The capability to change and adapt, known as plasticity, is one of the most impressive features of the human brain. It is most pronounced during childhood development. While a child acquires various cognitive skills, the brain matures alongside. Language learning is such a process that occurs naturally across childhood development, supposedly within a sensitive period. Originally, the sensitive period for language acquisition was thought to close at puberty, after which language learning was believed to be near impossible. This view has since been challenged and it is now suggested that there are multiple sensitive periods for various aspects of language acquisition. Some aspects are rather well established, e.g. the vocabulary spurt, while others, e.g. comprehension of complex sentences, are not yet fully understood. I was interested in whether and how these two aspects of language learning could be ad- vanced through training within the framework of sensitive periods and how this related to structural plasticity in the healthy developing brain. First, natural gray matter maturation was examined. The results support the existing literature of different trajectories for each gray matter mea- sure and provide new evidence for the widespread maturational process of cortical thinning to be in progress already at four years of age. Second, a word learning training was applied to investigate underlying plastic changes during an ongoing sensitive period of word learning. I found that language-specific inferior frontal areas, as well as domain-general parietal regions, responded to training with gray matter changes. Third, training-induced plasticity was examined at the onset of a sensitive period for complex syntax comprehension. Here, frontal domain-general regions showed plastic changes, but no language-specific regions were engaged. This study underlines the importance of task demands and the crucial role of general processes (e. g. attention and memory) under- lying higher-order tasks such as language learning. The changes to the gray matter structure as a function of language training during specific points in sensitive periods of language acquisition are discussed and I point out how these findings compliment and extend the current literature on brain plasticity in childhood development in the context of cognitive training.

<p>To increase overall aircraft engine efficiency, the diameter of the high-pressure turbine is reduced, leading to low aspect ratio airfoils. Secondary flow dominates in these low aspect ratio turbines, and the small airfoil geometry inhibits flush-mounted, full-spatial dynamic pressure measurements with pressure transducers. Airfoil surface pressure measurements are vital to understanding the inherently unsteady flow phenomena in turbines. Additionally, aerodynamic performance data derived from high-resolution surface pressure measurements provide invaluable data for validating computational fluid dynamics codes used for prediction. Non-intrusive measurement techniques such as fast-responding Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) offer a potential solution of a full-field optical measurement of surface pressure fluctuation, with each camera pixel representing a sensor. The porous binder improves the dynamic response of PSP, making it suitable for unsteady flow environments such as turbomachinery applications. In this view, the overall objective of the current doctoral research is to develop a lifetime PSP method using laser-based excitation for surface pressure measurement on a new class of high-pressure turbines. </p> <p>The overall research goal was subdivided into three main strategies. (1) A pulse lifetime calibration procedure of a porous polymer/ceramic binder PSP was developed in a pressure-controlled chamber to assess the correlation between pressure and time-resolved luminescent lifetime, pressure sensitivity, and signal-to-noise ratio. (2) The lifetime technique was implemented for surface pressure measurements in a linear test section to measure high spatial pressure gradients and resolve unsteady flow features. A data reduction routine and an optimal binning bundle of pixels were proposed for calibration analysis to reduce the overall pressure uncertainty. Uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis were also completed to determine the parameters with a substantial effect on the pressure uncertainty. (3) The pulse lifetime method was demonstrated on a high-pressure turbine vane suction surface at engine representative conditions. The surface pressure data were corroborated with static pressure tappings and computational simulations. This research effort provided new insights into time-resolved luminescent lifetime PSP techniques. Steady and unsteady flow features from surface pressure measurements were identified using a precise calibration method. The lifetime pulse method was effective in a high-pressure turbine flow field, paving the way for back-to-back PSP experiments with different turbine geometries. </p>

The nurse practitioner (NP) role is more prominent now than ever before in primary healthcare, positioning them as providers who defend initiatives and ongoing health agendas. Obesity is among those agendas. The concept of instrumental role modeling was explained as a combination of understanding and physical presence that gives meaning and quality to inspire change. It implied that health professionals are not merely insightful clinicians but suggested their expertise is complimented by demonstrations of wellness in knowledge and practice. This topic of weight was perceived as sensitive but must be addressed. In this grounded theory study, the perspectives of NPs from clinical and academic settings were gathered. There was an overarching need for NPs to identify how they perceived themselves consequential to how others perceived them. Using a qualitative method gaps on the construct of instrumental role modeling as an emerging theory was addressed and revealed the ambiguities NPs encountered when challenged to identify their personal perceptions of obesity when counseling weight management. Using a grounded theory design, 11 NPs were interviewed and asked about how they reconciled perceptions of instrumental role modeling around discussions of obesity. Participant remarks produced theoretical constructs that instrumental role models: 1) are mindfully responsible when interacting with others, 2) need to balance accountability, approach and awareness to develop trust, and 3) need to be aware of the creative tensions that exist between accountability and approach when discussing illnesses and their co-morbid conditions. These findings provide evaluative dialogue for positive social change in clinical settings and valuable insight regarding the topic of obesity in academia.

Partie d’une question faisant écho à celle de La Boétie sur la Servitude volontaire, dont la reproduction semble fondée sur l’éducation, cette recherche étudie les interactions parents-enfants et leur « éducation réciproque » (Baker) au sein de familles engagées à plein temps auprès de leurs enfants dans une démarche spécifique, hors institutions.Ces parents ont en commun une pratique inspirée de l’enseignement d’I. Tsuda, l’aikido, et le katsugen undo (mouvement régénérateur), qu’ils transfèrent au domaine éducatif, où l’enfant est perçu également comme un maître, pour ce qui concerne l’écoute des sens et le dialogue qu’il suscite, ce dialogue sensible ou « dialogue du silence ». Dans cette relation avec l’enfant, le corps,et tout le domaine du sensible sont centraux.A travers leurs expériences, il s’est agi de voir en quoi la prise en charge d’un enfant peut être un moment de rupture autoformatrice pour le parent devenu « expert profane », en quoi ce souci de l’autre est ou non producteur d’un « souci de soi », en quoi l’enfant, révélateur pour l’adulte de son enfance, agit comme un analyseur de ses conduites et peut devenir par sa « négatricité » (Ardoino),porteur d’instituant. Qu’est-ce qui, par cet « apprentissage transformateur » (Mezirow), voit la maïeutique, dans cet accompagnement, jouer sur les deux pôles, en mettant en valeur le spontané,l’intuition et l’autoformation chez l’enfant, formes éducatrices (plus qu’éducatives) qui se voient restaurées chez le parent. Avec le développement chez l’enfant de sa capacité à s’autodéterminer dans une relative liberté. / This research originates from a question in relation to La Béotie's work on voluntary servitude.As the perpetuation of voluntary servitude seems to stem from education, we shall examine parentchildinteraction and the « reciprocal educational effects » (Baker) it produces within those familieswhich are fully involved with and committed to a de-institutionalized, home education approachwith their children.The parents in these families have in common a practice inspired by the teachings of I. Tsuda,aikido, and katsugen undo (regenerative movement), which they apply to the educative field,whereby the child is seen also as a master as regards perceiving with all senses (which incites dialogue: « sensitive dialogue » or a « silent dialogue »). In this creation with the child, the body as wellas the whole field of perception are central.Through the experience of these families, this research proposes to examine how child education,as revealing of childhood to the parent, can bring in the latter a "self-educational"breakthrough –the parent being both a profane and an expert. It proposes to examine what parenthoodinvolves as a process for the parent, how caring for another person entails caring for oneself,how the child acts as an analyst of adult behaviour and, through his/her « negatricity » (Ardoino),how the child can bring about a change. It also proposes to examine the process through whichthis « transforming learning experience » (Merizow), where maieutics acts on both ends (child-parent)and where emphasis – as regards the child - is given to spontaneity, intuition and self-education,restores a form of self-education for the parent. How this, for the child, fosters an individualcapacity for self-determination in a context of relative freedom.

Title: Mining Parallel Corpora from the Web Author: Bc. Jakub Kúdela Author's e-mail address: jakub.kudela@gmail.com Department: Department of Software Engineering Thesis supervisor: Doc. RNDr. Irena Holubová, Ph.D. Supervisor's e-mail address: holubova@ksi.mff.cuni.cz Thesis consultant: RNDr. Ondřej Bojar, Ph.D. Consultant's e-mail adress: bojar@ufal.mff.cuni.cz Abstract: Statistical machine translation (SMT) is one of the most popular ap- proaches to machine translation today. It uses statistical models whose parame- ters are derived from the analysis of a parallel corpus required for the training. The existence of a parallel corpus is the most important prerequisite for building an effective SMT system. Various properties of the corpus, such as its volume and quality, highly affect the results of the translation. The web can be considered as an ever-growing source of considerable amounts of parallel data to be mined and included in the training process, thus increasing the effectiveness of SMT systems. The first part of this thesis summarizes some of the popular methods for acquiring parallel corpora from the web. Most of these methods search for pairs of parallel web pages by looking for the similarity of their structures. How- ever, we believe there still exists a non-negligible amount of parallel...

Soňa Fraňková: Role of host-dependent factors in prediction of antiviral treatment response in chronic hepatitis C Abstract Hepatitis C virus infection represents a leading cause of liver disease in western countries. The primary goal of HCV therapy is elimination of the virus, i.e. sustained virological response (SVR) achievement. Genetic factors have long been suspected of playing a crucial role in determining response to IFN-α-based therapies, but pretreatment predictors of response were only poorly defined and did not allow personalization of therapy. The aim of the thesis is to describe the role of host-dependent factors in prediction of antiviral treatment response in chronic hepatitis C in specific groups of patients. First, we focused on the role of the IFNG -764G/C promoter variant in SVR achievement. We did not prove that this variant predicted SVR in Czech HCV-infected individuals. Next, we focused on the role of IL28B and IFNL4 in HCV-infected patients: we confirmed that the IL28B rs12979860 CC genotype slows down the progression of liver fibrosis in chronic HCV infection and that IFNL4 ss469415590 TT|ΔG genotyping does not bring a better prediction of treatment success than IL28B rs12979860 in the Czech population. Third, we assessed prediction of treatment response in HCV positive liver...

Studien undersökte huruvida det finns någon skillnad mellan dansare och icke-dansare gällande grad av högkänslig personlighet (HSP). Även välmåendet hos dansarna undersöktes samt om deras välmående skiljde sig från icke-dansarnas, där pandemins påverkan på välmåendet också beaktades. Vidare undersöktes sambandet mellan HSP och välmående inom de två grupperna och totalt. Studiens resultat utgick från insamlade data från en enkät bestående av mätinstrumenten HSP-skalan, Välmåendeskalan samt två egenformulerade frågor om pandemins påverkan på välmåendet. Urvalet omfattades av 224 personer, varav 110 var dansare och 114 icke-dansare. Studiens data bearbetades i SPSS. De främsta analyserna som användes var ANCOVA, Pearsons korrelationskoefficient samt Cronbachs alfa. Resultatet påvisade ingen skillnad mellan dansare och icke-dansare i grad av HSP, dock fanns en skillnad mellan grupperna gällande subskalan estetisk känslighet (AES), där dansarna tenderade att ligga högre. Gällande välmående fanns en interaktionseffekt mellan grupp och kön samt interna skillnader inom dansargruppen, där dansstuderande utifrån självskattning mådde bättre än övriga verksamma inom dansyrket. Generellt hade välmåendet bland deltagarna försämrats av pandemin men dansarnas välmående hade enligt självskattning påverkats mer negativt än för icke dansare. Sambandet mellan HSP och välmående var svagt negativt för båda grupperna och totalt. Resultatet skiljde sig delvis från tidigare forskning som tytt på att alla kreativa yrkesgrupper består av en högre andel HSP-personer. Vidare forskning bör undersöka kreativa yrkesgrupper var för sig och inte generalisera kreativa professioner som en och samma grupp. En strävan med studien var att utvidga uppmärksamhet och förståelse för dansare som yrkesgrupp. / The study examined whether there was any difference between dancers and non-dancers regarding the degree of highly sensitive personality (HSP). Furthermore, the dancers’ well-being was examined as well as whether it differed from the non-dancers’ well-being, with the impact of the pandemic taken into consideration. Additionally, the relationship between HSP and well-being was investigated - within the two groups and in total. The results of the study were based on data collected from a survey, consisting of the two pre-existing instruments “HSP-scale” and “Questionnaire on well-being” as well as two questions specifically designed for this study, regarding the pandemic’s impact on the well-being score. The sample consisted of 224 persons, of whom 110 were dancers and 114 non-dancers. The survey data was processed in SPSS. The main analyzes performed were ANCOVA, Pearson’s correlation and Crohnbach’s alpha. The results showed no significant difference between dancers’ and non-dancers’ degree of HSP, however there were some differences for the subscale aesthetic sensitivity (AES). For the measurements of well-being, an interaction effect between group and gender was found, as well as internal differences within the dancer group showing that the dance students scored higher on well-being than others in the dance field. In general, the level of well-being among the participants decreased due to the pandemic, but the dancers’ well-being had been more negatively affected according to the survey. The results showed a slight negative relationship between HSP and well-being for each group and in total. This outcome partly differed from previous research, which suggested that all creative professions have an enhanced percentage of HSP-persons. Future research should examine creative professions individually and not generalize creatives to one and the same group. One aim for the study was to expand the awareness and understanding of the dancers’ occupational field.

Background: Disabling hearing loss is a global burden. This burden is worsened by the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Some of the medications used to treat MDR-TB are damaging to the cochlea and auditory nerve (ototoxic) and can lead to permanent hearing loss and/or balance disorders. Ototoxicity monitoring aims to reduce this burden by preventing or minimising the damage caused by ototoxic treatment as it can progress and worsen speech perception difficulties. However, the proposed test battery for ototoxicity monitoring is lengthy and demands active participation which is not ideal for ill patients (such as those on MDR-TB treatment). The Sensitive Range of Ototoxicity (SRO) technique is recommended to shorten the test time. The SRO consists of seven consecutive relatively high frequencies determined from the highest frequency the participant responded to. The SRO technique is time efficient. Although the SRO technique provides the prospect of a shortened test battery, there is still a global lack of audiologists. Automated audiometry is a vital application for testing especially when audiologists are not available to physically do the test. Automated audiometry has been previously validated. Clinically, automated audiometry is objective and allows for standardisation. Even though automated audiometry helps improve access to monitoring more patients, patient preference is an important factor when using automated audiometry to ensure patient-centred care is not compromised. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the specificity and sensitivity of the SRO technique with automated audiometry compared to the gold standard (manual audiometry). This comparison was made by firstly, determining the testing time efficiency and the correlation of thresholds obtained with the different test methods and, secondly, testing the diagnostic value of automated audiometry using the SRO technique. The incidence of an ototoxicity-induced hearing loss was described by determining the time interval between starting ototoxic MDR-TB treatment and the onset of a significant threshold shift (STS) according to ASHA's criteria. Lastly, the test method preference of the participants with MDR-TB was described and compared using a short exit survey. Study Design: A prospective repeated-measures study design was used. Participants were chosen based on a risk factor (i.e. exposure to ototoxic medication) for an outcome of interest (i.e. the presence or absence of an STS). With a repeated measures study, multiple tests using different test methods can be compared with the same sample. Participants: Twenty-seven in-patients at Brooklyn Chest Hospital and DP Marais TB Hospital with normal hearing and on MDR-TB medication were included in the study. Their age range was from 19 to 51 years old with an average age of 33 years old. Non-probability convenience sampling was used as it was cost-effective, reduced data collection time and was relatively easy to execute. Data collection materials and procedures: The procedure for data collection included weekly follow-up testing for a maximum of four weeks. The test battery was as follows: an auditory symptom questionnaire, otoscopy examination, and manual and automated audiometry using the SRO technique with a fifteen-minute break in between. Participants were tested with the KUDUwave ™ in a non-sound treated room. The frequency range was determined with the SRO technique. If an STS was obtained, the patient was discharged from the study after completing an exit survey. Statistics: Analysis included descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. A Bonferroni corrected p-value (initially p ≤ 0.05) was used. Manual and automated audiometry thresholds were compared using the Pearson's Correlation Coefficient test. Manual and automated audiometry testing time and threshold means were compared using paired sample's t-tests. The diagnostic value of automated audiometry with the SRO technique was assessed with Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curves. Results: Manual audiometry was statistically more time-efficient compared to automated audiometry by an average of one minute and ten seconds (t (94) = -5.44; p< 0.003). There was a strong positive correlation for both left and right ears between the thresholds' obtained from manual and automated audiometry at 8kHz to 16 kHz (df> 28 = r > 0.70, p< 0.003). Automated audiometry was found to be a fair diagnostic test (area under the curve was 0.75; p= 0.002). Also, the ROC curve revealed that automated audiometry had a sensitivity of 61% and specificity of 90% when compared to manual audiometry (gold standard). Only participants that started data collection within 31 days after starting their MDR-TB treatment were included in the analysis of determining the incidence of an ototoxicity-induced hearing loss (n= 24 ears). This study found that 41.67% of ears (n= 10) had an ototoxicity-induced hearing loss. A box and whisker plot revealed that data was skewed to the right (i.e. more variation in data between the median and the maximum values) and that the median number of days for an ototoxicity-induced hearing loss to appear was 33 days. Secondly, 55.55% of participants (n=15 out of 27) reported auditory symptoms before data collection commencement. Aural fullness was the most reported symptom (n= eight out of 15). Ten out of 15 (66.66%) participants that reported auditory symptoms obtained an ototoxicity-induced hearing loss. Lastly, most participants (i.e. 13 out of 19; 68.42%) that completed the exit survey had no preference between manual or automated audiometry. The common rationale among these participants was “No difference noted.” Conclusion: This research study has revealed that manual audiometry was more time-efficient compared to automated audiometry in patients with MDR-TB. Also, automated audiometry was a fair diagnostic test. It may aid in reducing the disproportionate audiologist to patient ratio, especially in a developing country. However, manual audiometry (with the SRO technique) is more clinically appropriate in patients that are difficult-to-test. Secondly, audiometric settings can be changed to accommodate testing frequencies in 1/6 octaves so that the SRO technique can be clinically adopted. An ototoxicity-induced hearing loss seems to appear 33 days after ototoxic MDR-TB treatment commencement. Aural fullness was a commonly reported symptom among participants with MDRTB. Aural fullness is omnipresent in peripheral auditory pathologies. Therefore, auditory symptoms reported by patients' needs a comprehensive audiological investigation. Lastly, more research is needed on how patients (and clinicians) experience the advances in technology innovation especially in audiology where technology innovation is continuously evolving.

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Background.As a result of the digital era, vehicles are being digitalised in arapid pace. Autonomous vehicles and powerful infotainment systems are justparts of what is evolving within the vehicles. These systems require more in-formation to be transferred within the vehicle networks. As a solution for this,Ethernet was suggested. However, Ethernet is a ’best effort’ protocol which cannot be considered reliable. To solve that issue, specific implementations weredone to create Automotive Ethernet. However, the out-of-the-box vulnerabil-ities from Ethernet persist and need to be mitigated in a way that is suitableto the automotive domain. Objectives.This thesis investigates the vulnerabilities of Ethernet out-of-the-box and identify which vulnerabilities cause the largest threat in regard tothe safety of human lives and property. When such vulnerabilities are iden-tified, possible mitigation methods using security measures are investigated.Once two security measures are selected, an experiment is conducted to see ifthose can manage the latency requirements. Methods.To achieve the goals of this thesis, literature studies were conductedto learn of any vulnerabilities and possible mitigation. Then, those results areused in an OMNeT++experiment making it possible to record latency in a sim-ple automotive topology and then add the selected security measures to get atotal latency. This latency must be less than 10 ms to be considered safe in cars. Results. In the simulation, the baseline communication is found to take1.14957±0.02053 ms. When adding a security measure latency, the total dura-tion is found. For Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC)-SecureHash Algorithm (SHA)-512 the total duration is 1.192274 ms using the up-per confidence interval. Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA)- ED25519 has the total latency of 3.108424 ms using the upper confidenceinterval. Conclusions. According to the results, both HMAC-SHA-512 and ECDSA- ED25519 are valid choices to implement as a integrity and authenticity secu-rity measure. However, these results are based on a simulation and should beverified using physical hardware to ensure that these measures are valid. / Bakgrund.Som en påföljd av den digitala eran, så har fordon blivit digitalis-erade i ett hastigt tempo. Självkörande bilar och kraftfulla infotainmentsys-tem är bara några få av förändringarna som sker med bilarna. Dessa systemkräver att mer information skickas genom fordonets nätverk. För att nå dessahastigheter föreslogs Ethernet. Dock så är Ethernet ett så kallat ’best-effort’protokoll, vilket inte kan garantera tillförlitlig leverans av meddelanden. För attlösa detta har speciella tillämpningar skett, vilket skapar Automotive Ethernet.Det finns fortfarande sårbarheterna av Ethernet kvar, och behöver hanteras föratt tillämpningen skall vara lämplig för fordonsindustrin. Syfte.Denna studie undersöker vilka sårbarheter som finns i Ethernet ’out-of-the-box’ och identifierar vilka sårbarheter som har värst konsekvenser urperspektivet säkerhet för människor och egendom. Två säkerhetsimplementa-tioner väljs ut för att se över vidare de kan användas för kommunikation i bilar. Metod.För att nå arbetets mål, så genomfördes en literaturstudie för attundersöka sårbarheter och potentiella motverkningar. Studiens resulat använ-des sedan i en simulering för att kunna mäta fördröjningen av en enkel topologii en OMNeT++miljö. Sedan addera den tiden med exekveringstiden för säker-hetsimplementationerna för att få en total fördröjning. Kommunikationstidenmåste vara mindre än 10 ms för att räknas som säker för bilar. Resultat.I simuleringen, så ger mätningarna en basal kommunikation på1.14957±0.02053 ms. När säkerhetsimplementationerna tillsätts så får manden totala kommunikationstiden. För HMAC-SHA-512 mäts den totala kom-munikationstiden till 1.192274 ms genom att använda den övre gränsen av kon-fidensintervallet. För ECDSA - ED25519 mäts tiden till 3.108424 ms. Slutsatser.Enligt resultaten så är både HMAC-SHA-512 och ECDSA - ED25519möjliga alternativ för integritets- och äkthetstillämpningar i fordorns kommu-nikation. Dessa resultaten är dock framtagna ur en simulering och bör verifierasmed hjälp av fysisk hårdvara så mätningarna är sanningsenliga.