Wide Area Network Acceleration in Corporate Networks

There are several factors affecting network performance. Some of these can be controlled whereas the others are more fixed. These factors are studied in this thesis from the wide area network (WAN) perspective and the focus is on corporate networks. Another area of interest is the behavior of application protocols when used through WAN. The aim is to study the performance of commonly used application protocols in corporate networks. After identifying the performance problems in corporate WANs the thesis concentrates on methods for improving WAN performance. WAN acceleration is presented as a possible solution. The different acceleration methods are discussed in order to give the reader a theoretical view on how the accelerators can improve WAN performance. Guidelines on the installation of accelerators into a network are also discussed. After a general overview on accelerators is given, one accelerator vendor currently on market is selected for a further analysis. The work is also a case study where two accelerators are installed into a target company network for testing purposes. The tests are performed with three different application protocols that have been identified as critical applications for the target corporation. The aim of the tests is to serve as a proof of concept for WAN acceleration in the target network.

Transparent and secure remote network storage system using an untrusted server

Työssä kehitettin läpinäkyvä Internet Small Computer Systems Interface-verkkolevyä (iSCSI) käyttävä varmistusjärjestelmä. Verkkolevyn sisältö suojattiin asiakaspään salauskerroksella (dm-crypt). Järjestely mahdollisti sen, että verkkolevylle tallennetut varmuuskopiot pysyivät luottamuksellisina, vaikka levypalvelinta tarjoava taho oli joko epäluotettava tai suorastaan vihamielinen. Järjestelmän hyötykäyttöä varten kehitettiin helppokäyttöinen prototyyppisovellus. Järjestelmän riskit ja haavoittuvuudet käytiin läpi ja analysoitiin. Järjestelmälle tehtiin myös karkea kryptoanalyysi sen teknistenominaisuuksien pohjalta. Suorituskykymittaukset tehtiin sekä salatulle että salaamattomalle iSCSI-liikenteelle. Näistä todettiin, että salauksen vaikutus suorituskykyyn oli häviävän pieni jopa 100 megabittiä sekunnissa siirtävillä verkkonopeuksilla. Lisäksi pohdittiin teknologian muita sovelluskohteita ja tulevia tutkimusalueita.

Local and Regional Scale Determinants of Biodiversity Patterns in Boreal Agricultural Landscapes

This thesis examines the local and regional scale determinants of biodiversity patterns using existing species and environmental data. The research focuses on agricultural environments that have experienced rapid declines of biodiversity during past decades. Existing digital databases provide vast opportunities for habitat mapping, predictive mapping of species occurrences and richness and understanding the speciesenvironment relationships. The applicability of these databases depends on the required accuracy and quality of the data needed to answer the landscape ecological and biogeographical questions in hand. Patterns of biodiversity arise from confounded effects of different factors, such as climate, land cover and geographical location. Complementary statistical approaches that can show the relative effects of different factors are needed in biodiversity analyses in addition to classical multivariate models. Better understanding of the key factors underlying the variation in diversity requires the analyses of multiple taxonomic groups from different perspectives, such as richness, occurrence, threat status and population trends. The geographical coincidence of species richness of different taxonomic groups can be rather limited. This implies that multiple geographical regions should be taken into account in order to preserve various groups of species. Boreal agricultural biodiversity and in particular, distribution and richness of threatened species is strongly associated with various grasslands. Further, heterogeneous agricultural landscapes characterized by moderate field size, forest patches and non-crop agricultural habitats enhance the biodiversity of rural environments. From the landscape ecological perspective, the major threats to Finnish agricultural biodiversity are the decline of connected grassland habitat networks, and general homogenization of landscape structure resulting from both intensification and marginalization of agriculture. The maintenance of key habitats, such as meadows and pastures is an essential task in conservation of agricultural biodiversity. Furthermore, a larger landscape context should be incorporated in conservation planning and decision making processes in order to respond to the needs of different species and to maintain heterogeneous rural landscapes and viable agricultural diversity in the future.

Local and Global Feature Extraction for Invariant Object Recognition

Perceiving the world visually is a basic act for humans, but for computers it is still an unsolved problem. The variability present innatural environments is an obstacle for effective computer vision. The goal of invariant object recognition is to recognise objects in a digital image despite variations in, for example, pose, lighting or occlusion. In this study, invariant object recognition is considered from the viewpoint of feature extraction. Thedifferences between local and global features are studied with emphasis on Hough transform and Gabor filtering based feature extraction. The methods are examined with respect to four capabilities: generality, invariance, stability, and efficiency. Invariant features are presented using both Hough transform and Gabor filtering. A modified Hough transform technique is also presented where the distortion tolerance is increased by incorporating local information. In addition, methods for decreasing the computational costs of the Hough transform employing parallel processing and local information are introduced.

Developing markets of energy biomass – local and global perspectives

The thesis explores global and national-level issues related to the development of markets for biomass for energy. The thesis consists of five separate papers and provides insights on selected issues. The aim of Paper I was to identify methodological and statistical challenges in assessing international solid and liquid biofuels trade and provide an overview of the Finnish situation with respect to the status of international solid and liquid biofuels trade. We found that, for the Finnish case, it is possible to qualify direct and indirect trade volumes of biofuels. The study showed that indirect trade of biofuels has a highly significant role in Finland and may be a significant sector also in global biofuels trade. The purpose of Paper II was to provide a quantified insight into Finnish prospects for meeting the national 2020 renewable energy targets and concurrently becoming a largescale producer of forest-biomass-based second-generation biofuels for feeding increasing demand in European markets. We found that Finland has good opportunities to realise a scenario to meet 2020 renewable energy targets and for large-scale production of wood-based biofuels. The potential net export of transport biofuels from Finland in 2020 would correspond to 2–3% of European demand. Paper III summarises the global status of international solid and liquid biofuels trade as illuminated by several separate sources. International trade of biofuels was estimated at nearly 1 EJ for 2006. Indirect trade of biofuels through trading of industrial roundwood and material by-products comprises the largest proportion of the trading, with a share of about two thirds. The purpose of Paper IV was to outline a comprehensive picture of the coverage of various certification schemes and sustainability principles relating to the entire value-added chain of biomass and bioenergy. Regardless of the intensive work that has been done in the field of sustainability schemes and principles concerning use of biomass for energy, weaknesses still exist. The objective of Paper V was to clarify the alternative scenarios for the international biomass market until 2020 and identify the underlying steps needed toward a wellfunctioning and sustainable market for biomass for energy purposes. An overall conclusion drawn from this analysis concerns the enormous opportunities related to the utilisation of biomass for energy in the coming decades.

Frequency-Domain and Wide-Pulse Time-Domain Measurements of Lanthanide Luminescence and Lanthanide-Based Resonance Energy Transfer

Resonance energy transfer (RET) is a non-radiative transfer of the excitation energy from the initially excited luminescent donor to an acceptor. The requirements for the resonance energy transfer are: i) the spectral overlap between the donor emission spectrum and the acceptor absorption spectrum, ii) the close proximity of the donor and the acceptor, and iii) the suitable relative orientations of the donor emission and the acceptor absorption transition dipoles. As a result of the RET process the donor luminescence intensity and the donor lifetime are decreased. If the acceptor is luminescent, a sensitized acceptor emission appears. The rate of RET depends strongly on the donor–acceptor distance (r) and is inversely proportional to r6. The distance dependence of RET is utilized in binding assays. The proximity requirement and the selective detection of the RET-modified emission signal allow homogeneous separation free assays. The term lanthanide-based RET is used when luminescent lanthanide compounds are used as donors. The long luminescence lifetimes, the large Stokes’ shifts and the intense, sharply-spiked emission spectra of the lanthanide donors offer advantages over the conventional organic donor molecules. Both the organic lanthanide chelates and the inorganic up-converting phosphor (UCP) particles have been used as donor labels in the RET based binding assays. In the present work lanthanide luminescence and lanthanide-based resonance energy transfer phenomena were studied. Luminescence lifetime measurements had an essential role in the research. Modular frequency-domain and time-domain luminometers were assembled and used successfully in the lifetime measurements. The frequency-domain luminometer operated in the low frequency domain ( 100 kHz) and utilized a novel dual-phase lock-in detection of the luminescence. One of the studied phenomena was the recently discovered non-overlapping fluorescence resonance energy transfer (nFRET). The studied properties were the distance and temperature dependences of nFRET. The distance dependence was found to deviate from the Förster theory and a clear temperature dependence was observed whereas conventional RET was completely independent of the temperature. Based on the experimental results two thermally activated mechanisms were proposed for the nFRET process. The work with the UCP particles involved the measurement of the luminescence properties of the UCP particles synthesized in our laboratory. The goal of the UCP particle research is to develop UCP donor labels for binding assays. In the present work the effect of the dopant concentrations and the core–shell structure on the total up-conversion luminescence intensity, the red–green emission ratio, and the luminescence lifetime was studied. Also the non-radiative nature of the energy transfer from the UCP particle donors to organic acceptors was demonstrated for the first time in aqueous environment and with a controlled donor–acceptor distance.

Integration in project business : mechanisms for integrating customers and the project network during the life-cycle of industrial projects

This thesis focuses on integration in project business, i.e. how projectbased companies organize their product and process structures when they deliver industrial solutions to their customers. The customers that invest in these solutions run their businesses in different geographical, political and economical environments, which should be acknowledged by the supplier when providing solutions comprising of larger and more complex scopes than previously supplied to these customers. This means that the suppliers are increasing their supply range by taking over some of the activities in the value chain that have traditionally been handled by the customer. In order to be able to provide the functioning solutions, including more engineering hours, technical equipment and a wider project network, a change is needed in the mindset in order to be able to carry out and take the required responsibility that these new approaches bring. For the supplier it is important to be able to integrate technical products, systems and services, but the supplier also needs to have the capabilities to integrate the cross-functional organizations and departments in the project network, the knowledge and information between and within these organizations and departments, along with inputs from the customer into the product and process structures during the lifecycle of the project under development. Hence, the main objective of this thesis is to explore the challenges of integration that industrial projects meet, and based on that, to suggest a concept of how to manage integration in project business by making use of integration mechanisms. Integration is considered the essential process for accomplishing an industrial project, whereas the accomplishment of the industrial project is considered to be the result of the integration. The thesis consists of an extended summary and four papers, that are based on three studies in which integration mechanisms for value creation in industrial project networks and the management of integration in project business have been explored. The research is based on an inductive approach where in particular the design, commissioning and operations functions of industrial projects have been studied, addressing entire project life-cycles. The studies have been conducted in the shipbuilding and power generation industries where the scopes of supply consist of stand-alone equipment, equipment and engineering, and turnkey solutions. These industrial solutions include demanding efforts in engineering and organization. Addressing the calls for more studies on the evolving value chains of integrated solutions, mechanisms for inter- and intra-organizational integration and subsequent value creation in project networks have been explored. The research results in thirteen integration mechanisms and a typology for integration is proposed. Managing integration consists of integrating the project network (the supplier and the sub-suppliers) and the customer (the customer’s business purpose, operations environment and the end-user) into the project by making use of integration mechanisms. The findings bring new insight into research on industrial project business by proposing integration of technology and engineering related elements with elements related to customer oriented business performance in contemporary project environments. Thirteen mechanisms for combining products and the processes needed to deliver projects are described and categorized according to the impact that they have on the management of knowledge and information. These mechanisms directly relate to the performance of the supplier, and consequently to the functioning of the solution that the project provides. This thesis offers ways to promote integration of knowledge and information during the lifecycle of industrial projects, enhancing the development towards innovative solutions in project business.

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea - How place brands are perceived differently from the points of view of a local and a tourist

Tämä tutkielma käsittelee paikkamarkkinointia ja paikkabrändäystä. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan paikallisen ja turistin tapoja muodostaa kaupunkibrändi; mistä palasista brändi muodostuu kirjallisuuden ja haastateltavien mukaan, koetaanko eri palaset vaihtelevissa määrin tärkeiksi riippuen siitä, tarkastellaanko paikkaa paikallisena vai turistina, ja löytyykö jotain yhteisiä retorisia nimittäjiä sille, miten kotikaupungista puhutaan verrattuna lomakaupunkiin. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin yli kolmeakymmentä henkilöä heidän kotikaupungeistaan ja kaupungeista, joihin he olivat matkustaneet lomalle. Haastateltavat olivat suurinpiirtein samanikäisiä, mutta eri kaupungeista ja matkustaneet eri paikkoihin. Haastateltavia pyydettiin ensin kuvailemaan vapaasti kotikaupunkiaan ja sen jälkeen kaupungista kysyttiin kirjallisuuteen perustuen kysymyksiä. Sama menetelmä toistettiin lomakohteen suhteen. Tutkimuksesta selvisi, että paikkabrändi muodostetaan samoista komponenteista, mutta joidenkin komponenttien merkitys on tärkeämpi kotikaupungissa, kun taas toiset komponentit ovat tärkeitä lomakohteen suhteen. Ihmiset ja kulttuuri yleisesti koettiin tärkeinä komponentteina molemmista paikkabrändeistä puhuttaessa, kun taas kotikaupungin brändinmuodostukseen kuului vahvemmin lait ja muut käytännölliset menettelytavat kuten liikenteen toimivuus. Lomakohteen brändinmuodostuksessa vapaudella tehdä mitä haluaa oli suuri merkitys ja vapautta nähtiin eri muodoissa. Retoriikka kotikaupungista puhuttaessa oli selvästi negatiivista, kun taas lomakohteesta puhuttiin yleisesti ottaen positiiviseen sävyyn. Suhde kotikaupunkiin oli ambivalentti, sillä huonojakin puolia mainittaessa niitä puolusteltiin, tai kotikaupungista mainittiin loppujen lopuksi jotain hyvää. Tutkimusten tuloksiin perustuen toimenpidesuosituksina ehdotetaan olemassaolevan autenttisen kulttuurin ylläpitämäistä, korostamista ja kaupungin orgaanista kehittämistä suuntaan, jossa se on hyvä paikka niin elämiseen kuin lomailuun. Identiteetti, imago ja ihmiset kietoutuvat tiiviisti yhteen, minkä vuoksi kaupunkisuunnittelun- ja kehittämisen tehtävänä on pitää huolta, että kaupunki on onnistunut molempien ryhmien suhteen, ja molemmat ryhmät levittävät kaupungista positiivista sanomaa.

Network Device Driver Design and Implementation for Symbian Operating System

Tämä diplomityö esittää Symbianin käyttöjärjestelmän verkkoarkkitehtuuriin perustuvan paikallisverkkokortin (LAN) käyttöönottoa. Pääajatus oli keskitetty langattoman LAN— kortin (WLAN) ajureiden käyttöönottoon. Jokainen Symbianin käyttöjärjestelmän verkkoarkkitehtuurin komponentti oli huolellisesti tutkittu, painottaen mahdollista langattoman yhteyden uudelleenkäyttöä. Myös olemassaolevan Ethernetkortin ajureiden uudelleenkäyttö oli huolellisesti otettu huomioon. Diplomityöprojektin aikana esimerkki WLAN-kortin ajurin lähdekoodista oli esitetty. Tämä ajuri on kirjoitettu NOKIA DTN-20 WLAN-korttia varten. Havaittiin myös, että suurin osa Symbianin käyttöjärjestelmän verkkoarkkitehtuurista voidaan käyttää myös WLAN-pohjaisessa yhteydessä ilman muutoksia.. Esitetty ajuri käyttää myös tiettyjä olemassaolevan Ethernetkortin ajureita, esim. Logical Device Driver (LDD):tä.

Regional Data Transmission Network

The globalization and development of an information society promptly change shape of the modern world. Cities and especially megacities including Saint-Petersburg are in the center of occuring changes. As a result of these changes the economic activities connected to reception and processing of the information now play very important role in economy of megacities what allows to characterize them as "information". Despite of wide experience in decision of information questions Russia, and in particular Saint-Petersburg, lag behind in development of information systems from the advanced European countries. The given master's thesis is devoted to development of an information system (data transmission network) on the basis of wireless technology in territory of Saint-Petersburg region within the framework of FTOP "Electronic Russia" and RTOP "Electronic Saint-Petersburg" programs. Logically the master's thesis can be divided into 3 parts: 1. The problems, purposes, expected results, terms and implementation of the "Electronic Russia" program. 2. Discussion about wireless data transmission networks (description of technology, substantiation of choice, description of signal's transmission techniques and types of network topology). 3. Fulfillment of the network (organization of central network node, regional centers, access lines, description of used equipment, network's capabilities), financial provision of the project, possible network management models.

Business potential evaluation of wireless local area networks: Teleoperator’s view

The objective of the thesis was to evaluate business potential of wireless local area networks (WLAN, Wireless LAN). At first, the scope of business potential evaluation of technology was introduced. Next, a general framework of business potential evaluation of technology based on literature was presented. In addition, convergence of cellular networks and data networks was studied in order to get an insight of current situation of mobile telecommunications industry. Finally, wireless local area networks business potential was evaluated. A wireless local area network is a data communication system, which combines data connectivity with mobility and is implemented in unlicensed frequency bands, allowing new business opportunities to emerge. The main markets of WLAN are corporate networks, public area networks and access networks. At the moment the penetration of WLAN terminals is low which derives to low demand of wireless LAN services. In addition, unlicensed spectrum forces the teleoperators to set the service price relatively low. The business potential is in integrating wireless LANs to cellular networks and in offering value added services to end users. The future of wireless LAN is to be complementary network to cellular networks. In this vision cellular networks provide voice and low data services and broadband wireless networks enable multimedia services.

Value added logistics in supply and demand chain. Smile. Part 2. eBusiness in a service business. Case: A maintenance and operations network in forest industry

VVALOSADE is a research project of professor Anita Lukka's VALORE research team in the Lappeenranta University of Technology. The VALOSADE includes the ELO technology program of Tekes. SMILE is one of four subprojects of the VALOSADE. The SMILE study focuses on the case of the company network that is composed of small and micro-sized mechanical maintenance service providers and forest industry as large-scale customers. The basic principle of the SMILE study is the communication and ebusiness in supply and demand networks. The aim of the study is to develop ebusiness strategy, ebusiness model and e-processes among the SME local service providers, and onthe other hand, between the local service provider network and the forest industry customers in a maintenance and operations service business. A literature review, interviews and benchmarking are used as research methods in this qualitative case study. The first SMILE report, 'Ebusiness between Global Company and Its Local SME Supplier Network', concentrated on creating background for the SMILE study by studying general trends of ebusiness in supply chains and networks of different industries. This second phase of the study concentrates on case network background, such as business relationships, information systems and business objectives; core processes in maintenance and operations service network; development needs in communication among the network participants; and ICT solutions to respond needs in changing environment. In the theory part of the report, different ebusiness models and frameworks are introduced. Those models and frameworks are compared to empirical case data. From that analysis of the empirical data, therecommendations for the development of the network information system are derived. In process industry such as the forest industry, it is crucial to achieve a high level of operational efficiency and reliability, which sets up great requirements for maintenance and operations. Therefore, partnerships or strategic alliances are needed between the network participants. In partnerships and alliances, deep communication is important, and therefore the information systems in the network also are critical. Communication, coordination and collaboration will increase in the case network in the future, because network resources must be optimised to improve competitive capability of the forest industry customers and theefficiency of their service providers. At present, ebusiness systems are not usual in this maintenance network. A network information system among the forest industry customers and their local service providers actually is the only genuinenetwork information system in this total network. However, the utilisation of that system has been quite insignificant. The current system does not add value enough either to the customers or to the local service providers. At present, thenetwork information system is the infomediary that share static information forthe network partners. The network information system should be the transaction intermediary, which integrates internal processes of the network companies; the network information system, which provides common standardised processes for thelocal service providers; and the infomediary, which share static and dynamic information on right time, on right partner, on right costs, on right format and on right quality. This study provides recommendations how to develop this system in the future to add value to the network companies. Ebusiness scenarios, vision, objectives, strategies, application architecture, ebusiness model, core processes and development strategy must be considered when the network information system will be developed in the next development step. The core processes in the case network are demand/capacity management, customer/supplier relationship management, service delivery management, knowledge management and cash flow management. Most benefits from ebusiness solutions come from the electrifying of operational level processes, such as service delivery management and cash flow management.