The functional fit between collaborative software and work systems:Qualification of work system needs to software functionality

The study develops an approach that tries to validate software functionality to work systems needs in SMEs. The formulated approach is constructed by using a SAAS based software i.e., work collaboration service (WCS), and SMEs as the elements of study. Where the WCS’s functionality is qualified to the collaboration needs that exist in operational and project work within SMEs. For this research constructivist approach and case study method is selected because the nature of the current study requires an in depth study of the work collaboration service as well as a detailed study of the work systems within different enterprises. Four different companies are selected in which fourteen interviews are conducted to gather data pertaining. The work systems method and framework are used as a central part of the approach to collect, analyze and interpret the enterprises work systems model and the underlying collaboration needs on operational and project work. On the other hand, the functional model of the WCS and its functionality is determined from functional model analysis, software testing, documentation and meetings with the service vendor. The enterprise work system model and the WCS model are compared to reveal how work progression differs between the two and make visible unaddressed stages of work progression. The WCS functionality is compared to work systems collaboration needs to ascertain if the service will suffice the needs of the project and operational work under study. The unaddressed needs provide opportunities to improve the functionality of the service for better conformity to the needs of enterprise and work. The results revealed that the functional models actually differed in how operational and project work progressed within the stages. WCS shared similar stages of work progression apart from the stages of identification and acceptance, and progress and completion stages were only partially addressed. Conclusion is that the identified unaddressed needs such as, single point of reference, SLA and OLA inclusion etc., should be implemented or improved within the WCS at appropriate stages of work to gain better compliance of the service to the needs of the enterprise an work itself. The developed approach can hence be used to carry out similar analysis for the conformance of pre-built software functionality to work system needs with SMEs.

Fourier self-deconvolution in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectrum analysis

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is rapidly developing into a unique microscopic tool in biophysics, biology and the material sciences. The nonlinear nature of CARS spectroscopy complicates the analysis of the received spectra. There were developed mathematical methods for signal processing and for calculations spectra. Fourier self-deconvolution is a special high pass FFT filter which synthetically narrows the effective trace bandwidth features. As Fourier self-deconvolution can effectively reduce the noise, which may be at a higher spatial frequency than the peaks, without losing peak resolution. The idea of the work is to experiment the possibility of using wavelet decomposition in spectroscopic for background and noise removal, and Fourier transformation for linenarrowing.

Methods for construction and analysis of computational models in systems biology : applications to the modelling of the heat shock response and the self-assembly of intermediate filaments

Systems biology is a new, emerging and rapidly developing, multidisciplinary research field that aims to study biochemical and biological systems from a holistic perspective, with the goal of providing a comprehensive, system- level understanding of cellular behaviour. In this way, it addresses one of the greatest challenges faced by contemporary biology, which is to compre- hend the function of complex biological systems. Systems biology combines various methods that originate from scientific disciplines such as molecu- lar biology, chemistry, engineering sciences, mathematics, computer science and systems theory. Systems biology, unlike “traditional” biology, focuses on high-level concepts such as: network, component, robustness, efficiency, control, regulation, hierarchical design, synchronization, concurrency, and many others. The very terminology of systems biology is “foreign” to “tra- ditional” biology, marks its drastic shift in the research paradigm and it indicates close linkage of systems biology to computer science. One of the basic tools utilized in systems biology is the mathematical modelling of life processes tightly linked to experimental practice. The stud- ies contained in this thesis revolve around a number of challenges commonly encountered in the computational modelling in systems biology. The re- search comprises of the development and application of a broad range of methods originating in the fields of computer science and mathematics for construction and analysis of computational models in systems biology. In particular, the performed research is setup in the context of two biolog- ical phenomena chosen as modelling case studies: 1) the eukaryotic heat shock response and 2) the in vitro self-assembly of intermediate filaments, one of the main constituents of the cytoskeleton. The range of presented approaches spans from heuristic, through numerical and statistical to ana- lytical methods applied in the effort to formally describe and analyse the two biological processes. We notice however, that although applied to cer- tain case studies, the presented methods are not limited to them and can be utilized in the analysis of other biological mechanisms as well as com- plex systems in general. The full range of developed and applied modelling techniques as well as model analysis methodologies constitutes a rich mod- elling framework. Moreover, the presentation of the developed methods, their application to the two case studies and the discussions concerning their potentials and limitations point to the difficulties and challenges one encounters in computational modelling of biological systems. The problems of model identifiability, model comparison, model refinement, model inte- gration and extension, choice of the proper modelling framework and level of abstraction, or the choice of the proper scope of the model run through this thesis.

New directions in Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis

Decisions taken in modern organizations are often multi-dimensional, involving multiple decision makers and several criteria measured on different scales. Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods are designed to analyze and to give recommendations in this kind of situations. Among the numerous MCDM methods, two large families of methods are the multi-attribute utility theory based methods and the outranking methods. Traditionally both method families require exact values for technical parameters and criteria measurements, as well as for preferences expressed as weights. Often it is hard, if not impossible, to obtain exact values. Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) is a family of methods designed to help in this type of situations where exact values are not available. Different variants of SMAA allow handling all types of MCDM problems. They support defining the model through uncertain, imprecise, or completely missing values. The methods are based on simulation that is applied to obtain descriptive indices characterizing the problem. In this thesis we present new advances in the SMAA methodology. We present and analyze algorithms for the SMAA-2 method and its extension to handle ordinal preferences. We then present an application of SMAA-2 to an area where MCDM models have not been applied before: planning elevator groups for high-rise buildings. Following this, we introduce two new methods to the family: SMAA-TRI that extends ELECTRE TRI for sorting problems with uncertain parameter values, and SMAA-III that extends ELECTRE III in a similar way. An efficient software implementing these two methods has been developed in conjunction with this work, and is briefly presented in this thesis. The thesis is closed with a comprehensive survey of SMAA methodology including a definition of a unified framework.

Innovation Benchmark Study: Analysis of Innovation Processes in Finnish Companies

Liikevaihdon orgaaninen kasvu on ensisijainen tekijä ja haaste yritysjohdolle yrityksen omistaja-arvon kasvattamiseksi. Tutkimus tarkastelee suosivatko suomalaisyritykset pääasiallisesti olemassa olevaa liiketoimintaa palvelevia innovaatioita vai tukevatko nykyhetken toimintatavat myös uusia kasvua kiihdyttäviä radikaaleja innovaatioita. Lisäksi työ kartoitti suomalaisyritysten innovaatioprosessien kehitysalueita käyttäen itsearviointitutkimusta.Tulokset johtivat kolmeen johtopäätökseen. Tutkimus osoitti, että vastaajayritykset ovat keskittyneet innovaatiotoiminnassaan vahvasti ydinliiketoimintaansa, jättäen potentiaaliset kasvumahdollisuudet huomioimatta. Yritykset tavoittelevat maksimaalisia tuottoja keskittymällä tuotteidensa korkeaan suorituskykyyn. Lyhyen aikavälin epärealistiset tuotto-odotukset sekä projekteille suunnatut arviointikriteerit rajoittavat liiketoimintaa mullistavien radikaalien innovaatioiden kehittymistä organisaatiossa. Toiseksi, tutkimus osoitti, että suuri osa yrityksistä käyttää perinteisen projektien arviointi- ja kehitysprosessin lisäksi vaihtoehtoisia ja huonosti kontrolloitavissa olevia kehitysprosesseja, mikäli projektille annetaan kielteinen rahoituspäätös standardin prosessin sisällä. Kolmanneksi, suomalaisyritysten innovaatioprosesseissa paljastui merkittäviä puutteita mitattavien elementtien suhteen.

Retinal Image Analysis Using Machine Vision

The topic of this thesis is studying how lesions in retina caused by diabetic retinopathy can be detected from color fundus images by using machine vision methods. Methods for equalizing uneven illumination in fundus images, detecting regions of poor image quality due toinadequate illumination, and recognizing abnormal lesions were developed duringthe work. The developed methods exploit mainly the color information and simpleshape features to detect lesions. In addition, a graphical tool for collecting lesion data was developed. The tool was used by an ophthalmologist who marked lesions in the images to help method development and evaluation. The tool is a general purpose one, and thus it is possible to reuse the tool in similar projects.The developed methods were tested with a separate test set of 128 color fundus images. From test results it was calculated how accurately methods classify abnormal funduses as abnormal (sensitivity) and healthy funduses as normal (specificity). The sensitivity values were 92% for hemorrhages, 73% for red small dots (microaneurysms and small hemorrhages), and 77% for exudates (hard and soft exudates). The specificity values were 75% for hemorrhages, 70% for red small dots, and 50% for exudates. Thus, the developed methods detected hemorrhages accurately and microaneurysms and exudates moderately.

Theoretical Analysis and Simulations of Vertically Vibrated Granular Materials

The dynamical properties ofshaken granular materials are important in many industrial applications where the shaking is used to mix, segregate and transport them. In this work asystematic, large scale simulation study has been performed to investigate the rheology of dense granular media, in the presence of gas, in a three dimensional vertical cylinder filled with glass balls. The base wall of the cylinder is subjected to sinusoidal oscillation in the vertical direction. The viscoelastic behavior of glass balls during a collision, have been studied experimentally using a modified Newton's Cradle device. By analyzing the results of the measurements, using numerical model based on finite element method, the viscous damping coefficient was determinedfor the glass balls. To obtain detailed information about the interparticle interactions in a shaker, a simplified model for collision between particles of a granular material was proposed. In order to simulate the flow of surrounding gas, a formulation of the equations for fluid flow in a porous medium including particle forces was proposed. These equations are solved with Large Eddy Simulation (LES) technique using a subgrid-model originally proposed for compressible turbulent flows. For a pentagonal prism-shaped container under vertical vibrations, the results show that oscillon type structures were formed. Oscillons are highly localized particle-like excitations of the granular layer. This self-sustaining state was named by analogy with its closest large-scale analogy, the soliton, which was first documented by J.S. Russell in 1834. The results which has been reportedbyBordbar and Zamankhan(2005b)also show that slightly revised fluctuation-dissipation theorem might apply to shaken sand, which appears to be asystem far from equilibrium and could exhibit strong spatial and temporal variations in quantities such as density and local particle velocity. In this light, hydrodynamic type continuum equations were presented for describing the deformation and flow of dense gas-particle mixtures. The constitutive equation used for the stress tensor provides an effective viscosity with a liquid-like character at low shear rates and a gaseous-like behavior at high shear rates. The numerical solutions were obtained for the aforementioned hydrodynamic equations for predicting the flow dynamics ofdense mixture of gas and particles in vertical cylindrical containers. For a heptagonal prism shaped container under vertical vibrations, the model results were found to predict bubbling behavior analogous to those observed experimentally. This bubbling behavior may be explained by the unusual gas pressure distribution found in the bed. In addition, oscillon type structures were found to be formed using a vertically vibrated, pentagonal prism shaped container in agreement with computer simulation results. These observations suggest that the pressure distribution plays a key rolein deformation and flow of dense mixtures of gas and particles under vertical vibrations. The present models provide greater insight toward the explanation of poorly understood hydrodynamic phenomena in the field of granular flows and dense gas-particle mixtures. The models can be generalized to investigate the granular material-container wall interactions which would be an issue of high interests in the industrial applications. By following this approach ideal processing conditions and powder transport can be created in industrial systems.

Analysis of torque and speed ripple producing non-idealities of frequency converters in electric drives

Electric motors driven by adjustable-frequency converters may produce periodic excitation forces that can cause torque and speed ripple. Interaction with the driven mechanical system may cause undesirable vibrations that affect the system performance and lifetime. Direct drives in sensitive applications, such as elevators or paper machines, emphasize the importance of smooth torque production. This thesis analyses the non-idealities of frequencyconverters that produce speed and torque ripple in electric drives. The origin of low order harmonics in speed and torque is examined. It is shown how different current measurement error types affect the torque. As the application environment, direct torque control (DTC) method is applied to permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM). A simulation model to analyse the effect of the frequency converter non-idealities on the performance of the electric drives is created. Themodel enables to identify potential problems causing torque vibrations and possibly damaging oscillations in electrically driven machine systems. The model is capable of coupling with separate simulation software of complex mechanical loads. Furthermore, the simulation model of the frequency converter's control algorithm can be applied to control a real frequency converter. A commercial frequencyconverter with standard software, a permanent magnet axial flux synchronous motor and a DC motor as the load are used to detect the effect of current measurement errors on load torque. A method to reduce the speed and torque ripple by compensating the current measurement errors is introduced. The method is based on analysing the amplitude of a selected harmonic component of speed as a function oftime and selecting a suitable compensation alternative for the current error. The speed can be either measured or estimated, so the compensation method is applicable also for speed sensorless drives. The proposed compensation method is tested with a laboratory drive, which consists of commercial frequency converter hardware with self-made software and a prototype PMSM. The speed and torque rippleof the test drive are reduced by applying the compensation method. In addition to the direct torque controlled PMSM drives, the compensation method can also beapplied to other motor types and control methods.

Chromatographic analysis of lignans supplemented in foods

Fytoestrogeenit ovat kasvimateriaalista peräisin olevia yhdisteitä, joilla on ihmisen estrogeeni-hormonin kaltaista aktiivisuutta. Fytoestrogeenit voidaan jakaa kolmeen pääryhmään, joista yksi merkittävä ryhmä on lignaanit. Lignaaneilla on todettu olevan antioxidatiivisia, antiviraalisia ja antibakteriaalisia ominaisuuksia. Niillä on todettu olevan myös positiivisia vaikutuksia hormoniperäisten syöpien ehkäisyssä. Näiden ominaisuuksien vuoksi lignaaneja pyritään hyödyntämään esimerkiksi aktiivisina ainesosina funktionaalisissa elintarvikkeissa. Tässä työssä tutkittiin lignaanin, hydroksimatairesinolin (HMRlignanTM) kemiallisia ominaisuuksia ja soveltuvuutta eri ruoka-aineisiin. Työn tarkoituksena oli selvittää ruoka-aineisiin lisätyn hydroksimatairesinolin kemiallista pysyvyyttä erilaisissa säilytys- ja prosessointioloissa sekä tutkia lignaanin liukoisuutta erilaisiin liuottimiin. Hydroksimatairesinolin analysoimiseksi ruoka-aineista käytettiin korkean erotuskyvyn omaavaa nestekromatografista menetelmää. Menetelmä validoitiin ennen varsinaista analysointia ICH-ohjeiston mukaisesti. Validoinnissa tutkittiin kromatografiamenetelmän spesifisyys, lineaarisuus, tarkkuus, oikeellisuus sekä detektointi- ja määritysrajat tutkittavalle lignaanille. Käytetty menetelmä soveltui hyvin lignaanin analysoimiseen ruoka-aineista. Hydroksimatairesinolin vesiliukoisuuden todettiin olevan noin 1 mg/ml. Tutkimukset osoittivat hydroksimatairesinolin olevan stabiili alle 50ºC:en lämpötiloissa. Korkeammissa lämpötiloissa hydroksimatairesinoli oli stabiili jauhemuodossa lisättynä.

Colligation and Cross Moment-Based Approaches for Independent Component Analysis

Diplomityössä on käsitelty uudenlaisia menetelmiä riippumattomien komponenttien analyysiin(ICA): Menetelmät perustuvat colligaatioon ja cross-momenttiin. Colligaatio menetelmä perustuu painojen colligaatioon. Menetelmässä on käytetty kahden tyyppisiä todennäköisyysjakaumia yhden sijasta joka perustuu yleiseen itsenäisyyden kriteeriin. Työssä on käytetty colligaatio lähestymistapaa kahdella asymptoottisella esityksellä. Gram-Charlie ja Edgeworth laajennuksia käytetty arvioimaan todennäköisyyksiä näissä menetelmissä. Työssä on myös käytetty cross-momentti menetelmää joka perustuu neljännen asteen cross-momenttiin. Menetelmä on hyvin samankaltainen FastICA algoritmin kanssa. Molempia menetelmiä on tarkasteltu lineaarisella kahden itsenäisen muuttajan sekoituksella. Lähtö signaalit ja sekoitetut matriisit ovattuntemattomia signaali lähteiden määrää lukuunottamatta. Työssä on vertailtu colligaatio menetelmään ja sen modifikaatioita FastICA:an ja JADE:en. Työssä on myös tehty vertailu analyysi suorituskyvyn ja keskusprosessori ajan suhteen cross-momenttiin perustuvien menetelmien, FastICA:n ja JADE:n useiden sekoitettujen parien kanssa.

Predicting diffusion of innovations with self-organisation and machine learning

The main subject of this master's thesis was predicting diffusion of innovations. The prediction was done in a special case: product has been available in some countries, and based on its diffusion in those countries the prediction is done for other countries. The prediction was based on finding similar countries with Self-Organizing Map~(SOM), using parameters of countries. Parameters included various economical and social key figures. SOM was optimised for different products using two different methods: (a) by adding diffusion information of products to the country parameters, and (b) by weighting the country parameters based on their importance for the diffusion of different products. A novel method using Differential Evolution (DE) was developed to solve the latter, highly non-linear optimisation problem. Results were fairly good. The prediction method seems to be on a solid theoretical foundation. The results based on country data were good. Instead, optimisation for different products did not generally offer clear benefit, but in some cases the improvement was clearly noticeable. The weights found for the parameters of the countries with the developed SOM optimisation method were interesting, and most of them could be explained by properties of the products.

Wavelet Analysis in Turbulence

The objective of this thesis is to study wavelets and their role in turbulence applications. Under scrutiny in the thesis is the intermittency in turbulence models. Wavelets are used as a mathematical tool to study the intermittent activities that turbulence models produce. The first section generally introduces wavelets and wavelet transforms as a mathematical tool. Moreover, the basic properties of turbulence are discussed and classical methods for modeling turbulent flows are explained. Wavelets are implemented to model the turbulence as well as to analyze turbulent signals. The model studied here is the GOY (Gledzer 1973, Ohkitani & Yamada 1989) shell model of turbulence, which is a popular model for explaining intermittency based on the cascade of kinetic energy. The goal is to introduce better quantification method for intermittency obtained in a shell model. Wavelets are localized in both space (time) and scale, therefore, they are suitable candidates for the study of singular bursts, that interrupt the calm periods of an energy flow through various scales. The study concerns two questions, namely the frequency of the occurrence as well as the intensity of the singular bursts at various Reynolds numbers. The results gave an insight that singularities become more local as Reynolds number increases. The singularities become more local also when the shell number is increased at certain Reynolds number. The study revealed that the singular bursts are more frequent at Re ~ 107 than other cases with lower Re. The intermittency of bursts for the cases with Re ~ 106 and Re ~ 105 was similar, but for the case with Re ~ 104 bursts occured after long waiting time in a different fashion so that it could not be scaled with higher Re.

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Fin) among Finnish children and adolescents

Objective: The psychometric properties of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Fin), a Finnish version of a brief screening instrument were studied. Emotional and behavioural problems of 7- to 15-year-olds measured by the SDQ were reported, as well as the occurrence of self-reported eating disturbance symptoms and alcohol use among adolescents. Methods and samples: The cross-sectional school survey included 25 items of the SDQ-Fin, items about eating disturbance, alchol use and child psychiatric help-seeking. The study consists of three community samples: 1. The SDQ-Fin parent (n = 703) and teacher (n = 376) versions of 7 – 12 –year-olds, and self-report versions (n = 528) of 11 – 16 years-olds were obtained, and 2. the parent (n = 81) and self-report versions of 15-16 –year olds (n = 129) were obtained in Laitila and Pyhäranta. 3. The self-report versions of 13 – 16 – year-olds (n = 1458) in Salo and Rovaniemi were obtained. Results: The psychometric properties of the SDQ-Fin were for the most part comparable with the other European SDQ research results. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.71 in all informants’ reports) and inter-rater reliability (between the pairs of reports r = 0.38 - 0.44) were adequate. The concurrent validity (r = 0.75 between the SDQ and the CBCL total scores; r = 0.71 between the SDQ and the YSR total scores) was sufficient. Factor analysis of the SDQ self-report generally confirmed the postulated structure for girls and boys, except for the conduct problems scale of boys, which was fused with emotional symptoms and with hyperactivity. The response rates, means and cut-off points of the SDQ self-report scores were similar to those found, e.g. in Norway and in Britain. A high level of psychological problems, especially emotional and conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention, were associated with high level of eating disturbance symptoms and alcohol use. Conclusion: The results showed that the psychometric properties of the SDQ-Fin are adequate and provide additional confirmation of the usefulness of the SDQ-Fin for, e.g. screening, epidemiological research and clinical purposes.

Strategic groups and performance: an empirical analysis of strategic groups in the wind energy industry in Europe

The strategic group theory provides an intermediate level of analysis between a single company and the whole industry for identifying issues about the company's competitive position and strategic choices. Strategic groups are companies within an industry with similar strategic characteristics or competing on similar bases. Strategic choices are aligned with the firms’ resources. The purpose of this study was to identify the strategic groups in the wind energy industry in Europe, and study, whether a certain group membership results in financial performance differences. Altogether 80 European wind energy companies were included in the study, which were clustered into four strategic groups according to their age and growth rate. Each group corresponds to a different strategy. The results show that the wind energy companies can be clustered according to the chosen strategic characteristics. Strategic decisions were investigated with characteristic variables. Performance variables were used in the analysis measuring profitability, liquidity and solvency of the groups. These strategic choices of the companies did not have a significant influence on the firms’ performance. The more mature and slower growing group proved to be the most successful. However, the differences between groups were generally not statistically significant. The only statistically significant difference found was in the solvency ratio between Mature Slow and Young Rapid groups. Measured with these variables, more mature and slower growing companies performed better. Therefore, a certain strategic group membership results in performance differences.