Consumer Search Behavior in High Involvement Purchases

The aim of this study is to investigate the consumer search behavior in high involvement purchases. The results of this research provide the descriptive analysis of the information search phase which is a part of the decision-making process. The study focuses on customer’s choice of the information sources, motivation behind it and different factors that influence the search behavior. Particular attention is paid to the purchase categorization and the differences in information search between products and services. The qualitative research method is chosen for this study. The data is gathered through ten theme interviews. Each participant of the interview describes his/her own search behavior in a product and a service case. The results indicate that consumer search behavior vary according to the purchase categorization, demographic, individual and situational factors. Moreover, the above-mentioned factors influence the purpose and position of the information search phase in a five-step decision making model.

Integrating environmental education in primary school education in Tanzania : teachers’ perceptions and teaching practices

The study focuses on primary school teachers’ perceptions of environmental education, its integration into primary school education and teachers’ teaching practices in Tanzania. The thesis is based on empirical research. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are based on Palmer’s (1998) model of environmental education. According to the model, meaningful environmental education should include education about, in or through and for the environment. The study is supported by national and international literature from research done on environmental education and education for sustainable development and policy statements. The study is qualitative in nature, adopting phenomenography and phenomenology as points of departure. The empirical data was collected from four primary schools in Morogoro region in Tanzania. The study sample consisted of 31 primary school teachers. Data was collected through interviews and lesson observations. According to the results of the study, primary school teachers expressed variations in their perceptions of environmental education and education for sustainable development. Most of the teachers focused on the aspect of knowledge acquisition. According to Tanzanian education and training policy, environmental education has to be integrated into all subjects. Although there is environmental education in the primary school curriculum, it is not integrated on an equal footing in all subjects. Some subjects like science, social studies and geography have more environmental content than other subjects. Teachers claim that the approach used to integrate environmental education into the school curriculum was not favoured because many claimed that what is to be taught as environmental education in the various subjects is not shown clearly. As a result, many teachers suggested that to ensure that it is taught properly it should be included in the curriculum as an independent subject or as specific topics. The study revealed that teachers’ teaching practices in integrating environmental education varied from one subject to another. Although most of the teachers said that they used participatory methods, lesson observations showed that they limited themselves to question and answer and group discussion. However, the teachers faced a number of barriers in the teaching of environmental education, some of which include lack of teaching and learning resources, time and large class size. The role of teachers in the implementation of environmental education in developing an environmentally literate citizenry is of great significance. The responsibility of the government in developing a curriculum with clear goals and content, developing teachers’ capacity in the teaching of environmental education and provision of teaching and learning materials needs to be taken seriously by the government in educational plans and programs.

Nuclear Matrix in Apoptotic Cell Death and Cell Proliferation. The role of Nuclear Mitotic Apparatus (NuMA) Protein

The nucleus is a membrane enclosed organelle containing most of the genetic information of the cell in the form of chromatin. The nucleus, which can be divided into many sub-organelles such as the nucleoli, the Cajal bodies and the nuclear lamina, is the site for several essential cellular functions such as the DNA replication and its regulation and most of the RNA synthesis and processing. The nucleus is often affected in disease: the size and the shape of the nucleus, the chromatin distribution and the size of the nucleoli have remained the basis for the grading of several cancers. The maintenance of the vertebrate body shape depends on the skeleton. Similarly, in a smaller context, the shape of the cell and the nucleus are mainly regulated by the cytoskeletal and nucleoskeletal elements. The nuclear matrix, which by definition is a detergent, DNase and salt resistant proteinaceous nuclear structure, has been suggested to form the nucleoskeleton responsible for the nuclear integrity. Nuclear mitotic apparatus protein, NuMA, a component of the nuclear matrix, is better known for its mitotic spindle organizing function. NuMA is one of the nuclear matrix proteins suggested to participate in the maintenance of the nuclear integrity during interphase but its interphase function has not been solved to date. This thesis study concentrated on the role of NuMA and the nuclear matrix as structural and functional components of the interphase nucleus. The first two studies clarified the essential role of caspase-3 in the disintegration of the nuclear structures during apoptosis. The second study also showed NuMA and chromatin to co-elute from cells in significant amounts and the apoptotic cleavage of NuMA was clarified to have an important role in the dissociation of NuMA from the chromatin. The third study concentrated on the interphase function of NuMA showing NuMA depletion to result in cell cycle arrest and the cytoplasmic relocalization of NuMA interaction partner GAS41. We suggest that the relocalization of the transcription factor GAS41 may mediate the cell cycle arrest. Thus, this study has given new aspects in the interactions of NuMA, chromatin and the nuclear matrix.

Identification of Some Additional Loss Components in High-Power Low-Voltage Permanent Magnet Generators

Permanent magnet generators (PMG) represent the cutting edge technology in modern wind mills. The efficiency remains high (over 90%) at partial loads. To improve the machine efficiency even further, every aspect of machine losses has to be analyzed. Additional losses are often given as a certain percentage without providing any detailed information about the actual calculation process; meanwhile, there are many design-dependent losses that have an effect on the total amount of additional losses and that have to be taken into consideration. Additional losses are most often eddy current losses in different parts of the machine. These losses are usually difficult to calculate in the design process. In this doctoral thesis, some additional losses are identified and modeled. Further, suggestions on how to minimize the losses are given. Iron losses can differ significantly between the measured no-load values and the loss values under load. In addition, with embedded magnet rotors, the quadrature-axis armature reaction adds losses to the stator iron by manipulating the harmonic content of the flux. It was, therefore, re-evaluated that in salient pole machines, to minimize the losses and the loss difference between the no-load and load operation, the flux density has to be kept below 1.5 T in the stator yoke, which is the traditional guideline for machine designers. Eddy current losses may occur in the end-winding area and in the support structure of the machine, that is, in the finger plate and the clamping ring. With construction steel, these losses account for 0.08% of the input power of the machine. These losses can be reduced almost to zero by using nonmagnetic stainless steel. In addition, the machine housing may be subjected to eddy current losses if the flux density exceeds 1.5 T in the stator yoke. Winding losses can rise rapidly when high frequencies and 10–15 mm high conductors are used. In general, minimizing the winding losses is simple. For example, it can be done by dividing the conductor into transposed subconductors. However, this comes with the expense of an increase in the DC resistance. In the doctoral thesis, a new method is presented to minimize the winding losses by applying a litz wire with noninsulated strands. The construction is the same as in a normal litz wire but the insulation between the subconductors has been left out. The idea is that the connection is kept weak to prevent harmful eddy currents from flowing. Moreover, the analytical solution for calculating the AC resistance factor of the litz-wire is supplemented by including an end-winding resistance in the analytical solution. A simple measurement device is developed to measure the AC resistance in the windings. In the case of a litz-wire with originally noninsulated strands, vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) is used to insulate the subconductors. In one of the two cases studied, the VPI affected the AC resistance factor, but in the other case, it did not have any effect. However, more research is needed to determine the effect of the VPI on litz-wire with noninsulated strands. An empirical model is developed to calculate the AC resistance factor of a single-layer formwound winding. The model includes the end-winding length and the number of strands and turns. The end winding includes the circulating current (eddy currents that are traveling through the whole winding between parallel strands) and the main current. The end-winding length also affects the total AC resistance factor.

Hand tracking in high-speed camera videos

Visual object tracking has been one of the most popular research topics in the field of computer vision recently. Specifically, hand tracking has attracted significant attention since it would enable many useful practical applications. However, hand tracking is still a very challenging problem which cannot be considered solved. The fact that almost every aspect of hand appearance can change is the fundamental reason for this difficulty. This thesis focused on 2D-based hand tracking in high-speed camera videos. During the project, a toolbox for this purpose was collected which contains nine different tracking methods. In the experiments, these methods were tested and compared against each other with both high-speed videos recorded during the project and publicly available normal speed videos. The results revealed that tracking accuracies varied considerably depending on the video and the method. Therefore, no single method was clearly the best in all videos, but three methods, CT, HT, and TLD, performed better than the others overall. Moreover, the results provide insights about the suitability of each method to different types and situations of hand tracking.

Combining Good Practices : Method to study Introductory Physics in Engineering Education

Julkaisumaa: 056 BE BEL Belgia

The impact of long-term brand development strategies on brand value of companies operating in high-technology markets

The objective of the current research is to investigate brand value generation. The study is conducted in the context of high-technology companies. The research aims at finding the impact of long-term brand development strategies, including advertising investments, R&D investments, R&D intensity, new products developed and design. The empirical part of the study incorporated collection of primary and secondary data on 36 companies operating in high-technology sector and being rated as top companies with the most valuable brands by Interbrand consultancy. The data contained information for six consequent years from 2008 to 2013. Obtained data was analyzed using the methods of fixed effect and random effect model (panel data analysis). The analysis showed positive effect of advertising and R&D investments on brand value of high-technology companies in the long run. The impact of remaining three strategies was not approved and further investigation is required.

Defining the keyhole modes – the effects on the weld geometry and the molten pool behaviour in high power laser welding of stainless steels

Keyhole welding, meaning that the laser beam forms a vapour cavity inside the steel, is one of the two types of laser welding processes and currently it is used in few industrial applications. Modern high power solid state lasers are becoming more used generally, but not all process fundamentals and phenomena of the process are well known and understanding of these helps to improve quality of final products. This study concentrates on the process fundamentals and the behaviour of the keyhole welding process by the means of real time high speed x-ray videography. One of the problem areas in laser welding has been mixing of the filler wire into the weld; the phenomena are explained and also one possible solution for this problem is presented in this study. The argument of this thesis is that the keyhole laser welding process has three keyhole modes that behave differently. These modes are trap, cylinder and kaleidoscope. Two of these have sub-modes, in which the keyhole behaves similarly but the molten pool changes behaviour and geometry of the resulting weld is different. X-ray videography was used to visualize the actual keyhole side view profile during the welding process. Several methods were applied to analyse and compile high speed x-ray video data to achieve a clearer image of the keyhole side view. Averaging was used to measure the keyhole side view outline, which was used to reconstruct a 3D-model of the actual keyhole. This 3D-model was taken as basis for calculation of the vapour volume inside of the keyhole for each laser parameter combination and joint geometry. Four different joint geometries were tested, partial penetration bead on plate and I-butt joint and full penetration bead on plate and I-butt joint. The comparison was performed with selected pairs and also compared all combinations together.

The role of nuclear power in the future energy system

Currently widely accepted consensus is that greenhouse gas emissions produced by the mankind have to be reduced in order to avoid further global warming. The European Union has set a variety of CO2 reduction and renewable generation targets for its member states. The current energy system in the Nordic countries is one of the most carbon free in the world, but the aim is to achieve a fully carbon neutral energy system. The objective of this thesis is to consider the role of nuclear power in the future energy system. Nuclear power is a low carbon energy technology because it produces virtually no air pollutants during operation. In this respect, nuclear power is suitable for a carbon free energy system. In this master's thesis, the basic characteristics of nuclear power are presented and compared to fossil fuelled and renewable generation. Nordic energy systems and different scenarios in 2050 are modelled. Using models and information about the basic characteristics of nuclear power, an opinion is formed about its role in the future energy system in Nordic countries. The model shows that it is possible to form a carbon free Nordic energy system. Nordic countries benefit from large hydropower capacity which helps to offset fluctuating nature of wind power. Biomass fuelled generation and nuclear power provide stable and predictable electricity throughout the year. Nuclear power offers better energy security and security of supply than fossil fuelled generation and it is competitive with other low carbon technologies.

Effect of heat input on the mechanical properties of welded joints in high strength steels

Experiments were carried out to determine the properties of the welded joints in 8mm thick high-strength steels produced by quenching and tempering and thermomechanical rolling with accelerated cooling (tensile strength 821–835 MPa). The dependence of the strength, elongation, hardness, impact energy and crack opening displacement on the heat input in the range 1.0–0.7 kJ mm21 was determined. The results show that the dependence of the strength of the welded joints decreases and that of the elongation increases. The heat input has only a slight effect on the impact energy and crack opening displacement in the heat-affected zone.