The initial goal of this report was to implement and compare cosine modulated filter banks. Because of time limitations, focus shifted towards the implementation. Filter banks and multirate systems are important in a vast range of signal processing systems. When implementing a design, there are several considerations to be taken into account. Some examples are word length, number systems and type of components. The filter banks were implemented using a custom made software, especially designed to generate configurable gate level code. The generated code was then synthesized and the results were compared. Some of the results were a bit curious. For example, considerable effort was put into implementing graph multipliers, as these were expected to be smaller and faster than their CSDC (Canonic Signed Digit Code) counterparts. However, with one exception, they turned out to generate larger designs. Another conclusion drawn is that the choice of FPGA is important. There are several things left to investigate, though. For example, a more thorough comparison between CSDC and graph multipliers should be carried out, and other DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) implementations should be investigated.

Thèse. Lettres. Paris. 1968. / Bibliographie: p. 335-349.

The financial markets have been in a state of chaos for a number of years. Some of the chaos was attributed to appraisers bending under unethical pressure exerted by lenders. The purpose of this study was to explore whether mode of instruction affected appraiser morality when participating in a Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) course, as measured by Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT-2). The research question examined the difference between the effect on the morality schema of continuing appraisal students taking the 7-hour USPAP CE course online versus students taking the course in a face-to-face environment. The research consisted of administering the DIT-2 before the USPAP course as a baseline, and then again after the USPAP course to determine if there was a difference in moral outlook. Eight online and 11 face-to-face students completed pre and post DIT-2. MANCOVA determined that there was no significant difference in the post instruction DIT-2 scores between face-to-face and online instruction, controlling for pre instruction score. Further study is recommended with larger sample size and multiple online and face-to-face classes. The results of this research resulted in recommendations to create USPAP courses with ethics components (Appraise Your Ethics). Such courses can be online or face-to-face. The conclusions of this study could lead to enhancements in the design and delivery of the USPAP course, resulting in a positive social change of enhanced appraiser morality and a reduction in unethical behaviors.

In 1988, P. Scott Richard's dissertation research at the University of Minnesota asserted that the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a widely accepted paper-and-pencil test of moral reasoning, exhibited item bias against religiously orthodox persons. Since 1988 (when Richard's data were reported), new methods of differential-item functioning (DIF) have developed, a new DIT has emerged (the DIT-2), as well as a Neo-Kohlbergian framework based upon moral schemas derived from Kohlberg's Piagetian-like six stages. With new methods, new tests, and unanswered questions, this study's results imply: (1) that DIT-2 items exhibit differential item functioning for religiously orthodox persons in statistically significant but not as practically significant ways as Richards' earlier findings, (2) that religious orthodoxy does influence macromoral reasoning as measured by the DIT-2, (3) that the maintaining norms schema is insufficient to explain the variables that contribute to why religiously orthodox persons score the way they do. This study implies that the maintaining norms schema may be misnamed because it appears to be measuring a different construct than maintaining norms macromoral reasoning.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business Schools (AACSB) requires the attainment of ethics education accreditation standards by its member institutions (AACSB International, 2018). The AACSB does not specify any courses or program template for assessing and meeting these requirements. While ample research has been conducted on the higher educational impact on the students’ ethical development, the issue that this study addressed was to examine the moral education effects of a minimally studied segment. To deal with this problem, the purpose of this study was to examine whether classes of first year MBA/MS students and undergraduate seniors in core and capstone marketing courses, respectively, measurably exhibited positive changes in moral judgment from having participated in an individual marketing ethics simulation game as compared to classes not assigned any ethics instruction. This research used a quantitative, quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design with marketing students at a large, private, urban university in the U.S. Northeast as subjects. The Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2), measuring a subject’s moral judgment, was used for the pre-test and the post-test. Analysis of the change in the DIT-2 scores showed a significant improvement in the treatment groups as compared to the control groups. The potential implications from this study included suggesting approaches by which business schools can start to develop embedded ethics modules that may prepare students to become more ethical business professionals. Keywords: Moral judgment, schema, ethics, dilemmas, assessment, accreditation, DIT-2, stakeholders, Kohlberg, moral cognitive development theory, AACSB, business scandals, business education, marketing, simulation games, experiential learning, mixed ANOVA / Educational Administration

Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2012

Les besoins en puissance de calcul des processeurs sont en constante augmentation en raison de l'importance croissante des applications multimédia dans la vie courante. Ces applications requièrent de nombreux calculs avec des données de faible précision généralement issues des pixels. Le moyen le plus efficace pour exploiter le parallélisme de données de ces applications est le parallélisme dit de sous-mots (SWP pour \textit{subword parallelism}). Les opérations sont effectuées en parallèle sur des données de faible précision regroupées ce qui permet d'utiliser au mieux les ressources disponibles dimensionnées pour traiter des mots. Dans cette thèse, la conception de différents opérateurs SWP pour les applications multimédia est proposée. Une bonne adéquation entre largeur des sous-mots et largeur des données manipulées permet une meilleure utilisation des ressources et conduit ainsi à améliorer l'efficacité de l'exécution de l'application sur le processeur. Les opérateurs arithmétiques de base développés sont ensuite utilisés dans un opérateur SWP reconfigurable. Ce dernier peut être configuré pour effectuer diverses opérations multimédia avec différentes largeurs de données. L'opérateur reconfigurable peut être utilisé comme unité spécialisée ou comme co-processeur dans un processeur multimédia afin d'en améliorer les performances. La vitesse interne des différentes unités de traitement est également améliorée en représentant les nombres en système redondant plutôt qu'en système binaire. Le système redondant permet entre autre d'augmenter la vitesse des opérations arithmétiques en évitant une propagation de retenue couteuse lors d'opérations d'addition. Les résultats obtenus montrent l'intérêt en terme de performances d'utiliser des opérateurs SWP lors de l'exécution d'applications multimédia.

The large capacity of brown adipose tissue (BAT) to expend energy as heat makes it an interesting potential player in weight regulation and other metabolic conditions. This is of particular interest as it has been recognized that adult humans possess BAT. The protein responsible for the heat production is uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), which, as the name implies, uncouples the respiratory chain from ATP production; instead heat is produced. Cold is the strongest recruiter and activator of BAT. However, also obesogenic food has a low but nonetheless significant effect on the recruitment and activation of UCP1, although the significance of this has been discussed. In the present thesis, I have studied the effect of diet on BAT and the possibilities for it to be obesity-protective. This can be done by comparing responses in wild-type mice and in UCP1-ablated mice. Since the effect of diet on BAT is low, it is of importance to control the temperature and maintain thermoneutrality. Other confounding factors to keep in mind are differences in actual energy and composition of food and also cohort differences. When controlling all the parameters mentioned and giving the mice the same obesogenic diet, the mice possessing UCP1 compared to UCP1-ablated mice had higher energy expenditure, and lower weight gain, despite eating more. This confirms the presence of a UCP1-dependent diet-induced thermogenesis. Thus, the conclusion must be that possessing UCP1 does result in obesity protection at thermoneutrality. However, the relevance for human energy balance is still not established. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

The streaming of audiobooks is a new and fast-growing phenomenon amongst Swedish consumers. There exists a lack of knowledge on this topic as it is previously unexplored within academia. As the audiobook streaming services are growing it is important for providers and competitors to understand the key factors determining usage intention from an end-user’s perspective. This thesis therefore examines what factors influence end-user’s adoption of audiobook streaming-services, the examination extends both for consumers intention to begin using as well as continue using the service. Factors related to the end-user’s usage intention were explored and identified in a Swedish context. A theoretical model consisting of eight hypotheses was constructed to examine the relationships between five variables. The model is based on previous literature of technology adoption and in particular the technology acceptance model (TAM). Additional theory was gathered on previous research on similar technologies such consumers adoption of E-books and E-readers. To achieve the research purpose of the thesis, a quantitative method was used and data was gathered through an online questionnaire with 935 (769 valid) responses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used with RStudio to test the collected data on our theoretical model. The results showcased that our model was successful in explaining key factors influencing usage intention. The findings indicate that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence usage intention positively, while end-user’s attachment to paper books and reading impact usage intention negatively. Further results and the implications of these results are discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T13:16:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1383308 bytes, checksum: 500cb4671d2745cbb4da5d7e8c4c20ab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Since the late 1980s until the 2010s, Brazil experienced political, economical and educational transformations that modified the relationships between individual and society. In the political, the country emerged from dictatorship, and achieved the political stability lived today. In the economical, the country faced crisis that foster the creation of new currencies, until reached the economical stability with Real in the mid-1990s. In the educational, the country has gone through transformations in the structure of basic and higher education with the implementation of the law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education and the National Curriculum, and the policy of expanding the higher education. Given these chances in the socio environment of Brazil, and based in the Kohlberg s Theory of Moral Development (Kohlberg, 1984), who defines moral as justice thoughts, a study was designed with the propose of verify if there were changes in the quality of moral judgment of young adults from 1988/1989 and 2011, and of adolescents from 1996 and 2011. This research involves the participation of 210 young adults, age range 17 and 32 years, students from a public university, and 222 adolescents, age range 14 and 17 years, students of private schools, all of the city of João Pessoa. The Defining Issues Test DIT (Rest et al., 1974) was used as instrument. The results showed that in the years of 1988/1989, the young adults showed post-conventional moral judgment, with predominant use of the stage 5, whereas the young adults in the year of 2011 showed conventional moral judgment, with predominant use of stage 4. Both the adolescents of 1996 and the adolescents of 2011 showed conventional moral thought, with predominant use of stage 4. The results for adolescents confirm the theoretical assumptions about the level of development planned for this phase, and they corroborate various empirical studies, indicating also that the different sociopolitical and economic situations did not affect the predominant moral judgments for adolescents. The results for young adults indicate that the development of these young people, in 2011, is below of the predicted level, taking into consideration the theoretical approach and the data of young adults in 1988/1989. Therefore, we can infer that the young adults in 2011 were affected by current economic and socio-political conjunctures. Thus it is assumed that the instability of the economic and sociopolitical conjunctures in 1988/1989, that was marked by popular participation in social movements directed to the preservation of the common good, may have favored the development of post-conventional moral judgments. It is assumed also that the stability of the current economic and socio-political conjunctures, but marked by issues such as disclosure of corruption in the political sphere, violence in society, and the competition in the labor market, and precariousness of basic services to society, may have favored the development of conventional moral judgment, aimed at preserving the law as a way to maintain social order. / Desde o final da década de 1980 até a década de 2010, o Brasil passou por transformações políticas, econômicas e educacionais que modificaram as relações entre indivíduo e sociedade. No âmbito político, o país saiu do regime ditatorial, passou por um processo de redemocratização e atingiu a estabilidade política vivida na atualidade. No âmbito econômico o país enfrentou crises que provocaram a criação de novas moedas até que atingiu estabilidade com o Real em meados da década de 1990. No âmbito educacional, o país passou por transformações na estrutura do ensino básico e superior com a implementação da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional e dos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, e com a política de expansão do ensino superior. Diante dessas mudanças na conjuntura social do Brasil, e tendo como base a teoria do desenvolvimento moral de Kohlberg (1984), que define moral como pensamentos de justiça, elaborou-se um estudo com o objetivo de verificar se ocorreram mudanças na qualidade do julgamento moral de jovens adultos dos anos de 1988/1989 e 2011 e de adolescentes dos anos de 1996 e 2011. Essa investigação contou com a participação de 210 jovens adultos, de 17 a 32 anos, alunos de uma universidade pública, e de 222 adolescentes, de 14 a 17 anos, alunos de escolas da rede privada, todos da cidade de João Pessoa. Como instrumento utilizou-se o Defining Issues Test DIT (Rest et al., 1974). Os resultados mostram que em 1988/1989 os jovens adultos apresentaram julgamento moral pós-convencional, com predominância do uso do estágio 5, enquanto que os jovens adultos de 2011 apresentaram julgamento moral convencional, com predominância do uso do estágio 4. Tanto os adolescentes do ano de 1996, como os adolescentes do ano de 2011, apresentaram julgamento moral convencional, com predomínio do uso do estágio 4. Os resultados encontrados nos adolescentes confirmam as suposições teóricas sobre o nível de desenvolvimento previsto para essa fase e corroboram vários trabalhos empíricos, indicando, além disso, que as diferentes conjunturas sociopolíticas e econômicas não afetaram os julgamentos morais predominantes dos adolescentes. Já os resultados encontrados para os jovens adultos indicam que o desenvolvimento destes jovens, para o ano de 2011, está abaixo do nível previsto, tendo em consideração o aporte teórico utilizado e os dados dos jovens adultos dos anos de 1988/1989. Portanto, é possível inferir que os jovens adultos do ano de 2011 foram afetados pelas conjunturas sociopolíticas e econômicas atuais. Assim, presume-se que uma conjuntura social instável política e economicamente, e marcada pela participação popular em movimentos sociais voltados para a preservação do bem comum, pode ter favorecido ao desenvolvimento de julgamentos morais pós-convencionais. Assume-se também que uma conjuntura social estável política e economicamente, mas marcada por questões como a divulgação da corrupção nas esferas políticas, a violência na sociedade, a concorrência no mercado de trabalho e precariedade dos serviços básicos oferecidos à sociedade, pode ter favorecido ao desenvolvimento de julgamentos morais convencionais, voltados para a preservação das leis como forma de manter a ordem social.