Rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmän luonti: kokonaisvaltainen lähestymistapa

Purpose of this thesis is to examine requirements for a building operating system from a holistic perspective. To understand the context of the subject, an extensive literature review was carried out which explores the evolution of operating systems alongside the history of computing, unravelling the concept of an operating system. In addition, various building information systems, including building automation systems and internet of things systems are reviewed in order to understand modern and future trends of building technology. Furthermore, literature review investigates telecommunications and digital identity authentication through their evolution and standardisation towards interoperability, to provide knowledge on how to achieve interoperability in building systems. An interview study was conducted as the empirical part of the study in order to complement the theoretical framework of the thesis. A dozen building digitalisation experts were interviewed, inquiring their insights on the current and future situation of building systems. More closely, open systems, open data, platform ownership, disruption, killer applications, user-centredness, and Finland’s opportunities were discussed in respect of the building operating system. Building operating system requires connection between various technology inside a building, and collaboration between various parties who use and manage the building. The system should exploit open standards and enable open data. User-centred development should be encouraged for the benefits of end users. The system needs to expand globally to achieve critical mass and unleash its full potential as a platform. Each building with similar properties should have the same features, being able to use same services and applications in any building with an operating system, thus enabling portability. The system requires convenient software development kits, application programming interfaces and abstractions for the needs of software and service developers. A vibrant developer community is required to expand the platform and enable a wide range of services and applications.Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on tutkia rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmän holistisia vaatimuksia. Laaja kirjallisuuskatsaus tehtiin aiheen ymmärtämiseksi, joka tutkii käyttöjärjestelmien evoluutiota rinnakkain tietojenkäsittelyn historian kanssa, tarkoituksena hahmottaa käyttöjärjestelmän käsitettä. Lisäksi, eri rakennusten tietojärjestelmiä, mukaan lukien rakennusautomaatiojärjestelmiä ja esineiden internet -järjestelmiä käytiin läpi ymmärtääkseen nykyisiä ja tulevia trendejä rakennusteknologiassa. Edelleen kirjallisuuskatsaus tutkii televiestintää ja sähköistä tunnistautumista niiden kehityksen ja standardisoinnin kautta kohti yhteentoimivuutta, tarjoten tietoa siitä, miten yhteentoimivuutta voitaisiin kehittää rakennusjärjestelmissä. Haastattelututkimus tehtiin diplomityön empiirisenä osuutena, jonka tarkoituksena oli laajentaa työn teoreettista viitekehystä. Tusina rakennusten digitalisaation asiantuntijaa haastateltiin, joilta kysyttiin rakennusjärjestelmien nykytilasta ja tulevaisuudesta. Lähemmin, keskustelut käsittelivät avoimia järjestelmiä, avointa dataa, alustan omistajuutta, disruptiota, menestyssovelluksia, käyttäjäkeskeisyyttä sekä Suomen kansainvälistä potentiaalia rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmän näkökulmasta. Rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmä vaatii rakennuksen sisällä olevien eri teknologioiden yhteenliittämisen, sekä yhteistyötä rakennusta käyttävien ja hallinnoivien osapuolten välillä. Järjestelmän pitäisi hyödyntää avoimia standardeja ja mahdollistaa avoimen datan käytön. Käyttäjäkeskeistä suunnittelua pitäisi kannustaa loppukäyttäjien etuja suosien. Järjestelmän täytyy levitä globaalisti saavuttaakseen kriittisen massan ja ottaakseen käyttöön sen koko potentiaalin. Jokaisella samankaltaisella rakennuksella täytyisi olla käytössään yhtäläiset ominaisuudet, mahdollistaen samojen palveluiden ja sovellusten käytön missä tahansa käyttöjärjestelmää käyttävässä rakennuksessa, täten mahdollistaen siirrettävyyden. Järjestelmä vaatii sopivat ohjelmointirajapinnat, abstraktiot ja ohjelmistokehykset sovellus- ja palvelukehittäjien tarpeita varten. Laaja kehitysyhteisö vaaditaan alustan levittämiseksi ja sovellustarjonnan laajentamiseksi

Picking Work Manual : Updating and Improving the Instructions: Case Inex Partners

This thesis was assigned by Inex Partners Oy in the Kilo logistics center. The goal of this thesis was to update and develop the picking manual, which was the end product of this thesis. The main question for this topic was how the pickers would make better use of the manual and how to utilize its properties efficiently in the beginning of their working life. Boundaries were set by only concentrating on the dry-side of the Kilo logistics center and voice picking. The thesis was roughly divided into three parts. The first part was dealing with the theory of warehouse operations and in depth illustration of the various ways of picking including the technologies used to enable their implementations. The second part of this thesis handled the practical part, which began with the definition of the research problem of the topic at hand and the description of the operations within the warehouse, specifically the process of picking. A crucial element in resolving the problem was the application of the ADDIE-model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation). Qualitative methods were applied in the ADDIE-model. Firstly, the original manual was analyzed, in which its results were summed up in a SWOT-analysis. The primary information from the users of the manual was acquired through the application of surveys, which were conducted during group meetings of pickers. The results were analyzed through Excel-sheets, where they were interpreted by comparing with the results of the manual analysis. To figure out the causes of the issues raised and the solutions to be implemented, interviews were conducted. The third part of the thesis concentrated on the development aspects of the original manual, which led to the reconstruction of the new manual. Three factors were considered: the properties and attributes needed to create a singular and clear format; putting the essential contents of the picking process needed in a logical order; and the practical application of the manual itself.Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli päivittää ja kehittää keräystyöohjetta, jonka toimeksiantajana oli Inex Partners Oy, Kilon logistiikkakeskus. Aiheen pääkysymyksenä oli miten kerääjät voivat hyödyntää työohjeen käyttöä paremmin ja sen ominaisuuksia tehokkaammin työelämän alussa. Opinnäytetyön rajaamisessa päätettiin keskittyä ainoastaan varaston kuiva-puoleen ja äänikeräykseen. Työ oli jaettu kolmeen osaan. Ensimmäisenä, teoriaosuudessa käsiteltiin varastotoimintoja ja kuvailtiin tarkasti erilaisia keräysmuotoja mm. niiden laitteita ja järjestelmiä. Toisessa osassa eli käytännön osuudessa käsiteltiin tutkimusongelman määrittelemistä ja Inexin varaston toimintojen kuvaamista, erityisesti keräysprosessia. Ratkaiseva tekijä ongelman ratkaisemiseen oli ADDIE-mallin (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) käyttöönotto. ADDIE-mallin suorittamisessa käytettiin hyväkseen kvalitatiivisia menetelmiä. Ensimmäisenä vaiheena oli työohjeen analyysi, jonka tulokset vedettiin yhteen SWOT-analyysiin. Myös ennakkoinformaatio ohjeesta saatiin käyttäjiltä kyselyjen kautta. Kyselyjä suoritettiin ryhmäkokousten aikana, jolloinka paikalla oli kerääjiä. Tulokset analysoitiin Excelissä, missä niitä vertailtiin työohjeen analyysituloksien kanssa. Haastatteluja tehtiin, jotta selvitettäisiin syyt nostettuihin ongelmiin ja löydettäisiin ratkaisuja implementoitavaksi. Opinnäytetyön kolmannessa osassa keskityttiin alkuperäisen työohjeen kehitettäviin osiin, mikä vastaavasti johti uuden työohjeen rakentamiseen. Uudelleenrakentamisen kolme tekijää oli huomioitu: tarvittavat määritteet ja ominaisuudet yhtenäisen ja selkeän formaatin luomiseen, keräysprosessin olennaisimpien sisältöjen muodostaminen loogisessa järjestyksessä ja työohjeen muodostaminen käytännölliseen sovellukseen

Multi-Agent Systems

A multi-agent system (MAS) is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems which are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or monolithic system to solve. Agent systems are open and extensible systems that allow for the deployment of autonomous and proactive software components. Multi-agent systems have been brought up and used in several application domains

Understanding Community Character as a Socio-ecological Framework to Enhance Local-scale Adaptation: An Interdisciplinary Case Study from Rural Northwest Connecticut

Around the world, municipalities are facing new challenges, not the least of which is climate change. This is especially true for rural communities that, for a variety of reasons, will be disproportionately affected by the climatic changes and accompanying policies or programs.This dissertation, written in manuscript-style, integrates climate change and social-ecological scholarship to address the unique character of rural communities, to communicate the complexity of rural identity through the term rural character ; and to empower rural communities to incorporate adaptation strategies into their daily municipal operations and planning.Specifically, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What is community character and what does it offer for climate change planning? What is the relationship between rural character and climate change? How can rural communities adapt to create a resilient rural character?Through this research, I argue that there is a common dialogue across multiple disciplines that shows opportunities for interdisciplinary adaptation scholarship that could inform local planning efforts. I identify a common framework of people-place-process across multiple disciplines and identify opportunities for cross-disciplinary communication. To understand the complexity of the rural identity, my single mixed-methods case-study in Northwest Connecticut develops a place-based definition as well as a transferable model of rural character that can be used to understand other rural locales. The model of elements, dimensions, and tensions presents the quantitative and qualitative nature of rurality that, in its composition, represents the components of meaning to local residents. The study also indicates the importance of a regional rural identity.Bringing the scholarship to bear in the last manuscript, I use the theoretical underpinning of socio-ecological systems and place-based definition of rural character to create a guidebook that lists the particular steps a community might take to adapt to climate change.Emphasizing continual improvement and place-based strategies, the guidebook offers both procedural guidance and specific adaptation strategies, a combination not yet utilized in other adaptation guidance. Throughout the dissertation, I emphasize the utility of this scholarship for rural planners.As a body of work, this dissertation emphasizes the complexity of rural communities, the need for reflective planning, and responsive place-based climate change adaptation that protects and enhances rural character

Farming forest enclosures : contestations, practices and implications for tackling deforestation in Ghana

Scientists and policymakers are waking to the menacing impacts of deforestation on biodiversity and the livelihoods of the over one billion people reliant on forests. Concurrently, an upward trend in population and its corresponding rise in the global demand for feed, food, fuel, and fibre exerts new demands on limited land resources available to multiple stakeholders. As the competition over land intensifies, many farmers in the tropics employ several strategies to cultivate areas designated as forest reserves for their livelihoods, leading to further deforestation and conflicts with state forestry agencies. Moreover, despite decades of investments in institutions to directly fund smallholder farmers participation in rehabilitating deforested landscapes, little is known about the reach and performance of existing financial incentive mechanisms. This dissertation adds to filling these knowledge gaps based on qualitative case studies embedded in multiple analytical and data collection approaches in Ghana, which loses near 2% (135,000 ha) of its forests annually despite several efforts to overcome the challenge. Following a brief introduction and clarification of conceptual underpinning in Chapter 1, the knowledge gaps are addressed with three empirical publications (chapters 2-4). Chapter two examines why and how farmers in forest communities gain and secure access to their farmlands within forest reserves to produce food and cash crops against state law. Through process-net maps, focus group discussions, interviews, and field observation, data were gathered through an extended field stay in Ghanas Juabeso district. The findings unbridle the multiple structural and relational mechanisms farmers apply to evade state attempts to rein in illegal farming in the area and how institutional deficiencies, notably corruption and elite capture of farming benefits by native chiefs, reinforce farming in forest reserves. The chapter discusses the broader implications of the findings for the Ghanaian governments attempts to accelerate forest landscape rehabilitation, noting that such efforts will need to adapt to the multiple struggles and latent actor interests to succeed. Chapter three disentangles the narratives and experiences of forest communities and compares them with the current assumptions underlying forest policy in Ghana from the perspective of the most dominant forest policy actors. The results contend with current assumptions that portray forest communities as environmentally destructive. Alternatively, it reveals that while several factors combine to drive forest-dependent communities to cultivate forest reserves, the challenge of food insecurity is paramount but unconveyed to the forest policy arena. The chapter proposes a novel concept of food security corridors (FSCs) as a meta-narrative for harmonising competing actor interests in forest reserves. The chapter also discusses the feasibility of FSCs and calls for further efforts to refine and pilot the concept in the global search for solutions to forest and agriculture land-use conflicts in the tropics. Chapter four examines the governance of Ghanas Forest Plantation Development Fund as an incentive system instituted to attract smallholders into landscape rehabilitation based on interviews with tree growers, forestry officials and NGO staff. The study revealed that the legal provisions instituted to ensure the funds transparent operation were not implemented by fund administrators. Many stakeholders were clueless about the Fund and could neither access nor demand accountability in its administration. The chapter clarifies the information needs of various fund stakeholders, such as eligibility criteria, funding cycles, annual inflows and outflows, and a list of beneficiaries. It also discusses the implications of the findings, including mechanisms required to trigger the transparent running of the fund by its administrators. The thesis reveals new patterns of perennial land competition between state and traditional institutions. It demonstrates how prevailing institutional challenges reinforce this competition and enable unsustainable land use to flourish. At the same, it points to lapses in governance, including state failure to evolve its forest policies to meet changing demands and needs among contemporary actors and how the same challenges curtail access and ability to support forestation rehabilitation efforts in Ghana. Overall, the thesis notes that while tackling farming in forest reserves can be challenging due to its multiple drivers and the competing actor interests, FSCs have the potential to serve as an entry point that enables government and other actors to resolve their differences and find lasting solutions that enable local communities to achieve their livelihoods needs while contributing to sustainable land use. However, for this potential to be realised, actors need to invest in refining and piloting FSCs in specific localities.Wissenschaftler und politische Entscheidungsträger werden sich der bedrohlichen Auswirkungen der Entwaldung auf die biologische Vielfalt und die Lebensgrundlage von über einer Milliarde Menschen bewusst, die auf Wälder angewiesen sind. Gleichzeitig führen die steigende Bevölkerungszahl und der damit verbundene Anstieg der weltweiten Nachfrage nach Futtermitteln, Nahrungsmitteln, Brennstoffen und Fasern zu neuen Anforderungen an die begrenzten Landressourcen, die den verschiedenen Interessengruppen zur Verfügung stehen. Da sich der Wettbewerb um Land verschärft, wenden viele Landwirte in den Tropen verschiedene Strategien an, um als Waldreservate ausgewiesene Flächen für ihren Lebensunterhalt zu bewirtschaften, was zu weiterer Entwaldung und Konflikten mit staatlichen Forstbehörden führt. Trotz jahrzehntelanger Investitionen in Institutionen zur direkten Finanzierung der Beteiligung von Kleinbauern an der Wiederherstellung entwaldeter Landschaften ist nur wenig über die Reichweite und Leistungsfähigkeit der bestehenden finanziellen Anreizmechanismen bekannt. Diese Dissertation trägt dazu bei, diese Wissenslücken zu schließen, und zwar auf der Grundlage qualitativer Fallstudien, die in verschiedene Analyse- und Datenerhebungsansätze in Ghana eingebettet sind, wo trotz verschiedener Bemühungen zur Bewältigung dieser Herausforderung jährlich fast 2 % (135.000 ha) der Waldfläche verloren gehen. Nach einer kurzen Einführung und Klärung der konzeptionellen Grundlagen in Kapitel 1 werden die Wissenslücken mit drei empirischen Veröffentlichungen (Kapitel 2-4) angegangen. In Kapitel zwei wird untersucht, warum und wie Landwirte in Waldgemeinden Zugang zu ihrem Ackerland innerhalb von Waldreservaten erhalten und sichern, um entgegen dem staatlichen Recht Nahrungsmittel und Nutzpflanzen anzubauen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen die vielfältigen strukturellen und relationalen Mechanismen auf, mit denen sich die Landwirte den Versuchen des Staates entziehen, die illegale Landwirtschaft in dem Gebiet einzudämmen, und wie institutionelle Mängel, insbesondere Korruption und die Aneignung der landwirtschaftlichen Vorteile durch die einheimischen Häuptlinge, die Landwirtschaft in den Waldreservaten fördern. Das Kapitel erörtert die allgemeinen Auswirkungen der Ergebnisse auf die Versuche der ghanaischen Regierung, die Wiederherstellung der Waldlandschaft zu beschleunigen, und stellt fest, dass solche Bemühungen nur dann erfolgreich sein können, wenn sie den vielfältigen Kämpfen und latenten Interessen der Akteure Rechnung tragen. In Kapitel drei werden die Erzählungen und Erfahrungen der Waldgemeinschaften aufgeschlüsselt und mit den aktuellen Annahmen verglichen, die der ghanaischen Forstpolitik aus der Sicht der wichtigsten forstpolitischen Akteure zugrunde liegen. Die Ergebnisse widerlegen die gängigen Annahmen, die die Waldgemeinschaften als umweltzerstörerisch darstellen. In diesem Kapitel wird das neuartige Konzept der Korridore für Ernährungssicherheit (FSC) als Meta-Erzählung zur Harmonisierung konkurrierender Interessen von Akteuren in Waldreservaten vorgeschlagen. Das Kapitel erörtert auch die Machbarkeit von FSCs und fordert weitere Anstrengungen zur Verfeinerung und Erprobung des Konzepts bei der globalen Suche nach Lösungen für Konflikte zwischen Wald und Landwirtschaft in den Tropen. In Kapitel vier wird die Verwaltung des ghanaischen Forest Plantation Development Fund anhand von Interviews mit Baumzüchtern, Forstbeamten und NRO-Mitarbeitern untersucht. Die Studie ergab, dass die Richtlinien des Fonds von seinen Verwaltern nicht umgesetzt werden. Viele Beteiligte wussten nichts über den Fonds und konnten weder Zugang zu ihm haben noch Rechenschaft über seine Verwaltung einfordern. In diesem Kapitel wird der Informationsbedarf der verschiedenen Akteure des Fonds geklärt, z. B. in Bezug auf Förderkriterien, Finanzierungszyklen, jährliche Zu- und Abflüsse und eine Liste der Begünstigten. Außerdem werden die Auswirkungen der Ergebnisse erörtert, einschließlich der Mechanismen, die erforderlich sind, um eine transparente Verwaltung des Fonds durch seine Verwalter zu gewährleisten. Die Arbeit zeigt neue Muster der Landkonkurrenz zwischen staatlichen und gewohnheitsrechtlichen Institutionen auf. Sie zeigt, wie bestehende institutionelle Herausforderungen den Wettbewerb und eine nicht nachhaltige Landnutzung verstärken. Insgesamt stellt die Arbeit fest, dass die Bewirtschaftung von Waldreservaten aufgrund der vielfältigen Faktoren und der konkurrierenden Interessen der Akteure zwar eine Herausforderung darstellt, die FSC jedoch das Potenzial haben, als Ansatzpunkt zu dienen, der es der Regierung und anderen Akteuren ermöglicht, ihre Differenzen beizulegen und dauerhafte Lösungen zu finden, der jedoch verfeinert und erprobt werden muss

Emerging Informatics

The book on emerging informatics brings together the new concepts and applications that will help define and outline problem solving methods and features in designing business and human systems. It covers international aspects of information systems design in which many relevant technologies are introduced for the welfare of human and business systems. This initiative can be viewed as an emergent area of informatics that helps better conceptualise and design new world-class solutions. The book provides four flexible sections that accommodate total of fourteen chapters. The section specifies learning contexts in emerging fields. Each chapter presents a clear basis through the problem conception and its applicable technological solutions. I hope this will help further exploration of knowledge in the informatics discipline

In touch out in the field. Coalescence and interactive innovation of technology for mobile work.

Today, more than 90% of Britons own a mobile phone handset. Yet, the popularity of mobile telephony is a fairly recent phenomenon, with the first mobile phone call in the UK made only 21 years ago. Mobile technology has come a long way since the first mobile call that was made from St Katherine's dock to Vodafone's head office in Newbury. Many interesting mobile computing technologies have surfaced, including pagers, laptop computers, tablet PCs and Blackberries, constantly offering altogether new communicative acts to mobile workers. Innovation of mobile information systems, too, has changed quite dramatically over this time period. What was once an industry marked by low competition and high profit margins for devices developed purely by Research and Development departments now increasingly involves, even requires, the interaction with users for the innovation of new mobile devices in highly competitive environments. Despite the increasing popularity of mobile technologies, the concept of mobility and the innovation of mobile information systems remain largely unexplored. This study takes up the challenge to examine how innovation of mobile technology unfolds today. With this focus, this research explores the relationships between innovators of technology for mobile work and its users. It departs from the prevalent product- oriented view of innovation and treats technology in the making as a conscious human activity, made possible through the trinity of innovator companies, their organisational clients as innovation partners and their particular mobile workers as end users of the technology. This study examines the complex interaction and coalescence of these parties as shaped by their respective organisational activities, their unique motives for cooperation with one another, their use of technology and their relationship to the geographical mobility and distribution of work. From the outset, this study was committed to providing a rigorous examination grounded in actual work. As an Action Researcher, I was very fortunate to be invited to follow the innovation and development of a fundamentally new mobile information system, based on the convergence of mobile telephony and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The empirical work and theoretical analysis emphasised the epistemological differences among innovation participants and unearthed many complications that shape how interactive innovation of technology for mobile work unfolds. Moreover, the analysis of the empirical work led to the conceptual difference between mobility and pervasiveness of work as it pertains to innovation. It revealed Individual Pervasiveness, or the extent to which an individual's technology is aware of its immediate context and communicates details of its bearer and his behaviour. It also uncovered a Pervasive Order, imposed from superior to mobile worker and made possible in this case through mobile RFID. Together, these two concepts fundamentally change the information flow within mobile work activities. The trajectory from mobility to pervasiveness dramatically reshapes the activities of mobile workers and their superiors and, thus, the activity of interactive innovation of technology for mobile work

RFID Technology in Intelligent Tracking Systems in Construction Waste Logistics Using Optimisation Techniques

Construction waste disposal is an urgent issue for protecting our environment. This paper proposes a waste management system and illustrates the work process using plasterboard waste as an example, which creates a hazardous gas when land filled with household waste, and for which the recycling rate is less than 10% in the UK. The proposed system integrates RFID technology, Rule-Based Reasoning, Ant Colony optimization and knowledge technology for auditing and tracking plasterboard waste, guiding the operation staff, arranging vehicles, schedule planning, and also provides evidence to verify its disposal. It h relies on RFID equipment for collecting logistical data and uses digital imaging equipment to give further evidence; the reasoning core in the third layer is responsible for generating schedules and route plans and guidance, and the last layer delivers the result to inform users. The paper firstly introduces the current plasterboard disposal situation and addresses the logistical problem that is now the main barrier to a higher recycling rate, followed by discussion of the proposed system in terms of both system level structure and process structure. And finally, an example scenario will be given to illustrate the system’s utilization