On advancing business intelligence in the electricity retail market

In recent decades, business intelligence (BI) has gained momentum in real-world practice. At the same time, business intelligence has evolved as an important research subject of Information Systems (IS) within the decision support domain. Today’s growing competitive pressure in business has led to increased needs for real-time analytics, i.e., so called real-time BI or operational BI. This is especially true with respect to the electricity production, transmission, distribution, and retail business since the law of physics determines that electricity as a commodity is nearly impossible to be stored economically, and therefore demand-supply needs to be constantly in balance. The current power sector is subject to complex changes, innovation opportunities, and technical and regulatory constraints. These range from low carbon transition, renewable energy sources (RES) development, market design to new technologies (e.g., smart metering, smart grids, electric vehicles, etc.), and new independent power producers (e.g., commercial buildings or households with rooftop solar panel installments, a.k.a. Distributed Generation). Among them, the ongoing deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) has profound impacts on the electricity retail market. From the view point of BI research, the AMI is enabling real-time or near real-time analytics in the electricity retail business. Following Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm in the IS field, this research presents four aspects of BI for efficient pricing in a competitive electricity retail market: (i) visual data-mining based descriptive analytics, namely electricity consumption profiling, for pricing decision-making support; (ii) real-time BI enterprise architecture for enhancing management’s capacity on real-time decision-making; (iii) prescriptive analytics through agent-based modeling for price-responsive demand simulation; (iv) visual data-mining application for electricity distribution benchmarking. Even though this study is from the perspective of the European electricity industry, particularly focused on Finland and Estonia, the BI approaches investigated can: (i) provide managerial implications to support the utility’s pricing decision-making; (ii) add empirical knowledge to the landscape of BI research; (iii) be transferred to a wide body of practice in the power sector and BI research community.

Relationships between crown architecture and available irradiance in two cerrado species with different leaf phenologies

Structural differences between cerrado species with different leaf phenologies are linked to crown architecture, leaf production, and biomass allocation to shoots and leaves. The present study characterized crown structures and the patterns of biomass allocation to leaves and shoots in two woody cerrado species with contrasting leaf phenologies and quantified the irradiance reaching their leaves to determine the best period during the day for photosynthetic activity. The shoots and leaves of five individuals of both Annona coriacea (deciduous) and Hymenaea stigonocarpa (evergreen) were collected along a 50 m transect in a cerrado fragment within the urban perimeter of Catalão - GO, to determine their patterns of biomass allocation in their crowns. The evergreen H. stigonocarpa had significantly higher mean values of shoot inclination (SI), petiole length (PL), leaf area (LA), leaf display index (LDI), and individual leaf area per shoot (ILA), while the deciduous species A. coriacea had significantly higher leaf numbers (LN). The more complex crown of H. stigonocarpa had shoots in more erect positions (orthotropic), with intense self-shading within shoots; A. coriacea, on the other hand, had slanting (plagiotropic) shoots in the crown, allowing similar irradiance levels to all leaf surfaces. The production of plagiotropic shoots by the deciduous species (A. coriacea) is a strategy that enables its use of incident sunlight early in the morning and preventing excessive water loss or excessive irradiance. Hymenaea stigonocarpa (an evergreen), by contrast, had orthotropic shoots and uses intense self-shading as a strategy to avoid excessive irradiance, especially at midday. Differences in crown architectures between evergreen and deciduous species of cerrado sensu stricto can therefore be viewed as adaptations to the environmental light regime.

Potential of twenty exotic germplasms to improve Brazilian maize architecture

Temperate and temperate x tropical germplasms were introduced into the maize breeding of the Department of Genetics (ESALQ-USP). Twenty populations designated as P-1 to P-20 and a check population were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with two replications at Piracicaba, SP, Brazil. Plots were 2.0 m long, spaced 1.0 m apart, with 10 plants per plot after thinning. The following traits were evaluated: PH, plant height; EH, ear height; TB, tassel branch number; KW, 100 kernels weight; EL, ear length; ED, ear diameter; KR, kernels per row, and RN, number of rows of kernels. The means of the exotic populations showed a variation in performance for all traits. The population means were greater than check means for KW, EL, and KR. Populations P-9, P-10, P-12, and P-13 showed low relative ear placement values (EH/PH index), indicating that these materials could contribute to lower ear placement in local populations. P-1 and P-9 showed a high potential to reduce TB. The phenotypic correlation coefficients among populations were positive for most combinations, except for RN with PH, EH, TB, and KW. Predictions of 19 composite means were obtained for all traits.

VVER-440 Thermal Hydraulics as a Computer Code Validation Challenge

This thesis concentrates on the validation of a generic thermal hydraulic computer code TRACE under the challenges of the VVER-440 reactor type. The code capability to model the VVER-440 geometry and thermal hydraulic phenomena specific to this reactor design has been examined and demonstrated acceptable. The main challenge in VVER-440 thermal hydraulics appeared in the modelling of the horizontal steam generator. The major challenge here is not in the code physics or numerics but in the formulation of a representative nodalization structure. Another VVER-440 specialty, the hot leg loop seals, challenges the system codes functionally in general, but proved readily representable. Computer code models have to be validated against experiments to achieve confidence in code models. When new computer code is to be used for nuclear power plant safety analysis, it must first be validated against a large variety of different experiments. The validation process has to cover both the code itself and the code input. Uncertainties of different nature are identified in the different phases of the validation procedure and can even be quantified. This thesis presents a novel approach to the input model validation and uncertainty evaluation in the different stages of the computer code validation procedure. This thesis also demonstrates that in the safety analysis, there are inevitably significant uncertainties that are not statistically quantifiable; they need to be and can be addressed by other, less simplistic means, ultimately relying on the competence of the analysts and the capability of the community to support the experimental verification of analytical assumptions. This method completes essentially the commonly used uncertainty assessment methods, which are usually conducted using only statistical methods.

JNK regulates dendrite and spine architecture in the central nervous system influencing spatial learning and motor tasks

JNK1 is a MAP-kinase that has proven a significant player in the central nervous system. It regulates brain development and the maintenance of dendrites and axons. Several novel phosphorylation targets of JNK1 were identified in a screen performed in the Coffey lab. These proteins were mainly involved in the regulation of neuronal cytoskeleton, influencing the dynamics and stability of microtubules and actin. These structural proteins form the dynamic backbone for the elaborate architecture of the dendritic tree of a neuron. The initiation and branching of the dendrites requires a dynamic interplay between the cytoskeletal building blocks. Both microtubules and actin are decorated by associated proteins which regulate their dynamics. The dendrite-specific, high molecular weight microtubule associated protein 2 (MAP2) is an abundant protein in the brain, the binding of which stabilizes microtubules and influences their bundling. Its expression in non-neuronal cells induces the formation of neurite-like processes from the cell body, and its function is highly regulated by phosphorylation. JNK1 was shown to phosphorylate the proline-rich domain of MAP2 in vivo in a previous study performed in the group. Here we verify three threonine residues (T1619, T1622 and T1625) as JNK1 targets, the phosphorylation of which increases the binding of MAP2 to microtubules. This binding stabilizes the microtubules and increases process formation in non-neuronal cells. Phosphorylation-site mutants were engineered in the lab. The non-phosphorylatable mutant of MAP2 (MAP2- T1619A, T1622A, T1625A) in these residues fails to bind microtubules, while the pseudo-phosphorylated form, MAP2- T1619D, T1622D, Thr1625D, efficiently binds and induces process formation even without the presence of active JNK1. Ectopic expression of the MAP2- T1619D, T1622D, Thr1625D in vivo in mouse brain led to a striking increase in the branching of cortical layer 2/3 (L2/3) pyramidal neurons, compared to MAP2-WT. The dendritic complexity defines the receptive field of a neuron and dictates the output to the postsynaptic cells. Previous studies in the group indicated altered dendrite architecture of the pyramidal neurons in the Jnk1-/- mouse motor cortex. Here, we used Lucifer Yellow loading and Sholl analysis of neurons in order to study the dendritic branching in more detail. We report a striking, opposing effect in the absence of Jnk1 in the cortical layers 2/3 and 5 of the primary motor cortex. The basal dendrites of pyramidal neurons close to the pial surface at L2/3 show a reduced complexity. In contrast, the L5 neurons, which receive massive input from the L2/3 neurons, show greatly increased branching. Another novel substrate identified for JNK1 was MARCKSL1, a protein that regulates actin dynamics. It is highly expressed in neurons, but also in various cancer tissues. Three phosphorylation target residues for JNK1 were identified, and it was demonstrated that their phosphorylation reduces actin turnover and retards migration of these cells. Actin is the main cytoskeletal component in dendritic spines, the site of most excitatory synapses in pyramidal neurons. The density and gross morphology of the Lucifer Yellow filled dendrites were characterized and we show reduced density and altered morphology of spines in the motor cortex and in the hippocampal area CA3. The dynamic dendritic spines are widely considered to function as the cellular correlate during learning. We used a Morris water maze to test spatial memory. Here, the wild-type mice outperformed the knock-out mice during the acquisition phase of the experiment indicating impaired special memory. The L5 pyramidal neurons of the motor cortex project to the spinal cord and regulate the movement of distinct muscle groups. Thus the altered dendrite morphology in the motor cortex was expected to have an effect on the input-output balance in the signaling from the cortex to the lower motor circuits. A battery of behavioral tests were conducted for the wild-type and Jnk1-/- mice, and the knock-outs performed poorly compared to wild-type mice in tests assessing balance and fine motor movements. This study expands our knowledge of JNK1 as an important regulator of the dendritic fields of neurons and their manifestations in behavior.

Measurement of epidermal thickness in a patient with psoriasis by computer-supported image analysis

The aim of the present study was to measure full epidermal thickness, stratum corneum thickness, rete length, dermal papilla widening and suprapapillary epidermal thickness in psoriasis patients using a light microscope and computer-supported image analysis. The data obtained were analyzed in terms of patient age, type of psoriasis, total body surface area involvement, scalp and nail involvement, duration of psoriasis, and family history of the disease. The study was conducted on 64 patients and 57 controls whose skin biopsies were examined by light microscopy. The acquired microscopic images were transferred to a computer and measurements were made using image analysis. The skin biopsies, taken from different body areas, were examined for different parameters such as epidermal, corneal and suprapapillary epidermal thickness. The most prominent increase in thickness was detected in the palmar region. Corneal thickness was more pronounced in patients with scalp involvement than in patients without scalp involvement (t = -2.651, P = 0.008). The most prominent increase in rete length was observed in the knees (median: 491 µm, t = 10.117, P = 0.000). The difference in rete length between patients with a positive and a negative family history was significant (t = -3.334, P = 0.03), being 27% greater in psoriasis patients without a family history. The differences in dermal papilla distances among patients were very small. We conclude that microscope-supported thickness measurements provide objective results.

Semantic and fuzzy modelling for human behaviour recognition in smart spaces : a case study on ambient assisted living.

Human activity recognition in everyday environments is a critical, but challenging task in Ambient Intelligence applications to achieve proper Ambient Assisted Living, and key challenges still remain to be dealt with to realize robust methods. One of the major limitations of the Ambient Intelligence systems today is the lack of semantic models of those activities on the environment, so that the system can recognize the speci c activity being performed by the user(s) and act accordingly. In this context, this thesis addresses the general problem of knowledge representation in Smart Spaces. The main objective is to develop knowledge-based models, equipped with semantics to learn, infer and monitor human behaviours in Smart Spaces. Moreover, it is easy to recognize that some aspects of this problem have a high degree of uncertainty, and therefore, the developed models must be equipped with mechanisms to manage this type of information. A fuzzy ontology and a semantic hybrid system are presented to allow modelling and recognition of a set of complex real-life scenarios where vagueness and uncertainty are inherent to the human nature of the users that perform it. The handling of uncertain, incomplete and vague data (i.e., missing sensor readings and activity execution variations, since human behaviour is non-deterministic) is approached for the rst time through a fuzzy ontology validated on real-time settings within a hybrid data-driven and knowledgebased architecture. The semantics of activities, sub-activities and real-time object interaction are taken into consideration. The proposed framework consists of two main modules: the low-level sub-activity recognizer and the high-level activity recognizer. The rst module detects sub-activities (i.e., actions or basic activities) that take input data directly from a depth sensor (Kinect). The main contribution of this thesis tackles the second component of the hybrid system, which lays on top of the previous one, in a superior level of abstraction, and acquires the input data from the rst module's output, and executes ontological inference to provide users, activities and their in uence in the environment, with semantics. This component is thus knowledge-based, and a fuzzy ontology was designed to model the high-level activities. Since activity recognition requires context-awareness and the ability to discriminate among activities in di erent environments, the semantic framework allows for modelling common-sense knowledge in the form of a rule-based system that supports expressions close to natural language in the form of fuzzy linguistic labels. The framework advantages have been evaluated with a challenging and new public dataset, CAD-120, achieving an accuracy of 90.1% and 91.1% respectively for low and high-level activities. This entails an improvement over both, entirely data-driven approaches, and merely ontology-based approaches. As an added value, for the system to be su ciently simple and exible to be managed by non-expert users, and thus, facilitate the transfer of research to industry, a development framework composed by a programming toolbox, a hybrid crisp and fuzzy architecture, and graphical models to represent and con gure human behaviour in Smart Spaces, were developed in order to provide the framework with more usability in the nal application. As a result, human behaviour recognition can help assisting people with special needs such as in healthcare, independent elderly living, in remote rehabilitation monitoring, industrial process guideline control, and many other cases. This thesis shows use cases in these areas.

How computer programmers work : understanding software development in practise

Hur arbetar en framgångsrik programmerare? Uppgifterna att programmera datorspel och att programmera industriella, säkerhetskritiska system verkar tämligen olika. Genom en noggrann empirisk undersökning jämför och kontrasterar avhandlingen dessa två former av programmering och visar att programmering innefattar mer än teknisk förmåga. Med utgångspunkt i hermeneutisk och retorisk teori och med hjälp av både kulturvetenskap och datavetenskap visar avhandlingen att programmerarnas tradition och värderingar är grundläggande för deras arbete, och att båda sorter av programmering kan uppfattas och analyseras genom klassisk texttolkningstradition. Dessutom kan datorprogram betraktas och analyseras med hjälp av klassiska teorier om talproduktion i praktiken - program ses då i detta sammanhang som ett slags yttranden. Allt som allt förespråkar avhandlingen en återkomst till vetenskapens grunder, vilka innebär en ständig och oupphörlig cyklisk rörelse mellan att erfara och att förstå. Detta står i kontrast till en reduktionistisk syn på vetenskapen, som skiljer skarpt mellan subjektivt och objektivt, och på så sätt utgår från möjligheten att uppnå fullständigt vetande. Ofullständigt vetande är tolkandets och hermeneutikens domän. Syftet med avhandlingen är att med hjälp av exempel demonstrera programmeringens kulturella, hermeneutiska och retoriska natur.

Gastroesophageal reflux episodes in asthmatic patients and their temporal relation with sleep architecture

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is common in asthma patients and can contribute to sleep disruption. The aim of the present study was to determine the time-related distribution of GER events together with their impact on sleep in asthmatic subjects with GER disease symptoms. The inclusion criteria were: 18-65 years, controlled moderate to severe asthma and GER-compatible clinical evidence. The exclusion criteria were: chronic obstructive lung disease, smoking, infections of the upper airways, use of oral corticosteroids, other co-morbidities, pregnancy, sleep-related disorders, night-time shift work, and the use of substances with impact on sleep. Asthmatic patients with nocturnal symptoms were excluded. All-night polysomnography and esophageal pH monitoring were recorded simultaneously. Of the 147 subjects selected, 31 patients and 31 controls were included. Seventeen patients were classified as DeMeester positive and 14 as DeMeester negative. Both groups displayed similar outcomes when general variables were considered. Sleep stage modification one minute prior to GER was observed in the DeMeester-positive group. Awakening was the most frequent occurrence at GER onset and during the 1-min period preceding 38% of the nocturnal GER. Sleep stage 2 was also prevalent and preceded 36% of GER events. In the DeMeester-negative group, awakening was the most frequent response before and during GER. Modifications in sleep stages, arousals or awakenings were associated with 75% of the total GER events analyzed during the period of one minute before and after the fall of esophageal pH below 4 in the DeMeester-positive group. These data provide evidence that sleep modifications precede the GER events in asthmatic patients.

Sustainable Computer Science Education

As the world becomes more technologically advanced and economies become globalized, computer science evolution has become faster than ever before. With this evolution and globalization come the need for sustainable university curricula that adequately prepare graduates for life in the industry. Additionally, behavioural skills or “soft” skills have become just as important as technical abilities and knowledge or “hard” skills. The objective of this study was to investigate the current skill gap that exists between computer science university graduates and actual industry needs as well as the sustainability of current computer science university curricula by conducting a systematic literature review of existing publications on the subject as well as a survey of recently graduated computer science students and their work supervisors. A quantitative study was carried out with respondents from six countries, mainly Finland, 31 of the responses came from recently graduated computer science professionals and 18 from their employers. The observed trends suggest that a skill gap really does exist particularly with “soft” skills and that many companies are forced to provide additional training to newly graduated employees if they are to be successful at their jobs.

Formal modelling for digital media distribution

Human beings have always strived to preserve their memories and spread their ideas. In the beginning this was always done through human interpretations, such as telling stories and creating sculptures. Later, technological progress made it possible to create a recording of a phenomenon; first as an analogue recording onto a physical object, and later digitally, as a sequence of bits to be interpreted by a computer. By the end of the 20th century technological advances had made it feasible to distribute media content over a computer network instead of on physical objects, thus enabling the concept of digital media distribution. Many digital media distribution systems already exist, and their continued, and in many cases increasing, usage is an indicator for the high interest in their future enhancements and enriching. By looking at these digital media distribution systems, we have identified three main areas of possible improvement: network structure and coordination, transport of content over the network, and the encoding used for the content. In this thesis, our aim is to show that improvements in performance, efficiency and availability can be done in conjunction with improvements in software quality and reliability through the use of formal methods: mathematical approaches to reasoning about software so that we can prove its correctness, together with the desirable properties. We envision a complete media distribution system based on a distributed architecture, such as peer-to-peer networking, in which different parts of the system have been formally modelled and verified. Starting with the network itself, we show how it can be formally constructed and modularised in the Event-B formalism, such that we can separate the modelling of one node from the modelling of the network itself. We also show how the piece selection algorithm in the BitTorrent peer-to-peer transfer protocol can be adapted for on-demand media streaming, and how this can be modelled in Event-B. Furthermore, we show how modelling one peer in Event-B can give results similar to simulating an entire network of peers. Going further, we introduce a formal specification language for content transfer algorithms, and show that having such a language can make these algorithms easier to understand. We also show how generating Event-B code from this language can result in less complexity compared to creating the models from written specifications. We also consider the decoding part of a media distribution system by showing how video decoding can be done in parallel. This is based on formally defined dependencies between frames and blocks in a video sequence; we have shown that also this step can be performed in a way that is mathematically proven correct. Our modelling and proving in this thesis is, in its majority, tool-based. This provides a demonstration of the advance of formal methods as well as their increased reliability, and thus, advocates for their more wide-spread usage in the future.

The role of business model in computer game development organizations

The computer game industry has grown steadily for years, and in revenues it can be compared to the music and film industries. The game industry has been moving to digital distribution. Computer gaming and the concept of business model are discussed among industrial practitioners and the scientific community. The significance of the business model concept has increased in the scientific literature recently, although there is still a lot of discussion going on on the concept. In the thesis, the role of the business model in the computer game industry is studied. Computer game developers, designers, project managers and organization leaders in 11 computer game companies were interviewed. The data was analyzed to identify the important elements of computer game business model, how the business model concept is perceived and how the growth of the organization affects the business model. It was identified that the importance of human capital is crucial to the business. As games are partly a product of creative thinking also innovation and the creative process are highly valued. The same applies to technical skills when performing various activities. Marketing and customer relationships are also considered as key elements in the computer game business model. Financing and partners are important especially for startups, when the organization is dependent on external funding and third party assets. The results of this study provide organizations with improved understanding on how the organization is built and what business model elements are weighted.

Changes in canola plant architecture and seed physiological quality in response to different sowing densities

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in canola yield components and seed physiological quality in response to different sowing densities. The study was made in a greenhouse at the REIPESOL Company Technological Center, Madrid - Spain, with the commercial "Toccata" hybrid variety. The initial sowing density was 360,000 plants/ha and the plant population was later thinned down to include treatments of 250 and 180 thousand plants/ha. Harvested seeds were sent to the Seed Technology Center Laboratory (CATES) at the Madrid Polytechnic University (UPM) to evaluate changes in plant architecture and yield components, as well as the seed physiological quality of different plant parts. Results demonstrated that canola plants showed changes in morphology and yield components in response to different sowing densities. The population of 250,000 plants/ha showed the best seed yield demonstrating that maximum yield is directly related to a correct sowing density. The number of pods/plant was the most important component for increased seed yield/plant and seed yield/area. The spatial distribution of canola seeds in the plant and canola sowing density did not affect seed physiological quality.