This thesis explores phosphate as an indicator of occupational intensity (i.e. as a function of scale and length of occupation) at shell midden sites on the central coast of British Columbia. Despite the prevalence of shell middens in coastal environments world-wide and the long history of elemental analysis in archaeology, shell middens are not routinely investigated for their chemical content. Ongoing research on the British Columbia central coast has shown clear associations between fish bone densities (NISP/L) and site area (m2), which have proven useful for characterizing variability among settlements in the region. This provided the opportunity and essential basis for investigating phosphate. Due to its general abundance, persistence, and established association with human activity, phosphate was expected to reflect previously inferred patterns in occupational intensity, which were based on fish bone density and site area data. Results show clear relationships between phosphate values, fish bone densities, and site area, which speaks to the utility of phosphate as an independent indicator of the relative intensity of residential activity among sites. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The timing of Mississippian-period occupations in the North Central Hills physiographic region of Mississippi has been debated. Some researchers believe they occurred in conjunction with Late Woodland period occupations during the Early Mississippian period, while others assert they were later, in either the Late Mississippian or early Protohistoric periods. A program of systematic shovel testing, excavation and frequency seriation was used to delineate Mississippian-period occupations and test the cultural lineage between them and Late Woodland period occupations at nine sites on the Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest.

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Syftet med studien är att undersöka dels elevers och lärares åsikter om hur smarta moderna verktyg som mobiltelefon, läsplatta, bärbar dator och applikationer kan bidra i pedagogiskt arbete, dels hur dessa kan användas som pedagogiska redskap i teknikundervisningen. I arbetet tittar vi på dessa redskap ur systemperspektiv för att kunna se fördelarna och för att kunna upptäcka eventuella hinder som associeras med dess tillämpning i skolan. Systemperspektivet knyter ihop läraren med elev, elevgrupper, smarta enheter, applikationer och lärandemiljön via kommunikation. I teoridelen tar vi upp socioekonomiska aspekterna kopplade till systemperspektivet. Meningen med att kombinera de socioekonomiska faktorerna med systemperspektivet är att få en övergripande bild av hur smarta moderna verktyg påverkar pedagogiskt arbete.I resultatdelen eftersträvar vi att visa hur dessa smarta verktyg kan vara ett effektiv pedagogiskt redskap som kan underlätta lärarens arbete och stimulera elevernas intresse för lärandet. I samband smarta verktyg titta vi på olika applikationer och deras tillämpning i lärandemiljön. Dessa applikationer kan vara sociala medier, allmänna applikationer som ordbehandlare, administrativa verktyg och specifika applikationer inom teknikområdet kopplade till ämnet teknik. Vi kommer även att undersöka hinder och motstånd från användarens sida i samband med användningen av dessa redskap. Studien visar att smarta verktyg troligen har mest positiva effekter i lärandemiljön om användaren uppfyller vissa villkor där bland annat upplevelsen av trygghet i smarta verktyg. De flesta lärare med positiv inställning till dessa verktyg påstår att eleverna lär sig lättare, förbättrar deras självkritiska tänkande, utvecklar språket och utvidgar lärandemiljön till utanför skolans gränser. Elevernas inställning överensstämmer i stort sätt med lärarnas enligt undersökningen. Undersökningen visar att de flesta lärare inte utnyttjar möjligheterna med smarta verktyg i pedagogiskt arbete. Orsaken till detta kan vara att det saknas utbildning i användningen av smarta verktyg viket leder till känslan av otrygghet. Användningen av dessa verktyg i undervisningen till annat syfte som har ingenting att göra med pågående pedagogiskt arbete kan leda till försämrat lärandemiljö. Tidigare forskning och studier visar resultat som slutsatserna vi kom fram till i denna studie.Studien är baserad på kvalitativa intervjudata för att erhålla en djupare förståelse angående elevernas och lärarnas synpunkter om dessa smarta verktyg. Intervjun innefattar lärare och elever från högstadiet och gymnasieskolan. / The purpose of this work is to study both students and teachers views on how modern smart tools can help in educational work, and how these can be used as educational tools in technical subjects. We are looking at these tools from a system perspective to see the benefits and to detect possible obstacles associated with its implementation/use in schools. In the theoretical part we discuss socio-economic aspects linked to the system perspective. The purpose of combining socio-economic factors with the system perspective is to obtain an overall picture of how smart modern tools affect educational work.In the results section we aim to show how these smart units can be an effective educational tool that can facilitate the work of teachers and stimulate students' interest in learning. We will examine also the obstacles and resistance by the users in connection with the use of these tools. Result analysis shows that smart tools probably have the most positive impact on learning environment. Most teachers with a positive attitude to these tools claim that students learn easier, improves their self-critical thinking, develop language and extends the learning environment beyond the school boundaries. Most teachers do not use the potential of smart tools in educational work. The reason may be the lack of training.The study is based on qualitative interview data acquisition to understand students ' and teachers' view more deeply on these smart tools. The interview includes teachers and students from ground school and college.

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall buildings constitute a significant portion of the building inventory in many earthquake-prone regions. A similar type of structural system is fully-grouted reinforced masonry (RM) shear wall structures. The accurate determination of the nonlinear response of reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry (RC/RM) walls subjected to lateral loading is of uttermost importance for ensuring the safety of the built environment. Analytical models provide a cost efficient and comprehensive tool to study the nonlinear response of RC/RM structures, as compared to experimental tests. Predictive models should capture nonlinear material behavior as well as the geometrically nonlinear response of RC/RM shear wall structures during major seismic events. This thesis outlines the formulation and validation of a nonlinear shell element for the simulation of RC/RM structures. The proposed shell element enhances an existing formulation of a four-node Discrete Kirchhoff shell element through the inclusion of a corotational approach to account for geometric nonlinearities and of nonlinear material models to capture the effect of cracking and crushing in concrete or masonry and the nonlinear hysteretic behavior of reinforcing steel. The analytical results obtained from multiple linear and nonlinear analyses are compared against theoretical solutions and experimental test data. These comparative validation studies show the enhanced shell element can satisfactorily capture the salient features of the response of nonlinear reinforced concrete/masonry shear wall structures including axial-shear-flexure interaction, damage patterns, and in-plane and out-of-plane loading. / Master of Science

There is a significant difference between the effects of different curing temperatures on the strength of shell molds, A curing temperature of 500°F is more desirable than one of 600°F. / Master of Science

Piezoelectric material based sensors are widely used in applications such as automobiles, aircraft, and industrial systems. In past decade, attention has been focused on synthesizing composites that can provide multifunctional properties, i.e., same material exhibits two or more properties. In this group of composites, magnetoelectric materials are particularly interesting as they provide the opportunity of coupling magnetic and electric field. Another class of composite materials that are being actively pursued is piezoresistive materials. Piezoresistivity refers to change in resistance with applied stress and these materials are promising for enhancing the sensitivity of current generation pressure sensors based on silicon. In this study, we focus on two composites systems: ferrite / Terfenol-D / nickel — lead zirconate titanate (magnetoelectric); and lanthanum strontium manganate (LSMO) — carbon nanotube (CNT) – silicon carbonitride (SiCN) (piezoresistive). Recently, Islam et al. have reported a magnetic field sensor based on a piezoelectric transformer with a ring- dot electrode pattern. In this thesis, this design was further investigated by synthesizing Terfenol-D / PZT laminate. The fabricated sensor design consists of a ring-dot piezoelectric transformer laminated to a magnetostrictive disc and its working principle is as follows: When a constant voltage is applied to the ring section of the piezoelectric layer at resonance, a stress is induced in the dot section. Then, if an external magnetic object is introduced in the vicinity of the dot section, the effective elastic stiffness is increased, altering the resonance frequency (fr). The variation of resonance frequency and magnitude of output voltage with applied magnetic field was characterized and analyzed to determine the sensitivity. The sensor showed a shift of ~1.36Hz/Oe over the frequency range of 137.4<fr<144.2 kHz with increasing magnetic bias from 1<Hdc<6kOe. Next, in order to overcome the need of magnetic DC bias in current magnetoelectric composites, a metal – ceramic core-shell composite structure was investigated. Metal-ceramic composite particles were synthesized at room temperature and their magnetic properties were investigated. The particles constitute a core-shell structure where the core is nickel-metal, while the shell is manganese zinc ferrite (MZF). Coprecipitation was used for synthesis of MZF nanoparticles comprising the shell, whereas nickel was synthesized by hydrazine assisted reduction of nickel ions in aqueous media. A core shell structure was then obtained by hetero-coagulation to form a shell of MZF around the nickel particles. Electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction confirmed nickel cores coated by MZF shells. Magnetization studies of MZF nano-particles revealed that they were not super-paramagnetic at room temperature, as expected for such particle sizes of 20nm in size. Sintered composites of metal-ceramic particles core-shell exhibited a magnetostriction of 5ppm. Lastly, the thesis investigates the piezoresistive properties of LSMO – CNT – SiCN composites that were synthesized by the conventional ceramic sintering technique. Recent investigations have shown that CNTs and SiCN have high piezoresistive coefficient. DSC/TGA results showed that pure CNTs decompose at temperatures of ~600°C, however, SiCN was found to sustain the sintering temperature of 1300°C. Thus, LSMO – SiCN composites were used for the final analysis. A fractional resistivity change of 4% was found for LSMO — 12.5 vol% SiCN composites which is much higher compared to that of unmodified LSMO. / Master of Science

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biophysics and Physical Chemistry Candidate: Kateřina Brokešová Supervisor: Ing. Martin Drastík, Ph. D. Thesis title: The use of core-shell columns for fluconazole determination A novel HPLC method for determination of fluconazole in dissolution test samples was developed and partly validated. A matrix formed by lactic and glycolic acid copolymer branched by different compounds was used as a drug carrier. Fluconazol was incorporated as the model drug. The concentration profile of fluconazole was studied by developed HPLC method during the dissolution test. A modern core-shell column Ascentis Express RP-Amide, 10 cm × 3.0 mm; 2.7 μm was employed. A mixture of acetate buffer pH 5.0:methanol (80:20) served as the mobile phase. The flow rate was 0.70 ml/min and the detection wavelength was 260 nm. The temperature of analysis was 50 řC. The retention time of fluconazole was 3.3 min and the whole analysis took just 4 min. Keywords: fluconazole, core-shell column, HPLC, PLGA

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biophysics and Physical Chemistry Candidate: Andrea Malovaná Supervisor: Ing. Martin Drastík, Ph. D. Diploma thesis: Simplification of terbinafine HPLC analysis of samples based on biodegradable polyesters A HPLC method for determination of terbinafine in samples consisting of copolymers of lactic and glycolic acid was optimized and validated. The development of the method was based on the finding of suitable chromatographic conditions for separation of terbinafine. The separation was performed on the Ascentis Express ES-CN, 15 cm × 4.6 mm; 2.7 μm core- shell column. The mixture of the citrate phosphate buffer pH 4 and acetonitrile in ratio 40:60 (v/v) was chosen as the mobile phase. The mobile phase flow rate was set to 1.4 ml/min and the temperature to 30 řC. The injection volume of samples containing terbinafine was 5 µl. The UV detection at 226 nm was employed. The retention time of terbinafine was 3.3 min. The whole analysis was completed within 4 min. The method was validated, following parameters were tested: column efficiency, factor of symmetry, LOD, LOQ, linearity, repeatability and robustness. Keywords: terbinafine, HPLC, core-shell column, PLGA

BSc. Martina Hloušková Supervisor: Ing. Martin Drastík, Ph.D. The aim of this diploma thesis was the optimization and validation of a HPLC method for miconazole determination in samples supplied by the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology. A gradual miconazole release dependent on the composition of the copolymere of glycolic and lactic acid was studied. HPLC analysis was performed using a modern core-shell Column Ascentis Express RP- Amide, 10 cm x 3.0 mm; 2.7 μm. Optimized analytical conditions were: mobile phase methanol:water 70:30, flow rate 0.8 ml/min, temperature 45 řC, injection 5 l and UV detection at 220 nm. Miconazole retention time was 5.65 min. The entire analysis was carried out in 7 minutes. When the optimal conditions of analysis were determined, the method could be validated. The following parameters were monitored during validation: linearity, selectivity, efficiency, LOD, LOQ, repeatability and tailing factor. All of the monitored parameters met the requirements of the Czech Pharmacopoeia.