Regulation of Port Charges in Spain: Global versus Local Competition

This article examines the determinants of traffic volumes and the revenues per tonne generated by Spain’s port authorities. The interest of the study lies on the strong differences between port authorities in a context of strict regulation but that provides some scope for price competition. We find that port charges influence the amount of traffic that a port is able to generate. Furthermore, we find clear evidence of local price competition and report mixed results for global competition. Revenues per tonne are higher in ports operating more international regular lines and with multinational terminal operators, while they are lower in ports with nearby competing facilities and where the market share of the dominant shipping firm is high.

Universal Service Policies in Europe & Latam: Evidence on Bridging the Divide in Rural Areas

Broadband access is a key factor for economic and social development. However, providing broadband to rural areas is not attractive to private telecommunications operators due its low or zero investment return. To deal with broadband provision in rural areas, different governance systems based on private and public cooperation have appeared. This paper not only identifies and defines public and private cooperation models but also assesses their impact on overcoming the digital divide in rural areas. The results show that public ownership infrastructure under private management policy has had positive effects on reducing the broadband digital divide and being applied to areas with higher digital divide; subsides to private operators providers only positive effects on reducing broadband digital divide; but public infrastructure with public management programs did not. The results, obtained using quasi-experimental methods, suggest the importance of incentives and control mechanisms in broadband universal service provision plans.

Innovation and Regulation in ICT. Keys for Development

The expansion of broadband speed and coverage over IP technology, which extend over transport and terminal access networks, has increased the demand for applications and content which by being provided over it, uniformly give rise to convergence. These shifts in technologies and enterprise business models are giving rise to the necessity for changing the perspective and scope of the Universal Service and of the regulation frameworks, with this last one based in the same principles as always but varying its application. Several aspects require special and renewed attention, such as the definition of relevant markets and dominant operators, the role of packages, interconnection of IP networks, network neutrality, the use of the spectrum with a vision of value for the citizenship, the application of the competition framework, new forms of licensing, treatment of the risk in the networks, changes in the regulatory authorities, amongst others. These matters are treated from the perspective of the actual trends in the world and its conceptual justification.

Regulatable and modulable background expression control in prokaryotic synthetic circuits by auxiliary repressor binding sites.

Expression control in synthetic genetic circuitry, for example, for construction of sensitive biosensors, is hampered by the lack of DNA parts that maintain ultralow background yet achieve high output upon signal integration by the cells. Here, we demonstrate how placement of auxiliary transcription factor binding sites within a regulatable promoter context can yield an important gain in signal-to-noise output ratios from prokaryotic biosensor circuits. As a proof of principle, we use the arsenite-responsive ArsR repressor protein from Escherichia coli and its cognate operator. Additional ArsR operators placed downstream of its target promoter can act as a transcription roadblock in a distance-dependent manner and reduce background expression of downstream-placed reporter genes. We show that the transcription roadblock functions both in cognate and heterologous promoter contexts. Secondary ArsR operators placed upstream of their promoter can also improve signal-to-noise output while maintaining effector dependency. Importantly, background control can be released through the addition of micromolar concentrations of arsenite. The ArsR-operator system thus provides a flexible system for additional gene expression control, which, given the extreme sensitivity to micrograms per liter effector concentrations, could be applicable in more general contexts.

Bidding support for computational resources

Peer-reviewed

Monitoimityöstökeskuksen kokonaistehokkuuden parantaminen kokonaisvaltaisella tuottavalla kunnossapidolla

Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli tutustua kokonaisvaltaisen tuottavan kunnossapidon teoriaan ja soveltaa sitä Abloy Oy Joensuun tehtaalla pilottikohteeksi valittuun koneeseen. Pilottikohteeksi oli valittu uusi Sveitsiläinen Hydromat-monitoimityöstökeskus, jonka kokonaistehokkuutta (OEE) pyrittiin parantamaan kokonaisvaltaisella tuottavalla kunnossapidolla (TPM). Työn kirjallisuusosuudessa tarkastellaan teoriatietoja, jotka liittyvät yleisesti kunnossapitoon ja tarkemmin TPM-toimintaan. Lisäksi käsitellään kunnossapidon mittareita ja tietojärjestelmiä. Työn empiirisessä osassa selvitetään, kuinka TPM-toiminta otettiin käyttöön Hydromat-monitoimityöstökeskuksen osalta. Eniten resursseja käytettiin koneen asetusaikojen lyhentämiseen. Lisäksi koneen käyttäjien itsenäiseen kunnossapitoon siirtyminen kuului työn sisältöön. Työssä on selvitetty myös uuden tuotannon seurantataulun käyttöönotto. Seurantataulusta nähdään useita tuotantotietoja kuten kokonaistehokkuus. Työn merkittävimmät tulokset osoittavat, että asetusajat ovat tällä hekellä hyvin pitkiä tavoitteisiin nähden. Asetusaikojen lyhentyminen halutulle tasolle vaatii koneen käyttäjien pitkän oppimisprosessin sekä optimaaliset toimintaolosuhteet. Lisäksi havaittiin, että uuden toimintamallin esitteleminen ja sen käyttöönotto valmistavassa teollisuudessa on vaativa prosessi.

Many valued algebraic structures as measures of comparison

This thesis studies the properties and usability of operators called t-norms, t-conorms, uninorms, as well as many valued implications and equivalences. Into these operators, weights and a generalized mean are embedded for aggregation, and they are used for comparison tasks and for this reason they are referred to as comparison measures. The thesis illustrates how these operators can be weighted with a differential evolution and aggregated with a generalized mean, and the kinds of measures of comparison that can be achieved from this procedure. New operators suitable for comparison measures are suggested. These operators are combination measures based on the use of t-norms and t-conorms, the generalized 3_-uninorm and pseudo equivalence measures based on S-type implications. The empirical part of this thesis demonstrates how these new comparison measures work in the field of classification, for example, in the classification of medical data. The second application area is from the field of sports medicine and it represents an expert system for defining an athlete's aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. The core of this thesis offers definitions for comparison measures and illustrates that there is no actual difference in the results achieved in comparison tasks, by the use of comparison measures based on distance, versus comparison measures based on many valued logical structures. The approach has been highly practical in this thesis and all usage of the measures has been validated mainly by practical testing. In general, many different types of operators suitable for comparison tasks have been presented in fuzzy logic literature and there has been little or no experimental work with these operators.

Manipulador robótico con visión artificial

En los tiempos que corren la robótica forma uno de los pilares más importantes en la industria y una gran noticia para los ingenieros es la referente a las ventas de estos, ya que en 2013, unos 179.000 robots industriales se vendieron en todo el mundo, de nuevo un máximo histórico y un 12% más que en 2012 según datos de la IFR (International Federation of Robotics). Junto a esta noticia, la robótica colaborativa entra en juego en el momento que los robots y los seres humanos deben compartir el lugar de trabajo sin que nos veamos excluidos por las maquinas, por lo tanto lo que se intenta es que los robots mejoren la calidad del trabajo al hacerse cargo de los trabajos peligrosos, tediosos y sucios que no son posibles o seguros para los seres humanos. Otro concepto muy importante y directamente relacionado con lo anterior que está muy en boga y se escucha desde hace relativamente poco tiempo es el de la fabrica del futuro o “Factory Of The Future” la cual intenta que los operarios y los robots encuentren la sintonía en el entorno laboral y que los robots se consideren como maquinaria colaborativa y no como sustitutiva, considerándose como uno de los grandes nichos productivos en plena expansión. Dejando a un lado estos conceptos técnicos que nunca debemos olvidar si nuestra carrera profesional va enfocada en este ámbito industrial, el tema central de este proyecto está basado, como no podía ser de otro modo, en la robótica, que junto con la visión artificial, el resultado de esta fusión, ha dado un manipulador robótico al que se le ha dotado de cierta “inteligencia”. Se ha planteado un sencillo pero posible proceso de producción el cual es capaz de almacenar piezas de diferente forma y color de una forma autónoma solamente guiado por la imagen capturada con una webcam integrada en el equipo. El sistema consiste en una estructura soporte delimitada por una zona de trabajo en la cual se superponen unas piezas diseñadas al efecto las cuales deben ser almacenadas en su lugar correspondiente por el manipulador robótico. Dicho manipulador de cinemática paralela está basado en la tecnología de cables, comandado por cuatro motores que le dan tres grados de libertad (±X, ±Y, ±Z) donde el efector se encuentra suspendido sobre la zona de trabajo moviéndose de forma que es capaz de identificar las características de las piezas en situación, color y forma para ser almacenadas de una forma ordenada según unas premisas iníciales.

Tuulivoimakäytön verkkoliitynnät ja mittaukset

Tässä työssä tutkitaan muuttuvanopeuksisen tuulivoimakäytön verkkoliityntöjä, verkkomääräyksiä ja mittausmenetelmiä Euroopassa. Yleiset tuulivoimalaitoksen verkkomääräyksiin liittyvät asiat on selitetty standardisarjassa IEC 61000 ja mittauksiin liittyvät säännökset standardissa IEC 61400-21. Työssä selvitetään Euroopan yleiset verkkomääräykset ja vertaillaan niitä keskenään, sekä määritetään tärkeimmät mittaukset. Lisäksi esitellään eräs standardimittauksiin soveltuva mittalaite ja analysoidaan täystehomuokkaimen suorituskykyä tuulivoimapuistossa. Työssä havaittiin, että standardin mukaisten mittausten toteuttaminen ja analysointi on hyvin haastava prosessi. Verkkomääräysten eroavaisuudet aiheuttavat hankaluuksia tuulivoimalan valmistajan ja verkko-operaattorien välillä. Täten myös konvertterivalmistajan täytyy olla selvillä käytössä olevista verkkomääräyksistä ja standardeista.

Enhancing the efficiency of freight transport by using simulation

The role of transport in the economy is twofold. As a sector of economic activity it contributes to a share of national income. On the other hand, improvements in transport infrastructure create room for accelerated economic growth. As a means to support railways as a safe and environmentally friendly transportation mode, the EU legislation has required the opening of domestic railway freight for competition from beginning of year 2007. The importance of railways as a mode of transport has been great in Finland, as a larger share of freight has been carried on rails than in Europe on average. In this thesis it is claimed that the efficiency of goods transport can be enhanced by service specific investments. Furthermore, it is stressed that simulation can and should be used to evaluate the cost-efficiency of transport systems on operational level, as well as to assess transportation infrastructure investments. In all the studied cases notable efficiency improvements were found. For example in distribution, home delivery of groceries can be almost twice as cost efficient as the current practice of visiting the store. The majority of the cases concentrated on railway freight. In timber transportation, the item with the largest annual transport volume in domestic railway freight in Finland, the transportation cost could be reduced most substantially. Also in international timber procurement, the utilization of railway wagons could be improved by combining complementary flows. The efficiency improvements also have positive environmental effects; a large part of road transit could be moved to rails annually. If impacts of freight transport are included in cost-benefit analysis of railway investments, up to 50 % increase in the net benefits of the evaluated alternatives can be experienced, avoiding a possible inbuilt bias in the assessment framework, and thus increasing the efficiency of national investments in transportation infrastructure. Transportation systems are a typical example of complex real world systems that cannot be analysed realistically by analytical methods, whereas simulation allows inclusion of dynamics and the level of detail required. Regarding simulation as a viable tool for assessing the efficiency of transportation systems finds support also in the international survey conducted for railway freight operators; operators use operations research methods widely for planning purposes, while simulation is applied only by the larger operators.

A indústria de processamento químico no Brasil: suas motivações para pesquisa e desenvolvimento e suas interfaces com as políticas governamentais

As the Chemical Science is an experimental one a Chemical Industry require technical people in all its staff level: from Directors and Managers to Operators. This chemical and chemical engineering based education is the foundation of the innovate process and motivation. The paper discusses this and the role of Public Policies to improve the R&D and innovation in the Brazilian Chemical Industry.

The Effect of Operational Disturbances on Reliability and Operation Time Distribution of NCmachine Tools in FMS

This thesis concentrates on studying the operational disturbance behavior of machine tools integrated into FMS. Operational disturbances are short term failures of machine tools which are especially disruptive to unattended or unmanned operation of FMS. The main objective was to examine the effect of operational disturbances on reliability and operation time distribution for machine tools. The theoretical part of the thesis covers the fimdamentals of FMS relating to the subject of this study. The concept of FMS, its benefits and operator's role in FMS operation are reviewed. The importance of reliability is presented. The terms describing the operation time of machine tools are formed by adopting standards and references. The concept of failure and indicators describing reliability and operational performance for machine tools in FMSs are presented. The empirical part of the thesis describes the research methodology which is a combination of automated (ADC) and manual data collection. By using this methodology it is possible to have a complete view of the operation time distribution for studied machine tools. Data collection was carried out in four FMSs consisting of a total of 17 machine tools. Each FMS's basic features and the signals of ADC are described. The indicators describing the reliability and operation time distribution of machine tools were calculated according to collected data. The results showed that operational disturbances have a significant influence on machine tool reliability and operational performance. On average, an operational disturbance occurs every 8,6 hours of operation time and has a down time of 0,53 hours. Operational disturbances cause a 9,4% loss in operation time which is twice the amount of losses caused by technical failures (4,3%). Operational disturbances have a decreasing influence on the utilization rate. A poor operational disturbance behavior decreases the utilization rate. It was found that the features of a part family to be machined and the method technology related to it are defining the operational disturbance behavior of the machine tool. Main causes for operational disturbances were related to material quality variations, tool maintenance, NC program errors, ATC and machine tool control. Operator's role was emphasized. It was found that failure recording activity of the operators correlates with the utilization rate. The more precisely the operators record the failure, the higher is the utilization rate. Also the FMS organizations which record failures more precisely have fewer operational disturbances.

Towards open access networks – prototyping with the Lappeenranta model

The provision of Internet access to large numbers has traditionally been under the control of operators, who have built closed access networks for connecting customers. As the access network (i.e. the last mile to the customer) is generally the most expensive part of the network because of the vast amount of cable required, many operators have been reluctant to build access networks in rural areas. There are problems also in urban areas, as incumbent operators may use various tactics to make it difficult for competitors to enter the market. Open access networking, where the goal is to connect multiple operators and other types of service providers to a shared network, changes the way in which networks are used. This change in network structure dismantles vertical integration in service provision and enables true competition as no service provider can prevent others fromcompeting in the open access network. This thesis describes the development from traditional closed access networks towards open access networking and analyses different types of open access solution. The thesis introduces a new open access network approach (The Lappeenranta Model) in greater detail. The Lappeenranta Model is compared to other types of open access networks. The thesis shows that end users and service providers see local open access and services as beneficial. In addition, the thesis discusses open access networking in a multidisciplinary fashion, focusing on the real-world challenges of open access networks.

Minimum-uncertaity states and pseudoclassical dynamics. II

The set of initial conditions for which the pseudoclassical evolution algorithm (and minimality conservation) is verified for Hamiltonians of degrees N (N>2) is explicitly determined through a class of restrictions for the corresponding classical trajectories, and it is proved to be at most denumerable. Thus these algorithms are verified if and only if the system is quadratic except for a set of measure zero. The possibility of time-dependent a-equivalence classes is studied and its physical interpretation is presented. The implied equivalence of the pseudoclassical and Ehrenfest algorithms and their relationship with minimality conservation is discussed in detail. Also, the explicit derivation of the general unitary operator which linearly transforms minimum-uncertainty states leads to the derivation, among others, of operators with a general geometrical interpretation in phase space, such as rotations (parity, Fourier).

Tulospalkkaus käytännössä - ansaittu etu vai toiminnan ohjaaja

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää tulospalkkiojärjestelmän vaikutuksia käytännössä. Päätutkimusongelmat olivat: toimiiko tulospalkkiojärjestelmä toivotulla tavalla ja jos ei toimi, niin miten sitä tulisi kehittää? Vastausten saamiseksi kerättiin empiiristä aineistoa suomalaisesta hotelli- ja ravintola-alan yrityksestä. Aineisto kerättiin www-kyselynä Internetin kautta. Kyselyssä selvitettiin mielipiteitä myös avoimin kommentein. Teorian mukaan hyvin toimiva tulospalkkiojärjestelmä voi tukea merkittävästi yrityksen strategisten tavoitteiden saavuttamista. Toisaalta huonosti suunniteltu ja strategian kanssa ristiriidassa oleva järjestelmä voi toimia tavoitteiden vastaisesti. Tulospalkkiojärjestelmän rakenne, kehittämistapa, yhteensopivuus strategian kanssa sekä ennen kaikkea työntekijöiden tietämys järjestelmästä vaikuttavat tulospalkkiojärjestelmän merkitykseen työntekijöille. Tulospalkkiojärjestelmä vaikuttaa yksilön toimintaan merkityksensä kautta. Tutkimuksen teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytettiin TKK:n tulospalkkiojärjestelmän toimivuusmallia. Mallin avulla arvioitiin tulospalkkiojärjestelmän vaikutuksia tavoitteisiin, toimintaan, yhteistyöhän ja ilmapiiriin sekä työasenteisiin. Lisäksi arvioitiin järjestelmän toimivuutta järjestelmän tarkoituksen, rakenteen sekä esimiestyön kannalta. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat arvioidun järjestelmän toimivan pääosin hyvin ja sillä on merkitystä työntekijöille. Järjestelmä tunnetaan hyvin ja sillä on myös rahallista merkitystä. Toteutuneiden tulospalkkioiden määrä ei kuitenkaan näytä olevan riittävän suuri motivoidakseen sellaisenaan. Teorian ja tutkimustulosten perusteella esitettiin ehdotuksia tulospalkkiojärjestelmän kehittämiseksi. Tulospalkkiojärjestelmää tulisi kehittää yksinkertaisemmaksi, jotta sillä olisi enemmän toivottuja vaikutuksia.