Coping with Technology: A Study on Economic Methodology and Strategic Management of Technology

There is a broad consensus among economists that technologicalchange has been a major contributor to the productivity growth and, hence, to the growth of the material welfare in western industrialized countries at least over the last century. Paradoxically, this issue has not been the focal point of theoretical economics. At the same time, we have witnessed the rise of the importance of technological issues at the strategic management level of business firms. Interestingly, the research has not accurately responded to this challenge either. The tension between the overwhelming empirical evidence of the importance of technology and its relative omission in the research offers a challenging target for a methodological endeavor. This study deals with the question of how different theories cope with technology and explain technological change. The focusis at the firm level and the analysis concentrates on metatheoretical issues, except for the last two chapters, which examine the problems of strategic management of technology. Here the aim is to build a new evolutionary-based theoreticalframework to analyze innovation processes at the firm level. The study consistsof ten chapters. Chapter 1 poses the research problem and contrasts the two basic approaches, neoclassical and evolutionary, to be analyzed. Chapter 2 introduces the methodological framework which is based on the methodology of isolation. Methodological and ontoogical commitments of the rival approaches are revealed and basic questions concerning their ways of theorizing are elaborated. Chapters 3-6 deal with the so-called substantive isolative criteria. The aim is to examine how different approaches cope with such critical issues as inherent uncertainty and complexity of innovative activities (cognitive isolations, chapter 3), theboundedness of rationality of innovating agents (behavioral isolations, chapter4), the multidimensional nature of technology (chapter 5), and governance costsrelated to technology (chapter 6). Chapters 7 and 8 put all these things together and look at the explanatory structures used by the neoclassical and evolutionary approaches in the light of substantive isolations. The last two cpahters of the study utilize the methodological framework and tools to appraise different economics-based candidates in the context of strategic management of technology. The aim is to analyze how different approaches answer the fundamental question: How can firms gain competitive advantages through innovations and how can the rents appropriated from successful innovations be sustained? The last chapter introduces a new evolutionary-based technology management framework. Also the largely omitted issues of entrepreneurship are examined.

Mentorointi ja sen kehittämismahdollisuudet S-ryhmässä

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli analysoida mentorointia, sen teoriaa ja menetelmää sekä miten sitä käytetään S-ryhmässä ja millä tavalla mentoroinnin käyttöä voidaan edistää johtamisen tukena S-ryhmässä. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin mentorointia menetelmänä, jolla edistetään toisilta oppimista. Mentorointia analysoidaan myös hiljaisen tiedon, tietopääoman johtamisen ja kehittyvän johtajan ominaisuuksien näkökulmista. Osatavoitteiksi asetettiin kahdella eri tavalla toteutettujen mentorointiohjelmien erojen selvittäminen tuloksiltaan ja vaikutuksiltaan sekä mentoroinnin avulla tapahtuva oppimisen tehostaminen S-ryhmässä. Tutkielmassa käytetty konstruktiivinen metodologia valittiin tutkimusongelman perusteella, koska tarkoituksena oli kehittää S-ryhmään mentoroinnin hyödyntämiseen sopiva malli. Tiedonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin sekä kyselytutkimusta että tietoverkossa tapahtuvaa strukturoitua teemahaastattelua. Tutkimuksen teoriaosa perustuu alan kirjallisuuteen, aihetta käsitteleviin kotimaisiin ja ulkomaisiin tutkimuksiin sekä tieteellisiin lehti- ja muihin artikkeleihin. Aikaisemman teoreettisen tutkimuksen perusteella laadittiin teoreettinen viitekehys, joka muodosti perustan tutkimuksen empiiriselle osalle. Empiirinen osa koostuu S-ryhmän mentorointiprojektia koskevasta materiaalista, mentorointiprojektiin osallistuneiden henkilöiden kyselytutkimuksista sekä S-ryhmän johtoon kuuluvien yhdeksän johtajan haastattelu-tutkimuksesta. Tutkimuksen päätuloksena oli se, että mentorointi sopii erinomaisen hyvin kehitysmenetelmäksi osaamisen ja kokemustiedon siirtämiseen vanhemmilta johtajilta nuorille potentiaalisille johtajille. Tämä tulos on erityisen merkittävä S-ryhmälle johtajaosaamisen kehittämisessä, kun ryhmään ollaan parhaillaan kasvattamassa uutta johtajasukupolvea. Empiirinen tutkimus tukee myös sitä näkemystä, että mentoroinnin toteuttamiseen S-ryhmässä on olemassa erilaisia tapoja. Keskeisenä tavoitteena toteutuksissa on henkilöiden kehittyminen ja oppiminen. Tutkimustuloksissa korostuivat myös nuoremman eli mentoroitavan tarve päästä kahdenkeskiseen, avoimeen ja luottamukselliseen keskusteluun kokeneemman henkilön kanssa. Näiden tutkimustulosten perusteella päädyttiin seuraaviin johtopäätöksiin: S-ryhmä tarvitsee oman mentorointijärjestelmän, joka toteutetaan ohjatun mentorointimallin mukaisesti. S-ryhmään on tärkeä perustaa oma mentorointipooli, jossa on halukkaita, eri osa-alueita osaavia mentoreita ja meklari, joka yhdyttää osapuolet toisiinsa.

Improvement of Operational Efficiency effectiveness (OEE) using Six Sigma DMAIC Methodology — Case Bottomer line AD2378

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is the key metric of operational excellence. OEE monitors the actual performance of equipment relative to its performance capabilities under optimal manufacturing conditions. It looks at the entire manufacturing environment measuring, in addition to the equipment availability, the production efficiency while the equipment is available to run products, as well as the efficiency loss that results from scrap, rework, and yield losses. The analysis of the OEE provides improvement opportunities for the operation. One of the tools used for OEE improvement is Six Sigma DMAIC methodology which is a set of practices originally developed to improve processes by eliminating defects. It asserts the continuous efforts to reduce variation in process outputs as key to business success, as well as the possibility of measurement, analysis, improvement and control of manufacturing and business processes. In the case of the Bottomer line AD2378 in Papsac Maghreb Casablanca plant, the OEE figures reached 48.65 %, which is below the accepted OEE group performance. This required immediate actions to achieve OEE improvement. This Master thesis focuses on the application of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology in the OEE improvement on the Bottomer Line AD2378 in Papsac Maghreb Casablanca plant. First, the Six Sigma DMAIC and OEE usage in operation measurement will be discussed. Afterwards, the different DMAIC phases will allow the identification of improvement focus, the identification of OEE low performance causes and the design of improvement solutions. These will be implemented to allow further tracking of improvement impact on the plant operations.

A Dependency Parsing Approach to Biomedical Text Mining

Biomedical research is currently facing a new type of challenge: an excess of information, both in terms of raw data from experiments and in the number of scientific publications describing their results. Mirroring the focus on data mining techniques to address the issues of structured data, there has recently been great interest in the development and application of text mining techniques to make more effective use of the knowledge contained in biomedical scientific publications, accessible only in the form of natural human language. This thesis describes research done in the broader scope of projects aiming to develop methods, tools and techniques for text mining tasks in general and for the biomedical domain in particular. The work described here involves more specifically the goal of extracting information from statements concerning relations of biomedical entities, such as protein-protein interactions. The approach taken is one using full parsing—syntactic analysis of the entire structure of sentences—and machine learning, aiming to develop reliable methods that can further be generalized to apply also to other domains. The five papers at the core of this thesis describe research on a number of distinct but related topics in text mining. In the first of these studies, we assessed the applicability of two popular general English parsers to biomedical text mining and, finding their performance limited, identified several specific challenges to accurate parsing of domain text. In a follow-up study focusing on parsing issues related to specialized domain terminology, we evaluated three lexical adaptation methods. We found that the accurate resolution of unknown words can considerably improve parsing performance and introduced a domain-adapted parser that reduced the error rate of theoriginal by 10% while also roughly halving parsing time. To establish the relative merits of parsers that differ in the applied formalisms and the representation given to their syntactic analyses, we have also developed evaluation methodology, considering different approaches to establishing comparable dependency-based evaluation results. We introduced a methodology for creating highly accurate conversions between different parse representations, demonstrating the feasibility of unification of idiverse syntactic schemes under a shared, application-oriented representation. In addition to allowing formalism-neutral evaluation, we argue that such unification can also increase the value of parsers for domain text mining. As a further step in this direction, we analysed the characteristics of publicly available biomedical corpora annotated for protein-protein interactions and created tools for converting them into a shared form, thus contributing also to the unification of text mining resources. The introduced unified corpora allowed us to perform a task-oriented comparative evaluation of biomedical text mining corpora. This evaluation established clear limits on the comparability of results for text mining methods evaluated on different resources, prompting further efforts toward standardization. To support this and other research, we have also designed and annotated BioInfer, the first domain corpus of its size combining annotation of syntax and biomedical entities with a detailed annotation of their relationships. The corpus represents a major design and development effort of the research group, with manual annotation that identifies over 6000 entities, 2500 relationships and 28,000 syntactic dependencies in 1100 sentences. In addition to combining these key annotations for a single set of sentences, BioInfer was also the first domain resource to introduce a representation of entity relations that is supported by ontologies and able to capture complex, structured relationships. Part I of this thesis presents a summary of this research in the broader context of a text mining system, and Part II contains reprints of the five included publications.

CFD simulation of complex phenomena containing suspensions and flow throughporous media

There is an increasing reliance on computers to solve complex engineering problems. This is because computers, in addition to supporting the development and implementation of adequate and clear models, can especially minimize the financial support required. The ability of computers to perform complex calculations at high speed has enabled the creation of highly complex systems to model real-world phenomena. The complexity of the fluid dynamics problem makes it difficult or impossible to solve equations of an object in a flow exactly. Approximate solutions can be obtained by construction and measurement of prototypes placed in a flow, or by use of a numerical simulation. Since usage of prototypes can be prohibitively time-consuming and expensive, many have turned to simulations to provide insight during the engineering process. In this case the simulation setup and parameters can be altered much more easily than one could with a real-world experiment. The objective of this research work is to develop numerical models for different suspensions (fiber suspensions, blood flow through microvessels and branching geometries, and magnetic fluids), and also fluid flow through porous media. The models will have merit as a scientific tool and will also have practical application in industries. Most of the numerical simulations were done by the commercial software, Fluent, and user defined functions were added to apply a multiscale method and magnetic field. The results from simulation of fiber suspension can elucidate the physics behind the break up of a fiber floc, opening the possibility for developing a meaningful numerical model of the fiber flow. The simulation of blood movement from an arteriole through a venule via a capillary showed that the model based on VOF can successfully predict the deformation and flow of RBCs in an arteriole. Furthermore, the result corresponds to the experimental observation illustrates that the RBC is deformed during the movement. The concluding remarks presented, provide a correct methodology and a mathematical and numerical framework for the simulation of blood flows in branching. Analysis of ferrofluids simulations indicate that the magnetic Soret effect can be even higher than the conventional one and its strength depends on the strength of magnetic field, confirmed experimentally by Völker and Odenbach. It was also shown that when a magnetic field is perpendicular to the temperature gradient, there will be additional increase in the heat transfer compared to the cases where the magnetic field is parallel to the temperature gradient. In addition, the statistical evaluation (Taguchi technique) on magnetic fluids showed that the temperature and initial concentration of the magnetic phase exert the maximum and minimum contribution to the thermodiffusion, respectively. In the simulation of flow through porous media, dimensionless pressure drop was studied at different Reynolds numbers, based on pore permeability and interstitial fluid velocity. The obtained results agreed well with the correlation of Macdonald et al. (1979) for the range of actual flow Reynolds studied. Furthermore, calculated results for the dispersion coefficients in the cylinder geometry were found to be in agreement with those of Seymour and Callaghan.

A Practical Micro Mechanical Model Based Local Approach Methodology for the Analysis of Ductile Fracture of Welded T-Joints

This thesis concentrates on developing a practical local approach methodology based on micro mechanical models for the analysis of ductile fracture of welded joints. Two major problems involved in the local approach, namely the dilational constitutive relation reflecting the softening behaviour of material, and the failure criterion associated with the constitutive equation, have been studied in detail. Firstly, considerable efforts were made on the numerical integration and computer implementation for the non trivial dilational Gurson Tvergaard model. Considering the weaknesses of the widely used Euler forward integration algorithms, a family of generalized mid point algorithms is proposed for the Gurson Tvergaard model. Correspondingly, based on the decomposition of stresses into hydrostatic and deviatoric parts, an explicit seven parameter expression for the consistent tangent moduli of the algorithms is presented. This explicit formula avoids any matrix inversion during numerical iteration and thus greatly facilitates the computer implementation of the algorithms and increase the efficiency of the code. The accuracy of the proposed algorithms and other conventional algorithms has been assessed in a systematic manner in order to highlight the best algorithm for this study. The accurate and efficient performance of present finite element implementation of the proposed algorithms has been demonstrated by various numerical examples. It has been found that the true mid point algorithm (a = 0.5) is the most accurate one when the deviatoric strain increment is radial to the yield surface and it is very important to use the consistent tangent moduli in the Newton iteration procedure. Secondly, an assessment of the consistency of current local failure criteria for ductile fracture, the critical void growth criterion, the constant critical void volume fraction criterion and Thomason's plastic limit load failure criterion, has been made. Significant differences in the predictions of ductility by the three criteria were found. By assuming the void grows spherically and using the void volume fraction from the Gurson Tvergaard model to calculate the current void matrix geometry, Thomason's failure criterion has been modified and a new failure criterion for the Gurson Tvergaard model is presented. Comparison with Koplik and Needleman's finite element results shows that the new failure criterion is fairly accurate indeed. A novel feature of the new failure criterion is that a mechanism for void coalescence is incorporated into the constitutive model. Hence the material failure is a natural result of the development of macroscopic plastic flow and the microscopic internal necking mechanism. By the new failure criterion, the critical void volume fraction is not a material constant and the initial void volume fraction and/or void nucleation parameters essentially control the material failure. This feature is very desirable and makes the numerical calibration of void nucleation parameters(s) possible and physically sound. Thirdly, a local approach methodology based on the above two major contributions has been built up in ABAQUS via the user material subroutine UMAT and applied to welded T joints. By using the void nucleation parameters calibrated from simple smooth and notched specimens, it was found that the fracture behaviour of the welded T joints can be well predicted using present methodology. This application has shown how the damage parameters of both base material and heat affected zone (HAZ) material can be obtained in a step by step manner and how useful and capable the local approach methodology is in the analysis of fracture behaviour and crack development as well as structural integrity assessment of practical problems where non homogeneous materials are involved. Finally, a procedure for the possible engineering application of the present methodology is suggested and discussed.

Calculation of the carbon footprint of Finnish barley products - methodology and possible applications

The purpose of this thesis was to define how product carbon footprint analysis and its results can be used in company's internal development as well as in customer and interest group guidance, and how these factors are related to corporate social responsibility. From-cradle-to-gate carbon footprint was calculated for three products; Torino Whole grain barley, Torino Pearl barley, and Elovena Barley grit & oat bran, all of them made of Finnish barley. The carbon footprint of the Elovena product was used to determine carbon footprints for industrial kitchen cooked porridge portions. The basic calculation data was collected from several sources. Most of the data originated from Raisio Group's contractual farmers and Raisio Group's cultivation, processing and packaging specialists. Data from national and European literature and database sources was also used. The electricity consumption for porridge portions' carbon footprint calculations was determined with practical measurements. The carbon footprint calculations were conducted according to the ISO 14044 standard, and the PAS 2050 guide was also applied. A consequential functional unit was applied in porridge portions' carbon footprint calculations. Most of the emissions from barley products' life cycle originate from primary production. The nitrous oxide emissions from cultivated soil and the use and production of nitrogenous fertilisers contribute over 50% of products' carbon footprint. Torino Pearl barley has the highest carbon footprint due to the lowest processing output. The reductions in products' carbon footprint can be achieved with developments in cultivation and grain processing. The carbon footprint of porridge portion can be reduced by using domestically produced plant-based ingredients and by making the best possible use of the kettle. Carbon footprint calculation can be used to determine possible improvement points related to corporate environmental responsibility. Several improvement actions are related to economical and social responsibility through better raw material utilization and expense reductions.

Choice of Business Process Modeling Methodology - Case Northern Dimension Research Centre (NORDI) in Lappeenranta University of Technology

The main outcome of the master thesis is innovative solution, which can support a choice of business process modeling methodology. Potential users of this tool are people with background in business process modeling and possibilities to collect required information about organization’s business processes. Master thesis states the importance of business process modeling in implementation of strategic goals of organization. It is made by revealing the place of the concept in Business Process Management (BPM) and its particular case Business Process Reengineering (BPR). In order to support the theoretical outcomes of the thesis a case study of Northern Dimension Research Centre (NORDI) in Lappeenranta University of Technology was conducted. On its example several solutions are shown: how to apply business process modeling methodologies in practice; in which way business process models can be useful for BPM and BPR initiatives; how to apply proposed innovative solution for a choice of business process modeling methodology.

Analysis of electricity distribution network operation business models and capitalization of control room functions with DMS

Electricity distribution network operation (NO) models are challenged as they are expected to continue to undergo changes during the coming decades in the fairly developed and regulated Nordic electricity market. Network asset managers are to adapt to competitive technoeconomical business models regarding the operation of increasingly intelligent distribution networks. Factors driving the changes for new business models within network operation include: increased investments in distributed automation (DA), regulative frameworks for annual profit limits and quality through outage cost, increasing end-customer demands, climatic changes and increasing use of data system tools, such as Distribution Management System (DMS). The doctoral thesis addresses the questions a) whether there exist conditions and qualifications for competitive markets within electricity distribution network operation and b) if so, identification of limitations and required business mechanisms. This doctoral thesis aims to provide an analytical business framework, primarily for electric utilities, for evaluation and development purposes of dedicated network operation models to meet future market dynamics within network operation. In the thesis, the generic build-up of a business model has been addressed through the use of the strategicbusiness hierarchy levels of mission, vision and strategy for definition of the strategic direction of the business followed by the planning, management and process execution levels of enterprisestrategy execution. Research questions within electricity distribution network operation are addressed at the specified hierarchy levels. The results of the research represent interdisciplinary findings in the areas of electrical engineering and production economics. The main scientific contributions include further development of the extended transaction cost economics (TCE) for government decisions within electricity networks and validation of the usability of the methodology for the electricity distribution industry. Moreover, DMS benefit evaluations in the thesis based on the outage cost calculations propose theoretical maximum benefits of DMS applications equalling roughly 25% of the annual outage costs and 10% of the respective operative costs in the case electric utility. Hence, the annual measurable theoretical benefits from the use of DMS applications are considerable. The theoretical results in the thesis are generally validated by surveys and questionnaires.

Kampen for livet i vemodets slør : å leve i spenningsfeltet mellom livets mulighet og dødens nødvendighet

The overallpurpose of this research is to develop knowledge about health and suffering in connection with serious cancer disease through the development of a contextual model describing how patients live their lives between the possibility of life and the necessity of death. The research takes its point of departure from a caring science perspective, and Gadamer's hermeneutical philosophy is chosen as the overall methodology. In addition to the caring science perspective, the existential philosophy of Kierkegaard constructs a framework of interpretation. The research consists of three empirical studies. In two of the studies 21 patients participated, whilst 8 nurses took part in the remaining study. The patients were seriously ill and the nurses had long experience of caring for seriously ill patients. Scientific conversations were used for data collection. The findings from the patient studies show that the relationship with one-self, others, God or the supernatural and nature, constitute the unit of meaning, in which the struggle between health and suffering takes place. This struggle takes the form of a dialectic movement between being delivered and being accommodated and confirmed. The patients strive, in their delivery, for health and integration, for being a self by being reconciled with one self. The patients are lonely in this struggle, as conversations related to existence and death seldom occurs with either the natural or the professional caregivers. Themes related to patients' death remain mainly unarticulated. The patients' life struggle appears on the existential level as a threefold struggle against time and annihilation, towards being accommodatedand confirmed and for restoration and reconciliation. Through the hermeneutic process the struggle at the ontological level appears as a struggle of the will between anxiety and love. The patients in this research experience their life's tragedy. A holistic interpretation of living under the pressure created between the possibility of life and the necessity of death appears to be a struggle for life in the veil of pensiveness. The nurses want to be involved in the patients' struggle, and they show a deep desire to support the dignity of the patients. The depth in the nurses' view of their responsibility for the patient as an entityof body, soul and spirit seems to be related to the nurses' understanding of life.

Methodology for an AMB system commissioning

This master’s thesis is focused on the active magnetic bearings system commissioning. The scope of the work is to test the existent procedures with old and new prototypes of an AMB system and additionally automate necessary steps instead of their hand tuning, because determination of rotor clearances and finding effective rotor-origins are time consuming and error prone. The final goal is to get a documented and mostly automated step by step methodology for end efficient system’s commissioning.