Environmental risk assessment in industrial enterprise is important part of safety documentation required by legislation of the Czech Republic and of the EU. Despite that, there is given less attention to this part of risk analysis in the Czech Republic, than in the other countries of EU. Importance of this part is evident for a number of significant industrial accidents with impact to the environment. This Master’s thesis deals with the methods used in safety engineering for the environmental risk assessment, according to Act No. 59/2006 Coll., on the prevention of major accidents, as amended by later regulations. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. Theoretical part includes the legislative summary of Act No. 59/2006 Coll. on the prevention of major accidents, as amended by later regulations and requirements for owners, which result from this law. Further, the frameworks for environmental risk assessment in the EU and USA were evaluated and compared. Main part deals with the characteristics of selected (most commonly used in practice) methods for environmental risk assessment, evaluation of its usability and creation of compact process for environmental risk assessment in industrial enterprise in accordance to legislative requirements. In the final part, there is performed application of suggested process for environmental risk assessment in the concrete industrial enterprise.

This thesis deals with the optimization of structural details for flat single-leaf roofs. In the first part of the thesis, 3 groups of structural details for flat roof (flat roof parapet, gutter at flat roof without overhang of the roof cladding, intersection of the flat roof and vertical supporting structure) are characterized, classified and examined. In every group one of these structural details is designed with use of modern composite material based on secondary raw materials (still in development process). The theory describes the current issue of thermal bridges at constructions and applicable legislative documents. The next part introduces thermal engineering analysis (based on finite element method) of structures with annotated data outputs. The another main part of thesis provides with designed innovative optimization algorithm using multi-criteria decision analysis methods, which is then practically tested on the surveyed construction details. The conclusion summarizes the results and provides with improvements based on completed research.

This thesis is about the risks, what is the risk and what methods exist for risk analysis with the focus on HAZOP, FMEA, ETA and FTA. At the end of the thesis is described RTC system, design and inpmelentation of extesion for the system.

Orientador: Douglas Altamiro Consolo / Resumo: Neste trabalho investiga-se a abordagem de avaliação da proficiência oral do professor de línguas estrangeiras empregado por um exame brasileiro voltado a essa finalidade específica, o EPPLE – Exame de Proficiência para Professores de Línguas Estrangeiras. O estudo tem por objetivo propor uma abordagem que atenda a necessidades levantadas pela literatura da área acerca da importância da democratização e transparência do processo avaliativo e do emprego de processos decisórios que garantam os princípios de validade sem causar interferências na praticidade das avaliações. Assim, a abordagem proposta subordina-se à elaboração de uma escala de mensuração e à reestruturação da escala de proficiência do exame, agregando-se a opinião de usuários com diferentes graus de especialidade sobre a avaliação de proficiência. Trata-se, portanto, de um estudo de caso de natureza híbrida e cunho exploratório-descritivo que se utiliza de dados secundários e primários para auxiliar a investigação. Os dados secundários consistem em estudos e documentos sobre a caracterização da proficiência linguística para finalidades gerais e para finalidades de ensino, bem como sobre a avaliação dessas proficiências; em dados de fala do teste oral do EPPLE referentes à participação de formandos em Letras de uma universidade pública paulista e de duas universidades públicas mineiras, na qualidade de candidatos ao exame, nos anos de 2015 e 2017; e nos respectivos conceitos atribuídos aos candidatos, seguindo-se ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research study investigates the assessment model used by a teaching-oriented language examination, the EPPLE – Proficiency Examination for Foreign Language Teachers, in the assessment of foreign language teachers’ oral proficiency. We aim at evaluating the model used by the oral test and proposing a new one that meets current concerns raised by the literature regarding the importance of democratizing the assessment process, guaranteeing transparency and using decision models that assure validity principles without causing interferences in the test’s practicality. Therefore, the model we propose relies on the reorganization of the oral proficiency scale used in the exam through the inclusion of its stakeholders’ opinions. The investigation conducted consists on a quali-quantitative and exploratory-descriptive case study that uses primary and secondary data. Secondary data consist of research studies and documents on the concept of general and teaching purpose language proficiency; speaking data from candidates to the oral test of the EPPLE examination; as well as the respective rates assigned to such candidates according to the proficiency scale used in the exam. The candidates to the EPPLE examination that participate in this study are Letters course undergraduate students from Brazilian public universities, one located in the state of São Paulo and two in the state of Minas Gerais, in the years of 2015 and 2017. Primary data, on the other hand, consist of the answers ob... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

<div> <div> <div> <p>Understanding protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in a cell is essential for learning protein functions, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases. This dissertation introduces the computational method to predict PPIs. In the first chapter, the history of identifying protein interactions and some experimental methods are introduced. Because interacting proteins share similar functions, protein function similarity can be used as a feature to predict PPIs. NaviGO server is developed for biologists and bioinformaticians to visualize the gene ontology relationship and quantify their similarity scores. Furthermore, the computational features used to predict PPIs are summarized. This will help researchers from the computational field to understand the rationale of extracting biological features and also benefit the researcher with a biology background to understand the computational work. After understanding various computational features, the computational prediction method to identify large-scale PPIs was developed and applied to Arabidopsis, maize, and soybean in a whole-genomic scale. Novel predicted PPIs were provided and were grouped based on prediction confidence level, which can be used as a testable hypothesis to guide biologists’ experiments. Since affinity chromatography combined with mass spectrometry technique introduces high false PPIs, the computational method was combined with mass spectrometry data to aid the identification of high confident PPIs in large-scale. Lastly, some remaining challenges of the computational PPI prediction methods and future works are discussed. </p> </div> </div> </div>

This doctoral thesis is focused on value based management. The basic principle of value based management states that the main object in an organization is value enhancement. Within an organization the concept of value based management connects activities and people participating in business processes to maintain that the resources the owners put into the business are evaluated. The essential task of value based management is to find and identify factors which contribute increasing performance and creating the value of a company, known as value drivers. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the factors which by significant amount affect the value of the mechanical engineering enterprises in the Czech Republic. In the first part of the thesis an analysis of current academic knowledge in area of value drivers is made. The base of the analysis is created by foreign resources because there is only limited amount of information in domestic literature. Besides the determination of value approach and its benefits attention is mainly paid to organizing results from value generators area. Findings of secondary resources analysis are used for own research problem. The second part of the thesis includes determination of the main objects and the research problem as well as formulation of the research questions and tested hypotheses. The third part is focused on describing methods which were used in the thesis. In the thesis was applied logical (induction – deduction, analysis – synthesis, generalization – concretaization) and empirical methods (comparsion method, quantitative research methods). Primary data was collected by using a questionnaire. Obtained data was analyzed using logarithmic decomposition of the return on equity, Boosted Trees and descriptive statistics (for example measures of location, measures of variability) and more statistical methods for analysis of statistical hypothesis (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Lilliefors test for normality, F-test, Student’s t-test, Chi-squared test, Fisher’s exact test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient). In the fourth part of the thesis the branch of manufacturing industry is characterized and the identification of performance factors is accomplished applying logarithmic decomposition of the return on equity. The other subjects of research were companies in a branch called “Manufacturing of machines and devices”. The fifth part of the thesis includes summary of findings of the prime research and its discussion. Primary data was obtained by a questionnaire survey and completed with accounting information of respondents. The findings of the research show that main determinants affecting the value of engineering companies in the Czech Republic are return on assets, profit margin, consumption, sales profitability, personnel costs and value added. The qualitative value drivers are good reputation, human resources (employees) and its characteristics, business and flexibility, performance and productivity, assets, competency responsible staff, attentiveness to requirement of customers, innovation and quality.

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A célula estromal pode influenciar o desenvolvimento do tumor no sítio primário e secundário, mas pouco é conhecido sobre as características moleculares das células estromais presentes na medula óssea de pacientes com câncer de mama. Nosso objetivo foi avaliar a expressão gênica diferencial entre as células estromais oriundas de medula óssea na presença ou ausência de célula tumoral oculta. Coletamos dez aspirados de medula óssea das pacientes com câncer de mama. A classificação do comprometimento da medula por células tumorais ocultas foi realizada pela detecção da expressão de CK19 por Nested-RT-PCR e quatro entre dez pacientes apresentaram presença de célula tumoral na medula óssea. Estabelecemos culturas primárias de células estromais de todas as amostras e, selecionamos amostras originárias de duas pacientes contendo linfonodos comprometidos e presença de célula tumoral oculta em medula e também de duas pacientes que não apresentavam linfonodos comprometidos e nem célula tumoral oculta na medula. As pacientes selecionadas eram pós-menopausadas com diagnóstico de carcinoma ductal invasor e expressão imunohistoquímica positiva para receptor de estrógeno e progesterona. Realizamos avaliação do perfil de expressão gênica entre estes dois grupos, o que nos revelou 21 genes diferencialmente expressos dentre os 4.608 genes imobilizados em lâmina de cDNA microarray; nove genes hiperexpressos em célula estromal de medula comprometida (PTHLH, TLOC1, NCOA6, C17orf57, ANAPC11, MAST4, POLR3E, CPNE1 e B4GALT5) e doze genes hipoexpressos em célula estromal de medula comprometida (MRPL2, NAT10, DAP, RNF2, FLOT2, FKBP10, SLIT3, EBNA1BP2, SLC35B2, MICAL2, GPR3, TSPAN17). Nossos dados sugerem que apesar da expressão gênica de células estromais oriundas de medula óssea comprometida ou não por micrometástases ser semelhante, algumas diferenças podem ser identificadas. / Stromal cells may influence tumor development in primary and secundary sites, however, molecular characteristics of bone marrow stromal cells from breast cancer patients are almost unknown. Our aim was to evaluate the differential gene expression of bone marrow stromal cells from breast cancer patients in the presence or abscence of occult tumor cells. Bone marrow (BM) aspirates were obtained from 10 breast cancer patients. The presence of occult bone marrow disseminated tumor cells was detected by CK19 expression quantified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Presence of tumoral cell was detected in four of ten BM samples. Stromal cells primary cultures were established and samples from two patients with positive lymph nodes and presence of occult tumor cells in bone marrow and samples from two patients with negative lymph nodes and abscence of occult tumor cells in bone marrow were selected. All the included patients were postmenopausal with invasive ductal carcinoma and positive estrogen and progesterone receptors detected by immunohistochemical analysis. Gene profile evaluated in cDNA microarray slides containing 4.608 spotted genes revealed 21 differencially expressed genes, nine upregulated (PTHLH, TLOC1, NCOA6, C17orf57, ANAPC11, MAST4, POLR3E, CPNE1 e B4GALT5) and twelve downregulated (MRPL2, NAT10, DAP, RNF2, FLOT2, FKBP10, SLIT3, EBNA1BP2, SLC35B2, MICAL2, GPR3, TSPAN17) in stromal cell derived from bone marrow in the presence of tumor breast cancer cell. Our data suggest that gene expression from bone marrow derived stromall cells in the presence or abscence of occult tumor cells seems similar, however small differences may be identified.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden Musterbildungsphänomene auf Submikrometerskalen in reaktiven Adsorbaten auf einkristallinen Katalysatoroberflächen theoretisch untersucht. Da auf solch kleinen Skalen Fluktuationen nicht mehr vernachlässigt werden können, wird eine mesoskopische Theorie entwickelt, die zwischen mikroskopischen Gittermodellen und Reaktions-Diffusions-Systemen vermittelt. Sie beschreibt die Dynamik lokal gemittelter Adsorbatbedeckungen im Rahmen eines Kontinuumsmodells unter Berücksichtigung interner Fluktuationen. Dieser Ansatz wird auf verschiedene Systeme angewendet, in denen sich Muster auf Längenskalen ausbilden, die kleiner als die charakterist ische Diffusionslänge sind, die typischerweise im Mikrometerbereich liegt. Wie beispielsweise in kürzlich durchgefh hrten Experimenten mit einem vergleichsweise schnellen Rastertunnelmikroskop beobachtet wurde, können attraktive Adsorbat-Adsorbat-Wech sel wirkungen zu verschiedenen Mustern auf Nanometerskalen führen. Hier wird zunächst eine einzelne Adsorbatspezies betrachtet. In Abwesenheit von Nichtgleichgewichtsreaktionen können hinreichend starke attraktive laterale Adsorbatwechselwirkungen einen Phasenh bergang erster Ordnung in der Adsorbatbedeckung induzieren. Die mesoskopische Entwicklungsgleichung wird auf die Modellierung der Kinetik dieses Phasenh bergangs angewendet. Berücksichtigt man zusätzlich eine Nichtgleichgewichtsreakti on, so können sich stationäre räumlich periodische Mikrostrukturen aufgrund der Konkurrenz zwischen dem Phasenh bergang und der Reaktion ausbilden. Die Vorraussetzungen für deren Auftreten und ihre charakteristischen Eigenschaften werden hier detailliert analysiert. Unter anderem werden alternierende Wechselwirkungen diskutiert und der Einfluß globaler Kopplung durch die Gasphase auf die Musterbildung wird betrachtet. Außerdem wird gezeigt, da8 die Mikrostrukturen auch durch vergleichsweise starke interne Fluktuationen nicht zerstört werden. Im nächsten Schritt wird ein hypothetisches Modell für zwei verschiedene Adsorbatspezies untersucht, in dem ein ähnlicher Mechanismus zur Bildung von laufenden und stehenden Wellenmustern auf der Nanoskala führt. Werden vergleichsweise starke interne Fluktuationen berücksichtigt, so brechen diese Wellenmuster auf und man beobachtet eine komplexe Dynamik miteinander wechselwirkender Wellenfragmente. Im letzten Beispiel wird anhand der Analyse eines einfachen Modells gezeigt, da8 sich auf Skalen unterhalb der Diffusionslänge selbstorganisierte Mikroreaktoren in einer einzelnen reaktiven Adsorbatspezies ausbilden können, ohne daß die Teilchen miteinander wechselwirken. Sie entsprechen lokalisierten Strukturen, die aufgrund des Zusammenspiels einer Nichtgleichgewichtsreaktion, der Diffusion und eines adsorbatinduzierten strukturellen Phasenh bergangs in der Substratoberfläche entstehen. / Nanoscale pattern formation in reactive adsorbates on single crystal surfaces is investigated theoretically. Because on such small scales fluctuations become important, a mesoscopic theory for the adsorbate coverage is developed, which aims at providing a link between microscopic lattice models and reaction-diffusion equations. It describes the dynamics for the locally averaged adsorbate coverages in a continuum model taking into account internal fluctuations. This approach is applied to several systems, where patterns on scales smaller than the characteristic diffusion length, which typically lies in the micrometer range, can be formed. As has been observed e.g. in recent experiments with fast scanning tunneling microscopy, a variety of nanoscale patterns can result from the presence of attractive adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. Here, at first a single species of such an adsorbate is considered. In the absence of nonequilibrium reactions, strong enough attractive lateral interactions can induce a first-order phase transition in the adsorbate coverage. The mesoscopic evolution equation is applied to model the kinetics of this phase transition. If additionally a nonequilibrium reaction is present, stationary spatially periodic microstructures may arise as a result of the competition of the attractive lateral interactions and the reactions. The conditions for their appearance and their properties are investigated in detail, e.g. alternating lateral interactions are discussed and the influence of global coupling through the gas phase is analyzed. Furthermore, it is shown that they are not destroyed by relatively strong internal fluctuations. In the next step, a hypothetical model for two different reactive adsorbate species is investigated, where a similar mechanism leads to the formation of nanoscale traveling and standing waves. In the presence of relatively strong internal fluctuations these waves break up and a complex dynamics of interacting wave fragments is observed. In the last example, it is shown in the analysis of a simple model that self-organized nonequilibrium microreactors with submicrometer sizes may spontaneously develop in a single reactive adsorbate species without attractive lateral interactions. They represent localized structures resulting from the interplay between reaction, diffusion and an adsorbate-induced structural transformation of the surface.

Introdução: A ressecão hepática é considerada um tratamento potencialmente curativo para metástases hepáticas de câncer colorretal (MHCCR), mas os benefícios a longo prazo oferecidos pela complementação do tratamento com quimioterapia sistêmica não foram completamente comprovados. Existe ganho já bem estabelecido para sobrevida livre de doença com o uso de quimioterapia perioperatória, mas não existe ganho de sobrevida global demonstrado em ensaios clínicos randomizados (ECR). Objetivo: Comparar sobrevida global e livre de doença em pacientes com MHCCR submetidos apenas ao tratamento cirúrgico com intenção curativa com aqueles que além da cirurgia também receberam tratamento complementar com quimioterapia sistêmica, independentemente do regime utilizado. Métodos: Construção de revisão sistemática com meta-análise avaliando estudos publicados entre 1991 e 2013 e que compararam o tratamento cirúrgico isolado ao associado à quimioterapia sistêmica para o tratamento de MHCCR ressecáveis. Os ECR foram avaliados através da ferramenta Cochrane para detecção de viéses, e os estudos observacionais comparativos (EOC) de boa qualidade foram incluídos no processo meta-analítico após terem sido selecionados seguindo a metodologia MINORS (índice metodológico para análise de ensaios clinicos não randomizados). Sobrevidas global e livre de doença foram comparadas utilizando modelos fixos e randômicos de efeitos de tratamento e razão de riscos (RR). Resultados: Na avaliação de sobrevida global foram incluídos 5 estudos (3 ECR e 2 EOC), compreendendo 2475 pacientes, com 1024 pacientes recebendo quimioterapia complementar e apresentando ganho relativo de sobrevida global de 23 % quando comparados com cirurgia isolada (RR 0.77, 95% IC. 0.67 - 0.88, p < 0.001). Quatro estudos reportaram sobrevida livre de doença e foram incluídos nesta análise (3 ECR e 1 EOC) totalizando 1592 pacientes e nestes, o uso de quimioterapia (702 pacientes) também reduziu o risco de recidiva em 29% (RR 0.71, 95% IC 0.61 - 0.83, p < 0.001). Conclusões: Esta revisão sistemática com meta-análise demonstrou que o uso de quimioterapia para pacientes submetidos à hepatectomia com intenção curativa como tratamento de MHCCR é uma estratégia terapêutica que propicia ganho de sobrevida global e livre de doença / Introduction: Hepatic resection is considered a potentially curative treatment for patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). The benefits of the use systemic chemotherapy in these patients have not been proven. It is likely to improve recurrence free-survival (RFS); however, no differences in overall survival (OS) have been demonstrated yet. Objective: Comparison between surgery plus systemic chemotherapy, regardless of the timing of administration, with surgery alone looking for long term outcomes in patients with CRLM who underwent curative-intent liver resection. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published from January 1991 to December 2013 that compared surgery alone and surgery plus chemotherapy for patients with CRLM who underwent curative-intent liver resection. Randomized clinical trials (RCT\'s) were evaluated by Cochrane risk of bias tool. Selection of high-quality observational comparative studies (OCS) was based on a validated tool (Methodological Index for Nonrandomized Studies - MINORS). RFS and OS were compared using fixed and random effects model and Hazard Ratio (HR). Results: Concerning OS, 5 studies (3 RCT and 2 OCS), comprising 2475 patients were analyzed and chemotherapy (750 patients) relatively improved OS rates in 23% when compared to surgery alone (HR of 0.77, 95% C.I. 0.67 - 0.88, p < 0.001). Four studies described RFS (3 RCT and 1 OCS), totalizing 1592 patients, and chemotherapy (702 patients) also decreased the risk of recurrence in 29% (HR 0.71, 95% C.I 0.61 - 0.83, p < 0.001). Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis has demonstrated that the use of chemotherapy for patients with CRLM who underwent curative-intent resection is a worthwhile strategy to improve both RFS and OS