N. Boutin

Problem-based and Project-based Learning in Engineering and Medicine: Determinants of Students’ Engagement and Persistance

This paper presents results of a study conducted with undergraduate students involved in either problemor project-based curricula (Medicine and Engineering, respectively) at the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada. The objective of the present research was to measure the impact of these innovative curricula on students’ engagement and persistence in higher education. Our research question was: What determinants better predict students’ engagement and persistence in innovative curricula such as PBL? Nine variables were examined as potential predictors of both factors (engagement and persistence). Results showed a variation in variables predicting engagement and persistence, with the most significant predictor being stress related.

A Digital Filter-Modulation Combination for Data Transmission

It is shown that it is possible to generate a band-limited PSK signal using a ROM and a four-quadrant multiplying D/A Converter.

A novel digital frequency multiplier

This paper presents a digital frequency multiplier having many features not yet found together in existing multipliers. Its acquisition time is within one period of the input signal and it can follow the input frequency over more than three decades. The relative frequency error on its synchronized output signal is independent of the multiplication factor N and is noncumulative. The maximum value of this error is given by fin/fc where fin is the input frequency and fc a master clock frequency. This represents a decrease in the error value by a factor N over many existing digital frequency multipliers.

Optimum Discrete Pulse Shaping in MSK-Type Signals

We present in this correspondence a numerical approach to the problem of minimizing the fractional out-of-band power for a class of digital constant envelope modulated signals known as MSKtype signals. The present optimization procedure is much more manageable than a recently suggested analytical one while achieving the same results.

Do All MSK-Type Signaling Waveforms Have Wider Spectra Than Those for PSK?

For all MSK-type signals proposed until now, the main lobes of their power spectral densities were observed to be always wider than those for conventional PSK. Although it is intuitively believed that this observation can be extended to cover all other MSK-type signals not yet found, no formal proof has been reported yet. The present paper attempts to give such a proof.

The effect of a realizable integrator on a data signal

It is often suggested in the literature on how to smooth a staircase approximation data signal with an integrator. This paper shows the limitations of such an approach and presents some ways to correct them.

A new look at broadband square-wave frequency multipliers †

Abstract In a recent publication, Boutin et al. (1979) have presented some circuits ideas on a broadband square-wave frequency multiplier. These circuits need a comparator type A/D converter which is both rare and expensive. I n the present paper, some new circuits are presented in which the A/D converters have been replaced by D/A converters which are cheaper and more accessible.

A novel method to generate high speed signaling pulses with reduced bandwidth occupancy and zero intersymbol interference

A novel method for generating high-speed signaling pulses with reduced bandwidth occupancy and zero intersymbol interference is presented. The method departs from classic ones in the sense that it does not require a filter with high-order poles and zeros in order to reduce the bandwidth occupancy of a nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) signal substantially. A single all-pole second-order low-pass filter is used. The key feature is that the filter is excited not by the classic NRZ signal, but by a modified version of that signal. >

On the rotation of a set of two-dimensional vectors

A simple modification to a recently published circuit performing the rotation of a set of two-dimensional vectors is proposed, and an alternative circuit to perform the same operation is described. In both cases the maximum rotation obtained is greater than that previously reported.

Useful Signaling Waveforms and Related Transmit Filter Functions in Bandwidth Limited Channels

A collection of easily generated signaling waveforms for a binary baseband data system is presented along with the required transmit filter functions. Filtering is based on the criterion of zero intersymbol interference and optimum P e versus receiver input signal-to-noise ratio. The channel considered is a linear one of bandwidth equal to [(1 + \alpha)/2] Hz/baud; α being allowed to vary between zero and one. The results apply, as well, to multilevel data and to bandpass systems, such as digital radio.