The determination of EONIA rate: The impact of the financial crisis and the effects of the changes in the monetary policy implementation framework

EONIA is a market based overnight interest rate, whose role as the starting point of the yield curve makes it critical from the perspective of the implementation of European Central Bank´s common monetary policy in the euro area. The financial crisis that started in 2007 had a large impact on the determination mechanism of this interest rate, which is considered as the central bank´s operational target. This thesis examines the monetary policy implementation framework of the European Central Bank and changes made to it. Furthermore, we discuss the development of the recent turmoil in the money market. EONIA rate is modelled by means of a regression equation using variables related to liquidity conditions, refinancing need, auction results and calendar effects. Conditional volatility is captured by an EGARCH model, and autocorrelation is taken into account by employing an autoregressive structure. The results highlight how the tensions in the initial stage of the market turmoil were successfully countered by ECB´s liquidity policy. The subsequent response of EONIA to liquidity conditions under the full allotment liquidity provision procedure adopted after the demise of Lehman Brothers is also established. A clear distinction in the behavior of the interest rate between the sub-periods was evident. In the light of the results obtained, some of the challenges posed by the exit-strategy implementation will be addressed.

Role of culture in knowledge transfer and sharing - case ERP implementation

The main objective of this study was to examine how culture influences knowledge transfer and sharing within multicultural ERP project implementation in China. The main interest was to explain how national culture and knowledge are linked by understanding how culture influences knowledge transfer and sharing in a project organization. The other objective of this work was to discuss what Chinese cultural characteristic inhibit and en-hance knowledge sharing in ERP project. The perspective of this study was qualitative and the empirical material was collected from theme interviews among Stora Enso employees. Conclusion of this thesis is that Finns have a very direct style of communication and sharing knowledge whereas Chinese respect face shaving and indirect communication. Another conclusion is that knowledge sharing does not “just happen”, it is needed that project members understand national culture to get all project members commitment to project. In China most important is understand local business processes and understand role of trust and guanxi.

Hajautettujen asiakasverkkoyhteyksien valvonta

Tässä diplomityössä tutkitaan kuinka verkonvalvonta voidaan toteuttaa hajautetussa järjestelmässä. Työssä perehdytään tavallisten tietojärjestelmien ja hajautettujen järjestelmien eroihin, kyseisten järjestelmien ominaispiirteisiin sekä käsitellään mitä verkonvalvonta on yleisellä tasolla ja miten se on yleensä toteutettu tavallisissa tietojärjestelmissä. Tutkitaan tarkemmin kuinka verkonvalvonta voidaan toteuttaa tehokkaasti hajautetussa järjestelmässä sekä mitä vaatimuksia ja haasteita verkonvalvonnassa esiintyy. Tutkimukseen valittiin myös kaksi hajautetun järjestelmän verkonvalvontaan kehitettyä valvontaohjelmistoa sekä yksi laitteistopohjainen ratkaisu joita tutkitaan ja vertaillaan tarkemmin.Selvitetään onko yrityksen kannattavaa ja valvonnan kannalta tehokasta ottaa tämänkaltaista järjestelmää käyttöön. Lopputuloksena työssä on esiteltyinä kuinka verkonvalvonta voidaan toteuttaa hajautetussa järjestelmässä ja miten olemassa olevat haasteet voidaan ratkaista. Toteutusvaihtoehdot tutkittiin ja niistä valittiin paras vaihtoehto (perfSONAR) toteutustavaksi kohdeorganisaation asiakasverkkoyhteyksien valvontaan. Lopuksi esitellään toteutussuunnitelma yrityksen asiakasyhteyksien valvomiseen tarkoitetulle verkonvalvonnalle.

Real-time Musical Pair Improvisation on Mobile Devices

This thesis discusses the design and implementation of a real-time musical pair improvisation scenario for mobile devices. In the scenario transferring musical information over a network connection was required. The suitability of available wireless communication technologies was evaluated and communication was analyzed and designed on multiple layers of TCP/IP protocol stack. Also an application layer protocol was designed and implemented for the scenario. The implementation was integrated into a mobile musical software for children using available software components and libraries although the used platform lead to hardware and software constraints. Software limitations were taken into account in design. The results show that real-time musical improvisation can be implemented with wireless communication and mobile technology. The results also show that link layer had the most significant effect on real-time communication in the scenario.

A practice perspective on organizational implementation of information technology

Implementering av ett informationssystem ur en organisatorisk synvinkel initieras av en idé om ett system och avslutas då användningen av det inte längre kräver en medveten ansträngning. Ifall tolkningen av implementering är denna, är det fråga om en långsam och komplicerad process, som berör organisationens alla parter. Ny informationsteknologi anses påverka flertalet arbetsprocesser och organiseringen av det dagliga arbetet. Möjligheterna att ta i bruk systemet och utnyttja det är många. I avhandlingen undersöks implementering av ett system för att administrera hemvårdsbesök där hemvårdare använde handdatorer för att registrera information om besökens längd och innehåll. I avhandlingen observeras vilka förändringar som sker i arbetets praxis p.g.a. det nya systemet och hur dessa förändringar påverkar vårdarbetet. Forskningen inleds med att strukturera teorier om arbetspraxis för kommande analys. Arbetspraxis är inarbetade och rutinmässiga arbetssätt i arbetets sociomateriella omgivning. Arbetspraxis i avhandlingen innebär hemvårdarens praxis och upplevd erfarenhet, där verksamheten informeras av gemensamma arbetssätt, projekt, identiteter och intressen. Organisationens auktoritet kommer även fram i den förverkligade arbetspraxisen. Forskningen genomfördes som en etnografisk longitudinell studie under åren 2001-2004. I studien observerades hur nyttjandet av handdatorerna framskred ur ett organisatoriskt perspektiv. Hemvårdares arbete och verksamhet (arbetspraxis) observerades både under vårdsbesök och under pauser. Därtill intervjuades hemvårdarna för att erhålla en bättre förståelse för de rationaliteter som styr arbetet och hur systemet togs i bruk. Dokument relaterade till projektet att införa ett nytt system och administrativa dokument har utnyttjats som källmaterial. Analysen av källmaterialet styrdes av det teoretiska tillvägagångssättet att undersöka arbetspraxis. Problem som identifierades i samband med införandet av systemet och de förändringar som det medförde analyserades i detalj. Parallellt analyserades organisatorisk makt, kontroll och arbetsidentitet. Undersökningen beskriver hur det nya systemet gradvis anpassades till hemvården efter ett initialt motstånd. Under själva implementering av systemet ifrågasattes tidigare arbetspraxis och inställningen till den eftersom arbetspraxisens materiella omgivning förändrades. Det teoretiska tillvägagångssättet i att undersöka arbetspraxis framhäver vårdarens agerande i förändringsprocessen. Resultatet av forskningen visar vikten av realistiska målsättningar, givande av gruppstöd med återkoppling samt förmåga att anpassa sig till det oväntade vid införande av informationssystem.

Consistency and change in Finnish broadcasting policy : the implementation of digital television and lessons from the Canadian experience

Konsistens och förändring i finländsk etermediapolitik. Implementering av digital television och en jämförelse med Kanada Avhandlingen handlar om hur det finländska televisionssystemet förändrades i slutet av 1990-talet från en nationell institution till ett dualistiskt system som präglas av stark marknadsorientering. Syftet med avhandlingen är att förstå på vilket sätt en så snabb förändring kunde ske och analysera de institutionella faktorerna bakom utvecklingen. På teoretisk nivå diskuteras tesen om det nära sambandet mellan statliga politiska institutioner och rundradioverksamhetens institutioner. Avhandlingen består av två fallstudier. Den första sätter fokus på de första åren av den finländska televisionens digitaliseringsprocess som startade med starka industriell-nationalistiska motiveringar. Analysen, som baserar på offentliga dokument, sträcker sig framtill hösten 2001 då de digitala televisionssändningarna startade och regeringspropositionen om den nya kommunikationsmarknadslagen lämnades till riksdagen. Dessa policy-processer analyseras som en ”marknadisering” av de traditionella styrningsprinciper och idéer gällande finländsk rundradioverksamheten. En jämförelse mellan Finlands och Kanadas nationella rundradiopolitik gör att man kan koppla slutsatserna till den internationella utvecklingen. Jämförelsen visar hur kommunikationspolitiska linjen i de två länderna har kommit att likna varandra trots att ländernas tv-system och deras styrordningar är mycket olika. Exemplet med Kanada visar att den särskilda teknologin inte är viktig utan snarare de kommersiella intressen som står bakom och som beslutsfattare gärna döljer i en nationalistisk retorik. Studien visar att det är viktigt att beakta vilken tyngd man i politiken ger de två sidor som rundradioverksamheten består av: sändningsteknologin och verksamheten som en speciell kulturform. Nationalstatens handlingsutrymme minskar inom fältet om målet är att vara framgångsrik i konkurrensen i den nya internationella ekonomin. Enligt de nyliberalistiska principer som det politiska systemet överlag har tillägnat sig det är önskvärd men också helt inhemska institutionella traditioner och praxis som följdes i den finländska digitaliseringsprocessen främjade utvecklingen som ledde till att nästan alla ursprungliga nationella syften föll sönder.

CRM system implementation for managing customer relationships in business-to-business markets

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka CRM-järjestelmä otetaan käyttöön asiakkuuksienhallinnan tueksi yritysten välisillä markkinoilla. Tutkielma keskittyy erityisesti käyttöönoton varhaisiin vaiheisiin selvittämällä, mikä on järjestelmien rooli asiakkuudenhallinnassa ja miten ne tukevat erilaisia käyttäjätasoja, jotka työssä jaettiin strategiseksi, operatiiviseksi ja analyyttiseksi tasoksi. Lisäksi työ esittelee käyttöönottoon yleisimmin liittyviä sudenkuoppia. Tutkielma on laadullinen tutkimus ja siinä on kuvattu CRM-järjestelmän käyttöönottoon liittyviä kysymyksiä yritysten välisillä markkinoilla toimivan caseyrityksen näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että CRM-järjestelmän onnistunut käyttöönotto vaatii mahdollisimman yksinkertaista ja helppokäyttöistä järjestelmää. Käyttöönoton ei myöskään tulisi vaatia monimutkaista koulutusta, vaikkakin koulutusten tärkeys tunnistettiin. Tutkimus osoitti, että vaikka tämänhetkiset CRM-järjestelmät keskittyvät enemmän yksityiskohtaisten asiakasanalyysien tekoon, järjestelmä voi myös palvella asiakkaisiin liittyvän tiedon yhteisenä tallennus- ja jakamispaikkana. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa todettiin, että useimmiten potentiaaliset sudenkuopat olivat luonteeltaan hyvin käytännönläheisiä, kuten järjestelmän käyttämättömyys sekä huono motivointi ja sitouttaminen.

The effects of national legislation on the implementation of IFRS in Finland and Russia

This study examines the possible differences in IFRS implementation between Finnish and Russian companies as well as reasons behind them by theoretical means as well as by incorporating a case study of two companies.

When to Utilize Software as a Service

Cloud computing enables on-demand network access to shared resources (e.g., computation, networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. Cloud computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and system software in the data centers. Software as a service (SaaS) is part of cloud computing. It is one of the cloud service models. SaaS is software deployed as a hosted service and accessed over the Internet. In SaaS, the consumer uses the provider‘s applications running in the cloud. SaaS separates the possession and ownership of software from its use. The applications can be accessed from any device through a thin client interface. A typical SaaS application is used with a web browser based on monthly pricing. In this thesis, the characteristics of cloud computing and SaaS are presented. Also, a few implementation platforms for SaaS are discussed. Then, four different SaaS implementation cases and one transformation case are deliberated. The pros and cons of SaaS are studied. This is done based on literature references and analysis of the SaaS implementations and the transformation case. The analysis is done both from the customer‘s and service provider‘s point of view. In addition, the pros and cons of on-premises software are listed. The purpose of this thesis is to find when SaaS should be utilized and when it is better to choose a traditional on-premises software. The qualities of SaaS bring many benefits both for the customer as well as the provider. A customer should utilize SaaS when it provides cost savings, ease, and scalability over on-premises software. SaaS is reasonable when the customer does not need tailoring, but he only needs a simple, general-purpose service, and the application supports customer‘s core business. A provider should utilize SaaS when it offers cost savings, scalability, faster development, and wider customer base over on-premises software. It is wise to choose SaaS when the application is cheap, aimed at mass market, needs frequent updating, needs high performance computing, needs storing large amounts of data, or there is some other direct value from the cloud infrastructure.

Exploring Adaptive Implementation of On-Chip Networks

As technology geometries have shrunk to the deep submicron regime, the communication delay and power consumption of global interconnections in high performance Multi- Processor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs) are becoming a major bottleneck. The Network-on- Chip (NoC) architecture paradigm, based on a modular packet-switched mechanism, can address many of the on-chip communication issues such as performance limitations of long interconnects and integration of large number of Processing Elements (PEs) on a chip. The choice of routing protocol and NoC structure can have a significant impact on performance and power consumption in on-chip networks. In addition, building a high performance, area and energy efficient on-chip network for multicore architectures requires a novel on-chip router allowing a larger network to be integrated on a single die with reduced power consumption. On top of that, network interfaces are employed to decouple computation resources from communication resources, to provide the synchronization between them, and to achieve backward compatibility with existing IP cores. Three adaptive routing algorithms are presented as a part of this thesis. The first presented routing protocol is a congestion-aware adaptive routing algorithm for 2D mesh NoCs which does not support multicast (one-to-many) traffic while the other two protocols are adaptive routing models supporting both unicast (one-to-one) and multicast traffic. A streamlined on-chip router architecture is also presented for avoiding congested areas in 2D mesh NoCs via employing efficient input and output selection. The output selection utilizes an adaptive routing algorithm based on the congestion condition of neighboring routers while the input selection allows packets to be serviced from each input port according to its congestion level. Moreover, in order to increase memory parallelism and bring compatibility with existing IP cores in network-based multiprocessor architectures, adaptive network interface architectures are presented to use multiple SDRAMs which can be accessed simultaneously. In addition, a smart memory controller is integrated in the adaptive network interface to improve the memory utilization and reduce both memory and network latencies. Three Dimensional Integrated Circuits (3D ICs) have been emerging as a viable candidate to achieve better performance and package density as compared to traditional 2D ICs. In addition, combining the benefits of 3D IC and NoC schemes provides a significant performance gain for 3D architectures. In recent years, inter-layer communication across multiple stacked layers (vertical channel) has attracted a lot of interest. In this thesis, a novel adaptive pipeline bus structure is proposed for inter-layer communication to improve the performance by reducing the delay and complexity of traditional bus arbitration. In addition, two mesh-based topologies for 3D architectures are also introduced to mitigate the inter-layer footprint and power dissipation on each layer with a small performance penalty.

The Progress and Challenges of the e-Government Initiatives and Implementation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The Electronic Government (e-Government) means delivering the services and information to the citizens and businesses through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in order to enable them to interact more effectively with the government, and to increase the quality of the services. As many other governments in the developed and developing countries, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has embarked on the e-Government initiatives. This study revealed that there are various challenges which affect the e-Government in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), but also a lot of e-Government progress has happened. In addition, based on the United Nations’ e-Government maturity level benchmarking, the e-Government in the KRI is at the interactive stage. In this study the services that the citizens want from the government in order to implement an appropriate e-Government were also identified.

Desenvolvimento de software e hardware para irrigação de precisão usando pivô central

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo desenvolver softwares e hardwares para aplicação ao monitoramento e controle automático para a irrigação de precisão usando sistemas do tipo pivô central. O trabalho foi desenvolvido no Departamento de Engenharia Rural - LER, da Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" - ESALQ, da Universidade de São Paulo - USP, em Piracicaba - SP. Foram utilizados componentes eletrônicos discretos, circuitos integrados diversos, módulos de radiofreqüência, microcontroladores da família Basic Step e um microcomputador. Foram utilizadas as linguagens Delphi e TBasic. O hardware é constituído de dois circuitos eletrônicos, sendo um deles para "interface" com o computador e o outro para monitoramento e transmissão da leitura de tensiômetros para o computador via radiofreqüência. Foram feitas avaliações do alcance e da eficiência na transmissão de dados dos módulos de radiofreqüência e do desempenho do software e do hardware. Os resultados mostraram que tanto os circuitos quanto os aplicativos desenvolvidos apresentaram funcionamento satisfatório. Os testes de comunicação dos rádios indicaram que esses possuem alcance máximo de 50 m. Concluiu-se que o sistema desenvolvido tem grande potencial para utilização em sistemas de irrigação de precisão usando pivô central, bastando para isso que o alcance dos rádios seja aumentado.

Automation Concept for Electrically Excited LV Synchronous Motor: Implementation into AC500 Programmable Logic Environment

This bachelor’s thesis is a part of the research project realized in the summer 2011 in Lappeenranta University of Technology. The goal of the project was to develop an automation concept for controlling the electrically excited synchronous motor. Thesis concentrates on the implementation of the automation concept into the ABB’s AC500 programmable logic enviroment. The automation program was developed as a state machine with the ABB’s PS501 Control Builder software. For controlling the automation program is developed a fieldbus control and with CodeSys Visualization Tool a local control with control panel. The fieldbus control is done to correspond the ABB drives communication profile and the local control is implemented with a function block which feeds right control words into the statemachine. A field current control of the synchronous motor is realized as a method presented in doctoral thesis of Olli Pyrhönen (Pyrhönen 1998). The Method combines stator flux and torque based openloop control and power factor based feedback control.

Northern Landscapes : ʻʻImplementation of the European Landscape Convention In the North Calotte Area Municipalitiesʼʼ - Conference in Inari, Finland 7-9.9.2011

The conference promoting the objectives of the international European Landscape Convention (ELC) was held on 7-9 September 2011 in Inari. The primary aim of the conference was to increase awareness of the ELC and the prospects and requirements it brings to practical planning work, especially at the municipal level. The conference speakers included top experts from Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Holland and Catalonia. This report is a collection of articles written by the experts in the ELC conference. The report is available in five languages: Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Northern Sámi and English. The common characteristics of the North Calotte area, such as the magnificent riverside scenery and the beautiful fell landscapes formed by the Sámi culture and reindeer management are broadly reflected in the environment. Alongside the traditional forms of land use, many other livelihoods and forms of land use now need to be accommodated in the area. Tourism, energy production, mining industry and new infrastructure create new and manifold challenges to the authorities in charge of land use in these areas. Municipalities need information and support for versatile planning in the future, so that the unique and valuable characteristics of the North can be preserved. Landscape protection and management in the landscape areas is executed through areal and land use planning, mainly through town planning and the creation of landscape management plans. The municipalities in the North Calotte region have their own partly divergent methods and practices, based on the various land use processes are executed. The municipalities and inhabitants have a great interest in preserving and protecting their living environment and maintaining and increasing the appeal of the area. Landscape is viewed as one of the most significant appealing factors that cannot be lost. The increasing land use in municipalities, for example due to energy production, mining industry and increasing tourism, create a need for more multidimensional planning. The reconciliation of the wishes of different interest groups, and traditional and new livelihoods will not be easy. Conflict is inevitable. This will lead to a greater need to engage local bodies to the planning processes right from the start of the projects. Close cooperation between different administrative branches, operators, local bodies and landscape research promote the objectives of the convention. To ensure that the work continues, a landscape co-operation group is planned to be established in the North Calotte area. It´s main task is to promote and develop landscape policy in the area.