The growing popularity of massively populated online virtual environments raises questions about the nature of the human experience within these environments and offers new opportunities to explore existing concepts such as presence and place. The central research question addressed by this thesis is whether sense of place is a potential influence on the sense of presence in Second Life. In tackling this issue two sub-questions are posed: (1) Do users of Second Life experience a sense of place when engaging with this medium and if so how is it manifest? and (2) What is the nature of the relationship between sense of place and sense of presence? The findings of an empirical analysis of the contents of naturally occurring conversations between users in Second Life suggests that sense of place is primarily manifest through conversations relating to social interactions. In turn, these social interaction-based conversations appear to contribute to inducing an experience of presence in this virtual environment by contributing to the medium's social richness. This supports the view that that sense of place is a potential influence on the sense of presence.

The nature of citizenship has evolved considerably since ancient times. No longer content to leave participation to the few, new modes of political discourse are taking place through the use of Internet forums. Using a combination of critical discourse analysis and content analysis to examine the postings to the "Issues and Causes" forum on the Phayul.com Tibetan news site during the two-week period leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this thesis investigates how global citizen identity manifests itself online when the cause is state-building. Three key findings emerge from the study. First, the themes and values of global citizenship are present only to a very limited degree. Second, the users employed pronouns to discursively connect themselves to the Tibetan community, and disconnect themselves from outsiders. Third, the forum displayed a significant amount of "flaming" or disruptive discourse. Taken together these results suggest that in this case much of global citizenship theory does not appear to stand up to empirical scrutiny.

Cette recherche porte sur une analyse du role des applications mobiles audio de l'iPhone dans le remodelage de la radio traditionnelle. Notre demarche investigue sur les recents progres en matiere de technologies mobiles de meme que les nouvelles pratiques vers lesquelles les usagers de telephones intelligents s'orientent. Ces facteurs nous ont amene a reevaluer la structure de la radio traditionnelle et a analyser le brouillage des frontieres entre la radio et les applications mobiles audio. Notre question de recherche s'interesse a la valeur ajoutee que degagent les "applis " sur l'ensemble du systeme de radiodiffusion canadien. Cette these s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une recherche qualitative a partir de laquelle nous cherchons a degager le sens des discours exprimes par des usagers d'applications mobiles. La conclusion tiree de cette recherche confirme les plus-values qu'apportent les " applis " a la radio traditionnelle, notamment, une experience plus enrichissante a la decouverte et a l'ecoute de contenus audio.

Teaching English abroad, particularly in South Korea, is a popular choice for many Canadian university graduates. This research begins to examine the unique experiences of young, educated Canadians who lived and worked in this East Asian country for an extended period of time. This study is based on a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews with 10 Canadians in the Ottawa area who taught English in South Korea for a period of one year or longer between 2001 and 2006. The findings show that while most of those interviewed had little knowledge of South Korea before leaving, their communication with other expatriates and the local Korean population resulted in predominantly positive perceptions of both their time abroad and of the Korean culture. This thesis contributes to the field of expatriate literature, where limited attention has been devoted to teaching abroad, and adds to the field of communication by bringing into it existing literature on expatriate management. Key words: expatriate management, social support, intercultural contact, repatriation.

No description available.

M.Ing. (Electrical Engineering) / As the demand for high-speed data communications over conventional channels such as coaxial cables and twisted pairs grows, it becomes neccesary to optimize every aspect of the communication system at reasonable cost to meet this demand effectively. The choice of a line code is one of the most important aspects in the design of a communications system, as the line code determines the complexity, and thus also the cost, of several circuits in the system. It has become known in recent years that a multilevel line code is preferable to a binary code in cases where high-speed communications are desired. Apart from ternary codes, not many multilevel codes are available. Some of the existing line codes also suffer from serious drawbacks regarding a lack of complying to input restrictions, small values of efficiency, and great code complexity. In this study, Markov models and values of channel capacity are presented for several classes of restricted multilevel sequences which are thought to be of practical importance in view of the channel input restrictions that these codes satisfy. Different coding methods are used to construct low-complexity encoders and decoders for generating and decoding these sequences with high values of efficiency, good error behaviour and favourable power spectral densities

The goal for this thesis was to characterize an envelope tracking RF transmitter system and conclude possible benefits from it compared to existing solutions. Characterization was done with Matlab based measurement setup for a test board which consisted of an envelope modulator and a power amplifier. Measurements were done with two different types of power amplifiers. Before performance measurements, measurement setup was build and verified. After the verification, delay was calibrated between the envelope and the radio frequency signal path. Delay calibration showed that the delay mismatch cannot be too high in order to keep sufficient linearity. The width of the delay budget was depending from the compression level of the power amplifier and the bandwidth of the signal. After delay calibration, the instantaneous input power and supply voltage for the power amplifier was linked with a mapping table. Aim of the mapping table was to provide constant gain behavior with sufficiently low phase distortion. Constant gain was achieved by adjusting the mapping table. The worst phase distortion was only 4 degrees so digital predistortion was not found mandatory for a final product. Basic performance measurements were completed for different temperatures between −15 ℃ to +55 ℃. Basic measurements include adjacent channel power ratio and spectrum emission mask measurements. It was shown that increase of temperature deteriorated performance but still it was exceeding the targets. Advanced measurements were done in the room temperature and those included receiver band noise and load pull measurements. Receiver band noise was higher than with typical average power tracking solution, but it is not expected to cause significant receiver desensitization. The results for load pull measurements were good. Finally, different mapping tables were studied and performance comparison between envelope tracking and average power tracking was done. Mapping table study showed that the available output power, system efficiency, adjacent channel power ratio and spectrum emission mask were strongly dependent on the used mapping table. Linearity and efficiency were considered simultaneously by using a sum of ACPR and system PAE as a figure of merit. Combined performance for envelope tracking was significantly better than for average power tracking with all three bandwidths which were measured. Examined envelope tracking architecture was found to be a promising solution for mobile devices. Performance measurements denoted higher system efficiency and linearity than with existing solutions for high output powers. Few drawbacks for envelope tracking were found but when considering all the pros and cons, go / no go decision is dependent on the requirements and targets of the final product. / Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena oli karakterisoida verhokäyräseuraajan sisältävä RF-lähetin ja päätellä sen mahdolliset edut aikaisempiin järjestelmiin nähden. Karakterisointi suoritettiin Matlab-pohjaisella mittausjärjestelmällä testilevylle, joka sisältää verhokäyräseuraajan ja RF-tehovahvistimen. Mittauksia tehtiin kahdella erityyppisellä vahvistimella. Ennen suorituskykymittauksia mittausjärjestelmä rakennettiin ja sen toimivuus varmennettiin. Tämän jälkeen viive verhokäyräsignaalin ja radiotaajuisen signaalin välillä kalibroitiin. Viivekalibrointi osoitti, että viive tulee säätää tarkasti, jotta hyvä lineaarisuus säilytetään. Viivebudjetin leveyteen vaikutti tehovahvistimen kompressioaste ja käytetyn signaalin kaistanleveys. Viivekalibroinnin jälkeen hetkellinen tuloteho linkitettiin tehovahvistimen käyttöjännitteeseen ajokäyrän avulla. Ajokäyrän tarkoituksena oli tuottaa vakiovahvistus riittävän pienellä vaihevirheellä. Vakiovahvistus saavutettiin muokkaamalla ajokäyrää. Suurin vaihevirhe oli ainoastaan 4 astetta, joten digitaalisen esisärötyksen tarvetta lopputuotteelle ei löydetty. Yksinkertaiset suorituskykymittaukset tehtiin eri lämpötiloissa välillä −15 ℃—+55 ℃. Ne sisälsivät viereisen kanavan tehon sekä spektrin emissiomaskin mittaamisen. Mittauksilla osoitettiin, että lämpötilan nostaminen heikensi suorituskykyä, mutta silti suorituskyky ylitti sille asetetut tavoitteet. Edistykselliset suorituskykymittaukset sisälsivät vastaanotinkaistan kohinan sekä impedanssiepäsovituksen mittaamisen ja ne suorittiin huoneenlämmössä. Vastaanotinkaistan kohina oli korkeampi kuin tyypillisellä keskimääräisen tehon seuraajalla, mutta sen ei arvioitu aiheuttavan merkittävää vastaanottimen epäherkistymistä. Tulokset impedanssiepäsovitukselle olivat hyviä. Lopuksi useita eri ajokäyriä tutkittiin ja verrattiin verhokäyräseuraajan ja keskimääräisen tehon seuraajan suorituskykyä. Ajokäyrien tutkimukset osoittivat, että saatavilla oleva lähtöteho, järjestelmän hyötysuhde, viereisen kanavan tehon suhde sekä spektrin emissiomaski riippuivat voimakkaasti käytetystä ajokäyrästä. Sekä lineaarisuus että hyötysuhde otettiin huomioon vertailussa summaamalla viereisen kanavan tehon suhde järjestelmään lisätyn tehon hyötysuhteeseen. Yhdistetty suorituskyky verhokäyräseuraajalle oli huomattavasti parempi kuin keskimääräisen tehon seuraajalle kaikilla kolmella mitatulla kaistanleveydellä. Tutkittu verhokäyräseuraaja on lupaava ratkaisu kannettaville laitteille. Suorituskykymittaukset osoittivat parempaa järjestelmän hyötysuhdetta ja lineaarisuutta korkeilla lähtötehoilla verrattuna nykyisiin ratkaisuihin. Muutamia haasteita verhokäyräseuraajalle löytyi, mutta kun otetaan huomioon kaikki plussat ja miinukset, päätös verhokäyräseuraajan käyttöönotosta riippuu lopputuotteen vaatimuksista ja tavoitteista.

Wireless communication research is seeking new methods to increase the performance of the communications systems. Traditional ways to increase the data rate with higher transmission power or smaller cell size of the network have diminishing returns. Adding more transmitter and receiver antennas is a trend in next generation wireless systems. RLWA (Reconfigurable Leaky Wave Antenna) systems have been introduced to be an alternative way of increasing the performance of communications systems. Therefor research of RLWA integration as part of the already working wireless systems is important. This thesis is a design and implementation work of RLWA control circuit. Designed circuit is aimed to be the bridge between the antenna element and WARP (Wireless Open-Access Research Platform). Operation theories of used integrated circuits such as step-up converters, operational amplifiers and digital to analog converters are discussed. Design process of the control circuit is explained in detail. Schematic and PCB (Printed Circuit Board) are designed using Cadsoft Eagle software. Implemented device is using 12 V DC power supply. Antenna input consists of two analog control signals from 10 V to 30 V. Control circuit input consists of two 8 bit digital signals. Transient analysis simulations are included for the designed circuit parts using Matlab and LTSpice software. Implementation of the design is verified in practice with test setup. Measurement results from the test setup are presented. / Langattoman tietoliikenteen tutkimus on etsimässä uusia keinoja tiedonsiirtojärjestelmien suorituskyvyn parantamiseen. Tiedonsiirtonopeuden kasvattaminen perinteisillä menetelmillä kuten kasvattamalla lähetystehoa tai pienentämällä verkon solukokoa ei ole enää yhtä tehokasta, koska ylläpitokustannukset kasvavat ja häiriösignaalin taso nousee suhteessa kohinaan. Lähetys- ja vastaanottoantennien lukumäärän lisääminen tulee olemaan yksi käytetyistä keinoista seuraavan sukupolven langattomissa tietoliikennejärjestelmissä. RLWA (Reconfigurable Leaky Wave Antenna) -järjestelmien avulla voidaan toteuttaa vaihtoehtoinen tapa parantaa tiedonsiirtojärjestelmien suorituskykyä. Tämän takia on tärkeää tutkia RLWA:n yhdistämistä jo toimivaan langattomaan järjestelmään. Tässä diplomityössä suunnitellaan ja toteutetaan RLWA:n ohjauspiiri. Suunniteltu piiri toimii siltana antennielementin ja langattoman avoimen kehitysalustan välillä. Työssä tarvittavien integroitujen piirien, kuten jänniteregulaattorin, operaatiovahvistimien ja digitaali-analogiamuuntimien toimintaperiaatteet käydään läpi. Ohjauspiirin suunnittelutyö selitetään yksityiskohtaisesti. Kytkentäkaavio ja PCB (Printed Circuit Board) suunnitellaan käyttäen Cadsoft Eagle sovellusta. Toteutettu laite käyttää 12 V DC virtalähdettä. Laitteen sisääntulo koostuu kahdesta 8 bittisestä digitaalisesta signaalista. Laite syöttää 10–30 V analogista signaalia antennille. Suunnitelluille piirin osille tehtiin simulaatioita käyttäen transientti analyysiä Matlab ja LTSpice ohjelmistoilla. Toteutetun laitteen toiminta varmennetaan liittämällä se osaksi WARP:ia (Wireless Open-Access Research Platform). Koekytkennän mittaustulokset esitellään.

One hundred and sixty-six parents of children ranging from three to eleven years of age completed the questionnaire designed for this research project to investigate parental perceptions of their own children compared to other children in order to examine the Third Person Effect. Quantitative results reveal that parents hold third person perceptions in regard to certain types of media content, specifically television violence and sexually explicit content, but not television commercials. Evidence for the social distance corollary was also found in relation to both television violence and sexually explicit content, as parental respondents perceived their own children as less affected in relation to other children at increasing social distances. Findings also indicate that parents hold first person perceptions, perceiving their own children to be more influenced by education television programming than other children in general. These results lend support for the self-enhancement hypothesis, providing evidence that parents extend their own self-enhancing tendencies onto their children. The research also revealed interesting findings in relation to race and socioeconomic status. Specifically, Caucasian respondents reported greater prejudiced views regarding perceptions of influence from television violence than did non-white respondents. Additionally, respondents earning lower annual incomes reported that children from poor or working class families were more likely to be influenced by all three types of negative media content than did higher earning respondents. Parental rulemaking practices as well as support for government regulation of media content were also examined, yet third person perceptions did not significantly contribute to these behaviors.

Bibliography: leaves 95-104. / Speech recognition systems all have one criterion in common; they perform better in a controlled environment using clean speech. Though performance can be excellent, even exceeding human capabilities for clean speech, systems fail when presented with speech data from more realistic environments such as telephone channels. The differences using a recognizer in clean and noisy environments are extreme, and this causes one of the major obstacles in producing commercial recognition systems to be used in normal environments. It is the lack of performance of speaker recognition systems with telephone channels that this work addresses. The human auditory system is a speech recognizer with excellent performance, especially in noisy environments. Since humans perform well at ignoring noise more than any machine, auditory-based methods are the promising approaches since they attempt to model the working of the human auditory system. These methods have been shown to outperform more conventional signal processing schemes for speech recognition, speech coding, word-recognition and phone classification tasks. Since speaker identification has received lot of attention in speech processing because of its waiting real-world applications, it is attractive to evaluate the performance using auditory models as features. Firstly, this study rums at improving the results for speaker identification. The improvements were made through the use of parameterized feature-sets together with the application of cepstral mean removal for channel equalization. The study is further extended to compare an auditory-based model, the Ensemble Interval Histogram, with mel-scale features, which was shown to perform almost error-free in clean speech. The previous studies of Elli to be more robust to noise were conducted on speaker dependent, small population, isolated words and now are extended to speaker independent, larger population, continuous speech. This study investigates whether the Elli representation is more resistant to telephone noise than mel-cepstrum as was shown in the previous studies, when now for the first time, it is applied for speaker identification task using the state-of-the-art Gaussian mixture model system.