Exploring new criteria to design materials for online education

Peer-reviewed

Comparing multiple criteria for species identification in two recently diverged seabirds

Correct species identification is a crucial issue in systematics with key implications for prioritising conservation effort. However, it can be particularly challenging in recently diverged species due to their strong similarity and relatedness. In such cases, species identification requires multiple and integrative approaches. In this study we used multiple criteria, namely plumage colouration, biometric measurements, geometric morphometrics, stable isotopes analysis (SIA) and genetics (mtDNA), to identify the species of 107 bycatch birds from two closely related seabird species, the Balearic (Puffinus mauretanicus) and Yelkouan (P. yelkouan) shearwaters. Biometric measurements, stable isotopes and genetic data produced two stable clusters of bycatch birds matching the two study species, as indicated by reference birds of known origin. Geometric morphometrics was excluded as a species identification criterion since the two clusters were not stable. The combination of plumage colouration, linear biometrics, stable isotope and genetic criteria was crucial to infer the species of 103 of the bycatch specimens. In the present study, particularly SIA emerged as a powerful criterion for species identification, but temporal stability of the isotopic values is critical for this purpose. Indeed, we found some variability in stable isotope values over the years within each species, but species differences explained most of the variance in the isotopic data. Yet this result pinpoints the importance of examining sources of variability in the isotopic data in a case-by-case basis prior to the cross-application of the SIA approach to other species. Our findings illustrate how the integration of several methodological approaches can help to correctly identify individuals from recently diverged species, as each criterion measures different biological phenomena and species divergence is not expressed simultaneously in all biological traits.

Partner Criteria and Life Cycle Impacts: Case UPM

The study examines partner selection criteria and the life cycle impacts on them. The target is to define the relevant criteria that should be applied in case of a partnership. In this context partnership means strategic supplier relationship. It is also examined how these criteria change on the different stages of the product and business life cycle. The empirical part is a description of developing Criteria selection tool in the case company. The study is conducted as a qualitative research using constructive and action research methodologies. The Criteria selection tool is a MS Excel workbook, giving the relevant set of supplier criteria depending on the business case. The most essential criteria, the tool will suggest for partner suppliers, are related to strategic fit, development potential and collaborative aspects. On the early stages of the life cycles the criteria related to research and development and growth potential are significant. On the late stages of the life cycles cost reduction potential becomes very important.

Threshold Selection Criteria for Quantification of Lumbosacral Cerebrospinal Fluid and Root Volumes from MRI

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The high variability of CSF volumes partly explains the inconsistency of anesthetic effects, but may also be due to image analysis itself. In this study, criteria for threshold selection are anatomically defined. METHODS: T2 MR images (n = 7 cases) were analyzed using 3-dimentional software. Maximal-minimal thresholds were selected in standardized blocks of 50 slices of the dural sac ending caudally at the L5-S1 intervertebral space (caudal blocks) and middle L3 (rostral blocks). Maximal CSF thresholds: threshold value was increased until at least one voxel in a CSF area appeared unlabeled and decreased until that voxel was labeled again: this final threshold was selected. Minimal root thresholds: thresholds values that selected cauda equina root area but not adjacent gray voxels in the CSF-root interface were chosen. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between caudal and rostral thresholds. No significant differences were found between expert and nonexpert observers. Average max/min thresholds were around 1.30 but max/min CSF volumes were around 1.15. Great interindividual CSF volume variability was detected (max/min volumes 1.6-2.7). CONCLUSIONS: The estimation of a close range of CSF volumes which probably contains the real CSF volume value can be standardized and calculated prior to certain intrathecal procedures

Modern recovery boiler design criteria

Engineering and pricing of large recovery boiler were studied in this work. Engineering was carried out with Anita 4.2 which is an engineering program of Andritz. Key initial values were chosen with previous studies. Primary target of this work was to find out the consequences that furnace dimensions and furnace screen vertical part has to boiler pricing. Boilers that were engineered had different rate of furnace width and depth and different heat transfer plate count. Boiler balances were invariable. Boilers with different vertical screen construction were also calculated. First variation was boiler with vertical screen up to furnace roof. Other variation was to connect vertical screen to Pre-boiler generating bank inlet tubes. Total prices were calculated to engineered boilers. Pricing was sort out to heat transfers, high pressure pipes, steel structures, auxiliary equipments and civil/structural costs. This study did not notice parts of the boiler which costs do not vary with the construction of the boiler. Heat transfers had the largest share of costs. Boiler building had the most significant differences between the boilers. Furnace screen had also significant role especially to costs of the boiler building.

The methodological criteria of counterpropositions within the Roman social legal framework

Partiendo de la difundida distinción, entre unos ordenamientos jurídicos abiertos, como el derecho inglés y el anglo americano, que se vinculan en el pasado al Derecho Romano, y otros cerrados o codificados, como los derechos del continente europeo, y tras detenernos en el origen terminológico de ambos sistemas y en su rígida contraposición, se procura destacar en este trabajo que Roma y su Derecho tampoco abrazan en toda su pureza, un sistema abierto.

Buying behavior of public organizations and its influence on export partner governance

Public organizations form a significant part of any economy, yet their buying behavior has received very little attention. Operating with complex public sector is further complicated when sales and marketing activities are done by foreign export partners. This thesis explores the buying behavior of public organizations and how partnership governance is influenced by it. The theoretical part focuses on two subjects. Firstly the strictly regulated purchase process, rigid decision making and other special characteristics of public organizations are examined. Secondly the thesis examines partnership governance forms and how coordination is arranged in the relationships. The empirical part investigates the subjects of public organization buying behavior and partnership governance using a case study of a Finnish SME and their two export partners. The findings suggest high degree of uniformity between public organizations enables the use of unilateral governance forms. By creating mutual dependence through training the possibility of adopting a purely bilateral governance form exists as well.

Asiakkuuksien johtaminen kuljetusalan pk-yrityksessä

The profitability on transportation field has been low for a long time. The re-cession that started in the fall of 2008 has caused even more trouble to transportation companies as the number of transportations has gone down and the competition has gotten tougher since the time before the recession. Because the low profitability level does not allow competing with prices, transportation companies must come up with other means to differ from their competitors. The main goal of the research was to find out how a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) on transportation field should manage its customer relationships. Due to limited resources, companies should direct their resources to serving their most valuable customers. Companies should first make a determination of their customer base. This works as a base for establishing customer portfolios, in other words making customer groups based on e.g. profitability, buying volumes and loyalty. Companies can gain competitive advantage also by improving their service quality. Important information regarding the selection criteria of a transporta-tion company, transaction methods, service time and accessibility of person-nel, customers’ expectations on transportation company’s personnel, utiliza-tion of IT-solutions as a part of transportation service, the image of a transportation company and necessity of quality control meetings was gathered for this research by interviewing customers. By utilizing this information, transportation company can adapt its service offering to equal the customer needs and expectations better. A service process example was created to improve the service quality of the transportation company. It shows the whole process from the customer sending the transportation order to the point when the customer receives an invoice from the transportation company. The example process shows the most fragile stages of the service process: the interaction points. An example of this is when the driver and the customer meet at the unloading place. The results show that even a SME can have the opportunity to succeed in competitive markets by managing CRM. Expensive software are usually out of reach of a SME, but having a CRM software does not automatically guar-antee success in customer relationship management. Small and medium-sized firms can commit their current customers and recruit new customers by utilizing customer knowledge, offering top quality service, being innovative and offering functional services.

Strategic supply chain alignment to customer buying behavior

In search for competitive advantage, designing and managing supply chain networks have become a necessary competence for organizations. The target of this thesis is to answer a question, how to design a multiple supply chain network. The purpose is to study, what kind of different supply chain designs exist and, how to choose appropriate supply chain designs for a company. In the thesis, the focus is on the supply chain alignment to customers, more specifically to customer buying behavior. The research method was a case study. A framework for measuring customer buying behavior was developed based on the literature and it was used in the study of customer buying behavior in the case environment. In the case company structured interviews and data records were used as sources of evidence. Persons working in the customer-interface were interviewed face-to-face and through an e-mail questionnaire. When analyzing the data, a Quality function deployment matrix was used as one analysis method. As a result of the thesis, supply chain network of the case company is proposed to be divided into three separate supply chains, which focus on different areas and they could be called lean, agile and continuous replenishment supply chains. In conclusion, in the supply chain alignment to customer buying behavior several aspects have to be studied from different perspectives. According to the results, a multiple supply chain strategy is recommended to be implemented in the case company, since the diversity of the customer needs cannot be managed efficiently through a single supply chain.

International research partnerships: establishing partner selection criteria in the university-university context

The main objective of the study was to identify and evaluate criteria for international partner selection in university-university context. This study attempted at promoting better understanding of how universities should proceed in selecting partners for producing joint research publications. Thus, the aim of the study was to gain an understanding of how research collaborations can be developed and how partners can be selected. The choice of a right partner has been identified as a precondition for partnership success. In international research collaborations partnering scientists with different skills and backgrounds bring together complementary knowledge into research projects, which in most cases results in a higher quality output. Therefore, prior to selecting a partner, the set of criteria should be established. This research examined twelve Russian universities with the status of national research university as potential partners for Lappeenranta University of Technology, and selected the most appropriate universities based on established set of criteria. Potential partners’ evaluation was done using secondary sources by tracking partners’ academic success during the period 2005 – 2010. Based on established criteria, the study calculated the partnership index for each university. The results of the research reveal that among twelve examined universities there are four potential partners who have been rather active in publishing scientific articles during 2005 – 2010.

Metsäsääntely Suomessa ja Venäjällä. Näkökulmia kestävään metsätalouteen

Sustainability is the aim of forest management and forest regulation in many countries. Accordingly, forest management has been steered towards more environmentally friendly methods and new regulatory instruments have been introduced. At the same time, wood trade and forest industry have become a global business. Even if the importance of national forest legislation has not decreased, it has been widely acknowledged that national regulation of forest management is no longer sufficient. The movement of goods does not acknowledge boundaries, even though most negative environmental and social consequences stay in the country of origin of wood and other raw materials. As a partial solution to this dilemma, different kinds of regulations have been developed. Various forest certification schemes and wood trade regulation in the EU (995/2010) are examples of efforts to prevent illegal logging and unsustainable forestry. The Finland-based forest industry is to a varying extent dependent on wood trade from Russia. Especially in the 1990‟s, ethical questions concerning import of wood from Russian old growth forests near the Finnish border were widely discussed. Consequently, forest industry enterprises have developed systems to trace the origin of wood and to buy certified wood from Russia. The aim of the research has been to evaluate Finnish and Russian forest regulations in order to investigate what kind of forest management these regulations enhance, and to what extent ecologically sustainable forest management has been integrated into different forms of regulation. I have examined Finnish and Russian forest regulation in four separate articles based on the topics of the Russian Forest Code, forest certification and other voluntary forest protection measures in Russia, Finnish forest certification and Finnish forest legislation. One objective has been to analyse the roles voluntary forest certification plays in promoting sustainable forest management in different countries. In my research, I have mainly concentrated on ecological sustainability and protection of biodiversity, although other aspects of sustainable forest management have been touched upon in different articles. In the following I shall conclude the findings of my research. When the current Russian Forest Code (2006) was being adopted, the main emphasis was not on ecological issues, but on reorganizing forest governance. The role of ecological requirements was even slightly diminished during the legislative reform. There are, nevertheless, still stipulations aiming at ecological sustainability, such as the division of forests into different forest management categories and various protection zones. In 2000, FSC forest certification arrived in Russia, at present covering already 28 million hectares of forests. The PEFC scheme is now in use as well, but to a much lesser extent. If properly implemented, Russian forest certification schemes clearly improve the level of ecological and social sustainability of forestry in Russia. Certification criteria, however, are partly in conflict with the Russian forest legislation and certified enterprises have been forced to pay fines or to negotiate with forest authorities. This clearly indicates that even if Russian forest legislation has otherwise been liberalized to a certain extent, some significant paternalism still exists. Voluntary, hands-on biodiversity protection measures are not valued, and they are not part of the official protection policies as in many other countries. However, there have been some regional solutions to this dilemma. In the Republic of Karelia forest authorities have approved a set of forest biodiversity protection rules created by a local NGO and a forest industry enterprise. By following these local rules, an enterprise can avoid fines for protection measures. The current Finnish Forest Act was adopted in 1996. It brought forest legislation into a new era as some ecological aspects were integrated into forest legislation. The various soft-law forest management recommendations further increased the level of biodiversity protection. My evaluation of the overall legitimacy of the Finnish forest legislation and forest management paradigm revealed, however, several problematic issues. As part of this study I analysed the history of the current forest management paradigm. This analysis revealed the path dependency which still hinders the protection of biodiversity and clearly decreases the general legitimacy of forest management. Due to several historical reasons only even-structured forest management based on clear cuts has for decades been officially approved in Finland. Due to increasing demands of forest owners the legislation is finally being revised. Yet, the official approval of uneven-structured forest management would not be enough to fully improve ecological, social and cultural legitimacy. The latest ecological theories and knowledge of endangered species should be taken into account in the on-going reform of forest legislation as well as the modernisation. Forest legislation is one of the very few spheres of Finnish environmental legislation where openness and participation are still considered a threat. The first Finnish forest certification scheme, PEFC, was established in 2000. It now covers more than 20 million hectares, about 95% of the forests in Finland. PEFC Finland does not require a higher level of biodiversity protection than the recommendations by Tapio (the Development Centre for Forestry), but certification has unified forest management practices and requires more protection measures than mere forest legislation. The study suggests that in Finland PEFC has not functioned as an instrument which would substantially improve the level of forest management. Rather it has supported the status quo of the forest sector. While the ecological and social responsibility of Finland-based forest corporations was one impetus for this research, I want to conclude that there are problems related to forest legislation and non-state regulation in both Finland and Russia. If an enterprise buying wood from Russia buys only certified wood, and carefully avoids wood coming from high conservation value forests that are either ecologically or socially valuable, it can be claimed to be as sustainably produced as in Finland. However, there must be continuous scrutiny of the circumstances. In Russia, the level of the compliance of certification criteria varies considerably, and there are vast unprotected invaluable forest areas. The utilisation of these areas should not be based on short-sighted decisions or lack of consensus among stakeholders.

Water storage in wetted strips under irrigated coffee trees with different criteria of irrigation management

The increasing demand for water resources accentuates the need to reduce water waste through a more appropriate irrigation management. In the particular case of irrigated coffee planting, which in recent years presented growth with the predominance of drip irrigation, the improvement of drip irrigation management techniques is a necessity. The proper management of drip irrigation depends on the knowledge of the spatial pattern of soil moisture distribution inside the wetted strip formed under the irrigation lines. In this study, grids of 24 tensiometers were used to determine the water storage within the wetted strip formed under drippers, with a 3.78 L h-1 discharge, evenly spaced by 0.4 m, subjected to two different management criteria (fixed irrigation interval and 60 kPa tension). Estimates of storage based on a one-dimensional analysis, that only considers depth variations, were compared with two-dimensional estimates. The results indicate that for high-frequency irrigation the one-dimensional analysis is not appropriate. However, under less frequent irrigation, the two-dimensional analysis is dispensable, being the one-dimensional sufficient for calculating the water volume stored in the wetted strip.

Estimating the most important criteria for hatching eggs as function of broiler breeders age

This research aimed to compare two female broiler breeder ages during the incubation period regarding management using the Analytic Hierarchy Process method (AHP). This method is characterized by the possibility of analyzing a multicriteria problem and assists a decision making. This study was carried out on a commercial hatchery located in São Paulo, Brazil. Two ages of broiler breeder (42 and 56 weeks) were compared relative to production rate. Production index data were the same in both ages and were submitted to multicriteria decision analysis using the AHP method. The results indicate that broiler breeders of 42 weeks presented better performance than those of 56 week-old. The setter phase (incubation) is more critical than the hatcher. The AHP method was efficient for this analysis and can serve as a methodological basis for future studies to improve the hatchability of broilers eggs.

Powder flow criteria for design of vertical silo walls

For design of vertical silos walls involving the storage of bulk solids to be safe and reliable, it is important knowing the largest possible number of variables such as: flow properties, silo geometry and pattern of flow desired. In order to validate the theories of flow prediction and design of conical hoppers, the flow properties of two bulk solids were determined, the theories of Jenike's flowability and Enstad and Walker for hopper design were analyzed and the results were compared with those experimentally obtained in a reduced model of a semicircular-section silo. Results show that Enstad theory for the hopper design is adequate to occur mass flow inside the silo, and for the sizing of the discharge outlet, the Walker's theory was closer to the appropriate than Jenike's theory, which was higher around 100% than the experimental hopper outlet.