Coaching as a method for managerial development and the opportunities its application brings to construction engineering

Bakalářská práce pojednává o koučování jako metodě rozvoje manažerů a o možnostech jejího uplatnění ve stavebnictví. Cílem této bakalářské práce je poukázat, jak se koučování využívá v rozvoji manažerů ve stavebním podniku a jaký má jeho využívání dopad na stavební podnik. Teoretická část je věnována základním pojmům a teoriím, které souvisí s tématem bakalářské práce. Druhá, tedy praktická část, poukazuje na základě dotazníkového šetření a řízených rozhovorů, jak jsou stavební firmy seznámeny s metodou koučování a jestli jsou s touto metodou seznámeni samotní manažeři.My bachelor‘s thesis deals with coaching as a method of managerial development and the opportunities its application brings into the construction industry. The aim of the thesis is to show how coaching isused to developmanagers‘ skills in building companies, and what impact it may have on the companies’ operation. The theoretical part introducest he basic terms and theories related to the topic. Based on a questionnaire survey and a series of structured interviews, the practical part analyzes whether and possibly to what extent building companies and their managers are familiar with the coaching method.

Family house

Předmětem bakalářské práce je návrh rodinného domu pro čtyřčlennou rodinu v Praze v lokalitě Špitálka. Jedná se o lukrativní pozemek na jižním svahu se zajímavým výhledem na panoramata Prahy. Návrh domu a jeho hmotové řešení je ovlivněno charakterem pozemku, výhledy a vhodnou orientací ke světovým stranám. Stavba je umístěna v horní části pozemku a je částečně zapuštěna pod úroveň terénu. Tímto řešením jsou ve vyšších patrech vytvořeny zajímavé výhledy do okolí, interiér je dostatečně prosluněn jižním a západním sluncem a zároveň je stavba přímo propojena se zahradou, kde vzniká klidný prostor k relaxaci.The topic of this bachelor thesis is draft of a family house for a family of four in Prague´s city part called Špitálka. It is a lucrative plot on the southern slope with interesting view on the skyline of Prague. The draft of the house and its mass solution are affected by the character of the plot, views and suitable orientation towards the cardinal directions. The building is located in the upper part of the plot and is partially sunk below the surface. This solution makes amazing views to the vicinity from the upper floors, interior is sunlit enough by southern and western sunshine and simultaneously the building is directly connected to the garden which makes it a nice and calm place to relax

Community ecology of moths in floodplain forests of Eastern Austria

In der vorliegenden Arbeit habe ich Nachtfaltergemeinschaften aus Wäldern unterschiedlicher Überflutungsregime in drei verschiedenen Auenregionen (Donau, March und Leitha) im Tiefland Ost-Österreichs untersucht. Für die Erfassung der Falter wurden, über einen Zeitraum von 2 Jahren, einmal pro Monat Lichtfallen betrieben. Obwohl der Lichtfang die am häufigsten verwendete Methode ist, um Nachtfalter zu erfassen, weiß man immer noch erstaunlich wenig über die Entfernungen, aus denen Falter zum Licht fliegen. Um den Attraktionsradius einer schwachen Lichtquelle (2 × 15 W UV-emittierende Leuchtstoffröhren) zu untersuchen, wurden zwei Fang-Wiederfang-Experimente durchgeführt. Insgesamt wurden 2.331 Nachtfalter aus 167 Arten gefangen, individuell markiert und aus Entfernungen von 2–100m zur Lichtquelle erneut freigelassen. Von diesen Nachtfaltern kamen nur 313 Tiere innerhalb von 5 Minuten wieder zum Leuchtturm zurück. Generell war die Wiederfangrate mit 13,4 % gering und nahm mit steigender Entfernung immer mehr ab. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass der Attraktionsradius einer schwachen Lichtquelle für Nachtfalter sehr klein ist und oft sogar unter 10 m liegt. Mit solchen Fallen erhobene Stichproben bilden daher die Artengemeinschaften, aus denen sie gezogen wurden, mit der erforderten hohen räumlichen Auflösung ab, um auch in einer heterogenen Landschaft kleinräumige Unterschiede zwischen Habitaten beurteilen zu können. Da eine Hauptfrage dieser Untersuchung dem Einfluss von Überflutung auf die Nachtfalter-Diversität gewidmet war, war es zunächst wichtig, ein geeignetes Maß für lokale Arten-Diversität auszuwählen. Dieses Maß sollte auf den betrachteten räumlichen und ökologischen Skalen ausreichend hohe Auflösung erbringen. Ich habe anhand eines großen empirischen Datensatzes (448 Nachtfalter-Arten und 32.181 Individuen) eine Reihe von Alpha-Diversitätsmaßen miteinander verglichen. Für ähnliche Vergleiche wurden bisher überwiegend modellierte Datensätze verwendet. Die betrachteten Auwälder umfassten sowohl regelmäßig überflutete als auch heute nicht mehr (bzw. nur kaum) überflutete Bereiche. Ich erwartete daher, dass regionale wie auch lokale Einflüsse die Artendiversität der Nachtfalter beeinflussen. Überraschenderweise ließen sich weder mittels beobachteter Artenzahlen noch mit acht verschiedenen Extrapolationsmethoden für die Gesamtartenzahlen Unterschiede zwischen den Regionen oder zwischen überfluteten und nicht überfluteten Habitaten abbilden. Rarefaction-Analysen und der Formparameter der logarithmischen Reihe (Fisher's alpha) zeigten Unterschiede zwischen den Regionen auf, nicht aber zwischen den beiden Habitattypen. Nur mittels Shannons Diversität konnten alle erwarteten Differenzierungen auf hohem Signifikanzniveau abgesichert werden. Dabei machte es wenig Unterschied, ob Shannons Diversität in ihrer ursprünglichen Form oder unter Berücksichtigung einer kürzlich entwickelten Bias-Korrektur für kleine Stichproben zum Einsatz kam. Letztere vermied aber die Unterschätzung der lokalen Diversität an Stand¬orten mit kleinen Fangzahlen, weshalb ich die Bias-korrigierte Fassung für alle weiteren Analysen verwendete. Sodann verglich ich die Artendiversität und -zusammensetzung der Nachtfalter-Faunen zwischen den drei Auenregionen und den beiden Überflutungsregimen. Heutige Auwaldreste in Ost-Österreich sind kleinräumig in eine waldarme Kulturlandschaft eingebettet. Daher – und angesichts der hohen Mobilität vieler Nachtfalter – enthalten auch Stichproben, die im Inneren eines Waldes gezogen werden, stets einen beträchtlichen Anteil von Individuen, die aus der umgebenden Landschaftsmatrix zugeflogen sind. Um den Einfluss solcher Irrgäste zu testen, wurden die Nachtfalter anhand der spezifischen Ressourcenansprüche ihrer Raupen in „Residente“ und “Irrgäste” eingeteilt. Irrgäste waren zahlreich vertreten (17 % der beobach-teten Arten, 6 % der Individuen), beeinflussten aber die Muster der Artendiversität nur marginal. Residente wurden in weiterer Folge unterteilt in Tiere, die ihre Larvalentwicklung in der Baum- und Strauchschicht vollziehen, und jene, die sich bodennah entwickeln. Damit sollte festgestellt werden, ob diese Gruppen unterschiedlich von der Überflutungsdynamik beeinflusst werden. Überraschenderweise war weder die Gesamtdiversität der Nachtfalter noch die Diversität der Arten mit bodennaher Entwicklung in überfluteten Waldanteilen vermindert. In zwei der drei Auenregionen war die Artendiversität dieser terrestrischen Insekten sogar in Waldgebieten mit Überflutungsdynamik höher. Ich erkläre dies mit der größeren Heterogenität und Natürlichkeit überfluteter Waldbereiche wie auch mit dem hohen Wiederbesiedlungspotenzial mobiler Nachtfalter nach Störungen durch Hochwasserereignisse. Die Diversität der arborealen Arten zeigte überhaupt keine Unterschiede zwischen überfluteten und nicht überfluteten Habitaten. Es gab eine starke Differenzierung der Artenzusammensetzung bezüglich der Regionen und schwächer, aber trotzdem signifikant, zwischen überfluteten und nicht überfluteten Waldanteilen. Allerdings war die Arten-zusammensetzung der überfluteten Gebiete in den drei Regionen unterschiedlich, so dass man, anders als erwartet, keine Nachtfalterfauna ausmachen kann, die typisch für überflutete Habitate wäre. Die Differenzierung der Artengemeinschaften war im Wesentlichen durch Verschiebungen der Abundanzverhältnisse eurytoper Arten verursacht, Spezialisten für Feuchtgebiete spielten nur eine untergeordnete Rolle. Weiters wurde untersucht, ob verschiedene Teilgruppen einer Nachtfaltergemeinschaft sich in dem betrachteten Habitatmosaik unterschiedlich verhalten bzw. ob es Teilgruppen gibt, die als Stellvertreter (und damit ggf. als Indikatoren) des Gesamtmusters dienen können. Damit verbunden war die Frage nach dem Ausmaß struktureller Redundanz im Datensatz. Drei taxonomisch definierte (Überfamilien Noctuoidea, Geometroidea und Pyraloidea) und 10 funktionell definierte Teilgruppen spiegelten das Gesamtmuster in unterschiedlichen Graden wider. Zwar reflektierten die Noctuoidea die Beta-Diversität am besten, doch aufgrund ihrer hohen Arten-und Individuenzahl sind sie als Stellvertreter nicht optimal. Die Geometroidea hingegen reduzieren den Arbeitsaufwand (sie machen 31.25% der Arten und 21.22% der Individuen aus) und bilden die Beta-Diversität fast genauso gut ab wie die Noctuoidea. Der gesamte Datensatz konnte auf 8–15 Arten (das sind 1.5–3,35% aller gefundenen Arten) reduziert werden, die das Gesamtmuster nahezu genauso gut abbildeten wie der vollständige Datensatz. Interessanterweise waren nicht unbedingt die abundantesten Arten als Stellvertreter bedeutsam, sondern es scheint wichtiger zu sein, dass alle (häufigen) funktionellen Typen eines Ökosystems in einer Indikatorgruppe vertreten sind. Diese Beobachtungen führen zu der Hypothese, dass Nachtfaltergemeinschaften in Auwäldern ein hohes Ausmaß auch an funktioneller Redundanz aufweisen könnten. Insgesamt zeigen die Ergebnisse meiner Studie, dass für Nachtfalter – eine sehr artenreiche und durchaus repräsentative Gruppe terrestrischer herbivorer Insekten – Auwälder nicht unbedingt als ‚Hotspots’ der Biodiversität zu betrachten sind. Artendiversität und Artenzusammensetzung dieser Insekten wurden zudem stärker von regionalen Faktoren moduliert als von der lokalen Hochwasserdynamik.In this thesis I investigated moth communities in relation to flood regime across three riparian regions of lowland Eastern Austria (viz. Danube, Morava and Leitha rivers) using light traps once a month over a period of two consecutive years. Although light trapping is the most widely used method to survey nocturnal moths, little is still known about the distances at which moths respond to an artificial light source. Two community-wide mark-release-recapture experiments were carried out in order to investigate the attraction radius of a weak artificial light source (2 × 15 W UV-light tubes). Altogether 2,331 moths belonging to 167 species were caught at light traps, individually marked, and released again at distances of 2–100 m. Of these only 313 moths returned to the light trap within 5 min of release. Percentage recapture was generally low (gross rate 13.4%) and strongly decreased with increasing the distance at which they had been released. The data confirm that the attraction radius of low-power light traps for moths is very small, often even below 10 m. Therefore, moth samples assembled with such light traps reflect the communities from which they are drawn at a sufficiently high spatial resolution (in the range of tens of meters) to allow for comparisons in a finely grained forest landscape. As one major question of this thesis was the impact of flooding on moth species diversity, it was important to select an appropriate measure of local diversity which is sensitive at precisely the ecological scales under study. I used a large data set of 448 moth species and 32,181 individuals, collected in the three floodplain forests mentioned above, to empirically explore the performance of a range of alpha-diversity measures. Earlier comparisons of diversity measures have mostly been made using modelled data sets. The studied forests comprised regularly flooded and non-flooded habitats, thus, I expected that local moth diversity should be shaped by both, regional differences and local flood effects. Surprisingly, observed species numbers as well as eight methods to extrapolate species totals completely failed to reflect differences between the three study regions or between flooded and non-flooded habitats. Rarefied species numbers and Fisher’s alpha of the log-series distribution did capture differences in moth diversity between the regions, but failed to mirror flooding impact. Only Shannon’s diversity captured all expected diversity differences, at high significance levels. Whether using Shannon’s diversity in its original formulation, or a recently developed bias-correction for small sample sizes, did not affect conclusions about species diversity patterns, but the original formulation tended to underestimate species diversity in smaller samples. I therefore decided to adopt the bias-corrected Shannon diversity as the most meaningful species diversity measure for my subsequent analyses. I then proceeded to compare moth species diversity and species composition between the three floodplain forest regions and between differentially flood-impacted forest stretches. Today’s floodplain forests in Austria consist of small stretches embedded into non-forested cultivated landscape. Accordingly, and in view of the high mobility of these insects, moth samples taken inside forests always contain a fraction of non-breeding individuals that have immigrated from this landscape matrix. To test the impact of these stray species on diversity patterns, moths were segregated into resident and strays according to their larval resource and habitat requirements. Resident moths were further partitioned into arboreal and ground-layer species based on their larval habitat, to find out if flooding affects these groups differently. Stray species were quite numerous, accounting for 17 % of observed species and 6 % of sampled individuals, but they only marginally influenced diversity and species composition patterns. Contrary to expectation, total moth diversity and ground-layer moth diversity were generally not reduced in flooded habitats relative to non-flooded habitats. In two of three riverine regions species diversity of these terrestrial insects was even higher in flood-impacted habitat fractions. I attribute these patterns to the higher heterogeneity and naturalness of flood-impacted areas plus the strong re-colonisation potential of mobile moths after disturbances through floods. Species diversity of arboreal moths did not show any significant differences between flood regimes at all. With regard to species composition, there was a strong differentiation of moth communities between the three floodplain regions and to a lesser degree between flooded and non-flooded forests. Moth ensembles from flooded habitats in different riverine regions did not group together in ordination diagrams. This contradicts to the hypothesis that flooding would result in a characteristic moth community tolerant to frequent inundation. Differences in species composition were mostly caused by changes in abundance relations of eurytopic moths, and could not be attributed to specialist species bound to wetland habitats. I further investigated if subsamples of moth assemblages differ in their potential to reveal ecological patterns, i.e. such subsamples can serve as surrogates for overall beta-diversity. Concomitantly, I analysed the extent of structural redundancy in the dataset. Various taxonomically or ecologically defined moth subsamples mirrored total beta-diversity patterns to quite different degrees. For these analyses, I compared the three largest superfamilies (Noctuoidea, Geometroidea, and Pyraloidea) as well as 10 functional groups defined by their larval habitats and resource affiliations. Even tough the Noctuoidea showed the highest concordance with all moths, the Geometroidea provide a better surrogate for beta-diversity, because they scored almost as well as the Noctuoidea, but working effort is much lower since they are not that rich in species and less numerous in individuals (i.e. 31.25% of total species and 21.22% of total individuals). Regarding to structural redundancy I was able to reduce the dataset down to only 8–15 species (i.e. only 1.5–3.35 % of all recorded moth species) that were fully sufficient to reflect the species composition patterns in the overall moth community. The most abundant species did not necessarily carry the greatest weight in that regard. Rather, the results suggest that representation of all (common) functional types which may be expected within an ecosystem is more important to define surrogate groups to monitor species turnover. These observations also lead to hypothesize that floodplain forest moth assemblages likely show considerable functional redundancy. Overall, the results assembled in this thesis indicate that for moths, as a representative and species-rich group of terrestrial herbivorous insects, floodplain forests cannot be characterised as ‘hotspots’ of biodiversity. Moth species diversity and species composition were more strongly modulated by regional factors than by local habitat conditions

Akustische Modellierung der Schallabstrahlung eines Bahnklimagerätes

nicht vorhande

The dark side of street lighting: impacts on moths and evidence for the disruption of nocturnal pollen transport

Among drivers of environmental change, artificial light at night is relatively poorly understood, yet is increasing on a global scale. The community-level effects of existing street lights on moths and their biotic interactions have not previously been studied. Using a combination of sampling methods at matched-pairs of lit and unlit sites, we found significant effects of street lighting: moth abundance at ground level was halved at lit sites, species richness was >25% lower, and flight activity at the level of the light was 70% greater. Furthermore, we found that 23% of moths carried pollen of at least 28 plant species and that there was a consequent overall reduction in pollen transport at lit sites. These findings support the disruptive impact of lights on moth activity, which is one proposed mechanism driving moth declines, and suggest that street lighting potentially impacts upon pollination by nocturnal invertebrates. We highlight the importance of considering both direct and cascading impacts of artificial light

The range of attraction for light traps catching Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

BACKGROUND: Culicoides are vectors of e.g. bluetongue virus and Schmallenberg virus in northern Europe. Light trapping is an important tool for detecting the presence and quantifying the abundance of vectors in the field. Until now, few studies have investigated the range of attraction of light traps. METHODS: Here we test a previously described mathematical model (Model I) and two novel models for the attraction of vectors to light traps (Model II and III). In Model I, Culicoides fly to the nearest trap from within a fixed range of attraction. In Model II Culicoides fly towards areas with greater light intensity, and in Model III Culicoides evaluate light sources in the field of view and fly towards the strongest. Model II and III incorporated the directionally dependent light field created around light traps with fluorescent light tubes. All three models were fitted to light trap collections obtained from two novel experimental setups in the field where traps were placed in different configurations. RESULTS: Results showed that overlapping ranges of attraction of neighboring traps extended the shared range of attraction. Model I did not fit data from any of the experimental setups. Model II could only fit data from one of the setups, while Model III fitted data from both experimental setups. CONCLUSIONS: The model with the best fit, Model III, indicates that Culicoides continuously evaluate the light source direction and intensity. The maximum range of attraction of a single 4W CDC light trap was estimated to be approximately 15.25 meters. The attraction towards light traps is different from the attraction to host animals and thus light trap catches may not represent the vector species and numbers attracted to hosts

The apparent interferon resistance of transmitted HIV-1 is possibly a consequence of enhanced replicative fitness

HIV-1 transmission via sexual exposure is an inefficient process. When transmission does occur, newly infected individuals are colonized by the descendants of either a single virion or a very small number of establishing virions. These transmitted founder (TF) viruses are more interferon (IFN)-resistant than chronic control (CC) viruses present 6 months after transmission. To identify the specific molecular defences that make CC viruses more susceptible to the IFN-induced ‘antiviral state’, we established a single pair of fluorescent TF and CC viruses and used arrayed interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression screening to identify candidate antiviral effectors. However, we observed a relatively uniform ISG resistance of transmitted HIV-1, and this directed us to investigate possible underlying mechanisms. Simple simulations, where we varied a single parameter, illustrated that reduced growth rate could possibly underly apparent interferon sensitivity. To examine this possibility, we closely monitored in vitro propagation of a model TF/CC pair (closely matched in replicative fitness) over a targeted range of IFN concentrations. Fitting standard four-parameter logistic growth models, in which experimental variables were regressed against growth rate and carrying capacity, to our in vitro growth curves, further highlighted that small differences in replicative growth rates could recapitulate our in vitro observations. We reasoned that if growth rate underlies apparent interferon resistance, transmitted HIV-1 would be similarly resistant to any growth rate inhibitor. Accordingly, we show that two transmitted founder HIV-1 viruses are relatively resistant to antiretroviral drugs, while their matched chronic control viruses were more sensitive. We propose that, when present, the apparent IFN resistance of transmitted HIV-1 could possibly be explained by enhanced replicative fitness, as opposed to specific resistance to individual IFN-induced defences. However, further work is required to establish how generalisable this mechanism of relative IFN resistance might be

Home-range size and habitat use of European Nightjars Caprimulgus europaeus nesting in a complex plantation-forest landscape

In Europe, the consequences of commercial plantation management for birds of conservation concern are poorly understood. The European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus is a species of conservation concern across Europe due to population depletion through habitat loss. Pine plantation-forest is now a key Nightjar nesting habitat, particularly in northwestern Europe, and increased understanding of foraging habitat selection is required. We radiotracked 31 Nightjars in an extensive (185-km2) complex conifer plantation landscape in 2009 and 2010. Home-range 95% kernels for females, paired males and unpaired males were an order of magnitude larger than song territories of paired males, emphasizing the importance of habitats beyond the song territory. Nightjars travelled a mean maximum distance of 747 m from the territory centre each night. Homerange placement relative to landscape composition was examined by compositional analysis. Pre-closure canopy forest (aged 5–10 years) was selected at all scales (MCP, 95% and 50% kernels), with newly planted forest (aged 0–4 years) also selected within 50% kernels. For telemetry fixes relative to habitat composition within 2 km of their territory centre, individuals again selected pre-closure and newly planted forest, and also grazed grass heath. Open ungrazed habitat was not selected, with implications for open habitat planning for biodiversity conservation within public-owned forests. Despite the Nightjars’ selection for younger growth, moth biomass was greater in older forest stands, suggesting that foraging site selection reflects ease of prey capture rather than prey abundance. Within large plantation-forest landscapes, a variety of growth stages is important for this species and our results suggest that grazing of open habitats within and adjacent to forest will additionally benefit the European Nightjar