Fuzzy linear programs with optimal tolerance levels

It is usually supposed that tolerance levels are determined by the decision maker a priori in a fuzzy linear program (FLP). In this paper we shall suppose that the decision maker does not care about the particular values of tolerance levels, but he wishes to minimize their weighted sum. This is a new statement of FLP, because here the tolerance levels are also treated as variables

The Fuzzy Economic Order Quantity Problem with a Finite Production Rate and Backorders

The track of developing Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) models with uncertainties described as fuzzy numbers has been very lucrative. In this paper, a fuzzy Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) model is developed to address a specific problem in a theoretical setting. Not only is the production time finite, but also backorders are allowed. The uncertainties, in the industrial context, come from the fact that the production availability is uncertain as well as the demand. These uncertainties will be handled with fuzzy numbers and the analytical solution to the optimization problem will be obtained. A theoretical example from the process industry is also given to illustrate the new model

Kielelliset käytänteet Kymenlaakson alueen logistiikkayrityksissä

Kymenlaakson alueella toimii lukuisia logistiikka-alan yrityksiä, jotka harjoittavat ulkomaankauppaa. Yleisin käytetty kieli kansainvälisessä viestinnässä on englanti, mutta sen sujuva osaaminen ei vielä takaa yhteisymmärrystä osapuolten välillä. Käsillä oleva raportti selvittää paikallisten logistiikka-alan yritysten käyttämää kielipolitiikkaa, yritysten asettamia kielitaitovaatimuksia henkilöstölleen ja vieraisiin kieliin liittyviä ongelmia. Pääpainona on raportissa Venäjän-kauppaan ja sitä koskevaan viestintään liittyvät seikat, mutta myös muiden maiden ja kielien vaikutus paikallisten logistiikkayritysten toimintaan on tarkastelun kohteena. Tutkimus tehtiin Kymenlaakson ammattikorkeakoulun ja Cursor Oy:n yhteistoiminnassa toteuttaman LogIT-projektin sivututkimuksena

Opposition from Abroad : Emil von Qvanten and Finnish Scandinavism in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Article in Journal of Finnish Studies volume 24, numbers 1 & 2: "Counter-Readings on Finnish Nationhood: Minority Strategies and the Making of the Nation". Editors: Helena Halmari (Editor-in-Chief) and Scott Kaukonen (Associate Editor). Special issue, Guest Editors: Raluca Bianca Roman, Peter Stadius & Eija Stark.Scandinavism was a political idea in the nineteenth century that strived to unite the Scandinavian countries into one state. In Finland, Scandinavists were few in number but formed networks with Scandinavists in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, networks that have been largely ignored hitherto in Finnish historiography. This article focuses on the Finnish Scandinavist Emil von Qvanten, who proposed a Nordic federal state including Finland in 1855 in the pamphlet “Fennomania and Scandinavism” (von Qvanten 1855a). Moreover, his correspondence reveals an influential exiled Finnish patriot, who became a Nordic politician and a trusted person to the Swedish King Karl XV. Von Qvanten corresponded extensively with the Finnish architect Nestor Tallgren, European dissidents such as the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, the Russian socialist Alexandr Herzen, and Polish separatists like Josef Demontovicz and Walerian Kalinka, as well as Swedish and Danish politicians and Scandinavian intelligentsia. An alternative option of Finland having a Scandinavian political dimension during the age of autonomy will be discussed here with a focus on the letters that Nestor Tallgren wrote to Emil von Qvanten.Peer reviewe

Anatomy of open access publishing - a study of longitudinal development and internal structure

Background: Open access (OA) is a revolutionary way of providing access to the scholarly journal literature made possible by the Internet. The primary aim of this study was to measure the volume of scientific articles published in full immediate OA journals from 2000 to 2011, while observing longitudinal internal shifts in the structure of OA publishing concerning revenue models, publisher types and relative distribution among scientific disciplines. The secondary aim was to measure the share of OA articles of all journal articles, including articles made OA by publishers with a delay and individual author-paid OA articles in subscription journals (hybrid OA), as these subsets of OA publishing have mostly been ignored in previous studies. Methods: Stratified random sampling of journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (n = 787) was performed. The annual publication volumes spanning 2000 to 2011 were retrieved from major publication indexes and through manual data collection. Results: An estimated 340,000 articles were published by 7,117 full immediate OA journals during 2011. OA journals requiring article-processing charges have become increasingly common, publishing 166,700 articles in 2011 (49% of all OA articles). This growth is related to the growth of commercial publishers, who, despite only a marginal presence a decade ago, have grown to become key actors on the OA scene, responsible for 120,000 of the articles published in 2011. Publication volume has grown within all major scientific disciplines, however, biomedicine has seen a particularly rapid 16-fold growth between 2000 (7,400 articles) and 2011 (120,900 articles). Over the past decade, OA journal publishing has steadily increased its relative share of all scholarly journal articles by about 1% annually. Approximately 17% of the 1.66 million articles published during 2011 and indexed in the most comprehensive article-level index of scholarly articles (Scopus) are available OA through journal publishers, most articles immediately (12%) but some within 12 months of publication (5%). Conclusions: OA journal publishing is disrupting the dominant subscription-based model of scientific publishing, having rapidly grown in relative annual share of published journal articles during the last decade.peerReviewe

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN – RUSSIAN MARKETS : Case: Sankari Oy.

As construction volumes in Finland decreased due to the 2009 economic recession, architecture and design companies turned their eyes to foreign markets in pursuit of more customers. The experience and know-how harvested from domestic markets may well be used in carefully selected foreign markets as soon as there is a throughout marketing plan that covers the necessary strategic decisions a company has to take into consideration. This thesis aims to cover the actions that architecture and design company Sankari Oy should take into consideration on the strategic level when pursuing entry to the Russian market. The starting points for this thesis were the company´s current situation and offerings and the prerequisites created by them matched with requirements present in the target market area. Through analysis, the previously mentioned aspects formed into ingredients for a present situation analysis for the case company, Sankari Oy. Substantial emphasis was placed on an environmental analysis of the Russian market and overall development of construction industry in the target country during the past years and in the near foreseeable future. The analysis of the present situation with market environmental investigation combined functioned as the stepping stone towards a strategic marketing plan. In terms of actions that should be undertaken by Sankari and included in their strategy, a few arose in importance over others; good understanding of target market and deep customer intimacy. In addition, a company should master segmentation, positioning and targeting effectively. The previously mentioned aspects combined with innovative differentiation and effective marketing communication lay the prerequisites for profitable marketing strategy and prospective competitive advantage in the chosen market.Rakennusvolyymi Suomessa kääntyi taantuman myötä laskuun ja arkkitehtuuri- ja suunnittelutoimistot etsivät asiakkaita muilta markkinoilta. Suomen markkinoilta hankittua osaamista voidaan hyvin käyttää hyödyksi tarkoin valituilla ulkomaan markkinoilla, mutta onnistunut liiketoiminnan laajennus toiselle markkina-alueelle vaatii markkinointisuunnitelman, joka tuo esille keskeisimmät ja tärkeimmät huomioonotettavat strategiat. Tässä opinnäytetyössä perehdyttiin toimenpiteisiin, joita arkkitehtuuriosakeyhtiö Sankarin tulee ottaa huomioon strategisella tasolla pyrkiessään avaamaan tietä Venäjän markkinoille. Lähtökohtana työssä oli yrityksen nykytila, sen tuotteet ja näiden luomat edellytykset yhdistettynä kohdemarkkina-alueen luomiin haasteisiin. Näistä osa-alueista saatiin analyysin kautta ainekset strategisen markkinointisuunnitelman lähtökohta-analyysille. Työssä perehdyttiin myös erityisen tarkasti kohdemarkkinamaan, Venäjän, toimintaympäristöön ja yleiseen rakennusalan kehittymiseen siellä. Lisäksi kartoitettiin tulevaisuuden mahdollisuuksia perehtymällä lyhyen tähtäimen ennusteisiin rakennusalan kehittymisestä Venäjällä. Kohdemaan toimintaympäristön kartoitus, yhdistettynä yrityksen nykytila-analyysiin, toimii lähtökohtana Sankari Oy:n strategiselle markkinointisuunnitelmalle. Tärkeiksi osa-alueiksi nousivat kohdemarkkinoiden tuntemus ja erinomainen asiakastuntemus. Lisäksi yrityksen tulee hallita segmentointi, kohdentaminen ja asemointi tehokkaasti. Edellä mainittujen yhdistäminen innovatiiviseen tarjonnan erilaistamiseen ja onnistuneeseen markkinointiviestintään luo edellytykset tuotteliaalle markkinointistrategialle ja kiistämättömälle kilpailuedulle valituilla markkinoilla

Myö karjalaizet: Karelskspråkiga inslag i tidningen Laatokka under 1920- och 1930-talen

Historian pro gradu -tutkielma: Helsingin yliopisto, humanistinen tiedekunta, 2011

A longitudinal study of independent scholar-published open access journals

Open Access (OA) is nowadays increasingly being used as a business model for the publishing of scholarly peer reviewed journals, both by specialized OA publishing companies and major, predominantly subscription-based publishers. However, in the early days of the web OA journals were mainly founded by independent academics, who were dissatisfied with the predominant print and subscription paradigm and wanted to test the opportunities offered by the new medium. There is still an on-going debate about how OA journals should be operated, and the volunteer model used by many such ‘indie’ journals has been proposed as a viable alternative to the model adopted by big professional publishers where publishing activities are funded by authors paying expensive article processing charges (APCs). Our longitudinal quantitative study of 250 ‘indie’ OA journals founded prior to 2002, showed that 51% of these journals were still in operation in 2014 and that the median number of articles published per year had risen from 11 to 18 among the survivors. Of these surviving journals, only 8% had started collecting APCs. A more detailed qualitative case study of five such journals provided insights into how such journals have tried to ensure the continuity and longevity of operations.peerReviewe

OPEN ACCESSIBILITY TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH ARTICLES

With increasing frequency journal articles are retrieved digitally rather than by obtaining physical printed volumes. This shift to low-cost distribution of research literature has opened up new possibilities for increasing the accessibility and potential readership of published literature. Open Access is a term used to refer to publication of scholarly material without access restrictions, which can be realized either by the publisher directly or indirectly by the author. This paper studies the extent to which information systems research is available Open Access. The results are also contrasted to figures from other areas of science. By sampling journals within the field, systematically looking for free copies through a web search engine, the extent of peer-reviewed IS research was studied. The results indicate that none of the IS journals included in a large citation indexing service covering 18000 journals are fully Open Access, but this is something which is compensated for by authors being quite active in uploading copies of their manuscripts to web sites. There was no significant difference in Open Access patterns between the top journals in the discipline and the rest of the sample. The overall share of Open Access within the field is 21 %