Change detection in boreal forests using bi-temporal aerial photographs

[Abstract]

Sward and milk production response to early turnout of dairy cows to pasture in Finland

Selostus: Laiduntamisen aloitusajankohdan vaikutus laitumen tuottoon

Effects of defoliation height on regrowth of timothy and meadow fescue in the generative and vegetative phases of growth

Selostus: Leikkuukorkeuden vaikutus timotein ja nurminadan jälkikasvuun generatiivisessa ja vegetatiivisessa kasvuvaiheessa

Minimum error contrast enhancement

Contrast enhancement is an image processing technique where the objective is to preprocess the image so that relevant information can be either seen or further processed more reliably. These techniques are typically applied when the image itself or the device used for image reproduction provides poor visibility and distinguishability of different regions of interest inthe image. In most studies, the emphasis is on the visualization of image data,but this human observer biased goal often results to images which are not optimal for automated processing. The main contribution of this study is to express the contrast enhancement as a mapping from N-channel image data to 1-channel gray-level image, and to devise a projection method which results to an image with minimal error to the correct contrast image. The projection, the minimum-error contrast image, possess the optimal contrast between the regions of interest in the image. The method is based on estimation of the probability density distributions of the region values, and it employs Bayesian inference to establish the minimum error projection.

Measuring irregularities and surface defects from printed patterns

Quality inspection and assurance is a veryimportant step when today's products are sold to markets. As products are produced in vast quantities, the interest to automate quality inspection tasks has increased correspondingly. Quality inspection tasks usuallyrequire the detection of deficiencies, defined as irregularities in this thesis. Objects containing regular patterns appear quite frequently on certain industries and science, e.g. half-tone raster patterns in the printing industry, crystal lattice structures in solid state physics and solder joints and components in the electronics industry. In this thesis, the problem of regular patterns and irregularities is described in analytical form and three different detection methods are proposed. All the methods are based on characteristics of Fourier transform to represent regular information compactly. Fourier transform enables the separation of regular and irregular parts of an image but the three methods presented are shown to differ in generality and computational complexity. Need to detect fine and sparse details is common in quality inspection tasks, e.g., locating smallfractures in components in the electronics industry or detecting tearing from paper samples in the printing industry. In this thesis, a general definition of such details is given by defining sufficient statistical properties in the histogram domain. The analytical definition allowsa quantitative comparison of methods designed for detail detection. Based on the definition, the utilisation of existing thresholding methodsis shown to be well motivated. Comparison of thresholding methods shows that minimum error thresholding outperforms other standard methods. The results are successfully applied to a paper printability and runnability inspection setup. Missing dots from a repeating raster pattern are detected from Heliotest strips and small surface defects from IGT picking papers.

Welding time models for cost calculations in the early stages of the design process

It is generally accepted that between 70 and 80% of manufacturing costs can be attributed to design. Nevertheless, it is difficult for the designer to estimate manufacturing costs accurately, especially when alternative constructions are compared at the conceptual design phase, because of the lack of cost information and appropriate tools. In general, previous reports concerning optimisation of a welded structure have used the mass of the product as the basis for the cost comparison. However, it can easily be shown using a simple example that the use of product mass as the sole manufacturing cost estimator is unsatisfactory. This study describes a method of formulating welding time models for cost calculation, and presents the results of the models for particular sections, based on typical costs in Finland. This was achieved by collecting information concerning welded products from different companies. The data included 71 different welded assemblies taken from the mechanical engineering and construction industries. The welded assemblies contained in total 1 589 welded parts, 4 257 separate welds, and a total welded length of 3 188 metres. The data were modelled for statistical calculations, and models of welding time were derived by using linear regression analysis. Themodels were tested by using appropriate statistical methods, and were found to be accurate. General welding time models have been developed, valid for welding in Finland, as well as specific, more accurate models for particular companies. The models are presented in such a form that they can be used easily by a designer, enabling the cost calculation to be automated.

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

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

Mitta-anturin mittauselektroniikan kehittäminen teräksen puutislepinnoituksen ohjaukseen

Työn tarkoituksena oli kehittää mittauselektroniikka puutislepinnoitusprosessin ohjaukseen. Mittauselektroniikalla on tarkoitus mitata pikoampeeriluokan virtoja mittaanturilta, jossa virtaa kuuma, noin 250 ºC asteinen kaasu. Mitta-anturin toiminta perustuu ioniliikkuvuusspektrometriaan. Työssä tutkitaan pikoampeeriluokan virtojen mittaamista sekä mittauskytkennöissä käytetyn virta-jännitemuuntimen ominaisuuksia ja mitoittamista. Työ tarkastelee myös T-kytkennän käyttöä vahvistimen takaisinkytkennässä. Jännitekertojakytkentöjä käsitellään teoreettisesti mitta-anturin biasjännitteiden luomiseksi vähäisellä piirilevypinta-alalla. Työssä suunniteltiin mittauselektroniikan esivahvistinprototyypit sekä mitta-anturin biasjännitekytkentä. Mitta-anturin kuumien olosuhteiden vuoksi on mittauselektroniikka siirrettävä etäämmäksi mitta-anturista. Prototyyppikytkennöillä sekä laboratoriomittauksilla selvitettiin mittauselektroniikan esivahvistimien siirtämiseen liittyviä ongelmia. Biasjännitekytkennän suunnittelussa pyrittiin kytkentä toteuttamaan mahdollisimman vähällä piirilevypinta-alalla. Mittauselektroniikka todettiin laboratoriomittausten perusteella toimivaksi puutislepinnoitusprosessissa suoritettavia koemittauksia varten.

Monitelakalanterin ulosottotelan analysointi ja kehittäminen

Työn tarkoituksena on selvittää uusien ulosottotelaratkaisujen käyttömahdollisuutta sekä levitystelojen tarvetta on-line-monitelakalanterissa. Uusia ratkaisuja tutkitaan teoreettisesti. On-line-konseptissa ajonopeus on suuri. Tällöin paperirata liikkuu sileillä teloilla yleensä ilmafilmialueella. Ilmafilmi paperiradan ja telan välissä mahdollistaa radan ja telan nopeuden riippumattomuuden toisistaan. Ilmafilmikerros toimii liukulaakerin tavoin radan ja telan välissä. Ilmafilmin muodostumiseen vaikuttavat useat muuttujat. Ilmafilmiä, sileän telan pitoa sekä ilmanpainetta radan ja telan välissä mitattiin koeajossa Metso Paper Oy:n Järvenpään WEB3000-tutkimuslaitoksessa. Saatujen teoreettisten tulosten perusteella uudet ulosottotelaratkaisut ovat mahdollisia. Ulosottotelaa voidaan pyörittää tietyissä olosuhteissa paperirataa hitaammin tai ulosottotela voidaan korvata palkkityyppisellä radankääntölaitteella. Samoin levitystelojen poisto alimmista positioista on mahdollista.

Kohinan poisto spektrikuvista epälineaaristen suodattimien avulla

Tietokoneiden vuosi vuodelta kasvanut prosessointikyky mahdollistaa spektrikuvien hyö- dyntämisen harmaasävy- ja RGB-värikuvien sijaan yhä useampien ongelmien ratkaisemi- sessa. Valitettavasti häiriöiden suodatuksen tutkimus on jäänyt jälkeen tästä kehityksestä. Useimmat menetelmät on testattu vain harmaasävy- tai RGB-värikuvien yhteydessä, mut- ta niiden toimivuutta ei ole testattu spektrikuvien suhteen. Tässä diplomityössä tutkitaan erilaisia menetelmiä bittivirheiden poistamisessa spektrikuvista. Uutena menetelmänä työssä käytetään kuutiomediaanisuodatinta ja monivaiheista kuutio- mediaanisuodatinta. Muita tutkittuja menetelmiä olivat vektorimediaanisuodatus, moni- vaiheinen vektorimediaanisuodatus, sekä rajattu keskiarvosuodatus. Kuutiosuodattimilla pyrittiin hyödyntämään spektrikuvien kaistojen välillä olevaa korrelaatiota ja niillä pääs- tiinkin kokonaisuuden kannalta parhaisiin tuloksiin. Kaikkien suodattimien toimintaa tutkittiin kahdella eri 224 komponenttisella spektriku- valla lisäämällä kuviin satunnaisia bittivirheitä.

Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations.

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10(-300), 2.1 × 10(-6), 2.5 × 10(-10) and 1.8 × 10(-10), respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.