Functions for estimating stem diameter and tree age using tree height, crown width and existing stand database information

Abstract

Implementation of an Integrated Activity-Based Costing in a Holistic Database Management System and its Implications for Operations Management

Diplomityössä on tutkittu reaaliaikaisen toimintolaskennan toteuttamista suomalaisen lasersiruja valmistavan PK-yrityksen tietojärjestelmään. Lisäksi on tarkasteltu toimintolaskennan vaikutuksia operatiiviseen toimintaan sekä toimintojen johtamiseen. Työn kirjallisuusosassa on käsitelty kirjallisuuslähteiden perusteella toimintolaskennan teorioita, laskentamenetelmiä sekä teknisessä toteutuksessa käytettyjä teknologioita. Työn toteutusosassa suunniteltiin ja toteutettiin WWW-pohjainen toimintolaskentajärjestelmä case-yrityksen kustannuslaskennan sekä taloushallinnon avuksi. Työkalu integroitiin osaksi yrityksen toiminnanohjaus- sekä valmistuksenohjausjärjestelmää. Perinteisiin toimintolaskentamallien tiedonkeruujärjestelmiin verrattuna case-yrityksessä syötteet toimintolaskentajärjestelmälle tulevat reaaliaikaisesti osana suurempaa tietojärjestelmäintegraatiota.Diplomityö pyrkii luomaan suhteen toimintolaskennan vaatimusten ja tietokantajärjestelmien välille. Toimintolaskentajärjestelmää yritys voi hyödyntää esimerkiksi tuotteiden hinnoittelussa ja kustannuslaskennassa näkemällä tuotteisiin liittyviä kustannuksia eri näkökulmista. Päätelmiä voidaan tehdä tarkkaan kustannusinformaatioon perustuen sekä määrittää järjestelmän tuottaman datan perusteella, onko tietyn projektin, asiakkuuden tai tuotteen kehittäminen taloudellisesti kannattavaa.

Database Rights in Safe European Home: The Path to More Rigorous Protection of Information

1. Introduction "The one that has compiled ... a database, the collection, securing the validity or presentation of which has required an essential investment, has the sole right to control the content over the whole work or over either a qualitatively or quantitatively substantial part of the work both by means of reproduction and by making them available to the public", Finnish Copyright Act, section 49.1 These are the laconic words that implemented the much-awaited and hotly debated European Community Directive on the legal protection of databases,2 the EDD, into Finnish Copyright legislation in 1998. Now in the year 2005, after more than half a decade of the domestic implementation it is yet uncertain as to the proper meaning and construction of the convoluted qualitative criteria the current legislation employs as a prerequisite for the database protection both in Finland and within the European Union. Further, this opaque Pan-European instrument has the potential of bringing about a number of far-reaching economic and cultural ramifications, which have remained largely uncharted or unobserved. Thus the task of understanding this particular and currently peculiarly European new intellectual property regime is twofold: first, to understand the mechanics and functioning of the EDD and second, to realise the potential and risks inherent in the new legislation in economic, cultural and societal dimensions. 2. Subject-matter of the study: basic issues The first part of the task mentioned above is straightforward: questions such as what is meant by the key concepts triggering the functioning of the EDD such as presentation of independent information, what constitutes an essential investment in acquiring data and when the reproduction of a given database reaches either qualitatively or quantitatively the threshold of substantiality before the right-holder of a database can avail himself of the remedies provided by the statutory framework remain unclear and call for a careful analysis. As for second task, it is already obvious that the practical importance of the legal protection providedby the database right is in the rapid increase. The accelerating transformationof information into digital form is an existing fact, not merely a reflection of a shape of things to come in the future. To take a simple example, the digitisation of a map, traditionally in paper format and protected by copyright, can provide the consumer a markedly easier and faster access to the wanted material and the price can be, depending on the current state of the marketplace, cheaper than that of the traditional form or even free by means of public lending libraries providing access to the information online. This also renders it possible for authors and publishers to make available and sell their products to markedly larger, international markets while the production and distribution costs can be kept at minimum due to the new electronic production, marketing and distributionmechanisms to mention a few. The troublesome side is for authors and publishers the vastly enhanced potential for illegal copying by electronic means, producing numerous virtually identical copies at speed. The fear of illegal copying canlead to stark technical protection that in turn can dampen down the demand for information goods and services and furthermore, efficiently hamper the right of access to the materials available lawfully in electronic form and thus weaken the possibility of access to information, education and the cultural heritage of anation or nations, a condition precedent for a functioning democracy. 3. Particular issues in Digital Economy and Information Networks All what is said above applies a fortiori to the databases. As a result of the ubiquity of the Internet and the pending breakthrough of Mobile Internet, peer-to-peer Networks, Localand Wide Local Area Networks, a rapidly increasing amount of information not protected by traditional copyright, such as various lists, catalogues and tables,3previously protected partially by the old section 49 of the Finnish Copyright act are available free or for consideration in the Internet, and by the same token importantly, numerous databases are collected in order to enable the marketing, tendering and selling products and services in above mentioned networks. Databases and the information embedded therein constitutes a pivotal element in virtually any commercial operation including product and service development, scientific research and education. A poignant but not instantaneously an obvious example of this is a database consisting of physical coordinates of a certain selected group of customers for marketing purposes through cellular phones, laptops and several handheld or vehicle-based devices connected online. These practical needs call for answer to a plethora of questions already outlined above: Has thecollection and securing the validity of this information required an essential input? What qualifies as a quantitatively or qualitatively significant investment? According to the Directive, the database comprises works, information and other independent materials, which are arranged in systematic or methodical way andare individually accessible by electronic or other means. Under what circumstances then, are the materials regarded as arranged in systematic or methodical way? Only when the protected elements of a database are established, the question concerning the scope of protection becomes acute. In digital context, the traditional notions of reproduction and making available to the public of digital materials seem to fit ill or lead into interpretations that are at variance with analogous domain as regards the lawful and illegal uses of information. This may well interfere with or rework the way in which the commercial and other operators have to establish themselves and function in the existing value networks of information products and services. 4. International sphere After the expiry of the implementation period for the European Community Directive on legal protection of databases, the goals of the Directive must have been consolidated into the domestic legislations of the current twenty-five Member States within the European Union. On one hand, these fundamental questions readily imply that the problemsrelated to correct construction of the Directive underlying the domestic legislation transpire the national boundaries. On the other hand, the disputes arisingon account of the implementation and interpretation of the Directive on the European level attract significance domestically. Consequently, the guidelines on correct interpretation of the Directive importing the practical, business-oriented solutions may well have application on European level. This underlines the exigency for a thorough analysis on the implications of the meaning and potential scope of Database protection in Finland and the European Union. This position hasto be contrasted with the larger, international sphere, which in early 2005 does differ markedly from European Union stance, directly having a negative effect on international trade particularly in digital content. A particular case in point is the USA, a database producer primus inter pares, not at least yet having aSui Generis database regime or its kin, while both the political and academic discourse on the matter abounds. 5. The objectives of the study The above mentioned background with its several open issues calls for the detailed study of thefollowing questions: -What is a database-at-law and when is a database protected by intellectual property rights, particularly by the European database regime?What is the international situation? -How is a database protected and what is its relation with other intellectual property regimes, particularly in the Digital context? -The opportunities and threats provided by current protection to creators, users and the society as a whole, including the commercial and cultural implications? -The difficult question on relation of the Database protection and protection of factual information as such. 6. Dsiposition The Study, in purporting to analyse and cast light on the questions above, is divided into three mainparts. The first part has the purpose of introducing the political and rationalbackground and subsequent legislative evolution path of the European database protection, reflected against the international backdrop on the issue. An introduction to databases, originally a vehicle of modern computing and information andcommunication technology, is also incorporated. The second part sets out the chosen and existing two-tier model of the database protection, reviewing both itscopyright and Sui Generis right facets in detail together with the emergent application of the machinery in real-life societal and particularly commercial context. Furthermore, a general outline of copyright, relevant in context of copyright databases is provided. For purposes of further comparison, a chapter on the precursor of Sui Generi, database right, the Nordic catalogue rule also ensues. The third and final part analyses the positive and negative impact of the database protection system and attempts to scrutinize the implications further in the future with some caveats and tentative recommendations, in particular as regards the convoluted issue concerning the IPR protection of information per se, a new tenet in the domain of copyright and related rights.

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory peptides in Finnish cereals : a database survey

Selostus: Angiotensiini I -muuntavaa entsyymiä estävien peptidien aminohapposekvenssien esiintyminen viljan varastoproteiinien rakenteessa

Patent claims in certain geographical regions

Työn tavoitteena oli käsitellä mahdollisuutta laatia patenttihakemuksen vaatimuksia siten, että patenttihakemukset toimisivat eri oikeusalueilla, jotka ovat tässä Eurooppa, Suomi ja USA. Aluksi käsiteltiin patentointia ja eri patenttijärjestelmiä yleisesti, jonka jälkeen käsiteltiin lähemmin patenttivaatimuksia, niiden muotoja ja eri vaatimusten edellytyksiä, joita vaaditaan Euroopan patenttisopimuksessa, suomalaisessa ja USA:laisessa patenttijärjestelmässä. Vaikka uutuus, keksinnöllisyys ja teollinen käyttökelpoisuus ovat tärkeimmät edellytykset kun määritetään patenttivaatimuksia, niitä ei käsitelty työn empiirisessä osassa. Työn empiirinen osuus osoittaa selvästi, että erilaiset muodolliset vaatimukset Euroopan patenttisopimuksessa, suomalaisessa ja USA:laisessa patenttijärjestelmässä hankaloittavat patenttivaatimusten laatimista siten että ne toimisivat yhdessä patenttihakemuksessa yllä mainituissa patenttijärjestelmissä. Empiirisen tutkimuksen ja eri oikeusalueilla patenttivaatimusten edellytysten perusteella, ei ole yksinkertaista ratkaisua laatia patenttivaatimuksia (ja myös patenttiselostuksia), jotka toimisivat monilla oikeusalueilla. Eräs ratkaisu ongelmaan on laatia yksi sarja patenttivaatimuksia, jotka täyttävät Euroopan patenttisopimuksen käytännön mukaiset edellytykset (täyttävät myös Suomalaisen patenttijärjestelmän edellytykset) ja toinen sarja patenttivaatimuksia, jotka täyttävät USA:laisen patenttijärjestelmän edellytykset samassa patenttihakemuksessa. Hakemuksen käsittelyvaiheessa hakija voi pudottaa patenttivaatimukset, jotka eivät täytä kansallisen patenttijärjestelmän edellytyksiä patenttihakemuksesta.

Design and Testing of Database Libraries

Nokia Push To Talk järjestelmä tarjoaa uuden kommunikointimetodin tavallisen puhelun oheen. Yksi tärkeimmistä uuden järjestelmän ominaisuuksista on puhelunmuodostuksen nopeus. Lisäksi järjestelmän tulee olla telekommunikaatiojärjestelmien yleisten periaatteiden mukainen, mahdollisimman stabiili ja skaalautuva, jotta järjestelmä olisi mahdollisimman vikasietoinen ja laajennettavissa. Diplomityön päätavoite on esitellä "C++"-tietokantakirjastojen suunnittelua ja testausta. Aluksi tutkitaan tietokantajärjestelmien problematiikkaa alkaen tietokantajärjestelmän valinnasta ja huomioiden erityisesti nopeuskriteerit. Sitten esitellään kaksi teknistä toteutusta kahta "C++"-tietokantakirjastoa varten ja pohditaan joitakin vaihtoehtoisia toteutustapoja.

Database Marketing from the Customer Relationship ManagementPerspective

Tietokantamarkkinointi voi olla vain apuväline markkinointitoimenpiteiden suorittamisessa, mutta se voidaan toisaalta nähdä myös olennaisena osana asiakassuhdehallintaa. Tietokantamarkkinointi asiakassuhdehallinnan näkökulmasta tähtää asiakastyytyväisyyteen ja asiakasuskollisuuteen, sekä asiakassuhteen tuottavuuteen ja kannattavuuteen, mikä voidaan saavuttaa tehokkaan tiedonhallinnan avulla. Tämä mahdollistaa räätälöityjen toimenpiteiden suorittamisen ja tehostaa kohdentamista ja segmentointia, myös asiakkaiden tuottavuuden perusteella. Normatiivinen case-tutkimus, joka tehtiin Alankomaissa Eurooppalaisessa tietotekniikan lisäarvoa tuottavassa jälleenmyyntikanavassa osoittaa, että tietokantamarkkinointi etenkin asiakas- suhdehallinnan näkökulmasta olisi sopiva keino lisätä asiakastyytyväisyyttä ja –tuottavuutta. Se myös tehostaisi sisäisiä tietovirtoja ja markkinointitoimenpiteitä, kuten esimerkiksi markkinointiviestintää, kampanjanhallintaa ja myyntiprosesseja yritysten välisessä kaupankäynnissä.

Spatiotemporal Aspects of Environmental Monitoring in the Complex Coastal Region of Southwest Finland

The management and conservation of coastal waters in the Baltic is challenged by a number of complex environmental problems, including eutrophication and habitat degradation. Demands for a more holistic, integrated and adaptive framework of ecosystem-based management emphasize the importance of appropriate information on the status and changes of the aquatic ecosystems. The thesis focuses on the spatiotemporal aspects of environmental monitoring in the extensive and geomorphologically complex coastal region of SW Finland, where the acquisition of spatially and temporally representative monitoring data is inherently challenging. Furthermore, the region is subject to multiple human interests and uses. A holistic geographical approach is emphasized, as it is ultimately the physical conditions that set the frame for any human activity. Characteristics of the coastal environment were examined using water quality data from the database of the Finnish environmental administration and Landsat TM/ETM+ images. A basic feature of the complex aquatic environment in the Archipelago Sea is its high spatial and temporal variability; this foregrounds the importance of geographical information as a basis of environmental assessments. While evidence of a consistent water turbidity pattern was observed, the coastal hydrodynamic realm is also characterized by high spatial and temporal variability. It is therefore also crucial to consider the spatial and temporal representativeness of field monitoring data. Remote sensing may facilitate evaluation of hydrodynamic conditions in the coastal region and the spatial extrapolation of in situ data despite their restrictions. Additionally, remotely sensed images can be used in the mapping of many of those coastal habitats that need to be considered in environmental management. With regard to surface water monitoring, only a small fraction of the currently available data stored in the Hertta-PIVET register can be used effectively in scientific studies and environmental assessments. Long-term consistent data collection from established sampling stations should be emphasized but research-type seasonal assessments producing abundant data should also be encouraged. Thus a more comprehensive coordination of field work efforts is called for. The integration of remote sensing and various field measurement techniques would be especially useful in the complex coastal waters. The integration and development of monitoring system in Finnish coastal areas also requires further scientific assesement of monitoring practices. A holistic approach to the gathering and management of environmental monitoring data could be a cost-effective way of serving a multitude of information needs, and would fit the holistic, ecosystem-based management regimes that are currently being strongly promoted in Europe.

Patstat-tietokannan hyödyntäminen tutkimuskäytössä

Patenttitiedot sisältävät monenlaista tietoa joka on julkisesti saatavilla. Patenttien tietoja tutkimalla voidaan selvittää monenlaisia asioita, kuten yritysten tekemiä patenttimääriä, patenttiluokitusten jakautumista ja patenttien maantieteellistä jakaumaa. Vielä 1980-luvulla patenttitietojen analysoiminen suuremmissa määrin oli vaikeaa, sillä tietokoneiden laskentateho oli riittämätön. Nyt laskentatehon räjähdysmäisen kasvun ansiosta patentteja voidaan tutkia miljoonia kappaleita kerrallaan. Tässä työssä tutkitaan patenttitietokantoja, tietokantaserverin pystyttämistä ja tietojen hyödyntämistä jatkokäytössä.

The history of Lapland : containing a geographical description, and a natural history of that country; with an account of the inhabitants, their original, religion, customs, habits, marriages, conjurations, employments, &c. Written by John Scheffer, ... Translated from the last edition in Latin, and illustrated with many curious copper-cutts. To which are added, the travels of the King of Sweden's mathematicians into Lapland: the history of Livonia, and the wars there: also a journey into Lapland, Finland, &c. Written by Dr. Olof Rudbeck in the year 1701

Added engraved title page: The history of Lapland.

The Productivity, Economy and Quality of Welding in the Different Geographical Areas of China - Today and in the Future

This master’s thesis gives out the real situation of the China welding industry and factories nowadays in different geographical areas, in order to inform the Finnish companies who have the willing to find a Chinese welding subcontractor a proper and correct selection concept by analyzing and supplying the information of different scale and form welding factories in different Chinese areas. The first section of this thesis gives out the general situation about the co-operation between China and Finland in the welding industry, also includes the general introduction of the Chinese welding industry. The second section gives out the geographical compartmentalization result of Chinese welding industry, which is where and how many areas will be studied in this thesis. The main body of this thesis is the real information of welding productivity, welding cost, and welding quality in China. All the information was collected from real factories in China by the author. The last section of this thesis is the improvements to the Chinese welding factories that have the willing to become a subcontractor, and the suggestions to the Finnish companies who may find a Chinese welding factory as their subcontractor in future.

Economic Geographical Analysis of The Finnish Paper Industry

The purpose of this academic economic geographical dissertation is to study and describe how competitiveness in the Finnish paper industry has developed during 2001–2008. During these years, the Finnish paper industry has faced economically challenging times. This dissertation attempts to fill the existing gap between theoretical and empirical discussions concerning economic geographical issues in the paper industry. The main research questions are: How have the supply chain costs and margins developed during 2001–2008? How do sales prices, transportation, and fixed and variable costs correlate with gross margins in a spatial context? The research object for this case study is a typical large Finnish paper mill that exports over 90 % of its production. The economic longitudinal research data were obtained from the case mill’s controlled economic system and, correlation (R2) analysis was used as the main research method. The time series data cover monthly economic and manufacturing observations from the mill from 2001 to 2008. The study reveals the development of prices, costs and transportation in the case mill, and it shows how economic variables correlate with the paper mills’ gross margins in various markets in Europe. The research methods of economic geography offer perspectives that pay attention to the spatial (market) heterogeneity. This type of research has been quite scarce in the research tradition of Finnish economic geography and supply chain management. This case study gives new insight into the research tradition of Finnish economic geography and supply chain management and its applications. As a concrete empirical result, this dissertation states that the competitive advantages of the Finnish paper industry were significantly weakened during 2001–2008 by low paper prices, costly manufacturing and expensive transportation. Statistical analysis expose that, in several important markets, transport costs lower gross margins as much as decreasing paper prices, which was a new finding. Paper companies should continuously pay attention to lowering manufacturing and transporting costs to achieve more profitable economic performance. The location of a mill being far from markets clearly has an economic impact on paper manufacturing, as paper demand is decreasing and oversupply is pressuring paper prices down. Therefore, market and economic forecasting in the paper industry is advantageous at the country and product levels while simultaneously taking into account the economic geographically specific dimensions.