This diploma thesis deals with the landscape development, determination of landscape values and description of genius loci in the area of Chlum u Třeboně. The development was monitored within the terms of both microstructure and macrostructure. The landscape macrostructure was evaluated from the statistical data for the use of areas from the first half of the 19th century to the present.The microstructure and its changes since the second half of the 20th was examined by the comparative method using map data supplemented by memories of the local inhabitants and chronicle records.The landscape values determined by field research were indicated into the maps alongside the photographic documentation of selected values.

Many past events go unmarked and unremembered, and eventually lose their significance. One such area is the Wonderboom fort, tree and the Nature Reserve. The research investigates how the landscape design can strengthen the existing spirit of place. The place’s identity - that of a refuge – is intangible and unconscious, but can be made tangible through a narrative that engaged with the cultural and biophysical history of the site (the tangible world) by means of didactics and semiotics. This will provide a learning experience with added meaning that gives added identity of place. Furthermore, specific design principles are investigated namely: better access, heightened awareness, and heightened interest created through complexity and coherence in design. Complexity and coherence will generate interest in the user to engage with the physical/conscious experience, engaging and learning about the physical aspects of the site’s nature and culture. The unconscious experience will be guided through semiotics – the use of symbols that give meaning and add identity to place and user. The design intervention will be a landscape which tells the story of the place and unveils the heritage and history of the site in such a way that visitors will have an engaging and informative experience of the past events. The site can be the northern link and gateway into the city of Pretoria, a destination for local and international tourism, and a green corridor for people to experience the city in a different way. The design approach ties in with the Burra Charter approach, namely “changing as much as necessary but as little as possible” but also with the Ename charter stating that Heritage sites should be presented to the public and the public should be educated to ensure their protection. Hampton Adams rightfully says that: 'Only by looking at the past, can we plan the future.' / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

The project of the stadium Za Lužánkami is situated in an area with almost tangible genius loci. At the same time this locality is bound to the biggest successes of the football in Brno and thus it also has a very strong sport tradition. Ponava has a huge potential of becoming a favored sport and recreational area. Development of the sport infrastructure and quality public spaces will once again incorporates Ponava among the desired localities. The design of the football stadium reflects the situation of the current structure. The decision to keep a part of the eastern stand (based on the structural engineer’s consult) became a determining factor for the whole design. It became the starting point from where everything else developed. The building of the stadium becomes a local dominant dressed in colors of Brno but at the same time it remains a part of its immediate environment hidden behind the trees of Mendel university arboretum.

This thesis describes the simulation of ERDC’s Blast Load Simulator (BLS) using MSU’s Loci/BLAST. The BLS was created to replicate waveforms found in blast scenarios. Loci/BLAST is an explicit, unstructured CFD code that specializes in moving waveforms. ERDC conducted various tests, and a grid for each scenario was created using the SolidMesh tool. Each grid was simulated, and the results were displayed as time history plots and spatial plots. Simulations were also performed that compared 2D and 3D grids and determined the effect of the grate and striker components. There was a strong correlation between the experimental and simulation results for each case, demonstrating that Loci/BLAST is fully capable of modeling the BLS waveforms. A 2D grid produced results comparable to those on a full 3D grid. The grate and striker were critical in the simulation because they significantly affected the waveform.

Understanding of place is fundamental to architects, a complex topic with many layers. The purpose of this research is to explore how architects can answer to the given conditions of a specific site and through the act of making, explore and provide insights as input for a series of Pioneers (design proposals).  This investigation takes place in a rural coastal village forty kilometers north om Umeå, a  tranquil place named Ratan. Six in-situ artifacts are identified and analysed through an extensive iterative process where drawings and models are made along with reflections and theory, constituting an archive.  A pioneer is among the first to explore and to settle in new territory, it can also be groundbreaking in utilizing new methods or areas of knowledge or activities.These pioneers are just that, objects that pushes boundaries and are willing to try new things. The focus lies in unfolding that process and to explore how that understanding can be achieved through a specific process of making an archive. The archive has been used as a conscious tool to reflect and learn. In turn, it has provided insights into the three pioneers to be placed back in Ratan on three specific locations representing different typologies.   The aim has been to find methods and strategies of providing insights to be used into creating thoughtful born-out-of-place architecture that reflects back to its location and surroundings, to learn through the act of making and to involve all senses into the process.  For architects, the outlined process is relevant as it proposes alternative approaches and methods to understanding space. To make meaningful architecture with character, that is both rooted into the past and the future. Perhaps it is true as expressed by Christer Hollinder that we need a historical foundation as not to be fluttery and rootless.

For distributed memory architectures, communication cost is a significant source of overhead in parallel scientific applications. Many proposed communication optimizations duplicate the behavior of well-written hand-tuned parallel code. Because of continuous changes in architectural components, these types of low-level optimizations are not always effective. This thesis seeks to develop a high-level optimization of work replication in which computations are replicated to minimize communications. There exist performance trade-offs between computation cost and communication cost because of work replication. Due to these trade-offs, it is required to determine which computations should be replicated to improve overall performance. This research presents the development of a model-based approach with heuristics to automatically determine the computations to replicate. Using a computational and communication model, the execution time is predicted to make replication decisions.

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Soybeans are economically and agriculturally the most important legume in the world, providing protein and oil to the food and animal feed industries and base ingredients for hundreds of chemical products. Their value could be enhanced, however, if the oil and protein content remained high and the oligosaccharide and phytate contents were lowered to make soybeans more acceptable for human and animal consumption. A soybean population of 55 families segregating for genes controlling quality traits was chosen for this study. Both parental lines have high sucrose and low stachyose. The former contains a high level of phytate while the latter is low phytate. The objective of this experiment was to determine whether or not both parents had the same gene(s) for low stachyose. An additional objective was to determine quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling quality traits: sucrose, stachyose and phytate. An acetonitrile precipitation method and a modified colorimetric method were used to determine amounts of sugars and phytate, respectively. The phenotypic data for stachyose was analyzed and it was determined that two recessive genes control low stachyose content in this population. A map was constructed using 141 SSR markers and 15 molecular linkage groups (MLGs) were identified. After analyzing trait and marker data in QTL Cartographer, potential QTL were found on MLGs: B1, C2, D1b, F, M and N. Sucrose and stachyose QTL were identified on B1, C2, M and N. Phytate QTL were observed on B1, D1b, F and N. The markers identified for quality traits in this population may be useful in marker-assisted selection and the germplasm should be useful for the development of a cultivar. / Master of Science