Arnošt Kolman’s Critique of Mathematical Fetishism

Arnošt Kolman (1892–1979) was a Czech mathematician, philosopher and Communist official. In this paper, we would like to look at Kolman’s arguments against logical positivism which revolve around the notion of the fetishization of mathematics. Kolman derives his notion of fetishism from Marx’s conception of commodity fetishism. Kolman is aiming to show the fact that an entity (system, structure, logical construction) acquires besides its real existence another formal existence. Fetishism means the fantastic detachment of the physical characteristics of real things or phenomena from these things. We identify Kolman’s two main arguments against logical positivism. In the first argument, Kolman applied Lenin’s arguments against Mach’s empiricism-criticism onto Russell’s neutral monism, i.e. mathematical fetishism is internally related to political conservativism. Kolman’s second main argument is that logical and mathematical fetishes are epistemologically deprived of any historical and dynamic dimension. In the final parts of our paper we place Kolman’s thinking into the context of his time, and furthermore we identify some tenets of mathematical fetishism appearing in Alain Badiou’s mathematical ontology today

Modelling Time-Varying Rankings with Autoregressive and Score-Driven Dynamics

We develop a new statistical model to analyse time-varying ranking data. The model can be used with a large number of ranked items, accommodates exogenous time-varying covariates and partial rankings, and is estimated via maximum likelihood in a straightforward manner. Rankings are modelled using the Plackett-Luce distribution with time-varying worth parameters that follow a mean-reverting time series process. To capture the dependence of the worth parameters on past rankings, we utilize the conditional score in the fashion of the generalized autoregressive score (GAS) models. Simulation experiments show that small-sample properties of the maximum-likelihood estimator improve rapidly with the length of the time series and suggest that statistical inference relying on conventional Hessian-based standard errors is usable even for medium-sized samples. As an illustration, we apply the model to the results of the Ice Hockey World Championships. We also discuss applications to rankings based on underlying indices, repeated surveys, and non-parametric efficiency analysis

Draft Procurement Logistics Management in a Manufacturing Company

Diplomová práce se zaměřuje na zkoumání logistických procesů ve vybrané společnosti, kterou je ITAB Shop Concept CZ, a.s. Na základě provedených analýz současného stavu jsou zpracovány návrhy na možná zlepšení těchto procesů s cílem zajistit plynulejší a ekonomicky hospodárnější způsob zajišťování vstupů výroby a odbytu.The dissertation aims on evaluating of logistic processes at chosen company, which is ITAB Shop Concept CZ, a.s. Based on data analysis, suggestions leading to improvement of logistics related processes are established to secure continuous and economical way of acquiring supplies required for production and sales.

O českém údělu

A number of Czech intellectuals expressed their opinions on the meaning of Czech national existence in the late 1960s: Milan Kundera in his speech at the 4th congress of the Union of Czech Writers in June 1967, Karel Kosík in his essay Naše nynější krize (Our Current Crisis) in the spring of 1968, and a discussion opened between the Christmas of 1968 and the spring of 1969, after the invasion of Soviet army, in which Milan Kundera, Václav Havel, Karel Kosík, Jaroslav Střítecký and Lubomír Nový took part. The discussion was a reaction to the disappointment resulting from the suppression of the hopes of the Czechoslovakian spring of 1968 and critically reflected the situation in Czechoslovakian society

The Evaluation of the Financial Situation of a Company

Bakalářská práce se zaměřuje na zkoumání finanční situace společnosti ITAB Shop Concept CZ, a.s. V závislosti na datech získaných finanční analýzou obsahuje návrhy na optimalizaci daných finančních ukazatelů a také na zlepšení její finanční situace.The dissertation aims on evaluating the financial situation of the company ITAB Shop Concept CZ, a.s. Depending on data gathered by the financial analysis, it includes suggestions for better optimalization of examined financial ratio and overall improvement of company’s financial situation.

Identification of cellular pathways affected by Sortin2, a synthetic compound that affects protein targeting to the vacuole in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sortin2 is a low mass compound that interferes with vacuolar delivery of proteins in plants and yeast. The Sortin2 phenotype was tested in <it>Arabidopsis thaliana </it>and found to be reversible upon drug removal, demonstrating the ability of chemical genomics to induce reversible phenotypes that would be difficult to achieve using conventional genetics <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>. However, standard genetic methods can be used to identify drug target pathways in a high-throughput manner.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we analyzed structure-function relationships of Sortin2 using structural analogues. The results show the key roles of sulphite substitution and a benzoic acid group. A Sortin 2 hypersensitivity screen for the induced secretion of a vacuolar cargo protein was done utilizing a yeast haploid deletion library. Using bioinformatics approaches, we highlighted functional information about the cellular pathways affected by drug treatment which included protein sorting and other endomembrane system-related processes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Chemical, genomic and genetics approaches were used to understand the mode of action of Sortin2, a bioactive chemical that affects the delivery of a vacuolar protein. Critical features of Sortin2 structure necessary for bioactivity suggest a binding pocket that may recognize two ends of Sortin2. The genome-wide screen shows that Sortin2 treatment in yeast affects primarily components within the endomembrane system. This approach allowed us to assign putative functions in protein sorting for fifteen genes of previously unknown function.</p

Long-term increase in female body condition and its effect on reproduction in two European red-listed species, Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) and Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)

Body condition of breeding females is an important driver of an individual’s fitness and the consequent dynamics of populations. Long-term changes in female body condition are likely to be affected by recent shifts in climatic and environmental conditions that can result in changes to population demography. To help explain the drivers shaping body condition during the incubation period and its consequences for reproductive success, we examined the long-term pattern in the body condition of breeding females of two declining sympatric diving duck species: Common Pochard Aythya ferina and Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula. We analysed the data obtained from 139 females of Common Pochard and 251 females of Tufted Duck breeding on fishponds in South Bohemia, Czechia, between 2004 and 2020. We calculated the body condition index of females during late incubation based on the residuals from the relationship between body mass and tarsus length and used the incubation stage as an additional predictor of body mass. Body condition of both species did not decline over the 17 years of the study. The effect of winter weather conditions (winter temperature), water transparency (a proxy for food availability) and reproductive investment on body condition was not confirmed. Female body condition positively affected mean egg mass and hatchability in both studied species, i.e. females in better body condition laid larger eggs and hatched eggs with a higher hatching probability. We conclude that the population declines of the studied species are probably not connected to decreasing body condition of breeding females, but other reasons such as change in breeding propensity or offspring survival and recruitment should be considered in future studies.publishedVersio

Changes in wetland habitat use by waterbirds wintering in Czechia are related to diet and distribution changes

Understanding species habitat use and factors affecting changes in their distributions are necessary to promote the conservation of any biological community. We evaluated the changes in wetland use of the non-breeding waterbird community. Based on long-term citizen-science data (1988-2020), we tested the hypotheses that wetland use is associated with species diet and potential range-shift drivers (the tendency to occupy the same sites in consecutive years-site affinity-and the species' average temperature across its wintering range-species temperature index). We analysed species-specific wetland use of 25 species of waterbirds wintering in Czechia over a period of 33 years. The analyses explained variability in trends in numbers of the studied waterbird species across four inland wetland types: reservoirs; fishponds; industrial waters created by flooding of former mining sites; and running waters. Trends in waterbird abundance positively correlated with species' diet on fishponds, industrial and running waters. Among the diet groups, invertivores showed the largest increase in abundances on industrial waters, closely followed by herbivores. Herbivores showed the largest increase in abundances in fishponds, and piscivores did so in running waters. Regarding range-shift drivers, species with higher site affinity showed higher abundances on running waters, while species with low species temperature index (i.e. wintering on average in sites with lower temperature) were more abundant on reservoirs. The abundance of both warm-dwelling and species with low site affinity increased on fishponds and industrial waters. Our findings suggest that the increased importance of the wetland types considered here for wintering waterbirds is likely to be linked to diet related changes in habitat use and changes in species distributions; and highlight that wintering waterbirds are expected to select sites with higher availability of food, higher energy content, and lower foraging cost. Recent and rapid changes in species distributions may lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of national and international conservation efforts. When planning conservation measures, it should be kept in mind that climate change does not only imply large-scale north/north-eastwards shifts of entire waterbird distributions, but can also modify the use of the habitats by waterbird species inside their traditional wintering range.Peer reviewe