Crystal physics of ferroics at its best: A tribute to professor Hans Schmid

The proceedings of MEIPIC-3 is surely the appropriate forum to pay tribute to Professor Hans Schmid of the University of Geneva, on the occasion of his 65th birthday; in a sense a tribute of a child to the father since it was he who established this series of conferences and since its topic is surely not showing any marks of aging

Criminological and criminal law aspects of the ransomware spread

Kriminologické a trestněprávní aspekty šíření ransomware Abstrakt Tato diplomová práce se zabývá jednotlivými aspekty, se kterými se setkáváme v oblasti kriminologie a trestního práva v souvislosti s problematikou šíření škodlivého programu (malware) v podobě ransomware. Práce je rozdělena do dvou hlavních částí, a to části teoretické, která se dále člení na kapitoly týkající se obecně kyberkriminality, obecně malware a následně kriminologických aspektů šíření ransomware a trestněprávních aspektů šíření ramsomware, a to jak z hmotněprávního hlediska, tak z procesněprávního. Jednotlivé kapitoly jsou dále členěny na dílčí podkapitoly a ty zahrnují nejen otázky pachatelů a obětí ransomware či trestněprávní kvalifikace tohoto fenoménu, ale rovněž i pojmy příbuzné, jejichž zmínka by měla sloužit k širšímu pochopení tohoto druhu kyberkriminality. Ten je typický zejména svým distančním charakterem páchání, vysokou mírou latence a poměrně nízkou možností dopadení jejich pachatelů. Druhou částí práce je část analytická. V této části kombinuji kriminologické výzkumné metody, když se snažím verifikovat hypotézu týkající se růstu čísel evidovaných skutků odpovídají ransomware. Hypotéza je následující: "Počet zaregistrovaných útoků ransomware Policií ČR v České republice od roku 2016 roste." Tato hypotéza nakonec...Criminological and criminal law aspects of the ransomware spread Abstract This diploma thesis examines different aspects of criminology and criminal law with the issue of the malware spread in the form of ransomware. This text is divided into two main parts. First, the theoretical part consists of the chapters about cybercrime, malware and criminological and criminal law aspects of ransomware spread. It uses the substantive law and also procedural law perspective. All chapters are divided into subchapters dealing with the questions of offenders and victims, criminal law qualification of the ransomware phenomena and with related concepts used for the broader understanding of this kind of cybercrime. Second, the analytical part follows. This thesis combines different criminological research methods and tries to verify the main hypothesis regarding the increase in the number of ransomware attacks in the Czech Republic. The hypothesis is as follows: "The number of ransomware attacks registered by the Police of the Czech Republic has been increasing since 2016". This hypothesis cannot be accepted due to missing relevant data from the Police of the Czech Republic and other institutions. It can be said that for the period 2016-2018, there was 3 registered ransomware attacks per 100,000 inhabitants of the Czech...Katedra trestního právaDepartment of Criminal LawFaculty of LawPrávnická fakult

LET’s start new a LETS: Learning from a case-study investigation in Brno, Czech Republic

Tento text přináší poznatky ohledně fungování skupiny RozLEŤSe, brněnského systému místního výměnného obchodu (Local Exchange Trading System, LETS). LETS představují tzv. doplňkový peněžní systém s vlastní měnou, díky kterému se může místní komunita stát do určité míry nezávislou na mezinárodní ekonomice. Skrze ekonomickou lokalizaci by měly LETS napomáhat udržitelnému rozvoji společnosti. Přestože v České republice existovalo v letech 1990-2000 několik podobných skupin, všechny se na přelomu tisíciletí rozpadly. Samo RozLEŤSe vzniklo na základech jedné z nich. Cíle této případové studie spočívají v analýze a zhodnocení současného fungování skupiny RozLEŤSe a popsání možných hrozeb pro její budoucí existenci. Zaměřili jsme se na výzkum socio-demografických charakteristik jejích členů, na výzkum jejich motivací a analýzu fungování skupiny. Upozorňujeme na některé vážné hrozby, které pro skupinu představuje zejména omezená  nabídka zboží a služeb, rostoucí zadlužení pasivních členů a pokles důvěry. Na základě předchozích výzkumů pak navrhujeme možná řešení. This paper brings information about the operation of RozLEŤSe, a LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) network, based inBrno. LETS are parallel sustainable monetary systems, in which local community networks attempt to extricate themselves from the international economy by using their own currency. LETS is supposed to promote sustainable development by localising economic development. Although, there used to be several LETS group in the Czech Republic, all of them vanished during the first few years of the new millennium.  RozLEŤSe was built from the remains of former LETS groups. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine possible threats to the future existence of the group and evaluate its current operations. This research is a sociological case study investigation examining the socio-demographic characteristics, motivations and organisational functioning of the group. We point out some serious threats to the group (lack of supply, growth in negative credit, decrease in trust) and offer possible solutions.

Haptic Rendering Based on RBF Approximation from Dynamically Updated Data

In this paper, an extension of our previous research focused on haptic rendering based on interpolation from precomputed data is presented. The technique employs the radial-basis function (RBF) interpolation to achieve the accuracy of the force response approximation, however, it assumes that the data used by the interpolation method are generated on-the-fly during the haptic interaction. The issue caused by updating the RBF coefficients during the interaction is analyzed and a force-response smoothing strategy is proposed

Domain formation in thin ferroelectric films: The role of depolarization energy

Formulae for equlibrium stripe domain width Weq in a nonductive ferroelectric plate of thickness d are deduced, taking into account electrostatic interaction of surfaces. It is shown that the classical formula giving W eq ∞ d 1/2 is not applicable when the sample thickness decreases below the value dcrit which is a function of dielectric properties and domain wall energy density. For many ferroelectrics the value of dcrit lies in a range which can be easily reached far below the transition point by contemporary thin film techniques; it further increases as the transition point is approached. In the region d < dcrit the width Weq increases with decreasing d. For samples with thickness d << dcrit the domain structure becomes insensitive to electrical boundary conditions and will be primarily determined by other factors

Domain phenomena in single crystalline and ceramic ferroics: Unresolved and attractive problems

Domain-related properties of ferroic materials offer a number of application aspects. However, some of the involved domain characteristics have not been fully explained and may initiate an interesting field of further research. Here we specify and discuss several such still unresolved problems related to single crystalline and ceramic samples. Those concerning static domain pattern include the topic of domain wall thickness and of possible macroscopic wall properties, macroscopic properties of ceramic samples depoled in different ways and application of multidomain systems in surface acoustic wave devices. Discussed problems related to dynamic domain phenomena include the issue of visibility and thickness of moving domain walls, the effect of nucleation and the topic of extrinsic contributions to macroscopic properties of multidomain samples. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Dynamics of polarization reversal in purified Rb2ZnCl4

The dynamics of polarization reversal in sinusoidal fields (0. 1Hz≤f≤50kHz) was studied in the ferroelectric lock-in phase of purified Rb2ZnCl4 crystals. The frequency dependence of remanent polarization and coercive field Ec is qualitatively the same above and below T*≈160K, where for all measuring frequencies Ec starts to increase rapidly with decreasing temperature. A model which treats sideways shifts of planar, nearly regularly arranged domain walls as the only mechanism of polarization reversal in Rb2ZnCl4 is applicable for the quantitative description of ferroelectric hysteresis loops in the whole temperature interval under investigation. The anomalous increase of Ec at T* seems to be connected to a corresponding increase of the viscosity coefficient

An unexpected gene cluster for downstream degradation of alkylphenols in Sphingomonas sp. strain TTNP3

In silico analysis of nucleotide sequences flanking the recently found hydroquinone dioxygenase in Sphingomonas sp. strain TTNP3 revealed a gene cluster that encodes a hydroquinone catabolic pathway. In addition to the two open-reading frames encoding the recently characterized hydroquinone dioxygenase, the cluster consisted of six open-reading frames. We were able to express the three open-reading frames, hqdC, hqdD, and hqdE, and demonstrated that the three gene products, HqdC, HqdD, and HqdE had 4-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde dehydrogenase, maleylacetate reductase, and intradiol dioxygenase activity, respectively. Surprisingly, the gene cluster showed similarities to functionally related clusters found in members of the β- and γ-proteobacteria rather than to those found in other members of the genus Sphingomonas sensu lat

Purification and characterization of hydroquinone dioxygenase from Sphingomonas sp. strain TTNP3

Hydroquinone-1,2-dioxygenase, an enzyme involved in the degradation of alkylphenols in Sphingomonas sp. strain TTNP3 was purified to apparent homogeneity. The extradiol dioxygenase catalyzed the ring fission of hydroquinone to 4-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde and the degradation of chlorinated and several alkylated hydroquinones. The activity of 1 mg of the purified enzyme with unsubstituted hydroquinone was 6.1 μmol per minute, the apparent Km 2.2 μM. ICP-MS analysis revealed an iron content of 1.4 moles per mole enzyme. The enzyme lost activity upon exposure to oxygen, but could be reactivated by Fe(II) in presence of ascorbate. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified enzyme yielded two bands of an apparent size of 38 kDa and 19 kDa, respectively. Data from MALDI-TOF analyses of peptides of the respective bands matched with the deduced amino acid sequences of two neighboring open reading frames found in genomic DNA of Sphingomonas sp strain TTNP3. The deduced amino acid sequences showed 62% and 47% identity to the large and small subunit of hydroquinone dioxygenase from Pseudomonas fluorescens strain ACB, respectively. This heterotetrameric enzyme is the first of its kind found in a strain of the genus Sphingomonas sensu latu