Design and Implementation of Peer-to-Peer Network over Bluetooth

During the last half decade the popularity of different peer-to-peer applications has grown tremendously. Traditionally only desktop-class computers with fixed line network connections have been powerful enough to utilize peer-to-peer. However, the situation is about to change. The rapid development of wireless terminals will soon enable peer-to-peer applications on these devices as well as on desktops. Possibilities are further enhanced by the upcoming high-bandwidth cellular networks. In this thesis the applicability and implementation alternatives of an existing peer-to-peer system are researched for two target platforms: Linux powered iPaq and Symbian OS based smartphone. The result is a peer-to-peer middleware component suitable for mobile terminals. It works on both platforms and utilizes Bluetooth networking technology. The implemented software platforms are compatible with each other and support for additional network technologies can be added with a minimal effort.

Implementation of CORBA interface in a wireless device

CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) on laajalle levinnyt ja teollisuudessa yleisesti käytetty hajautetun tietojenkäsittelyn arkkitehtuuri. CORBA skaalautuu eri kokoisiin tarpeisiin ja sitä voidaan hyödynntää myös sulautetuissa langattomissa laitteissa. Oleellista sulautetussa ympäristössä on rakentaa rajapinnat kevytrakenteisiksi, pysyviksi ja helposti laajennettaviksi ilman että yhteensopivuus aikaisempiin rajapintoihin olisi vaarassa. Langattomissa laitteissa resurssit, kuten muistin määrä ja prosessointiteho, ovat hyvin rajalliset, joten rajapinta tulee suunnitella ja toteuttaa optimaalisesti. Palveluiden tulee ottaa huomioon myös langattomuuden rajoitukset, kuten hitaat tiedonsiirtonopeudet ja tiedonsiirron yhteydettömän luonteen. Työssä suunniteltiin ja toteutettiin CORBA-rajapinta GSM-päätelaitteeseen, jonka on todettu täyttävän sille asetetut tavoitteet. Rajapinta tarjoaa kaikki yleisimmät GSM-terminaalin ominaisuudet ja on laajennettavissa tulevia tuotteita ja verkkotekniikoita varten. Laajennettavuutta saavutetaan esimerkiksi kuvaamalla terminaalin ominaisuudet yleisellä kuvauskielellä, kuten XML:lla (Extensible Markup Language).

Implementation of bayesian therapeutic drug monitoring in modern patient care

The variability observed in drug exposure has a direct impact on the overall response to drug. The largest part of variability between dose and drug response resides in the pharmacokinetic phase, i.e. in the dose-concentration relationship. Among possibilities offered to clinicians, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM; Monitoring of drug concentration measurements) is one of the useful tool to guide pharmacotherapy. TDM aims at optimizing treatments by individualizing dosage regimens based on blood drug concentration measurement. Bayesian calculations, relying on population pharmacokinetic approach, currently represent the gold standard TDM strategy. However, it requires expertise and computational assistance, thus limiting its large implementation in routine patient care. The overall objective of this thesis was to implement robust tools to provide Bayesian TDM to clinician in modern routine patient care. To that endeavour, aims were (i) to elaborate an efficient and ergonomic computer tool for Bayesian TDM: EzeCHieL (ii) to provide algorithms for drug concentration Bayesian forecasting and software validation, relying on population pharmacokinetics (iii) to address some relevant issues encountered in clinical practice with a focus on neonates and drug adherence. First, the current stage of the existing software was reviewed and allows establishing specifications for the development of EzeCHieL. Then, in close collaboration with software engineers a fully integrated software, EzeCHieL, has been elaborated. EzeCHieL provides population-based predictions and Bayesian forecasting and an easy-to-use interface. It enables to assess the expectedness of an observed concentration in a patient compared to the whole population (via percentiles), to assess the suitability of the predicted concentration relative to the targeted concentration and to provide dosing adjustment. It allows thus a priori and a posteriori Bayesian drug dosing individualization. Implementation of Bayesian methods requires drug disposition characterisation and variability quantification trough population approach. Population pharmacokinetic analyses have been performed and Bayesian estimators have been provided for candidate drugs in population of interest: anti-infectious drugs administered to neonates (gentamicin and imipenem). Developed models were implemented in EzeCHieL and also served as validation tool in comparing EzeCHieL concentration predictions against predictions from the reference software (NONMEM®). Models used need to be adequate and reliable. For instance, extrapolation is not possible from adults or children to neonates. Therefore, this work proposes models for neonates based on the developmental pharmacokinetics concept. Patients' adherence is also an important concern for drug models development and for a successful outcome of the pharmacotherapy. A last study attempts to assess impact of routine patient adherence measurement on models definition and TDM interpretation. In conclusion, our results offer solutions to assist clinicians in interpreting blood drug concentrations and to improve the appropriateness of drug dosing in routine clinical practice.

Description and implementation of cut calculation-method in a sawmill

Työn tavoitteena oli kuvata ja ottaa käyttöön sahauseräkohtaisen kannattavuuden laskentamenetelmä sahalle, sekä tehdä laskentamalli menetelmän tueksi. Sahauksen peruskäsitteiden jälkeen työssä on esitelty sahan tuotantoprosessi. Tuotantoprosessi on kuvattu kirjallisuuden ja asiantuntijoiden haastattelujen perusteella. Seuraavaksi kartoitettiin hyötyjä ja vaikutuksia, mitä laskentamenetelmältä odotetaan.. Kustannuslaskennan teoriaa selvitettiin kirjallisuuslähteitä käyttäen silmälläpitäen juuri tätä kehitettävää laskentamenetelmää. Lisäksi esiteltiin Uimaharjun sahalla käytettävät ja laskentaan liittyvät laskenta- ja tietojärjestelmät.Nykyisin sahalla ei ole minkäänlaista menetelmää sahauseräkohtaisen tuloksen laskemiseksi. Pienillä muutoksilla sahan tietojärjestelmään ja prosessikoneisiin voidaan sahauserä kuljettaa prosessin läpi niin, että jokaisessa prosessin vaiheessa sille saadaan kohdistettua tuotantotietoa. Eri vaiheista saatua tietoa käyttämällä saadaan tarkasti määritettyä tuotteet, joita sahauserä tuotti ja paljonko tuotantoresursseja tuottamiseen kului. Laskentamalliin syötetään tuotantotietoja ja kustannustietoa ja saadaan vastaukseksi sahauserän taloudellinen tulos.Toimenpide ehdotuksena esitetään lisätutkimusta tuotantotietojen automaattisesta keräämisestä manuaalisen työn ja virheiden poistamiseksi. Suhteellisen pienillä panoksilla voidaan jokaiselle sahauserälle kerätä tuotantotiedot täysin automaattisesti. Lisäksi kehittämäni laskentamallin tilalle tulisi hankkia sovellus, joka käyttäisi paremmin hyväksi nykyisiä tietojärjestelmiä ja poistaisi manuaalisen työvaiheen laskennassa.

Critical Success Factors in the Implementation of the Balanced Scorecard

Tutkielman tavoitteena on tunnistaa kriittiset menestystekijät balanced scorecardin käyttöönotossa. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan selittävä tapaustutkimus. Tutkimuksen haastatteluaineisto on kerätty suomalaisyrityksistä, jotka ovat ottaneet onnistuneesti balanced scorecardin käyttöön organisaatiossa. Yksi tapauksista osoittautui kuitenkin epäonnistuneeksi. Balanced scorecardin onnistuneeseen käyttöönottoon vaikuttaa usea eri tekijä. Tutkielmassa käyttöönottoon vaikuttavat menestystekijät on jaettu neljään eri ryhmään, jotka ovat tekijät liittyen organisaatioon, resursseihin, käyttöönottoprosessiin ja itse balanced scorecardiin. Viitekehys havainnollistaa kriittisten menestystekijöiden keskinäisiä suhteita. Johdon sitoutuminen, ajankäyttö sekä avoin kommunikaatio ovat eräitä keskeisiä menestystekijöitä balanced scorecardin käyttöönottoprosessissa. Lisäksi balanced scorecardin onnistuneeseen käyttöönottoon on kaksi perusedellytystä: organisaation strategian selkeys sekä ympäristön tuki prosessille.

Implementation of counter testing in Nokia Automation System

In this study the performance measurement, a part of the research and development of the RNC, was improved by implementing counter testing to the Nokia Automation System. The automation of counter testing is a feature the customer ordered, because performing counter testing manually is rather complex. The objective was to implement an automated counter testing system, which once configured correctly, would manage to run the testing and perform the analysis. The requirements for the counter testing were first studied. It was investigated if the auto-mation of the feature was feasible in the meetings with the customer. The basic functionality required for the automation was also drawn. The technologies used in the architecture of the Nokia Automation System were studied. Based on the results of the study, a new technology, wxWidgets, was introduced. The new technology was necessary to facilitate the implementing of the required feature. Finally the implementation of the counter testing was defined and implemented. The result of this study was the automation of the counter testing method developed as a new feature for the Nokia Automation System. The feature meets the specifications and requirements set by the customer. The performing of the counter testing feature is totally automated. Only configuration of the test cases is done by the user. The customer has presented new requests to further develop the feature and there are plans by the Nokia Automation System developers to implement those in the near future. The study describes the implementation of the counter testing feature introduced. The results of the study give guidelines for further developing the feature.

A Legislator under Surveillance: The Creation and Implementation of Swiss Banking Legislation 1910-1934

This paper analyses how banking regulation was introduced in Switzerland - one of the world's most prominent financial centres - which remained in place until the beginning of the twenty-first century. It shows that the law adopted on 8 November 1934 is a perfect example of capture of the regulator by the regulated. Essentially a political response in the context of the economic crisis of the 1930s, it largely reflected the interests of banking circles by limiting the intervention of the State as much as possible. The introduction of the new legislation was facilitated by the temporary weakness of Swiss banking circles, as they depended on the State to delay or prevent the collapse of many major credit institutions. They did not manage to derail the law as they had two decades earlier when they scuppered the federal bill on banks drawn up between 1914 and 1916. But this time they were better organized and more united, and intervened all the more effectively in the legislative process itself. The 1934 law is thus distinctive in that it made no structural changes to the architecture of the financial centre but merely codified its practices through flexible legislation meant to reassure the public. The law was aimed less at controlling banking activity than at keeping - thanks to skilfully calibrated political concessions - the State from having to intervene more directly in the internal management of banks or in the fixing of interest rates and the export of capital.

Evaluation of Implementation of BSc IT Curriculum at Tumaini University

In Tanzania computer knowledge is vital to supplement the pace fast growing economic and development activities, which demands high and reliable level of expertise in com- puting field. In 2006, a research carried out at Tumaini University with purpose to design and implement a contextualized curriculum that can supplement for such needs hence facilitate development in Tanzanian context. A contextualized curriculum took advantage of six principles namely curriculum contex- tualization, projects, practical, interdisciplinary orientation, international recognition and continuous research for the program’s formative and development. Implementation of the curriculum followed the CATI (Contextualize, Apply, Transfer, and Import) model with emphasis on students to identify societal expectations at the early stage in learning process, in which case the graduates will potentially cater for societal expertise needs on ICT. This study adopts an emergent exploratory cross-section research design, while employ- ing a qualitative approach. This study was conducted at Tumaini University in Iringa where by purposeful sampling was used to obtain participants such as students, teach- ers, administrators and employers who participated in several focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study reveals that six principles are satisfactorily met,despite of bottlenecks such as incompatibility in pedagogical thinking and technology availability for e-learning, learning attitudes, insufficient experts with actual skills and experience,in academic field among the others. The study recommends that iterative longitudinal study should be car- ried out to design for proper intervention in response to these problems which will help in improving and stabilize the curriculum.

Present and future methodology for the implementation of decision support systems for traffic management

Real-time predictions are an indispensable requirement for traffic management in order to be able to evaluate the effects of different available strategies or policies. The combination of predicting the state of the network and the evaluation of different traffic management strategies in the short term future allows system managers to anticipate the effects of traffic control strategies ahead of time in order to mitigate the effect of congestion. This paper presents the current framework of decision support systems for traffic management based on short and medium-term predictions and includes some reflections on their likely evolution, based on current scientific research and the evolution of the availability of new types of data and their associated methodologies.

Design and implementation of a leisure program to improve function and wellbeing in people with depressive disorder

Depression is a major cause of disability and disease with significant costs to the health system and for the whole society. Regarding the treatment, in recent years has questioned the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs, with a recognition that although depressive disorders tend to improve with these treatments, residual symptoms seems to be still the norm, which is associated with the risk of new episodes or relapses, and faster its appearance. Otherwise many of the specialized clinical guidelines, propose a based on stepped-care model intervention, prioritizing less intrusive actions, including low-intensity psychosocial-interventions.

Optimization and practical implementation of ultrafast 2D NMR experiments

Ultrafast 2D NMR is a powerful methodology that allows recording of a 2D NMR spectrum in a fraction of second. However, due to the numerous non-conventional parameters involved in this methodology its implementation is no trivial task. Here, an optimized experimental protocol is carefully described to ensure efficient implementation of ultrafast NMR. The ultrafast spectra resulting from this implementation are presented based on the example of two widely used 2D NMR experiments, COSY and HSQC, obtained in 0.2 s and 41 s, respectively.

Design and implementation of a multipurpose reactor for scale-up studies

In the theoretical part, the different polymerisation catalysts are introduced and the phenomena related to mixing in the stirred tank reactor are presented. Also the advantages and challenges related to scale-up are discussed. The aim of the applied part was to design and implement an intermediate-sized reactor useful for scale-up studies. The reactor setting was tested making one batch of Ziegler–Natta polypropylene catalyst. The catalyst preparation with a designed equipment setting succeeded and the catalyst was analysed. The analyses of the catalyst were done, because the properties of the catalyst were compared to the normal properties of Ziegler–Natta polypropylene catalyst. The total titanium content of the catalyst was slightly higher than in normal Ziegler–Natta polypropylene catalyst, but the magnesium and aluminium content of the catalyst were in the normal level. By adjusting the siphonation tube and adding one washing step the titanium content of the catalyst could be decreased. The particle size of the catalyst was small, but the activity was in a normal range. The size of the catalyst particles could be increased by decreasing the stirring speed. During the test run, it was noticed that some improvements for the designed equipment setting could be done. For example more valves for the chemical feed line need to be added to ensure inert conditions during the catalyst preparation. Also nitrogen for the reactor needs to separate from other nitrogen line. With this change the pressure in the reactor can be kept as desired during the catalyst preparation. The proposals for improvements are presented in the applied part. After these improvements are done, the equipment setting is ready for start-up. The computational fluid dynamics model for the designed reactor was provided by cooperation with Lappeenranta University of Technology. The experiments showed that for adequate mixing with one impeller, stirring speed of 600 rpm is needed. The computational fluid dynamics model with two impellers showed that there was no difference in the mixing efficiency if the upper impeller were pumping downwards or upwards.

Usability Centered Implementation of a Web Based Value Added Module

Customer specific functionalities are a challenging part of procurement and invoice automation environments. In Basware Enterprise Purchase to Payment product family the customer specific reports are supported only in a basic level without any seamless interface between all EPP products. Also other customer specific functionalities are not supported as there is no customizable interface between the applications and only the most common features are implemented to the products themselves. In this thesis foundations are created for a new web based value added module where it is possible to create seamless customer specific functionalities throughout the whole EPP product family. The work is implemented in a Proof of Concept type of piloting. The system is created in user centered way where the users are able to explain their requests and determine their needs. The result is an excellent foundation for a module that can be developed further.

Regional potential for collaborative implementation of small CHP plants in bioenergy technology

This thesis is a preliminary study targeting South-Eastern Finland. The objective was to find out the financial and functional readiness and willingness of the small and medium-sized enterprises of the region to manufacture and sell distributed bioenergy solutions collaboratively as a business network. In this case these solutions mean small-scale (0.5 - 3 MW) woodchips-operated combined heat and power (CHP) plants. South-Eastern Finland has suffered from a decline in the recent years, mostly due to the problems of the traditionally strong industrial know-how area of the region, the paper industry. Local small and medium-sized companies will have to find new ways to survive the toughening competition. A group of 40 companies from suitable industries were selected and financial and comparative analysis was performed on them. Additionally 19 managing directors of the companies were selected for an interview to find out their views on networking, its requirements, advantages and the general interest in it. The studied companies were found to be generally in fairly good financial condition and in that sense, fit for networking activities. The interviews revealed that the companies were capable of producing all the needed elements for the plants in question, and the managers appeared to be very interested in and have a positive attitude towards such business networks. Thus it can be said that the small and medium-sized companies of the region are capable of and interested in manufacturing small bio-CHP plants as a production network.