3). Further experiments revealed that European eel spermatozoa were not able to initiate motility by activation medium (AM) at the start of the induced spermiation. They acquired the ability to be activated after the dilution with AM at the end of hormonal treatment. This accompanied by the increase of CP and cAMP levels in spermatozoa after activation. That allowed us to assume the involvement of ATP regenerating system and cAMP-dependent regulatory pathways in the process of hormonally induced spermiation (Chapter 4). Current study represents a first successful estimation of cAMP in fish spermatozoa during the motility period using the LC/HRPS. Important issues concerning the short-term storage of European eel sperm were rised. Storage at 4 °C was accompanied by higher marcoergic phosphates content and higher motility in comparison to the storage at 20 °C. It suggests the involvement of macroergic phosphates metabolism in short-term storage. (Chapter 4). Obtained results could contribute to the development of new effective methods for improving of spermiation and short-term sperm storage in European eel aquaculture. Various degrees of energy consumption in response to environment composition were found in whitefish spermatozoa. Energy consumption was significantly higher in motility activating conditions. No effect of osmolality was found on this process. The content of CP and ATP was significantly higher when cells were in motility inhibiting medium comparing to activation medium. No relationship between content of CP, ADP, and ATP and spermatozoa motility parameters in AM of different osmolality was found. Isotonic conditions favor the spermatozoa with longer motility period, higher linearity, and fast velocity without increase in ATP content (Chapter 5). This suggests that whitefish sperm energy management is more efficient after activation in isotonic conditions. Obtained results are of high interest for elaboration of new sperm motility activating media for fisheries practice.

The diploma thesis with name “Monitoring the Impact of Simulated Rainfall on Soil with Flushing Water by EIS Method” deals with the problems of soil degradation due to salinization and sodification in consequence of infiltration of flushing waters from roads during winter maintenance. This experiment was realized in laboratories of the Institute of water structures of the Faculty of Civil engineering at Brno University of Technology and researched the influence of simulated rainfall on degraded soil by method of electrical impedance spectrometry (EIS). The thesis follows the solution of projects in international EUREKA program.

This work deals with the content of iodine in soils, furthermore with obtaining and processing samples from four selected sampling areas, all of which are in the proximity of the Arnoštov settlement in district Prachatice in the foothills of Šumava. The soil samples were obtained from forest, meadow, pasture and fallow soil in 2009 to 2011. The iodine content in the soils was determined by using the spectrophotometric method, which had been optimized for the soil samples. Iodine concentration in lysimeter water was determined by using method inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry. The results obtained from each sampling areas were compared with each other and with the results from other areas. Consequently, the iodine concentration results in the soils were compared with the iodine concentration in lysimeter waters. It was found, that the highest iodine content in soils was measured in a sample obtained from Area 1 (meadow), part B in a depth of 16 - 30 cm in June of 2009, namely a content of 8,67 mg of I per kg of dry soil. The lowest content of 1,42 mg of I per kg of soil was found in the area 4 (forest), sample obtained in June of 2010, in the L horizon. By comparing iodine content with iodine concentrations in lysimeter waters, it was concluded that the concentration of iodine in lysimeter waters does not depend on iodine concentrations in soils and that it does not even represent the absolute iodine content in soil, as was determined by comparing the results from Arnoštov with data acquired from Agrovýzkum Rapotín in Jeseníky.

Proteomics as a modern comprehensive approach to the analysis of proteomes was applied in three projects aimed at diagnosis and therapy of cancer. The aim of the first the project was to find a new diagnostic biomarker for ovarian cancer. Two different comparative proteomic approaches were used for comparative analysis of sera from patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer and from healthy age-matched women. We identified -1-antitrypsin with increased concentration in patien sera, and apolipoprotein A4 and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) with significantly decreased concentration in patients. The significantly decerased concentration of RBP4 in patients is a new observation. We propose that RBP4 is either decreased in ovarian cancer patients as a result of its reduced production by ovary or it may reflect less specific systemic changes, for instance early onset of cancer cachexia. The second project was focused on gaining insight into the molecular mechanism of cytarabine resistance in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of cytarabine-resistant cells revealed marked downregulation of deoxycytidine kinase (DCK) - a protein essential to intracellular activation of purine and pyrimidine nucleosides and their analogues including cytarabine. The cytarabine-resistant MCL...

In the works presented here, we studied molecular changes associated with drug resistance in human mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) cells using proteomics. Our analyses allowed us to identify causal and/or secondary changes in protein expression associated with the development of resistance to the experimental drug TRAIL and the clinically used antimetabolites cytarabine and fludarabine. Resistance of MCL cells to the recombinant proapoptotic cytokine TRAIL was associated with downregulation of key enzymes of purine metabolism. This pathway potentially represents a molecular "weakness", which could be used as a therapeutic target for selective elimination of such resistant cells. Resistance to the pyrimidine analog drug cytarabine was associated with cross-resistance to other antinucleosides. Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses showed pronounced downregulation of deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), which activates both purine and pyrimidine antinucleosides. This change explains the cross-resistance and is the causal mechanism of resistance to cytarabine. Our observations suggest that MCL patients, who do not respond to cytarabine-based therapy, should be treated with non-nucleoside drugs. MCL cells resistant to purine-derived antinucleoside fludarabine were cross-resistant to all tested antinucleosides and...

The mutated forms of the Discs overgrown gene causes overproliferation of imaginal discs of Drosophila melanogaster. Somatic mutations in its human counterpart, casein kinase I epsilon, were strongly associated with human breast cancer. Using the advantage of a high conservancy between fly's dco and human casein kinase I epsilon genes we have chosen D. melanogaster as a model organism to provide a list of probable Dco interaction partners via tandem affinity purification and mass spectrometry analysis. However, these proteins need to be independently verified as true Dco interaction partners.

This diploma thesis is focused on the construction of the electrochemical cells for the lead determination using electrochemical generation of volatile compounds connected with the atomic absorption spectrometry as a detection technique. Three different electrochemical cells were constructed: membrane electrochemical cell (MEC), non-membrane electrochemical cell 1 (BEC1) and non-membrane electrochemical cell 2 (BEC2). Experimental conditions were optimized in continuous flow mode with cells BEC1 and BEC2. The optimization include flow rate of carrier gas, composition and concentration of the electrolytic solution, atomization temperature, generation current and voltage applied to the electrode material. A 1.0 mm diameter cadmium wire was used as cathode material and the anode material was composed of platinum wire of 0.5 mm in diameter. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the calibration was constructed and basic characteristics of proposed method were determined for the BEC1 and BEC2 cells: limit of detection, limit of quantification, repeatability, sensitivity, linear dynamic range and correlation factor of linear dynamic range. The cell MEC was found to be unsuitable for the lead determination by the electrochemical generation of volatile compounds. Using the BEC1 cell, the experimental...

This work is focused on the occurrence of surface-active substances in the environment. It deals with the development and optimization of methods for the determination of selected surfactants in samples from rivers and from influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants. Representatives of anionic, nonionic and zwitterionic surfactants were selected as target compounds. Based on optimization of analytical methods and their pilot testing abroad on samples of surface water, the selection of analytes for the conditions in the Czech Republic were corrected and operatively expanded. For the final analysis liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry was used. Analysis of cationic surfactants was realized using liquid chromatograph with UV-VIS detector. This optimized method for analysis of anionic surfactants was applied to real samples. Samples of surface running water were from the River Thurso in Scotland and then from watercourses in the catchment area of Moravia river were collected. In addition to the grab sampling also continuous weekly sampling of water from Tvaroženský potok and Litava was realized. Waste water was collected at inflow and outflow of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in South Moravia (Brno – Modřice, Břeclav and Hodonín).

In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird ein neues experimentelles Konzept zur Durchführung von Gravitationswellendetektion und Spektrometrie mit einem Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) Interferometer im Weltraum untersucht. Dabei wird das Rauschbudget des Instruments bewertet. Die grundlegenden experimentellen Anforderungen werden berechnet. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Leistung und Wellenlänge der verschränkten Photonenquelle, zusammen mit der Winkelgenauigkeit der Messung der Photonenpolarisationsdrehung, die Haupteinschränkungen bilden, um die Art der Gravitationswellenquellen zu bestimmen, die das Ziel von HOM - Gravitationswellenspektrometern sein würden. Die derzeit verfügbaren pW-Leistungen mit typischen Photonenfrequenzen in der Größenordnung von 1014 Hz (sichtbarer - UV-Anteil des optischen Spektrums) sind völlig ungeeignet, was die erforderliche Detektionszeit für eine der Gravitationswellenquellen betrifft, die derzeit von bodenund raumgestützten Gravitationswellendetektoren anvisiert werden. Der Betrieb des HOM-Interferometers als GW-Spektrometer wird mit einem numerischen Modell veranschaulicht, das die von LIGO am 14 September 2015 (GW150914-Ereignis) aufgezeichneten Gravitationswellendehnungsdaten verwendet. Unter der Annahme einer Winkelgenauigkeit von μrad für die Messung der Polarisationsdrehung von Photonen könnten diese Messungen nur mit Armlängen des HOM-Interferometers in der Größenordnung von 10.000 km (nur im Weltraum erreichbar, wenn wir keine optischen Kavitäten verwenden) und unter Verwendung von verschwänkten Photonenquellen von etwa 1 W Leistung durchgeführt werden, die verschränkte Photonen mit Wellenlängen im Radiowellenbereich des elektromagnetischen Spektrumserzeugen, (10 MHz), und unter Verwendung von Photodetektoren mit minimaler Detektionszeit für einzelne Photonen und minimaler detektierbarer Leistung, die weit von den Möglichkeiten der gegenwärtigen Photodetektortechnologie entfernt sind. Auch die erforderliche Präzision der Uhrensynchronisation, um die Koinzidenz- Zählgeschichte zu erfassen, ist noch ange nicht erreicht. Obwohl die Technologie zur Herstellung der erforderlichen verschränkten Photonenquellen, Photodetektoren und Uhrensynchronisationsgenauigkeit derzeit nicht verfügbar sind, diskutieren wir verschiedene Missionsszenarien zur Implementierung eines großarmigen HOMInterferometers.:Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Gravitational waves and their measurement 7 2.1 Theory of general relativity in a nutshell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2 On the physical nature of gravitational waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.2.1 Effect of gravitational waves on the test masses of a detector . 15 2.2.2 Estimation of gravitational wave’s amplitude . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.2.3 Gravitational radiation luminosity and cross section of the Hydrogen atom to GWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.3 Measuring cosmic distances with GW astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.4 Influence of gravitational waves on photon’s polarization . . . . . . . 28 2.4.1 Effect of gravitational waves on the parallel transport of photon’s polarization four-vector - revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.4.2 Effect of primordial gravitational waves on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2.4.3 Gravitomagnetic Faraday effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.5 Michelson type gravitational wave antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 2.6 Rough estimation of the sensitivity and cross section of Michelson type detectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 3 Interaction of gravitational waves with Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometers 47 3.1 Fundamental nature of quantum entanglement in brief . . . . . . . . 47 3.2 Why a HOM interferometer to detect GWs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 3.3 Quantum mechanics of Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometers . . . . . . . 54 3.4 Principle of gravitational waves detection with a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 3.5 Instrument noise budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 3.6 Basic experimental requirements for HOM based gravitational waves detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4 Gravitational waves spectrometry with a Hong Ou Mandel interferometer in space 77 4.1 Principles of gravitational waves spectrometry with a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 4.2 Hong-Ou-Mandel spectrometer in geostationary orbit . . . . . . . . . 93 4.3 Hong-Ou-Mandel spectrometer scanner in space . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 5 HOMER mission scenarios for gravitational waves spectrometry - basic design requirements 97 5.1 HOMER mission design analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 5.1.1 HOMER GEO mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 5.1.2 HOMER ground-GEO mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 5.1.3 HOMER scanner mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 5.2 Influence of earth gravitomagnetism on photon polarization . . . . . 106 5.3 Payload design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 5.4 Spacecraft design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 5.5 Summary of HOMER mission requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 6 Outlook and conclusions 129 6.1 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 6.1.1 HOM gravitational wave detector with optical cavities . . . . 129 6.1.2 Bright entangled heralded photon sources . . . . . . . . . . . 130 6.2 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 7 ANNEX: Detailed derivation of gravitational waves and gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic fields 137 7.1 Weak gravitational fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 7.2 General relativity for the practical physicist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 7.3 Gravitational wave equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 7.4 Gravitoelectromagnetic split of spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 7.4.1 Gravitational scalar potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 7.4.2 Gravitomagnetic vector potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 7.4.3 Space curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 7.5 Maxwell-type gravitational equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 7.6 Gravitomagnetic waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 7.7 The equations of motion in the weak field approximation . . . . . . . 156 7.8 Production of gravitational radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Bibliography 163