Bakgrund: Amyotrofisk lateral skleros är en sjukdom som innebär att de motoriska nervcellerna i hjärnan och ryggmärgen som aktiverar den viljestyrda muskulaturen förtvinar och bryts ner. Konsekvenser av detta är minskad muskelkraft och förlamning. Amyotrofisk lateral skleros är en obotlig sjukdom vilket gör det intressant att studera hur dessa personer erfar hopp. Syfte: Att beskriva hopp hos personer med amyotrofisk lateral skleros. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med deduktiv inriktning genomfördes där dokumentärer analyserades. Resultat: Olika hopp beskrevs vid olika tillfällen under sjukdomsförloppet. Framträdande i studien var att de flesta personer beskrev en önskan och ett hopp om att hitta ett botemedel tidigt i sjukdomsförloppet. När detta inte längre framstod som lika självklart blev hopp i form av socialt stöd och hopp om att leva i nuet mer framträdande i personernas beskrivningar. Slutsats: Personer som drabbas av amyotrofisk lateral skleros initialt hoppas starkt på att finna ett botemedel, men sedan kretsar hoppet mer kring de sociala relationerna. Ur klinisk synpunkt är det viktigt att som vårdpersonal bli mer medvetna om hur dessa personer upplever hopp för att möjliggöra att den egna identiteten och förmågan bevaras. / Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a disease in which the motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, that activates the involuntary muscles, atrophy and breaks down. Consequences of this are decreased muscle strength and paralysis. It is an incurable disease which makes it interesting to study these people and how they experience hope. Aim: To describe hope in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Method: A qualitative study of deductive orientation was conducted where documentaries were analyzed. Results: Different types of hope were described at various times during the course of the disease. It was prominent that most people described a wish and a hope to find a cure early in the disease. Gradually hope in the form of social support and hope to live in the present appeared as more prominent. Conclusion: People who suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis initially strongly hopes of finding a cure, but then the hope revolves more around social relationships. From a clinical standpoint, it is important that healthcare professionals become more aware of how these people experience hope to enable their own identity and ability preserved.

Since the mid-1990s resin composite has been used for Class II restorations in stress-bearing areas as an alternative to amalgam. Reasons for this were the patients’ fear of mercury in dental amalgam and a growing demand for aesthetic restorations. During the last decades, the use of new resin composites with more optimized filler loading have resulted in reduced clinical wear. Improved and simplified amphiphilic bonding systems have been introduced. However, one of the main problems with resin composites, its polymerization shrinkage, has not been solved yet. During the polymerization of the resin composites, they shrink as a result of the conversion of the monomers into rigid polymers by a radical addition reaction. The resulting shrinkage stresses in the bonded resin composite restorations may cause adhesive failures at the resin composite/tooth structure interface and/or cohesive failures within the tooth or the resin composite. The interfacial failures may result in post-operative sensitivity, recurrent caries or pulpal injury. This thesis evaluates different restorative and light-curing techniques that are proposed to reduce the polymerization shrinkage and also the effect of new lightcuring units, light-emitting diodes (LED) and high-power quartz tungsten halogen (QTH) light on curing depth and degree of conversion of resin composites. Two restorative techniques using a polyacid-modified resin composite or a flowable resin composite in combination with conventional resin composite in sandwich restorations were evaluated in an intraindividual comparison with a conventional resin composite restoration. The durability of the polyacid-modified resin composite sandwich technique was investigated in a three year clinical follow-up study. A scanning electron microscope replica method was used for evaluation of the interfacial adaptation in vivo of both sandwich combinations. The depth of cure of the flowable resin composite was evaluated with the use of Wallace hardness testing. Degree of conversion for resin composite cured with the new LED units was evaluated with Fourier Transform Raman spectroscopy. Major results and conclusions from the studies are: • Neither the sandwich restoration with polyacid-modified resin composite nor the flowable resin composite improved the interfacial adaptation of the restorations. • No difference in durability was found between the sandwich restorations with polyacidmodified resin composite or the resin composite restorations. A low failure rate was observed for both types of restorations after a clinical observation time of three years. • The depth of cure of the flowable resin composite was higher than the depth of cure of the resin composite. It was found that the curing time of the resin composite studied could be reduced or the increment layer thickness increased compared to earlier recommendations. • LED curing units of the latest generation were able to cure resin composites to a higher degree of conversion than the control QTH unit • The use of soft-start curing did not improve the interfacial adaptation of neither of resin composite restorations tested.

This research explored the role of extra-therapeutic variables contributing to recovery from chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Within the context of dramatherapy treatment, those variables were identified as three crucial concepts: 'Client, Post Traumatic' (C.PT), ‘Imaginary Existence Zone’ (IEZ) and 'Time Adjusted Encounters' (TAE). Together they created the notion of a Curative Zone (CZ). Establishing and understanding the significance of these new concepts helped the researcher to explain the PTSD recuperation phenomenon. The research was conducted within the qualitative–naturalistic paradigm, and based on real-life dramatherapeutic occurrences. The choice of an inductive case study approach and design was possible due to the fact that a single individual was willing to participate in this research as an active partner by contributing her reflections on the therapy, four years after its termination. Iris, the client and the collaborating respondent was a childless woman aged 43, who suffered from chronic PTSD for three years following stillbirth of her baby daughter and the repetitive failure of fertility treatments. The findings reveal a direct linkage between: the neurological system and its activation, and the cardinal role of the C.PT during TAE, working through prolonged engagements in the IEZ facilitated by dramatherapy. These processes gradually integrated and synthesized to create the CZ, a development which explains this instance of recovery from chronic PTSD. The conclusions are: the chronic PTSD recovery was a holistic body-mind cure phenomenon. It resulted from the interaction between the extra-therapeutic variables, combined with the curative characteristics of the dramatherapeutic nonverbal imaginative language and activities, which compounded a new synergetic constellation. The research findings contribute to the theory and practice of dramatherapy as a discipline; additionally, the model developed by this research can be potentially applied as an appropriate treatment of PTSD. These conclusions challenge valid psychotherapy knowledge regarding effective therapeutic factors that contribute to successful outcomes. However, in this case they verified credible, dependable and transferable attributes features this naturalistic research. Therefore, they make a contribution to knowledge in the dramatherapy field.

A study has been undertaken with the aim of preparing appropriately functionalised polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) compounds to be used in ambient-cure chemistry. Numerous epoxy-functionalised compounds have been designed and synthesised and these materials have been characterised in order to determine their chemical structure. These compounds have also been incorporated into existing polymerisation reactions to test whether these materials could be used in the protective coatings industry. A glycidyl-functionalised POSS compound was prepared and reacted with a series of amines to produce ambient-cured polymers which could be used in the coatings industry. There were also a series of experiments undertaken on these polymers to identify the processes at work and to test how they compare to industry standards. As a direct comparator to this work, another set of results was obtained with a cyclic-siloxane material incorporated into the systems in place of the POSS. A linear analogue was also tested. The reactions proved to be a success and an appropriate data-set was yielded. During the synthesis of POSS precursors there are a series of residual materials produced. These materials have also been studied in this project. It was anticipated that these would behave in a similar way to the POSS compounds however the same functionality was never achieved as had been with the POSS. Ambient-cured polymers have also been targeted from a basic hydride-functionalised POSS compound and a polybutadiene system. The appropriate reactions unfortunately never took place as anticipated but there were a series of tests undertaken to identify the processes at work. A study has also been undertaken using near-I.R. to track the curing reactions. From this data, the extent of cure could be studied and the make-up of the reaction could be investigated in more detail.

This thesis describes the work carried out at Brunel University to develop novel optical fibre sensors capable of monitoring the cure state of an epoxy/amine resin system. The sensors were of simple construction, consisting of an optical fibre from which the silicone cladding layer had been removed over a short length. This stripped length was embedded into the curing resin system. The sensor was successfully used in two ways: i) as an evanescent absorption sensor to monitor specific absorption bands of the resin system. The absorption of energy from the evanescent wave of the optical fibre by absorbing media allows evanescent absorption spectra to be obtained. Absorption spectra were obtained from sensors embedded in a model curing resin system over narrow wavelength ranges. These wavelength ranges corresponded to positions of known absorptions in the spectra of active components in epoxy/amine systems. By monitoring the change in these absorptions it was possible to obtain information about concentration of the amine hardener functional group throughout cure; ii) as a refractive index sensor capable of monitoring the changes in the refractive index of the resin system during cure. A laser diode was used to launch light into the sensor and the intensity of light emerging from the other end of the fibre was monitored. Changes in the resin system refractive index caused changes in the guiding properties of this the sensor. This resulted in a significant change in the intensity of light recorded by the detector and allowed the cure process to be followed. This sensor was also embedded into a unidirectional pre-preg system and was able to follow the cure of the system. The results from the two sensing methods have been compared with data obtained using FTIR spectroscopy and Abbe refractometry during the resin system cure. A theoretical model of sensor response has been developed and compared with the experimental data obtained. The sensor response has also been compared to predictions made by several models of evanescent sensor systems obtained from the literature. These models have been modified so that they can be applied to a sensor embedded into a curing resin system. An analysis of the correspondence between theory and experiment is presented.

This study focuses on the development of a stochastic simulation methodology to study the effects of cure kinetics uncertainty, in plane fibre misalignment and boundary conditions uncertainty on the cure process of composite materials. Differential Scanning Calorimetry was used to characterise cure kinetics variability of a commercial epoxy resin used in aerospace applications. It was found that cure kinetics uncertainty is associated with variations in the initial degree of cure, activation energy and reaction order. Image analysis was employed to characterise in plane fibre misalignment in a carbon fibre ±45º non-crimp fabric. The experimental results showed that variability in tow orientation was significant with a standard deviation of about 1.2º. A set of experiments using an infusion set-up was carried out to quantify boundary conditions uncertainty related to tool temperature, ambient temperature and surface heat transfer coefficient using thermocouples (tool/ambient temperature) and heat flux sensors (surface heat transfer coefficient). It was concluded that boundary conditions uncertainty can show considerable short term and long term variability. Conventional Monte Carlo and Probabilistic Collocation Method were integrated with a thermo-mechanical cure simulation model in order to investigate the effect of cure kinetics, fibre misalignment and boundary conditions variability on process outcome. The cure model was developed and implemented using a finite element model incorporating appropriate material sub-models of cure kinetics, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, moduli, thermal expansion and cure shrinkage. The effect of cure kinetics uncertainty on the temperature overshoot of a thick carbon fibre epoxy flat panel was investigated using the two stochastic simulation schemes. The stochastic simulation results showed that variability in cure kinetics can introduce a significant scatter in temperature overshoot, presenting a coefficient of variation of about 30%. Furthermore, it was shown that the collocation method can offer an efficient solution with significantly lower computational cost compared to Monte Carlo at comparable accuracy. Stochastic simulation of the cure of an angle shaped carbon fibre-epoxy component within the Monte Carlo scheme showed that fibre misalignment can cause considerable variability in the process outcome. The coefficient of variation of maximum residual stress can reach up to approximately 2% (standard deviation of 1 MPa) whilst qualitative and quantitative variations in final distortion of the cured part occur with the standard deviation in twist and corner angle reaching values of 0.4 º and 0.05º respectively. Simulation of the cure of a thin carbon fibre-epoxy panel within the Monte Carlo scheme indicated that surface heat transfer and tool temperature variability dominate variability in cure time, resulting in a coefficient of variation of about 22%. In addition to Monte Carlo, the effect of surface heat transfer coefficient and tool temperature variations on cure time was addressed using the collocation method. It was found that probabilistic collocation is capable of capturing variability propagation with good accuracy while offering tremendous benefits in terms of computational costs.

TITLE: The impact of Teen Challenge International on individuals endangered by an addiction or fighting with an addiction, or God as Hope KEY WORDS: Drugs Addiction Prevention Cure Teen Challenge International Belief in God ANNOTATION: In my diploma I observe how cognition of God and belief in Him influences the process of prevention of addiction and the help provided for drug addicts. The theoretical part deals with the issue of drug addiction in the Czech Republic, with strategies fighting this phenomenon, and with various types of help which works, at least to a certain extent, with the spiritual dimension of a man. I focus on the Teen Challenge International Organization (TCI). In the practical part I examine how TCI works with the spiritual dimension of an individual, who TCI works with, what methods TCI uses, and why. The purpose of this examination is to discover how the people in our atheistic country respond to this offered form of help and what they can recieve from being open for God. I use interviews, questionnaires and narrations of those who come to TCI for help and of TCI workers, too. At the end of my work I present new facts that arise from the examination results and I suggest how educationalists, especially those working with children and youngsters with special needs, can use them in...

In this work we deal with survival models, when we consider that with positive probability some patients never relapse because they are cured. We focus on two-component mixture model and model with biological motivation. For each model, we derive estimate of probability of cure and estimate of survival function of time to relaps of uncured patients by maximum likelihood method. Further we consider, that both probability of cure and survival time can depend on regressors. Models are then compared through simulation study. 1

Notre recherche se situe dans le contexte de l'après-cancer et a pour objectif l'étude de l'hormonothérapie dans le cadre du traitement adjuvant du cancer du sein chez la femme ménopausée. Nous avons cherché à évaluer l'impact du traitement anti-hormonal sur le sentiment de guérison que la femme s'approprie pour accéder à une guérison sur le plan psychique, après le cancer du sein. Cette étude qualitative a été menée auprès de 17 femmes ayant eu un cancer du sein et étant sous hormonothérapie adjuvante actuellement. Des entretiens semi-directifs ont été conduits auprès de ces sujets et complétés par un questionnaire d'auto-évaluation de la qualité de vie. Nous avons repéré trois degrés de sentiment de guérison (faible, moyen et fort) qui semblent corrélés à la qualité de vie actuelle du sujet et à son ressenti d'effets secondaires à l'hormonothérapie. Ainsi les patientes détentrices d'un faible sentiment de guérison du cancer du sein sont celles qui ressentent le plus d'effets secondaires au traitement et endurent la qualité de vie la plus détériorée. Elles semblent se sentir encore proches d'un statut de malade et le moins engagées dans un processus de guérison psychique. A l'opposé les patientes au fort sentiment de guérison ne manifestent pas d'effets secondaires au traitement ; une élaboration psychique est repérable dans leurs discours, témoin du travail de la guérison à l'œuvre chez ces sujets. Enfin, dans cette population de femmes déjà ménopausées lors du diagnostic, nous avons par ailleurs remarqué que l'hormonothérapie pouvait réactiver la période ménopausique, particulièrement chez les sujets dont l'expérience de la ménopause a été vécue difficilement. / Our research deals with the "after cancer" period and aims to study hormonotherapy within the framework of the adjuvating treatment of breast cancer on menopaused women. We tried to estimate the impact of the anti-hormonal treatment on the feeling of cure that women have to make their own, after a breast cancer, to reach a cure on the psychic plan. This qualitative study was led with 17 women who suffered from a breast cancer and are now under adjuvante hormonotherapy. The subject went through semi-directive conversations wich were complemented with a questionnaire of self-assessment of the quality of life. We defined three degrees of feeling of cure (weak, medium and strong) which seem correlated to the actual quality of life of the subjects and to their suffering regarding side effects in the hormonotherapy. So, on one hand, the patients experiencing a weak feeling of cure of a breast cancer are the ones who suffer the most from side effects during the treatment and bear the most damaged quality of life. They seem to feel like they are still patient's and don't seem to be engaged in a process of psychic cure. On the other hand, the patients who are experiencing strong feeling of cure do not show side effects of the treatment ; a psychic elaboration is noticeable in their speeches, and witness the "work of cure" these subjects are going through. Finally, among this population of women already menopaused when the diagnosis was made, we besides noticed that the hormonotherapy could reactivate the menopausic period, especially for subjects who suffered from the experience of menopause.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a microdureza de dois cimentos resinosos de polimerização dual (RelyX U100®, 3M-ESPE e Panavia F 2.0®, Kuraray), empregados na cimentação de pinos de fibra de vidro (Fibrekor-Jeneric® Pentron) variando o modo de polimerização em químico, fotoativação imediata ou tardia após 5min através de luz halógena, avaliando também o efeito do armazenamento em água deionizada por três meses. Este trabalho testou as seguintes hipóteses nulas: não há diferença nos valores de microdureza entre os cimentos, modo de polimerização, efeito do armazenamento e entre os terços radiculares. Sessenta raízes de incisivos bovinos, com 16mm de comprimento cérvico-apical, tiveram seus condutos obturados e, posteriormente, preparados para cimentação do pino intracanal. Os espécimes foram divididos em 6 grupos (n = 10), cada um subdividido em 2 subgrupos com 5 espécimes para cada cimento. Os pinos foram cimentados de acordo com o protocolo descrito por cada fabricante. No grupo A1, os espécimes foram mantidos em ambiente à prova de luz para que ocorresse apenas a polimerização química. No grupo B1, os espécimes foram cimentados e submetidos à fotoativação imediata, e, no grupo C1, realizou-se a fotoativação após 5 minutos. As raízes foram seccionadas longitudinalmente, para que a linha de cimento pudesse ser exposta e os testes de microdureza realizados. Após 7 dias, as médias de microdureza (± desvio padrão) foram obtidas, para os terços cervical, médio e apical, respectivamente: A1 (Panavia) - 41,25 ±3,38 / 38,17±1,74 / 35,63±1,73; A1 (U100) - 59,43±4,32 / 52,14±3,00 / 50,27±4,13; B1 (Panavia) - 75,29±4,84 / 60,36±6,76 / 48,97±3,33; B1 (U100) 62,41±6,83 / 53,99±4,74 / 49,04±2,20; C1 (Panavia) - 70,22±93 / 61,00±4,48 / 56,46±7,51; C1 (U100) - 62,40±6,66 / 53,69±2,00 / 51,54±2,18. Para os grupos armazenados em água, os valores médios de microdureza (± desvio padrão) obtidos nos 3 grupos, químico (grupo A2), fotoativado imediatamente (grupo B2) e fotoativado tardiamente (grupo C2), nos terços cervical, médio e apical, respectivamente, foram: A2 (Panavia) - 37,17±1,38 / 35,01±0,74 / 34,10±2,37; A2 (U100) - 52,39±2,00 / 52,13±3,01 / 51,06±1,48; B2 (Panavia) - 63,01±2,17 / 55,94±2,10 / 48,55±1,62; B2 (U100) - 58,81±2,34 / 55,19±1,42 / 55,71±3,17; C2 (Panavia) - 56,99±1,21 / 51,29±1,81 / 48,29±3,00; C2 (U100) - 59,02±2,04 / 57,05±2,04 / 54,95±1,05. Os resultados foram submetidos ao teste ANOVA a 4 critérios (cimento, modo de polimerização, armazenamento e terços), que detectou diferenças estatísticas entre os grupos, e o teste de Tukey foi aplicado para comparações individuais. Os resultados mostraram que: a fotoativação com luz halógena promoveu um aumento significativo nos valores de microdureza para o cimento Panavia; o armaz namento em água por três meses reduziu os valores de microdureza para a maioria dos grupos, sendo que o cimento o U100 apresentou menor variação de dureza quando comparado ao Panavia; os terços que receberam maior intensidade de luz halógena tiveram maior aumento de microdureza para ambos os cimentos, especialmente para o cimento Panavia. Conclui-se, portanto, que as hipóteses de nulidade propostas foram rejeitadas. / The objective of this study was to evaluate the microhardness of two dual cure resin cements (RelyX - U100®, 3M-ESPE and Panavia F 2.0®, Kuraray), used for fiberglass posts (Fibrekor ® - Jeneric Pentron) cementation. Chemical cure and a halogen immediate and late light cure source were compared, and the effect of storage in deionized water for three months was also evaluated. This study tested the following null hypotheses: there is no difference between the microhardness values for each dual cure resin cement, cure source type, storage time, or root thirds. Sixty bovine incisor roots 16mm long had their roots restored and then prepared for post cementation. The specimens were divided into 6 groups (n = 10), and each group was subdivided into 2 subgroups with 5 specimens for each cement. The posts were cemented according to manufacturers instructions. In group A1, the specimens were kept in a light-proof environment to ensure only a chemical cure. In group B1, the specimens were restored and subjected to immediate light curing, and in group C1, light curing was performed after 5 minutes. The roots were longitudinally sectioned to expose the cement line and perform microhardness tests. After 7 days, the average microhardness (± standard deviation) values were obtained for the cervical, medium and apical thirds, respectively: A1 (Panavia ) - 41,25±3,38 / 38,17±1,74 / 35,63±1,73; A1 (U100) - 59,43±4,32 / 52,14±3,00 / 50,27±4,13; B1 (Panavia) - 75,29±4,84 / 60,36±6,76 / 48,97±3,33; B1 (U100) - 62,41±6,83 / 53,99±4,74 / 49,04±2,20; C1 (Panavia) - 70,22±1,93 / 61,00±4,48 / 56,46±7,51; C1 (U100) - 62,40±6,66 / 53,69±2,00 / 51,54±2,18. For the 3 groups stored in deionized water (chemical [group A2], immediate light curing [group B2] and late light curing [group C2]), the average microhardness values (± standard deviation) obtained for the cervical, medium and apical thirds, respectively were: A2 (Panavia) - 37,17±1,38 / 35,01±0,74 / 34,10±2,37; A2 (U100) - 52,39±2,00 / 52,13±3,01 / 51,06±1,48; B2 (Panavia) - 63,01±2,17 / 55,94±2,10 / 48,55±1,62; B2 (U100) - 58,81±2,34 / 55,19±1,42 / 55,71±3,17; C2 (Panavia) - 56,99±1,21 / 51,29±1,81 / 48,29±3,00; C2 (U100) - 59,02±2,04 / 57,05±2,04 / 54,95±1,05. ANOVA testing was used to detect statistical differences among the 4 criteria (cements, cure mode, storage and thirds) and the Tukey test was used for individual comparisons. The results showed that the halogen light cure promoted a significant increase in microhardness values for Panavia cement; storage in water for three months reduced microhardness values for most of the groups, although U100 resulted in less microhardness variation compared to Panavia; the thirds that received a higher intensity of halogen light had a higher increase in the average values of microhardness for both cements, especially for Panavia. Therefore, the null hypotheses proposed in this work were rejected.