The Path to a Porous Semiconductor Multilayer

Thin films are the basis of much of recent technological advance, ranging from coatings with mechanical or optical benefits to platforms for nanoscale electronics. In the latter, semiconductors have been the norm ever since silicon became the main construction material for a multitude of electronical components. The array of characteristics of silicon-based systems can be widened by manipulating the structure of the thin films at the nanoscale - for instance, by making them porous. The different characteristics of different films can then to some extent be combined by simple superposition. Thin films can be manufactured using many different methods. One emerging field is cluster beam deposition, where aggregates of hundreds or thousands of atoms are deposited one by one to form a layer, the characteristics of which depend on the parameters of deposition. One critical parameter is deposition energy, which dictates how porous, if at all, the layer becomes. Other parameters, such as sputtering rate and aggregation conditions, have an effect on the size and consistency of the individual clusters. Understanding nanoscale processes, which cannot be observed experimentally, is fundamental to optimizing experimental techniques and inventing new possibilities for advances at this scale. Atomistic computer simulations offer a window to the world of nanometers and nanoseconds in a way unparalleled by the most accurate of microscopes. Transmission electron microscope image simulations can then bridge this gap by providing a tangible link between the simulated and the experimental. In this thesis, the entire process of cluster beam deposition is explored using molecular dynamics and image simulations. The process begins with the formation of the clusters, which is investigated for Si/Ge in an Ar atmosphere. The structure of the clusters is optimized to bring it as close to the experimental ideal as possible. Then, clusters are deposited, one by one, onto a substrate, until a sufficiently thick layer has been produced. Finally, the concept is expanded by further deposition with different parameters, resulting in multiple superimposed layers of different porosities. This work demonstrates how the aggregation of clusters is not entirely understood within the scope of the approximations used in the simulations; yet, it is also shown how the continued deposition of clusters with a varying deposition energy can lead to a novel kind of nanostructured thin film: a multielemental porous multilayer. According to theory, these new structures have characteristics that can be tailored for a variety of applications, with precision heretofore unseen in conventional multilayer manufacture.

Comparison of elasticity and shell-theory solutions for finite circular cylindrical shells

A finite circular cylindrical shell subjected to a band of uniform pressure on its outer rim was investigated, using three-dimensional elasticity theory and the classical shell theories of Timoshenko (or Donnell) and Flügge. Detailed comparison of the resulting stresses and displacements was carried out for shells with ratios of inner to outer shell radii equal to 0.80, 0.85, 0.90 and 0.93 and for ratios of outer shell diameter to length of the shell equal to 0.5, 1 and 2. The ratio of band width to length of the shell was 0.2 and Poisson's ratio used was equal to 0.3. An Elliot 803 digital computer was used for numerical computations.

Global capitalism meets national spirit: Discourses in media texts on a cross-border acquisition

In this article, the authors explore media coverage of a recent acquisition across national borders. Their starting point is that the media represent a key arena of “discursive strategizing” for actors such as corporate managers. They illustrate and specify how global capitalism, as discourse relying on economic and financial rationale and exemplified here by the acquiring firm’s attempts to expand, meets national spirit, exemplified here by the complexity in selling the acquisition target to foreigners. The main contribution of this study lies in identifying how key actors draw on and mobilize rationalistic and nationalistic discourses in public discussion. The analysis illustrates that the same actors can draw on different—even contradictory—discourses at different points in time. Furthermore, different actors—even with opposing objectives—may draw on the same discourse in legitimizing their positions and pursuing specific ends.

Struggles over legitimacy in global organizational restructuring: A rhetorical perspective on legitimation strategies and dynamics in a shutdown case

Critical organization scholars have focused increasing attention on industrial and organizational restructurings such as shutdown decisions. However, we know little about the rhetorical strategies used to legitimate or resist plant closures in organizational negotiations. In this paper, we draw from New Rhetoric to analyze rhetorical struggles, strategies and dynamics in unfolding organizational negotiations. We focus on the shutdown of the bus body unit of the Swedish company Volvo in Finland. We distinguish five types of rhetorical legitimation strategies and dynamics. These include the three classical dynamics of logos (rational arguments), pathos (emotional moral arguments), and ethos (authority-based arguments), but also autopoiesis (autopoietic narratives), and cosmos (cosmological constructions). Our analysis adds to the previous studies explaining how organizational restructuring as a phenomenon is legitimated, how this legitimation has changed over time, and how contemporary industrial closures are legitimated in the media. This study also increases our theoretical understanding of the role of rhetoric in legitimation more generally.

Pulp and Paper Fiction: On the Discursive Legitimation of Global Industrial Restructuring

Despite the central role of legitimacy in social and organizational life, we know little of the subtle meaning-making processes through which organizational phenomena, such as industrial restructuring, are legitimated in contemporary society. Therefore, this paper examines the discursive legitimation strategies used when making sense of global industrial restructuring in the media. Based on a critical discourse analysis of extensive media coverage of a revolutionary pulp and paper sector merger, we distinguish and analyze five legitimation strategies: (1) normalization, (2) authorization, (3) rationalization, (4) moralization, and (5) narrativization. We argue that while these specific legitimation strategies appear in individual texts, their recurring use in the intertextual totality of the public discussion establishes the core elements of the emerging legitimating discourse.

Voting Paths

We consider a variant of the popular matching problem here. The input instance is a bipartite graph $G=(\mathcal{A}\cup\mathcal{P},E)$, where vertices in $\mathcal{A}$ are called applicants and vertices in $\mathcal{P}$ are called posts. Each applicant ranks a subset of posts in an order of preference, possibly involving ties. A matching $M$ is popular if there is no other matching $M'$ such that the number of applicants who prefer their partners in $M'$ to $M$ exceeds the number of applicants who prefer their partners in $M$ to $M'$. However, the “more popular than” relation is not transitive; hence this relation is not a partial order, and thus there need not be a maximal element here. Indeed, there are simple instances that do not admit popular matchings. The questions of whether an input instance $G$ admits a popular matching and how to compute one if it exists were studied earlier by Abraham et al. Here we study reachability questions among matchings in $G$, assuming that $G=(\mathcal{A}\cup\mathcal{P},E)$ admits a popular matching. A matching $M_k$ is reachable from $M_0$ if there is a sequence of matchings $\langle M_0,M_1,\dots,M_k\rangle$ such that each matching is more popular than its predecessor. Such a sequence is called a length-$k$ voting path from $M_0$ to $M_k$. We show an interesting property of reachability among matchings in $G$: there is always a voting path of length at most 2 from any matching to some popular matching. Given a bipartite graph $G=(\mathcal{A}\cup\mathcal{P},E)$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges and any matching $M_0$ in $G$, we give an $O(m\sqrt{n})$ algorithm to compute a shortest-length voting path from $M_0$ to a popular matching; when preference lists are strictly ordered, we have an $O(m+n)$ algorithm. This problem has applications in dynamic matching markets, where applicants and posts can enter and leave the market, and applicants can also change their preferences arbitrarily. After any change, the current matching may no longer be popular, in which case we are required to update it. However, our model demands that we switch from one matching to another only if there is consensus among the applicants to agree to the switch. Hence we need to update via a voting path that ends in a popular matching. Thus our algorithm has applications here.

Increasing Knowledge Focus - a Means for Entrepreneurs to Remain on a Growth Path: Essays on the Role and Nature of Knowledge Management in Finnish SMEs (summary section only)

This study explores the role and nature of knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). Even though the role of knowledge as a competitive advantage is commonly recognized in the SME sector, almost no attention has been paid to the managing and developing of knowledge in SMEs. This thesis consists of three different sub-studies that were reported in four individual essays. The results of the questionnaire study indicate that nearly all companies that responded to the questionnaire (N = 108) found intangible assets, i.e. knowledge resources to be their main source of competitive advantage. However, only less than a third of the companies actively deal with knowledge management. The results also indicate a significant correlation between activity in knowledge management and sustainable organic growth of the company. The interview study (N = 10) explored the context and motives of the SMEs for managing their intangible assets, and the concrete practices of knowledge management. It turned out that KM facilitated change management, clarification of the vision and new strategy formulation. All the interviewed companies were aiming at improved innovation process, new ways of doing business and attaining an increased “knowledge focus” in their business. Nearly all also aspired to grow significantly. Thus, KM provides a strategy for these SMEs to guarantee their survival and sustainability in the turbulent markets. The action research was a process to assess and develop intangible resources in three companies. The experienced benefits were the clarification of future focus and strategy, creation of a common language to discuss strategic issues within the company, as well as improved balance of different categories of intangible assets. After the process all the case companies had developed in the chosen key areas. Thus, by systematic knowledge management the implementation of new strategic orientation (knowledge focusing) was facilitated. The findings can be summarized in two main points. First, knowledge management seems to serve the purpose of change, renewal and new strategic orientation in the SMEs. It also seems to be closely related to organic growth and innovation. All of these factors can be considered dimensions of entrepreneurship. Second, the conscious development of intangible assets can increase the balance of different categories of intangible assets and the overall knowledge focusing of business. In the case companies, this in turn facilitated the path to the improved overall performance.

The Organisation of Policy Meets the Commercialisation of Sex - Global Linkages, Policies, Technologies

During recent years the commercialisation of sex has increased and intensified both locally and globally. This thesis explores the commercialisation of bodies, sex and sexualities, particularly the sex trade, and the impact of rapidly evolving information and communication technologies on this globalising trade. The main focus of this work is on the policies, discourses and policy developments in the area especially in the Finnish context. The study is based on multidisciplinary theoretical sources through which the framework of multiple linkages relevant to the commercialisation of sex is conceptualised. The sex trade functions through a web of intersecting linkages of a substantive, economic, organisational, temporal, spatial, cultural, technological, as well as of legislative and policy nature. This framework of linkages forms the basis for the analysis of the main empirical data, namely qualitative interviews with thirty key managers and professionals, who are responsible for the preparation and implementation of policies on commercial sex. In addition, the thesis addresses the policies and policy practices on the sex trade through the analysis of national and international policy instruments. In addition to analysing the processes of the commercialisation of sex and its effects, the study also discusses their further implications for organisational policy-making, research, and society more generally. The thesis thus seeks to contribute to practice, research and theory on gender, management and organisations.