V súčasnosti možno identifikovať tri odlišné prístupy ku konceptualizácii kvality života (Dijkers, 2005): kvalita života ako subjektívna pohoda (subjective well-being), kvalita života ako úspech (achievement) a kvalita života ako úžitok (utility). V príspevku je stotožňovanie kvality života a subjektívnej pohody považované z hľadiska ďalšieho výskumu za obmedzujúce a v intenciách konceptualizácie kvality života ako úspechu - toho, čo osoba má, čo dosiahla a dosahuje, bol navrhnutý multidimenzionálny model významných oblastí kvality života. Šesť teoreticky postulovaných oblastí kvality života - psychická, fyzická, sociálna, environmentálna, kognitívna a spirituálna - bolo operacionalizovaných pomocou 36 položiek dotazníka, na ktoré skúmané osoby reagovali simultánne dvoma spôsobmi: hodnotili jednotlivé oblasti pomocou odpoveďovej stupnice dobrý - zlý (kvalita) a spokojný - nespokojný (spokojnosť). Na súbore 93 adolescentov boli pomocou faktorovej analýzy namiesto šiestich teoreticky postulovaných významných oblastí kvality života identifikované tri: psychicko-sociálna, kognitívno- spirituálna a environmentálna oblasť. Reakcie na identické položky sa v prípade 7 zo 14 položiek, ktoré tvorili tri extrahované faktory, štatisticky významne líšili: hodnotenie pomocou stupnice dobrý - zlý a hodnotenie pomocou stupnice spokojný - nespokojný produkovalo v prípade 50 % položiek odpovede so štatisticky významne odlišnou varianciou. V ďalšom výskume je zámerom overiť faktorovú štruktúru na iných súboroch a overiť predpokladanú vhodnosť hodnotenia na stupnici kvalita pred stupnicou spokojnosť., At present there can be identified three different approaches to the conceptualization of QoL (Dijkers, 2005): quality of life as subjective well-being, quality of life as achievement, and quality of life as utility. In light of further research, the paper considers the identification of quality of life with subjective well-being as restrictive, and proposes a multidimensional model of significant areas of quality of life which falls within its conceptualization as achievement, i.e. as what a person has already achieved or has been achieving. Six theoretically postulated areas of quality of life, viz. psychological, physical, social, environmental, cognitive and spiritual, are operationalized through 36 items to which respondents offered simultaneous two types of responses whereby they assessed individual areas using the ’good-bad’ (quality) and ’satisfied - dissatisfied’ (satisfaction) response scales respectively. On the sample of 93 adolescents, and with the use of factor analysis, three areas, instead of six, of theoretically postulated significant areas of quality of life were identified, viz. psycho-social, cognitive-spiritual and environmental. Reactions to identical items, in the case of 7 out of 14 items, which represented three extracted factors, differed significantly: the assessment using the ’good-bad’ scale and that using the ’satisfied - dissatisfied’ scale produces in the case of 50% of items responses with statistically significant difference in variation. Our ensuing research will attempt to verify the factor structure on other items and the assumption that the assessment using the quality scale is more appropriate than that using the satisfaction scale., and Jozef Džuka.
The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis of different distribution spaces of elements in the rat mandibular bone and teeth. We used six adult males of Wistar laboratory rats for the study. After killing the animals, we extracted the molars and removed incisor crowns. The mandibular bone was divided into four parts (mesial-central-distal-ridge). Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine the presence of 41 elements in the bone and tooth. Evidence of 14 elements was found in all samples (incisors-molars-bone). Generally, significant differences between the left and right side were found for K and Rb in the bone locations. As regards statistically significant differences in incisors-molars-bone locations, the elements for which these differences were found for all comparisons are listed as incisors versus individual molars, incisors versus bone locations, and individual molars versus bone locations: a) incisors-molars: Ba, Mn, Mo, Sr, Zn, K, Mg and Rb; b) incisors-bone: Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Zn and Ba; c) molars-bone: Mn, Mo, Na and Mg. Statistically significant differences were also found between molars for Fe, Mg, Mn, and Sr and between bone locations for Ba, Ca, Mn, Sr, K, Rb, Zn, Mo, Mg, and Na. The elements Cu, Ni and Co were without pronounced differences. Twenty-seven elements were below the detection limit. Our results indicate different distributions of some elements in the rat mandibular incisors-molars-bone. We assume that the knowledge of chemical element contents in the laboratory rat bone and teeth will prove useful in experimental research of both these hard tissues. and Corresponding author: Ivo Němec
In this paper we introduce a class of maps possessing a multivalued homotopy lifting property with respect to every topological space. We call these maps multifibrations and they represent a formally stronger concept than that of shape fibration. Multifibrations have the interesting property of being characterized in a completely intrinsic way by a path lifting property involving only the total and the base space of the fibration. We also show that multifibrations (and also, with some restrictions, shape fibrations) have a lifting property for homotopies of fine multivalued maps. This implies, when the spaces considered are metric compacta, that the possibility of lifting a fine multivalued map is a property of the corresponding strong shape morphism and not of the particular map considered.
A novel image fusion algorithm based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and spiking cortical model (SCM) is proposed in this paper, aiming at solving the fusion problem of multifocus images. The fusion rules of subband coefficients of NSCT are discussed, and a new maximum selection rule (MSR) is defined to fuse low frequency coefficients instead of using traditional MSR directly. For the fusion rule of high frequency coefficients, spatial frequency (SF) of each high frequency subband is considered as the gradient features of images to motivate SCM networks and generate pulse of neurons, and then the time matrix of SCM is set as criteria to select coefficients of high frequency subband. Experimental results and visual evaluation demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fusion method. Objective tests and analysis conducted under different noised source image environments proved the robustness of the proposed fusion method.
The paper deals with the development and description of a multichromatic monitoring system used as part of vacuum deposition chambers for the in-situ measurement of thin film thicknesses. The monitoring system is based on the measurement of the reflectance/ transmittance of the sample at several points of the spectrum, determined by the number and wavelength of the lasers used. Measurement takes place at all wavelengths at the same time, allowing for its high speed. The main benefit of our monitoring system is a significant reduction of measurement uncertainty, compared to conventional monochromatic measurement. In addition, it gives a rough idea of the spectral characteristic of the sample. The article deals mainly with technical implementation. The algorithm for accurately determining the thickness of the thin layer is not explained here. and Článek pojednává o vývoji a popisu multifrekvenčního měřiče, použitého jako součást vakuových depozičních komor pro průběžné měření tlouštěk tenkých vrstev. Měřič je založený na měření odraznosti/ propustnosti vzorku v několika bodech spektra, určených počtem a vlnovou délkou použitých laserů. Měření probíhá na všech vlnových délkách současně, čímž je možné dosáhnout vysoké rychlosti. Hlavním přínosem našeho měřiče je výrazná redukce nejistoty ve srovnání s klasickým monofrekvenčním měřením. Navíc dává i hrubou představu o spektrální charakteristice vzorku. Článek se zabývá především technickou realizací. Algoritmus pro přesné stanovení tloušťky tenké vrstvy zde vysvětlen není.
Multigenerative grammar systems are based on cooperating context-free grammatical components that simultaneously generate their strings in a rule-controlled or nonterminal-controlled rewriting way, and after this simultaneous generation is completed, all the generated terminal strings are combined together by some common string operations, such as concatenation, and placed into the generated languages of these systems. The present paper proves that these systems are equivalent with the matrix grammars. In addition, we demonstrate that these systems with any number of grammatical components can be transformed to equivalent two-component versions of these systems. The paper points out that if these systems work in the leftmost rewriting way, they are more powerful than the systems working in a general way.
Inconclusive preoperative imaging is a strong predictor of multiglandular parathyroid disease (MGD) in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). MGD was investigated in a cohort of 17 patients with PHPT (mean age 64.9 years, total calcium 2.75 mmol/l and parathyroid hormone (PTH) 113.3 ng/l) who underwent 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT (FCH) imaging before surgery. The initial MIBI SPECT scintigraphy (MIBI) and/or neck ultrasound were not conclusive or did not localize all pathological parathyroid glands, and PHPT persisted after surgery. Sporadic MGD was present in 4 of 17 patients with PHPT (24 %). In 3 of 4 patients with MGD, FCH correctly localized 6 pathological parathyroid glands and surgery was successful. Excised parathyroid glands were smaller (p <0.02) and often hyperplastic in MGD than in single gland disease. In two individuals with MGD, excision of a hyperplastic parathyroid gland led to a false positive decline in intraoperative PTH and/or postoperative serum calcium. Although in one patient it was associated with partial false negativity, parathyroid imaging with FCH seemed to be superior to neck ultrasound and/or MIBI scintigraphy in MGD.
The discrete state space representation of the cascade of linear reservoirs model was used in this case study as the basis for a multilinear flood routing model. The time distribution scheme of model inputs was employed in the setup of the multilinear model and the travel-time parameter of the model was allowed to vary with discharge. The relationship between the flood wave-speed and the discharge for a reach of the Morava River between Moravský Svätý Ján and Záhorská Ves was studied. Five empirical models of that relation have been considered that would fit the data and would be consistent with the physical interpretation of the factors determining the relation. Empirical relations between the wave-speed and discharge were derived for the given river reach using engineering reasoning, linear and nonlinear regression and artificial neural networks. These relationships were used to model the variability of the time parameter in the discrete linear cascade flow routing model. The performance of the multilinear model was verified on ten flood waves. The modelling results showed that the inclusion of empirical information on the variability of the wave-speed with discharge enables satisfactory accuracy of the prediction of the flood propagation process without needing to calibrate the model on pairs of input-output hydrographs. The problem of choosing an appropriate wave-speed discharge relationship was briefly discussed. and Jednou z možností riešenia transformácie povodňových vĺn v korytách tokov je používanie multilineárnych modelov, teda niekoľkých lineárnych modelov odpovedajúcich rôznym odtokovým situáciám. Cieľom prípadovej štúdie bolo preveriť parametrizáciu takejto schémy zohľadňujúcu zmenu postupovej doby vrcholov prietokových vĺn v závislosti na prietoku z hľadiska jeho aplikovateľnosti v podmienkach aluviálneho riečneho úseku s bočnými prítokmi. Za základ zavedenia multilinearity sme zvolili model kaskády lineárnych nádrží, ktorý sme formulovali v stavovom priestore. Použili sme schému tzv. časového delenia vstupov do multilineárneho modelu, pri ktorom sa na výpočte podieľajú rôzne lineárne submodely striedavo za sebou v sérii. Experimentálne sme overili niekoľko spôsobov odhadu závislosti postupovej rýchlosti vrcholov povodňových vĺn od vstupného prietoku do riečneho úseku na rieke Morava medzi profilmi Moravský Svätý Ján a Záhorská Ves. Odvodené závislosti sme použili na výpočet časového parametra multilineárneho modelu, ktorý sme verifikovali na desiatich prietokových vlnách. Výhodou riešenia s premenlivým časovým parametrom kaskády lineárnych nádrží je, že model lepšie napodobňuje vlastnosti riečneho úseku ako lineárny model s parametrami získanými kalibráciou modelu na rade povodňových vĺn, ktorá sa tak stáva prebytočnou.