<p>This master thesis consists of implementation and evaluation of an AEC, Acoustic Echo Canceller, algorithm in a floating-point architecture. The most important question this thesis will try to answer is to determine benefits or drawbacks of using a floating-point architecture, relative a fixed-point architecture, to do AEC. In a telephony system there is two common forms of echo, line echo and acoustic echo. Acoustic echo is introduced by sound emanating from a loudspeaker, e.g. in a handsfree or speakerphone, being picked up by a microphone and then sent back to the source. The problem with this feedback is that the far-end speaker will hear one, or multiple, time-delayed version(s) of her own speech. This time-delayed version of speech is usually perceived as both confusing and annoying unless removed by the use of AEC. In this master thesis the performance of a floating-point version of a normalized least-mean-square AEC algorithm was evaluated in an environment designed and implemented to approximate live telephony calls. An instruction-set simulator and assembler available at the initiation of this master thesis were extended to enable; zero-overhead loops, modular addressing, post-increment of registers and register-write forwarding. With these improvements a bit-true assembly version was implemented capable of real-time AEC requiring 15 million instructions per second. A solution using as few as eight mantissa bits, in an external format used when storing data in memory, was found to have an insignificant effect on the selected AEC implementation’s performance. Due to the relatively low memory requirement of the selected AEC algorithm, the use of a small external format has a minor effect on the required memory size. In total this indicates that the possible reduction of the memory requirement and related energy consumption, does not justify the added complexity and energy consumption of using a floating-point architecture for the selected algorithm. Use of a floating-point format can still be advantageous in speech-related signal processing when the introduced time delay by a subband, or a similar frequency domain, solution is unacceptable. Speech algorithms that have high memory use and small introduced delay requirements are a good candidate for a floating-point digital signal processor architecture.</p>

Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att undersöka 3D-formatet som attraktion inom filmmediet och dess förändring över tid samt dess möjliga framtid. Inom detta undersöktes också hur det nya 3D-formatet (som i uppsatsen kallas det digitala 3D-formatet) har påverkats av tekniska och ekonomiska omständigheter. 3D-formatet har under uppsatsen jämförts med ljudet och färgens utveckling mot standard för att se ifall 3D-formatet följer en liknande riktning och själv håller på att gå över till en standard. Grunden i uppsatsen har legat på teorin av Tom Gunnings cinema of attraction och utifrån den teorin har analysen fokuserat på hur filmer från olika tidsperioder har används sig av 3D-formatet. Analysen har också granskat filmernas genrertillhörighet och dess användning av slogans. Resultatet var i korthet att 3D-formatet fortfarande är en attraktion men att den inte längre följer Gunnings teori. Numera är 3D-formatet invävt i narrationen genom att kameran och skådespelarnas agerande följer med i 3D-formatets rörelse. Innovationen pausar därför inte längre berättelsen för att visa sin attraktion. 3D-formatet följer både ljudet och färgens utveckling till vis del. Färgen är den innovationsom 3D-formatet mest påminner om. Precis som färgen, som använde sig av färg för att skilja mellan verklighet och dröm, har 3D-formatet även tagit del av detta berättargrepp. Möjligheten finns att 3D-formatets spridning ut i andra medier, precis som färgens spridning till televisionen, kan hjälpa 3D-formatet i dess väg att bli en standard inom filmmediet. Dockär 3D-formatet fortfarande låst i sin visuella attraktion och används mer för att visuellt underhålla än för att visuellt berätta. Det är både tekniska och ekonomiska omständigheter som samarbetat för att få 3D-formatet att återkomma i ett digitalt format. Ingen av dem kunde enskilt få fram innovationen. Vikten ligger på de tekniska omständigheterna i och med digitaliseringen som sker hos biograferna, men digitaliseringen i sig styrs både av tekniska och ekonomiska val och 3D-formatet är främst en ekonomisk hjälp för biograferna att göra digitaliseringen. 3D-formatet är därmed mer en ekonomisk hjälp än en teknisk utbyggnad av filmmediet.

In the current transmission system, the information bandwidth of the optical fiber communication system is limited by optical amplifier bandwidth, and more efficient use of bandwidth is a very important issue. Amplitude and phase shift keying (APSK) is an advanced modulation scheme to improve the spectral efficiency and can effectively increase the transmission capacity. Certainly, APSK format has a good potential for development. This master thesis is focusing on that to study the transmission performance of the APSK format using digital coherent receiver. As the extinction ratio (ER) of the amplitude shift keying (ASK) signal affects the performances of the ASK signal and phase shift keying (PSK) signal simultaneously, the effect of the ER on the APSK transmission performance was studied. The APSK format has the trade-off between the performances of both the ASK signal and the PSK signal through the ER of the ASK signal. To overcome this issue, a method named zero-nulling method had been proposed, and this method solved the trade-off issue properly. At first, the amendment is to modify the digital coherent receiver program, confirmed that the digital coherent receiver program can correctly resolve APSK signal. Second, in this master thesis, I set up a 500km long optical fiber to measure the transmission performance under APSK format, and try to use recirculating loop system to further increase the transmission distance to several thousand kilometers. Finally, by further modify the receiver program to achieve APSK modulation of the zero-nulling method, and can prove its feasibility.

Representing data outside of and between programs is important in software that stores, shares, and manipulates information. Formats for representing information, varying from human-readable verbose (XML) to light-weight, concise (JSON), and non-human-readable formats (TLV) have been developed and used by applications based on their data and communication requirements. Writing correct programs that produce information represented in these formats is a difficult and time-consuming task, as developers must write repetitive, tedious code to map loosely-typed serialized data to strongly-typed program objects. We developed S.IM.PL Serialization, a cross-language multi-format information binding framework to relieve developers from the burdens associated with the serialization of strongly-typed data structures. We developed type system scopes, a means of encapsulating data types and binding semantics as a cross-language abstract semantics graph. In comparison to representing data binding semantics and information structure through external forms such as schemas, configuration files, and interface description languages, type system scopes can be automatically generated from declarations in a data binding annotation language, facilitating software engineering. Validation is based on use in research applications, a study of how computer science graduate students use the software to develop applications, and performance benchmarks. As a case study, we also examine the cross-language development of a Team Coordination (TeC) game.

Considering measurable evidence and fuzzy measures that involve linguistic terms, this thesis proposes a fuzzy-number based Choquet integral to aggregate linguistic information when information fusion between criteria is considered. The proposed fuzzy-number based Choquet integral is a generalization of a standard Choquet integral that can cope with interval-number or fuzzy-number types of measurable evidence and fuzzy measures. Furthermore, by investigating the related characteristics of the Choquet integral and the fuzzy-number based Choquet integral, the operation process of the fuzzy-number based Choquet integral is clarified in this thesis. Combining linguistic terms and the compatibility of psychology, fuzzy numbers and the fuzzy-number based Choquet integral, when information fusion between criteria is considered, are introduced into evaluating service quality and aggregating information in three-column format of SERVQUAL. Finally, a numerical example, regarding the comparison of overall service performance between e-stores, is demonstrated to illustrate how the fuzzy-number based Choquet integral and its two-stage aggregation process operate in three-column format of SERVQUAL for evaluating service quality.

Zugl.: Potsdam, Hochsch. für Film und Fernsehen Konrad Wolf, Diss., 2007

Zugl.: Zürich, Univ., Diss., 2009

The format program trade has grown rapidly in the past decade and has become an important part of the global television market. This study aimed to give an understanding of this phenomenon by examining how global formats enter and become incorporated into the national media market through a case study analysis on the Korean format market. Analyses were done to see how the historical background influenced the imported format flows, how the format flows changed after the media liberalization period, and how the format uses changed from illegal copying to partial formats to whole licensed formats. Overall, the results of this study suggest that the global format program flows are different from the whole 'canned' program flows because of the adaptation processes, which is a form of hybridity, the formats go through. Previous studies tend to simplify the adaptation process of format programs by just seeing it as a proof of nationalization, but this study found that format adaptations are much complicated. The way the formats were adapted to the local context differed by specific situations, such as cultural proximity, political ties with other countries, channel identities, target audiences, format genres, or conditions of the format license contracts. Moreover, there were also differences in where the initiative to make such adaptations came from. Thus, this study argues that format program flows are one of the many sub-flows in television program flows which complicate our understanding of what 'global' media is. / text

Background – The franchising industry in Sweden has experienced a vast growth in the recent years, and it makes up a significant part of the Swedish economy. The restaurant industry accounts for a large amount of the Swedish franchises. Due to the dynamic business environment today, companies need to increasingly strive for improvement in order to sustain their competitive advantage and to enhance their performance. Innovation may be required, and franchises are no exceptions. However, due to the nature of the franchise systems, with the franchisor imposing particular policies on the individual franchisees, the position of innovation in this context is not clear. On one hand, a franchise should act innovatively in order to remain competitive in the marketplace, but on the other hand, the franchisor limits the activities of the franchisee to ensure system uniformity through brand and quality management. The position of innovation in the franchise context is ambiguous, since very little research has been conducted on the topic. Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to examine Swedish franchises within the restaurant industry and to determine the position of innovation in the franchise context from the perspective of the franchisee. Method – A case study with semi-structured interviews with five franchisees in a specific region in Sweden were conducted to gain empirical material on the topic of innovation within restaurant franchises. The obtained data was then analyzed with the help of existing literature on innovation and franchise systems. Conclusion – It was discovered that Swedish franchises within the restaurant industry pursue product and marketing innovation. The innovation is mostly incremental, rather than radical. Several different factors contribute to why franchisees pursue innovation. It was also identified that some Swedish franchisors take an active role in encouraging innovation in the franchises, while other franchisors have a more passive, or even discouraging stance towards franchise innovation.

This study is an investigation into the relationship between numeric cognition and aging. Specifically, older and younger adults engaged in an experimental protocol that allowed observation of number comparison accuracy and response time latencies associated with the SNARC effect, the distance effect, and number format. The experimental protocol featured a computerized magnitude comparison task wherein the participants were prompted to identify the larger of two numbers. Half of the trials featured whole numbers and half featured fractions. The number stimuli were consistently mapped such that half of all trials were at near distance (i.e., difference of 2) or far distance (i.e., difference of 4) and half of all trials had the larger numerosity on the left side of space and the other half with the larger numerosity on the right side of space. Older adults were significantly slower and less accurate than young adults. Both age groups were significantly slower and less accurate when comparing fractions as opposed to comparing whole numbers. The SNARC effect impaired accuracy in both age groups but did not significantly impact response times. The distance effect impacted both age cohorts in accuracy but differentially impacted older adult response times more than young adult response times. The results of this study support the model of numeric cognition as an automatic process when comparing whole numbers at a far distance and this process is not disrupted by the SNARC effect but is when comparing whole numbers at near distance. The results also indicate that fraction comparison is a controlled process even when the fraction stimuli are consistently mapped. Further investigation is necessary to understand the amount of cognitive resources necessitated by fraction processing and if training can improve fraction comparison.