Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif d’examiner les conséquences du contexte scolaire actuel, marqué par la meilleure réussite scolaire des filles par rapport aux garçons (e.g., OECD, 2015 ; Voyer & Voyer, 2014), sur la perception que les élèves ont de l’école et des relations de genre dans le contexte scolaire. Notre hypothèse de départ est que la supériorité académique des filles qui caractérise actuellement le paysage scolaire pourrait amener les garçons à adopter une vision zéro-sum des relations de genre à l’école. Autrement dit, les garçons seraient susceptibles de penser que la réussite scolaire des filles se fait à leurs dépens. Nous postulons également que cette vision compétitive de l’école et des relations filles-garçons pourrait avoir des conséquences délétères sur la réussite scolaire des garçons, suggérant ainsi un mécanisme de maintien des inégalités de réussite scolaire en faveur des filles. L’étude princeps n°0 met en évidence, en accord avec notre hypothèse, que les collégiens (mais pas les collégiennes) adhèrent plus fortement aux croyances zéro-sum dans un contexte menaçant de réussite scolaire des filles par rapport à un contexte de réussite des garçons ou à une condition de contrôle. Il apparaît cependant qu’au lycée le contexte a un impact uniquement sur les croyances zéro-sum des filles (étude 1) alors qu’à l’université il influence les croyances des filles et des garçons (étude 2). La littérature sur la perspective zéro-sum montrant que le contexte a généralement un impact sur les groupes de haut statut uniquement (e.g., Wilkins, Wellman, Babbitt, Toosi & Schad, 2015), nous explorons ensuite l’hypothèse selon laquelle cette évolution de l’effet du contexte en fonction du niveau d’études des participant.e.s pourrait être liée à une évolution du statut académique perçu des filles et des garçons au cours du cursus scolaire. Les études 3 et 4 ont été conduites afin d’évaluer la perception que les élèves ont du statut académique des filles et des garçons à différents niveaux du cursus scolaire. Les résultats de ces deux études montrent que les filles sont globalement perçues comme ayant un statut académique supérieur à celui des garçons, bien qu’elles soient ensuite considérées comme ayant un statut professionnel inférieur aux hommes. La perception d’une supériorité académique des filles est plus marquée au lycée qu’au collège ou à l’université. Nous avons ensuite testé directement le rôle modérateur du statut académique dans l’effet du contexte sur les croyances zéro-sum et la performance des élèves. En manipulant le statut académique de l’endogroupe, l’étude 5 met en évidence que les individus de haut statut ont de moins bonnes performances dans un contexte de réussite de l’exogroupe par rapport à des contextes scolaires moins menaçants. Enfin, les résultats des études 6a et 6b montrent qu’alors que les collégien.ne.s (étude 6b) comme les lycéen.ne.s (étude 6a) attribuent un statut académique supérieur aux filles, la réaction des élèves face à la réussite de l’exogroupe varie selon leur âge. / The aim of the present research program is to examine the consequences of the current academic context, in which girls generally outperform boys (e.g., OECD, 2015; Voyer & Voyer, 2014), on students’ perception of school and gender relations in the academic context. Our main hypothesis is that girls’ academic superiority, which currently characterize the school context, could lead boys to endorse a zero-sum perspective of gender relations at school. In other words, boys are likely to think that girls’ academic achievement is made at their expense. We also hypothesize that this competitive approach of school and gender relations could have negative consequences on boys’ academic achievement, which could contribute to maintain gender inequalities in academic achievement favoring girls. The princeps study n°0 shows that, consistent with our hypothesis, middle-school boys (but not girls) are more likely to endorse gender zero-sum beliefs in a threatening context emphasizing girls’ academic achievement than in a less threatening context highlighting boys’ achievement or in a control condition. However, results of the two following studies reveal that school context only affects high-school girls’ beliefs (study 1) but influences both male and female students beliefs in university (study 2). As the literature on zero-sum perspective shows that the context generally has an impact on high-status group members only (e.g., Wilkins, Wellman, Babbitt, Toosi & Schad, 2015), we then explore the hypothesis that the evolution of the effect of school context depending of students’ school level might be related to an evolution of boys’ and girls’ perceived academic status. We conduct studies 3 and 4 in order to investigate students’ perception of the academic status of boys and girls at different school levels. The results show that overall girls are perceived to have a higher academic status than boys, even though that are then considered to have a lower professional status than men. The perception of girls’ academic superiority seems to be more important in high school compared to middle school or university. In the next chapter, we directly test if the academic status could moderate the impact of context on students’ endorsement of zero-sum beliefs and their performance. Manipulating the ingroup’s academic status, the results of study 5 show that high-status students underperform in a context emphasizing the outgroup’s success compared to less threatening contexts. Finally, studies 6a and 6b revealed that, even if middle-school (study 6b) and high-school students (study 6a) both attribute a higher academic status to girls, students’ reaction to outgroup’s success depend on their age. To conclude, this research work highlights the consequences girls’ academic superiority can have on how students perceive gender relations in the academic context, even though it does not seem to question the gender system in place in the society.

Massive MU-MIMO (Multiuser-Multiple Input and Multple Output) is a promising technology for 5G wireless communications because of its spectrum and energy efficiency. To combat the distortion from multipath fading channel, the acquisition of channel state information is essential, which generally requires the training signal that lowers the data rate. In addition, coarse quantization can reduce the high computational energy and cost, yet results in the loss of information. In this thesis, an iterative decision feedback receiver, including iterative Channel Estimation (CE) and equalization, is constructed for a Massive MU-MIMO uplink system. The impact of multipath distortion and coarse quantization can be gradually reduced due to the iterative structure that exploits extrinsic feedback to improve the CE and data detection, so that the data rate is improved by reducing training signals for CE and by using low precision quantization. To observe and evaluate the convergence behaviour, an Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart method is utilized to visualize the performance of the iterative receiver. / Graduate

This study examines how to make trend fashion based ready-to-wear apparels with no fabric waste in the cutting phase through geometric pattern-making. To work with sustainability through geometrical pattern-making in construction, within the context of commercial fashion. The fashion industry is one of the world's top polluters. Several million tonnes of textile ends up in landfills all over the world every year, landfills are overwhelmed and that has a great impact on the environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the method of geometric pattern making can have a commercial value in sustainability. How it can bring benefits within fashion design to become more sustainable, and thus help tackle issues in relation to fabric waste in garment production. Significantly, the project discusses if there can be a way of making commercial clothes more sustainable through geometric pattern-making so no fabric is wasted when it is being cut. The work proposes potential solutions and expressions through this chosen methodology.

Customers today demand products of high quality, and industries must cope with issues related to that to stay competitive. Therefore, an endeavor to achieve zero defects and to work with zero defect manufacturing (ZDM) is common in industries today. ZDM aims to reduce the number of failures within a manufacturing process and thus only producing faultless products. Since defected items result in unexpected work, extra costs, claims and unsatisfied customers, it is important to avoid that in order to secure the company’s market share. Even though it implies challenges, companies must work with ZDM and quality tools to stay competitive. However, there is a gap between the literature of ZDM and how to accomplish ZDM in practice, which makes it hard for companies to apply the method. Hence, this thesis aims to address this gap and present how the human factors and quality contribute to the goal of zero defects. When working with a manually driven manufacturing setting, human factors must be considered as an important aspect. Mistakes will occur as long as humans work with the products, but the prerequisites for doing right must be as good as possible to be able to decrease the number of mistakes. Another factor to consider is the internal quality of different processes to ensure that customer demands are achieved through all stages. This study focused on finding suggestions for improvements towards zero defects in manual assembly and to present general improvement actions. The thesis is based on three main fields: ZDM, quality and human factors. The findings are connected both to literature searches made within these fields, but also through a case study at the focal company. In the analysis chapter, the reader is provided with information about how the specified problem areas are linked together and to the three main fields. By combining the literature search with a case study at a focal company, findings could be detected, collected and analyzed. Four areas could be identified in the analysis and highlighted in the discussion of the research questions. The highlighted areas were further used as a foundation to establish suggestion within the important areas. These acts as practical guidelines for how to reach zero defects in an existing production with the goal of minimizing the implementation gap of ZDM.

Hublová, J. Consumers and packaging free shops. Diploma thesis. Brno: Mendel University, 2019. The diploma thesis deals with packaging free shops with an emphasis on consumer behaviour. The main task of the thesis is to propose general marketing recommendations for packaging free shops and specific recommendations for the selected store. The thesis focuses on the experience of Czech consumers with packaging free shops and their willingness to buy there. To reach the goal, in-depth interviews (n = 26) were used, with shoppers and also with consumers who have not experienced this way of shopping. A questionnaire survey (n = 379) was carried out as well. Based on the results of the research, general recommen-dations were formulated and later specified for the selected shop.

Includes bibliographical references / We propose a new, widely generalized context for the study of the zero-divisor/ annihilating-ideal graphs, where the vertices of graphs are not elements/ideals of a commutative ring, but elements of an abstract ordered set (imitating the lattice of ideals), equipped with a binary operation (imitating products of ideals). The intermediate level of congruences of any algebraic structure admitting a "good" theory of commutators is also considered.

Background: In our world of growing consumption and waste generation, shopping at packaging-free stores can be a step towards sustainable consumption and minimizing our environmental impact. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the main predictors of Hungarian consumers’ intention to shop at packaging-free stores using a TBP approach. Method: A quantitative, descriptive study was conducted, during which primary data were collected through an online survey with 208 responses and analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression. Conclusion: The empirical findings suggest that Attitude and Perceived Behavioural Control are strong predictors of purchase intention in the context of shopping at packaging-free stores.

In this thesis a future-world case was undertaken of the life cycle assessment (from cradleto grave) of a single-family house. The house is expected to be constructed by the end of2021 in Borlänge, a city located in Dalarna County. The aim of this study is to investigatewhether the building materials in external walls and roof surpass in terms ofenvironmental impacts compared with other building materials suggested by the authorsof this thesis.Six scenarios were evaluated in terms of the environmental impacts for two buildingelements, external wall, and roof. A base case scenario is taken into consideration foreach building element, considering the fact, that the thermal performance characteristicsof the building materials are comprehensively provided. Consequently, four scenarios aredetermined by the authors.One Click LCA program was used to calculate the environmental impacts of thebuilding materials through the lifecycle of the house during a time horizon of 50 years.Hemp fiber insulation material is planned to be used in the external walls; thus, it isconsidered the baseline case for this thesis. The first study is corresponded to the externalwalls, and it was found that glass wool insulation is more environmentally friendly thanhemp fiber and rock wool insulation.Wood material is planned to be used in the roof; thus, it is considered the baseline casefor this thesis. The second study is corresponded to the roof, and it was found that woodmaterial is more environmentally friendly than concrete and steel.Therefore, the suggested material by the authors surpasses the baseline case materialenvironmentally in respect of external walls, but this was not the case regarding the roof.

Consider an m x zero-one matrix A. An s x t submatrix of A is said to be even if the sum of its entries is even. In this paper, we focus on the case m = n and s = t = 2. The maximum number M(n) of even 2 x 2 submatrices of A is clearly ( 2n) 2, and corresponds to the matrix A having, e.g., all ones (or zeros). A more interesting question, motivated by Turán numbers and Hadamard matrices, is that of the minimum number m(n) of such matrices. It has recently been shown that m(n) ≥ 1/2 ( 2n) 2 - Bn 3 for some constant B. In this paper we show that if the matrix A = A n is considered to be induced by an infinite zero one matrix obtained at random, then P(E n ≤1/2( 2n) 2 - Cn 2 log n infinitely often) = 0, where E n denotes the number of even 2 x 2 submatrices of A n. Results such as these provide us with specific information about the tightness of the concentration of E n around its expected value of 1/2 ( 2n) 2.

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