<p>Predmet istraživanja ove doktorske disertacije je problem<br />interpolacije slike. Glavni fokus disertacije je interpolacija slike<br />uz očuvanje prirodnosti teksture i očuvanje ivica (oštrine)<br />interpolirane slike. Dodatni izazov je da algoritam za interpolaciju<br />slike bude pogodan za primenu u uređajima sa ograničenim resursima.<br />Kvalitet rešenja se ocenjuje poređenjem sa algoritmima poznatim u<br />dostupnoj literaturi korišćenjem odgovarajućih metrika.</p> / <p>This PhD dissertation addresses the problem of image interpolation. The main<br />focus of the dissertation is image interpolation algorithm which preserves<br />edges and keeps a natural texture of interpolated images. Additional challenge<br />for image interpolation algorithm is to be suitable for application on resourcelimited<br />platforms. The quality of the proposed solution is benchmarked against<br />known image interpolation algorithms using appropriate metrics.</p>

This study is centred on transformation towards sustainable living. It investigated how global education prepares learners to live a sustainable lifestyle. To explore this area, the concept of sustainability, global education and transformative learning were critically examined, with a view to finding their relationships. Literature on sustainability, transformative learning and global education were reviewed to find out how their relationships impact on international students learning about sustainable living. The focus of the thesis is on environmental sustainability, especially through management of anthropogenic factors. The mixed methods research, involving the collection of quantitative and qualitative data was employed for the study. Quantitative data collection was done using survey instruments while qualitative data collection was through face-to-face interview of research participants. Each set of data was collected and analysed separately. The outcomes of the analysis of the two sets of data were integrated at the stage of discussion of findings. The aim of the study was to find out whether global education transforms learners towards sustainable living. Findings from the study showed that global education field transforms students towards sustainable living. Evidence from the study suggests that global education help students to acquire the skills and knowledge required for living sustainably. Also, the actions and behaviours of international students were found to be influenced more towards sustainable lifestyle than those from the host country. The degree of transformation students experience was measured by attitude change, intention to change and actions of students toward the environment. This study contributed to the conceptual understanding of the relationship between global education and transformation of learners towards sustainable living. It made both theoretical and practical contribution to knowledge. The findings from the study will be of benefit to different impact groups. These groups include business organisations, policy makers in government, educational institutions, and individuals.

Dried blood spots is an alternative method to collect blood samples from research subjects. However, little is known about how hemoglobin and hematocrit affect bead-based multiplex assay performance. The purpose of this study was to determine how bead-based multiplex assays perform when analyzing dried blood spot samples. A series of four experiments outline the study each with a specific purpose. A total of 167 subject samples were collected and 92 different biomarkers were measured. Median fluorescence intensity results show a positive correlation between filtered and non-filtered samples. Utilizing a smaller quantity of sample results in a positive correlation to a larger sample. Removal of hemoglobin from the dried blood spot sample does not increase detection or concentration of biomarkers. Of the 92 different biomarkers measured 56 were detectable in 100-75% of the attempted samples. We conclude that blood biomarkers can be detected using bead-based multiplex assays. In addition, it is possible to utilize a smaller quantity of sample while avoiding the use of the entire sample, and maintaining a correlation to the total sample. While our method of hemoglobin was efficient it also removed the biomarkers we wished to analyze. Thus, an alternative method is necessary to determine if removing hemoglobin increases concentration of biomarkers. More research is necessary to determine if the biomarkers measured in this study can be measured over time or within an experimental model.

Mary Wingfield Scott (1895-1983) was a leading figure in the historic preservation movement in Richmond, Virginia. Scott demonstrated a preservation philosophy that transitioned from the sentimental, patriotic focus of early preservation efforts to a modern, academic approach that valued the built environment for its relationship to the city and its history. Scott educated persons on the value of preserving houses that were architecturally significant or connected to the city’s heritage. She documented the antebellum housing of Richmond in two books, founded the William Byrd Branch of the APVA, conducted walking tours throughout the city, wrote a newsletter for the William Byrd Branch, and purchased houses to prevent their demolition. Scott was a strong advocate of adaptive reuse, which she applied to the Greek Revival houses known as Linden Row. Scott’s approach to preservation is mirrored in the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) enacted in 1966 and Richmond’s 2009 Downtown Plan.

The Museum Studies thesis project represented by this document entailed the compilation of a board of directors orientation packet for the Gila River Indian Community's recently established Huhugam Heritage Center (HHC) in Chandler, Arizona. The packet, including an administrative history of the institution and an annotated bibliography of museological resources on issues relevant to tribal museums, provides current and future members of the HEZC Board of Directors with information needed to effectively carry out their duties. Research and preparation of the administrative history constituted a case study of Native American tribal museum development. The history supplies members of the HHC Board of Directors with information critical to their understanding and oversight of the institution. The annotated bibliography reviews and serves as a guide to a body of literature addressing practical, ethical and theoretical issues relevant to persons working for, with or on behalf of tribal museums.

Drawing from ongoing revitalization initiatives in Richmond, Virginia, this adaptive reuse project creates a structured dialogue between public and private expression to create a more immersive gallery experience for viewer and practitioner. The gallery experience is twofold; traditional object-based display and nontraditional process-based display. Preservation of the historic fabric of the existing Handcraft building at 1501 Roseneath is integrated with the transformative potential of introducing voyeuristic opportunities in creating a community arts center. Notions of voyeurism will center around ideas of visual connection and physical separation. This project questions if tactics of voyeurism, which inherently create physical barriers, can facilitate interaction and encourage co-creation in a creative setting. Structured moments of intimacy and control are accomplished through presented and found views of movement, object, and process. These moments of intimacy and control create a conceptual reciprocity which guides the design of this project. Ultimately, the redesign creates a dialogue between the process of making and the final product/object by facilitating interaction between the viewer and practitioner through different points of the creative process. The project moves away from exploiting the site’s formal, historical, and contextual components and encourages the audience member to engage with the maker through a corporeal, experiential encounter. The environment becomes a catalyst for cross-disciplinary creativity on an individual, group, and community level. The development of spaces that engage the creative mind and foster collaborative growth will serve the Richmond arts community and can act as an icon for successful urban transformation.

“[that] which does not change does not endure” – Henri Bergson Numbers only quantify the development Qatar is experiencing. In Doha, the city is a physical manifestation of these changes. The general approach to development follows a ‘tear down, build new’ model. Potential value is lost in what is discarded, despite necessity and convenience. This study addresses the topic by dispelling the assumed need to destroy in order to build. In doing so, it examines existing vernacular spaces that are often overlooked. The main application is analyzed through agents of space, such as buildings and the urban environment with varied outcomes. The study introduces and encourages an alternative narrative to the existing approach through transformative principles of preservation. It addresses the core concepts of temporality and permanence by negotiating what to retain and/or what to alter. Consequently, trace plays a major role as a process of honoring and embracing the past by materializing it. Incorporating novel elements allow for a shift in perception to occur. Value becomes a method of enriching and elevating a topic, idea, artifact, material, function, or experience.

This paper looks at how preservationists in Oregon Hill, a gentrifying neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, appropriated the identity of its working class residents, particularly through claims on a particular cluster of houses. By reframing the meaning of the houses, from homes to sites of historic significance, the preservationists began to “write” themselves into their environment. That is, by engaging the site of the houses both temporally (through narrative) and spatially (by establishing political boundaries), preservationists carved out a space for themselves in the neighborhood. This paper addresses the problems with this process, including the preservationists’ apparent lack of regard for a viable community as anything more than artifact, but also their masking of racial tensions in the neighborhood. Ultimately, though, it shows that preservation is a progressive act, and further, that place, rather than a representation of either progress or preservation, is actually the scene of the dialectic between both.

Les travaux de recherche présentés portent sur l'utilisation des produits de la liquéfaction des écorces d'épicéa dans le phénol pour la préservation du bois. Les produits de la liquéfaction permettent la synthèse d'une résine thermodurcissable de type phénolique. Les résines formulées sont imprégnées dans le bois suivi d'un durcissement in situ. Un prétraitement est mis au point dans le but d'enrichir la fraction phénolique des écorces. Ce prétraitement consiste à hydrolyser les polysaccharides principalement la cellulose et les hémicelluloses dans une solution acide. Ce prétraitement permet d'obtenir un taux de lignine dans les écorces de 60 %, et un taux de cellulose de 28 %. Un procédé de liquéfaction dans un système composé de phénol, d'eau et d'éthanol est optimisé dans le but d'obtenir des taux de liquéfaction supérieur à 85 %, et un taux d'écorces liquéfiées par rapport à la masse de phénol supérieur à 50 %. Les produits de la liquéfaction présentent l'avantage de polymériser sans ajout de formaldéhyde. La durabilité conférée au bois par les résines est bonne, surtout pour les résines phénol/formaldéhyde. Les résines sont peu lessivables. L'imprégnation du bois par les résines provoque un gonflement du bois ce qui améliore la stabilité dimensionnelle de ce dernier / This work focuses on the use of liquefaction products of spruce bark in phenol for the wood preservation. The liquefaction products allow the synthesis of phenolic thermosetting resins. The formulated resins were impregnated into the wood followed by in situ polymerization. A pretreatment was developed in order to increase the phenolic compounds in the spruce bark. This step is an acid hydrolysis of polysaccharides. This pretreatment allowed obtaining a Klason lignin content of 60 %, and a cellulose content of 28 %. A liquefaction process was developed in a mixture of solvent composed of phenol, ethanol, and water. The optimized experimental conditions allowed obtaining a liquefaction yield superior to 85 %, with liqui?ed bark/phenol ratio superior to 50 %. The lique?ed products had the advantage to polymerize without formaldehyde. The resins enhanced the wood durability especially for the phenol/formaldehyde resins. The leaching was low. The wood impregnation allowed a wood swelling, thereby the impregnated wood had a better dimensional stability

Preservation History of Art Nouveau Heritage in Hungary, Czech Lands and France Master Thesis Lilla Zámbó Abstract This master thesis discusses the preservation history of the most relevant architectural monuments of Art Nouveau from the perspective of different ideological and political systems of Hungary, the Czech Lands and France in the 20th century. The main objective of the thesis is to examine the influences of Art Nouveau in the society and vice versa through different heritage protection procedures and successful monument restorations, which took place in significant "Art Nouveau cities" of Europe: Budapest, Prague, Nancy and Strasbourg. The Art Nouveau style (1890-1914) was born as a reaction to the academic schools at the end of the nineteenth century and spread quickly by advertising a new architectural program, thanks to its special aesthetical, social and political contents. In order to satisfy the needs of the "modern" age and to create a better environment for the people, Art Nouveau broke with the previous dominant historical tendencies, not only in a mental way, but also in employing a new design and decorative elements. Thus the international practice-based, but locally unique and unprecedented works of the Art Nouveau were totally differing from the dominant eclectic townscapes, which is...