Classification of acid sulphate soils of Finland according to Soil Taxonomy and the FAO/Unesco legend

Selostus: Suomen happamien sulfaattimaiden kansainvälinen luokittelu

Bayesian classification of forest ecological type from satellite data

The main objective of this study was todo a statistical analysis of ecological type from optical satellite data, using Tipping's sparse Bayesian algorithm. This thesis uses "the Relevence Vector Machine" algorithm in ecological classification betweenforestland and wetland. Further this bi-classification technique was used to do classification of many other different species of trees and produces hierarchical classification of entire subclasses given as a target class. Also, we carried out an attempt to use airborne image of same forest area. Combining it with image analysis, using different image processing operation, we tried to extract good features and later used them to perform classification of forestland and wetland.

A Survey and Classification of Software Testing Tools

Software testing is one of the essential parts in software engineering process. The objective of the study was to describe software testing tools and the corresponding use. The thesis contains examples of software testing tools usage. The study was conducted as a literature study, with focus on current software testing practices and quality assurance standards. In the paper a tool classifier was employed, and testing tools presented in study were classified according to it. We found that it is difficult to distinguish current available tools by certain testing activities as many of them contain functionality that exceeds scopes of a single testing type.

Characterization of board impurities with a Raman device

Erilaisia epäpuhtauksia kulkeutuu paperinvalmistusprosessiin ja monenlaisia saostumia muodostuu paperinvalmistuksen prosesseissa. Epäpuhtaudet voivat aiheuttaa prosessiongelmia sekä alentaa tuotteen laatua. Epäpuhtauksien alkuperän ja koostumuksen selvittäminen edellyttää usein erilaisten analyysimenetelmien käyttöä. Epäpuhtauksien luokittelu on useasti välttämätöntä ennen tarkempaa kemiallista analyysia. Paperinvalmistuksen epäpuhtauksien kvalitatiiviseen luokitteluun on yleisimmin käytetty mikroskopian, IR-spektroskopian ja analyyttisen pyrolyysin menetelmiä. Raman spektroskopia on harvinaisempi menetelmä paperiteollisuuden tutkimuksessa. Raman instrumenttien kehittyminen on ollut voimakasta viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana. Raman spektroskopia onkin osoittanut mandollisuutensa polymeerien, lääketeollisuuden ja polttoaineteollisuuden tutkimuksissa. Tässä työssä tutkittiin erään elintarvikepakkauskartongin epäpuhtauksia Raman spektroskoopilla. Työn tavoitteena oli selvittää Raman analyysin käyttökelpoisuutta kartongin epäpuhtauksien online-luokittelussa. Tutkimukset suoritettiin Spectracoden RP-1 Raman instrumentilla. Tutkimukset osoittivat, että näytteen fluoresenssi ja näytteen hajoaminen asettavat rajoituksia epäpuhtauksien Raman analyysille. Epäpuhtauksien online-tunnistaminen toimii käytettäessä suuria lasertehoja ja säteilytysaikoja. Näytteiden laserherkkyys ja fluoresenssi rajoittavat kuitenkin suurien laiteparametrien käyttöä. Laiteparametrien pienentäminen johti mittauksien signaali-kohina suhteen alenemiseen, mikä puolestaan aiheutti online-tunnistuksen toimimattomuuden.

Intra-organizational use of communication tools in value nets - Cases from the ICT industry

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää sisäisen kommunikoinnin tilannetta case-yrityksissä. Yritykset kuuluvat kahteen case-arvoverkostoon, jotka toimivat informaatio- ja kommunikaatioteknologian alalla. Sisäinen kommunikointi valittiin tutkimusalueeksi, koska se muodostaa perustan ulkoiselle, yritysten väliselle kommunikoinnille. Tutkimuksen painopiste oli web-pohjaisessa kommunikoinnissa ja webin ominaisuuksissa arvoverkoston näkökulmasta. Tutkimusprosessissa käytettiin sekä kvalitatiivisia että kvantitatiivisia menetelmiä. Tutkimuksen kvantitatiivinen osa toteutettiin web-kyselynä, jonka tulokset osoittivat, että case-yritysten sisäinen kommunikointi perustuu pääasiassa perinteisten kommunikointivälineiden käyttöön. Toisin sanoen, webin hyödyntäminen on vähäistä, mihin vaikuttavat monet eri tekijät. Webissä on kuitenkin useita ominaisuuksia, jotka parantavat kommunikointia arvoverkostossa ja siksi nämä web-pohjaiset välineet tulisi huomioida, kun suunnitellaan yleistä kommunikointijärjestelmää. Tutkimuksen teoreettisessa osassa määriteltiin vuorovaikutteisuus-ominaisuuteen perustuva kommunikointivälineiden luokittelu. Tämän lisäksi määriteltiin myös arvoverkoston käsite. Empiirinen osa koostui web-kyselyn toteutuksen ja tulosten raportoinnista, jonka jälkeen yhteenvetokappale koosti merkittävimmät havainnot sekä mahdolliset jatkotutkimusaiheet.

Evaluation of Software Development Practices through Error Analysis

This thesis studies evaluation of software development practices through an error analysis. The work presents software development process, software testing, software errors, error classification and software process improvement methods. The practical part of the work presents results from the error analysis of one software process. It also gives improvement ideas for the project. It was noticed that the classification of the error data was inadequate in the project. Because of this it was impossible to use the error data effectively. With the error analysis we were able to show that there were deficiencies in design and analyzing phases, implementation phase and in testing phase. The work gives ideas for improving error classification and for software development practices.

Status of biomass gasification

Kaasutuksen kannattavuus ja toteutustapa on ollut tarkea ja useiden tutkimuksien kohde. Biomassan kaasutuksen ja siina kaytettavien laitteiden nykytila on epavarma. Niinpa lisatutkimukselle ja tarkasteluille on edelleen tarvetta. Tama tyo keskittyy nykyisin kaytettavien kaasutusprosessien ja laitteiden tarkasteluun. Tyossa kaydaan lapi useita uusimpia kaasutusprojekteja ja esitetaan niista tutkimustarpeita. Lisaksi kaasutusprosessissa pitaa saada hallintaan niille tyypillisia ongelmia kuten kaasun puhdistus, kaasun kasittely, biomassan kasittely ja kaasuttimen muuraus, joista esitetaan lisatietoa. Edelleen esitetaan kaasutusprosessien taydellinen luokittelu. On huomattava etta biomassan kaasutusta tarvitaan jotta saadaan toteutettua EUn hahmotteleman ja saataman energiapolitiikan vaatima kasvu ja kehitys.

Many valued algebraic structures as measures of comparison

This thesis studies the properties and usability of operators called t-norms, t-conorms, uninorms, as well as many valued implications and equivalences. Into these operators, weights and a generalized mean are embedded for aggregation, and they are used for comparison tasks and for this reason they are referred to as comparison measures. The thesis illustrates how these operators can be weighted with a differential evolution and aggregated with a generalized mean, and the kinds of measures of comparison that can be achieved from this procedure. New operators suitable for comparison measures are suggested. These operators are combination measures based on the use of t-norms and t-conorms, the generalized 3_-uninorm and pseudo equivalence measures based on S-type implications. The empirical part of this thesis demonstrates how these new comparison measures work in the field of classification, for example, in the classification of medical data. The second application area is from the field of sports medicine and it represents an expert system for defining an athlete's aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. The core of this thesis offers definitions for comparison measures and illustrates that there is no actual difference in the results achieved in comparison tasks, by the use of comparison measures based on distance, versus comparison measures based on many valued logical structures. The approach has been highly practical in this thesis and all usage of the measures has been validated mainly by practical testing. In general, many different types of operators suitable for comparison tasks have been presented in fuzzy logic literature and there has been little or no experimental work with these operators.

Analysis of Satellite Data for Forest Segmentation

In this work we study the classification of forest types using mathematics based image analysis on satellite data. We are interested in improving classification of forest segments when a combination of information from two or more different satellites is used. The experimental part is based on real satellite data originating from Canada. This thesis gives summary of the mathematics basics of the image analysis and supervised learning , methods that are used in the classification algorithm. Three data sets and four feature sets were investigated in this thesis. The considered feature sets were 1) histograms (quantiles) 2) variance 3) skewness and 4) kurtosis. Good overall performances were achieved when a combination of ASTERBAND and RADARSAT2 data sets was used.

Molecular profiling of human endometrium and endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common hormone-dependent gynecological disease leading to severe menstrual and/or chronic pelvic pain with or without subfertility. The disease is defined by the presence of endometrium-like tissue outside the uterine cavity, primarily on the pelvic peritoneum, ovaries and infiltrating organs of the peritoneal cavity. The current tools for diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis need to be improved to ensure reliable diagnosis and effective treatment. In addition, endometriosis is associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer and, therefore, the differential diagnosis between the benign and malignant ovarian cysts is of importance. The long-term objective of the present study was to support the discovery of novel tools for diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. This was approached by exploiting genome-wide expression analysis of endometriosis specimens. A novel expression profiling -based classification of endometriosis indicated specific subgroups of lesions partially consistent with the clinical appearance, but partially according to unknown factors. The peritoneum of women with endometriosis appeared to be altered in comparison to that of healthy control subjects, suggesting a novel aspect on the pathogenesis of the disease. The evaluation of action and metabolism of sex hormones in endometrium and endometriosis tissue indicated a novel role of androgens in regulation of the tissues. In addition, an enzyme involved in androgen and neurosteroid metabolism, hydroxysteroid (17beta) dehydrogenase 6, was found to be highly up-regulated in endometriosis tissue as compared to healthy endometrium. The enzyme may have a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis or in the endometriosis associated pain generation. Finally, a new diagnostic biomarker, HE4, was discovered distinguishing patients with ovarian endometriotic cysts from those with malignant ovarian cancer. The information acquired in this study enables deeper understanding of endometriosis and facilitates the development of improved diagnostic tools and more specific treatments of the disease

Molecular Systematics of Noctuoidea (Insecta, lepidoptera)

In this thesis, I conduct a series of molecular systematic studies on the large phytophagous moth superfamily Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) to clarify deep divergences and evolutionary affinities of the group, based on material from every zoogeographic region of the globe. Noctuoidea are the most speciose radiations of butterflies and moths on earth, comprising about a quarter of all lepidopteran diversity. The general aim of these studies was to apply suitably conservative genetic markers (DNA sequences of mitochondrial—mtDNA—and nuclear gene— nDNA—regions) to reconstruct, as the initial step, a robust skeleton phylogenetic hypothesis for the superfamily, then build up robust phylogenetic frameworks for those circumscribed monophyletic entities (i.e., families), as well as clarifying the internal classification of monophyletic lineages (subfamilies and tribes), to develop an understanding of the major lineages at various taxonomic levels within the superfamily Noctuoidea, and their inter-relationships. The approaches applied included: i) stabilizing a robust family-level classification for the superfamily; ii) resolving the phylogeny of the most speciose radiation of Noctuoidea: the family Erebidae; iii) reconstruction of ancestral feeding behaviors and evolution of the vampire moths (Erebidae, Calpinae); iv) elucidating the evolutionary relationships within the family Nolidae and v) clarifying the basal lineages of Noctuidae sensu stricto. Thus, in this thesis I present a wellresolved molecular phylogenetic hypothesis for higher taxa of Noctuoidea consisting of six strongly supported families: Oenosandridae, Notodontidae, Euteliidae, Erebidae, Nolidae, and Noctuidae. The studies in my thesis highlight the importance of molecular data in systematic and phylogenetic studies, in particular DNA sequences of nuclear genes, and an extensive sampling strategy to include representatives of all known major lineages of entire world fauna of Noctuoidea from every biogeographic region. This is crucial, especially when the model organism is as species-rich, highly diverse, cosmopolitan and heterogeneous as the Noctuoidea, traits that represent obstacles to the use of morphology at this taxonomic level.

Identification and characterization of new genes and pathways regulating spermatogonial cell fate

Spermatogenesis, i.e sperm production in the seminiferous tubules of the testis, is a complex process that takes over one month to complete. Life-long ability of sperm production ultimately lies in a small population of undifferentiated cells, called spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). These cells give rise to differentiating spermatogonia, which are committed to mature into spermatozoa. SSCs represent a heterogeneous population of cells and many aspects of their basic biology are still unknown. Understanding the mechanisms behind the cell fate decision of these cells is important to gain more insights into the causes of infertility and testis cancer. In addition, an interesting new aspect is the use of testis-derived stem cells in regenerative medicine. Our data demonstrated that adult mouse testis houses a population of Nanog-expressing spermatogonia. Based on mRNA and protein analysis these cells are enriched in stage XII of the mouse seminiferous epithelial cycle. The cells derived from this stage have the highest capacity to give rise to ES cell-like cells which express Oct4 and Nanog. These cells are under tight non- GDNF regulation but their fate can be dictated by activating p21 signalling. Comparative studies suggested that these cells are regulated like ES cells. Taken together these data imply that pluripotent cells are present in the adult mammalian testis. CIP2A (cancerous inhibitor of PP2A) has been associated with tumour aggressiveness and poor prognosis. In the testis it is expressed by the descendants of stem cells, i.e. the spermatogonial progenitor cells. Our data suggest that CIP2A acts upstream of PLZF and is needed for quantitatively normal spermatogenesis. Classification of CIP2A as a cancer/testis gene makes it an attractive target for cancer therapy. Study on the CIP2A deficient mouse model demonstrates that systemic inhibition of CIP2A does not severely interfere with growth and development or tissue or organ function, except for the spermatogenic output. These data demonstrate that CIP2A is required for quantitatively normal spermatogenesis. Hedgehog (Hh) signalling is involved in the development and maintenance of many different tissues and organs. According to our data, Hh signalling is active at many different levels during rat spermatogenesis: in spermatogonia, spermatocytes and late elongating spermatids. Localization of Suppressor of Fused (SuFu), the negative regulator of the pathway, specifically in early elongating spermatids suggests that Hh signalling needs to be shut down in these cells. Introduction of Hh signalling inhibitor resulted in an increase in germ cell apoptosis. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and inhibition of receptor tyrosine kinases resulted in down-regulation of Hh signalling. These data show that Hh signalling is under endocrine and paracrine control and it promotes germ cell survival.