Adapting image processing and clustering methods to productive efficiency analysis and benchmarking: A cross disciplinary approach

This dissertation explores the interdisciplinary applications of computational methods in quantitative economics. Particularly, this thesis focuses on problems in productive efficiency analysis and benchmarking that are hardly approachable or solvable using conventional methods. In productive efficiency analysis, null or zero values are often produced due to the wrong skewness or low kurtosis of the inefficiency distribution as against the distributional assumption on the inefficiency term. This thesis uses the deconvolution technique, which is traditionally used in image processing for noise removal, to develop a fully non-parametric method for efficiency estimation. Publications 1 and 2 are devoted to this topic, with focus being laid on the cross-sectional case and panel case, respectively. Through Monte-Carlo simulations and empirical applications to Finnish electricity distribution network data and Finnish banking data, the results show that the Richardson-Lucy blind deconvolution method is insensitive to the distributio-nal assumptions, robust to the data noise levels and heteroscedasticity on efficiency estimation. In benchmarking, which could be the next step of productive efficiency analysis, the 'best practice' target may not perform under the same operational environment with the DMU under study. This would render the benchmarks impractical to follow and adversely affects the managers to make the correct decisions on performance improvement of a DMU. This dissertation proposes a clustering-based benchmarking framework in Publication 3. The empirical study on Finnish electricity distribution network reveals that the proposed framework novels not only in its consideration on the differences of the operational environment among DMUs, but also its extreme flexibility. We conducted a comparison analysis on the different combinations of the clustering and efficiency estimation techniques using computational simulations and empirical applications to Finnish electricity distribution network data, based on which Publication 4 specifies an efficient combination for benchmarking in energy regulation.  This dissertation endeavors to solve problems in quantitative economics using interdisciplinary approaches. The methods developed benefit this field and the way how we approach the problems open a new perspective

Advanced Design Concepts and Efficient Finite Element Modeling for Dielectric Elastomer Devices

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) offer their use in numerous applications, due to their advantages compared to conventional actuators and sensors. They excel in properties such as lightweight, energy efficiency, low-noise and inherent compliance, just to name a few. In particular, actuator and sensor systems based on membrane DEs show their potential in many fields, from the automotive industry to consumer electronics. Defined procedures which permit an efficient design process are required in order to allow the development of novel DE devices. Additionally, numerical methods for the optimization of such processes are of interest. The first part of this dissertation provides advanced design methods for actuator and sensor applications. For DE actuators, systems biased with permanent magnets are investigated and design rules are derived in order to maximize the stroke for a given load case. For DE sensors, the field of high pressure measurements is developed, introducing concepts for intrusive and nonintrusive sensor systems. In the second part of this dissertation, numerical methods for membrane DE actuators based on the Finite Element method are derived. The main focus is fast computation time and numerical efficiency. Two approaches are presented, one based on a two-dimensional continuum formulation and one based on a three-dimensional membrane formulation. The resulting models allow the investigation of local field distributions, such as stresses, thickness and electric field.Dielektrische Elastomere (DE) bieten sich durch ihre Vorteile gegenüber herkömmlichen Aktoren und Sensoren für viele Anwendungen an. Sie zeichnen sich aus durch geringes Gewicht, hohe Energieeffizienz, geräuschlosen Betrieb und inhärente Dehnbarkeit. Um die Entwicklung neuer DE Anwendungen voranzutreiben, werden effiziente Auslegungsprozesse benötigt. Zusätzlich sind numerische Methoden zur Optimierung solcher Prozesse von Interesse. Der erste Teil dieser Dissertation entwickelt fortgeschrittene Entwicklungsmethoden für Aktorund Sensorsysteme. Für DE Aktoren werden Systeme mit Permanentmagneten als Vorspannmechanismus untersucht und eine Prozedur zur Maximierung des Aktorhubs für eine vorgegebene Last hergeleitet. Für DE Sensoren wird das Feld der Hochdruckmessung erschlossen, indem Konzepte für intrusive und nicht-intrusive Druckmessungen entwickelt werden. Der zweite Teil dieser Dissertation leitet numerische Modelle für die Simulation von DE Aktoren basierend auf der Finite Elemente Methode her. Der Hauptfokus liegt hierbei auf schnellen Rechenzeiten und numerischer Effizienz. Der erste diskutierte Ansatz basiert auf einer zweidimensionalen Kontinuumsformulierung, während der zweite Ansatz auf einer dreidimensionalen Membranformulierung basiert. Die resultierenden Modelle erlauben die Untersuchung lokaler Feldverteilungen, beispielsweise der mechanischen Spannung, der Dickenänderung und dem elektrischen Feld

Micro-Biosensor Devices for Biochemical Analysis Applications

A biosensor is an analytical device integrating a biological element and a physicochemical transducer that convert a biological response into a measurable signal. The advantages of biosensors include low cost, small size, quick, sensitivity and selectivity greater than the conventional instruments. Biosensors have a wide range of applications ranging from clinical diagnostics through to environmental monitoring, agriculture industry, et al. The different types of biosensors are classified based on the sensor device as well as the biological material. Biosensors can be broadly classified into (piezoelectric, etc.), electrochemical biosensors (potentiometric, amperometric, etc.), and optical types of biosensors (fiber optics, etc.). Here, we introduce a novel microfluidics-integrated biosensor platform system that can be flexibly adapted to form individual biosensors for different applications. In this dissertation, we present five examples of different emerging areas with this biosensor system including anti-cancer drug screening, glucose monitoring, heavy metal elements measurement, obesity healthcare, and waterborne pathogen DNA detection. These micro-biosensors have great potential to be further developed to emerging portable sensing devices especially for the uses in the developing and undeveloped world. At the last chapter, Raman spectroscopy applied to assess gestational status and the potential for pregnancy complications is presented and discussed. This technique could significantly benefit animal reproduction

Monitoring domestic material consumption at subnational level: Enabling the territorial perspective

162 p.The growing awareness that business as usual is both, unwise and unsustainable, has placed the role of the environment and the efficient use of natural resources at the centre of political and economic strategies. At the same time, mitigation strategies and monitoring frameworks geared to sustainability are generally implemented at national or supranational levels, failing short in providing significant guidance for local policy makers. This thesis provides a methodology for scaling national environmental indicators to lower levels considering territorial heterogeneity. Hence, it provides a regional database for resource consumption that represents a critical input to expand the understanding on the complex relationship between resource consumption, territorial contexts and socioeconomic drivers. The analysis highlights the existence of a significant technological gap between urban and rural regions, the latter struggling the most to recover from economic crises and to retain human capital. Going further, a closer inspection on the impacts of socioeconomic drivers on resource efficiency across different regional economic structures reveals that increased access to capital would generate higher resource efficiency returns in material-intensive economies, compared with service-based economies. Differently, increased agglomeration levels represent the best resource efficiency leverage across urban territories.Overall, the thesis brings into discussion a renewed interest for the consideration of territorial aspects for a better understanding of the dialectics between the underlying forces driving regional resource efficiency and the different opportunities and challenges that regions might face according to their specific endowments

Monitoring domestic material consumption at subnational level: Enabling the territorial perspective

162 p.The growing awareness that business as usual is both, unwise and unsustainable, has placed the role of the environment and the efficient use of natural resources at the centre of political and economic strategies. At the same time, mitigation strategies and monitoring frameworks geared to sustainability are generally implemented at national or supranational levels, failing short in providing significant guidance for local policy makers. This thesis provides a methodology for scaling national environmental indicators to lower levels considering territorial heterogeneity. Hence, it provides a regional database for resource consumption that represents a critical input to expand the understanding on the complex relationship between resource consumption, territorial contexts and socioeconomic drivers. The analysis highlights the existence of a significant technological gap between urban and rural regions, the latter struggling the most to recover from economic crises and to retain human capital. Going further, a closer inspection on the impacts of socioeconomic drivers on resource efficiency across different regional economic structures reveals that increased access to capital would generate higher resource efficiency returns in material-intensive economies, compared with service-based economies. Differently, increased agglomeration levels represent the best resource efficiency leverage across urban territories.Overall, the thesis brings into discussion a renewed interest for the consideration of territorial aspects for a better understanding of the dialectics between the underlying forces driving regional resource efficiency and the different opportunities and challenges that regions might face according to their specific endowments

New Fundamental Technologies in Data Mining

The progress of data mining technology and large public popularity establish a need for a comprehensive text on the subject. The series of books entitled by "Data Mining" address the need by presenting in-depth description of novel mining algorithms and many useful applications. In addition to understanding each section deeply, the two books present useful hints and strategies to solving problems in the following chapters. The contributing authors have highlighted many future research directions that will foster multi-disciplinary collaborations and hence will lead to significant development in the field of data mining

MICROFABRICATION AND MODELLING OF DIELECTRIC ELASTOMER ACTUATORS

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are a class of polymeric actuators that have gained prominence over the last decade. A DEA is comprised of a polymer sandwiched between two compliant electrodes. When voltage is applied between the two electrodes, electrostatic attraction between the electrodes compresses the elastomer in that direction and stretches it in the other two directions. DEAs produce dimensional changes (strains) up to 300% upon application of an electric field. DEAs have tremendous potential for applications requiring large displacements and have been demonstrated for many macro-scale (centimeter and larger) applications such as robots, loudspeakers, and motors. There are potentially many useful applications for micro-scale DEAs (less than millimeter-sized devices with micron-sized actuators) in the fields of micro-robotics, micro-optics, and micro-fluidics. However, miniaturization of DEAs is challenging because many of the materials and DEA fabrication methods used on the macro-scale cannot be adapted for micro-scale fabrication of DEAs. This thesis explores the feasibility of developing fabrication strategies for micro-scale DEAs by adapting micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. In addition, fabrication protocols for micro-scale DEAs have been developed. The other aspect of this thesis is the design of bending DEAs. Benders are useful because for a given actuation strain, greater deflection can be observed by controlling the stiffnesses and thicknesses of different layers. A general guideline for designing bending DEA configurations such as unimorph, bimorph, and multilayer stacks was developed using a multilayer analytical model. The design optimization is based on the effect of thickness and stiffness of different layers on curvature, blocked force, and work. Complaint electrodes and their design are important for DEAs to enable the elastomer to stretch unrestricted. Thus, design criteria for the fabrication of crenellated electrodes and crenellated elastomers with electrodes were investigated. This guideline enabled design of structures with appropriate axial or bending stiffnesses based on the amplitude, angle, length, and thickness. Simple analytical equations for axial and bending stiffness for crenellated electrodes with different shapes were derived. In addition, numerical simulations of crenellated elastomer with stiff electrode were performe

EU Cohesion Policy Implementation - Evaluation Challenges and Opportunities

This open access book is the result of the 1st International Conference on Evaluating Challenges in the Implementation of EU Cohesion Policy (EvEUCoP 2022). It presents the recent findings, sparks discussion, and reveals new research paths addressing the use of novel methodologies and approaches to tackle the challenges and opportunities that are unveiled with the implementation of the EU cohesion policy. The authors cover a wide range of topics including the monitoring of data; the clearness of indicators in measuring the impact of interventions; novel evaluation methods, addressing the mid-term and terminal assessment; as well as case studies and applications on evaluations of the thematic objectives under the scrutiny of the cohesion policy, namely: • Research, technological development, and innovation; • Information and communication technologies; • Shift toward a low-carbon economy. During the 2014-2020 programmatic period, member states were required to undertake assessments to evaluate the efficacy, efficiency, and impact of each operational program. Such evaluations are generally concerned with the compliance of projects and activities with programmatic priorities, as well as with funds' absorption capacity and refer to ex-ante and ex-post assessments. Hence, this book proposes the use of novel methodologies addressing the mid-term and terminal assessments that enable performing the efficiency appraisal of the operational programs and that can support decision-makers in the selection of projects that should be awarded for funding