Darbo „Grid projektavimas“ tikslas – suprojektuoti, sukonfigūruoti telkinį Šiaulių universitete ir prijungti jį prie bendro Litgrid ir Balticgrid tinklyno. Pagrindiniai šio darbo uždaviniai yra orientuoti į darbo tikslą ir apima ne tik programinius sprendimus, bet ir vartotojų mokymų organizavimą bei galimybių šiam tikslui panaudoti mokymo klas÷se esančius kompiuterius analizę ir rekomendacijas. Šiame darbe įdiegta ir sukonfigūruota programin÷ įranga, telkinys prijungtas prie virtualiųjų organizacijų Litgrid ir Balticgrid, sukurti scenarijai, automatizuojantys programų diegimą ir konfigūravimą. Telkinio pristatymas, metodin÷s rekomendacijos ir mokymai darbui su juo buvo realizuoti dviejose konferencijose. Darbas inovatyvus tuo, kad tokio pobūdžio virtualus kompiuteris yra pirmasis ir vienintelis Šiaulių regione - jis sudaro sąlygas panaudoti jau turimus kompiuterius didel÷s apimties skaičiavimo resursams imlių uždavinių sprendimui. / The purpose of the project "Grid designing" is to design and to configure the cluster at Siauliai University and connect it to Litgrid and Balticgrid. The main problems of this project are orientated towards the objective of the project and include not only software solutions, but also organization of users training and analysis as well as recommendations on possibilities to employ computers located at the teaching classes for that purpose too. This project has installed and configured software, the cluster is connected to virtual organizations of Litgrid and Balticgrid, it has created scripts, which automates installation and configuration of programs. Cluster, methodological recommendations and training for it were presented in two conferences. The project is innovative because it is the first and the only virtual computer of such nature in Siauliai region, which enables to use available computers to solve tasks that require big volumes of calculating resources.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The ideal and practice of administrative neutrality has been problematic in the public services of liberal democracies since the middle of the 19th century. Either the ideal was interpreted very narrowly to exclude public administration from political processes, or it has been too broadly incorporated to render its meaning practically useless. However, both literature and practice continue to emphasize the importance of the ideal. This study has attempted to clarify the meaning of the concept by examining its evolution and applicability in various liberal democratic states. Additionally, the study has developed a model of administrative neutrality for the post- apartheid South African public service. The study was guided by three broad assumptions: and these were: i) that the concept of administrative neutrality was not an antonym of politicization, and that whenever such meaning was imputed its applicability was bound to be compromised if not misguided; ii) that the applicability of administrative neutrality depended, among other things, on the constitutional experience and context of a given country; and that iii) administrative neutrality tended to emphasize those elements that are topical at a given time in a given country. Comparative experiences of older liberal democracies examined in the study lent support to these broad assumptions: thus, the British version of administrative neutrality has been conditioned by its political and administrative traditions in which the evolution of democratic political institutions dictated the subjection of administrative institutions to elected political leadership. By contrast, the French experience has reflected that country's administrative history in which public administration evolved much earlier than liberal democracy, and practices like permitting civil servants to seek political office without having to resign their posts was perceived as posing no danger to the ideal of neutrality. Similarly, the American model in which the top layer of public administrators are political appointees has been a product of its history which has had a heavy dosage of partisan patronage. However, despite the differences in terms of models and applicability of the concept the public services in all older liberal democracies examined showed a clear commitment to administrative neutrality in the form of a professionally appointed and managed public service. All the three older democracies examined here has clearly done away with the concept of patronage in the professional section of their public services. Based on the analysis of the three older democracies, a model has been developed for post-apartheid South Africa. First, it was observed that current practices of administrative neutrality in South Africa have been heavily influenced by both apartheid and British or Whitehall traditions. However, the 1996 constitution prescribes a public service that is nonpartisan and impartial, with the public service commission as the watchdog for its implementation. The study has noted that a few problems exist in the current practice of administrative neutrality. First, the practice of involving the minister in the department or premier in the province in matters of appointing permanent staff was regarded as anomalous. Second, that there was lack of specification of involvement by level of civil servants in partisan activities. Third, that the present arrangements do not make adequate checks and balances between ministerial responsibility for personnel and the role of the public service commission, and between the minister and the director- general. Fourth and finally, the absence of the head of the civil service who could cultivate, promote and defend the ethic of civil service neutrality. The proposed model addresses these issues and includes the following elements: commitment to national goals as a recognition of the fact that administrative neutrality does not mean avoidance of national political ideals and goals; merit as the basis for appointment and promotion to ensure against the spoils system; partisan neutrality in which civil servants at all levels do not participate in any partisan activities, but that this provision could be reviewed from time to time as the country's administrative culture evolves; institutional checks and balances in which the public service commission, the head of the civil service , and the re-designing of the office and even title of the director-general. At the moment there are no really checks and balances vis-a-vis ministerial role in the civil service. Finally, the model recommends general fairness and impartiality of the civil service as part of the neutrality concept. The model might meet some resistance due to entrenched traditions of the past or misconstruing of the ideal of neutrality itself by current practitioners. The study concludes by posing a few questions: what is the relationship between neutrality and civil service effectiveness? How does the policy of representative bureaucracy (i.e.: affirmative action) impact upon the merit principle? These and other questions have not been addressed in the study due to limitation of time and resources. Nonetheless, the ideal of administrative neutrality holds out the hope for a civil service that is emerging from the scars of apartheid politicization.

Ambiences that represent environments or landscapes play a crucial role in the soundtrack of a film when the geographic setting is important for the film’s narrative. When sound designers can encourage viewers to both notice and accept the environment displayed in the film, this can contribute to an immersive experience. Prior research has discussed how changes in the level of detail, or complexity, of ambiences and soundscapes can affect the perceived immersion of a film experience. This study aims to further investigate this topic by looking at how the complexity of a minor category of sound elements, environmental sounds, affects the immersiveness of a film scene. A listening/viewing test was conducted in a controlled studio environment where participants watched a video segment that was synced to two different versions of an environmental soundscape. One version was more complex than the other. All of the subjects watched and listened to the same video-soundscape combinations. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online questionnaire. The participants were asked to rate the video segments for immersion-related qualities and to motivate their ratings. The results did not show enough statistical significance to support the idea that a change in complexity affects all of the three qualities perceived presence, realism and how accurately the amount of sonic details matched the picture. However, the subjects’ motivations of their ratings for perceived presence and realism indicate that a detailed, layered soundscape that includes rarely occurring sound elements provides a stronger experience of presence and realism. Future research based on the findings from this study is presented.

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The Swedish Sea Rescue Services (SRSS) has developed an Unmanned ArialVehicle (UAV) which they use for search and rescue missions. The SRSS wantsto upgrade this UAV to also be able to fly and drop with a package. Bydesigning according to the model of designing by HH van den Kroonenberg [2].The main functions for the package is that it needs to be able to carry at least 300gram and be 900x900x25 millimetres big. After designing 3 concepts, one mainconcept is chosen and produced as a Solidworks model. This package and thejoint to hold the package have been designed and have been calculated to be ableto withstand the stresses during flight. The stresses include the weight of thepackage as well as the aerodynamic drag. With a safety factor of 1.5. Also afinite element simulation is done to check the main stresses, this simulationshows that the critical beam will not be able to hold. It is recommended that amore dense EPP is used or the beam will be redesigned. Also an engineerspecialized in aerodynamics is recommended to take a look at the results to befully secure.

Motivated by the immature theoretical framework of design, this thesis employs transdisciplinary discourse to provide a contemporary and forward-looking model of design and design theory, as well as the linkages between the two, along with the necessary methodology. The discourse involves research into the current understanding of design, its principles, its practice and conceptual framework. The methodology developed and employed in this thesis can be outlined in five steps: 0. Design briefing 1. Developing a conceptual model based on the writings of Michel Foucault and Helmut Krippendorff. 2. Presenting the model in a written form. 3. Using accounts of conferences as tools for Designing Design and building monuments. 4. Interrogating the theory through an expert system. 5. Summarising and evaluating the findings. Design Briefing The present study delves into design, and into the design of theory. In Chapter A.1.6, a summary of Chapter A.0−A.1.5 is given, highlighting the underlying discourse. As shown, the theory behind this work is based on a hypothesis, which cannot be proved experimentally, or deduced from experimental data, at least at the time of its construction. Therefore, it needs to be understood that the case studies (A.3.2−A.3.5) in this thesis are not intended to serve as experiments that were conducted in order to prove the theory; rather, these case studies are design cases—products and artefacts—and should be viewed as discourse frameworks that can be adopted to design design. As described in Chapter 3.1, these are elements of monuments—in reference to Raichman (1988)—that have resulted from the discursive strategies and were designed within a community of designers, allowing the design understanding to be shaped. Methodologically, the theory is created through an indication of differences. These differences were elaborated on in the literature review, and can be explained using either logic-based or hermeneutical metaphors. As the latter approach is more flexible, it might be more applicable to the design environment. The generated knowledge can be located in three areas—design knowledge, epistemology, methodology (the process to get there), and phenomenology (the composition of the artefacts). While the main focus of this thesis has been on theory design, it was also important to delineate how to get there, as well as analyse the questionable differences between theory and practice, since they are ideal types that mark the extreme ends of a continuum (Jonsen and Toulmin 1988, p.36). The work presented in this thesis was conducted in a circular manner, like a design process, in order to encapsulate the instance. Therefore, essential topics reappear, allowing them to be reframed and newly contextualised. Chapter 0.0 to 0.7 reperesent the introductory part of this work. Thus, the content presented could be referred to as ‘the briefing’—as a parallel to a design case—to provide the background. It shows the motivation, a first hypothesis, some methodological considerations, and the research design and decisions. The aim is to provide insight into the phenomenon of interest and discuss some preconceptions. Thus, these introductory chapters provide orientation through locating some statements of the provided (design) discourse. Developing a conceptual model based on the writings of Michel Foucault and Helmut Krippendorff. As a follow up, Section A consists of several key components, and encompasses the research methodology specificity, its theoretical underpinning, and its connection to design, a reframing and contextualisation. This section also provides the means to overcome the discrepancy between researching and designing. Therefore, in Chapter A1−A1.6, a more substantial discourse of design is provided, along with the theory and the essential knowledge. Here, we can see the method in operation, as a patching of discursive statements—akin to an additive process of designing. Clearly, the attempt made here belongs to the constructivist epistemology, as the idea of design is a mental construct. Nonetheless, the aim is to provide a broad perspective of what can be presently observed in the design field. The employed methodology strategically aims to overcome the divide between designing and researching—between acting and reflecting—in order to provide a conceptual model. Still, it also makes the designing practice a conscious process, whereby theory is designed through discourse. Such discourse is revealed within the discovery of textual statements based on an extensive literature review, as well as through the discovery of textual statements from organised interactive conferences. The theory developed here is, in fact, a theory derived from theory, and is shaped through finding patterns and the simplification of the overall structure they form. In A.2, the concept of discourse and its designing quality is revealed. It shows how discourse, as the guiding method, is ‘excavated’ from the writings of Michel Foucault and Helmut Krippendorff. Methodologically, Michel Foucault’s ‘Archeology of Knowledge’ was analysed against and parallel to Helmut Krippendorff’s ‘Semantic Turn’, as these sources are complementary to each other. The goal of this process is a comparison of statements, yielding reasoning towards discourse and design discourse. In sum, this analysis helped reveal that it is a matter of design how the discourse is provided. The outcome of the aforementioned comparison is very interesting and satisfying. The findings revealed a difference in discourse, because engineering and design discourses are informed by rhetoric of design, rhetoric of deliberation, in opposite to humanistic discourse, which consumes textual objects (Perelman 1999). The discursive designing process within these chapters reveals some important elements, such as the conceptual frame of politics, referred to in Foucault’s discourse explorations. According to the author, power is a generating force in shaping discourse (Faucault 1980, p.119). In contrast, Krippendorff (1995b) sees power as emanating from language, which can be overcome through avoiding the construction of certain language. In the research presented, the designing practice that took place during the conferences, as well as the aforementioned notions, play a role, as was shown in Chapter 3. Power, as it was experienced, is unavoidable. Yet, rather than seeing it as a problem, it should be viewed as a generating force. A second more substantial question arises around the notion of discontinuity (A.2.3), which is essential in Foucault’s concept. According to Krippendorff, knowledge is not partitioned; it rather provides continuity through the various disciplines. As this research shows, this view should not be seen as an opposite to Foucault’s concept of discontinuity, because statements can refer to the same object, but coming from a discontinuous field, from various disciplines. In other words, as design discourse can be viewed as a discourse hosted by various disciplines, it is discontinuous! With respect to Foucault’s concern of grasping of statements, the main goal of this thesis is to provide support for this perspective. As the author noted, the grasping of the statements needs to follow the exact specificity of their occurrence (Foucault 1972). The prudence and success of dissociating statements from their original context to place them in a new context is questionable, since no discontinuity can be ignored (Foucault 1972). Often, rather than paraphrasing the text so that it reflects one’s own understanding of it, the result is a mere citation of the original texts and con-texts. The awareness of discontinuity does not allow for this thesis to be presented according to the positivistic paradigm.

The objective of this research is to show that nonlinearity can be used to improve vibration absorption and suppression of unwanted vibrations in a main system due to external excitation. This was shown by investigating two systems a SDOF (with hardening nonlinearity) and a 2DOF (with softening nonlinearity). The aim of carrying out these investigations was to introduce a passive nonlinear system that can update itself and self-regulate to suppress undesired oscillations. To fulfil the desired gaol, various types of springs were considered and investigated. A commercially available spring called Mag-spring has been chosen and a function for its nonlinearity has been investigated. Mag-Spring is a newly invented spring which is designed to exhibit constant force at its operating range. However, this spring has a special non-linear behaviour before reaching to the constant force domain which is the main focus of the investigation presented in this thesis. The nonlinear behaviour of Mag-spring encouraged the idea that vibration design is possible by the advantages that can be gained from magnetic technology. The added benefit through this new Mag-spring, is that it solved some of the concerns assotiated with old available ones. The most concern norrowing the usage of magnetic springs, is the air gap between the two magnets, which make the attraction or repulsive force unstable through the spring’s working range. Linmot Company, introduced a solution to this concern by introducing a teflone that works as a bearing between the two magnets, which fixed the distance between them while they are sliding againest each other. In the first scenario of this study, a hardening nonlinear spring was added in parallel to a system with a single degree of freedom. The system will remain single degree of freedom as the spring was added in parallel without additional mass. The hardening spring shows low stiffness at low amplitude and high stiffness at higher amplitude. In this study, it was shown that nonlinearity affects the dynamic performance of a system and makes the natural frequency amplitude dependant. As the amplitude of vibration increases, consequently, stiffness increases and the natural frequency shifts away from the excitation frequency. For this investigation, a vibrating system with one degree of freedom has been built based on a mathematical model simulated and tested in Matlab software. Mag-spring was used to introduce the nonlinear stiffness to the system. Unbalance mass mounted to a disc fixed to a rotational machine has been used to create a forced vibration system with variable frequency. The response of the system with and without nonlinearity effect was monitored with an accelerometer. Simulation and experimental results showed that nonlinearity could shift the resonance frequency of the SDOF system by 10% (hardening of the system), without affecting the stiffness of the system at normal working condition. In the second scenario, a softening nonlinear spring was added as a vibration absorber to a system with a single degree of freedom, to make the system with two degree of freedom. The softening spring shows high stiffness at low amplitude and low stiffness at high amplitude. The rationale behind this is to introduce a spring which is hard at high frequency and soft at low frequency, which as a result will make the ratio √(k_a/m_a ) of the absorber follows the excitation frequency (ω) allowing the system to update itself and self-regulate providing vibration cancellation at more than one frequency value and widen the vibration cancellation range (ω_n2-ω_n1). It was shown that the Mag-spring could show a softening behaviour in a limited domain if its operating position is shifted. A program has been written to simulate the behaviour of all nonlinear system with two degree of freedom (nonlinear absorber). At this program, the maximum amplitude of each time domain was used to produce the frequency domain of the amplitude of the system. The amplitude of the vibration for a linear and a nonlinear absorber was compared. The results showed that the nonlinear absorber suppresses and reduces the vibration amplitude of the main system better than the linear absorbers with up to 60% reduction in magnification ratio and from 5% to 10% in widening the cancellation range (ω_n2-ω_n1). In the last scenario of this study, 4 different ideal softening stiffness curves were introduced based on theoretical methods. Their vibration response was calculated and compared to the nonlinear absorber (Mag-spring) and a linear absorber. This study shows that when nonlinearity is designed properly, it could provide a distinguished vibration cancellation response resulting more than 60% vibration cancellation improvement. This study demonstrated the possibility of developing a passive self-regulating tuned mass system involving the usage of nonlinearity. Nonlinearity will enhance the vibration cancellation by allowing the system to update itself and as a result will make the vibration absorption to be effective within a frequency range rather than single frequency unlike the classical tuned mass system. This study, to the best knowledge of the author, can be classified as an uncommon study in vibration systems investigations.

The present work is based on the research and design of a mobile AR experiment performed in the context of the emerging interdisciplinary fields of digital heritage and experience design. In an attempt to find a method to support the justification and discovery of elements that can influence the user towards the fulfilment of an objective in a heritage experience, my experimental research reveals that a combination of play moments including elements of embodiment and sensuousness in mobile AR are most suitable to convey a story. Determining suitable gameplay and game mechanics requires an appropriate setting and context for a user’s encounter with digital heritage. My research outlines a design methodology to reveal how the aesthetics of mobile AR technology can be designed to support critical user experiences through play and discovery. / Designing Digital Heritage. Seeing Secrets

TITLE: The technological support of the Storytelling teaching method AUTHOR: Jan Bouchner DEPARTMENT: Department of information technology and technical education SUPERVISOR: Ing. Bořivoj Brdička, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The subject of this dissertation is the use of digital technologies to support storytelling in the classroom. This thesis aims to introduce storytelling as an innovative method based on the principles of modern pedagogy, especially social constructivism, and determine the role of this methodology in the current curriculum. Another objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of methods and activities of digital storytelling including the examples of hardware and software instruments. Their value for practical use in digital storytelling was verified. The analysis of scientific literature was used in the theoretical part of this study. The work also includes the description of two cases of implementation and a description of their realization. In the conclusion the recommendations for the use of digital storytelling in practice are formulated. KEYWORDS: storytelling, methodology, constructivism, designing, educational technology

Background: The production of textile crafts requires resources and skilled artisans. In modern times, textile crafts sold in the global market are often made through collaboration involving artisans and profit, social and non-profit enterprises with aim to globalize the aesthetic or styling, structural aspects, and marketability of the crafted product. Collaboration is understood here as two or more enterprises working together towards common profit ideologies, values or goals. Textile craft producer Jordan River Foundation’s (JRF) and IKEA’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative; collaboration creates home furnishing collections through design and product development, that aim to promote and develop so called local crafts-based economy. Need: In a collaboration, the textile craft producer plays the role of leveraging its resources, and keeps the capability to test its making in the design development and implementation process of craft products. It is thus this need to know of how these collaborative relationships function from a producer’s perspective, emphasizing on the most value adding factor of the design development process. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate and understand primarily from the craft producer Jordan River Foundation’s point of view, the collaborative design development and implementation process with IKEA. Method: The study is a qualitative, narrative, analysing the data and experience from a two-week participatory field study at Jordan River Foundation. Conclusion: As exposed through the collaboration, with IKEA, JRF is challenged with working with cost efficient process of the usage of materials and techniques in design development and methods of craft production, and at the same time maintains its niche as a craft producer. The study concludes that collaborative design efforts in textile crafts, uplifts and enhances, tangible and intangible values. Within the perspective of textile management, the knowledge of collaborative design development in textile crafts interconnects new spaces and turns skill knowledge into a force of competitive advantage for the participating organisations.