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A speaker-independent isolated-word small vocabulary system is developed for applications such as voice-driven menu systems. The design of a cascade of recognition layers is presented. Several feature sets are compared. Phone recognition is performed using a radial basis function network (RBFN). Dynamic time warping (DTW) is used for word recognition. The TIMIT database is used to design and test the automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. Several feature sets using mel-scale filter bank (MSFB), smoothed FFT, reflection coefficients (also called P ARCORs), and cepstral features are extracted. The MSFBs outperform the other features considered in our study. Multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) and radial basis function networks (RBFNs) are considered for phoneme recognition. RBFN's are easier to train than MLPs so that RBFN's were selected to perform phoneme classification. Four RBFN's are compared: RBFN type-I is a single-layer RBFN, RBFN type-II is a two-layer net where the second layer consists of a vector of weights, RBFN type-III is a two-layer net where the second layer is a linear layer, and RBFN type-IV is a two-layer net where the second layer is a RBFN. RBFN type-II outperforms the others on the phone level where the phone recognition rate is about 44%. Using clustering techniques, a suboptimal, iterative and interactive algorithm is developed to train the radial basis functions (RBFs). An algorithm is developed to reduce segmentation errors in TIMIT. The TIMIT 60 phone set is reduced to a 33 phone set by merging similar phones. For 168 test speakers, 84% recognition rate is achieved on a vocabulary of 11 words from the sentence SAl ("she had your dark suit in greasy wash water all year") in TIMIT. For applications such as voice driven menu systems, the vocabulary words can be selected to be separable and distinct. A 95% recognition rate is achieved when the confusing words in the 11 words vocabulary are excluded to get an 8-word vocabulary. Real-time implementation of the proposed system can be achieved using a digital signal processor that can perform a multiplication within lOOns. / Ph. D.

This work is about design, implementation, menu and communication with superior system for gamaspectrometer. The first part of the document describes basic principles of measuring of gamma spectra and their processing. The second part describes in basics software core of the spectrometer, handling of the keyboard, graphic and text output. Used algorithms are described, and their implementation. The third part contains analysis of requirements on menu, basic concepts of menu control. Next, it is described how to handle inputs from user, like numbers, date and time, and also how to solve the menu for display of values and for input of values. The forth part describes requirements for communication with superior system (PC), analyses how to do deal with this and reasons for this solution. The conclusion brings all concepts used in the previous chapters and reached goals.

In 2018, there were 3.6 billion mobile internet users worldwide, which shows that digital designers have to tackle navigational patterns and menu anchor interactors for smartphone-sized screens early in their projects. As user satisfaction is crucial for the success of a website, and as successful navigation through a menu system is imperative to user satisfaction, the menu system is a key component in the UI. This study concerned three types of menu anchor interactors in smartphone UIs (Transient, Top persistent, and Navigation hub), on three website types (Single service, Brand, and Service directory). The goal was to investigate what influence the website type has on the user’s preferences of menu anchor itneractors. The theoretical base is previous research on menu systems in graphical UIs. The study was done by a questionnaire where the participants were presented images of three different menu anchor interactors on three different website types, and asked to score the assumed helpfulness of the menu anchor interactor from one to seven on a Likert scale. In addition, they were asked to clarify their scoring in a qualitative response. The key findings are that users prefer menu anchor interactors that display several navigation links, and that there are indications that the Top persistent menu anchor interactor works best on the Service directory website type, while Single service and Brand website types seem to benefit from a Navigation hub. However, the results also show the importance of studying UI components in their full UI context, as the whole UI affects the perceived usability of the menu anchor interactor. / 2018 fanns det 3,6 miljarder mobila internetanvändare i världen, vilket visar att digitala designers måste tackla navigationsmöster och menyinteraktörer till smarta telefoner och små skärmar tidigt i sina projekt. Då användarnöjdhet är avgörande för en webbsidas framgång, och då en lyckad navigationsprocess genom ett menysystem är nödvändig för användarnöjdheten, är menysystemet en nyckelkomponent i gränssnittet. Den här studien avser tre typer av menyinteraktörer (obeständig dold meny, beständig toppmeny och navigationshub), på tre typer av webbsidor (enskild tjänsteleverantör, varumärkessajt och tjänsteregister). Målet var att undersöka hur webbsidans typ påverkar användarens inställning till menyinteraktörer. Den teoretiska basen utgörs av tidigare forskning på menysystem i grafiska användargränssnitt. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av ett frågeformulär där bilder av tre olika menyinteraktörer på tre olika typer av webbsidor presenterades för deltagarna. De ombads att på en Likertskala från ett till sju bedöma hur hjälpsam den enskilda menyinteraktören uppfattas. Därtill ombads de att förtydliga sitt omdöme i ett kvalitativt svar. De viktigaste resultaten från studien visar att användare föredrar menyinteraktörer som visar flera navigationslänkar och det finns indikationer på att den beständiga toppmenyinteraktören fungerar bäst för webbsidor av typen tjänsteregister, medan sidor av typen enskild tjänsteleverantör och varumärkessajt gynnas av en navigationshub. Resultaten visar emellertid också vikten av att studera användargränssnittskomponenter i deras fullständiga gränssnittskontext, eftersom helheten påverkar den uppfattade användbarheten hon menyinteraktören.

Submitted by André Mazini (andrecmazini@gmail.com) on 2012-04-11T14:47:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação FGV-EESP -André Mazini-.pdf: 775030 bytes, checksum: 1fb36bcd27c98537439e2bb8cfeb74cb (MD5) / Rejected by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br), reason: Prezado André, O título que consta na ata está diferente do trabalho postado e não consta nenhuma observação do seu orientador no verso da mesma. Título da Ata: "Um novo teste Empírico para modelos teóricos de precificação". Se houve alguma sugestão da banca para esta alteração, seu orientador deverá enviar um e-mail para a Secretaria, a príncipio, para que possamos aprovar o arquivo postado e deverá incluir esta informação e assinar no verso da ata. Caso isto ocorra você deverá efetuar uma nova postagem do arquivo. Att, Secretaria de Registro on 2012-04-11T15:04:05Z (GMT) / Submitted by André Mazini (andrecmazini@gmail.com) on 2012-04-11T17:38:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação FGV-EESP -André Mazini-.pdf: 775019 bytes, checksum: 5d3e0617b3f1cee5ce4ceeb549021f8b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2012-04-11T17:48:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação FGV-EESP -André Mazini-.pdf: 775019 bytes, checksum: 5d3e0617b3f1cee5ce4ceeb549021f8b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-04-11T17:50:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação FGV-EESP -André Mazini-.pdf: 775019 bytes, checksum: 5d3e0617b3f1cee5ce4ceeb549021f8b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-07 / This paper proposes a new test to distinguish between macroeconomic price-setting models. We show that the usual conclusions of negative correlation between current inflation and duration of a price, an indication of state-dependency, do not survive the control for inflation expectations. When we do that, the negative correlation is between expected inflation and the duration of a price, indicating endogenous-time-dependency. We argue that the previous results were possibly suffering from omitted variable bias. / Este artigo propõe um novo teste para distinção entre modelos macroeconômicos de precificação. Onde testes antigos concluíram haver uma relação negativa entre inflação corrente e duração de um preço, indicando estado-dependência, nosso teste indica que a relação verdadeira é entre inflação esperada e duração do preço, indicando tempo-dependência-endógena. Argumentamos que os resultados previamente encontrados possivelmente sofreram de viés de variável omitida.

En civilingenjör som utbildas idag förväntas ofta att lära sig programmering och för att klara en civilingenjörsutbildning krävs att man ska kunna programmera på många olika nivåer. I samband med den växande populariteten av chatbotar inom utbildning och bland företag så finns det skäl att undersöka hur en chatbot hade kunnat assistera studenter som läser programmeringskurser. Det stora antalet studenter och den begränsade tillgängligheten av lärarassistenter bidrar till lägre nivåer av personlig uppmärksamhet och support inom programmeringskurser. Studien syftar därför till att förstå om en meny-baserad chatbot kan vara ett effektivt komplement till laborationstillfällen. Först utvecklades en meny-baserad chatbot som webbapplikation med hjälp av React, Javascript, HTML5 och CSS3. Den meny-baserade chatbotens prestanda utvärderades sedan under ett simulerat laborationstillfälle där även deltagarnas (N = 6) upplevelser med chatboten samlades in. Resultatet visade att den meny-baserade chatboten användes totalt fyra gånger per student i snitt och kunde hjälpa studenterna att lösa deras problem i 62.5% av fallen, samt att den var generellt uppskattad av studenterna. Genom att möjliggöra hjälp för flera studenter samtidigt och att bättre förbereda studenterna inför deras möten med lärarassistenter uppvisade chatboten potential för att öka laborationstillfällets effektivitet, men att ytterligare undersökningar krävs för att säkerställa detta påstående. Vidare upptäcktes flera potentiella implementationsmöjligheter av meny-baserade chatbotar i denna miljö. Exempelvis kan olika visualiseringar av användardata som chatboten samlar in sammanställas för att få en inblick i studenternas lärande och vilka aspekter av undervisningen som är mer resurskrävande. Potentialen för användandet av meny-baserade chatbotar för programmering inom högre utbildning är därför tydlig. / An engineer educated today is often expected to learn programming, and to successfully complete an engineering education, one needs to be able to code at various levels. Given the growing popularity of chatbots within education and business contexts, it is worth investigating how a chatbot could assist students taking programming courses. Furthermore, the imbalance between the large number of students and the limited availability of teacher assistants leads to a low level of personalized attention and support for students in programming courses. The study therefore aims to understand if a menu-based chatbot can be an effective complement to lab sessions. Firstly, a menu-based chatbot was developed as a web application using React, Javascript, HTML5, and CSS3. The performance of the menu-based chatbot was then evaluated during a simulated lab session where data was collected as well as participants' (N = 6) experiences with the chatbot. The results showed that, on average, the menu-based chatbot was used four times per student and successfully helped students solve their problems in 62.5% of cases. The chatbot was also generally appreciated by the students. By enabling assistance for multiple students simultaneously and better preparing them for interactions with teaching assistants, the chatbot demonstrated potential for increasing the effectiveness of lab sessions. However, further investigations are required to substantiate this claim. Additionally, several potential implementation possibilities for menu-based chatbots in this environment were discovered. For example, different ways of visualizing user data collected by the chatbot could be compiled to gain insights into students' learning and identify more resource-intensive aspects of teaching. The potential for using menu-based chatbots in programming within higher education is therefore evident.

30 pp. / The Favorite Food Show Guide provides basic information for 4-H youth and adults to better prepare for this event. Multiple illustrations make this guide very user friendly and information could be used as lessons for 4-H meetings.

Barn i åldrarna 4-9 år har tydliga önskemål kring hur de vill att deras restaurangbesök ska se ut. I samarbete med Barnens Bästa Bord har en kvalitativ studie gjorts med fokus på barns önskemål vid restaurangbesök. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka barnens önskemål när de går på restaurang med hänsyn till hela måltidsupplevelsen gällande mat, miljö, meny och bemötande. Metoderna som har använts är bildövning där barn har ritat sin favoriträtt, fokusgruppintervjuer med barn samt enkätundersökningar med föräldrar.Resultatet visar att gemenskapen inom familjen är viktig för barnen vid restaurangmåltiden. Barnen är medvetna om att vid restaurangbesök önskas lugn och ro, dock är stillasittande ett problem för barnen. De efterfrågar lugna aktiviteter som kan genomföras vid bordet men även fysisk aktivitet. Det är viktigt för många barn att maten som serveras inte är blandad på tallriken och de önskar en roligare meny med färger, bilder och tydlig text. Föräldrarna önskar en mer varierad barnmeny med fler valmöjligheter och att maten kan anpassas efter barnens ålder och behov. Frukt och grönsaker ses som en viktig och naturlig del av måltiden, både för barn och för föräldrar. Föräldrar önskar även att barnen ska få en bra måltidsupplevelse. / Children between 4-9 years old have clear wishes about how they want their restaurant visits will be. In collaboration with “Barnens Bästa Bord” this qualitative study, focuses on the child’s wishes when visiting a restaurant. The aim is to take the entire meal experience regarding food, environment, customer service and menu into consideration. Methods used were a drawing exercise in which, children drew their favorite dish, focus group interviews with children and finally a questionnaire directed towards parents.Results show that community within the family is important for the children at restaurant visits. The children are aware that when eating they are expected to behave peacefully and quiet, although sedentary is a problem for the children and they are asking for silent activities at the table but also physical activities. It is important for many children that food is not mixed on the plate and they request a fun menu with color, pictures and distinct fonts. The parents request a bigger variation of the children’s menu and that the food can be adjusted according to age and needs. Fruits and vegetables are important and natural parts of the meal for both child and parent. Parents wish to give the children a pleasant meal experience. / Barnens Bästa Bord

The world is facing a global climate crisis and a collective step towards a more sustainable lifestyle is of importance. Food consumption accounts for a large part of an individuals’ total emissions and as the production of meat generally emits less green-house-gases than that of plant-based alternatives, changing towards a more plant-based diet can be one step to a more sustainable lifestyle. This study outlines a field experiment at a university cafeteria where the menu order was altered by random assignment. It is tested if placing the vegetarian option at the top of the menu has a causal effect on the share of vegetarian option sold that day, i.e. if it is possible to nudge customers to choose a more sustainable option. Using ordinary least squares and a beta regression models, the results do not show a positive treatment effect on the share of vegetarian option sold but do find a significantly average negative effect of 5.5 percentage points on the share of meat option sold. This effect it translated to an average negative effect of 6 percent on the daily emissions due to food sales at the cafeteria.

Thesis advisor: Hideo Konishi / My doctoral dissertation contains three essays on menu auction and its related applications. The first chapter is a theoretical generalization of classical menu auction model, and the second and the third chapters are applications to a resource allocation problem and an industrial organization problem. Menu auction (Bernheim and Whinston, 1986) is a first-price package auction with complete information. They show that every Nash equilibrium under some refinements always leads to an efficient outcome. Therefore, this becomes a natural efficiency benchmark for package auction designs (e.g., Ausubel and Milgrom 2002). Menu auction can also be viewed as a model of economic influence where the auctioneer is going to choose an action which affects bidders' payoff so that each bidder tries to influence the outcome by monetary transfer to the auctioneer. This framework is widely adopted in political lobbying models where the special interest groups lobbying the government over trade policies (e.g., Grossman and Helpman 1994). However, the applicability is limited by quasi-linear preferences and the absence of budget constraints. In my first chapter, ``Menu Auctions with Non-Transferable Utilities and Budget Constraints'', I extends Bernheim and Whinston's (1986) menu auction model under transferable utilities to a framework with non-transferable utilities and budget constraints. Under appropriate definitions of equilibria consistent with subgame perfection, it is shown that every truthful Nash equilibrium (TNE) is a coalition-proof Nash equilibrium (CPNE) and that the set of TNE payoffs and the set of CPNE payoffs are equivalent, as in a transferable utility framework. The existence of a CPNE is assured in contrast with the possible non-existence of Nash equilibrium under the definition by Dixit, Grossman, and Helpman (1997). Moreover, the set of CPNE payoffs is equivalent to the bidder-optimal weak core. The second chapter relates menu auction to a resource allocation problem. Kelso and Crawford (1982) propose a wage-adjustment mechanism resulting in a stable matching between heterogeneous firms and workers. Instead of a benevolent social planner, in ``Profit-Maximizing Matchmaker'' (w. Hideo Konishi), we consider a profit-maximizing auctioneer to solve this many-to-one assignment problem. If firms can only use individualized price, then the auctioneer can only earn zero profit in every Nash equilibrium and the sets of stable assignments and strong Nash equilibria are equivalent. Otherwise, the auctioneer might earn positive profit even in a coalition-proof Nash equilibrium. This reinforces Milgrom's (2010) argument on the benefit of using simplified message spaces that it not only reduces information requirement but also improves resource allocation. The third chapter applies menu auction in an industrial organization problem. In ``Choosing a Licensee from Heterogeneous Rivals'' (w. Hideo Konishi and Anthony Creane), we consider a firm licensing its production technology to rivals when firms with heterogeneous in production costs competing in a Cournot market. While Katz and Shapiro (1986) show that a complete transfer in duopoly can be joint-profit reducing, we show that it is always joint-profit improving provided that at least three firms remain in the industry after transfer. While transfers between similarly efficient firms may reduce welfare, the social welfare must increase if the licensor is the most efficient in the industry, contrast with Katz and Shapiro (1985) in the duopoly environment. This has an important implication in competition regulation. Then we investigate relative efficiency of the licensee under different licensing auction mechanisms. With natural refinement of equilibria, we show that a menu auction licensee, a standard first-price auction licensee, and a joint-profit maximizing licensee are in (weakly) descending order of efficiency. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.