The thesis examines the ability to have synchronized playout of audio from multiple devices. The paths between the source of this audio and the output devices may be different. Our objective is to provide a generic low-cost solution, without the use of special hardware. The context of this work is internet telephony, but the work is also applicable to other settings. In internet telephony this synchronization not only contributes to the natural flow of conversation, but also maintains the spatial effect of the incoming audio streams, as well as the location awareness of the peers. We envisioned users of handheld devices might collectively utilize their personal devices to enable a shared spatial audio environment. In the simplest case two users each with monophonic terminals could provide stereo. Hence, the second part of this study addresses the practical issue of how such synchronization could be utilized in a internet telephony client to provide such multidevice playout. We utilized minisip, as an open-source Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) client supporting security, as the basic client. To realize the vision, we ported minisip to a Pocket PC environment. In the second part of this thesis we examine the process of porting preexisting code to such a new architecture, as well as how to map an existing human-computer interface to such a handheld device. The thesis shows that synchronization is possible and explores some of the implementation’s limitations. A clear result is the need to combine the results of several theses into the common trunk code - so as to combine the earlier RTCP work with this synchronization work and to provide the a human-computer interface which is suitable for many different handheld devices, ranging from Pocket PCs to SmartPhones. / Rapporten visar på möjligheten att synkronisera ljuduppspelning på multipla ljudenheter. Vägarna från ljudkllan till de olika högtalarna (utenheterna) kan skilja sig. Vårt mål är att tillhandahålla en generell lösning till en lågt kostnad, utan att behöva använda specialhårdvara. Området för detta arbete är internettelefoni, men arbetet är även tillämpbart inom andra områden. I fallet med internettelefoni så bidrar ljudsynkroniseringen inte enbart till det naturliga konversationsflödet, utan även till de rumsrelaterade aspekterna av de inkommande ljudströmmarna och samtalsparternas medvetenhet om sina geografiska positioner. Vi förutser att användare av mobila terminaler kan komma att använda sina terminaler tillsammans för att möjliggöra en gemensam ljudmiljö. I sitt enklaste utförande kan två monoenheter tillsammans skapa en ljudmiljö för stereo-ljud. Därför adresserar den andra delen av studien hur denna typ av ljudsynkronisering kan användas inom IP-telefoni för att möjliggöra synkroniserad uppspelning på flera enheter. Vi använde minisip, en klient för SIP byggd på öppen källkod och med säkerhetsstöd, som en grundläggande terminal. För att realisera vår vision så portade vi minisip till Pocket PC-miljön. I den andra delen av den här rapporten undersöker vi även processen för att portera existerande kod till en sådan arktitektur, och hur man överför existerande användargränssnitt till en handhållen terminal. Denna rapport visar att synkronisering är möjlig men visar samtidigt på en del av begränsningarna i implementationen. Ett tydligt resultat är behovet av att kombinera tidigare rapporters resultat – för att kombinera tidigare arbete inom RTCP med detta arbete inom synkronisering och för att tillhandahålla ett användargränssnitt lämpat för många olika handhållna terminaler, från Pocket PC-baserade till SmartPhone-baserade system.

abstract: Layered chalcogenides are a diverse class of crystalline materials that consist of covalently bound building blocks held together by van der Waals forces, including the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and the pnictogen chalcogenides (PCs) among all. These materials, in particular, MoS2 which is the most widely studied TMDC material, have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their unique physical, electronic, optical, and chemical properties that depend on the number of layers. Due to their high aspect ratios and extreme thinness, 2D materials are sensitive to modifications via chemistry on their surfaces. For instance, covalent functionalization can be used to robustly modify the electronic properties of 2D materials, and can also be used to attach other materials or structures. Metal adsorption on the surfaces of 2D materials can also tune their electronic structures, and can be used as a strategy for removing metal contaminants from water. Thus, there are many opportunities for studying the fundamental surface interactions of 2D materials and in particular the TMDCs and PCs. The work reported in this dissertation represents detailed fundamental studies of the covalent functionalization and metal adsorption behavior of layered chalcogenides, which are two significant aspects of the surface interactions of 2D materials. First, we demonstrate that both the Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models, and the pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics model are good descriptors of the reaction due to the energetically inhomogeneous surface MoS2 and the indirect adsorbate-adsorbate interactions from previously attached nitrophenyl (NP) groups. Second, the covalent functionalization using aryl diazonium salts is extended to nanosheets of other representative TMDC materials MoSe2, WS2, and WSe2, and of the representative PC materials Bi2S3 and Sb2S3, demonstrated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Finally, using AFM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), it is shown that Pb, Cd Zn and Co form nanoclusters on the MoS2 surface without affecting the structure of the MoS2 itself. The metals can also be thermally desorbed from MoS2, thus suggesting a potential application as a reusable water purification technology. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Materials Science and Engineering 2019

Missing data are ubiquitous in many domains such as healthcare. Depending on how they are missing, the (conditional) independence relations in the observed data may be different from those for the complete data generated by the underlying causal process (which are not fully observable) and, as a consequence, simply applying existing causal discovery methods to the observed data may give wrong conclusions. It is then essential to extend existing causal discovery approaches to find true underlying causal structure from such incomplete data. In this thesis, we aim at solving this problem for data that are missing completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR), or missing not at random (MNAR). With missingness mechanisms represented by the Missingness Graph, we present conditions under which addition corrected to derive conditional independence/dependence relations in the complete data. Combined with the correction method that gives closed-form, consistent tests of conditional independence, the proposed causal discovery method, as an extension of the PC algorithm, is shown to give asymptotically correct results. Experiment results illustrate that with further reasonable assumptions, the proposed algorithm can correct the conditional independence for values MCAR, MAR and rather general cases of values MNAR. / Saknade data är allestädes närvarande på många områden, t.ex. sjukvård. Beroende på hur de saknas kan de (villkorliga) oberoende förhållandena i de observerade uppgifterna skilja sig från de för de fullständiga data som genereras av den underliggande orsaksprocessen (som inte är fullt observerbara) och som en följd av att helt enkelt tillämpa befintlig kausal upptäckt metoder för de observerade data kan ge felaktiga slutsatser. Det är då viktigt att förlänga befintliga metoder för kausala upptäckter för att hitta en sann underliggande kausalstruktur från sådana ofullständiga data. I denna avhandling strävar vi efter att lösa detta problem för data som saknas helt slumpmässigt (MCAR), saknas slumpmässigt (MAR) eller saknas inte slumpmässigt (MNAR). Med missmekanismer representerade av Missfallsgrafen presenterar vi förhållanden under vilka tillägg korrigerade för att härleda villkorliga oberoende/beroendeförhållanden i de fullständiga uppgifterna.Kombinerad med korrigeringsmetoden som ger sluten form, konsekventa test av villkorligt oberoende, visas att den föreslagnaorsaks-sökningsmetoden, som en förlängning av PC-algoritmen, ger asymptotiskt korrekta resultat. Experimentresultat illustrera att med ytterligare rimliga antaganden kan den föreslagna algoritmen korrigera det villkorliga oberoende för värdena MCAR, MAR och ganska generella fall av värden MNAR.

The freemium business model, initially popular in mobile gaming, has gained significant traction in the PC gaming arena during the last few years. This study explores the increasing prevalence of freemium models, i.e., free-to-play games with in-game monetization, in PC games and investigates how players' perceived value plays a crucial role in determining the appeal of these games. The research focuses on examining how players' perceived value influences the appeal of freemium PC games, concentrating on continued use intention (retention) and in-game purchases (monetization). The paper introduces a modified PERVAL framework, drawing inspiration from Hamari (2020), which includes four dimensions: emotional value, social value, economic value, and enjoyment. Through surveys and data analysis, the study uncovers insightful findings. It reveals that emotional and social values play a positive role in shaping players' intentions to keep playing and invest in in-game purchases. While economic value is linked to playing intentions, it doesn't directly impact the purchase of premium content. Moreover, enjoyment is positively associated with playing intentions but exhibits a negative relationship with the acquisition of in-game items. The study underscores the importance of perceived value, particularly emotional value, in influencing player engagement and generating revenue in the context of freemium PC games.

Small size, low weight and rugged environmental specifications characterize embedded systems. PC/104 is an embedded system architecture that implements the compact version of the PC (ISA and PCI) buses. The PC/104 architecture uses 104 pins for stacking different boards and eliminates the need for card edges and backplanes. Standardizing hardware and software around PC architecture substantially reduces the development cost, time and risks involved. The purpose of this study is to develop an environmentally rugged and portable instrument based on the PC/104 architecture for measuring and recording voltage sags as per the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards 61000-4-30 and 61000-2-8. Two different central processing units (CPU) for the instrument are evaluated in terms of hardware setup, cost and performance. The overall performance of the instrument using either CPU indicates that the instrument can be reliably used to measure voltage sags.

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