Suhdannebarometrin laadun parantaminen

Tämän opinnäytetyön tehtävänä oli parantaa Pohjois-Karjalan kauppakamarin kahdesti vuodessa teettämän suhdannebarometrin laatua. Kevät- ja syysbarometrien tavoitteena on antaa näkökantaa suhdanteiden muutoksiin maakunnassa. Tämän opinnäytetyön kehittämistyön kohteena olivat barometrin kysymykset, tulosten analysointiprosessi sekä niiden esitysmateriaali. Pohjois-Karjalan kauppakamari toimii elinkeinoelämän vaikuttajana, kouluttajana ja edunvalvojana. Jäseniä Pohjois-Karjalan kauppakamarilla on noin 600 ja se tarjoaa jäsenilleen laajojen kontaktiverkostojen lisäksi muun muassa neuvontaa, kansainvälistymispalveluja ja koulutusta. Toiminnallisen kehittämistyön tuloksena syntyi uudistettu barometri, jota Pohjois-Karjalan kauppakamari voi jatkossa hyödyntää sellaisenaan. Kehittämistyön tuloksena barometrin kysymysten ryhmittelyä tiivistettiin, tulosten analysointia automatisoitiin sekä esitysmateriaalia uudistettiin ja monipuolistettiin. Opinnäytetyön tavoite toteutui ja barometri antaa tulevaisuudessa enemmän ja selkeämmin tietoa maakunnan yritysten suhdanneodotuksista. Jatkoa ajatellen barometria voidaan kuitenkin edelleen kehittää tarkentamalla esimerkiksi toimialaluokituksia ja käymällä säännöllisesti kyselytutkimuksen otanta läpi, jotta se olisi mahdollisimman ajantasainen ja tavoittaisi kyselyn vastaanottajat ongelmitta.This thesis focuses on improving the quality of the business barometer that is carried out biannually by North Karelia Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the business barometer is to provide perspectives on the economic situation in North Karelia. The main objective of the thesis was to develop the questions of the barometer, make the data analysis process easier and to update the presentation material. North Karelia Chamber of Commerce is an organization that influences decision-makers and authorities, provides counselling and training, and promotes the interests of the business community. North Karelia Chamber of Commerce has approximately 600 members, to whom it offers e.g. business connections, advice, training and internationalization services. As a result of this practice-based thesis, the business barometer of North Karelia Chamber of Commerce was revised. The layout of the questionnaire and the presentation material were both rearranged and clarified. Furthermore, data processing was upgraded and automated in order to make the data analysis easier. The main aim of this thesis was accomplished as the revised barometer describes the economic situation in North Karelia better. Also the analysis process is now less complicated. The barometer can be used in the future as such. However, it is important to develop it regularly, e.g. by specifying the industrial classification of economic activities and by reviewing the survey sampling

Lean-muutostyö Yritys X:lle

Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on selvittää toimeksiannon antaneen yrityksen lean-muutostyön eri vaiheita. Lean-muutostyö tehtiin yrityksen Tuote X:ää alihankintana valmistavaan yksikköön Joensuussa. Muutos koettiin tarpeelliseksi, koska aikaisempi tuotantomalli ei enää kyennyt vastaamaan asiakkaan tarpeisiin. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on havainnollistaa muutostyön vaiheita sekä sen myönteisiä ja kielteisiä vaikutuksia. Teoriaosiossa on selvitetty lean-ajattelun syntyhistoriaa ja lean-tuotantomallin kehitysvaiheita. Työssä selvitetään lean-ajattelun perusperiaatteet ja selvennetään sen tärkeimpiä tavoitteita. Teoriaosio perehtyy myös kohdeyrityksessä käytettyihin lean-tekniikoihin ja niiden perusteisiin. Päätavoite yrityksellä oli aikaansaada virtaava ja virheetön tuotanto lean-ajattelun avulla. Teoriaosion jälkeen esitän yrityksen taustatietoja ja lähtötilanteen ennen muutostyön aloittamista. Tämän jälkeen työssä perehdytään lean-muutoksen eri vaiheisiin kohdeyrityksessä. Työssä selvitetään merkittävimmät muutokset virtaavan ja lean-ajattelun mukaisen tuotannon aikaansaamiseksi. Myös muut tuotantoon liittyvät muutokset käsitellään tässä työssä. Tuloksista selviää, kuinka merkittävät lean-ajattelutapaan siirtymisen vaikutukset ovat yrityksen tuotannon ja toiminnan laatuun. Tuloksista myös selviää, kuinka pitkä todellinen muutosprosessi on, ja kuinka se vaikuttaa muutoksen eri kohderyhmiin. Tuloksien perusteella voidaan päätellä, että kaiken kaikkiaan muutos oli yritykselle kannattava.The goal of this thesis is to clarify the different stages of the lean-modification made to the Company X. The lean-modification was made to the company's subcontractor unit in Joensuu which manufactures Product X. The change was considered necessary because the previous production-model was no longer able to meet the needs of the customer. The aim of this thesis is to illustrate the different stages of the modification and the positive and negative effects of it. The theory section of the thesis presents the history of lean-thinking and the development stages of the lean-production. This study clarifies the basic principles of lean-thinking and its most important priorities. The theory section also familiarizes with the basics of the lean-manufacturing and with the techniques the target company used in the modification. The main goal of the company was to create a flowing and faultless production by using lean-thinking. After the theory part, I present the company's background information and the starting sit-uation before the modification. The thesis then focuses on lean-modification in the different stages of the target company. This thesis presents the most significant changes to produce a flowing and a lean-thinking consistent production. Other production-related changes are also discussed in this thesis. The results show the importance of the lean-modification to the company's production and to the quality of operations. The results show also how long the actual process of the change is and how it affects the various target groups in question. Due to the results, it can be concluded that the change was profitable for the company overall

Measured Full-scale Dynamic Lateral Pile Responses in Clay and in Sand

In order to design machine foundations and to examine interaction between pile and soil, versatile horizontal dynamic loading tests were done to piles. In the tests both stiffness and damping values of piles were measured in overconsolidated clay and in earthfill sand. The stiffness of piles was analyzed by Winkler\u27s spring method and the damping of piles with Gazetas\u27 and Dobry\u27s method. The measured and calculated values were almost the same when stiffness was considered. In damping the measured values were about 40 ... 70% of the calculated values. Very important in the calculation is to know which is the gapping between pile and soil. In these tests the gapping was not measured

(Un)local development – the dynamics and dissonances of Multi-level governance in the case of Leader in England

This thesis is a case study of the European Union’s community-led local development programme Leader in England during the 2014 – 2020 programme period. The focus of the examination is governance, and in particular how the structural arrangements within a multi-level governance system present conditions for the emergence of hierarchy between local and national actors in the programme. This hierarchy is shown to be incompatible with the Leader ethos, a neo-endogenous form of rural development that should be driven by local actors. For the analysis of governance, Dion Curry’s multi-level governance theory is adopted to understand the relationship of structural and relational arrangements in the programme. In addition, this thesis provides an in-depth look at Leader, examining the programme through the lense of Christopher Ray’s Culture Economy typology. In order to provide a dynamic and practical analysis of Leader, the Culture Economy typology is connected to the theoretical tools of Curry’s multi-level governance theory. The materials for the thesis include EU legislation on Leader and interviews conducted with Leader’s local action group staff and fund beneficiaries in the summer of 2018. The findings suggest that the structure of the programme has allowed for hierarchy to emerge between the local and national actors, which is incongruent with the community-led objective of the programme

The role of soil microbiota in the interaction between the invasive plant Lupinus polyphyllus and three native herbs

Species invasions are a significant element of global change. There are several mechanisms in which invasive species dominate the natives in their invaded range. One of those mechanisms is plant-soil feedback. In my master’s thesis I assessed the role and importance of soil microbiota in the interactions between the herbaceous invader Lupinus polyphyllus (garden lupin) and three native herbs commonly found in human-affected habitats representing different attributes: Trifolium repens (white clover), Centaurea cyanus (cornflower) and Taraxacum spp. (dandelion). I evaluated the effects of competition and the presence of soil microbes by growing L. polyphyllus together with each of the three native plant species in a common garden pot experiment. A soil inoculum crafted from around lupin roots was used to introduce soil microbes into the sterilized substrate. The results of this study suggest that competition (the presence of L. polyphyllus) has an effect on the studied native herbs’ growth and these effects vary among species. The effects were not all negative, as T. repens grew more shoots when growing with L. polyphyllus and C. cyanus was unaffected. Taraxacum spp. however, showed a significant decrease, especially in root growth. Soil microbes associated with L. polyphyllus also affected the growth of the studied natives, but species responded to the microbe addition similarly, growing less roots. Also, in turn, the species L. polyphyllus was growing with affected its growth. The biomass of L. polyphyllus was negatively affected by the presence of C. cyanus. Lupinus polyphyllus nodule growth was tentatively affected by microbes and competition together, as with Taraxacum spp. the microbes seemed to affect the growth of the nodules negatively. I conclude that the benefits of mutualistic soil microbes may vary with the species the invader is competing with. I also suggest that the effects of soil microbes, both positive and negative, may differ in different competitional settings. Hopefully, these results can add to the knowledge of mechanisms of invasions, important in planning conservational efforts and screening for possible invaders

Avausrutiinien kielioppia

Peer reviewe

Leksikon ratkaisemattomia pulmia

Non peer reviewe

A mobile fitness companion

The paper introduces a Mobile Companion prototype, which helps users to plan and keep track of their exercise activities via an interface based mainly on speech input and output. The Mobile Companion runs on a PDA and is based on a stand-alone, speaker-independent solution, making it fairly unique among mobile spoken dialogue systems, where the common solution is to run the ASR on a separate server or to restrict the speech input to some specific set of users. The prototype uses a GPS receiver to collect position, distance and speed data while the user is exercising, and allows the data to be compared to previous exercises. It communicates over the mobile network with a stationary system, placed in the user’s home. This allows plans for exercise activities to be downloaded from the stationary to the mobile system, and exercise result data to be uploaded once an exercise has been completed

Using strategy map to overcome the barriers in strategy implementation

Siirretty Doriast