Cette thèse avait pour but d’étudier dans quelle mesure l’enrichissement des conditions d’hébergement jusqu’à- ou à partir d’-un âge auquel les déficits cognitifs sont déjà présents contribue au maintien de la mémoire spatiale observé chez des rats âgés hébergés toute leur vie en environnement enrichi (EE), et d’étudier certains mécanismes neurobiologiques susceptibles de contribuer à cette préservation. Nous avons montré que l’hébergement en EE n’a pas besoin d’être maintenu jusqu’à la fin de la vie pour permettre la préservation des fonctions cognitives chez le Rat âgé. De plus, un enrichissement tardif ne permet pas de récupérer des capacités déjà altérées mais permet la préservation de certaines fonctions d’altérations subséquentes. Ce maintien de la mémoire spatiale ne semble pas être dû à la modification par l’enrichissement du cycle veille-sommeil. Par contre, cet enrichissement induit une modification de l’activité oscillatoire hippocampique, et pourrait, en favorisant une synchronisation neuronale locale, promouvoir un traitement de l’information au sein de réseaux plus spécialisés. Enfin, l’exposition à un EE pendant toute la vie permet la préservation de l’innervation cholinergique de différentes aires cérébrales, un effet pouvant contribuer au maintien des fonctions cognitives chez les animaux âgés hébergés toute leur vie en EE. / This thesis aimed to investigate in which extent environmental enrichment (EE) until or from an age at which cognitive decline is already apparent contributes to the maintenance of spatial memory observed in aged rats housed all their life in EE, and to study some neurobiological mechanisms likely underlying this preservation. We showed that housing in EE does not need to be maintained until the end of life to allow the preservation of cognitive function in aged rats. Moreover, late EE does not permit the recovery from already altered capabilities, but enables the preservation of some functions of subsequent alterations. The maintenance of spatial memory does not seem to be due to EE-related modification of sleep-wake cycle. But, exposure to EE induces a modification of hippocampal oscillatory activity, and could, by supporting local neuronal synchronization, promote information processing in more specialized networks. Finally, EE preserves the cholinergic system from age-related alteration in different cerebral areas, a mechanism that could participate to the maintenance of cognitive function in aged rats housed all their life in EE.

Cette thèse présente des approches et des outils d'aide à la recherche d'information. Notre travail s'inscrit dans le cadre d'un système de coopération basé sur des ontologies appelé OWSCIS (Ontology and Web Service based Cooperation of Information Sources). Nous traitons le problème de la recherche d'information en proposant une méthode d'enrichissement appelée QUEXME (QUery EXpansion MEthod)de requêtes basée sur l'analyse du comportement des utilisateurs et utilisant la notion d'importance d'un concept par rapport à une requête. Nous avons également abordé le problème de la visualisation dans le système OWSCIS en proposant une architecture du service de visualisation, composée de trois modules : requête, enrichissement et résultats. Les approches proposées dans cette thèse ont été prototypées et l'expérimentation de la méthode QUEXME a été réalisée en utilisant la base d'information (ontologie) développée dans le Système Euro-Méditerranéen d'Information sur les savoir-faire dans le Domaine de l'Eau (SEMIDE). / This thesis presents approaches and tools for information retrieval. Our work is part of a cooperation system based on ontologies called OWSCIS (Ontology and Web Service based Cooperation of Information Sources). We treat the problem of information retrieval by providing an enrichment method called QUEXME (QUery EXpansion MEthod) of queries based on analysis of user behavior and using the concept importance notion with regards to query. We also discussed the problem of visualization in the OWSCIS system offering a architecture of service visualization. It is composed of three modules: the request, enrichment and results. The approaches proposed in this thesis have been prototyped and the testing of the QUEXME method was performed using the information base (ontology) developed in the Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector (EMWIS).

Central point of the thesis at hand is the effort to clarify legal consequences arising out of the conclusion of the usurious contract. Its primary aim is to determine whether the usurious contract is voidable or rather null and void and whether it is possible to uphold the usurious contract either by applying the concept of partial invalidity or by judicial balancing of the grossly disproportionate considerations arising out of the usurious contract. This thesis is structured into two parts. The first chapter of the first part briefly introduces paradigms of the rules related to the usury. The second chapter analyzes individual characteristics of the usury. In the third chapter author argues for the possibility to review the contracts (showing the disproportion of considerations, defects of the abused's will and the element of abuse, however, not fulfilling all the characteristics of the usurious contracts due to narrow definition of the usury) by the good-manners-test. Second part of this thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter analyzes consequences resulting from the violation of the usury prohibition and their impact on the usurer's and the abused's legal position. This chapter also deals with the difficulties in terms of interpretation of rules governing invalidity of legal...

The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment training (FIE) in respondents with Parkinson's disease (PD) in comparison with another type of cognitive training. The specific aim of the study was to verify whether there were differences between the effectiveness of the FIE and the training of the individual cognitive domains for cognitive functions in respondents with PD. The study included patients with PD who underwent an examination by a neuropsychological battery before the beginning of the training in order to evaluate the level of cognitive functions. Based on the demographic characteristics and the overall score in the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-II (DRS-II), the respondents (n = 24) were randomly divided into two research groups. The experimental group (EXP) trained using the FIE method for 60 minutes once a week during three months. The control group (CON) trained the individual cognitive domains. After the cognitive training the respondents were examined again in order to detect changes of the level of each one of the cognitive functions. The examination revealed significant differences in the first and the second phases of testing in the EXP respondents (n = 12) in the level of current anxiety (p = 0.024), memory for non-verbal...

The results of the international study TIMSS (The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) raise concerns that Czech primary pupils fall behind in some content domains of science (namely the physical sciences) and in some skills (experimental skills). This thesis compares the Czech curriculum with the current international trends in the science education and shows that above mentioned topics/skills are not sufficiently covered in the official curriculum. The second part of the thesis describes a case study of a relatively successful implementation of innovative science lessons focused on these skills in three primary classrooms of a Czech school. The concepts of inquiry-based learning, theory of learning materials and lesson study method are the main components of the theoretical and conceptual background of the study. When comparing the Czech curriculum (official documents and textbooks used in school) and school curricular plans with the TIMSS framework, it emerges that both the national curricular framework and the school curriculum do not cover some of those upper mentioned. Based on these findings, a lesson plan introducing some of the missing areas and task types was developed and tested in a particular school. The qualitative research desigh of case study with embedded...

[pt] Os bombardeios nucleares contra Hiroshima e Nagasaki alteraram profundamente o conceito de guerra entre os Estados nacionais. A partir do momento em que os dois cogumelos atômicos espalharam-se as cidades japonesas, a inclusão da ameaça nuclear em conflitos interestatais passou a ser preocupação obrigatória das nações que disputariam áreas de influência diante a Guerra Fria. Estimulada por essa preocupação, a comunidade internacional tomou diversas medidas durante os últimos 50 anos para restringir o uso dos armamentos nucleares. O Tratado de não-Proliferação Nuclear (TNP) foi uma das principais iniciativas para atingir esse fim. Seus artigos determinaram a proibição do desenvolvimento e da aquisição de armamentos nucleares após 1967, além de incentivar o desenvolvimento da tecnologia nuclear civil e o encorajamento do progressivo desarmamento dos Estados.Os acordos firmados no final da década de 60, entretanto, não foram capazes de prever o avanço da tecnologia nuclear. Se o uso pacífico do átomo era permitido em 1968, hoje o desenvolvimento de tecnologias de duplo uso - tais como o enriquecimento de urânio, ainda que para fins pacíficos - não é visto com bons olhos.As dificuldades para verificar a boa-fé do desenvolvimento e do uso dessas tecnologias tornaram a possibilidade de sua proliferação um problema ainda mais temido. O surgimento de programas nucleares clandestinos e, consequentemente, de novos Estados nucleares, além da cada vez mais presente possibilidade de terrorismo nuclear, abalaram a credibilidade do Regime de Não-Proliferação. Para tentar controlar os danos causados por esse problema, diversas reuniões de revisão do TNP vêm tentando preencher as brechas que desafiam o regime.Esta dissertação mostra quais são as principais tensões existentes dentro do regime e como a comunidade internacional e a Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica estão atuando para lidar com essas dificuldades. A análise do artigo IV do TNP parece demonstrar que, se as cláusulas do contrato não forem cumpridas de forma igualitária por todos os Estados-parte, será muito difícil resolver os problemas da não-proliferação. / [en] The nuclear bombings over hiroshima and Nagasaki have deeply changed the concept of war among national States. From the moment the two atomic mushroom clouds spread in the sky over the Japanese cities, the inclusion of the nuclear threat in interstate conflicts has become a mandatory worry to the nations that would struggle for influence areas during the Cold War.Stimulated by these worries, the international community has taken several measures over last 50 years in order to curb the use of nuclear weapons. The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has been one of the main initiatives aimed at this purpose. Its articles instituted the proscription of developing and acquiring nuclear weapons after 1967, besides motivating the expasion of civil nuclear technology and heartening the progressive disarmament of states. The agreements signed by the end of the 60s, however, were not able to predict the advance of nuclear technology. If the peaceful use of the atom was allowed back in 1968, today the development of dual-use technology- such as uranium enrichment, even for peaceful reasons - is still frowned upon.The difficulties to examine the true intentions behind developing and using this technology have changed the possibility of its proliferation into a truly fearsome problem. The blossoming of rogue nuclear programs, and, therefore, of new nuclear states, allied to the growing threat of nuclear terrorism, has shaken the credibility of the non-proliferation regime. In order to control the damages induced by this problem, several review conferences have been trying to mend the gaps that challenge the regime.This paper tries to show which are the main tensions inside the regime and how the international community and the Internatonal Atomic Energy Agency are trying to cope with these matters. The analysis of Articles IV of the NPT seems to demonstrate that if the treaty provisions are not equally observed by all member states, it will be extremely hard to overcome the problems of non-proliferation.

STAT5A et B sont des facteurs de transcription qui constituent le point de convergence de nombreux signaux extracellulaires. Parmi leurs fonctions biologiques, ils sont connus pour leur rôle dans le développement et la différentiation des cellules hématopoïétiques. Cependant, un taux d’activation et/ou d’expression élevé de ces protéines aboutit à une prolifération incontrôlée des cellules aboutissant ainsi à une leucémogenèse. Ce présent travail vise à caractériser des aptamères ADN (Apta1 et Apta2) sélectionnés préalablement au sein de notre laboratoire contre STAT5B afin de réguler son activité dans le contexte leucémique. Les aptamères ADN sont des oligonucléotides simple brin qui adoptent une structure 3D et interagissent de manière spécifique avec leurs cibles. Contrairement aux anticorps, ils sont peu immunogènes ; ils possèdent alors un potentiel thérapeutique intéressant. La première partie de ce projet se focalise sur l’étude de la capacité d’Apta1 et Apta2 à interagir avec la forme cellulaire et recombinante de STAT5B par pull down et calorimétrie à titrage isotherme. La seconde partie concerne l’évaluation de l’activité d’Apta2 par l’étude de son effet sur la viabilité d’un modèle de leucémie myéloïde chronique et sur sa capacité à perturber la voie de signalisation impliquant STAT5. / STAT5A and B are common transcription factors that constitute a convergent point for many cellular pathways. Among their multiple biological functions, they are well known in promoting immune cell development and differentiation. When some oncogenic mutations occur, STAT5A and B are highly activated leading to uncontrolled proliferation and then to leukemia. Thus, they constitute a prime target to therapeutic intervention. In this work, we characterize new DNA aptamers (Apta1 and Apta2) selected previously by our laboratory against STAT5B. DNA aptamers are single stranded DNA molecules that can adopt 3D structures and recognize specific targets. Unlike antibodies, they fail to induce the immune response: they emerge as potentiel therapeutic molecules. In the first part of this work, the selected aptamers were assessed on their ability to interact with the cellular and recombinant form of STAT5B by using pull down assay and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry. In the second part, we focused on evaluating the effect of Apta2 on chronic myeloid leukemia cell line. For this purpose, cell viability, apoptosis process and JAK-STAT5 signaling pathway were depicted when cells are treated with Apta2.

Patients with epilepsy often suffer debilitating cognitive and psycho-affective disorders.In some cases, epilepsy is associated to neurodegenerative processes that are the targetof certain therapeutical agents. Today, erythropoietin is considered as one of the most promising neuroprotective agents. In addition, an increased body of studies provides evidence that enrichment (or complexity) of housing decreases the cerebral vulnerabilityin the context of diverse brain insults. In this thesis, we demonstrate: 1) in a model ofepilepsy with large neuronal lesions, that erythropoietin protects the most vulnerable neuronal populations to excitotoxic injury, at the only condition that neuronal expression of its receptor is optimized prior to the primary insult causing epilepsy; 2) in a model of epilepsy associated with faint neuronal lesions that: i) erythropoietin prevents anxietyand impaired spatial learning and memory, ii) enriched housing in Marlau™ cages is moreefficient than erythropoietin, and iii) erythropoietin treatment abolishes beneficial effectsof enriched housing. These results, obtained in animal models of epilepsies associatedwith cognitive disorders establish that beneficial effects of a potential therapeutic agentmay rely on quality of life / Dans de nombreux cas, les patients avec des épilepsies présentent d’importants troubles cognitifs et psycho-affectifs. Ces épilepsies sont parfois accompagnées de phénomènes neuro-dégénératifs qui sont la cible de certains agents thérapeutiques. Aujourd’hui, l’érythropoïétine apparaît comme l’un des agents neuro-protecteurs les plus prometteurs.En outre, des études de plus en plus nombreuses montrent que l’enrichissement (ou la complexification) des conditions d’hébergement diminue la vulnérabilité cérébrale face à des agressions d’origine différente. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons : 1) dans un modèle d’épilepsie accompagné de vastes lésions neuronales, que l’érythropoïétine protège les populations neuronales les plus vulnérables aux atteintes excitotoxiques, à la condition d’optimiser l’expression neuronale de son récepteur, préalablement à l’agression cérébrale ayant initié l’épilepsie ; 2) dans un modèle d’épilepsie associé à des phénomènes neurodégénératifs très discrets, que : i) l’érythropoïétine bloque le développement de l’anxiété et des troubles de l’apprentissage et de la mémoire spatiale,ii) l’enrichissement du milieu d’hébergement en cages Marlau™ est plus efficace que l’érythropoïétine, et iii) le traitement par l’érythropoïétine annihile les effets bénéfiques de l’enrichissement du milieu d’hébergement. Les résultats de cette thèse, obtenus dans des modèles expérimentaux d’épilepsies associés à des troubles cognitifs, démontrent que les effets bénéfiques d’un potentiel agent thérapeutique peuvent dépendre de la qualité de vie

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Instrumental Enrichment, an educational program developed by Reuven Feuerstein, which attempts to improve an individual's ability to reason. A meta-analysis was performed on studies that had been conducted between the years 1979 to 1996. Thirty-six studies were analyzed according to their results from measurements in the cognitive/visual-perceptual, academic achievement and affective domains. The results from the meta-analysis were mixed. There were significant combined effect sizes of 0.24 for non-verbal ability, 1.41 for verbal ability, and 0.60 for one combination of full-scale ability. Significant effect sizes for measures of visual perception and visual-motor ability were 0.42, 0.71 and 1.68. There were also significant effect sizes for general achievement and for one combination of math achievement at 0.26 and 0.29 respectively. The intellectual achievement locus of control effect size was significant at 0.33. (Cohen (1988) considers an effect size of 0.20 to be small, that of 0.50 to be of medium size, and that of 0.80 to be large.) All effect sizes for reading were non-significant as was that for the Learning Potential Assessment Device. All other measures, such as those for self-confidence, self-concept, motivation and attitudes, in the affective domain were non-significant. One effect size for motivation and attitudes was significantly negative, indicating that the control group outperformed the treatment group. The results are discussed in terms of near- and far-transfer of learning. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The dissertation examines the enforcement of monetary claims in cases of intellectual property rights infringement. It focuses on the Act n. 221/2006 Sb. on the enforcement of intellectual property and on the directive 2004/48/EC of the European parliament and of the Council. The main aim is to evaluate the extent of monetary claims especially with regard on possible overlap or mutual consumption of the claims.The second aim is the analysis of English terminology in relation to the nearest Czech equivalents. The dissertation uses methods of logic induction and abstraction and the international multilateral comparative method, where the use of language plays a crucial role. The exact method of modelling combined with mathematical game theory is used. The dissertation progressively explains terms and relevant enactments. It introduces existing ambiguities. It tries to clarify them by analysing the EU legislation, the implementations in different member states, the statutory and common law in the USA. Consecutively it focuses on unjust enrichment in English law, then in the USA and in the continental system, where this institute is set negatively -- as the unjustified enrichment. Within the whole thesis the analysis takes place in relation to intellectual property rights infringement. In the penultimate chapter, TRIPS and ACTA are compared with the directive 2004/48/EC to provide further explanations. The dissertation concludes that a parallel award of damages and infringer's profits theoretically is possible, when it is not a single flow of value which is concerned by the infringement. The dissertation negatively replies to the question if damages and infringer's profits may be awarded concurrently in two separate lump-sum amounts according to § 5 (2) or (3) of the Act n. 221/2006 Sb. The reason is that the rate of the royalty is applied to sales of the infringer. These sales relate to the unjust enrichment of the infringer. If damages were again calculated by applying the same rate to the same sales, that would be double recovery. But theoretically this possibility cannot be excluded. A real-world example is very hard to find, even in the non-lump-sum form. Collateral sales awarded with lost profit in US law may serve as one. From the EU documents it seems, that infringer's profits is equalled to unjust enrichment and that is translated as unjustified enrichment. But English theory distinguishes restitution of unjust enrichment and gain-based recovery for wrong, the latter encompassing the award of infringer's profits in the form of damages. The broader Czech notion of unjustified enrichment is not to be equalled to unjust enrichment in the pure English notion, because the former encompasses also intentional wrongs. With regard to the restitution of infringer's profits based on unjust enrichment, the intent plays a role. The broader notion of unjust enrichment relevant to intellectual property rights infringement is called interceptive unjust enrichment, where enrichment "from the property of the plaintiff" is at stake and it is also possible to claim profits gained by the infringement. Focus is on the enrichment "from the property", not on the wrong. The dissertation examines the terms "account of profits", apportionment of profits", "disgorgement" and impure negotiorum gestio with regard to intellectual property infringement. In several countries reasonable royalty is regarded as good measure of net gain from the infringement of intellectual property. When the infringement was not innocent or wilful, it's possible to claim not only the objective enrichment but also the subjective enrichment -- profits of the infringer. In Czech law, that is represented by the emoluments from the enrichment. The aim of the last chapter is to evaluate, in the context of the operation of other relevant elements of legal environment, the preventive function of the double royalty claim introduced by the Act n. 221/2006 Sb. By construing a game theory model and using simulation, the thesis concludes that in lower royalty intervals, where attorney's costs are a high burden, the effect of the double royalty is insignificant. Where "more significant infringements" are at stake, and the royalty passes a given frontier, the application of the double royalty heightens the preventive function of the Act. Those "more significant infringements" have two intervals -- with the highest effect of the double royalty and with the "stabilized effect of the double royalty". But overall, in cases of "more significant infringements", the application of the double represents a heightening of the preventive power by a third and fifth respectively, and this is true only in the case, where the prospective infringers would try to calculate the effect of their infringement before infringing.