Biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls by white - rot fungi and their enzymes

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) represent relevant persistent organopollutants of the environment and the estimated amount of PCB released into the environment is 750000 metric tons. White-rot fungi have been studied for long time due to their degradative potential toward various aromatic pollutants and it is known that these fungi are able to decompose PCB in vivo. Biodegradation of PCB by the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus was studied in the frame of this work. A high degradative efficiency of P. ostreatus was observed in the first set of experiments, even in the presence of relative high amount of added PCB. Fungus was able to transform 780±50 µg out of the intial amount 1000 µg in 20 ml of a cultivation media within 42 days. A decrease in toxicity was recorded during the degradation that suggests the suitability of this organism for a practical use in decontamination. In vitro experiments with purified laccase induced with Cu2+ from this fungus did not prove any participation of the enzyme in the first step of PCB transformation. The enzyme did not show an ability to degrade PCB even after purification from cultivation media containing PCB. It was found that the first step of PCB transformation can be performed by an intracellular process with microsomal fraction. A degradation of 44-67% was observed for...Polychlorované bifenyly (PCB) jsou škodlivé perzistentní organopolutanty životního prostředí, jejichž množství uniklé do životního prostředí je odhadováno na 750000 tun. Houby bílé hniloby jsou dlouho studovány pro svůj degradační potenciál vůči různým aromatickým organopolutantům a je známo, že jsou schopny degradovat PCB in vivo. V této práci byla z hlediska biodegradace PCB studována houba Pleurotus ostreatus. V první části experimentů byl sledován vysoký degradační potenciál P. ostreatus, a to i při relativně vysokém množství přidaných PCB. Houba P. ostreatus byla schopna během 42 dní transformovat 780±50 µg PCB při počátečním množství 1000 µg PCB ve 20 ml kultivačního media. Dále byla sledována snižující se toxicita v průběhu degradace PCB, což tento organismus řadí mezi vhodné kandidáty pro dekontaminaci v praxi. In vitro experimenty s lakasou izolovanou z extracelulární tekutiny kultury P. ostreatus indukované Cu2+ neprokázaly účast lakasy při prvním kroku degradace PCB. Lakasa z houby P. ostreatus neprokázala schopnost transformovat PCB ani v případě, kdy byla získána z media obsahujícího PCB. V této práci bylo prokázáno, že první krok transformace PCB může probíhat intracelulárním procesem, a to na úrovni mikrosomální frakce. Byla detekována 44-67% degradace u vybraných di-pentachlorovaných...Department of BiochemistryKatedra biochemieFaculty of SciencePřírodovědecká fakult

Equal treatment and prohibited discrimination against employees

The aim of my thesis entitled Equal treatment and prohibited discrimination against employees is to provide a complete view of international, European and Czech legislation on this topic and inform about how to protect oneself against discrimination. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is general. It deals with basic concepts relevant to this area, such as equality, equal treatment, discrimination and its types and others. The second chapter focuses on the most important international treaties regulating equal treatment and discrimination in labour-management relations. It has three parts and each part consists of conventions adopted by one international organization - The United Nations, International Labour Organization and Council of Europe. The third chapter concentrates on the legislation of European Union, both primary and secondary legislation and also deals with judgements of European Court of Justice. The fourth chapter is concentrated on Czech legislation which deals with the principles of equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination of employees, at first place on Anti - discrimination Act. This chapter also treats with various means of protection available to victims of discrimination.Cílem mé práce nazvané Rovné zacházení a zákaz diskriminace zaměstnanců je poskytnout kompletní přehled aktuální mezinárodní, evropské a české právní úpravy této oblasti a informovat o tom, jak se bránit proti diskriminaci. Práce je rozdělena na čtyři kapitoly. První kapitola je obecná. Jsou v ní rozebrány zásadní pojmy týkající se dané oblasti, jako je rovnost, rovné zacházení, diskriminace a její druhy a další. Druhá kapitola je zaměřena na důležité mezinárodní smlouvy, které upravují rovné zacházení a zákaz diskriminace v pracovněprávních vztazích. Kapitola má tři části, přičemž v každé z nich jsou rozebrány úmluvy přijaté jednou mezinárodní organizací - OSN, Mezinárodní organizací práce a Radou Evropy. Třetí kapitola pojednává o právní úpravě Evropské unie a to jak úpravě práva primárního, tak úpravě práva sekundárního. V neposlední řadě se zabývá i rozhodnutími Soudního dvora Evropské unie, dříve Evropského soudního dvora. Čtvrtá kapitola je zaměřena na českou právní úpravu, v první řadě na antidiskriminační zákon. Tato kapitola také popisuje, jakými způsoby se můžeme bránit proti diskriminaci v zaměstnání a instituty sloužící na pomoc těm, kteří se cítí být v zaměstnání diskriminováni.Katedra pracovního práva a práva sociálního zabezpečeníDepartment of Labor Law and Social Security LawPrávnická fakultaFaculty of La

Endocrine-disrupting properties and degradability of micropollutants with antimicrobial activity

Vzrůstající antropogenní znečistění má negativní vliv na životní prostředí a je spojováno s rozvojem mnoha zdravotních problémů u člověka. Převážná většina chemických látek je do prostředí vypouštěna bez jakéhokoliv omezení a restrikce většinou přichází až ve chvíli, kdy se negativní důsledky jednoznačně projeví. Aktuálním tématem je výskyt tzv. mikropolutantů, které se v prostředí vyskytují ve velmi nízkých koncentracích (ng-µg/l) a vodním prostředím se šíří napříč celou planetou. Jsou mezi ně řazeny mimo jiné pesticidy, léčiva a látky používané v produktech osobní péče a péče o domácnost. Ukazuje se, že mnoho těchto látek má perzistentní charakter a i v takto nízkých koncentracích mohou mít vážné následky. Mikropolutanty mohou narušovat přirozené fungování hormonálního systému, což může být u lidí příčinou rozvoje některých typů rakoviny, snížení plodnosti či posunutí nástupu puberty. V životním prostředí může docházet vlivem endokrinních disruptorů dokonce až ke kolapsu populací. Tato práce se zabývá endokrinně disruptivními účinky a degradabilitou velmi málo prostudované skupiny látek, které se pro své antimikrobiální účinky využívají mimo jiné v produktech ústní hygieny a bez jakéhokoliv omezení či kontroly jsou vypouštěny do životního prostředí. Z výsledků práce vyplývá, že žádná z devíti...The increasing pollution caused by compounds of anthropogenic origin can lead to harmful effects on human health and the environment. The majority of produced chemicals are continuously released into the environment, and restrictions are usually not employed until negative effects have already manifested. Recently, micropollutants have been given a lot of attention among researchers. These compounds are present in the environment at very low concentrations (ng-µg/l) and are transported over the globe through the hydrosphere. Micropollutants, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, have a tendency to persist in the environment. Moreover, even trace concentrations of the compounds can have severe detrimental impacts. Many micropollutants can interfere with the natural functions of the endocrine system, which can result in the development of several types of cancer, decrease in fertility, or delayed puberty. The presence of endocrine disruptors in nature can eventually lead to the collapse of populations. This thesis focuses on the study of the endocrine-disrupting effects and degradability of antimicrobial compounds, which are, besides other applications, widely used in oral care products. The emissions of these compounds are unregulated. The results demonstrated that none...Institute for Environmental StudiesÚstav pro životní prostředíFaculty of SciencePřírodovědecká fakult

Employee turnover and maintaining knowledge continuity in large and small organisations

Determining the causes and consequences of employee turnover is necessary in order to maintain competitive advantage in today’s knowledge economy. For an organisation, an employee’s departure can mean the outflow of the knowledge that he or she possesses, and it is thus necessary to ensure its transfer in order to maintain knowledge continuity. The objective of the present article is to present the results of surveys on the causes of employee turnover and its perception by employers as possible knowledge loss. The impact of employee turnover on knowledge continuity was examined by combining quantitative and qualitative surveys. The differences be-tween provable factors leading to an employee’s departure from small and large organisations provided a base for a follow-up survey focusing on the preservation of key knowledge in organisations dealing with turnover problems. One of the conclusions is that the threat arising from a departing employee with critical knowledge about the organisation is dependent on their ownership interest in the organisation, on the size of the organisation and on the sector of the economy. Today‘s knowledge-based organisations must be aware of the main causes and consequences of employee fluctuation in order to maintain competitiveness at this time of economic crisis

Ensuring knowledge continuity and elimination of employee turnover in organisations in the Czech Republic

The goal of organisations is efficient management leading to the efficient use of time, the minimisation of errors and the improvement of the organisations’ productivity. The article focuses on the factor of knowledge continuity, which can contribute strongly to productivity enhancement and simultaneously eliminate the impact of employee turnover and subsequent loss of knowledge of its employees. The purpose is to reveal the current approach in Czech organisations with regard to the causes of employee turnover and knowledge continuity as a critical part of human resource management and to formulate relevant recommendation. The data evaluated here has been obtained through two primary surveys of managers in organisations in the Czech Republic. The outcomes reveal that efficient management, based on applying techniques of knowledge management and knowledge continuity management, may eliminate the negative impact of employee turnover on the loss of knowledge in organisations. The utilization of knowledge held by knowledge employees can contribute to the improvement of efficiency of individual processes and in turn the productivity of the entire organisation. For management to be efficient, managers have to use suitable methods of employee leadership and to create conditions that support knowledge sharing, transfer and preservation. If appropriate conditions are established, employee turnover does not need to lead to the loss of knowledge possessed by knowledge employees

Accounting outsourcing

This thesis gives a complex view on the accounting outsourcing. It describes the outsourcing process from its beginning through the collaboration to its possible ending. It defines an outsourcing and related terms, indicates the main advantages and disadvantages of accounting outsourcing and describes the outsourcing contract. The practical example quantifies costs of the accounting outsourcing from the perspective of the customer

Analýza příčin fluktuace pracovníků

Induction and deduction method revealed main determinants causing employee turnover. Those attributes were used for factor analyses to identify factors which influence organisational disaffection and fluctuation. Factors were searched and interpreted based on quantitative survey. Paper describes inadequate behaviour inside organisations together with highlighting of the determinants which are the most often reason of decision to leave job position. The aim is to point-out critical and statistically significant variables in order to lower disaffection in organisations. It is essential for modern knowledge-based organisation to be aware of the main causes and consequences of employee fluctuation to maintain competitiveness

Payment cards and loyalty programs

The object of this bachelor thesis is payment cards and loyalty programs. In the first, general, part the thesis deals with basic description of payment cards, i.e. history, particular sorts of payment cards, their legal form and characterizes a loyalty program. Next part of the thesis consists of practical part -- it is aimed for analyses of bank institutions with emphasis on their loyalty program and other services to payment cards

Organisational perception of employee turnover

Employee turnover is considered as one of the persisting problems of human resource management. This paper explores perception of employee turnover and related issues by managers. The data for this study were collected by three successive surveys. Two of surveys were focused on employees and causes of their disaffection and turnover and following third research was focused on managers. The aim is to identify causes of employee turnover, compare the results of surveys focused on employees and managers and suggest intervention into parts which were identified as controversial. Data were tested by statistical tests and analyses. Results show low usage of information regarding employee turnover among Czech managers. Based on the outputs of analyses it is possible to conclude that turnover is not usually managed in referred organisations and effort to objectively solve negative employee turnover have minimum of referred managers. Intervention to the system of turnover management is suggested with greater emphasis of top management to existing practices, which are very often ignored by the line managers. The findings stimulate changes inside organisations to lower turnover, because even a minimum positive change of conditions bring greater effect than invested effort and costs