Thermodynamic patterns of life: emergent phenomena in reaction networks

Reaction networks are an important tool for the analysis of complex chemical reaction systems. They help us understand systems ranging from specific metabolisms to planetary atmospheres. This thesis develops methods for the analysis of living systems by using reaction networks with a focus on the inclusion of thermodynamic properties. New methods for more realistic artificial chemistries are developed using thermodynamic constraints. A model of evolvable artificial ecosystems is created to understand the effect of evolution and life on the flow of matter and energy through the system. To investigate general thermodynamic properties of large-scale reaction networks, artificial reaction networks are created with a simple scheme for deriving thermodynamically consistent reaction rates. Linear and nonlinear networks using four different complex network models are simulated to their non-equilibrium steady state for various boundary fluxes. Increasing the flow through nonlinear networks shows to increases the number of cycles and leads to a narrower distribution of chemical potentials. In the context of finding signs of life by detecting chemical disequilibrium, a photochemical model of the modern atmosphere and a model of the Archean atmosphere are compared. Calculating the reaction pathways that are most relevant for explaining their reaction network's steady state with a new method allows for the detection of topological differences between the two models. Pathways of the modern Earth atmosphere are simpler (less reactions) and contain fewer cycles than their Archean counterparts. To model the influence of life on reaction pathways, an artificial ecosystem model is developed. Evolution of the reaction networks entails an evolution of reaction pathways towards simplicity, thus indicating that the presence of pronounced, relatively simple pathways in real systems is a consequence of an evolutionary mechanism

Libyan Civil War 2011 through the eyes of witnesses

The aim of the thesis is to use the methodology of oral history to collect and analyze the statements of five respondents from the Libyan environment, or respondents who have a material relationship to the Libyan issue. The focus is on personal experiences of the 2011 civil war and views and attitudes towards the war and Libya in general. The statements are directed both to the experience of war reality and to the broader context of war. The narrators were asked about their attitudes towards the regime of Muammar Gaddafi and about the development of their views on his personality. Research also tries to capture Libyan everyday life before and after the war. The purpose of this work is to provide an insight into the lives of people in this country ravaged by conflict and to try to capture the reality of war as they perceived it. What lives did these people lead before the war? How did they take part in the war? What are their views and beliefs and how did these views and attitudes evolve? The work also contains a historical overview of events, written on the basis of available Czech and foreign literature.Cílem práce je pomocí metodologie orální historie shromáždit a analyzovat výpovědi pěti respondentů z libyjského prostředí, nebo respondentů, kteří mají k libyjské problematice věcný vztah. Středobodem zájmu jsou osobní prožitky z občanské války v roce 2011 a názory a postoje k této válce a Libyi obecně. Výpovědi směřují jak k prožívání válečné reality, tak k širšímu kontextu války. Narátoři byli dotazováni na své postoje vůči režimu Muammara Kaddáfího i na vývoj svých názorů na jeho osobnost. Výzkum se pokouší zachytit libyjskou každodennost před válkou a po jejím skončení. Smyslem práce je tak poskytnout pohled na životní osudy lidí v této zemi rozvrácené konfliktem a pokusit se zachytit realitu války tak, jak ji tito lidé vnímali. Jaké životy tito lidé vedli před válkou? Jak se války účastnili? Jaké jsou jejich názory a přesvědčení a jak se tyto názory a postoje vyvíjely? Práce obsahuje rovněž historický přehled událostí, napsaný na základě dostupné české i zahraniční odborné literatury.Ústav světových dějinInstitute of General HistoryFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

Czechoslovak-Libyan Cooperation in Health Care

The thesis is focused on Czechoslovak-Libyan contacts in the healthcare sector from approximately the seventies to 1989. The pivotal period was the healthcare cooperation taking place in the eighties. The focus of this cooperation was primarily Czechoslovak medical experts who worked in Libyan medical institutions. The purpose of the work is to reveal the political and historical background of cooperation. Find out why it happened, how it happened and what it was about. The text also deals with the importance of cooperation for Czechoslovakia and Libya. Last but not least, the author tries to uncover the forgotten life stories of Czechoslovak medical professionals. It pays attention to their role in the cooperation, their motivation to travel to Libya and reconstructs the process of preparation, deployment and life in Libya. It also tracks the chronological development of the number of Czechoslovak medical professionals in Libya. The work highlights the efforts of these experts who have really helped thousands of Libyans and contributed to the development of the Libyan healthcare system. The text is the result of an extensive analysis of archival sources.Práce je zaměřena na československo-libyjské kontakty ve zdravotnictví přibližně od sedmdesátých let do roku 1989. Stěžejním obdobím byla zdravotnická spolupráce probíhající v osmdesátých letech. Těžištěm této spolupráce byli především českoslovenští experti- zdravotníci, kteří působili v libyjských zdravotnických institucích. Smyslem práce je poodhalit politické a historické pozadí kooperace. Zjistit, proč k ní došlo, jak probíhala a co bylo jejím obsahem. Dále se text zabývá významem spolupráce pro Československo a pro Libyi. V neposlední řadě se autor pokouší odkrýt pozapomenuté životní příběhy československých zdravotníků. Věnuje pozornost jejich roli v kooperaci, jejich motivaci k cestě do Libye a rekonstruuje proces přípravy, vyslání a života v Libyi. Sleduje také chronologický vývoj počtu československých zdravotníků v Libyi. Práce vyzdvihuje úsilí těchto expertů, kteří skutečně pomohli tisícům Libyjců a přispěli k rozvoji libyjského zdravotnictví. Text je výsledkem analýzy rozsáhlého korpusu archivních pramenů.Ústav světových dějinInstitute of General HistoryFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

In situ ESEM observation of melting silver and Inconel on an Al2O3 powder bed

A hot stage in an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) was used for in situ infiltration experiments. Pressureless infiltration of a porous Ti-activated Al2O3 preform has been investigated at temperatures up to 1530°C under two atmospheres (He and H2O(g)). A brief description of the operating and the experimental set-up is given. Silver and Inconel (Ni superalloy) infiltration experiments demonstrate the in situ potential of the ESEM at temperatures up to 1500°

Virtual In-line Inspection for Function Verification in Serial Production by means of Artificial Intelligence

In high-tech production, companies often deal with the manufacture of assemblies with quality requirements close to the technological limits of manufacturing processes. The article shows an approach of a virtual in-line inspection, predicting the products functionality. An artificial neural network (ANN) fed with product characteristics and process data as well as the resulting functional fulfillment of the product is trained for virtual function prognosis. Through the preventive identification of defective products before the final assembly step, components can be recovered and returned to serial production. By optimizing the parameters of the ANN, incorrect classifications are reduced and the practical applicability is ensured. The approach is demonstrated in an industrial application in the automotive industry

High performance cluster computing with 3-D nonlinear diffusion filters

This paper deals with parallelisation and implementation aspects of PDE-based image processing models for large cluster environments with distributed memory. As an example we focus on nonlinear diffusion filtering which we discretise by means of an additive operator splitting (AOS). We start by decomposing the algorithm into small modules that shall be parallelised separately. For this purpose image partitioning strategies are discussed and their impact on the communication pattern and volume is analysed. Based on the results we develop an algorithmic implementation with excellent scaling properties on massively connected low latency networks. Test runs on a high-end Myrinet cluster yield almost linear speedup factors up to 209 for 256 processors. This results in typical denoising times of 0.5 seconds for five iterations on a 256 x 256 x 128 data cube