Dynamic grasping is the action of, using only contact force, manipulating the position of a moving object in space. Doing so with a robot is a quite complex task in itself, but is one with wide-ranging applications. Today, the work of automating most processes in society undergoes rapidly, and for many of these processes, the grasping of objects has a natural place. This work has explored using deep reinforcement learning techniques for dynamic grasping, in a simulated environment. Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient was chosen and evaluated for the task, both by itself and in combination with the Hindsight Experience Replay buffer. The reinforcement learning agent observed the initial state of the target object and the robot in the environment, simulated using AGX Dynamics, and then determined with what speed to move to which position. The agent's chosen action was relayed to ABB's virtual controller, which controlled the robot in the simulation. This meant that the agent was tasked with, in advance, parametrizing a predefined set of instructions to the robot, in such a way that the moving target object would be grasped and picked up. Doing it in this matter, as opposed to having the agent continuously control the robot, was a necessary challenge making it possible to utilize the intelligence already created for the virtual controller. It also means that transferring the things learned by an agent in a simulated environment to a real-world environment becomes easier. The accuracy of the target policy for the simpler agent was 99.07%, while the accuracy of the agent with the more advanced replay buffer came up to 99.30%. These results show promise for the future, both as we expect further fine-tuning to raise them even more, and as they indicate that deep reinforcement learning methods can be highly applicable to the robotics systems of today.

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This project examines the implications of mythologizing women writers, specifically Woolf and Austen, and transforming them into their own famous characters. Using various writings that theorize women's voices, sense of agency, and political autonomy in relationship with the public/private dichotomy, this project argues that women writers are often appropriated and fictionalized in this way because of a patriarchal cultural understanding that women are associated with the private, personal, and domestic spheres. More importantly, it argues that this increasingly frequent treatment aligns with and forwards a neoliberal political and cultural agenda. The politics of the last twenty or thirty years, in short, are shaping interpretations and adaptations of major works of the English canon, specifically Mrs. Dalloway and Pride and Prejudice. Particular examples of such adaptations include The Hours, Vanessa and Her Sister, Becoming Jane, and Longbourn. This project ultimately analyzes these and a select number of other texts in order to show that these contemporary treatments of two of the most famous female writers from the English canon reveal quite a bit about current attitudes within the United States about gender (in)equality, care work/dependency, and sexuality. / Master of Arts

Title: Taxation of gambling operators The aim of this thesis is to introduce the system of the taxation of gambling operators currently applicable in the Czech republic together with the proposed bill on the gambling and the proposed bill on the taxation of gambling. At the beginning of the first chapter the thesis discusses the social costs of gambling addiction being a current social issue and its possible solutions from the viewpoint of law. Further parts of the chapter subsequently deal with the european legislation on public regulation of gambling, institutes of the Act on lotteries on other similar games as the primary piece of gambling legislation and their relation to the Civil Code. The subchapter regarding the right of municipalities to regulate some of the types of gambling by the means of municipal ordinances follows, including the question of an assesment of the said issue by the Constitutional Court. The last part of the first chapter contains detailed analysis of the proposed bill on the gambling, including comparation of some of its institutes with the current legislation and their partial assesment. The second chapter focuses on the actual system of legal regulation of the taxation of gambling operators, analyses the types of financial duties imposed on the operators and does not...

A superexpressão de receptores HER-2 é anormalidade celular de grande relevância clínica no câncer de mama. Ela ocorre em aproximadamente 30% de carcinomas de mama incluindo lesões pré-neoplásicas e malignas, e está associada a prognóstico desfavorável. A hiperativação dos receptores HER-2, consequência natural de sua superexpressão, promove proliferação celular aberrante e tumorigênese. Admite-se que a ativação e envio de sinais via HER-2 possa acontecer quando estes receptores se encontram em compartimentos específicos da membrana celular, os lipid rafts. Assim, um número maior de HER-2 poderia implicar em maior quantidade de lipis rafts. Para testar essa hipótese, usamos modelo de transformação oncogênica que nos permitiu avaliar, especificamente, os efeitos da superexpressão de HER-2 e identificar a quantidade de lipid rafts. Para isso utilizamos a linhagem celular HB4a, derivada de célula epitelial luminal do tecido mamário humano normal com baixa expressão de HER-2; e a linhagem HB4aC5.2, um clone derivado da HB4a, que superexpressa receptores HER-2. Nas células HB4aC5.2, a superexpressão de HER-2 foi acompanhada pelo aumento dos lipid rafts na membrana celular, bem como, hiperativação de sinais de sobrevivência, proliferação (aumento da ativação de proteínas Akt e Erk1/2, respectivamente), e taxa de proliferação celular duas vezes mais rápida que a linhagem normal HB4a. Adicionalmente, a superexpressão de HER-2 foi associada com aumento da lipogênese celular (fenótipo lipogênico), dependente do aumento de ativação da enzima FASN e da superexpressão de DEPTOR. A FASN é responsável pela síntese de palmitato, utilizado para formação de lipid rafts. A superexpressão de DEPTOR, por modular a atividade transcricional de PPAR?, pode evitar a lipotoxicidade do excesso de palmitato. Além disso, DEPTOR, por sua capacidade em reduzir atividade do complexo mTORC1, contribui para sobrevivência celular dependente da proteína Akt. Em continuidade, consideramos, como segunda hipótese, que a desestruturação de lipid rafts poderia influenciar negativamente a ativação dos receptores HER-2. Para isso tratamos, as mesmas linhagens celulares anteriormente descritas, com ácido docosaexaenoico (DHA), um tipo de ácido graxo ômega-3. Nossos resultados mostraram que, nas células HB4aC5.2, o tratamento com DHA desestruturou os lipid rafts, inibiu a sinalização iniciada pelos receptores HER-2 ( diminuição da ativação das proteínas Akt, Erk1/2, FASN, atividade transcricional de PPAR? e expressão de DEPTOR) e reverteu o fenótipo lipogênico. Adiciona-se que essas modificações celulares e moleculares foram acompanhadas por indução significativa de morte e apoptose. As mesmas alterações não foram observadas nas células normais HB4a. Em conclusão, o presente estudo reforça a associação entre a presença de HER-2 e lipid rafts. Adicionalmente aponta que a desestruturação de lipid rafts por DHA reduz a sinalização de HER-2. Por fim, sugere que distúrbios em lipid rafts, induzidos por DHA, possam representar ferramenta útil no controle da sinalização aberrante deflagrada pelos receptores HER-2, e aponta potencial terapêutico na suplementação de DHA para quimioprevenção e tratamento do câncer de mama HER-2 positivo. / HER-2 receptor overexpression is a cellular abnormality of great clinical significance in breast cancer. It is described in approximately 30% of breast carcinomas, including preneoplasic and malignant lesions, and is associated with poor prognosis. Hyperactivation of HER-2 receptors, a natural consequence of its overexpression, promotes aberrant cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. For signal activation and transduction to occur, HER-2 must be localized in specific compartments in the cell membrane: the lipid rafts. Therefore, we hypothesize that a greater number of HER-2 receptors could indicate a greater quantity of lipid rafts. To test this, we used an oncogenic transformation model that specifically allowed assessment of the effects of HER-2 overexpression and identification of the quantity of lipid rafts: an HB4a cell line derived from normal human breast tissue luminal epithelial cells with low HER-2 expression, and an HB4aC5.2 cell line, a clone derived from HB4a that overexpresses HER-2 receptors. In the HB4aC5.2 cells, HER-2 overexpression was accompanied by an increase in lipid rafts in cell membranes as well as hyperactivation of survival signals, proliferation (increased activation of the proteins Akt and ERK1/2, respectively), and an increased rate of proliferation, compared to the normal HB4a line. In addition, HER-2 overexpression was associated with increased cellular lipogenesis (lipogenic phenotype), dependent on the increased activation of the FASN enzyme and the overexpression of DEPTOR. FASN is responsible for the synthesis of palmitate, used to synthesize lipid rafts. Overexpression of DEPTOR by modulating PPAR? transcriptional activity, may avoid lipotoxicity from excess palmitate. Moreover, DEPTOR, with its ability to reduce mTORC1 complex activity, contributes to cell survival dependent on Akt. To continue, we considered as a second hypothesis that the disruption of lipid rafts could negatively influence HER-2 receptor activation. For this, we treated the same cell lines described above with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a omega-3 fatty acid. Our results showed that in HB4aC5.2 cells DHA treatment disrupted the lipid rafts, inhibited signaling initiated by HER-2 receptors (reduced activation of Akt, ERK1/2, and FASN proteins, PPAR? transcriptional activity, and DEPTOR expression) and reversed the lipogenic phenotype. In addition, these cellular and molecular changes were accompanied by a significant induction of apoptosis and death. The same changes were not observed in normal HB4a cells. In conclusion, the present study reinforces the association between HER-2 presence and lipid rafts. It also indicates that the disruption of lipid rafts by DHA reduces HER-2 signaling. Finally, it suggests that DHA-induced disturbances in lipid rafts may represent a useful tool in controlling aberrant signaling triggered by HER-2 receptors, and indicate therapeutic potential in DHA supplementation for chemoprevention and treatment of HER-2 positive breast cancer.

The thesis concerns the didactics of the civics. It focuses on a game in tea-ching. The conception of a game in the didactics is a basic phenomenon of the teaching at the second level at a basic school. First, the thesis includes a theoretical and interpretative part. It is di-vided into chapters and subchapters. Its focus is different kinds of games and the use of them in teaching of the civics. The topics of the chapters are didactic games, simulation, education by experience, a list of different games, dramatic and action games, language games, and the choice of games, respectively. There is a list of games in each chapter and their practical use in teaching. There are also given definitions in some parts. Second, there is a part concerning the practical evaluation of the games after their previous use during my teaching within my work experience at a basic school. The aim of the thesis is the attempt to draw a conclusion whether the pupils accepted the individual games during my teaching or not, and whether the games have brought any benefit to them.

The main purpose of the essay was to find out the photographic composition negative space’s progression, in the cinematography of Her (2013), and correlation to the main character's emotional state. The result was analyzed with the help of a composition analysis, dramaturgical analysis and an emotional theory. Three photos from each dramaturgical act (nine in total) were chosen to establish and create a relation to the main character’s emotional state. The result shows that negative space functions as an important visual medium, through collaboration with other photographic composition methods, to create imbalance and unease, or symmetry and harmony for the main character in Her. When the main character is alone, sad or emotionally unstable, negative space shrinks and isolates him through vast space, whereas when he is happy and positive negative space (in collaboration with other compositions) leads the eye and focus directly to him. The progression of negative space also shows a distinctive affinity to the main character’s romantic relationship, which shows that the progression relates and depends on the romantic bond.