Currently, logistics is considered as one of the most dynamic sector and therefore it should be given considerable attention. With the current trend of the globalization, we can expect increasing tendency in the near future. Logistics as we know it today has been really an indispensable part of our daily lives. All these activities are covered by logistics processes, without which we cannot imagine the modern life as we know it today.The aim of my thesis is to describe and analyze services and product lines of DHL Express (Czech Republic) Ltd. I chose this topic because I worked in the company and therefore I know the internal conditions and thus can approach the issue comprehensively. The main focus is on description and assessment of existing services DHL Express in the theoretical part. In the practical part, I would like to analyze the new, introducing the services that DHL recently applied or only will implement in the near future. It is for example the Service Point or modern service on petrol station related with expenditure shipments. Outputs of my final project should be beneficial also for the company itself. They are recommendations which services are most used and on the other hand should be turn down or improved. The arguments and opinions in the thesis are supported also by the questionnaire.

Background: Type 2 Diabetes is a chronic metabolic condition which occurs as a result of insufficient insulin production and insulin resistance. This results in less glucose uptake by muscle and fat cells, allowing blood glucose levels to rise in the body. Higher blood glucose levels place patients at an increased risk of diabetes-related complications. The treatment is characterised by the initiation, switching and intensification of antidiabetic medications. The goal for patients with diabetes is to maintain glycaemic control, with blood glucose levels (HbA1c) between 6.5-7.0%(48-53mmol/mol). International guidelines recommend prescribing of metformin at initiation but there is no consensus on optimal agents in a combination regimen. The aim of this thesis was to assess the drug utilisation patterns of first-line therapies and the impact of this pathway on second-line regimens. This entailed: (i.) observing the prescribing of the first-line therapy, (ii.) characterising the medication-taking process of the first-line therapy and effectiveness of the regimens, and (iii.) determining the most effective second-line regimen in delaying the onset of microvascular complications. Methods: Patients with type 2 diabetes, prescribed a first-line antidiabetic regimen, were identified from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (a large UK anonymised primary care database) between 01/01/05 and 31/12/09, were followed-up until 31/12/12. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to assess the relationship between patient characteristics and the choice of first-line agent. Adherence to first-line therapy was estimated using the Medication Possession Ratio calculation, expressing the percentage of days covered by a drug supply. To assess the factors influencing achievement of glycaemic goals from the first-line therapy, a logistic regression analysis was performed. To investigate second-line regimens, a Marginal Structural Cox model was implemented to explore the causal relationships between the time to development of microvascular complications and the second-line regimens. Results: Of the 72,429 individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, 44,838 started therapy with an antidiabetic medication regimen. Metformin and sulphonylureas were the most frequently prescribed agents at initiation (82.9% and 9.8%,respectively). Deviations from metformin were associated with patients presenting with higher HbA1c levels, lower BMI values and had concurrent prescriptions (immunosuppressants and oral corticosteroids). Achieving glycaemic control, to the target of 6.5% (48mmol/mol), was only met in 22.7% of patients. Characteristics of the patient, choice of first-line agent and medical support influenced the effectiveness of the treatments. Patients at the greatest risk of failing to achieve the target glycaemic goal from therapy had HbA1c levels>8.0% (64mmol/mol) and a BMI≥25kg/m2. Adherence was significantly associated with greater lowering of HbA1c levels but these reductions did not guarantee reaching the ideal glycaemic target. Intensification of the monotherapy to a dual therapy regimen was observed in 30.2% of patients in a mean time of 2 years. The most frequently prescribed second-line regimens consisted of metformin/sulphonylurea (SU) (74.5%), metformin/thiazolidinediones(TZD) (11.3%) and metformin/DPP-4 inhibitors (14.2%). Metformin/SU was the most effective dual therapy regimen for delaying the onset of microvascular diagnoses. The rate of development of these events was significantly higher for the DPP-4 combination in comparison to the SU combination with a hazard ratio of 1.85 (95% CI: 1.53,2.24). A TZD combination resulted in a non-significant increase of 19% in the rate of development compared to the SU combination (HR 1.19; 95% CI: 0.98,1.47). Metformin/SU resulted in the greatest lowering in HbA1c levels (-3.3%; 12mmol/mol) in comparison to the DPP-4 and TZD regimens. Conclusions: It is unlikely that patients starting first-line therapy with high HbA1c levels will be able to reduce blood glucose levels sufficiently on a monotherapy regimen. It is important for practitioners to consider a faster uptake of a dual therapy regimen (metformin/SU) to prevent sustained suboptimal glycaemic control and reduce the risk of future complications. Other important considerations in the optimal treatment pathway would be to provide more frequent support from health professionals; this may help to highlight inadequate drug regimens, offer management of risk factors and provide education. These aspects may help patients to achieve better control of their condition, with the aim of reducing the risk of diabetes-related complications; which, severely impact patient quality of life and NHS costs and resources.

The onset of a ferroresonance phenomenon in power systems is commonly caused by the reconfiguration of a circuit into the one consisting of capacitances in series and interacting with transformers. The reconfiguration can be due to switching operations of de-energisation or the occurrence of a fault. Sustained ferroresonance without immediate mitigation measures can cause the transformers to stay in a state of saturation leading to excessive flux migrating to transformer tanks via internal accessories. The symptom of such an event can be unwanted humming noises being generated but the real threatening implication is the possible overheating which can result in premature ageing and failures.The main objective of this thesis is to determine the accurate models for transformers, transmission lines, circuit breakers and cables under transient studies, particularly for ferroresonance. The modeling accuracy is validated on a particular 400/275 kV transmission system by comparing the field test recorded voltage and current waveforms with the simulation results obtained using the models. In addition, a second case study involving another 400/275 kV transmission system with two transformers is performed to investigate the likelihood of the occurrence of sustained fundamental frequency ferroresonance mode and a possible quenching mechanism using the 13 kV tertiary connected reactor. A sensitivity study on transmission line lengths was also carriedout to determine the probability function of occurrence of various ferroresonance modes. To reproduce the sustained fundamental and the subharmonic ferroresonance modes, the simulation studies revealed that three main power system components which are involved in ferroresonance, i.e. the circuit breaker, the transmission line and the transformer, can be modeled using time-controlled switch, the PI, Bergeron or Marti line model, and the BCTRAN+ or HYBRID transformer model. Any combination of the above component models can be employed to accurately simulate the ferroresonance system circuit. Simulation studies also revealed that the key circuit parameter to initiate transformer ferroresonance in a transmission system is the circuit-to-circuit capacitance of a double-circuit overhead line. The extensive simulation studies also suggested that the ferroresonance phenomena are far more complex and sensitive to the minor changes of system parameters and circuit breaker operations. Adding with the non-linearity of transformer core characteristics, repeatability is not always guaranteed for simulation and experimental studies. All simulation studies are carried out using an electromagnetic transient program, called ATPDraw.

The diploma thesis deals with the assessment of the effectiveness of on-line communication with the application for DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague. It focuses on clarifying the theoretical framework of principles of social networks, mapping new trends and approaches in on-line communication and marketing. Part of the work is given to the identification of the percentage of the visitors of DOX who only search for information about exhibitions and other related program via the Internet. The emphasis is on research of the share of real customer of DOX to fan base on the Facebook social network. To make on-line communication more effective the priorities are set for various on-line channels with the tool for monitoring of mentions on the internet related to DOX. According to the fact that Facebook is an important interactive channel for DOX, there is created detailed analysis of the publications of contributions and the resulting recommendations for implementation. In conclusion, DOX expresses the contribution of the diploma thesis.

This paper will be concerned with some fundamental properties of a line. In particular, fundamental ordering properties of a line segment are covered.

Underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) has attracted increasing interest for data transfer in various underwater activities. However, the complexity of the water environment poses considerable challenges to establish aligned and reliable UWOC links. Therefore, solutions that are capable of relieving the requirements on positioning, acquisition and tracking (PAT) are highly demanded. Different from the conventional blue-green light band utilized in UWOC, ultraviolet (UV) light is featured with low solar background noise, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and good secrecy. The proposed work is directed towards the demonstration and evaluating the feasibility of high- speed NLOS UWOC for easing the strict requirement on alignment, and thus circumvent the issues of scintillation, deep-fading, and complete signal blockage presented in conventional LOS UWOC. This work was first started with the investigation of proper NLOS configurations. Path loss (PL) was chosen as a figure-of-merit for link performance. With the understanding of favorable NLOS UWOC configurations, we established a 377-nm laser-based, the first-of-its-kind NLOS UWOC link. The practicality of such NLOS UWOC links has been further tested in a field trial. Besides the underwater communication links, UV-based NLOS is also appealing to be the link for direct communication across the wavy water-air interface. Investigations for such a direct communication link have been carried out to study data rate, coverage and robustness to the dynamic wave movement, based on the performance of different modulation schemes, including non-return-to-zero (NRZ)-OOK and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Further this study, an in-Red Sea canal field in-situ test has been conducted, showing strong robustness of the system. In addition, an in-diving pool drone-aided real-application deployment has been carried on. The trial results indicate link stability, which alleviates the issues brought about by the misalignment and mobility in harsh environments, paving the way towards real applications. Our studies pave the way foreventual applications of UWOC byrelieving the strict requirements on PAT using UV-based NLOS. Such modality is much sought-after for implementing robust, secure, and high-speed UWOC links in harsh oceanic environments.

Diploma thesis focuses on creation of scheduling system for production processes and labour within heat pump manufacturing line in Daikin Device Czech Republic, connected with modification of production and warehouse layout. First part analyzes products, assembly line and its current state of layout. Furthermore it deals with measurement and analysis of work performed by operatives. Proposal part describes layout changes, whereupon line balancing is processed for different production levels and finally comes creation of scheduling system itself.

Le but de ces travaux est de mettre en application les caractéristiques particulières des microréacteurs en flux dans le cadre de la synthèse organique. Ces particularités sont expliquées dans l’avant-propos de ce manuscrit, afin de comprendre comment elles peuvent influencer le déroulement d’une réaction. La première partie de ces travaux de thèse concerne l’emploi des réacteurs microfluidiques pour la génération de carbénoïdes vinyliques hautement instables (avec des demi-vies souvent inférieures à la seconde), et leur emploi en synthèse. Même si des conditions de génération efficaces ont été mises au point, le piégeage d’électrophiles variés reste difficile en raison des cinétiques extrêmes mises en jeu. La seconde partie décrit la neutralisation d’agents de guerre chimique (CWA), avec une emphase sur la possibilité d’augmentation d’échelle et la sécurité. Des voies de neutralisation oxydantes ont été explorées sur des thioethers de type hémimoutardes (sulfures de 2-chloroéthyle), analogues de l’ypérite. La méthode développée offre une conversion en sulfoxyde quantitative, et ne produit que des effluents bénins à partir de réactifs disponibles et abordables. Cette méthode d’oxydation en flux a pu être extrapolée rapidement et facilement sur une quantité importante d’hémimoutarde (25g), et couplée à une analyse RMN en ligne. L’applicabilité de cette méthode à des phosphonothioates a également été envisagée. Constituants majoritaires de la série V, ces molécules organophosphorés neurotoxiques peuvent également être neutralisées par l’oxydation sélective d’un atome de soufre. Pour réaliser cette étude, une nouvelle voie d’accès au motif phosphonothioate a été explorée avec succès. Ceci a permis la synthèse du PhX (analogue phénylé proche du VX), ainsi que d’autres analogues pertinents de la série V. Cette méthode offre un rendement élevé à une échelle adaptée au laboratoire, et permet un accès très rapide au produit final. La réactivité de ces modèles a ensuite pu être évaluée vis-à-vis de divers oxydants. Une méthode unique n’a pour le moment pas pu être développée, mais la compréhension plus poussée des mécanismes oxydants impliqués dans ces processus pourrait permettre de répondre prochainement à ce défi. / The goal of this work was to put in application the unmatched properties of fluidic microreactors in the field of organic synthesis. Those particular properties are discussed in this document, in an attempt to rationalize their effects on reaction courses. The first part of this work is dedicated to exploiting unstable vinylic carbenoids as nucleophiles despite their very short half-lives (often inferior to the second). Even if some results show efficient trapping of those elusive intermediates, applicability in synthesis remains very limited because of the extreme nature of the kinetics involved. The second part describes the application of microreactors to neutralization of chemical warfare agent (CWA) with an emphasis on scalability and safety. Oxidative neutralization pathways were explored on half-mustard thioethers (2-chloroethyl sulfides), as yperite simulants. The developed method allows their full conversion to sulfoxides, and only produces non-toxic effluents. This oxidative method was easily scaled up to 25g of half-mustard, and was successfully coupled with an in-line NMR analysis.Effectiveness of this method on phosphonothioates was also explored. These neurotoxic organophosphorus molecules, which are the majority constituents of the V series, can also be neutralized by the selective oxidation of a sulfur atom. To perform this study, a new pathway to phosphonothioate moiety was successfully explored. This allowed a new synthetic path for PhX (a close, phenyl analogue of VX), along with other relevant V series analogues. This method offers good yields at lab scale, in an expedient fashion. Reactivity of these CWA simulants was then evaluated against multiple oxidants. Even if a unified method could not yet be developed, a better understanding of the involved oxidative mechanisms could allow to address this challenge.

Master of Science

Master of Engineering