Owners' Way or the Highway: Short-term Expectations and Owner Impatience

Increased media exposure to layoffs and corporate quarterly financial reporting have created arguable a common perception – especially favored by the media itself – that the companies have been forced to improve their financial performance from quarter to quarter. Academically the relevant question is whether the companies themselves feel that they are exposed to short-term pressure to perform even if it means that they have to compromise company’s long-term future. This paper studies this issue using results from a survey conducted among the 500 largest companies in Finland. The results show that companies in general feel moderate short-term pressure, with reasonable dispersion across firms. There seems to be a link between the degree of pressure felt, and the firm’s ownership structure, i.e. we find support for the existence of short-term versus long-term owners. We also find significant ownership related differences, in line with expectations, in how such short-term pressure is reflected in actual decision variables such as the investment criteria used.

Effect of insertion of buffer-strip on the response of carbon-epoxy system in short beam tests

dThe work looks at the response to three-point loading of carbon-epoxy (CF-EP) composites with inserted buffer strip (BS) material. Short beam Shear tests were performed to study the load-deflection response as well as fracture features through macroscopy on the CF-EP system containing the interleaved PTFE-coated fabric material. Significant differences were noticed in the response of the CF-EP system to the bending process consequent to the architectural modification. It was inferred that introduction of small amounts of less adherent layers of material at specific locations causes a decrement in the load carrying capability. Further the number and the ease with which interface separation occurs is found to depend on the extent to which the inserted layer is present in either single or multiple layer positions.

Analysis of short interproton distances in proline peptides as a guide in the interpretation of nuclear overhauser effects

The conformational dependence of interproton distances in model proline peptides has been investigated in order to facilitate interpretation of the results of Nuclear Overhauser Effect (NOE) studies on such peptides. For this purpose two model systems, namely, Ac-Pro-NHMe and Ac-Pro-X-NHMe have been chosen and used. In the former, short interproton distances detectable in NOE experiments permit a clear distinction between conformations with Pro ψ = -300 (helical region) and those in which ψ is around 1200 (polyproline region). For the latter, the variation of distances between the protons of methyl amide and the Pro ring have been studied by superimposing on the Ramachandran map in the (φ3, ψ3) plane. The results show that β-turns and non-β-turn conformations can be readily distinguished from NOE data and such long range NOEs should be detectable for specific non-β-turn conformations. NOEs involving Cβ and Cγ protons are particularly sensitive to the state of pyrrolidine ring puckering.

Monietnisten ihmisten etninen identiteetti suomalaisessa viitekehyksessä : kosmopoliittisuutta, monikulttuurisuutta ja itsensä etsimistä

The purpose of this thesis was to understand the experiences of the multiethnic people in Finland. This study explored the different aspects of the ethnic identity development process. Thesis was done in two phases. First phase studied the question of how is the ethnic identity developed in Finnish context and what aspects had affected their ethnic identity process. The second phase explored questions as what kind of ethnic identity form the multiethnic people have in Finland and do they have developed cosmopolitan global identities. The aim of this qualitative study was not to empirically measure or define the multiethnic identity, but to open new perspectives of the life and experiences through narrative research. Intention of this thesis was to give voice to small stories of the minority people that are so often shadowed by the big stories of the male of the majority. The first phase of this study included narratives from four multiethnic women. The narratives answered to questions who am I and where do I come from. The second phase data collection was made with narrative forms to 12 self-identified multiethnic persons. The multiethnic people were from three backgrounds: ones with parents from different ethnic backgrounds, Finnish who had lived long time abroad and people from non-Finnish backgraound who had lived in Finland for a long time. The analyzing was made by analyzing the narratives with content analysis that based on the theory of the multiethnic people and by narrative analyzing where short narratives were created of each person. In conclusion the multiethnic identity was found to be a continuous process that lasted through lifetime. Different aspects affected the identification process, including family dynamics, social mirroring and belonging. The variety of different ethnic options in multiethnic person identity process, lacking family support for the both ethnic identities and the feeling of otherness experienced by the multiethnic people in Finland cause additional challenges to the ethnic identity process and results in some cases cultural homelessness. On the other hand the variety of cultural contexts brings flexibility to negotiate between different cultures and languages resulting to positive hybrid identity for some of the multiethnic people. Hybrid identity was sub grouped to cosmopolitan identity and multicultural identity.

Enantiodiscrimination and extraction of short and long range homo- and hetero-nuclear residual dipolar couplings by a spin selective correlation experiment

A two dimensional correlation experiment for the measurement of short and long range homo- and hetero- nuclear residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) from the broad and featureless proton NMR spectra including C-13 satellites is proposed. The method employs a single natural abundant C-13 spin as a spy nucleus to probe all the coupled protons and permits the determination of RDCs of negligible strengths. The technique has been demonstrated for the study of organic chiral molecules aligned in chiral liquid crystal, where additional challenge is to unravel the overlapped spectrum of enantiomers. The significant advantage of the method is demonstrated in better chiral discrimination using homonuclear RDCs as additional parameters. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The short range interactions between two rare gas atoms

The short range interactions in He2, Ne2 and Ar2 have been studied in terms of the electronic forces as functions of their internuclear separations employing their single configuration SCF wave functions. The results show that the constituent molecular orbitals behave differently in terms of the forces they exert on the nuclei during the interaction process. The different behaviour of the orbitals is also reflected in the redistribution of charges.

Processing and fiber content effects on the machinability of compression moulded random direction short GFRP composites

The random direction short Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) have been prepared by two compression moulding processes, namely the Preform and Sheet Moulding Compound (SMC) processes. Cutting force analysis and surface characterization are conducted on the random direction short GFRPs with varying fiber contents (25 similar to 40%). Edge trimming experiments are preformed using carbide inserts with varing the depth of cut and cutting speed. Machining characteristics of the Preform and SMC processed random direction short GFRPs are evaluated in terms of cutting forces, surface quality, and tool wear. It is found that composite primary processing and fiber contents are major contributing factors influencing the cutting force magnitudes and surface textures. The SMC composites show better surface finish over the Preform composites due to less delamination and fiber pullouts. Moreover, matrix damage and fiber protrusions at the machined edge are reduced by increasing fiber content in the random direction short GFRP composites.

Electrical switching and short-range order in As-Te glasses

The local structural order in chalcogenide network glasses is known to change markedly at two critical compositions, namely, the percolation and chemical thresholds. In the AsxTe100-x glassy system, both the thresholds coincide at the composition x = 40 (40 at. % of arsenic). It is demonstrated that the electrical switching fields of As-Te glasses exhibit a distinct change at this composition.

Seasonal and short-term variation in denitrification and anammox at a coastal station on the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea

Benthic processes were measured at a coastal deposition area in the northern Baltic Sea, covering all seasons. The N-2 production rates, 90-400 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1), were highest in autumn-early winter and lowest in spring. Heterotrophic bacterial production peaked unexpectedly late in the year, indicating that in addition to the temperature, the availability of carbon compounds suitable for the heterotrophic bacteria also plays a major role in regulating the denitrification rate. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) was measured in spring and autumn and contributed 10% and 15%, respectively, to the total N-2 production. The low percentage did, however, result in a significant error in the total N-2 production rate estimate, calculated using the isotope pairing technique. Anammox must be taken into account in the Gulf of Finland in future sediment nitrogen cycling research.