The cell membrane is a highly complex structure consisting of a large diversity of phospholipids and macromolecules. There exist a variety of diseases that compromise the integrity of this key component of the cell. This thesis considers the investigation of interactions between β-amyloid peptide (Aβ₄₂) and lipid bilayers. To facilitate understanding of this complex system, it is advantageous to employ a model sample; supported lipid bilayers (SLB) and giant multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) are used as proxy cell membranes. These nanostructures are widely used as models of cellular membranes in many areas of scientific research. Phospholipid molecules self-organise into bilayer structures containing phase-separated microdomains, which are believed to be important in many biological processes. This study aims to develop model systems and experimental tools to explore hypothetical mechanisms through which the β-amyloid interacts with the lipid membranes. A lack of mechanistic understanding is the major challenge to our efforts to elucidate not only the interactions of the Aβ42 with the lipid membranes, but also the behaviour of these systems towards the changes of the environmental conditions (pH, concentration, temperature). Our results suggest that there are various different methods, such as AFM, CARS microscopy and Raman spectroscopy as well as neutron scattering that are capable of fast imaging. Overall, all these techniques contributed in a complementary study of Aβ₄₂ aggregation states under extreme and physiological conditions as well as to image Aβ₄₂ interactions with lipid bilayers consisted of specific lipids.

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This thesis is concerned with the simulation model of an OPAT dummy rider on a Norton motorcycle in different configured impacts with a rigid barrier. The mathematical equations used in describing the mass-spring-damper-based impacts have been given. The software used in designing the mathematical model have also been outlined. The simulation model was then calibrated against full scale crash tests by means of film analysis and the processed digitised measurements. This led to the investigations into numerical processing of differentiation and integration. A parametric study was also conducted to examine injury to the dummy rider based on some varying parameters. The simulation model was further verified by different configurations and also an introduction of an airbag. Finally, the model was extended to a HYBRID3 dummy rider on the same motorcycle in different configured impacts with a motor car. It is hoped that after the validations and verifications have been performed to examine the robustness of the simulation model, it can assist in the analyses of motorcycle impacts with the less frequent need of conducting a full scale crash test, so that safety design of a motorcycle can be established.

The Dissertation work assesses the position of Renault brand on the market of personal and light utility vehicles in Czech Republic through the competitive analysis. Theoretical part describes methods of the sector analysis and competitor analysis. That part is focused on the competitive advantage as the main pillar of success in terms of the competition battles on the market. Introduction of the practical part depicts current situation, structure and and genesis of the car market in the Czech Republic. It is followed by image analysis of the Renault brand and its comparison with other significant vehicle brands. Practical part is concluded by comparison of competitors in the particular segment determined according to results of the Renault portfolio analysis.

Es werden in dieser Arbeit Raman-spektroskopische Untersuchungen an metallfreien Porphyrinen in verdünnter Lösung vorgestellt. Dabei werden Laseranregungswellenlängen eingesetzt, die mit elektronischen Resonanzen der Porphyrine zusammenfallen. Die Ausnutzung von Resonanz-Effekten hat zum einen den Vorteil, dass gewisse Raman-Banden, je nach der Symmetrie der zugrunde liegenden Molekülschwingung, eine deutliche Intensitätsverstärkung erfahren können, was den Nachweis auch geringer Probenkonzentrationen ermöglicht. Zum anderen sind anhand der Banden-Parameter Rückschlüsse auf die exakte Molekülsymmetrie möglich. Im Vergleich zu Metalloporphyrinen sind für metallfreie Porphyrine bisher nur wenige Daten aus resonanten Raman-Spektren bekannt. Ein Grund hierfür ist, dass letztere ein höheres Maß an Fluoreszenz zeigen, die die Raman-Signale überlagert. Während bei Laseranregungen im Bereich hochenergetischer elektronischer Absorptionen der Porphyrine (B-Banden-Region) die klassische spontane Raman-Spektroskopie noch angewendet werden kann, ist dies im Bereich niederenergetischer Absorptionen (Q-Banden-Region) meist nicht mehr möglich. Um auch Anregungen in der Q-Banden-Region zu verwirklichen, wird daher in dieser Arbeit von der kohärenten anti-Stokesschen Raman-Streuung (coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering, CARS) Gebrauch gemacht. Die CARS-Spektroskopie ermöglicht es, das Fluoreszenzproblem zu umgehen, und bietet zudem noch weitere Vorteile, z. B. bezüglich der Unterscheidbarkeit spektral benachbarter Banden sowie bezüglich der Bestimmung symmetrierelevanter Parameter. Raman-Banden-Parameter aus Q-Banden-CARS-Spektren konnten hier für vier metallfreie Porphyrine, die sich im Substitutionsmuster an den beta-Kohlenstoffatomen des Tetrapyrrol-Makrozyklus unterscheiden, erhalten werden. Die CARS-Parameter, in Kombination mit Parametern aus spontanen B-Banden-Raman-Spektren sowie mit quantenchemisch berechneten Schwingungsvektoren, ließen den Schluss zu, dass Symmetrieunterschiede zwischen den Makrozyklen dieser Moleküle zwar gering, aber durchaus feststellbar sind. Desweiteren konnten durch die niederenergetische Anregung für die metallfreien Porphyrine spezifische Resonanzeffekte nachgewiesen werden, die z. T. von den für Metalloporphyrine bekannten Mustern abweichen. / In this thesis, Raman spectroscopic investigations on free-base porphyrins in dilute solution are presented. For this, laser excitation wavelengths are employed, that coincide with electronic resonances of the porphyrins. Exploiting resonance effects provides, on one hand, the advantage, that certain Raman bands, depending on the symmetry of the corresponding molecular vibration, can experience a significant intensity enhancement, which facilitates the detection of even small sample concentrations. On the other hand, through the band parameters conclusions about the exact molecular symmetry are possible. Compared to metalloporphyrins, for free-base porphyrins only few data from resonant Raman spectra are known. One reason for that is, that the latter exhibit a higher amount of fluorescence which overlays the Raman signals. While with laser excitation in the high energy electronic absorption range of porphyrins (B band region) the classical spontaneous Raman spectroscopy is still applicable, it often fails in the low energy absorption range (Q band region). Therefore, to also perform excitations in the Q band region, in this work it is made use of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). The CARS spectroscopy allows to circumvent the fluorescence problem and offers additional advantages, e. g. concerning the discrimination of spectrally closely spaced bands and concerning the determination of symmetry relevant parameters. Raman band parameters from Q band CARS spectra could be obtained here for four free-base porphyrins, which differ in the substitution pattern at the beta carbon atoms of the tetrapyrrole macrocycle. The CARS parameters, in combination with parameters from spontaneous B band Raman spectra as well as with quantum chemically calculated vibrational vectors, allowed the conclusion, that differences in symmetry between the macrocycles of these molecules are small, but nevertheless detectable. Further, the low energy excitation revealed specific resonance effects for free-base porphyrins, that in part differ from the patterns known for metallo porphyrins.

"In this PhD dissertation, we propose distributed adaptation mechanisms for connected vehicles to deal with the connectivity challenges. To understand the system behavior of the solutions for connected vehicles, we first need to characterize the operational environment. Therefore, we devised a large scale fading model for various link types, including point-to-point vehicular communications and multi-hop connected vehicles. We explored two small scale fading models to define the characteristics of multi-hop connected vehicles. Taking our research into multi-hop connected vehicles one step further, we propose selective information relaying to avoid message congestion due to redundant messages received by the relay vehicle. Results show that the proposed mechanism reduces messaging load by up to 75% without sacrificing environmental awareness. Once we define the channel characteristics, we propose a distributed congestion control algorithm to solve the messaging overhead on the channels as the next research interest of this dissertation. We propose a combined transmit power and message rate adaptation for connected vehicles. The proposed algorithm increases the environmental awareness and achieves the application requirements by considering highly dynamic network characteristics. Both power and rate adaptation mechanisms are performed jointly to avoid one result affecting the other negatively. Results prove that the proposed algorithm can increase awareness by 20% while keeping the channel load and interference at almost the same level as well as improve the average message rate by 18%. As the last step of this dissertation, distributed cooperative dynamic spectrum access technique is proposed to solve the channel overhead and the limited resources issues. The adaptive energy detection threshold, which is used to decide whether the channel is busy, is optimized in this work by using a computationally efficient numerical approach. Each vehicle evaluates the available channels by voting on the information received from one-hop neighbors. An interdisciplinary approach referred to as entropy-based weighting is used for defining the neighbor credibility. Once the vehicle accesses the channel, we propose a decision mechanism for channel switching that is inspired by the optimal flower selection process employed by bumblebees foraging. Experimental results show that by using the proposed distributed cooperative spectrum sensing mechanism, spectrum detection error converges to zero."

The purpose of this qualitative macromarketing investigation is to explore the issue of the sustainability of marketing systems. Drawing on complex systems thinking, an alternative logic of marketing systems and a methodological basis for interpreting communicated meanings are developed. The alternative logic of marketing systems recognises the unity of a difference between a marketing system and its environment. This insight has become a cornerstone for synthesising the systeming methodology. Systeming comprises the philosophy, the model, and the method of interpreting communication-as-self-observation of marketing system agents. Data, communication by hybrid car manufacturers and consumers, were collected from netnographic sources such as corporate websites, reports posted online, weblogs, and consumer forums. The interpretation of these data was accomplished using systeming procedures, e.g. communication analysis, distinction identification, re-entry description, and logical level tracking. The systeming analysis of the hybrid car marketer and consumer communications illustrates that meaning-creation in the system is underpinned by purposeful human behaviour in reducing complexity of marketplace experience into a meaningful pattern, sustainability. Both manufacturers and consumers claim to become sustainable in reference to being unsustainable by creating self-referential differences, operating in different interaction contexts, and expanding meaning paradoxes. The interpretation shows that interactive meaning-creation in the system is inherently contradictory. Manufacturers expand (give a logical form to) contradictions through introducing hierarchical meaning structures, temporality, new functions, and communicative transvection. Consumers deal with the contradictions through enriching co-creation experiences and learning the proper continuation of specific hybrid car driving practices. The significant insight gained from this investigation is that the hybrid car marketing system is not a passive entity; it is the locus of purposefully expanding meanings. Two modes of sustainability with regard to the hybrid car marketing system can be distinguished: the content of communication that denotes enacted meanings of sustainability and the form of communication that indicates how sustainable these sustainability enactments are. The content/form distinction implies that the sustainability of the hybrid car marketing system is a matter of interactive meaning-creation between system agents. The sustainable development process, in at least a mobility domain, is driven by purposeful social interaction rather than static product attributes. This investigation is innovative because it a) offers a conceptualisation of a marketing system as a meaning flow; b) synthesises and compiles a methodology and method for interpreting communication in a marketing system; c) reveals systemic insights into the hybrid car marketing system; d) characterises the sustainability dimension of the hybrid car marketing system; e) explains a conceptual ground for reconciling the marketing system and society; f) provides a general macromarketing perspective to scrutinise recent conceptual developments in the marketing discipline; g) unifies marketing systems thinking with recent advancements in the marketing discipline, such as the service-dominant logic, and consumer culture theory; and, also, h) provides recommendations for a number of micro-managerial situations from a holistic perspective.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop an automated technique for controlling the animation of computer-generated cars for the application of motorsports, also known as car racing. The basic idea is similar to previous work simulating flocks of birds and schools of fish. This simulation system provides a behavior model for each car and driver in a group of cars that enables them to race on a track while avoiding collisions. The technique is implemented using a commercial software package, called MAYA, utilizing its scripting language and built-in dynamics engine. While not a complete real-world dynamic simulation, the cars exhibit realism in both racing behavior and in visual motion attributes. This system allows the animator to control the number of vehicles, their properties, and their general path using an interactive interface. The automated technique replaces manual animation of each individual car and expedites production for animation or live-action effects film that includes computer-generated racing cars.

No description available.