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Perspectives interculturelles et interlinguistiques sur le discours académique – Crosscultural and Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Academic Discourse. Volume 1

The Department of French Studies of the University of Turku (Finland) organized an International Bilingual Conference on Crosscultural and Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Academic Discourse from 2022 May 2005. The event hosted specialists on Academic Discourse from Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, and the USA. This book is the first volume in our series of publications on Academic Discourse (AD hereafter). The following pages are composed of selected papers from the conference and focus on different aspects and analytical frameworks of Academic Discourse. One of the motivations behind organizing the conference was to examine and expand research on AD in different languages. Another one was to question to what extent academic genres are culturebound and language specific or primarily field or domain specific. The research carried out on AD has been mainly concerned with the use of English in different academic settings for a long time now – mainly written contexts – and at the expense of other languages. Alternatively the academic genre conventions of English and English speaking world have served as a basis for comparison with other languages and cultures. We consider this first volume to be a strong contribution to the spreading out of researches based on other languages than English in AD, namely Finnish, French, Italian, Norwegian and Romanian in this book. All the following articles have a strong link with the French language: either French is constitutive of the AD corpora under examination or the article was written in French. The structure of the book suggests and provides evidence that the concept of AD is understood and tackled to varying degrees by different scholars. Our first volume opens up the discussion on what AD is and backs dissemination, overlapping and expansion of current research questions and methodologies. The book is divided into three parts and contains four articles in English and six articles in French. The papers in part one and part two cover what we call the prototypical genre of written AD, i.e. the research article. Part one follows up on issues linked to the 13 Research Article (RA hereafter). Kjersti Fløttum asks wether a typical RA exists and concentrates on authors’ voices in RA (self and other dimensions), whereas Didriksen and Gjesdal’s article focuses on individual variation of the author’s voice in RA. The last article in this section is by Nadine Rentel and deals with evaluation in the writing of RA. Part two concentrates on the teaching and learning of AD within foreign language learning, another more or less canonical genre of AD. Two aspects of writing are covered in the first two articles: foreign students’ representations on rhetorical traditions (Hidden) and a contrastive assessment of written exercices in French and Finnish in Higher Education (Suzanne). The last contribution in this section on AD moves away from traditional written forms and looks at how argumentation is constructed in students’ oral presentations (Dervin and Fauveau). The last part of the book continues the extension by featuring four articles written in French exploring institutional and scientific discourses. Institutional discourses under scrutiny include the European Bologna Process (Galatanu) and Romanian reform texts (Moilanen). As for scientific discourses, the next paper in this section deconstructs an ideological discourse on the didactics of French as a foreign language (Pescheux). Finally, the last paper in part three reflects on varied forms of AD at university (Defays). We hope that this book will add some fuel to continue discussing diverse forms of and approches to AD – in different languages and voices! No need to say that with the current upsurge in academic mobility, reflecting on crosscultural and crosslinguistic AD has just but started.

Technology selection and group decision support systems: Case studies on supporting strategic technology selection processes

The objective of the dissertation is to increase understanding and knowledge in the field where group decision support system (GDSS) and technology selection research overlap in the strategic sense. The purpose is to develop pragmatic, unique and competent management practices and processes for strategic technology assessment and selection from the whole company's point of view. The combination of the GDSS and technology selection is approached from the points of view of the core competence concept, the lead user -method, and different technology types. In this research the aim is to find out how the GDSS contributes to the technology selection process, what aspects should be considered when selecting technologies to be developed or acquired, and what advantages and restrictions the GDSS has in the selection processes. These research objectives are discussed on the basis of experiences and findings in real life selection meetings. The research has been mainly carried outwith constructive, case study research methods. The study contributes novel ideas to the present knowledge and prior literature on the GDSS and technology selection arena. Academic and pragmatic research has been conducted in four areas: 1) the potential benefits of the group support system with the lead user -method,where the need assessment process is positioned as information gathering for the selection of wireless technology development projects; 2) integrated technology selection and core competencies management processes both in theory and in practice; 3) potential benefits of the group decision support system in the technology selection processes of different technology types; and 4) linkages between technology selection and R&D project selection in innovative product development networks. New type of knowledge and understanding has been created on the practical utilization of the GDSS in technology selection decisions. The study demonstrates that technology selection requires close cooperation between differentdepartments, functions, and strategic business units in order to gather the best knowledge for the decision making. The GDSS is proved to be an effective way to promote communication and co-operation between the selectors. The constructs developed in this study have been tested in many industry fields, for example in information and communication, forest, telecommunication, metal, software, and miscellaneous industries, as well as in non-profit organizations. The pragmatic results in these organizations are some of the most relevant proofs that confirm the scientific contribution of the study, according to the principles of the constructive research approach.

Experimental insights into deformation dynamics and intermittency in rapid granular shear flows

This work concerns the experimental study of rapid granular shear flows in annular Couette geometry. The flow is induced by continuous driving of the horizontal plate at the top of the granular bed in an annulus. The compressive pressure, driving torque, instantaneous bed height and rotational speed of the shearing plate are measured. Moreover, local stress fluctuations are measured in a medium made of steel spheres 2 and 3 mm in diameter. Both monodisperse packing and bidisperse packing are investigated to reveal the influence of size diversity in intermittent features of granular materials. Experiments are conducted in an annulus that can contain up to 15 kg of spherical steel balls. The shearing granular medium takes place via the rotation of the upper plate which compresses the material loaded inside the annulus. Fluctuations of compressive force are locally measured at the bottom of the annulus using a piezoelectric sensor. Rapid shear flow experiments are pursued at different compressive forces and shear rates and the sensitivity of fluctuations are then investigated by different means through monodisperse and bidisperse packings. Another important feature of rapid granular shear flows is the formation of ordered structures upon shearing. It requires a certain range for the amount of granular material (uniform size distribution) loaded in the system in order to obtain stable flows. This is studied more deeply in this thesis. The results of the current work bring some new insights into deformation dynamics and intermittency in rapid granular shear flows. The experimental apparatus is modified in comparison to earlier investigations. The measurements produce data for various quantities continuously sampled from the start of shearing to the end. Static failure and dynamic shearing ofa granular medium is investigated. The results of this work revealed some important features of failure dynamics and structure formation in the system. Furthermore, some computer simulations are performed in a 2D annulus to examine the nature of kinetic energy dissipation. It is found that turbulent flow models can statistically represent rapid granular flows with high accuracy. In addition to academic outcomes and scientific publications our results have a number of technological applications associated with grinding, mining and massive grain storages.

Developing and Applying Generative Market Intelligence within Multinational Companies

Tutkielman tarkoitus on kehittää monikansallisille yrityksille tuottavan markkinaälyn malli, jonka avulla yritykset pystyvät käsittelemään muuttuvasta ja globalisoituvasta markkinaympäristöstä aiheutuvaa epävarmuutta. Malli koostuu pääosin kolmesta käsitteestä: markkinainformaation prosessoinnista, markkinasuuntautuneisuudesta ja organisationaalisesta oppimisesta. Tutkimuksessa osoitetaan, kuinka näiden samanaikainen soveltaminen johtaa synergiaetuihin. Lähdeaineistona käytettiin alan kirjallisuutta. Lisäksi haastateltiin neljää johtajaa monikansallisista yrityksistä. Käytännössä markkinaälyn soveltamisen haasteet liittyvät lähinnä markkinainformaation prosessoinnin asenteellisiin ja psykologisiin aspekteihin. Ihmisten tulisi ymmärtää, että koko yritys hyötyy heidän halukkuudestaan tiedon tuottamiseen ja jakamiseen. Lisäksi tietoa itsessään voimavarana tulisi kunnioittaa

Purchasing Process Performance Definition and Improvement in the Mechanical Wood Industry

Tämän tutkimuksen ensisijaisena tavoitteena oli määrittää Schauman Wood Oy:n ostoprosessin suorituskyvyn nykytila yrityksen Suomen yksiköissä. Nykytila-arviointi suoritettiin uusien ja käytössä olevien mittaustulosten avulla. Tutkimuksessa verrattiin kymmenen tuotantolaitoksen ostoprosesseja keskenään. Keskeinen tutkimusongelma oli ostoprosessin suorituseroja aikaansaavien tekijöiden selvittäminen eri yksiköissä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli saavuttaa yhtenäisemmät toimintatavat yrityksessä sekä laajentaa konsernin osto-organisaation hyödyntämistä hankintatoimessa. Tavoitteena oli ostoprosessin virtaviivaistaminen ja tehokkaamman seurantajärjestelmän kehittäminen. Ostotoimintojen suorituskyvyn jatkuva parantaminen perustuu osittain uusien mittareiden avulla saatavaan informaatioon ja täsmällisempään seurantaan. Sisäistä benchmarkingia käytettiin työkaluna suorituskyky-eroavaisuuksien määrittelyssä. Tietoa erilaisista toimintatavoista kerättiin haastattelemalla yrityksen ostajia ja tehdaspalvelupäälliköitä eri tehdaspaikkakunnilla. Sisäisen benchmarkingin avulla määriteltiin toimintatapa eroavaisuudet sekä kehitettiin seurantakortti, jossa jokaista yksikköä verrataan parhaaseen ja eniten kehittyneeseen yksikköön. Työn tuloksina muodostui ehdotuksia ostotoiminnon uusiksi mittareiksi. Uudet mittarit ovat tehokkuusmittareita, jotka kuvaavat resurssien käytön tehokkuutta sekä auttavat seuraamaan ostoprosessin tilaa entistä paremmin. Uusien mittareiden tavoitteena on myös vähentää mittareiden manipulaatiomahdollisuutta. Työn ulkopuolelle rajattiin informaatioteknologiajärjestelmien tietotekninen osuus. Eräs yrityksen tuotantolaitoksista rajattiin myös työn ulkopuolelle, koska sen ostoprosessit ovat huomattavasti kehittymättömämpiä kuin Schauman Woodin muiden tehtaiden ostoprosessit. Kyseisen yksikön kehittämisen tulee lähteä aivan ruohonjuuritasolta. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuus on kerätty alan ammattikirjallisuudesta ja tutkimuksen aihetta käsittelevistä uudehkoista tieteellisistä alan artikkeleista. Teorian tarkoituksena on tukea empiiristä osuutta sekä antaa lukijalle uusia näkemyksiä ostotoiminnan monista mahdollisuuksista. Tutkimuksen tuloksia ovat nykytila-analyysi, ehdotukset uusista ostotoiminnan mittareista sekä ehdotus MRO-tuotteiden ulkoistamiskokeilusta. Yrityksen ostotoiminnan tulisi kehittyä operatiivisesta tasosta kohti strategisempaa oston tasoa. Johdon sitoutuminen hankintatoimen kehityshankkeisiin on erityisen tärkeää, lisäksi hankintatoimi tulisi nähdä strategisempana osa-alueena yrityksessä. Hankintatoimen kehittämisen avulla yrityksen kustannustehokkuutta voidaan lisätä merkittävästi.

Marketing culture of Finnish research libraries : an analysis of marketing attitude, knowledge and behaviour

The aim of the present dissertation is to investigate the marketing culture of research libraries in Finland and to understand the awareness of the knowledge base of library management concerning modern marketing theories and practices. The study was based onthe notion that a leader in an organisation can have large impact on its culture. Therefore, it was considered important to learn about the market orientation that initiates at the top management and flows throughout the whole organisationthus resulting in a particular kind of library culture. The study attempts to examine the marketing culture of libraries by analysing the marketing attitudes, knowledge (underlying beliefs, values and assumptions), behaviour (market orientation), operational policies and activities, and their service performance (customer satisfaction). The research was based on the assumption that if the top management of libraries has market oriented behaviour, then their marketing attitudes, knowledge, operational policies and activities and service performance should also be in accordance. The dissertation attempts to connect all these theoretical threads of marketing culture. It investigates thirty three academic and special libraries in the south of Finland. The library director and three to ten customers from each library participated as respondents in this study. An integrated methodological approach of qualitative as well as quantitative methods was used to gain knowledge on the pertinent issues lying behind the marketing culture of research libraries. The analysis of the whole dissertation reveals that the concept of marketing has very varied status in the Finnish research libraries. Based on the entire findings, three kinds of marketing cultures were emerged: the strong- the high fliers; the medium- the brisk runners; and the weak- the slow walkers. The high fliers appeared to be modern marketing believers as their marketing approach was customer oriented and found to be closer to the emerging notions of contemporary relational marketing. The brisk runners were found to be traditional marketing advocates as their marketing approach is more `library centred¿than customer defined and thus is in line of `product orientation¿ i.e. traditional marketing. `Let the interested customers come to the library¿ was appeared to be the hallmark of the slow walkers. Application of conscious market orientation is not reflected in the library activities of the slow walkers. Instead their values, ideology and approach to serving the library customers is more in tuneof `usual service oriented Finnish way¿. The implication of the research is that it pays to be market oriented which results in higher customer satisfaction oflibraries. Moreover, it is emphasised that the traditional user based service philosophy of Finnish research libraries should not be abandoned but it needs to be further developed by building a relational based marketing system which will help the libraries to become more efficient and effective from the customers¿ viewpoint. The contribution of the dissertation lies in the framework showing the linkages between the critical components of the marketing culture of a library: antecedents, market orientation, facilitators and consequences. The dissertationdelineates the significant underlying dimensions of market-oriented behaviour of libraries which are namely customer philosophy, inter-functional coordination,strategic orientation, responsiveness, pricing orientation and competition orientation. The dissertation also showed the extent to which marketing attitudes, behaviour, knowledge were related and impact of market orientation on the serviceperformance of libraries. A strong positive association was found to exist between market orientation and marketing attitudes and knowledge. Moreover, it also shows that a higher market orientation is positively connected with the service performance of libraries, the ultimate result being higher customer satisfaction. The analysis shows that a genuine marketing culture represents a synthesis of certain marketing attitudes, knowledge and of selective practices. This finding is particularly significant in the sense that it manifests that marketing culture consists of a certain sets of beliefs and knowledge (which form a specific attitude towards marketing) and implementation of a certain set of activities that actually materialize the attitude of marketing into practice (market orientation) leading to superior service performance of libraries.

Innovations of ageing and societal transition : Dynamics of change of the socio-technical regime of ageing

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the dynamics of the socio-technical system in the field of ageing. The study stems from the notion that the ageing of the population as a powerful megatrend has wide societal effects, and is not just a matter for the social and health sector. The central topic in the study is change: not only the age structures and structures of society are changing, but also at the same time there is constant development, for instance, in technologies, infrastructures and cultural perceptions. The changing concept of innovation has widened the understanding of innovations related to ageing from medical and assistive technological innovations to service and social innovations, as well as systemic innovations at different levels, which means the intertwined and co-evolutionary change in technologies, structures, services and thinking models. By the same token, the perceptions of older people and old age are becoming more multi-faceted: old age is no longer equated to illnesses and decline, but visions of active ageing and a third age have emerged, which are framed by choices, opportunities, resources and consumption in later life. The research task in this study is to open up the processes and mechanisms of change in the field of ageing, which are studied as a complex, multi-level and interrelated socio-technical system. The question is about co-effective elements consisting of macro-level landscape changes, the existing socio-technical regime (the rule system, practices and structures) and bottom-up niche-innovations. Societal transitions do not account for the things inside the regime alone, or for the long-term changes in the landscape, nor for the radical innovations, but for the interplay between all these levels. The research problem is studied through five research articles, which offer micro-level case studies to macro-level phenomenon. Each of the articles focus on different aspects related to ageing and change, and utilise various datasets. The framework of this study leans on the studies of socio-technical systems and multi-level perspective on transitions mainly developed by Frank Geels. Essential factors in transition from one socio-technological regime to another are the co-evolutionary processes between landscape changes, regime level and experimental niches. Landscape level changes, like the ageing of the population, destabilise the regime in the forms of coming pressures. This destabilization offers windows for opportunity to niche-innovations outside or at fringe of the regime, which, through their breakthrough, accelerate the transition process. However, the change is not easy because of various kinds of lock-ins and inertia, which tend to maintain the stability of the regime. In this dissertation, a constructionist approach of society is applied leaning mainly to the ideas of Anthony Giddens’ theory of structuration, with the dual nature of structures. The change is taking place in the interplay between actors and structures: structures shape people’s practices, but at the same time these practices constitute and reproduce social systems. Technology and other material aspects, as part of socio-technical systems, and the use of them, also take part in the structuration process. The findings of the study point out that co-evolutionary and co-effective relationships between economic, cultural, technological and institutional fields, as well as relationships between landscape changes, changes in the local and regime-level practices and rule systems, are a very complex and multi-level dynamic socio-technical phenomenon. At the landscape level of ageing, which creates the pressures and triggers to the regime change, there are three remarkable megatrends: demographic change, changes in the global economy and the development of technologies. These exert pressures to the socio-technical regime, which as a rule system is experiencing changes in the form of new markets and consumer habits, new ways of perceiving ageing, new models of organising the health care and other services and as new ways of considering innovation and innovativeness. There are also inner dynamics in the relationships between these aspects within the regime. These are interrelated and coconstructed: the prevailing perceptions of ageing and innovation, for instance, reflect the ageing policies, innovation policies, societal structures, organising models, technology and scientific discussion, and vice versa. Technology is part of the inner dynamics of the sociotechnological regime. Physical properties of the artefacts set limitations and opportunities with regard to their functions and uses. The use of and discussion about technology, contributes producing and reproducing the perceptions of old age. For societal transition, micro-level changes are also needed, in form of niche-innovations, for instance new services, organisational models or new technologies, Regimes, as stabilitystriven systems, tend to generate incremental innovations, but radically new innovations are generated in experimental niches protected from ‘normal’ market selection. The windows of opportunity for radical novelties may be opened if the circumstances are favourable for instance by tensions in the socio-technical regime affected by landscape level changes. This dissertation indicates that a change is taking place, firstly, in the dynamic interactionbetween levels, as a result of purposive action and governance to some extent. Breaking the inertia and using the window of opportunity for change and innovation offered by dynamics between levels, presupposes the actors’ special capabilities and actions such as dynamic capabilities and distance management. Secondly, the change is taking place the socio-technological negotiations inside the regime: interaction between technological and social, which is embodied in the use of technology. The use of technology includes small-level contextual scripts that also participate in forming broader societal scripts (for instance defining old age at the society level), which in their turn affect the formation of policies for innovation and ageing. Thirdly, the change is taking place by the means of active formation of the multi-actor innovation networks, where the role of distance management is crucial to facilitate the communication between actors coming from different backgrounds as well as to help the niches born outside the regime to utilise the window of opportunity offered by regime destabilisation. This dissertation has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study participates in the discussion of action-oriented view on transition by opening up of the socio-technological, coevolutionary processes of the multi-faceted phenomenon of ageing, which has lacked systematic analyses. The focus of this study, however, is not on the large-scale coordination and governance, but rather on opening up the incremental elements and structuration processes, which contribute to the transition little by little, and which can be affected to. This increases the practical importance of this dissertation, by highlighting the importance of very tiny, everyday elements in the change processes in the long run.

Characterisation of Human Neutral and Lysosomal alpha-Mannosidases

Neutral alpha-mannosidase and lysosomal MAN2B1 alpha-mannosidase belong to glycoside hydrolase family 38, which contains essential enzymes required for the modification and catabolism of asparagine-linked glycans on proteins. MAN2B1 catalyses lysosomal glycan degradation, while neutral α-mannosidase is most likely involved in the catabolism of cytosolic free oligosaccharides. These mannose containing saccharides are generated during glycosylation or released from misfolded glycoproteins, which are detected by quality control in the endoplasmic reticulum. To characterise the biological function of human neutral α-mannosidase, I cloned the alpha-mannosidase cDNA and recombinantly expressed the enzyme. The purified enzyme trimmed the putative natural substrate Man9GlcNAc to Man5GlcNAc, whereas the reducing end GlcNAc2 limited trimming to Man8GlcNAc2. Neutral α-mannosidase showed highest enzyme activity at neutral pH and was activated by the cations Fe₂+, Co2+ and Mn₂+, Cu2+ in turn had a strong inhibitory effect on alpha-mannosidase activity. Analysis of its intracellular localisation revealed that neutral alpha-mannosidase is cytosolic and colocalises with proteasomes. Further work showed that the overexpression of neutral alpha-mannosidase affected the cytosolic free oligosaccharide content and led to enhanced endoplasmic reticulum associated degradation and underglycosylation of secreted proteins. The second part of the study focused on MAN2B1 and the inherited lysosomal storage disorder α-mannosidosis. In this disorder, deficient MAN2B1 activity is associated with mutations in the MAN2B1 gene. The thesis reports the molecular consequences of 35 alpha-mannosidosis associated mutations, including 29 novel missense mutations. According to experimental analyses, the mutations fall into four groups: Mutations, which prevent transport to lysosomes are accompanied with a lack of proteolytic processing of the enzyme (groups 1 and 3). Although the rest of the mutations (groups 2 and 4) allow transport to lysosomes, the mutated proteins are less efficiently processed to their mature form than is wild type MAN2B1. Analysis of the effect of the mutations on the model structure of human lysosomal alpha-mannosidase provides insights on their structural consequences. Mutations, which affect amino acids important for folding (prolines, glycines, cysteines) or domain interface interactions (arginines), arrest the enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum. Surface mutations and changes, which do not drastically alter residue volume, are tolerated better. Descriptions of the mutations and clinical data are compiled in an α-mannosidosis database, which will be available for the scientific community. This thesis provides a detailed insight into two ubiquitous human alpha-mannosidases. It demonstrates that neutral alpha-mannosidase is involved in the degradation of cytosolic oligosaccharides and suggests that the regulation of this α-mannosidase is important for maintaining the cellular homeostasis of N-glycosylation and glycan degradation. The study on alpha-mannosidosis associated mutations identifies multiple mechanisms for how these mutations are detrimental for MAN2B1 activity. The α-mannosidosis database will benefit both clinicians and scientific research on lysosomal alpha‑mannosidosis.

The effectiveness of financial innovation support tools. Comparative study of Latvia and Finland

In the Innovation Union Scoreboard of 2011, Latvia ranked last amongst the EU countries in innovation performance. Even though there is sufficient scientific and technological basis, the results remain modest or low in most of the indicators concerning innovations. Several aspects influence the performance a national innovation system. In Latvia, the low effectiveness is often attributed to lack of financial support tools. As a comparison, Finland was chosen because of its well-established and documented innovation system. The aim of this study is to research the efficiency and effectiveness of the current financial innovation support tool system in Latvia from the point of view of an innovating company. It also attempts to analyze the support tool system of Latvia and compare to the relevant parts of the Finnish system. The study found that it is problematic for innovative companies in Latvia to receive the necessary funding especially for start-ups and SMEs due to the low number of grant programs, funds and lacking offer from banks, venture capital and business angels. To improve the situation, the Latvian government should restructure the funding mechanisms putting a bigger emphasis on innovative start-ups and SMEs. That would lay a foundation for future growth and boost research and scientific activities in Latvia.

Characterisation of Laser Beam and Paper Material Interaction

It is known already from 1970´s that laser beam is suitable for processing paper materials. In this thesis, term paper materials mean all wood-fibre based materials, like dried pulp, copy paper, newspaper, cardboard, corrugated board, tissue paper etc. Accordingly, laser processing in this thesis means all laser treatments resulting material removal, like cutting, partial cutting, marking, creasing, perforation etc. that can be used to process paper materials. Laser technology provides many advantages for processing of paper materials: non-contact method, freedom of processing geometry, reliable technology for non-stop production etc. Especially packaging industry is very promising area for laser processing applications. However, there are only few industrial laser processing applications worldwide even in beginning of 2010´s. One reason for small-scale use of lasers in paper material manufacturing is that there is a shortage of published research and scientific articles. Another problem, restraining the use of laser for processing of paper materials, is colouration of paper material i.e. the yellowish and/or greyish colour of cut edge appearing during cutting or after cutting. These are the main reasons for selecting the topic of this thesis to concern characterization of interaction of laser beam and paper materials. This study was carried out in Laboratory of Laser Processing at Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland). Laser equipment used in this study was TRUMPF TLF 2700 carbon dioxide laser that produces a beam with wavelength of 10.6 μm with power range of 190-2500 W (laser power on work piece). Study of laser beam and paper material interaction was carried out by treating dried kraft pulp (grammage of 67 g m-2) with different laser power levels, focal plane postion settings and interaction times. Interaction between laser beam and dried kraft pulp was detected with different monitoring devices, i.e. spectrometer, pyrometer and active illumination imaging system. This way it was possible to create an input and output parameter diagram and to study the effects of input and output parameters in this thesis. When interaction phenomena are understood also process development can be carried out and even new innovations developed. Fulfilling the lack of information on interaction phenomena can assist in the way of lasers for wider use of technology in paper making and converting industry. It was concluded in this thesis that interaction of laser beam and paper material has two mechanisms that are dependent on focal plane position range. Assumed interaction mechanism B appears in range of average focal plane position of 3.4 mm and 2.4 mm and assumed interaction mechanism A in range of average focal plane position of 0.4 mm and -0.6 mm both in used experimental set up. Focal plane position 1.4 mm represents midzone of these two mechanisms. Holes during laser beam and paper material interaction are formed gradually: first small hole is formed to interaction area in the centre of laser beam cross-section and after that, as function of interaction time, hole expands, until interaction between laser beam and dried kraft pulp is ended. By the image analysis it can be seen that in beginning of laser beam and dried kraft pulp material interaction small holes off very good quality are formed. It is obvious that black colour and heat affected zone appear as function of interaction time. This reveals that there still are different interaction phases within interaction mechanisms A and B. These interaction phases appear as function of time and also as function of peak intensity of laser beam. Limit peak intensity is the value that divides interaction mechanism A and B from one-phase interaction into dual-phase interaction. So all peak intensity values under limit peak intensity belong to MAOM (interaction mechanism A one-phase mode) or to MBOM (interaction mechanism B onephase mode) and values over that belong to MADM (interaction mechanism A dual-phase mode) or to MBDM (interaction mechanism B dual-phase mode). Decomposition process of cellulose is evolution of hydrocarbons when temperature is between 380- 500°C. This means that long cellulose molecule is split into smaller volatile hydrocarbons in this temperature range. As temperature increases, decomposition process of cellulose molecule changes. In range of 700-900°C, cellulose molecule is mainly decomposed into H2 gas; this is why this range is called evolution of hydrogen. Interaction in this range starts (as in range of MAOM and MBOM), when a small good quality hole is formed. This is due to “direct evaporation” of pulp via decomposition process of evolution of hydrogen. And this can be seen can be seen in spectrometer as high intensity peak of yellow light (in range of 588-589 nm) which refers to temperature of ~1750ºC. Pyrometer does not detect this high intensity peak since it is not able to detect physical phase change from solid kraft pulp to gaseous compounds. As interaction time between laser beam and dried kraft pulp continues, hypothesis is that three auto ignition processes occurs. Auto ignition of substance is the lowest temperature in which it will spontaneously ignite in a normal atmosphere without an external source of ignition, such as a flame or spark. Three auto ignition processes appears in range of MADM and MBDM, namely: 1. temperature of auto ignition of hydrogen atom (H2) is 500ºC, 2. temperature of auto ignition of carbon monoxide molecule (CO) is 609ºC and 3. temperature of auto ignition of carbon atom (C) is 700ºC. These three auto ignition processes leads to formation of plasma plume which has strong emission of radiation in range of visible light. Formation of this plasma plume can be seen as increase of intensity in wavelength range of ~475-652 nm. Pyrometer shows maximum temperature just after this ignition. This plasma plume is assumed to scatter laser beam so that it interacts with larger area of dried kraft pulp than what is actual area of beam cross-section. This assumed scattering reduces also peak intensity. So result shows that assumably scattered light with low peak intensity is interacting with large area of hole edges and due to low peak intensity this interaction happens in low temperature. So interaction between laser beam and dried kraft pulp turns from evolution of hydrogen to evolution of hydrocarbons. This leads to black colour of hole edges.

State of logistics and transport in the Baltic Sea region in 2025

The world’s pace of change is accelerating and new innovations, inventions and technologies come about every day. Change is unavoidable. It is difficult to keep up and even more difficult to prepare for the future. Even though it is not possible to know exactly what will happen in the future, by studying futures people can better anticipate what might lie ahead. By making decisions and realizing the consequences of their choices today, people and governments are able to actively decide how they will act in the future. Both opportunities and pitfalls lie ahead, which encourages actors to make more farsighted decisions. The Baltic Sea region is an interesting area for futures studies. It comprises 11 nations and more than 100 million inhabitants and entails countries with advanced, high-income economies, like Finland, Germany and Denmark, and developing economies, like Russia, Latvia and Lithuania. The western, eastern, northern and southern parts of the region are separated by the Baltic Sea, which at the same time represents a barrier and a facility for trade and travel between the countries belonging to the region The purpose of this study was to uncover the most probable future of transport and logistics in the Baltic Sea region in 2025 by using the Delphi method. Altogether 109 responses were collected in two separate instances from experts in all the Baltic Sea region countries, 56 of whom were defined as academic respondents and 53 of whom business respondents. Only minor differences in the opinions of academic and business experts were discovered, and the larger differences lie between eastern and western response groups. The Baltic Sea region is a very heterogeneous region and the division is clearest between East and West, which differ in political, economic, social, technological and environmental aspects. The probable future of the Baltic Sea region presented in this study is coherent with previous studies on the same subject. The future of the Baltic Sea region in terms of logistics and transport looks quite bright according to the experts who participated in the study. Trade volumes will grow and the importance of logistics and transport to the competitiveness of the region will increase. Respondents from eastern countries seemed to be more optimistic about the future in general. Most differences between opinions could be explained by the gap in technological and infrastructural development between the East and West. As eastern countries are less-developed in some parts of their economies, it is easier for them to improve the technical condition of infrastructure by merely catching up with the western countries.