Using games to enhance learning

The Internet and computing technology have changed our lives forever. With them they have brought an increased awareness that traditional learning methods no longer suffice. There is strong and growing demand for new learning methods that challenge us differently. Learning games can be used effectively to motivate different kinds of learners and can even change our way of thinking and acting.

Modern pedagogical trends include learning and teaching procedures that focus on developing learners’ skills instead of broadening their knowledge. According to these new approaches the teacher’s or educator’s mission is to guide learners instead of teaching them.

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Flexibility and efficiency in industrial automation

Automation in production and industrial environments can be interpreted as a multi-tiered structure where each level has its own specific tasks, characteristics and place. The highest level of information management concerns Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, under which there are Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and actual production process management systems, i.e. Distributed Control Systems (DCS). The entire structure can and should be built to be flexible so that it can be supplemented, if required, according to changing production requirements.

MES software and applications have been developed to supplement ERP systems and act in between ERP systems and process automation applications. For an automation system to operate optimally it is essential that data is able to flow smoothly and predictably from one system to another.

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Reducing food waste a matter of urgency

Globally about 1300 million tonnes of food is discarded as waste every year. This clearly has detrimental financial, social and ecological implications. In order to preserve natural resources and live sustainable lifestyles the reduction of food waste has become a decisive battleground. A key aspect is changing consumer behaviour, which in turn requires that waste data is gathered and communicated to consumers.

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Towards a circular economy with multiple-product biorefineries

A biorefinery can produce multiple products from biomass in the same way an oil-based refinery refines crude oil into fuels and chemicals. The same chemical building blocks that are currently derived from oil can be produced from biomass via chemical, biochemical or thermochemical conversion methods.

There are already biorefineries that produce energy, chemicals and materials. Pulp mills, for example, also produce heat, electricity and tall oil, which can be converted into chemicals or fuels. Biogas plants can also produce chemicals. In Finland Envor Biotech’s biogas plant produces ammonium sulphate (NH₄)₂SO₄ for industrial and agricultural use from the biogas plant’s reject water.

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Is burning water profitable?

In Finland we have seen decades of research regarding the benefits of drying woodchips for use as fuel in biomass heat generation. Drying seems reasonable, but has its use reached the end of the road? Is there a way to improve cost efficiencies even more?

In this article I will introduce a new approach to woodchip heat production by evaluating the financial implications of woodchip moisture levels on the biomass heating value chain. For the sake of a clear focus the impact of different wood types on cost structures has not been taken into consideration.

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Agile and lean values in software development – Case Cadmatic

For more than a decade ‘agile’ has been the number one buzzword associated with process improvements in software development, while Scrum has been the most popular approach used to implement agile and lean values. Implementing these values in product development is beneficial, but in order to gain the maximum benefit they should be applied to all company functions.

The Toyota Production System is the origin of many agile values and principles. Based on Toyota’s approach the term lean was introduced in The Machine That Changed the World, a 1991 book by Womack and Jones. There have been plenty of other contributors since and the list keeps growing.

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