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Prospects of PTSD treatment in war veterans with psychadelic-assisted psychotherapy
Štefánik, Timotej ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
The work examines the prospects of the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in veterans of war with the use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. At the moment, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is only partially legal. The term encompasses many substances - currently the only widely-used psychedelic dissociative administered in therapy is ketamine. The substance which is most likely to be the next in the implementation queue is MDMA and psilocybin. This work examines the history of psychedelics and the sources of stigma this term carries. It also examines a number of compelling studies that are pointing to the fact MDMA-assisted psychotherapy might be a useful tool in dealing with veteran PTSD. The empirical part of this research is of qualitative nature. With the use of in-depth interviews, the author gathered data on the state of affairs of the psychedelic research in the Czech Republic and was searching for the obstacles to the implementation of psychedelic therapy. The main conclusion is that psychedelic-assisted therapy faces obstacles in implementation in the form of lack of scientific knowledge on the subject on part of the public, and also faces legal and financial hurdles. The legal hurdles might be lifted in the coming years due to the movement forward in this regard. The...
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Water Treatment Efficiency Using Membrane Filtration
Zelinová, Kristína ; Kolesíková, Lucie (referee) ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor)
In the first part of this thesis, current requirements for drinking water according to the legislation valid in the territory of Czech Republic and Slovak Republic are summarized. Also the changes that will come with implementation of the directive 2020/2184 of the European parliament are mentioned. Following those future changes, the importance of new technologies for water treatment comes to light. Among those technologies belong membrane processes. The rest of the thesis is dedicated to them. At first, current knowledge of their operation principles and categories, to which they can be divided into are reviewed. Then, the processes related to their maintenance are approached. Mentioned are few specific water treatment plants in Czechia and Slovakia, where membrane processes were already applied. The scientific part of this thesis consists of series of tests, executed on an ultrafiltration unit, in laboratory conditions. Including optimalization of the filtration process, as well as observation of the pollutants removal efficiency from surface water. Towards the end of the thesis, recorded values are evaluated.
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Assessment and Optimization of the Hrubá Skála Water Supply System
Zikudová, Markéta ; Svoboda, Pavel (referee) ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor)
The goal of this diploma thesis is to perform a hydraulic analysis of the existing water supply network Hrubá Skála – Radvánovice. The thesis is divided into several parts. The introductory chapter describes the purpose and objectives of the thesis. The second part presents general information about drinking water supply with a focus on pressure conditions on the network. The third part describes the mathematical modelling of water supply networks. The fourth part of the thesis describes in detail the individual objects on the Hrubá Skála – Radvánovice and Doubravice networks. It also provides information regarding the network recovery plan. The fifth chapter provides basic calculations and models the current state of pressures on water pipes in winter/summer and also according to information provided by the operator. The sixth chapter deals with five variants of the network recovery solution, where each variant is given a design, model and subsequent evaluation of this variant. At the end of the sixth chapter, all variants are compared with each other.
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Design of A Water Treatment Plant from A Surface Source
Mečíř, Filip ; Adler, Pavel (referee) ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor)
The first part of this thesis briefly describes methods of potable water treatment. This part of the thesis is mainly devoted to processes of coagulation, flotation, membrane filtration and adsorption. The second part concerns water quality in the source and laboratory experiments for verification of water treatment procedures for the given surface water source. Used methods include jar tests for coagulation, filtration on laboratory scale membrane unit and batch experiments for granular active charcoal. The third part describes current state of the building in which the future water treatment plant should be located. The proposed water source is the water reservoir Nové Mlýny I. The final part deals with the design of three stage water plant with the required capacity of 7,4 l·s-1. Selected parts of the building permit documentation are part of this thesis.
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The reality of cyber warfare: The Ukraine-Russia conflict as a catalyst for new dynamics in cyberspace
Naibo, Gloria ; Kaunert, Christian (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
The world is constantly evolving, and so is technological progress, which increasingly impacts the lives of all of us. The Information Revolution, triggered by the advent of the Internet and technological development, has fostered the emergence of a more interconnected world and, thus, of a new domain: cyberspace. Given its ubiquity and global reach, cyberspace is redefining power dynamics by creating new opportunities that different actors are willing to seize. Because goals and ways to achieve them vary, cyber threats also vary and increase accordingly. Actors may want to steal sensitive information by orchestrating espionage operations, gain money and power by conducting criminal activities, or even sabotage and ultimately cause damage to the adversary, as in war. Cyber warfare is a very controversial topic. Despite numerous attempts by the research community to conceptualise the phenomenon, there is still much confusion as to what it really is. Specifically, the definitional ambiguity of the term 'cyber war' is such that, to date, no single universally agreed definition exists. As a result, a debate has ensued on the existence of cyber war from which different currents of thought have emerged. While some argue that cyber war is an imminent threat and is likely to permeate the conflicts of the...
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Implausible deniability of covert actions in the Middle East
Tosin, Eleonora ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Snitar, Corina (referee)
Covert action is a popular and fruitful tactic employed in the Middle East, yet it has little common grounds with covert operations that were popularised by the United States or the Soviet Union. This dissertation offers a new perspective on covert action and attached plausible deniability, by taking into consideration the Middle Eastern region today and its specific characteristics. The need for secrecy, a key aspect of the traditional portrayal of covert actions, is replaced by the urge to assert and project power over this contested region, while all parties involved carefully seek to avoid engaging in conventional armed conflict. Middle Eastern countries are characterised by the ability to navigate conflict through grey zone tactics, covert action being a prominent one, due to the strong imbalance of military capabilities and due to the intricate, yet fragile, network of alliances and partnerships. This study explores the reasons why implausible deniability is a more appropriate term to describe the modern covert actions in the Middle East are carried out, rather than plausible deniability. Namely, implausible deniability, which is described as the more open acknowledgment of sponsorship in covert actions, is not merely imposed by a technologically interconnected society, which in the last two...
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Sending in the troops: A comparative analysis of the potential regional security paradigm shift within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation
Pollock, Anthony ; Cheskin, Ammon (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis examines the regional security governance of the Russian-led military alliance of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). The main argument in this thesis is that the organisation has seemingly experienced a paradigm shift in its response to resolving internal conflicts of member states who have requested assistance from the organisation. This is conveyed through a comparative analysis of three incidents in which a member state has called for an intervention from the CSTO: the revolution and subsequent ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, Armenia's call for intervention following the encroachment of Azeri troops into Armenian sovereign territory in 2021, and the Kazakh Unrest in January 2022. This thesis will convey that in the past the CSTO has abstained from intervening in such conflicts deeming them to be internal affairs or Russia has opted to act alone to resolve the matter rather than utilising the regional mechanism of the CSTO. This is due to the organisation's institutional design which ensures that there are a series of bilateral relationships between Moscow and the other member states, which have been established in order for Russia to maintain its sphere of influence within its near abroad. This thesis argues that there has been a potential paradigm shift...
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The challenges raised by the application of International Humanitarian Law to information warfare
Krauzman, Marine Denise Nicole ; Pertile, Marco (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
In wartime, information is essential and decisive for the conduct of hostilities. It is the foundational element of intelligence, the basis of the war narrative galvanising the society but also, a weapon. International humanitarian law acknowledged the strategic importance of information, regulating the involvement of spy and journalists in armed conflicts. Information has gained an increasing place in the military strategy and in the academic debates because of various factors, including the development of new information technologies, the emergence of the phenomenon of 'information warfare', the growing interest of the political analysts for 'hybrid warfare' after the Crimean crisis in 2013 and the sociological context of 'post-truth'. In a context of ever-changing technological environment, the application of the current international humanitarian legal framework to information warfare is full of challenges and raises unanswered questions. Hence, this dissertation aims at answering the following question: how do the specificities of contemporary information warfare challenge the application of international humanitarian law? This question is particularly relevant now for several reasons. First, one has gained hindsight on marking events of information operations, including the attack on the...
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From Supreme Gentlemen to Incel Rebellion - Analysing the Radicalisation Potential of the Incel Community on Twitter
Nahrgang, Mia ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
Elon Musk in April 2022 surprisingly declared his intention to buy Twitter with the goal to ensure free speech. However, maybe ensuring free speech ensuring free speech on a powerful social media platform with 229 million active users per day is not a risk-free endeavour. The focus of this thesis is the incel community, which revolves around shared frustrations about failing to achieve sexual relations, opposition to feminism and violence-inciting misogynism. I ask the question: To what extent do more radical tweets diffuse further within the incel community? More concretely, I quantitatively investigate the relationship between the toxicity and the misogynism of a tweet and the number of times it is retweeted on a self-collected dataset encompassing 52,927 tweets. My findings suggest that toxic and misogynist tweets are retweeted more often and thus do spread further within the incel community on Twitter. This has crucial implications for the radicalisation potential of the incel community on Twitter as frequent exposal to radical content might amplify the radicalisation of others. Keywords: Incels - Information diffusion - Radicalisation - Echo-chambers - Twitter
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