This thesis describes DREAM Act, a legislative proposal discussed in the US Congress between 2001 and 2011. The Act proposes a pathway to legal citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. The thesis aims to find whether the children of illegal immigrants should be held accountable and face deportations, even though they were not responsible for entering the U.S. illegally? It also discusses whether implementation of the DREAM Act is a convenient solution of governmental reform of the broken immigration system. The first chapter describes the DREAM Act in greater detail and compares it to the presidential executive order DAPA, a similar program to DREAM Act providing deferred action on deportation for these children. The second chapter focuses on impact of immigrants, their legal consciousness and tells stories of undocumented children who crossed the U.S. border and describes their lives in the U.S. The third chapter's focus is on impact on the U.S. society, mainly discusses the economic potential of the DREAM Act implementation. Last chapter provides an analysis of DREAM Act in the State of New York and activities of undocumented students fighting for its enactment. The thesis concludes that the children should not be punished for decisions of their parents as they bring many benefits for...

This thesis deals with the construction survey and diagnostics of the New synagogue in Velké Meziříčí. The aim of the work is to perform an inspection, construction survey of the building and evaluation of its current condition using classical survey and diagnostic methods. The work is processed as the final report from the construction and technical survey of the building. It contains its course and results. The main part of the survey is brick masonry, its failures and structural assesment. The thesis includes also survey of foundation structures, the history and description of the building.

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This master thesis investigates the pre-performance preparation of classical singers during the final hour before a performance. Through a mixed-methods approach, data was collected from personal reflections and survey data. The results suggest that the majority of the opera singers choose to engage in different activities during the final hour before a performance, with individualized ordering and prioritization of their pre-performance activities and preparations. The survey data analysis showed some similar attributes between the singers engaging in memory recall techniques, those with low levels of anxiety performance, and those who report feeling ready and prepared before a performance. No significant similarities seem to be, however, among singers that follow a set of rituals or a structured pre-performance routine and those reporting that experience stress before performances. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of having a pre-performance routine for me as performer, singer and artist, because it enhances my commitment, self-confidence and improves the  overall quality of my performances. The artistic outcome of my research consists of two parts: firstly, my established pre-performance routine, which I consistently followed prior to every performance during the study period; and secondly, the video recordings of my graduation concert and other performances completed during the study. The findings of this master thesis have implications for classical singers who wish to follow a professional career and improve the quality of their performances.

The residential sector was responsible for 25% of the Final Energy Demand (FED) in the European Union in 2015. Countries in Central and Eastern Europe such as the Czech Republic are particularly concerned with ensuring security of supply at the lowest possible cost in recent years. FED for space heating still corresponds to the largest fraction of the total FED in the residential sector in the Czech Republic. The vast majority of buildings constructed in 1990- 2000 do not comply with current standards for thermal protection and owners often rely on their own financial means when attempting to improve the overall Energy Performance (EP) of buildings. The goal(s) associated with renovation- or refurbishment measures must be defined to clarify the extent of work and consequently minimize investments. The aim of this thesis, a case study, was to use a whole building energy simulation program (IDA-ICE) to get insight into the potential of different retrofitting measures (represented by scenarios) to improve EP of a single-family summer house located in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. One of the simulated scenarios was the owner ́s suggestion to replace windows and entrance doors. The goal was to reduce FED for space heating to ≤50 kWh.m-2 floor area and year and by doing so attaining the status of a low-energy building. Simultaneously, reduced FED for space heating was supposed to be achieved without compromising air quality and should involve only the most efficient refurbishment measures to minimize the overall work. The scope was strictly limited to EP improving measures without consideration of mechanical ventilation or modification of the currently used space heating system. It was concluded that the owner's suggestion to merely replace windows and entrance doors would be an insufficient solution. SC-4 (i.e. the combined effect of windows and entrance doors replacement and the ground-floor insulation) and SC-5 (i.e. the combined effect of ground-floor insulation and the insulation of external walls and the roof) were deemed to represent the most optimal solutions from the simulated EP improving measures. The goal was achieved in both, i.e. 46.8 kWh.m-2 floor area and year in SC-4 and 44.3 kWh.m- 2 floor area and year in SC-5. Averages of zone air temperatures in selected zones were found to be more stable in SC-4, however, SC-5 performed better when comparing averages of CO2 concentration-values in selected zones on the first floor. Nevertheless, averages of relative humidity and CO2 concentration-values in all simulated scenarios were within the acceptable range of 35-60% and about 520 to 1000 ppm respectively (except for Bedroom 2 zone).

Purpose:The purpose of this thesis was to identify a useful solution to find the location of a broken boundary wire. By useful we mean that the solution should be inexpensive, user friendly and accurate. However, this thesis will only investigate the accuracy of the method where the hypothesis is that an investigated method is applicable for all underground wires. Method:This study conducted a literature research in order to investigate what methods that are used in other industries to locate faults in underground, low-voltage electrical wires. After the research, the most commonly used fault locating methods were described and the one that seemed most useful was chosen as a possible solution.For the solution to be useful the accuracy was investigated. The method used to conduct an experiment and gather data to validate the solution was Design Science Research. Result:Three methods were investigated as possible solutions:Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) and Murray bridge where experiments were conducted using TDR.TDR proved to be unapplicable in locating faults in boundary wires, although it was confirmed to be a valid solution to locate faults in coaxial cables with <1% error margin.What makes TDR and other reflectometry methods unsuitable methods within the autonomous lawn mower industry is the lack of characteristic impedance in the used boundary wires. The hypothesis that an investigated method is applicable for all underground wires is thereby refuted. Limitations:Experiments were conducted in laboratory environment with a signal generator and an oscilloscope. One experiment was conducted on a boundary wire in the ground which provided no reflected signal.

This paper presents an investigation on using the variation of ferrostatic pressure exerted by the molten steel in the strand to the support rolls during continuous casting to detect the location of the final solidification. The final solidification point is of high importance for applying soft reduction during continuous casting in order to ensure inner quality and achieve high productivity. The measurement was conducted at one of the casters at SSAB Oxelösund, of which all the support rolls are separately mounted. The project finds that this method shows promising results and can help to narrow down the range of the location due to certain interferences and noises. The ferrostatic pressure decrease during tail-out and the variation of whether a pressure drop exists is the dividing line of full and partial solidification. With the promising results achieved, more effort should be put to further improve the method.

The objective of this study was to investigate how players experience learning English through playing the popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. It also discussed the improvement in English skills achieved through playing the game, exploring what aspects they have improved and how they were able to do that. This research may interest individuals seeking to understand how video games can improve language skills. Moreover, it is relevant to those who play MMORPGs, a genre where players can experience and practice real-life situations and roles. The research has been done through conducting semi-structured qualitative online interviews with six informants from different backgrounds and English levels. During the interviews, informants were questioned about their experience with learning English while playing Final Fantasy XIV. The results suggested that they improved their vocabulary knowledge and their communication skills through using productive skills with other players. Furthermore, players had different experiences on how they have learned, a few of them learned through repetition and exposure to the game’s content.

Social Networking Sites have taken the world by storm with an aggressively growing market. People are spending more and more time with ever more alluring algorithms to keep a high interest for increased profit margins and revenue. However, this brings forth societal issues regarding attention span. Herbert. A. Simons (1971) theorized that as people gain information, it is in exchange for attention in an attention economy.With these uprising issues, we set out to discover if there were ways to alleviate the attention required to understand the content. In design, minimalism as a design concept helps to solve these issues by communicating as effectively as possible and skipping "the small talk." Further, the massive growth SNS has experienced in the 2010s leaves a market opportunity to streamline advertisements to communicate with its audience more effectively.The research set out to answer two questions: “How do end-users perceive minimalistic design principles to affect memorability in SNS advertisements?” and “How do end-users perceive minimalistic design principles to affect the attention required to understand an advertisement on SNSs?” We constructed interviews based on previous research and conducted eight interviews. The interviews were then thematically analyzed, where four significant themes occurred. "Positive Perception of Attention Required", "Positive Perception of Effects on Memorability", "Influential Individual Content Creators" and “Effects on Minimalism by Context”. The findings revealed a positive perception of how minimalistic design principles affected the attention required to understand the content. Likewise, it was found that people had similar perceptions of the effects on memorability. Further, it was revealed that a majority believe individual content creators can alleviate societal issues regarding attention.

The following essay applies an intersectional lens to the character analysis of Jade, the main character in Stephen Graham Jones’ My Heart Is a Chainsaw (2021), as it aims to introduce EFL students to the principles of the intersectional theory framework. As Jade, as a way of dealing with her reality as an abused and marginalized young part-Native American adolescent, obsessively frames her real-life experiences in a slasher movie context, the novel explores the themes of identity, marginalization, empowerment through the way Jade sees herself in relation to the Final Girl: the archetypal female protagonist featured in slasher movies. By analyzing the contrasting relationship between Jade and the concept of the Final Girl, students engage with the intersectional premise that it is the complex and dynamic interplay between Jade’s gender, race, class, and circumstances that dictates Jade’s subjectivity and inability to identify with the agentic and empowered Final Girl. As Jade ultimately transforms into her own version of a Final Girl, the essay argues that her transformation represents how a marginalized character claims her identity and becomes the protagonist of her own narrative.