Ampumaratojen kunnostustarpeen selvittäminen

Suomessa arvioidaan olevan kaikkiaan 2000 - 2500 ampumarataa joista aktiivisessa käytössä on noin 1000 kpl. Useimmat ulkoradat on perustettu paljon ennen nykyisten ympäristölakien voimaantuloa. Tästä syystä ammunnan ympäristövaikutukset melua lukuun ottamatta, eivät varmaan ole olleet tarkasteltavien asioiden listan kärjessä ampumaratoja suunniteltaessa. Sopivan maa alueen saatavuus sopivalla paikalla rakennuskustannusten minimoimiseksi on täytynyt olla yksi tärkeimmistä kriteereistä. Joissakin tapauksissa tämä valitettavasti on johtanut siihen, että ratojen paikoiksi on valittu sellaisia, mitä tämän päivän tietämyksellä ei suositeltaisi, kuten esimerkiksi pohjaveden muodostumisalueet. Ampumaratojen, etenkin haulikkoratojen, on todettu aiheuttaneen paikallisesti varsin laajaa maaperän pilaantumista. Toiminnan jatkuessa, runsaasti raskasmetalleja kertyy maahan ja taustapenkkoihin josta se rapautuu ja kulkeutuu alueelta pohjavesiin. Pohjaveden mukana haitta-aineet saattavat kulkeutua vedenpuhdistamoihin muodostaen riskiä paikallisasukkaiden terveydelle sekä jossain määrin alueen kasvillisuudelle ja faunalle. Vuoden 2007 valtioneuvoston PIMA-asetus muutti joitakin ohje-arvoja, joten näitä uusia arvoja on otettavaa huomioon niin riskiarvioinnissa kuin alueen käyttömahdollisuuksien kannalta tulevaisuudessa. Asetuksen voimaantulo edellyttää tapauskohtaisten riskiarviointien tekemistä ampumarata-alueiden kunnostuksen yhteydessä jolloin saavutetaan mahdollisemman tehokasta hyöty-kustannustasoa. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on kartoittaa uuden asetuksen mukaisesti ampumaratojen muodostamaa riskiä sekä rajata kunnostettavat alueet ja valita sopivammat kunnostusvaihtoehdot. Esimerkkitapauksina käytetään Kokkolan kaupungin alueella sijaitsevaa ampumarata-aluetta.

Deinking sludge utilization possibilities: technical, economic, and environmental assessments

This report introduces the ENPI project called “EMIR - Exploitation of Municipal and Industrial Residues” which was executed in a co-operation between Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), Saint Petersburg State University of Economics (SPbSUE), Saint Petersburg State Technical University of Plant Polymers (SPbSTUPP) and industrial partners from both Leningrad Region (LR), Russia and Finland. The main targets of the research were to identify the possibilities for deinking sludge management scenarios in co-operation with partner companies, to compare the sustainability of the alternatives, and to provide recommendations for the companies in the Leningrad Region on how to best manage deinking sludge. During the literature review, 24 deinking sludge utilization possibilities were identified, the majority falling under material recovery. Furthermore, 11 potential utilizers of deinking sludge were found within the search area determined by the transportation cost. Each potential utilizer was directly contacted in order to establish cooperation for deinking sludge utilization. Finally, four companies, namely, “Finnsementti” – a cement plant in Finland (S1), “St.Gobian Weber” – a light-weight aggregate plant in Finland (S2), “LSR-Cement” – a cement plant in LR (S3), and “Rockwool” – a stone wool plant in LR (S4) were seen as the most promising partners and were included in the economic and environmental assessments. Economic assessment using cost-benefit analysis (CBA) indicated that substitution of heavy fuel oil with dry deinking sludge in S2 was the most feasible option with a benefit/cost ratio (BCR) of 3.6 when all the sludge was utilized. At the same time, the use of 15% of the total sludge amount (the amount that could potentially be treated in the scenario) resulted in a BCR of only 0.16. The use of dry deinking sludge in the production of cement (S3) is a slightly more feasible option with a BCR of 1.1. The use of sludge in stone wool production is feasible only when all the deinking sludge is used and burned in an existing incineration plant. The least economically feasible utilization possibility is the use of sludge in cement production in Finland (S1) due to the high gate fee charged. Environmental assessment was performed applying internationally recognized life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies: ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The results of a consequential LCA stated that only S1 and S2 lead to a reduction of all environmental impacts within the impact categories chosen compared to the baseline scenario where deinking sludge is landfilled. Considering S1, the largest reduction of 13% was achieved for the global warming potential (GWP), whereas for S2, the largest decrease of abiotic depletion potential (ADP) was by 1.7%, the eutrophication potential (EP) by 1.8%, and a GWP of 2.1% was documented. In S3, the most notable increase of ADP and acidification potential (AP) by 2.6 and 1.5% was indicated, while the GWP was reduced by 12%, the largest out of all the impact categories. In S4, ADP and AP increased by 2.3 and 2.1% respectively, whereas ODP was reduced by 25%. During LCA, it was noticed that substitution of fuels causes a greater reduction of environmental impact (S1 and S2) than substitution of raw materials (S3 and S4). Despite a number of economically and environmentally acceptable deinking sludge utilization methods being assessed in the research, evaluation of bottlenecks and communications with companies’ representatives uncovered the fact that the availability of the raw materials consumed, and the risks associated with technological problems resulting from the sludge utilization, limited the willingness of industrial partners to start deinking sludge utilization. The research results are of high value for decision-makers at already existing paper mills since the result provide insights regarding alternatives to the deinking sludge utilization possibilities already applied. Thus, the research results support the maximum economic and environmental value recovery from waste paper utilization.

Performance Degradation Modelling and Techno-Economic Analysis of Lithium-Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems

Transmission system operators and distribution system operators are experiencing new challenges in terms of reliability, power quality, and cost efficiency. Although the potential of energy storages to face those challenges is recognized, the economic implications are still obscure, which introduce the risk into the business models. This thesis aims to investigate the technical and economic value indicators of lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS) in grid-scale applications. In order to do that, a comprehensive performance lithium-ion BESS model with degradation effects estimation is developed. The model development process implies literature review on lifetime modelling, use, and modification of previous study progress, building the additional system parts and integrating it into a complete tool. The constructed model is capable of describing the dynamic behavior of the BESS voltage, state of charge, temperature and capacity loss. Five control strategies for BESS unit providing primary frequency regulation are implemented, in addition to the model. The questions related to BESS dimensioning and the end of life (EoL) criterion are addressed. Simulations are performed with one-month real frequency data acquired from Fingrid. The lifetime and cost-benefit analysis of the simulation results allow to compare and determine the preferable control strategy. Finally, the study performs the sensitivity analysis of economic profitability with variable size, EoL and system price. The research reports that BESS can be profitable in certain cases and presents the recommendations.

Cost-plus-loss analyses of forest inventory strategies based on kNN-assigned reference sample plot data

Abstract

Cost information in engineering design -Potentials and limitations of activity-based costing

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse activity-based costing (ABC) and possible modified versions ofit in engineering design context. The design engineers need cost information attheir decision-making level and the cost information should also have a strong future orientation. These demands are high because traditional management accounting has concentrated on the direct actual costs of the products. However, cost accounting has progressed as ABC was introduced late 1980s and adopted widely bycompanies in the 1990s. The ABC has been a success, but it has gained also criticism. In some cases the ambitious ABC systems have become too complex to build,use and update. This study can be called an action-oriented case study with some normative features. In this thesis theoretical concepts are assessed and allowed to unfold gradually through interaction with data from three cases. The theoretical starting points are ABC and theory of engineering design process (chapter2). Concepts and research results from these theoretical approaches are summarized in two hypotheses (chapter 2.3). The hypotheses are analysed with two cases (chapter 3). After the two case analyses, the ABC part is extended to cover alsoother modern cost accounting methods, e.g. process costing and feature costing (chapter 4.1). The ideas from this second theoretical part are operationalized with the third case (chapter 4.2). The knowledge from the theory and three cases is summarized in the created framework (chapter 4.3). With the created frameworkit is possible to analyse ABC and its modifications in the engineering design context. The framework collects the factors that guide the choice of the costing method to be used in engineering design. It also illuminates the contents of various ABC-related costing methods. However, the framework needs to be further tested. On the basis of the three cases it can be said that ABC should be used cautiously when formulating cost information for engineering design. It is suitable when the manufacturing can be considered simple, or when the design engineers are not cost conscious, and in the beginning of the design process when doing adaptive or variant design. If the design engineers need cost information for the embodiment or detailed design, or if manufacturing can be considered complex, or when design engineers are cost conscious, the ABC has to be always evaluated critically.

Logging residues from regeneration fellings for biofuel production - a GIS-based availability and supply cost analysis

Finland has large forest fuel resources. However, the use of forest fuels for energy production has been low, except for small-scale use in heating. According to national action plans and programs related to wood energy promotion, the utilization of such resources will be multiplied over the next few years. The most significant part of this growth will be based on the utilization of forest fuels, produced from logging residues of regeneration fellings, in industrial and municipal power and heating plants. Availability of logging residues was analyzed by means of resource and demand approaches in order to identify the most suitable regions with focus on increasing the forest fuel usage. The analysis included availability and supply cost comparisons between power plant sites and resource allocation in a least cost manner, and between a predefined power plant structure under demand and supply constraints. Spatial analysis of worksite factors and regional geographies were carried out using the GIS-model environment via geoprocessing and cartographic modeling tools. According to the results of analyses, the cost competitiveness of forest fuel supply should be improved in order to achieve the designed objectives in the near future. Availability and supply costs of forest fuels varied spatially and were very sensitive to worksite factors and transport distances. According to the site-specific analysis the supply potential between differentlocations can be multifold. However, due to technical and economical reasons ofthe fuel supply and dense power plant infrastructure, the supply potential is limited at plant level. Therefore, the potential and supply cost calculations aredepending on site-specific matters, where regional characteristics of resourcesand infrastructure should be taken into consideration, for example by using a GIS-modeling approach constructed in this study.

Hankintariskienhallinta Suomen IVD-teollisuudessa

Kansainvälinen ja kiristyvä kilpailu on muuttanut yritysten liiketoimintaympäristöä yhä monimutkaisemmaksi ja riskialttiimmaksi. Yritysten keskittyessä yhä syvemmin omaan ydinosaamiseensa on ulkoisten resurssien hallinnan merkitys korostunut. Työnjakoa syventämällä tavoitellaan parempaa joustavuutta, ajanhallintaa sekä kustannustehokkuutta. Myös hankintatoimen tehtävät ja vastuualueet muuttuvat ennakoivampaan ja riskialttiimpaan suuntaan. Modernin hankintatoimen on kyettävä tunnistamaan, analysoimaan ja hallitsemaan riskejä yhä pirstaloituneemmista lähteistä ja muodoista. Proaktiivinen hankintatoimi osallistuu yrityksen strategiseen suunnitteluun ja riskienhallintaan. Hankintariskit voidaan luokitella seuraaviin kymmeneen riskiluokkaan: keskeytymisriskit, saatavuusriskit, hintariskit, varasto- ja aikatauluriskit, teknologiariskit, luottamuksellisen tiedon vuotoriskit, laaturiskit, konfiguraatioriskit, opportunismiriskit sekä riippuvuusriskit. Tässä tutkimuksessa hankintariskienhallintaa tarkastellaan hankintastrategian valinnan näkökulmasta. Hankintastrategian yksi elementti on toimittajasuhteen ja toimittajien lukumäärän valinta. Tilanteesta riippuen yhteistyöstrategialla tai perinteisellä kilpailuttamisella voidaan tavoitella parempaa riskienhallintaa. Yhteistyöstrategioita ovat eri tasoiset kumppanuussuhteet ja liittoutumat, jolloin suhde toimittajaan on syvä ja luottamuksellinen hyödyttäen aidosti molempia osapuolia. Riskienhallinnan näkökulmasta yhteistyöstrategia soveltuu parhaiten tilanteissa, joissa toimittajista on pitkä kokemus sekä hankintanimikkeen tuottama arvo on merkittävä. Kilpailuttamisstrategia eli hankintojen toteuttaminen usealta toimittajalta vaatii ostavalta organisaatiolta tehokkaasti hyödynnettynä suurempia resursseja kuin yhteistyöstrategian käyttö. Kilpailuttaminen soveltuu usein parhaiten silloin, kun hankintanimikkeet ovat tavanomaisia ja vaihtoehtoisia hankintalähteitä on runsaasti. Lisäksi usean toimittajan käyttö suojaa materiaalivirran katkoksilta sekä lisää hankintamarkkinoiden tuntemusta. Empiirisessä tutkimusosassa tutkitaan, miten soveltuviksi riskienhallintamenetelmiksi erilaiset hankintastrategiat koetaan Suomen IVD-teollisuudessa. Lisäksi tunnistetaan Suomen IVD-teollisuudessa merkittävimmiksi koetut hankintariskiluokat sekä selvitetään millä organisaation tasolla hankintariskienhallinta pääasiassa suoritetaan. Lisäksi selvitetään, millä menetelmin hankintariskejä pääasiassa analysoidaan.

Multifactor Performance Study on Complex Systems for the Benefit of Management

The primary objective is to identify the critical factors that have a natural impact on the performance measurement system. It is important to make correct decisions related to measurement systems, which are based on the complex business environment. The performance measurement system is combined with a very complex non-linear factor. The Six Sigma methodology is seen as one potential approach at every organisational level. It will be linked to the performance and financial measurement as well as to the analytical thinking on which the viewpoint of management depends. The complex systems are connected to the customer relationship study. As the primary throughput can be seen in a new well-defined performance measurement structure that will also be facilitated as will an analytical multifactor system. These critical factors should also be seen as a business innovation opportunity at the same time. This master's thesis has been divided into two different theoretical parts. The empirical part consists of both action-oriented and constructive research approaches with an empirical case study. The secondary objective is to seek a competitive advantage factor with a new analytical tool and the Six Sigma thinking. Process and product capabilities will be linked to the contribution of complex system. These critical barriers will be identified by the performance measuring system. The secondary throughput can be recognised as the product and the process cost efficiencies which throughputs are achieved with an advantage of management. The performance measurement potential is related to the different productivity analysis. Productivity can be seen as one essential part of the competitive advantage factor.

Overview on the Cost-effectiveness of Maritime Safety Policy Instruments

Maritime safety is an issue that has gained a lot of attention in the Baltic Sea area due to the dense maritime traffic and transportation of oil in the area. Lots of effort has been paid to enhance maritime safety in the area. The risk exists that excessive legislation and other requirements mean more costs for limited benefit. In order to utilize both public and private resources efficiently, awareness is required of what kind of costs maritime safety policy instruments cause and whether the costs are in relation to benefits. The aim of this report is to present an overview of the cost-effectiveness of maritime safety policy instruments focusing on the cost aspect: what kind of costs maritime safety policy causes, to whom, what affects the cost-effectiveness and how cost-effectiveness is studied. The study is based on a literature review and on the interviews of Finnish maritime experts. The results of this study imply that cost-effectiveness is a complicated issue to evaluate. There are no uniform practices for which costs and benefits should be included in the evaluation and how they should be valued. One of the challenges is how to measure costs and benefits during the course of a longer time period. Often a lack of data erodes the reliability of evaluation. In the prevention of maritime accidents, costs typically include investments in ship structures or equipment, as well as maintenance and labor costs. Also large investments may be justifiable if they respectively provide significant improvements to maritime safety. Measures are cost-effective only if they are implemented properly. Costeffectiveness is decreased if a measure causes overlapping or repetitious work. Costeffectiveness is also decreased if the technology isn’t user-friendly or if it is soon replaced with a new technology or another new appliance. In future studies on the cost-effectiveness of maritime safety policy, it is important to acknowledge the dependency between different policy instruments and the uncertainty of the factors affecting cost-effectiveness. The costs of a single measure are rarely relatively significant and the effect of each measure on safety tends to be positive. The challenge is to rank the measures and to find the most effective combination of different policy instruments. The greatest potential offered for the analysis of cost-effectiveness of individual measures is their implementation in clearly defined risk situations, in which different measures are truly alternative to each other. Overall, maritime safety measures do not seem to be considered burdening for the shipping industry in Finland at the moment. Generally actors in the Finnish shipping industry seem to find maintaining a high safety level important and act accordingly.

Validation and Selection of Transportation Cost Drivers with Advanced Methods

In today's logistics environment, there is a tremendous need for accurate cost information and cost allocation. Companies searching for the proper solution often come across with activity-based costing (ABC) or one of its variations which utilizes cost drivers to allocate the costs of activities to cost objects. In order to allocate the costs accurately and reliably, the selection of appropriate cost drivers is essential in order to get the benefits of the costing system. The purpose of this study is to validate the transportation cost drivers of a Finnish wholesaler company and ultimately select the best possible driver alternatives for the company. The use of cost driver combinations as an alternative is also studied. The study is conducted as a part of case company's applied ABC-project using the statistical research as the main research method supported by a theoretical, literature based method. The main research tools featured in the study include simple and multiple regression analyses, which together with the literature and observations based practicality analysis forms the basis for the advanced methods. The results suggest that the most appropriate cost driver alternatives are the delivery drops and internal delivery weight. The possibility of using cost driver combinations is not suggested as their use doesn't provide substantially better results while increasing the measurement costs, complexity and load of use at the same time. The use of internal freight cost drivers is also questionable as the results indicate weakening trend in the cost allocation capabilities towards the end of the period. Therefore more research towards internal freight cost drivers should be conducted before taking them in use.

Analyses of the usefulness of Software Defined Storage Solutions for Web-based Digital Preservation Applications

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Improving Cost-Efficiency and Reducing Environmental Impacts of Intermodal Transportation with Dry Port Concept – Major Rail Transport Corridor in Baltic Sea Region

Transportation plays a major role in the gross domestic product of various nations. There are, however, many obstacles hindering the transportation sector. Cost-efficiency along with proper delivery times, high frequency and reliability are not a straightforward task. Furthermore, environmental friendliness has increased the importance of the whole transportation sector. This development will change roles inside the transportation sector. Even now, but especially in the future, decisions regarding the transportation sector will be partly based on emission levels and other externalities originating from transportation in addition to pure transportation costs. There are different factors, which could have an impact on the transportation sector. IMO’s sulphur regulation is estimated to increase the costs of short sea shipping in the Baltic Sea. Price development of energy could change the roles of different transport modes. Higher awareness of the environmental impacts originating from transportation could also have an impact on the price level of more polluting transport modes. According to earlier research, increased inland transportation, modal shift and slowsteaming can be possible results of these changes in the transportation sector. Possible changes in the transportation sector and ways to settle potential obstacles are studied in this dissertation. Furthermore, means to improve cost-efficiency and to decrease environmental impacts originating from transportation are researched. Hypothetical Finnish dry port network and Rail Baltica transport corridor are studied in this dissertation. Benefits and disadvantages are studied with different methodologies. These include gravitational models, which were optimized with linear integer programming, discrete-event and system dynamics simulation, an interview study and a case study. Geographical focus is on the Baltic Sea Region, but the results can be adapted to other geographical locations with discretion. Results indicate that the dry port concept has benefits, but optimization regarding the location and the amount of dry ports plays an important role. In addition, the utilization of dry ports for freight transportation should be carefully operated, since only a certain amount of total freight volume can be cost-efficiently transported through dry ports. If dry ports are created and located without proper planning, they could actually increase transportation costs and delivery times of the whole transportation system. With an optimized dry port network, transportation costs can be lowered in Finland with three to five dry ports. Environmental impacts can be lowered with up to nine dry ports. If more dry ports are added to the system, the benefits become very minor, i.e. payback time of investments becomes extremely long. Furthermore, dry port network could support major transport corridors such as Rail Baltica. Based on an analysis of statistics and interview study, there could be enough freight volume available for Rail Baltica, especially, if North-West Russia is part of the Northern end of the corridor. Transit traffic to and from Russia (especially through the Baltic States) plays a large role. It could be possible to increase transit traffic through Finland by connecting the potential Finnish dry port network and the studied transport corridor. Additionally, sulphur emission regulation is assumed to increase the attractiveness of Rail Baltica in the year 2015. Part of the transit traffic could be rerouted along Rail Baltica instead of the Baltic Sea, since the price level of sea transport could increase due to the sulphur regulation. Both, the hypothetical Finnish dry port network and Rail Baltica transport corridor could benefit each other. The dry port network could gain more market share from Russia, but also from Central Europe, which is the other end of Rail Baltica. In addition, further Eastern countries could also be connected to achieve higher potential freight volume by rail.

Investigating the Existence of Business-IT Alignment Trap in Finnish IT Organizations

The overall purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate the existence of business-IT alignment trap in Finnish IT organizations. The alignment trap refers to the inability of IT investments to deliver the expected business benefits. The basis for this investigation is due to the previous knowledge that high level of IT alignment practice with very low efficacy in an organization can lead to alignment trap. The theory which was established on the dimensions of IT-alignment and efficacy of IT as a whole with considerations for cost reduction and revenue growth benefits. This study explored the same dimensions with the previous study but identified additional benefit (profitability). The study was conducted using the Finnish IT barometer data from different IT organizations. A quantitative research method was used in conducting this study which was built on positivist philosophical stance. The empirical data is based on survey data, an excerpt from the Finnish IT barometer data that captured the annual survey results of IT significance to Finnish organizations as evaluated by business and IT professionals. The survey data comprised of 249 respondents and their responses were categorized into high and low IT intensive which form the basis of the statistical analysis conducted. Overall, five analyses were conducted using the variables of cost reductions, revenue growth and profitability in the 2x2 matrix dimensions of IT alignment and efficacy of IT, grouped into alignment trap, maintenance zone, well-oiled IT and IT-enabled growth. The empirical results, revealed a partial existence of alignment trap in Finnish IT organizations. This is due to a very minute number of organizations that were ensnared in the alignment trap zone on the analyses conducted. Although they recorded considerable high performances in terms of revenue growth rate with IT spending below the average companies, their profitability was considered very low. Generally it was observed that Finnish IT organizations with high efficacy of IT practices had good performances, while those with low efficacy of IT experienced low performances, especially in the aspect of profitability, regardless of the degree of IT alignment. The study proposes that organizations should improve on practices that enhance effectiveness of IT more in order for them to realize the full benefits of IT and to avoid alignment trap.

Benefits of a low-cost one-phase current distortion detection device in appliance supply in low-voltage residential networks

In this bachelor’s thesis are examined the benefits of current distortion detection device application in customer premises low voltage networks. The purpose of this study was to find out if there are benefits for measuring current distortion in low-voltage residential networks. Concluding into who can benefit from measuring the power quality. The research focuses on benefits based on the standardization in Europe and United States of America. In this research, were also given examples of appliances in which current distortion detection device could be used. Along with possible illustration of user interface for the device. The research was conducted as an analysis of the benefits of current distortion detection device in residential low voltage networks. The research was based on literature review. The study was divided to three sections. The first explain the reasons for benefitting from usage of the device and the second portrays the low-cost device, which could detect one-phase current distortion, in theory. The last section discuss of the benefits of usage of current distortion detection device while focusing on the beneficiaries. Based on the result of this research, there are benefits from usage to the current distortion detection device. The main benefitting party of the current distortion detection device was found to be manufactures, as they are held responsible of limiting the current distortion on behalf of consumers. Manufactures could adjust equipment to respond better to the distortion by having access to on-going current distortion in network. The other benefitting party are system operators, who would better locate distortion issues in low-voltage residential network to start prevention of long-term problems caused by current distortion early on.