Diploma thesis deals with the question of the possible benefit of a pet - a dog for the quality of life of its owner. In the introduction of the thesis, the individual approaches to the concept of quality of life are first presented, which are subsequently given in connection with the possibilities of how the dog can contribute to the individual areas of life of its owner. In this regard, the possible benefits of the dog for the quality of life of different age groups of dog owners are especially described. Significant researches, which contributed to understanding the mechanism of action that a dog exerts influence on its owner are described. The aim of the work was to find out how the dog affects the different aspects of its owner's life and how the dog owners themselves perceive and evaluate this contribution in terms of influencing the quality of their life and subjective well-being. For this purpose, qualitative research was carried out. It was performed by the method of interviews, in which it was possible to determine how the specific life situation and individual preferences were involved in the perceived contribution of the dog to life. In qualitative research, the contribution of dog ownership to owners was examined in more detail, especially in the physical, psychological and social spheres of...

There is so far no consensus on how to develop a reliability model of safety-related digitalinstrumentation and control (I&C) in a probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of a nuclear powerplant. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate different approaches to model digital protectionsystems in a PSA for a nuclear power plant. This is accomplished by the development of a fault treemodel of the digital protection system for a fictive and simplified nuclear power plant, that act as areference model to be used for evaluation of different design alternatives and modelling principles.Common cause failures and spurious actuation signals are the major contributors to scenariosresulting in a core damage. A PSA model has to be sufficiently detailed in order for this to berepresented in the results. The impact on results such as core damage frequency and importance ofminimal cut sets from different fail-safe, voting logic and signal validation designs are significant,too. To further examine the differences between I&C designs and significance of different PSAmodelling solutions, the degree of realism of the example should be increased. This rapidlyintroduces complexity to the models resulting in a model that is more difficult to review and resultsthat is more difficult to interpret and even much simplified models tend to get rather complex.

Background: The protection of the environment requires everyone in this world to act together. If more individuals have the intention to protect the environment, then more individuals and a higher probability of taking action to protect the environment. In order to arouse individuals' attention to environmental issues, some non-profit organizations and government agencies have released public service advertisements. As a way of constructing advertisements, message framing can awaken individuals' emotional responses to the content of public service advertisements by conveying positive or negative information. Positive information can arouse individuals' positive emotions, while negative information can cause individuals' negative emotional reactions. Emotional responses could have an impact on individuals. Therefore, this article focuses on whether there is a relationship between emotional responses and intention.  Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explain how the emotional response to the message framing in public service advertisement impact individuals’ intention to protect the environment.  Methodology: This thesis followed a deductive approach; thus, the quantitative research method is applied to this paper. The data collection method is the questionnaire, the authors designed a self-completed questionnaire, and it was sent out online. Before the questionnaire sent, there was a small-scale pretest of the questions was conducted. Then, the questionnaire was posted online, and the authors received 590 valid responses as a result. Afterward, the authors used SPSS as the technical tool to analyze the data. Coding, descriptive analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data and test the hypothesis.  Findings: This study found that positive emotional responses to positive message frames in PSAs had a positive impact on individuals' intentions to protect the environment. In addition, negative emotions were found to have no positive effect on negative message framing in PSAs in relation to individuals' intentions to protect the environment.  Conclusion: This study shows that positive emotional responses to PSA images depicting positive messages have a positive impact on environmental conservation intentions. From a positive emotional response perspective, the researchers found that the use of natural environments in PSA images elicited strong positive emotions in respondents and could trigger higher levels of pleasure and happiness, as well as lower levels of awe.  In addition, although negative messages in PSA images can trigger negative emotions in individuals (fear, guilt, and sadness), they do not affect individuals' intention to protect the environment. Thus negative emotional reactions do not affect the intention to protect the environment.

No description available.

<p>In the next few decades, the nuclear industry worldwide is expected to launch a set of reactors with advanced reactor designs. Generation-IV (GEN-IV) reactors are to display superior safety by incorporating additional passive safety concepts as well as improving accident management and minimization of consequences. Canada is in the early stages of conceiving its GEN-IV reactor design – the Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR). The proposed design is based on the existing CANDU configurations and is expected to offer significant advances in thermal efficiency, fuel cycle sustainability, and relative cost of energy. Of particular interest is the reactor's ability to use inherent or passive safety concepts which will translate to the reactor being walk-away safe in an accident.</p> <p>Steam generators in CANDU remove decay heat by thermosyphoning in a loss of Class-IV power accident. This natural circulation process was a passive feature in GEN-II and GEN-III CANDUs. The SCWR's direct thermodynamic cycle implies steam generators are no longer incorporated into the design. This thesis examines how the SCWR compensates for the removal of a passive safety system element and the difference to the overall safety of the reactor following accidents. These results will be compared to the traditional CANDU's response in accidents to demonstrate the added value of this new reactor in maintaining the goal of no widespread core damage. Comparisons were also made between the SCWR and similar GEN-IV reactors in terms of design and response to various initiating events.</p> <p>Probabilistic Risk Analysis is used in this thesis to assess the SCWR design options. Although the SCWR is in the pre-conceptual design phase, the results of such risk assessment studies could affect the design, operation, and licensing of this new reactor. Future studies can build on this work to conduct more detailed analyses to characterise the SCWR's safety and reliability.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This thesis investigates two questions: the methodological strengths and weaknesses of meta-analysis and the diagnostic performance of the Stockholm3 test for clinically significant prostate cancer. Through a systematic review and meta-analysis, we explore the robustness and limitations of meta-analysis, focusing on aspects such as bias assessment, heterogeneity, and the impact of the file-drawer problem. Applying these methods, we evaluate the Stockholm3 test’s performance, comparing it to the conventional Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test. Our analysis synthesizes data from four studies consisting of 6 497 men, indicating that the Stockholm3 test offers improved diagnostic accuracy, with a higher pooled Area Under the Curve (AUC), in turn suggesting better identification of clinically significant prostate cancer. Nonetheless, the study also reveals challenges within the practice of meta-analysis, including variation among study methodologies and the presence of bias. These findings highlight the dual purpose of the research: demonstrating the utility and drawbacks of meta-analysis and validating the Stockholm3 test’s potential as a diagnostic tool. The conclusions drawn emphasize the need for continued research to enhance both meta-analytic methods and the clinical applicability of the Stockholm3 test in broader populations.

Les finitions de peintures automobiles sont constituées par un vernis ou par une laque. Leur analyse montre une migration de tensioactifs à base de polysiloxane vers la surface des vernis et de composés oxygénés vers la surface de la laque, ces composés recouvrant partiellement le réseau polyacrylate-polyuréthane. Cette migration d'additifs est la cause de la faible adhérence mesurée lors du pelage d'adhésifs sensibles à la pression sur le vernis. Le calcul des paramètres de solubilité explique cette faible adhérence : les PSA interagissent beaucoup plus avec le réseau polyacrylate qu'avec les additifs siliconés. Le nettoyage à l'éthanol enlève les composés siliconés ou oxygénés de la surface des peintures, ce qui améliore l'adhérence des PSA sur le vernis. De plus, nous étudions le comportement mécanique lors du pelage de deux PSA (à base élastomère ou acrylique) en corrélant la dissipation locale de l'énergie avec la déformation des PSA. La majorité de l'énergie est dissipée lorsque la déformation des PSA est maximale. L'allure des courbes de comportement dépend du caractère élastomère/acrylique de l'adhésif et l'énergie dissipée est proportionnelle à l'aire de contact avec le substrat.

Prostate cancer is the most common noncutaneous cancer among men, yet current diagnostic methods are insufficient and more reliable diagnostic markers need to be developed. The answer that can bridge this gap and enable more efficient diagnoses may lie in microRNAs. These small, single stranded RNA molecules impact protein expression at the translational level and regulate important cellular pathways. Dysregulation of these small RNA molecules can have tumorigenic effects on cells and lead to many types of cancers. Currently the Prostate-Stimulating Antigen (PSA) is used as a diagnostic marker for prostate cancer. However, many factors can elevate PSA levels such as infections and certain medications, consequently leading to false positive diagnoses and unnecessary concern and over treatment with dire outcomes for the patient. Even worse, are the chances of false negative diagnoses, which result in prostate cancer not being diagnosed until its later stages. Therefore, although the use of the PSA level has had its uses in the clinic, it has failed to sufficiently bridge the gap or to distinguish indolent from aggressive disease. It has long been suggested in the literature that microRNAs are drastically altered throughout the course of cancer progression. Here, RNA sequencing was used to identify changes in miR expression profiles diagnostic for prostate cancer patients compared to non-patient controls. The RNA sequencing results were also used to identify normalization miRs to be used as endogenous controls. Confirmatory qRT-PCR was then used to corroborate these results for the top seven dysregulated miRs found from the RNA sequencing data. Data analysis of the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Curves (ROC) of the selected miRs exhibited a better correlation with prostate cancer (AUC Range= 0.819- 0.950) than PSA (AUC of PSA=0.667). In summary, a panel of seven miRs are proposed, many of which have prostate specific targets, which would represent a significant improvement over current testing methods.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Objetivo El antígeno prostático específico es utilizado en el diagnóstico de patologías prostáticas. No existe un estudio en Perú que proponga un punto de corte de PSA index para discriminar entre cáncer de próstata e hiperplasia prostática benigna para la indicación de biopsia prostática. Actualmente, se emplean diferentes puntos de corte basados en estudios internacionales. Material y métodos Se realizó un estudio de validación diagnóstica de PSA index para discriminar entre ambas entidades en pacientes con un PSA total entre 4,0 ng/ml y 9,9 ng/ml. Fueron incluidos 356 pacientes con diagnóstico de hiperplasia prostática benigna o cáncer de próstata mediante biopsia prostática. Se evaluó la sensibilidad, especificidad, los valores predictivos y los cocientes de probabilidad de los valores de PSA index de 15 hasta 25%. Se graficó la curva ROC. Resultados Un PSA index de 17% posee mejores valores de sensibilidad (87,8%), especificidad (62,2%) y valores predictivos (valor predictivo positivo de 62,4% y valor predictivo negativo de 87,4%) respecto a otros para disminuir el número de biopsias negativas. El cociente de probabilidad positivo fue 2,3 y el cociente de probabilidad negativo fue 0,1. El área bajo la curva fue 0,75 [IC 95%, 0,71 a 0,79]. Conclusión Se sugiere un PSA index de 17% como punto de corte para discriminar entre hiperplasia prostática benigna y cáncer de próstata en pacientes que acuden a consulta ambulatoria con un PSA total entre 4,0 ng/ml y 9,9 ng/ml. Se recomienda este valor si se desea reducir el número de biopsias prostáticas negativas. / Revisión por pares

Documento confidencial. Não pode ser disponibilizado para consulta / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Química. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 2011