The designed pension for elderly with care servise is situated in Měřín locality. It is the a bricked two-floor object with no cellars, made of POROTHERM system. The base zones are made of the plain concrete. Roof construction is solved by one-shell roof. The dimensions of the building are 41,35 x 33,15 meters.

This work is an investigation of how to redefine the perception of decoration. Decorative elements are reinvented as fundamental tools for creating garments and form in a collection of nine outfits. To show the width of what embellishment is able to create, the decorative techniques of all garments are different. The work also deals with the question of taste when it comes to embellishment. By using decorations seen as tasteless the work revaluates notions of good and bad taste. Materials as sport fabric combined with embellishment trick the eye and all small decorations together form new materials. New ways to use embellishments are explored, and the time consuming techniques are reminiscent of haute couture techniques, but in the designer’s own way.

According to the seductive details (SD) effect, interesting, but irrelevant information in learning materials reduces learning outcomes. Basic research suggests that subjects in positive mood are more distractible by task‐irrelevant stimuli than subjects in negative mood. Hence, mood could moderate the SD effect. We tested this assumption by comparing eye movements to seductive pictures in participants in positive versus negative mood. As expected, participants in positive mood fixated pictures longer and more frequently than participants in negative mood, which can be interpreted in terms of mood‐based higher distractibility. However, this did not translate to a more pronounced SD effect in the learning test. Unexpectedly, there was no SD effect in either mood condition. We discuss implications of the eye‐tracking data as well as potential reasons for the nonexistent SD effect in our study.

Our aim with this project was to become more aware about the consequencesthat different kinds of changes or additions have on existing buildings andtheir characteristic architectural qualities. We have focused our study on thepart when a change or addition is designed, how the planned intervention isto be materialized, trying to understand how a change or addition relate to theexisting. Whether it is made to closely resemble that which is already there orcontrast in for example form, colour or material. In our thesis we call theseways of relating to the existing methods, and it is these methods that we havetried to identify, analyse and implement throughout this project.Some of the questions we have asked ourselves are:What different methods are there and how can they be materialized? How do theywork in combination? What effect do they have on a room and what do the differentmethods communicate?

The use of high strength steel has the potential to reduce the amount of steel used in bridge structures and thereby facilitate a more sustainable construction. The amount of steel and what steel grade that can be used in bridge structures and other cyclic loaded structures are often limited by a material degradation process called fatigue. The fatigue resistance of steel bridges are to a large extent depending on the design of structural details and connections. The design engineer is limited by a few pre-existing structural details and connections – with rather poor fatigue resistance – to choose from when designing steel bridges, and is therefore often forced to increase the overall dimensions of the structure in order to cope with the design requirements of fatigue. This licentiate thesis aims at increasing the fatigue resistance of fatigue prone structural details and connections by implementing new and innovative structural solutions to the already pre-existing details given in the design standards. A typical fatigue prone detail is the vertical stiffener at an intermediate cross-beam, which will be in focus. By improving the fatigue resistance, less steel material will be required for the construction of new steel bridges and composite bridges of steel and concrete. It is shown in this thesis and the appended papers that the use of high strength steel for bridge structures can considerably reduce the amount of steel used, the steel cost and the harmful emissions. However, this is only true if the fatigue strength of critical details can be substantially improved. Furthermore, a few new and innovative structural details and modifications to already existing details are proposed in this thesis and in the appended papers, that have the potential to increase the fatigue resistance of steel bridges and composite bridges of steel and concrete. However, further analyses are required in order to make these structural details viable for construction. / Genom användandet av höghållfast stål så kan en mindre mängd material användas som i sin tur leder till ett mer hållbart byggande. Mängden stål och vilken stålkvalité som kan användas vid byggandet av stålbroar och andra cykliskt belastade konstruktioner avgörs ofta av nedbrytningsprocessen utmattning. Utmatningskapaciteten hos stålbroar är till stor del beroende av brons anslutningsdetaljer. Brokonstruktören har vid designstadiet ett begränsat antal beprövade anslutningsdetaljer att välja bland – vilka ofta har relativt låg utmattningskapacitet – och konstruktören är därmed ofta tvungen att öka konstruktionens dimensioner för att klara av kraven gällande utmattning. Den har licentiatuppsatsen har till syfte att förbättra utmattningskapaciteten för utmattningsbenägna anslutningsdetaljer i stål genom att införa nya och innovativa anslutningsdetaljer, bland de redan existerande detaljerna som finns i de olika standarderna. En utmattningskritisk detalj som kommer att ligga i fokus är anslutningen mellan livavstyvningen och tvärförbanden hos en I-balk. Genom att förbättra utmattningskapaciteten så kan en mindre mängd stålmaterial användas vid byggandet av stålbroar och samverkansbroar i betong och stål. I denna uppsatsen kunde det påvisas att höghallfast stål for broar kan betydligt sänka mängden stålmaterial, stålkostnaden och koldioxidutsläppen. Dock så gäller detta enbart om utmattningskapaciteten for kritiska anslutningsdetaljer kan ökas avsevärt. Dessutom, som en del av den har uppsatsen så har ett par nya och innovativa anslutningsdetaljer föreslagits som har potential att forbättra utmattningskapaciteten. Dock, så krävs ytterligare studier for att dessa förslag skall kunna användas i byggnation av nya stålbroar. / <p>QC 20190925</p>

Since the Depression era there has been an evolution in parkway usage. Parkways have outlived their recreational function and now must also serve as routes to recreational facilities. Since the elemental use of parkways has drastically changed, questions of how and why beg to be answered. How has parkway design and construction changed from the Depression era to today in terms of views, alignment, vegetation, natural and cultural features, and parkway details. How is parkway design and construction different from that of typical roadways; and how does this information effect the future design and construction of parkways? In addition, why can parkways no longer serve the same purpose that they did in the past? This thesis examines these questions through the creation of the Lorton - Laurel Hill Parkway. The main characteristics studied in this thesis will continue to be vital in future parkway design and construction. This thesis expresses that parkways can no longer serve as a destination, but instead must become an introduction to a recreational facility. Parkways will become increasingly important in the future as they can provide relief to congested roadways while simultaneously providing the motorist with an aesthetically pleasing entrance to recreational facilities. In the future, the components studied here must be instituted into highway and road engineering. The construction of motorways that incorporate parkway design principles will create more successful and vibrant routes between urban centers and their surrounding communities, and in so doing will increase the quality of life of its population. / Master of Landscape Architecture

The adjacent box beam bridges (ABBB) are considered as an ideal solution for short to medium span bridges and for routes with low to medium traffic volumes. The ABBB system has been utilized and is popular in several states in the United States. However, this bridge system has long term durability issues caused by shear key failure and reflective cracking in the topping. The means and methods to alleviate the problems in connections between members of the ABBB were researched and the development of new connection details was pursued. Diagnostic tests to study the in-service behavior of ABBBs was performed. Two bridges with varying magnitude of joint deterioration were investigated. Both bridges were instrumented extensively and were subjected to known loads in the form of tandem trucks. The response of these bridges was studied and conclusions were made about the state of the bridges and the behavior after shear key failure. A finite element (FE) model of one of the tested bridges was developed to study the response of an ABBB with sound joints. The results of the finite element analysis (FEA) were compared with the results of the bridge diagnostic test. Conclusions about the FE model were made on the basis of this comparison. Another FE model, referred as the full scale bridge (FSB) was developed. The FSB model was used to simulate the behavior of an ABBB with the proposed connection details. This FSB model was subjected to design truck loads and the response was studied. The behavior of FSB model was replicated through a three beam sub-assembly that was supported on elastic supports. The stiffness of the elastic supports was calibrated such that the state of stress in the joints and the relative displacements between adjacent box beams in the sub-assemblage matched those in the FSB. The three beam sub-assembly was constructed with the proposed connection details. Two new connection details were proposed in this research. A Kevlar and epoxy connection and a spliced connection with fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete are proposed. A total of six specimens, with different connection details, were constructed and tested for strength and durability in the laboratory. The behavior of the proposed connections and the connection materials were studied in detail. Additional FEA was performed to study the effect of shrinkage and temperature on the proposed connection details. / Ph. D.

Laotse has said, "Man's loss of his original nature comes from the distractions of the material world acting through the five senses.”1 That we have not regained our original nature is self-evident. Our society indicts us; its works convict us. We have become slaves to the extent that we have diverged from, as well as our own nature, the nature of our universe. It is to the cutting through the haze of invalidities which constitutes much of the atmosphere in which we design and build that this thesis is directed. First, in this search, this one for freedom in a sense, the nature of man, of universe, and the relationships which do and could exist between them, will be explored in terms of building. If, perhaps, subsequent analysis of existing relationships appear too critical, it must be borne in mind, that much is based upon, as well as observation, introspection. Second, cultures will be explored in an effort to more clearly establish the relationships which exist between man and the pattern he produces. With this relationship in mind, our contemporary pattern will be examined and an attempt will be made to evaluate the dominant trends which now seem to be directing it toward the contradictory expressions so apparent today. Third, designs will be given of a natural community and of a natural living unit, illustrating through application of these same natural relationships, but two of many levels of planning. A site in the Blue Ridge Mountains, northeast of Roanoke has been chosen as the area for development which, although topographically undesirable for building by present criteria, permits demonstration of the flexibility attainable through application of spirit and technics of natural building. This thesis is an attempt to see the whole more clearly in terms of its parts. Design today, as attested by almost every area of development, is in a state of chaos, less conscious of the world for which it was executed than it is of itself. The method of approach, not being purely scientific, is in itself a questioning of contemporary methods of inquiry. Natural law, in the academic sense, is but the notation of physically observed phenomena and has been taken more as a boundary than as a fluid instrument of understanding cognizant of omnipresent relativities. Natural law, in its broadest sense, at best, but an instantaneous approximation (for what has become of Euclidean geometry and Newtonian physics), is here suggested as a criterion for design. A criterion which will continue to grow together with science and art in the interests of man. / Master of Science

This project began with the measurement of the exterior stair at the East addition of Campbell Hall on the campus of the University of Virginia. The project continued with the design of nine different autonomous stairs, and nine stairs as buildings. Stairs are one of the most basic and complex elements of architecture. Stairs interconnect to all aspects of a building. Through ascension and descension our existence is modified. The 'eye of the stair' looks up and down into the well. It is like the 'eye of the storm', which allows us to see things calmly while everything outside the storm's eye is in motion. Through looking into the eye of the stair we see a stair's eye view. / Master of Architecture

Yes / Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic review of articles that have used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Design/methodology/approach – The results produced in this research are based on the literature analysis of 174 existing articles on the UTAUT model. This has been performed by collecting data including demographic details, methodological details, limitations, and significance of relationships between the constructs from the available articles based on the UTAUT. Findings – The findings indicated that general purpose systems and specialized business systems were examined in the majority of the articles using the UTAUT. The analysis also indicated that crosssectional approach, survey methods, and structural equation modelling analysis techniques were the most explored research methodologies whereas SPSS was found to be the largely used analysis tools. Moreover, the weight analysis of independent variables indicates that variables such as performance expectancy and behavioural intention qualified for the best predictor category. Moreover, the analysis also suggested that single subject or biased sample as the most explored limitation across all studies. Research limitations/implications – The search activities were centered on occurrences of keywords to avoid tracing a large number of publications where these keywords might have been used as casual words in the main text. However, we acknowledge that there may be a number of studies, which lack keywords in the title, but still focus upon UTAUT in some form. Originality/value – This is the first research of its type which has extensively examined the literature on the UTAUT and provided the researchers with the accumulative knowledge about the model.