The role of van der Waals interactions in the case of H2 adsorption on ruthenium (0001) surface

Computational material science with the Density Functional Theory (DFT) has recently gained a method for describing, for the first time the non local bonding i.e., van der Waals (vdW) bonding. The newly proposed van der Waals-Density Functional (vdW-DF) is employed here to address the role of non local interactions in the case of H2 adsorption on Ru(0001) surface. The later vdW-DF2 implementation with the DFT code VASP (Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package) is used in this study. The motivation for studying H2 adsorption on ruthenium surface arose from the interest to hydrogenation processes. Potential energy surface (PES) plots are created for adsorption sites top, bridge, fcc and hcp, employing the vdW-DF2 functional. The vdW-DF yields 0.1 eV - 0.2 eV higher barriers for the dissociation of the H2 molecule; the vdW-DF seems to bind the H2 molecule more tightly together. Furthermore, at the top site, which is found to be the most reactive, the vdW functional suggests no entrance barrier or in any case smaller than 0.05 eV, whereas the corresponding calculation without the vdW-DF does. Ruthenium and H2 are found to have the opposite behaviors with the vdW-DF; Ru lattice constants are overestimated while H2 bond length is shorter. Also evaluation of the CPU time demand of the vdW-DF2 is done from the PES data. From top to fcc sites the vdW-DF computational time demand is larger by 4.77 % to 20.09 %, while at the hcp site it is slightly smaller. Also the behavior of a few exchange correlation functionals is investigated along addressing the role of vdW-DF. Behavior of the different functionals is not consistent between the Ru lattice constants and H2 bond lengths. It is thus difficult to determine the quality of a particular exchange correlation functional by comparing equilibrium separations of the different elements. By comparing PESs it would be computationally highly consuming.

Benefits and challenges of supply chain finance business process automation : A case study in ING Bank

Supply chain finance, a financial product provided by the bank, has gained increasing attention and popularity over the last few years. Supply chain finance helps the corporate clients to optimize their financial flows along the supply chain. One characteristic of supply chain finance is that it aims to provide automated solutions. Therefore, the business process automation of supply chain finance is a very interesting and important topic for study. In this study, the business process automation of supply chain finance within the case organization, ING, is analysed. The purpose is to: (1) Identify the benefits to understand the importance to automate supply chain finance business process; (2) Find out the existing automation degree in the supply chain finance business process within the case bank to see what’s the situation now and how to improve in the future; (3) Discover the challenges in the further automation of supply chain finance business process. Firstly, the study finds out that supply chain finance business process automation can bring many benefits to the bank. Automation can improve productivity by using less time and human labour in the business process, and by providing scalable solutions. Automation can also improve quality of the service by reducing the human errors. Last but not least, automation can improve internal governance by providing enhanced visibility of the business process. Because of these potential benefits, many banks are actively seeking solutions to automate their supply chain finance business process. Then, the current automation situation with the case bank is analysed with the help of business process modelling. The supply chain finance business process within the case bank can be further divided into several sub processes: daily transaction, buyer sales and setup, supplier onboarding, contract management, customer services and supports, and contract termination. The study finds out that the daily transaction process is already a highly automated, which is carried out through the web-based trading platform. However, for other business the automation degree is relatively low. Among these business processes, supplier onboarding is most needed for further automation. Then, some solutions are also suggested to automate the supplier onboarding business process. In the end, the study also foresees some challenges during the further automation of supply chain finance business process in the case bank. Some suggestions are also given to deal with these challenges.

De-escalation of commitment management strategy in IT project management methodology: case of ERP implementation project by IT consulting company

According to several surveys and observations, the percentage of successfully conducted IT projects without over-budgeting and delays in time schedule are extremely low. Many projects also are evaluated as failures in terms of delivered functionality. Nuldén (1996) compares IT projects with bad movies; after watching for 2 hours, one still tries to finish it even though one understands that it is a complete waste of time. The argument for that is 'I've already invested too much time to terminate it now'. The same happens with IT projects: sometimes the company continues wasting money on these projects for a long time, even though there are no expected benefits from these projects. Eventually these projects are terminated anyway, but until this moment, the company spends a lot. The situation described above is a consequence of “escalation of commitment” - project continuation even after a manager receives negative feedback of the project’s success probability. According to Keil and Mähring (2010), even though escalation can occur in any type of project, it is more common among complex technological projects, such as IT projects. Escalation of commitment very often results in runaway projects. In order to avoid it, managers use de-escalation strategies, which allow the resources to be used in more effective. These strategies lead to project termination or turning around, which stops the flow of wasted investments. Numbers of researches explore escalation of commitment phenomena based on experiments and business cases. Moreover, during the last decade several frameworks were proposed for de-escalation strategy. However, there is no evidence of successful implementation of the de-escalation of commitment strategy in the literature. In addition, despite that fact that IT project management methodologies are widely used in the companies, none of them cover the topic of escalation of commitment risks. At the same time, there are no researches proposing the way to implement de-escalation of commitment strategy into the existing project management methodology The research is focused on a single case of large ERP implementation project by the consulting company. Hence, the main deliverables of the study include suggestions of improvement in de-escalation methods and techniques in the project and in the company. Moreover, the way to implement these methods into existing project management methodology and into the company general policies is found.

IT Investment Portfolio Management Over Joint Ventures: Case Study in a Multinational Oil & Gas Company

With information technology (IT) playing an increasing important role in driving the business, the value of IT investment is often challenged because not all of those investment decisions are made in a reasonable way or aligned with business strategies. IT investment portfolio management (PfM) is an effective way to prioritize and select the right IT projects to invest in, by taking all the project proposals into consideration as a whole, based on their business value, risks, costs, and interrelationships. There are different decision models to prioritise projects, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the most commonly-used methods and is discussed in this master thesis. At the same time, there are IT projects on different levels for a multinational company, from global to local. For instance, many of them are probably proposed by joint ventures on local level. In the oil & gas industry, joint ventures are often formed especially in the area of the upstream (exploration & production). How to involve those projects into the IT investment PfM approach of the parent company is a challenge, because the parent company cannot make the decisions on its own. It needs to prioritize all projects in an adequate way, communicate with JVs and influence them. Also, different control levels on JVs need to be considered. This paper hence attempts to introduce a tailored approach of IT investment PfM for a multinational oil & gas company to address the issues around JVs.

Measuring effects of strategic utilization of social media in business-to-business marketing: Case Greenlux Finland Oy

Utilization of social media is increasingly common in B2B marketing. Social media is an efficient and cheap marketing and communication channel available for everyone, and thus extremely attractive marketing medium. The more companies get involved in social media the more failures are reported. It is not enough for a company to just be present in social media. Succeeding on it requires hard work, investing time and money, and ability to measure and to monitor performance. With an increasing number of companies failing in utilizing social media, together with lack of research on strategic utilization of social media focusing on B2B marketing, measuring, and monitoring create a purpose for this research. The aim of this research is to discover methods for measuring and monitoring effects of strategic utilization of social media in B2B marketing. Most relevant financial and non-financial indicators are discussed, and the methods by which these can be monitored and measured. In addition, effects of strategic utilization of social media on the case company are measured and analyzed. The research methodology used in this research is a participatory action research, which includes elements of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The case company examined in the research provides a unique opportunity to follow through all phases of strategic utilization of social media for B2B marketing purposes concluding real effects of social media to the case company, and thus gain a deep understanding about this new marketing medium in the perspective of B2B marketing. Duration of the research period is seven months. During this time, information is collected, measured, and analyzed. Case company does not have any other marketing activities simultaneously which makes it possible to examine social media apart from effects of other visible marketing activities. Effects of strategic utilization of social media can be monitored and measured in many ways. Methods that should be used depend on goals set for social media. Fundamental nature of social media requires multidimensional assessment, and thus effects should be measured, and monitored considering both financial and non-financial indicators. The results implicates that effects of strategic utilization of social media are relatively wide ranged. According to the findings, social media affects positively on brand, number of web page visitors, visitor behavior, and on distribution of awareness. According to investment calculations social media is a legitimate investment for case company. Results also implicate that by using social media case company gains conversation, arouses interest, gets attention, and creates interactivity. In addition and as a side note, winter holiday season appears to have a great effect on social media activity of B2B companies’ representatives.

Service innovation development and knowledge integration practices - a comparative case study on KIBS sector

Academic research on services and innovations on services has significantly grown during recent years. So far research concerning management of knowledge intensive work on service development activities is very limited. The objective of this study was to examine knowledge integration practices that support service innovation development and to the best of knowledge such studies have not been previously published in academic literature. In the theoretical part of the study a review of state‐of‐the‐art literature was conducted, research gap was indicated and a framework for analysis was built. In the empirical part an explorative comparative multi‐case study was carried out in KIBS sector. Four companies were selected and four service development projects were inspected. The service development activities and knowledge integration practices were identified. The cases were carefully compared and results formed. The empirical results indicated that service innovation development is partly linear and partly incremental flow of activities where knowledge integration practices have important role supporting the planning and execution of tasks. Knowledge integration practices supporting planning and workshops are close interaction, interpretation, project planning and sequencing of work tasks. The identified knowledge integration practices supporting building service solution were careful role and competence management, routines and common knowledge. The main implication is that to manage knowledge intensive service innovation development a firm should carefully develop and choose relevant knowledge integration practices to support the service development activities.

A Method for reducing throughput-time in industrial electronics

Lyhyet toimitusajat tuovat yrityksille kilpailuetua nopeasti muuttuvassa teollisuusympäristössä. Tämän diplomityön ensisijaisena tavoitteena on löytää kirjallisuuden avulla yrityksen käyttöön soveltuva menetelmä, joka soveltuu systemaattiseen läpimenoaikojen lyhentämiseen. Tärkeää on myös varmistaa valitun menetelmän soveltuvuus kohdeyrityksen ympäristöön. Työn toisena tavoitteena on ymmärtää, että minkälaisella panostuksella yhden päivän läpimenoaika voidaan saavuttaa. Kirjallisuustutkimuksen avulla on valittu tarkoitukseen sopiva toimintamalli. Menetelmä on testattu yhdellä tuotantolinjalla ja saadut tulokset sekä palaute osoittavat, että se näyttäisi soveltuvan kohdeyrityksen käyttöön. Tuotantolinjalle on tehty toimintasuunnitelma yhden päivän toimitusajan saavuttamiseksi vuoden 2013 aikana. Haasteen laajuutta koko kohdeyrityksessä on tutkittu erillisessä ideointisessiossa. Session tulosten perusteella on tehty prioriteettilista, joka antaa käsityksen toimitusajan merkittävän lyhentämisen vaatimuksista. Yleisesti ottaen kysynnän vaihtelun hallinta on suurin haaste, mutta useita ratkaisuvaihtoehtoja tämän hallitsemiseksi on tunnistettu.

Keinotekoiset järjestelyt ulosottomenettelyssä

Ulosotolla tarkoitetaan velallisen tuloon ja omaisuuteen kohdistuvaa pakkotäytäntöönpanoa laiminlyötyjen maksujen ja muiden velvoitteiden hoitamiseksi. Ensisijaisesti ulosmittaus tapahtuu velallisen julkisesta omaisuudesta. Mikäli velallinen on keinotekoisia järjestelyjä hyödyntäen siirtänyt omaisuuttaan lähipiirin omistukseen toimien silti tosiasiallisen omistajan tavoin, voidaan omaisuus ulosmitata Ulosottokaaren 4:14 §:n perusteella. Tutkimuksessa on esitelty keinotekoisiin järjestelyihin liittyviä piirteitä ja niiden käsittelyä ulosotossa. Kyseessä on lainopillinen tutkimus, jossa on myös käytetty oikeustapauksia ja tilastoja antamaan syvyyttä ja selvyyttä aiheeseen. Tutkimuksessa saatiin selville, että keinotekoisilla järjestelyillä on paljon yhteistä velallisen rikosten ja keinotekoisten järjestelyn kanssa. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin myös, että asianosaisten oikeuksien toteutumiseen pakkotäytäntöönpanossa on kohdistettava erityistä huomiota. Lisäksi todettiin, että ulosottomenettelyn summaarisen luonteen vuoksi tutkinnallisesti haastavat keinotekoiset järjestelyt on järkevää tarvittaessa siirtää erikoisperinnän käsiteltäväksi. Erikoisperintä toimii ulosottolaitoksen tutkinnallisena osastona tapauksille, joihin normaalissa täytäntöönpanossa eivät riittäisi aika ja resurssit. Keinotekoisia järjestelyjä tutkittaessa kokonaisarvionti ja asianmukainen huolellisuus on tärkeää. Pelkät yksittäiset tunnusmerkit ja indisiot järjestelyn keinotekoisuudesta eivät ole riittäviä sen sivuuttamiseksi. Tutkimuksen perusteella on todettavissa, että keinotekoisen järjestelyn sivuuttamiseen ei lähdetä helposti, koska vaarana on asianosaisten oikeuksien loukkaaminen. Säännös keinotekoisista järjestelyistä on tutkimuksen perusteella erittäin tärkeä ulosottotoimen uskottavuuden turvaamiseksi.

Myyjien organisaatioon sitoutuminen ja esimiehen vaikutus sitoutumiseen. Case: Alko Oy

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on kuvata ja ymmärtää myyjien organisaatioon sitoutumista Alko Oy:ssä, sitä kuinka myyjät ovat sitoutuneita organisaatioon ja sitoutumiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Tarkoituksena on selvittää ja ymmärtää esimiehen vaikutusta sitoutumiseen sekä sitä kuinka esimies voi edistää myyjien sitoutumista. Lisäksi tavoitteena on kartoittaa ja ymmärtää sitoutumisen seurauksia. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys muodostuu organisaatioon sitoutumisen tutkimuksesta ja johtajuuden tutkimuksesta, erityisesti transformationaalisesta johtajuudesta ja sen vaikutuksesta sitoutumiseen. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen ja pääasiallisena tutkimusmetodina on käytetty teemahaastattelua. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla 22 myyjää ja seitsemää esimiestä. Haastattelut nauhoitettiin ja litteroitiin. Haastattelujen lisäksi myyjille tehtiin kysely. Aineistoa analysoitiin teemoittain ja empiirisen aineiston analyysin tulkinta perustuu tutkimuksen teoreettiseen viitekehykseen. Tutkimustulosten mukaan myyjien sitoutuminen kohdeorganisaatiossa on hyvällä tai vähintään kohtuullisella tasolla ja se pohjautuu voimakkaimmin affektiiviseen ulottuvuuteen. Lisäksi sitoutuminen perustuu osittain jatkuvuuteen perustuvaan komponenttiin sekä pieneltä osin myös normatiiviseen. Affektiiviseen sitoutumiseen vaikuttavat merkittävimmin työn monipuolisuus, haastavuus ja mielekkyys, onnistumisen ja merkityksellisyyden tunteet sekä ilmapiiri. Jatkuvuuteen perustuvaan sitoutumiseen vaikuttavat eniten palkitseminen ja siihen liittyen osa-aikaisuus, joka jakoi myyjiä kahtia. Lisäksi työn monipuolisuudella, varmuudella sekä työllistymisvaihtoehdoilla ja perhesyillä on vaikutusta jatkuvuusperusteiseen sitoutumiseen. Normatiiviseen sitoutumiseen vaikuttavat voimakkaimmin positiivinen vapaaehtoinen vastavuoroisuus organisaatiota kohtaan sen toimintaan ja tekemiin investointeihin liittyen. Lisäksi normatiiviseen sitoutumiseen vaikuttavat sosialisaatio kasvatuksen myötä ja psykologinen sopimus odotuksineen. Esimiehen vaikutus sitoutumiseen korostuu tuloksissa ja esimiehen toiminnalla on merkittävin vaikutus affektiiviseen sitoutumiseen. Keskeisimpiä esimiehen vaikutuskeinoja myyjien sitoutumiseen ovat vastuun antaminen ja osallistaminen, palaute, avoin vuorovaikutus ja tiedonkulku sekä tasapuolisuus ja oikeudenmukaisuus toiminnassa. Myös esimiehen kannustavuus ja myyjien yksilöllinen huomiointi, osaamisen kehittämisen tukeminen sekä esimerkillinen toiminta ovat keskeisiä. Sitoutumisen seurauksista merkittävimpiä ovat vähäinen vaihtuvuus sekä työsuorituksen ja asiakaspalvelun laatu. Lisäksi organisaatiokansalaisuuskäyttäytymiseen liittyvät seikat, kuten parhaansa tekeminen, joustavuus ja itseohjautuvuus ovat keskeisiä sitoutumisen seurauksia.

Muutoksen toteuttaminen suuressa teollisuusyrityksessä - Case Hartwall Lahti

Muutos on kiinteä osa tämän päivän organisaatioiden toimintaa. Tämä asettaa haasteita niin muutoksen johtamiselle kuin esimiesten osaamiselle. Tämän työn tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka suuressa teollisessa tuotanto-organisaatiossa toteutettuun toimintatapamuutokseen vaikutetaan johtamisen keinoin ja miten eri henkilöstöryhmät kokevat muutoksen. Näiden pohjalta tunnistettiin ne johtamisen osa-alueet ja muut tekijät, joita tulee kehittää seuraavassa muutosprosessissa ja sen suunnittelussa. Työssä tutkitaan toteutettua muutosta viiden eri näkökulman kautta suorittamalla teemahaastattelut johdon, esimiesten ja työntekijöiden edustajille. Teemat, joihin tämä tutkimus pureutui olivat; uuden toimintamallin merkittävin sisältö, muutoksen välttämättömyys, muutosviestintä, muutoksen toteuttaminen ja muutoksen seuranta. Työn johtopäätöksinä ja yhteenvetona voidaan todeta, että muutoksen suunnitteluun kannattaa panostaa runsaasti ajallisia resursseja ja sitouttaa henkilöitä eri organisaatiotasoilta. Muutosviestintä on oleellinen osa muutoksen onnistumisessa ja sen osaamista tulisi kehittää, sekä luoda ymmärrystä viestinnän tärkeydestä muutoksessa. Keskijohto sekä työntekijöiden suorat esimiehet ovat ne ryhmät, joiden ymmärrys toteutettavasta muutoksesta on kriittinen tekijä ja joille täytyy erityisesti varmistaa riittävä muutosjohtamisen osaaminen.

The Role of a firm’s mindset in international success - case study of Finnish marine industry firms

This thesis investigates the influence of a firm’s mindset on international success in the context of the Finnish marine industry. The study draws theoretical wisdom from organisational behaviour and strategic management literatures. The research aim set for this study was to identify and categorise existing strategic types based on mindsets found in the marine industry SMEs, and to link the influence of mindsets with success by examining the role of mindsets in a firm’s performance. Mindsets of firms were conceptualised as aggregate collections of perceptions that influence how the surrounding environment is discerned by the members of the firm. Mindsets are idiosyncratic to firms and therefore important firm-specific resources which influence decision-making and can be observed through the strategic behaviour of firms. Qualitative case study method was applied which was further supported by quantitative data on the financial performance of the ten case firms. Taxonomy based on the dimension of mindsets and prediction was developed to demonstrate four ideal types of firms identified within the marine industry. It was found that all of the case firms emphasised adaptation in their strategy while planning was emphasised to a varying degree. Moreover, two different methods of adapting were found; proactive and reactive. Firms which plan in the long-term and adapt proactively constantly investigate whether their plans are synchronous with the realities of the market; by having an open mindset, a firm’s perception of the reality of the market is enabling the firm to develop value creating strategies which are superiorly informed.This finding was supported by the financial data and led to the proposition that having an open mindset and placing a high level of emphasis on prediction may have a positive influence on international success. Also, it was proposed that concentrating only on exploiting business opportunities in the present time and not exploring any addition opportunities can have a negative influence on the firm’s performance, even if the mindset of the firm is open.

Uuteen organisaatioon rakennettavan kustannuslaskentajärjestelmän sertifioiminen valtionhallinnossa: Case Maanmittauslaitos

Työn lähtökohtana oli tieto siitä, että Valtiontalouden tarkastusvirasto (VTV) on lähtenyt tarjoamaan kustannuslaskentajärjestelmien sertifiointeja valtion virastoille ja laitoksille. Ensimmäisenä tavoitteena oli selvittää, mitä kustannuslaskentajärjestelmien sertifioiminen valtionhallinnossa tarkoittaa. Työn toisena tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten Maanmittauslaitoksen kustannuslaskenta muuttuu vuoden 2014 vaihteessa tapahtuvan organisaatiouudistuksen johdosta, ja miten ja milloin tämä uusi kustannuslaskentajärjestelmä voidaan sertifioida. Diplomityö toteutettiin tapaustutkimuksena ja empiirinen aineisto kerättiin kvalitatiivisin menetelmin tekemällä organisaation sisäisiä ja ulkoisia haastatteluja. Maanmittauslaitoksen lisäksi haastateltavat osapuolet olivat VTV, Ernst & Young, sertifiointiprosessin lähes läpikäyneen Riista- ja kalatalouden tutkimuslaitoksen entinen ja nykyinen talouspäällikkö, Maa- ja metsätalousministeriö ja Valtiokonttori. Haastatteluiden lisäksi valtion virastoilta ja laitoksilta kysyttiin ovatko he kuulleet VTV:n tarjoamasta sertifiointipalvelusta ja ovatko he kiinnostuneita tästä kyseisestä palvelusta. Työn tuloksista käy ilmi, että VTV:n palvelu etenee samalla tavalla kuin mikä tahansa muu sertifiointiprosessi. VTV:n palvelu eroaa kuitenkin jonkin verran sertifioinnin perusrakenteesta, koska kustannuslaskentajärjestelmien tapauksessa ei ole laadittu yleisiä standardeja kustannuslaskennalle. Tämän vuoksi perusrakenteessa ei ole ollenkaan standardin omistajaa. Standardin omistajan paikalle sijoittuvat laki valtion talousarviosta ja asetus valtion talousarviosta. Maanmittauslaitoksen kustannuslaskenta muuttuu organisaatiouudistuksen myötä odotettua enemmän. Uuden organisaatiorakenteen vuoksi kustannuksia ei tarvitse vyöryttää toimintayksiköille, tulosyksiköille ja vastuualueille. Kustannukset vyörytetään jatkossa vain tuotteille ja projekteille. Maanmittauslaitoksen kannattaa sertifioida uusi kustannuslaskentajärjestelmänsä vuonna 2014, vaikka seuraavien vuosien aikana on tiedossa uusia muutoksia sekä organisaatioon, että tietojärjestelmiin. Ennen varsinaista tarkastusta Maanmittauslaitoksen kustannuslaskentajärjestelmä kuvattiin uudelleen.

Long-term nutrient load management and lake restoration: Case of Säkylän Pyhäjärvi (SW Finland)

Eutrophication caused by anthropogenic nutrient pollution has become one of the most severe threats to water bodies. Nutrients enter water bodies from atmospheric precipitation, industrial and domestic wastewaters and surface runoff from agricultural and forest areas. As point pollution has been significantly reduced in developed countries in recent decades, agricultural non-point sources have been increasingly identified as the largest source of nutrient loading in water bodies. In this study, Lake Säkylän Pyhäjärvi and its catchment are studied as an example of a long-term, voluntary-based, co-operative model of lake and catchment management. Lake Pyhäjärvi is located in the centre of an intensive agricultural area in southwestern Finland. More than 20 professional fishermen operate in the lake area, and the lake is used as a drinking water source and for various recreational activities. Lake Pyhäjärvi is a good example of a large and shallow lake that suffers from eutrophication and is subject to measures to improve this undesired state under changing conditions. Climate change is one of the most important challenges faced by Lake Pyhäjärvi and other water bodies. The results show that climatic variation affects the amounts of runoff and nutrient loading and their timing during the year. The findings from the study area concerning warm winters and their influences on nutrient loading are in accordance with the IPCC scenarios of future climate change. In addition to nutrient reduction measures, the restoration of food chains (biomanipulation) is a key method in water quality management. The food-web structure in Lake Pyhäjärvi has, however, become disturbed due to mild winters, short ice cover and low fish catch. Ice cover that enables winter seining is extremely important to the water quality and ecosystem of Lake Pyhäjärvi, as the vendace stock is one of the key factors affecting the food web and the state of the lake. New methods for the reduction of nutrient loading and the treatment of runoff waters from agriculture, such as sand filters, were tested in field conditions. The results confirm that the filter technique is an applicable method for nutrient reduction, but further development is needed. The ability of sand filters to absorb nutrients can be improved with nutrient binding compounds, such as lime. Long-term hydrological, chemical and biological research and monitoring data on Lake Pyhäjärvi and its catchment provide a basis for water protection measures and improve our understanding of the complicated physical, chemical and biological interactions between the terrestrial and aquatic realms. In addition to measurements carried out in field conditions, Lake Pyhäjärvi and its catchment were studied using various modelling methods. In the calibration and validation of models, long-term and wide-ranging time series data proved to be valuable. Collaboration between researchers, modellers and local water managers further improves the reliability and usefulness of models. Lake Pyhäjärvi and its catchment can also be regarded as a good research laboratory from the point of view of the Baltic Sea. The main problem in both of them is eutrophication caused by excess nutrients, and nutrient loading has to be reduced – especially from agriculture. Mitigation measures are also similar in both cases.

GIS assessing traditional and modern agricultural land use/land cover change. A case study 1959-2005: Rekijoki, Somero, SW-Finland

Finland’s rural landscape has gone through remarkable changes from the 1950’s, due to agricultural developments. Changed farming practices have influenced especially traditional landscape management, and modifications in the arable land structure and grasslands transitions are notable. The review of the previous studies reveal the importance of the rural landscape composition and structure to species and landscape diversity, whereas including the relevance in presence of the open ditches, size of the field and meadow patches, topology of the natural and agricultural landscape. This land-change study includes applying remote sensed data from two time series and empirical geospatial analysis in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The aims of this retrospective research is to detect agricultural landscape use and land cover change (LULCC) dynamics and discuss the consequences of agricultural intensification to landscape structure covering from the aspects of landscape ecology. Measurements of LULC are derived directly from pre-processed aerial images by a variety of analytical procedures, including statistical methods and image interpretation. The methodological challenges are confronted in the process of landscape classification and combining change detection approaches with landscape indices. Particular importance is paid on detecting agricultural landscape features at a small scale, demanding comprehensive understanding of such agroecosystems. Topological properties of the classified arable land and valley are determined in order to provide insight and emphasize the aspect the field edges in the agricultural landscape as important habitat. Change detection dynamics are presented with change matrix and additional calculations of gain, loss, swap, net change, change rate and tendencies are made. Transition’s possibility is computed following Markov’s probability model and presented with matrix, as well. Thesis’s spatial aspect is revealed with illustrative maps providing knowledge of location of the classified landscape categories and location of the dynamics of the changes occurred. It was assured that in Rekijoki valley’s landscape, remarkable changes in landscape has occurred. Landscape diversity has been strongly influenced by modern agricultural landscape change, as NP of open ditches has decreased and the MPS of the arable plot has decreased. Overall change in the diversity of the landscape is determined with the decrease of SHDI. Valley landscape considered as traditional land use area has experienced major transitional changes, as meadows class has lost almost one third of the area due to afforestation. Also, remarkable transitions have occurred from forest to meadow and arable land to built area. Boundaries measurement between modern and traditional landscape has indicated noticeable proportional increase in arable land-forest edge type and decrease in arable land-meadow edge type. Probability calculations predict higher future changes for traditional landscape, but also for arable land turning into built area.

Modulaarisen rakentamisen vaikutus liiketoimintaprosessiin - case kohdeorganisaatio

Backround of this master thesis is previously recognized possibility to build housing units by a new modular building method. This master thesis aims to examine how modular building method influences to business process in the case organization: how will the process change and to whom will the change influence. To examine this, there is a need to declare as-is and to-be processes and find out the changes of the process. Modular building method is a radical change when comparing it to existing. The findings are that modular building method will produce utility by repeating. It needs time and repeating to achieve the utilities. Ability to repeat demands working with more several phases than currently. Modular building method influences also to customer and his/her choices and because of that, it has influences to financial equation.