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Future-oriented environmental impact of green hydrogen supply chains with underground storage
No full textThis research presents a forward-looking life cycle analysis of green hydrogen production via an alkaline electrolyser, integrated within a standalone hybrid energy system based on solar photovoltaics and wind power technologies. The system includes underground storage to ensure stable hydrogen supply. Environmental impacts are explored under future decarbonisation pathways for the electricity sector, as projected by the LUT Energy System Transition Model. The analysis leverages the premise framework in combination with the Activity Browser platform. Four geographically and climatically distinct countries, Finland, Germany, Spain, and Chile, are selected as case studies to reflect variations in renewable energy resource profiles. Chile, benefiting from a higher contribution of solar photovoltaics, exhibits the lowest environmental impact, whereas Finland and Germany, with wind power-dominated energy inputs, demonstrate comparatively higher emissions. Over time, the global warming potential (GWP100) associated with hydrogen production (per kWhH2,LHV) declines markedly, from 30.7–47.2 g CO₂-eq in 2020 to 12.0–16.5 g CO₂-eq by 2050. The remaining emissions by mid-century primarily result from the extraction and processing of materials, namely steel, silicon, aluminium, and concrete, as well as the continued use of fossil fuels in freight and marine transport as part of the background system. These outcomes underscore the necessity of refining life cycle data and methodologies. Further emission reductions may be achieved by decarbonising upstream material flows and transport activities through renewable energy integration
Evaluating the accuracy of large language models for text summarization in Finnish
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the performance of large language models in Finnish text summarization by comparing three models: Poro, DeepSeek, and OpenAI o3mini. Given the high degree of morphological inflection and the relatively free word order characteristic of Finnish, conventional evaluation metrics often fail to capture content equivalence. To address this, the study adopts chrf, bertscore, and cosine similarity metrics demonstrated to be more reliable for evaluating lexical and semantic similarity in low-resource, morphologically complex languages.
The evaluation is conducted on a curated set of Finnish academic articles. Each model-generated summary is compared against the corresponding human-written abstract. Furthermore, the impact of prompt engineering is examined by testing three prompt variations, ranging from generic to domain-specific, including expert-role conditioning. Empirical results show that DeepSeek consistently achieves the highest performance. OpenAI o3mini performs moderately well, while Poro underperforms across all metrics. The structured prompt incorporating expert role instructions yields the best results across all models, highlighting the importance of prompt formulation in low-resource contexts.
These findings suggest that multilingual large language models, when guided with carefully designed prompts, can outperform smaller domain-specific models in Finnish summarization tasks. The study underscores the value of prompt engineering as a cost-effective strategy to enhance the performance of general-purpose models without additional fine-tuning
Improving customer contract knowledge to support business development
No full textInformaatioteknologian alalla vain muutos on pysyvää ja muuttuvassa ympäristössä liiketoiminnan kannattavana pitäminen vaatii laadukkaita ja joustavia sopimuksia. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on tutkia asiakassopimusten tuntemusta osana liiketoiminnan kehitystä. Tutkimus on toteutettu informaatioteknologian alalla toimivan yrityksen toimeksiannosta ja siinä on tutkittu yrityksen yksittäisen toimialan asiakassopimusten tuntemuksen vaikutusta yrityksen liiketoimintaan. Teorian ensimmäisessä osuudessa on tutkittu kuvailevan kirjallisuuskatsauksen keinoin yleisesti sopimuksia, sopimustulkintaa ja -tuntemusta sekä yleisiä sopimusehtoja. Toisessa osassa teoriaa sopimusehtoja on peilattu yrityksen ottamiin riskeihin ja toisaalta kannattavuuteen ja yrityksen sopimusstrategiaan.
Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena tapaustutkimuksena ja tutkimuksen empiirisen aineiston kerääminen on toteutettu teemahaastatteluina, joissa on haastateltu yrityksessä toimivia asiakasvastaavia ja toimituksilla toimivia henkilöitä. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu yrityksen asiakkuuksissa toimivien henkilöiden näkemyksistä ja kokemuksista sopimuksiin ja niiden tuntemukseen liittyen. Tutkimuksen tuloksena todetaan, että yrityksen suurimmat sopimustuntemuksen ongelmat liittyvät epäselviin rooleihin ja vastuisiin, sopimusarkistointiin ja sopimushallinnan puutteellisuuteen. Kehitysehdotuksena yritykselle esitetään eri roolien osallistamista sopimustuntemuksen kehityksen osana, sopimusarkistoinnin ja -hallinnan kehittämistä, sekä sopimusstrategian linkittämistä yrityksen tavoitteisiin. Jatkotutkimuksena yrityksessä on tarkoituksena tutkia tekoälyn hyödyntämistä sopimustulkinnan ja -tuntemuksen tukena.In the field of information technology only change is constant and sustaining profitable business in a constantly changing environment requires high quality, flexible contracts. The purpose of the thesis is to study the understanding of customer contracts as a way to support business development. The research is conducted on behalf of a company operating in the field of information technology, and it examines the impact of customer contract knowledge on business within the company's context. The first part of theory dives into contracts, contract interpretation and knowledge and typical contractual terms. The second theoretical part explores the connection between contract terms and the risks taken by the company, as well as profitability and the company's contract strategy.
The research is conducted as a qualitative case study and the empirical data collection has been carried out through thematic interviews, in which customer representatives and individuals working in deliveries were interviewed. The research material consists of the views and experiences of individuals working within customer accounts and the main themes are contract process and contract knowledge. The research results indicate that the major issues with contract knowledge in the company are related to unclear roles and responsibilities, contract archiving, and deficiencies in contract management process. As development proposal it is suggested that the company would involve new roles in development of contract knowledge, improve contract archiving and management and link the contracting strategy to its targets. As a follow-up study the company intends to investigate the utilization of artificial intelligence to support contract interpretation and knowledge
Datavetoinen viitekehys toimittajasegmentointiin
No full textThis master’s thesis examines the development of a data-driven framework for supplier segmentation. The main objective of the thesis was to investigate and develop a data-oriented supplier segmentation framework that can be used as a guideline for SRM and supplier performance measurement. In addition, the aim was to explore how procurement analytics can support the segmentation process. The study used a qualitative research approach, focusing on a single case company that operates in the industrial machinery and technology sector. The primary data for the research was collected through semi-structured interviews with different procurement professionals.
The empirical findings revealed that the current practices of the case company are not aligned and cause inefficiencies in SRM. In addition, differences in segmentation criteria and used KPIs were detected, despite these being core elements in segmentation. While data and analytics were seen as crucial in measuring the suppliers, the data issues were identified as barriers in fully adapting the analytical SRM perspective. The research highlighted the importance of aligning segmentation criteria with business goals, utilizing accurate and timely data, and ensuring continuous improvement in SRM to achieve data-driven segmentation. The proposed framework categorizes suppliers into three categories with the help of a best-worst method and clustering. However, to achieve the desired outcome, resources, collaboration and alignment of goals and practices need to be conducted.Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma tarkastelee datavetoisen toimittajasegmentointimallin kehittämistä. Tutkielman tavoitteena oli tutkia ja kehittää dataan perustuva toimittajasegmentointikehys, jota voidaan hyödyntää ohjeistuksena toimittajasuhteiden hallinnassa sekä toimittajien suorituskyvyn mittaamisessa. Lisäksi tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten hankinta-analytiikka voi tukea segmentointiprosessia. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin kvalitatiivista tutkimusmenetelmää, ja empiirinen osuus toteutettiin tapaustutkimuksena teollisuuslaitteiden ja teknologian alalla toimivassa yrityksessä. Tutkimuksen ensisijainen aineisto kerättiin puolistrukturoiduilla haastatteluilla, joihin osallistui hankinta-alan ammattilaisia.
Empiiriset havainnot paljastivat, että tapausyrityksen nykyiset käytännöt eivät ole yhtenäisiä ja aiheuttavat tehottomuutta toimittajasuhteiden hallinnassa. Lisäksi segmentointikriteereissä ja käytetyissä KPI-mittareissa havaittiin eroja, vaikka ne ovat segmentoinnin kannalta keskeisiä elementtejä. Vaikka dataa ja analytiikkaa pidettiin tärkeinä toimittajien mittaamisessa, tunnistettiin dataan liittyviä haasteita, jotka estävät analyyttisen SRM-lähestymistavan täysmittaisen omaksumisen. Tutkimus korosti segmentointikriteerien linjaamisen tärkeyttä liiketoimintatavoitteiden kanssa, tarkan ja ajantasaisen datan hyödyntämistä sekä jatkuvan kehittämisen varmistamista datavetoisen segmentoinnin saavuttamiseksi. Ehdotettu kehys jakaa toimittajat kolmeen kategoriaan best-worst-menetelmän sekä klusteroinnin avulla. Halutun lopputuloksen saavuttamiseksi tarvitaan kuitenkin resursseja, yhteistyötä, sekä tavoitteiden ja käytäntöjen yhtenäistämistä
PLECS-based thermal modelling and analysis of NPC three-level PV grid-connected inverters
Get PDFThis study, based on the PLECS simulation platform, investigates the thermal characteristics and power loss mechanisms of a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) photovoltaic grid-connected inverter. A comprehensive simulation model was developed integrating a photovoltaic arrays, an MPPT-controlled boost circuit, and a three-level inverter. Through dynamic environmental simulations (gradual irradiance variations and step changes), the switching losses, conduction losses of power devices, and their impacts on junction temperatures were systematically analysed. The research further proposes system loss optimization through simplified Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) strategies, adaptive modulation techniques, and novel power devices (SiC MOSFETs), combined with an improved fuzzy incremental conductance MPPT algorithm to enhance dynamic response capabilities. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for thermal design, control strategy optimization, and high-reliability operation of photovoltaic grid-connected inverters, contributing significantly to advancing renewable energy systems toward enhanced efficiency and prolonged operational lifespan
Laser engraving of copper and copper-based materials
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the optimization of laser parameters for deep and fast engraving of commercially pure copper. Three fiber pulsed lasers were utilized, first being a 20-watt nanosecond laser, second being a 300-watt nanosecond laser that is based on the MOPA technology, and last being a 4.85-watt femtosecond laser that operates in the green light wavelength of 515 nanometres. Given copper’s high reflectivity in the near-infrared spectrum (~94 %) and moderate reflectivity in the green light spectrum (~42 %), the study explores the influence of parameters such as pulse duration, pulse repetition rate, and scan speed on engraving depth. Unlike most prior studies that focused on the micrometre or nanometre scale engraving, this research targets the millimetre scale engraving without having a concern for the surface quality.
The experimental results reveal that power output is the dominant factor in achieving fast and deep engraving depth, but optimization of other parameters such as pulse duration and pulse repetition rates can double the engraving efficiency. Parameter such as scan speed also plays a part and optimizing this can affect the result of the engraving. Despite the theoretical compatibility of green wavelength lasers on copper, the femtosecond laser was not optimal for fast, deep engraving due to its low power output. However, it produced the best surface quality and minimal thermal effects, making it ideal when precision and minimal heat-affected zones are important. In contrast, the higher power nanosecond lasers transferred significantly more heat to the workpieces, requiring cooling time post-engraving. These findings highlight the importance of balancing power, pulse characteristics, and process parameters to match application specific goals in copper laser engraving
Taking sustainability into account in Company X procurement
No full textTämän tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää, kuinka valikoitunut Yritys X huomio kestävyyden hankinnoissaan ja mitkä ovat merkittävimpiä tekijöitä sen toteutumisessa. Lisäksi tutkielma tarkastelee mahdollisia haasteita, joita Yritys X voi kestävien hankintojen integraatiossa kohdata. Tutkielman teoreettinen viitekehys on rakennettu hankintatoimen ja kestävyyden ympärille, jota tukevat erilaiset tieteelliset tutkimukset ja teoriat.
Tutkielman empiirinen osuus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena, jota ohjasi teoriaohjaava eli abduktiivinen sisällönanalyysi. Aineistonkeruu suoritettiin puolistrukturoidulla ryhmähaastattelulla, jossa haastateltiin kahta kohdeyrityksen hankinnoista ja kestävyydestä vastaavaa työntekijää. Analyysin tulokset pohjautuvat aikaisempien tutkimuksien teorioihin ja aineistosta esiin nousseisiin keskeisiin havaintoihin, abduktiivisen sisällönanalyysin mukaisesti.
Tutkimuksen yhteenvedossa päästiin tulokseen, että Yritys X huomioi kestävyyden hankinnoissaan monella eri tasolla ja noudattaa kestävyyden huomioimisessa teoriassa tuttua Triple Bottom Line-mallin jaottelua. Kestävyyden edistämisessä keskeisiksi ohjaaviksi tekijöiksi nousivat erityisesti omistajaohjaus, Agenda 2030 sekä hiilineutraaliustavoitteet. Tutkielma mahdollistaa kohdeyrityksen hyödyntää tutkimuksen tuloksia hankintatoimintansa kestävyyden kehittämiseen.The purpose of this thesis was to find out how a selected Company X takes sustainability into account in its procurement and what the most important factors are in its implementation. It also examines the potential challenges that Company X may face in integrating sustainable procurement. The theoretical framework of the thesis is built around procurement and sustainability, supported by various scientific studies and theories.
The empirical part of the thesis was conducted as a qualitative study guided by a theorydriven, or abductive, content analysis. The data was collected through a semi-structured group interview with two employees of the case company who were responsible for procurement and sustainability. The results of the analysis are based on the theories of previous studies and the key findings from the data, in line with an abductive content analysis.
In summary, the study concludes that Company X takes sustainability into account in its projects on many different levels and follows the Triple Bottom Line model of sustainability in theory. In particular, corporate governance, Agenda 2030 and carbon neutrality objectives were identified as key drivers in promoting sustainability. The thesis enables the target company to use the results of the study to develop the sustainability of its procurement activities
Design and implementation of an online exam database system
Get PDFWith the advancement of network technology, online examinations have become an increasingly important method in education. Compared to traditional paper-based exams, online systems improve efficiency and reduce the workload of teachers in grading and data management. This paper presents the design and implementation of a web-based online examination database system using Python and the Flask framework, with PostgreSQL for data storage and HTML/CSS/JavaScript for the front end.
The system supports user registration and login, question bank management, exam scheduling, automatic grading, and result analysis. Features such as secure login, randomized questions, countdown timers, and anti-cheating through screen-switch detection enhance the reliability and fairness of the exam process. The system addresses common issues in traditional exams and provides a practical and efficient solution for modern educational needs
Transforming financial sustainability: the serial mediation of digitalization and financial inclusion through digital governance in bank
Get PDFPurpose
Digital strategy is recognized as an important component of organizational strategy; however, its benefits in terms of financial sustainability are still unclear. Drawing on the dynamic resource dependence and agency theory, this research aims to examine the influence of digital governance (DGV) on a bank’s financial sustainability (FS) with the mediating role (individually and sequentially) of digitalization (DGT) and financial inclusion (FI).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from the yearly financial statements of the commercial banks in China and Pakistan between 2017 and 2023. This study used the generalized methods of moments (GMM) and Hayes Macro 6 for robustness to investigate the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The findings show a favorable relationship between digital governance and financial sustainability. Furthermore, as hypothesized, the relationship between digital governance and banks’ financial sustainability is partially mediated by digitalization and financial inclusion, both individually and sequentially.
Originality/value
This study mainly contributed to the literature in terms of adding (individual and sequential) mediating roles of digitalization and financial inclusion in the relationship between digital governance and financial sustainability. Contrary to previous studies, which isolate these factors, this paper provides the mechanism with a serial mediation model that explains how digital governance efforts, especially with the incorporation of IT-experienced directors on corporate boards, drive digital transformation and, in turn, contribute to a bank’s financial sustainability.Post-print / Final draf
Sustainable development in the recreational vehicle hobby
No full textTässä kandidaatintutkielmassa tarkastellaan kestävän kehityksen roolia matkailuajoneuvoharrastuksessa. Tutkimus keskittyy SF-Caravan ry:n jäsenien matkailuajoneuvoharrastukseen liittyviin tapoihin sekä heidän käsitykseensä kestävästä kehityksestä ja sen tärkeyteen matkailuajoneuvoharrastuksessa. Tutkimus toteutettiin kyselytutkimuksena, jossa kysely jaettiin SF-Caravan ry:n jäsenille.
Tulokset osoittavat, että kestävä kehitys on matkailuajoneuvoharrastajien mielestä tärkeää niin yleisesti kuin heidän harrastuksessaankin. Matkailuajoneuvoharrastus on monipuolinen tapa matkailla, ja sen harrastajia on vaikea yleistää tyypilliseen matkailuajoneuvoilijaan. Matkailuajoneuvoharrastuksen aikana keskitytään yleensä kestävän kehityksen toteuttamiseen kierrätyksen, ympäristön huomioimisen sekä paikallisten palveluiden suosimisen kautta. Tuloksien perusteella kierrätyspisteiden lisääminen sekä kestävän kehityksen laajempi ja ymmärrettävä esiin tuominen ovat tarpeen matkailuajoneuvoharrastuksen kehittämiseksi kestävämmäksi matkailuvaihtoehdoksi.This bachelor’s thesis looks into the role of sustainable development in the recreational vehicle hobby. The study concentrates on habits of members of SF-Caravan ry related to the recreational vehicle hobby and their understanding of sustainable development and its importance in the recreational vehicle hobby. The study was performed based on a survey that was distributed to the members of SF-Caravan ry.
The results indicate that sustainable development is seen as important in general and in the recreational vehicle hobby by the recreational vehicle hobbyists. The recreational vehicle hobby is a diverse way of travelling and the hobbyists of this travel type are difficult to generalize into a typical recreational vehicle hobbyist. While traveling with a recreational vehicle, it is typical to pay attention to sustainable development through recycling, considering the environment and favoring local services. Based on the results, increasing the amount of recycling stations and the introduction of sustainable development in a broader and more simple way are needed to develop the recreational vehicle hobby into a more sustainable alternative to travelling