Borage (Borago officinalis) is an annual herb plant for culinary and medicinal uses. Due to a high level of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) in its seed oil and the health-related benefits of GLA, borage is commercially cultivated. However, a herbicide-resistant variety has not yet been developed for effective weed management in borage farming. Thus, this thesis aimed to create, identify and characterize ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) induced borage mutants for herbicide imidazolinone resistance. An EMS-mutagenized borage population was generated by using a series of concentrations of EMS to treat M1 seeds. After screening M2 borage plants with the herbicide, tolerant plants were selected, self-pollinated and grown to their maturity. The offsprings were subjected to herbicide screening again to confirm the phenotype, resulting in identification of two genetically stable imidazolinone-resistant lines. Two acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) genes, AHAS1 and AHAS2, involved in the imidazolinone resistance were isolated and sequenced from both mutant (resistant) and wild type (susceptible) borage plants. Comparison of these AHAS sequences revealed that a single nucleotide substitution occurred in the AHAS1 resulting in an amino acid change from serine (S) in the susceptible plant to asparagine (N) in the first resistant line. The similar substitution was later found in the AHAS2 of the second resistant line. A KASP marker was developed for the AHAS1 mutation to differentiate the homozygous susceptible, homozygous and heterozygous resistant borage plants for the breeding purpose. The in vitro assay showed homozygous resistant borage containing the AHAS1 mutation could retain significantly higher AHAS activity than susceptible borage across different imazamox concentrations. The herbicide dose response test showed that the resistant line with the AHAS1 mutation was tolerant to four times the field applied concentration of the “Solo” herbicide.

Sturgeons (Chondrostei: Acipenseriformes) display markedly disjunct distributions with a wide occurrence in the northern hemisphere. Their unique benthic specializations, conserved morphology, evolutionary age, the variation in their basic diadromous life history, and the large public interest due to their near extinction or critically endangered status make sturgeons and paddlefishes one of the most interesting group of vertebrates. In addition to that, ploidy diversity of Acipenseriformes possessing three ploidy groups having ~ 120 chromosomes, ~ 240 ? 270 chromosomes and ~ 360 chromosomes provides unique model for investigation of evolutionary processes which were going through the genome duplication events. Sturgeons are also notoriously known for their strong propensity to interspecific and intergeneric hybridization which can result in hybrids with various ploidy levels. All these facts make sturgeon genetics and cytogenetics a thriving but also complicated area for research. In the present work, the role of genome duplication and functional reduction evens in evolution of sturgeon species as well as sturgeons? ploidy levels and ploidy relationships among Acipenseriformes were investigated using molecular markers. In addition to that, clarification of origin of abnormal ploidy levels and observation of segregation pattern of microsatellite alleles in the course of hybridization of polyploid sturgeon species were included into this study. With regard to the all considerations and observations provided by this study we concluded that evolution of sturgeon species is still widely dynamic and ongoing process which might goes through the allopolyplodization as well as autopolyplidization events.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent a systemic phase of the localised cancer disease. They can be distinguished and enriched from the peripheral blood and so from the surrounding leukocytes by either physical properties (e.g., density and size) or biological properties (e.g., expression of epithelial proteins such as EpCAM or cytokeratins) and are usually further characterized by immunostaining or RT-PCR assays. Selecting patients with the risk of disease relaps at the time of diagnosis is crucial for clinicians in deciding who should, and who should not, receive adjuvant chemotherapy. We know that CTCs are strong prognostic factor in patients with metastatic as well as localized breast cancer (BC). It is also known that the prognostic power of circulating tumor cells in women with BC is independent from the standard prognostic indicators. Testing of CTCs known recently as "liquid biopsy" could be informative not only as predictor of the disease relapse, but also as the predictor of therapy effectiveness. The clinical use of CTCs must be strictly encouraged by clinical trials results. Monitoring of CTCs in time could zoom in the mechanism of therapy resistance and/or may provide the identification of new druggable targets. The purpose of my work was therefore to assess the CTCs positivity rate...

This master's thesis emerges from the research in the field of uniform marker fields for augmented reality and broadens it by the possibility of generating colored marker fields based on arbitrary pictures. The thesis describes basics of augmented reality and explains the ideas from the Uniform Marker Fields paper. Presented is a program for generating colored marker fields as well as a tool for detecting markers and evaluating success rate of the detection. In addition, the work proposes a study of color constancy in the process of printing and recording. This study exceeds the scope of the requirements for this master's thesis; the knowledge can be used in arbitrary applications that use colors to code information. Finally, the integration of the knowledge into the marker field generating algorithm and resulting improvement of detection success rate are discussed.

This thesis deals with the detection of Uniform Marker Fields and the position of a camera in a space. The steps of the UMF detection, the Windows Phone 8 platform, DirectX working and the concept of augmented reality are described in the thesis. Implementation and design of the demo application together with the whole architecture of the project is described in the thesis. The result of the thesis is an application using the UMF detector and plotting a 3D object into a scene. Finally the application is tested and evaluated.

The two studies follow free nucleic acids in urine in search for biomarkers to distinguish urinary bladder cancer patients from controls. Bladder cancer forms 4 % of newly diagnosed oncological diseases in the Czech Republic. Nowadays, there is no accredited non-invasive method for its diagnosis, which is sufficiently accurate. Urine supernatant, which is washing the bladder mucosa and which does not contain cell debris, seems to be an appropriate source of biomarkers for non-invasive diagnosis. miRNAs, as a non-invasive biomarker of urinary bladder cancer, were studied in one of the studies. miRNAs are short noncoding RNA, which block the process of translation. miRNAs occur in all body fluids and are relatively stable. A study with three phases was assessed to find a suitable miRNA marker. 109 individuals were examined in total (36 controls and 73 bladder cancer patients). The analysis of miRNAs was based on RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction). In the first phase, the urine of 59 individuals was analyzed on TaqMan array card with 381 miRNAs. In the second phase, the results of the first phase were confirmed on the same cohort by a single miRNA assay. In the third phase, a new cohort was used (23 controls and 27 bladder cancer patients), analyzed by a single miRNA assay again....

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most destructive diseases of common wheat (Triticum eastivum L.) worldwide. Resistance to FHB is an ideal trait for which molecular marker assisted selection (MAS) would facilitate breeding and cultivar development efforts. Validation of quantitative trait loci (QTL) conferring FHB resistance is a prerequisite for MAS. This study was conducted to validate and evaluate the effect of two major QTL, previously reported on chromosomes 3BS and 5AS, on multiple FHB resistance components in two independent studies, one involving a mapping population derived from a cross between a known resistance source W14 and a susceptible soft red winter (SRW) wheat cultivar Pioneer2684, and the other involving seventy adapted SRW wheat lines. The first study confirmed that the 3BS and 5AS QTL were significantly associated with FHB resistance and further indicated that the 3BS QTL has a larger effect on three FHB resistance components (type II and III resistance and resistance to Fusarium Damaged kernels) evaluated in greenhouse experiments, while the 5AS QTL has a larger effect on type I resistance evaluated in a field experiment. Six simple sequence repeat (SSR) and two sequence targeted site (STS) markers associated with FHB resistance in the two QTL regions identified in the first experiment were then used to characterize FHB QTL marker haplotypes and their effect on FHB resistance in seventy wheat genotypes. Five main haplotype groups (1-5) were characterized among the elite lines on the basis of allelic differences of four marker loci linked to the 3BS QTL and two marker loci linked to the 5AS QTL. Haplotype group 5 was comprised of marker allele combinations of both 3BS and 5AS QTL and elite lines with this haplotype have improved type I and type II resistance compared to the other haplotypes. This again validated the presence of QTL on chromosomes 3BS and 5AS, and illustrated the utility of SSR and STS markers in the two QTL regions in selection of FHB resistance in elite backgrounds. Four favorable marker alleles including two (Xbarc133 and XSTS3B142) on 3BS and two (Xbarc117 and Xbarc056) on 5AS are recommended for MAS of the two QTL for improved FHB resistance in wheat. Wheat lines having favorable marker alleles identified in the current study will provide breeding programs with a source of unique and adapted FHB resistant parents and some of the lines also may have potential for release as cultivars. / Ph. D.

This Thesis is focused on study of augmented reality and creation of algorithm for a uniform marker field detector. The marker field is modified to be tolerant to a high degree of deformation. Existing marker types are studied. Important part of the paper is a description of uniform marker field technique, from which a modified assignment is derived. It also describes CUDA architecture on which the first part of the detection algorithm is implemented. Deformation tolerance, detection rate and speed tests are performed on the resulting detector algorithm.

Die Innenraumpositionierung kommt in der heutigen Zeit immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu teil. Neben der Navigation durch das Gebäude sind vor allem Location Based Services von Bedeutung, welche Zusatzinformationen zu spezifischen Objekten zur Verfügung stellen Da für eine Innenraumortung das GPS Signal jedoch zu schwach ist, müssen andere Techniken zur Lokalisierung gefunden werden. Neben der häufig verwendeten Positionierung durch Auswertung von empfangenen Funkwellen existieren Methoden zur optischen Lokalisierung mittels Landmarken. Das kamerabasierte Verfahren bietet den Vorteil, dass eine oft zentimetergenaue Positionierung möglich ist. In dieser Masterarbeit erfolgt die Bestimmung der Position im Gebäude mittels Detektion von ArUco-Markern und Türschildern aus Bilddaten. Als Evaluationsgeräte sind zum einen die Kinect v2 von Microsoft, als auch das Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Smartphone verwendet worden. Neben den Bilddaten stellen diese auch mittels Time of Flight Sensoren generierte Tiefendaten zur Verfügung. Durch den Vergleich von aus dem Bild extrahierten Eckpunkten der Landmarke, mit den aus einer Datenbank entnommenen realen geometrischen Maßen des Objektes, kann die Entfernung zu einer gefundenen Landmarke bestimmt werden. Neben der optischen Distanzermittlung wird die Position zusätzlich anhand der Tiefendaten ermittelt. Abschließend werden beiden Verfahren miteinander verglichen und eine Aussage bezüglich der Genauigkeit und Zuverlässigkeit des in dieser Arbeit entwickelten Algorithmus getroffen. / Indoor Positioning is receiving more and more attention nowadays. Beside the navigation through a building, Location Bases Services offer the possibility to get more information about certain objects in the enviroment. Because GPS signals are too weak to penetrate buildings, other techniques for localization must be found. Beneath the commonly used positioning via the evaluation of received radio signals, optical methods for localization with the help of landmarks can be used. These camera-based procedures have the advantage, that an inch-perfect positioning is possible. In this master thesis, the determination of the position in a building is chieved through the detection of ArUco-Marker and door signs in images gathered by a camera. The evaluation is done with the Microsoft Kinect v2 and the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Smartphone. They offer depth data gained by a time of flight sensor beside the color images. The range to a detected landmark is calculated by comparing the object´s corners in the image with the real metrics, extracted from a database. Additionally, the distance is determined by the evaluation of the depth data. Finally, both procedures are compared with each other and a statement about the accuracy and responsibility is made.

Grave markers reflect a wealth of information and collectively epitomize society's historic, social, and economic patterns over time. Despite an abundance of cemetery research in other parts of the country, little research has been undertaken to evaluate grave marker attributes in Florida. The purpose of this research was to determine how grave marker attributes have changed over time in north-central, central, and southeast Florida. Data were collected from ten cemeteries in five counties in Florida, representing the grave markers of over 1,100 individuals. Data collection involved visiting each cemetery, photographing markers, and cataloging grave marker attributes. Attributes analyzed included marker type, marker material, epitaphs, iconographic images, memorial photographs, footstones, and kerbs. A number of important trends were noted. Marker material exhibited the clearest example of a temporal trend, shifting over time from 73% marble to 73% granite. Marker type varied greatly from upright and flat ground markers to a variety of customized markers and vaults. Cultural differences were also noted with in-ground vaults dominating traditionally black cemeteries. There were clear differences in marker style between affluent and less affluent cemeteries, with numerous hand-cast cement markers observed in less prosperous areas. Furthermore, beginning in the early 1980's there is an increase in customized laser engraved markers. Overall, Florida's cemeteries offer a rich history of the state's mortuary practices and further research should be conducted to preserve this history.