Abstract The goal of this study was to explore preoperative evaluation of patients with intracranial tumours using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods: oedema-attenuated inversion recovery (EDAIR) sequence in low-field MRI, and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) in high-field MRI. The aim was also to increase our knowledge about the effects of brain surgery on eloquent brain cortices using new MRI techniques. The total number of patients in these studies was 50 (24 women). Enhancement of the tumour in ten patients after intravenous administration of gadolinium-based contrast agent in low-field MRI was examined with a new sequence, EDAIR, and compared with more conventionally used partial saturation spin echo sequences. EDAIR may facilitate the perception of small enhancing lesions and is valuable in low-field imaging, where T1-based contrast is inferior to high-field imaging. DWI was performed on 25 patients in order to evaluate the potential of this imaging method to assist in differential diagnosis of intracranial tumours. It was shown that apparent diffusion coefficient values of the tumour and peritumoural oedema produced by DWI were different in benign and malignant tumours. Resting-state blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI was performed on eight patients and ten healthy volunteers to examine if functional sensorimotor areas in the brain could be determined without any task-related activations. It was shown that intracranial tumours do not appear to hamper visualization of the sensorimotor area in resting-state BOLD fMRI when independent component analysis is performed, and this method may be used in preoperative imaging when activation studies cannot be performed. Conventional BOLD fMRI with motor and auditory stimuli was used with seven patients as the effect of brain surgery was studied. The results suggest that resection of a tumour with preoperative oedema probably decreases pressure on the brain and makes the functional cortex transiently more easily detectable in BOLD fMRI. In conclusion, the MRI imaging methods used in this study can give valuable additional information about the tumour, specifically for preoperative imaging and planning for surgery.

This master thesis deals with the analysis of housing prices in Prague. The main goal is to identify and explain the factors which have an influence on the prices of flats at the macro and micro level. Two spatial statistic methods, namely multiple linear regressions and geographically weighted regressions (GWR), are used in the first part of the thesis, which deals with the prices in Prague in general. The influence on the values of flats in Prague basic settlement units caused by several factors such as the distance from the Old Town Square, age of dwellings, the presence of migrants or air pollution was investigated using these two methods. The price map of the association of real estate agencies, the Czech Statistical Office and the Prague Institute of Planning and Development provided the data used in the presented research. Price profiles from the centre of Prague to the suburbs in various directions were also created and analyzed. Factors with an influence on housing prices at the micro level in a case study of the Prague cadastral territory of Modřany are described in the second part of the thesis. The analysis of new developer projects and older flats in panel houses investigates the influence on the housing prices caused by factors such as noise, physical condition of apartments and the quality of...

Recipients of present-day cochlear implants (CIs) display remarkable success with speech recognition in quiet, but not with speech recognition in noise. Normal-hearing (NH) listeners, in contrast, perform relatively well with speech recognition in noise. Understanding which speech features support successful perception in noise in NH listeners could provide insight into the difficulty that CI listeners experience in background noise. One set of speech features that has not been thoroughly investigated with regard to its noise immunity is prosody. Existing reports show that CI users have difficulty with prosody perception. The present study endeavoured to determine if prosody is particularly noise-immune in NH listeners and whether the difficulty that CI users experience in noise can be partly explained by poor prosody perception. This was done through the use of three listening experiments. The first listening experiment examined the noise immunity of prosody in NH listeners by comparing perception of a prosodic pattern to word recognition in speech-weighted noise (SWN). Prosody perception was tested in a two-alternatives forced-choice (2AFC) test paradigm using sentences conveying either conditional or unconditional permission, agreement or approval. Word recognition was measured in an open set test paradigm using meaningful sentences. Results indicated that the deterioration slope of prosody recognition (corrected for guessing) was significantly shallower than that of word recognition. At the lowest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) tested, prosody recognition was significantly better than word recognition. The second experiment compared recognition of prosody and phonemes in SWN by testing perception of both in a 2AFC test paradigm. NH and CI listeners were tested using single words as stimuli. Two prosody recognition tasks were used; the first task required discrimination between questions and statements, while the second task required discrimination between a certain and a hesitant attitude. Phoneme recognition was measured with three vowel pairs selected according to specific acoustic cues. Contrary to the first experiment, the results of this experiment indicated that vowel recognition was significantly better than prosody recognition in noise in both listener groups. The difference between the results of the first and second experiments was thought to have been due to either the test paradigm difference in the first experiment (closed set versus open set), or a difference in stimuli between the experiments (single words versus sentences). The third experiment tested emotional prosody and phoneme perception of NH and CI listeners in SWN using sentence stimuli and a 4AFC test paradigm for both tasks. In NH listeners, deterioration slopes of prosody and phonemes (vowels and consonants) did not differ significantly, and at the lowest SNR tested there was no significant difference in recognition of the different types of speech material. In the CI group, prosody and vowel perception deteriorated with a similar slope, while consonant recognition showed a steeper slope than prosody recognition. It is concluded that while prosody might support speech recognition in noise in NH listeners, explicit recognition of prosodic patterns is not particularly noise-immune and does not account for the difficulty that CI users experience in noise. ## Ontvangers van hedendaagse kogleêre inplantings (KI’s) behaal merkwaardige sukses met spraakherkenning in stilte, maar nie met spraakherkenning in geraas nie. Normaalhorende (NH) luisteraars, aan die ander kant, vaar relatief goed met spraakherkenning in geraas. Begrip van die spraakeienskappe wat suksesvolle persepsie in geraas ondersteun in NH luisteraars, kan lei tot insig in die probleme wat KI-gebruikers in agtergrondgeraas ervaar. Een stel spraakeienskappe wat nog nie deeglik ondersoek is met betrekking tot ruisimmuniteit nie, is prosodie. Bestaande navorsing wys dat KI-gebruikers sukkel met persepsie van prosodie. Die huidige studie is onderneem om te bepaal of prosodie besonder ruisimmuun is in NH luisteraars en of die probleme wat KI-gebruikers in geraas ondervind, deels verklaar kan word deur swak prosodie-persepsie. Dit is gedoen deur middel van drie luistereksperimente. Die eerste luistereksperiment het die ruisimmuniteit van prosodie in NH luisteraars ondersoek deur die persepsie van ’n prosodiese patroon te vergelyk met woordherkenning in spraakgeweegde ruis (SGR). Prosodie-persepsie is getoets in ’n twee-alternatiewe-gedwonge-keuse- (2AGK) toetsparadigma met sinne wat voorwaardelike of onvoorwaardelike toestemming, instemming of goedkeuring oordra. Woordherkenning is gemeet in ’n oopstel-toetsparadigma met betekenisvolle sinne. Resultate het aangedui dat die helling van agteruitgang van prosodieherkenning (gekorrigeer vir raai) betekenisvol platter was as dié van woordherkenning, en dat by die laagste sein-tot-ruiswaarde (STR) wat getoets is, prosodieherkenning betekenisvol beter was as woordherkenning. Die tweede eksperiment het prosodie- en foneemherkenning in SGR vergelyk deur die persepsie van beide te toets in ’n 2AGK-toetsparadigma. NH en KI-luisteraars is getoets met enkelwoorde as stimuli. Twee prosodieherkenningstake is gebruik; die eerste taak het diskriminasie tussen vrae en stellings vereis, terwyl die tweede taak diskriminasie tussen ’n seker en onseker houding vereis het. Foneemherkenning is gemeet met drie vokaalpare wat geselekteer is na aanleiding van spesifieke akoestiese eienskappe. In teenstelling met die eerste eksperiment, het resultate van hierdie eksperiment aangedui dat vokaalherkenning betekenisvol beter was as prosodieherkenning in geraas in beide luisteraarsgroepe. Die verskil tussen die resultate van die eerste en tweede eksperimente kon moontlik die gevolg wees van óf die verskil in toetsparadigma in die eerste eksperiment (geslote- teenoor oop-stel), óf ’n verskil in stimuli tussen die eksperimente (enkelwoorde teenoor sinne). Die derde eksperiment het emosionele-prosodie- en foneempersepsie van NH en KI-luisteraars getoets in SGR met sinstimuli en ’n 4AGK-toetsparadigma vir beide take. In NH luisteraars het die helling van agteruitgang van die persepsie van prosodie en foneme (vokale en konsonante) nie betekenisvol verskil nie, en by die laagste STR wat getoets is, was daar nie ’n betekenisvolle verskil in die herkenning van die twee tipes spraakmateriaal nie. In die KI-groep het prosodie- en vokaalpersepsie met soortgelyke hellings agteruitgegaan, terwyl konsonantherkenning ’n steiler helling as prosodieherkenning vertoon het. Die gevolgtrekking was dat alhoewel prosodie spraakherkenning in geraas in NH luisteraars mag ondersteun, die eksplisiete herkenning van prosodiese patrone nie besonder ruisimmuun is nie en dus nie ’n verklaring bied vir die probleme wat KI-gebruikers in geraas ervaar nie. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / unrestricted

Mixture experiments are widely applied. The Scheffé quadratic polynomial is the most popular mixture model in industry due to its simplicity, but it fails to accurately describe the behaviour of response variables that deviate greatly from linear blending. Higherorder Scheffé polynomials do possess the ability to predict such behaviour but become increasingly more complex to use and the number of estimable parameters grow exponentially [15]. A parameter-parsimonious mixture model, developed from the linear blending rule with weighted power means and Wohl's Q-fractions, is introduced. Bootstrap is employed to analyse the model statistically. The model is proved to be flexible enough to model non-linear deviations from linear blending without losing the simplicity of the linear blending rule. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

This study is centered on childhood music education in Nigeria. Five research questions and five null hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. A total of 313 subjects were used. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire on the childhood music education in Nigeria. Statistically weighted mean was used to answer the research questions and t - test was employed in testing the null hypotheses. At the end of the analysis, the following findings were made: <ul> <li>At least, 13 learning materials including both African and western musical instruments are available for teaching music in Nigerian primary schools. Up to 10 learning strategies were identified by the music teachers and music educators to be among the ones that could be utilized to ensure fruitful and effective acquisition of musical knowledge by the pupils in Nigeria.</li> <li>The perception of music educators and music teachers on the methodology that can best be utilized to ensure fruitful and effective acquisition of musical knowledge by the pupils at primary school level of education in Nigeria do not differ significantly.</li> <li>There is no significant difference between the music teachers and music educators’ perception on the adequacy of delivery of the music staff and learning situations in Nigerian primary schools.</li> </ul> Based on these findings a number of recommendations for improvement of the music education in Nigerian primary schools have been made. In addition to the sample teaching and learning programme, the original contribution of this study is explored in chapter six. This chapter offers lesson plans designed for grade II music teachers in primary schools in Nigeria. This programme was conducted and performed in one of the primary schools in the study area and ended with twelve contacts with pupils. (a digital video disk is attached to the thesis). / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / unrestricted

The paper deals with stock market indices. It reveals the flaws inherent in traditional market capitalization weighted indices, that causes a return drag. At the same time it shows how you can get rid of these flaws by using fundamental indices, and gives proofs about their superiority. The practical part focuses on building fundamental indices of czech stocks traded on the Prague Stock Exchange, dealing with historical data. It empirically demonstrates their outperformance of a benchmark market capitalization weighted index.

The evaluation methods of competitors in figure skating are the key problem of this sport. The 6.0 system of evaluation was in use until the year 2004. In such system referee compares competitors one by one and decides on the rank. The 6.0 system can be described by method of Expert Judgment and/or Group Participation. In year 2004 International Skating Union introduced the new system. In this new system is in the role of the decision maker mainly the competitor not the referee. The competitor chooses elements of his program which maximized the total point benefit. We can find out the point value of every element in SOV -- Scale of Values. Nowadays the skater can decide according to the Decision Making under Multiple Criteria theory, we use Weighted Sum Approach method which is sufficient for our purpose. In this thesis both systems are going to be explained on particular cases and linked with methods of decision making theory.

Photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity generation has the potential to reduce the demand for more traditional fossil and nuclear power generation. Community PV solar installations allow energy users to share the electricity generated by these plants. Optimal siting of community solar installations will allow for maximum electricity generation while avoiding environmental conflicts, as well as, minimizing construction costs. This study identifies opportunities for community solar plants in Maricopa and Pinal Counties, Arizona, of ¼-acre in size. Input parameters fall into economic, physical, and environmental categories. Each of the input parameters were classified from 1 (not suitable) to 9 (highly suitable). Next, the classified rasters in each category were weighed according to importance, and Esri’s Weighted Sum tool was used to generate a combined raster for the category. The three resulting environmental, economic, and physical characteristic rasters were weighed again, and the Weighted Sum tool was used to generate a raster of community solar suitability scores. Next, a mask of locations inappropriate for community-scale solar development was created, including lakes, rivers, streams, and residential rooftops, which are too small to accommodate ¼-acre community solar installations. The masked areas were removed from the suitability raster, and the suitability raster was reclassified using standard deviations to generate a preference map with values ranging from 1 (low preference) to 3 (high preference). The model output reveals 68 percent of the study area is of medium or high preference for community solar installations. Maricopa and Pinal counties provide many opportunities for community solar installations.

Uma sequencia de vídeo pode ser adquirida de forma progressiva ou entrelaçada. No padrão de codificação de vídeo H.264/AVC os campos de uma imagem entrelaçada podem ser codificados em modo frame (campos top e bottom entrelaçados) ou em modo field (campos top e bottom agrupados separadamente). Quando a escolha é adaptativa para cada par de macro blocos a codificação é chamada de Macroblock Adaptive Frame- Field (MBAFF). Inovações na predição inter-quadro do H.264/AVC contribuíram significantemente para a performance do padrão alcançar o dobro da taxa de compressão do seu antecessor (ITU, 1994), ao custo de um grande aumento de complexidade computacional do CODEC. Dentro da predição inter-quadro, o bloco de compensação de movimento (MC) é responsável pela reconstrução de um bloco de pixels. No decodificador apresentado em (BONATTO, 2012) está integrada uma solução em hardware para o MC que suporta a maior parte do conjunto de ferramentas do perfil Main do H.264/AVC. A compensação de movimento pode ser dividida em predição de vetores e processamento de amostras. No processamento de amostras é realizada a interpolação e a ponderação de amostras. O módulo de ponderação de amostras, ou predição ponderada, utiliza fatores de escala para escalonar as amostras na saída do MC. Isso é muito útil quando há esvanecimento no vídeo. Inicialmente este trabalho apresenta um estudo do processo de compensação de movimento, segundo o padrão de codificação de vídeo H.264/AVC. São abordadas todas as ferramentas da predição inter-quadro, incluindo o tratamento de vídeo entrelaçado e todos os possíveis modos de codificação para o mesmo. A seguir é apresentada uma arquitetura em hardware para a predição ponderada do MC. Esta arquitetura atende o perfil main do H.264/AVC, que prevê a decodificação de imagens frame, field ou MBAFF. A arquitetura apresentada é baseada no compensador de movimento contido no decodificador apresentado em (BONATTO, 2012), que não tem suporte a predição ponderada e a vídeo entrelaçado. A arquitetura proposta é composta por dois módulos: Scale Factor Prediction (SFP) e Weighted Samples Prediction (WSP) . A arquitetura foi desenvolvida em linguagem VHDL e a simulação temporal mostrou que a mesma pode decodificar imagens MBAFF em tempo real @60i. Dessa forma, tornando-se uma ferramenta muito útil ao desenvolvimento de sistemas de codificação e decodificação em HW. Não foi encontrada, na literatura atual, uma solução em hardware para compensação de movimento do padrão H.264/AVC com suporte a codificação MBAFF. / A video sequence can be acquired in a progressive or interlaced mode. In the video coding H.264/AVC standard an interlaced picture can be encoded in frame mode (top and bottom fields interlaced) or field mode (top and bottom fields combined separately). When the choice for each pair of macro-blocks coding is adaptive, it is called Macroblock Adaptive Frame-Field (MBAFF). The innovations in the inter-frame prediction of H.264/AVC contributed significantly to the performance of the standard that achieved twice the compression ratio of its predecessor (ITU, 1994), at the cost of a large increase in computational complexity of the CODEC. In the inter-frame prediction, the motion compensation (MC) module is responsible for the reconstruction of a pixel's block. In the decoder shown in (BONATTO 2012) an integrated hardware solution to the MC is included which can decode most of the H.264/AVC main profile tools. The motion compensation can be divided into motion vectors prediction and sample processing. In the sample processing part, samples interpolation and weighting are performed. The weighted samples prediction module uses scale factors to weight the samples for generating the output pixels. This is useful in video fading. Initially, this work presents a study of the motion compensation process, according to the H.264/AVC standard. It covers all of inter-frame prediction tools, including all possible coding modes for interlaced video. A hardware architecture for the weighted samples prediction of MC is shown next. It is in compliance with the main profile of H.264/AVC standard, therefore it can decode frame, field and MBAFF pictures. The architecture presented is based on the motion compensator used in the (BONATTO, 2012) decoder, which does not support the weighted prediction and interlaced video. The purposed architecture is composed by two modules: Scale Factor Prediction (SFP) and Weighted Samples Prediction (WSP). The hardware implementation was described using VHDL and the timing simulation has shown that it can decode MBAFF pictures in real time @60i. Therefore, this is an useful tool for hardware CODEC development. Similar hardware solution for H.264/AVC weighted prediction that supports MBAFF coding was not found is previous works.

In this dissertation, we use unique data set to examine bilateral Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) data and find determinant factors of bilateral FDI activities. In Chapter 1, we examine the relationships among the bilateral annual non-aggregated national level FDI, all levels of Economic Integration Agreements (EIAs) and political turnovers happened in both FDI exporting countries and FDI importing countries. In Chapter 2, we test the Tariff-Jumping FDI hypothesis and Export-Oriented FDI hypothesis. In Chapter 3, we examine and determine the key determinant factors of Cross-Hauling FDI status.