Speech Rhythm in an Interlanguage Perspective : Finnish Adolescents Speaking English

Speech rhythm is an essential part of speech processing. It is the outcome of the workings of a combination of linguistic and non-linguistic parameters, many of which also have other functions in speech. This study focusses on the acoustic and auditive realization of two linguistic parameters of rhythm: (1) sentence stress, and (2) speech rate and pausing. The aim was to find out how well Finnish comprehensive school pupils realize these two parameters in English and how native speakers of English react to Finnish pupils English rhythm. The material was elicited by means of a story-telling task and questionnaires. Three female and three male pupils representing different levels of oral skills in English were selected as the experimental group. The control group consisted of two female and two male native speakers of English. The stories were analysed acoustically and auditorily with respect to interstress intervals, weak forms, fundamental frequency, pausing, and speech as well as articulation rate. In addition, 52 native speakers of English were asked to rate the intelligibility of the Finnish pupils English with respect to speech rhythm and give their attitudes on what the pupils sounded like. Results showed that Finnish pupils can produce isochronous interstress intervals in English, but that too large a proportion of these intervals contain pauses. A closer analysis of the pauses revealed that Finnish pupils pause too frequently and in inappropriate places when they speak English. Frequent pausing was also found to cause slow speech rates. The findings of the fundamental frequency (F0) measurements indicate that Finnish pupils tend to make a slightly narrower F0 difference between stressed and unstressed syllables than the native speakers of English. Furthermore, Finnish pupils appear to know how to reduce the duration and quality of unstressed sounds, but they fail to do it frequently enough. Native listeners gave lower intelligibility and attitude scores to pupils with more anomalous speech rhythm. Finnish pupils rhythm anomalies seemed to derive from various learning- or learner-related factors rather than from the differences between English and Finnish. This study demonstrates that pausing may be a more important component of English speech rhythm than sentence stress as far as Finnish adolescents are concerned and that interlanguage development is affected by various factors and characterised by jumps or periods of stasis. Other theoretical, methodological and pedagogical implications of the results are also discussed.

Käsityksistä ajatuksen poluille : Ammattikorkeakoulun tutkimus- ja kehitystoiminnan kehittäminen

This study deals with the formation of the idea of research and development (r&d) activity at one particular university of applied sciences in Finland. In this study I proceed from examining the conceptions of management regarding r&d-activities to exploring the development of the complex concept that guides these r&d-activities. The aim of this study is, first, to describe conceptions of r&d-activities, and then, second, to describe the formation of a new concept for r&d-activities in one field of study at the university of applied sciences. I used phenomenographic analysis to elucidate the conceptions and collected the data in interviews of personnel (22) who belong to the management of the university of applied sciences. The data for analysing the obstacles faced and the ways of overcoming them during the formation process of the new concept consist of the video-recorded material from ten change laboratory sessions held for the specific field of study at the university of applied sciences. In researching the formation of the concept of the activity, such research and analysis methods are used in which the concept is understood as a material construction, and with the help of which one can work out the formation of the concept during the development process. When the systematic development of the r&d-work was underway, the management of the university of applied sciences held differing views regarding the content, target, factors and organisation of the r&d-activities, as well as regarding the position of dissertations as a part of r&d-activity. Obstacles for developing rd concerned the unclear object and outcomes of the new activity, not having the tools (such as adequate know-how) for the new activity and not having found the necessary solutions for the distribution of work. In addition the rules that quide the activities of the university of applied sciences did not support working according to the new way. To improve r&d-activity, the school’s management defined three development strategies to encourage adequate rd-activity to support working life, regional development and learning. The strategies were based on the expansion of existing methods, such as service activities, dissertation work and the research activities of the teachers. Of the three possible routes, the concept of dissertation in this study was expanded to integrate the services of organisation development and the occupational growth of the students. A group of teachers in the field of social and health studies participated in the development work. The change laboratory method was used as a tool for this work. Analysis of the cognitive trails indicated that, in addition to the cycle of expansive learning activities, microcycles with different purposes can exist. According to Cussins (1992), something already in existence in each microcycle is destabilised, and something else is stabilised to replace it. In this study three microcycles were identified, during which the teachers first destabilised the existing concepts of dissertation work that guided their thinking, and then began to use new concepts to structure their thinking. Secondly, they undermined the existing concepts with material structure that defined their practical work, and developed new practical models to replace them. Thirdly, the problems accumulating in researching and testing the new activities caused the developers to destabilise the r&d-strategies of the university of applied sciences and to define a new conceptual model for r&d-work in the field. During this third cycle, the teachers developed a research arena model, which was a significant expansive innovation. In the cognitive trails developing the new concept for the r&d-activity, the teachers indeed faced the obstacles the management had described as their conceptions. These obstacles manifested themselves as contradictions. During the development process, the nature of the obstacles (i.e. contradictions) changed as the development proceeded. Solving the first and second degree contradictions highlighted the third and fourth degree contradictions. To overcome the obstacles, the teachers had to to articulate the value and motive of the development work throughout the development process. Developing the new concept for r&d-activity required many reconfigurations of practical solutions to overcome the obstacles. Developing the new concept for r&d-activity, both at the level of representations and of new practices, requires universities of applied sciences to adopt new methods in which the actors are partake in construction of new concepts of activity through adequate discussion, analysis and debate. R&d -activity can progress, if instead of implementing partial solutions, the totality of the activities (i.e. the group of partial solutions acting together) will be constructed. The development of the activity system requires many simultaneous changes as well as wide-ranging know-how and discussion related to these changes. What is perhaps most important, however, is that the group of developers mature into a determined collective actor which can engage in many agentive actions. The development of the agency is fundamental to progress.

The Networks of Learning in Technological Innovation : The Emergence of Collaboration Across Fields of Expertise

This study addresses four issues concerning technological product innovations. First, the nature of the very early phases or "embryonic stages" of technological innovation is addressed. Second, this study analyzes why and by what means people initiate innovation processes outside the technological community and the field of expertise of the established industry. In other words, this study addresses the initiation of innovation that occurs without the expertise of established organizations, such as technology firms, professional societies and research institutes operating in the technological field under consideration. Third, the significance of interorganizational learning processes for technological innovation is dealt with. Fourth, this consideration is supplemented by considering how network collaboration and learning change when formalized product development work and the commercialization of innovation advance. These issues are addressed through the empirical analysis of the following three product innovations: Benecol margarine, the Nordic Mobile Telephone system (NMT) and the ProWellness Diabetes Management System (PDMS). This study utilizes the theoretical insights of cultural-historical activity theory on the development of human activities and learning. Activity-theoretical conceptualizations are used in the critical assessment and advancement of the concept of networks of learning. This concept was originally proposed by the research group of organizational scientist Walter Powell. A network of learning refers to the interorganizational collaboration that pools resources, ideas and know-how without market-based or hierarchical relations. The concept of an activity system is used in defining the nodes of the networks of learning. Network collaboration and learning are analyzed with regard to the shared object of development work. According to this study, enduring dilemmas and tensions in activity explain the participants' motives for carrying out actions that lead to novel product concepts in the early phases of technological innovation. These actions comprise the initiation of development work outside the relevant fields of expertise and collaboration and learning across fields of expertise in the absence of market-based or hierarchical relations. These networks of learning are fragile and impermanent. This study suggests that the significance of networks of learning across fields of expertise becomes more and more crucial for innovation activities.

Esimiestaitojen tärkeys, hallinta ja kehitystarpeet

This study examines the leadership skills in municipal organisation. The study reflects the manager views on leadership skills required. The purpose of this study was to reflect the most important leadership skills currently and in the future as well as the control of these skills. The study also examines the importance of the change and development needs of the leadership skills. In addition, the effect of background variables on evaluation of leadership skills were also examined. The quantitative research method was used in the study. The material was collected with the structured questionnaire from 324 Kotka city managers. SPSS-program was used to analyse the study material. Factor analysis was used as the main method for analysis. In addition, mean and standard deviations were used to better reflect the study results. Based on the study results, the most important leadership skills currently and in the future are associated with internet skills, work control, problem solving and human resource management skills. Managers expected the importance of leadership skills to grow in the future. Main growth is associated with the software utilisation, language skills, communication skills as well as financial leadership skills. Strongest competence according to managers is associated with the internet skills. Managers also considered to control well the skills related to employee know-how and manager networking. In addition, significant development needs are required in leadership skills. Main improvement areas were discovered in software utilisation, work control, human resource management skills as well as skills requiring problem solving. It should be noted that the main improvement areas appeared in the leadership skills that were evaluated as most important apart from software utilisation. Position, municipal segments and sex were observed to explain most of the deviation in received responses.

Ammatillinen osaaminen ja täydennyskoulutus : tiedon ja osaamisen leviäminen osallistujien välillä

The goal of my research was to describe how adult students perceive professional knowledge and know-how, and how these diffuse among a group of students during a continuing education program. The goal was also to research the meaning of shared working life experience in improving the professional know-how of the students. My research is positioned in the field of supporting environments for adult learning with an emphasis on interaction between students in social networks. The participants of my research were 31 adult students taking part in continuing education program at the time of my study. I gathered the research data using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative network enquiry led me to do 9 theme interviews. I analyzed the data using a network analyzing program and a content analyzing method. I examined the whole community of students, the home groups of four students and the main actors who were central for the community. The analysis focused on the distribution network of professional knowledge and know-how, the distribution network of social support and the network of reciprocal interaction. Professional knowledge and know-how that diffuse between adult students in continuing education, is mostly hands-on tips and occupational experience. The factors that promote the distribution of professional experience and know-how are structural ones and factors that emphasize co-operation relationships. The structural factors are participation in adult education and in home groups and also organizational arrangements of learning. The factors that emphasize co-operation relationships are encouragement and doing learning assignments together. The central distributors of professional know-how are adult students who have long working life experience. The meaning of the diffusion of professional experience and know-how for improving professional know-how of a single adult student is in developing his professional identity and adding his social capital. In the social interaction networks, which I studied, more relations exist inside the home groups than between them, which is congruent with earlier researches. My research can be utilized by using its research methods and emphasizing its results in adult education planning and guidance.

Kouluruokailuhenkilöstö matkalla kasvattajaksi

The National Board of Education in Finland has defined school catering as a part of education in comprehensive schools. School catering is defined in Finnish law and is financed by the municipalities. The emphasis on supplementary education in the school curriculum obliges the whole staff to learn new professional roles and to co-operate in the school com-munity. An in-service training programme, Smart Catering Staff (SCS) was designed and put into practice among school catering staff. The aim of the one-year SCS programme was to add to and encourage the development of the know-how of catering personnel regarding new challenges in the school community as well as to enhance and empower their educator’s role in the school. The content of the programme consisted of four two-day intensive teaching sessions as well as assignments which were carried out between theese sessions. The main contents of the SCS programme were personal and organizational learning, school curriculum concerning school catering, school culture and co-operation, customer service, and the role of catering staff as educators. The data in this action research was gathered from 2000 to 2008. The results show that the SCS programme can change the work community culture in that the catering staff is more encouraged to participate in the development projects of the school, and can see themselves more as educators alongside the teaching staff. It is concluded that in school communities all adults can be educators, but to achieve this aim empowering in-service training is needed. The school catering staff’s commitment to participation in the education align with the educational goals of the school unite children’s and teens safety nets. This can affect for example the growth of communal responsibility and prevention of alienation. Key words: School Catering, Smart School Catering Staff, Expanded Education, School Community, Action Research

"Olen enemmän alkanut pohtimaan ja sanomaan ääneen mitä ajattelen" : ammatillinen kehittyminen ja yhteisöllinen palaute päiväkodin työtiimeissä

I have more often thought over what I am thinking and also I have often told it to others - professional development and collegial feedback on kindergarten teams. The need for professional feedback surfaces year after year in enquiries made among staff members in the field of early childhood education. Because the pressure to be effective adds to the workload of the heads of kindergartens, there are few opportunities to give staff concrete feedback on a daily basis. Because peers are able to observe each other close at hand, their reciprocal feedback can compensate for that of the kindergarten head. In this study the practical training process of collegial feedback is studied and also the opportunities for feedback as a means of supporting professional development in the context of kindergarten. The development project involving the entire kindergarten community (N=21) was implemented in 2003-2004 through three developing cycles. The Johar´s Window , produced by Luft and Jung with the Model of Situational Leadership by Hersey and Blanchard, acted as a theoretical frame of reference. It has been used in this study both for its qualitative and its quantitative methods. The data were carried out through questions, interviews, diaries, written descriptions and monthly evaluations. The qualitative and quantitative methods were also used in analysing the data. The results showed that during the training process, the staff as a giver of feedback moved from the professional basic level to the professional maturity level. Their awareness of both their own and their peers´ know-how expanded from the initial state to the final state. It became evident that team size is the essential key element in the practise of giving feedback to team members. The team atmosphere and the commitment of the team members are in significant factors in the training of giving and receiving feedback. As a result of analyses, delivering feedback was grouped into three categories: developmental feedback, descriptive feedback and either supportive or destructive feedback. Receiving feedback was likewise groupped into three categories: aspiring to develop, unaccommodating and accepting. The ability to control feelings improved along with the skills of giving feedback; it was possible to analyse development through the professional development model represented in the theory of the study. The results showed that professional know-how of other kinds also developed during the process. Giving feedback among fellow workers enables team members to receive feedback everyday. Training to give feedback means examining a field of professional know-how and also formulating shared rules. The results of this study give support to previous studies that have emphasised practical training in natural circumstances. Keywords: feedback, professional development, learning at work

Aritmetiikasta algebraan : Muutoksia osaamisessa peruskoulun päättöluokalla 20 vuoden aikana

From Arithmetic to Algebra. Changes in the skills in comprehensive school over 20 years. In recent decades we have emphasized the understanding of calculation in mathematics teaching. Many studies have found that better understanding helps to apply skills in new conditions and that the ability to think on an abstract level increases the transfer to new contexts. In my research I take into consideration competence as a matrix where content is in a horizontal line and levels of thinking are in a vertical line. The know-how is intellectual and strategic flexibility and understanding. The resources and limitations of memory have their effects on learning in different ways in different phases. Therefore both flexible conceptual thinking and automatization must be considered in learning. The research questions that I examine are what kind of changes have occurred in mathematical skills in comprehensive school over the last 20 years and what kind of conceptual thinking is demonstrated by students in this decade. The study consists of two parts. The first part is a statistical analysis of the mathematical skills and their changes over the last 20 years in comprehensive school. In the test the pupils did not use calculators. The second part is a qualitative analysis of the conceptual thinking of pupils in comprehensive school in this decade. The study shows significant differences in algebra and in some parts of arithmetic. The largest differences were detected in the calculation skills of fractions. In the 1980s two out of three pupils were able to complete tasks with fractions, but in the 2000s only one out of three pupils were able to do the same tasks. Also remarkable is that out of the students who could complete the tasks with fractions, only one out of three pupils was on the conceptual level in his/her thinking. This means that about 10% of pupils are able to understand the algebraic expression, which has the same isomorphic structure as the arithmetical expression. This finding is important because the ability to think innovatively is created when learning the basic concepts. Keywords: arithmetic, algebra, competence

Linnunkiikut ja kallen kaulukset : Kotitekoiset kuukautissiteet 1900-luvun alkupuolen Suomessa

The aim of this thesis was to study what kind of home-made menstrual pads were used in the early 20th century in Finland, how the home-made pads were made and which techniques and materials were used. The use and taking care of menstrual pads were also explored. The history of menstrual pads has been studied in Sweden, Germany and United States but none of those studies has concentrated on home-made pads. Instead, there are many studies about womanhood and menstruation. In many studies home-made menstrual pads are only briefly mentioned. Menstrual pads were not commonly used in Finland at the beginning of the 20th century, but already in the 1940s the use of menstrual pads had become common in every stratum of society. Home-made menstrual pads were used even until the 1960s. In Finland, factory-made disposable menstrual pads became common only in the 1930s and they were only slowly accepted. The study material consisted of nine interviews, three archival inquiries, health care guidebooks from 1893 to 1943 and authentic menstrual pads, menstrual belts and other objects related to them. The interviewed women were born between 1915 and 1939. The narrative approach was used in the study and it also guided the analysis. The interview and archival data were studied according to the basic rules of oral history studies. Literature consisted of publications from several disciplines. The extensive primary material played the most important role in this study. The reconstructions of the menstrual pads were made according to the interviewed women s advice. In Finland there were innumerable variations of home-made menstrual pads. The pads were most commonly crocheted and knitted either by hand or by knitting machine. Pads were also sewn of cloth, old bed linen or old underwear. The menstrual pads were self-made or made by a female relative. Word of mouth was important in spreading information on how to make pads, because there were hardly any instructions available. The biggest pads were 54 cm long and 13 cm wide. The most widely used pad model was a rectangle, which had triangle-shaped ends with a buttonhole or a loop. The pad was attached to the menstrual belt or to the buttons of the suspender belt. Knitted and crocheted pads had one, two or three layers. In sewn pads, there could be even more layers. Cellulose wadding or pieces of cloth could be placed inside the pad to increase the absorption ability. The experiences of the comfort of self-made pads varied. The crocheted and sewn pads were found chafing, knitted ones were found soft and comfortable. The menstrual pads were laborious to wash and boil in lye water. Therefore disposable pads made everyday life easier. The home-made menstrual pads were part of a unique tradition of handicrafts and folk culture. Hand-made pads were one of the most common handicraft products and were a part of every woman s life. Even so, the menstrual pads were unnoticeable. The large number of variations was probably caused by the silence around menstrual topics and by the lack of instructions for making pads. Variations are also explained by the uniqueness of every handicraft product. In Finland the home-made pads were used until relatively recent times. This was caused by the conditions of wartime and the following years and the rarity of commercial pads. Furthermore, until the late 20th century Finland was an agricultural society where all innovations spread slowly. Home-made menstrual pad was a secret handicraft of women and every woman needed to know how to make it by herself.

Mallimestari globalisoituneen sarjatuotannon situationaalisessa prosessissa : Kokemustutkimus

In this thesis, taking place within the clothing industry of Finland, the impact of the globalisation of the economy on the pattern maker s job was studied and the present day fields of know-how of the job were found out. The thesis answers the questions, what are the characteristics of the patternmaker s job nowadays, and what areas of the know-how in the patternmaker s job form the core know-how, which is repeated in every organisation. Earlier studies of the subject do not exist in Finland. Similar studies have been made in USA (Staples 1993) and in Estonia (2002). Patternmakers who took part in this study were located in the Finnish clothing companies manufacturing or having clothes manufactured in series production, like clothing industry or chain of stores. A methodical triangulation was used in the thesis. In a phenomenological research of experience seven patternmakers were interviewed and in a quantitative research 26 patternmakers filled in a structured questionnaire. The phenomenological analysis has 2 parts. In the first phase using the professional background of the patternmakers, the historical development of the clothing industry for the last 40 years was described. In the second phase of the phenomenological analysis the description of the patternmaker s job was created based on the organisational strategy of the companies nowadays. The analysis of quantitative research material was performed by one-dimensional study of variables, where the variations in the amounts of variables lead to proportional conclusions. As a result of the structured questionnaire, the core know-how of the patternmaker was pointed out. In the thesis, the concept of situationality was used to describe the continuous change in the clothing industry. This explains the continuous requirement of patternmakers commitment to the time and location. The researcher has a background of a patternmaker and she works as a specialist instructor. With the thesis the researcher updates her professional competence. The analysis of the patternmaker s job can be used to update the content of patternmakers education in the vocational schools.

Oikein, nurin - miten Suomessa kudin : Tutkimus neulonnan työotteista.

The aim of this work was to study what kind of working grips people use to knit in Finland and decide if one grip is superior to others. I investigated how knitters have adopted their grips and how they experience their knitting. I also explored whether it is possible to change one's grip. To provide a theoretical basis for the research I observed knitting in terms of culture, skill and ergonomics. The first part of the study material comprised video recordings of the grips of 95 knitters together with background information collected via a questionnaire during the education of craft teachers at the University of Helsinki in spring 2004, 2005 and 2006. Using the data obtained I focused on three knitters, whose grip of the knitting needles clearly differed from the ergonomically good grip. In addition to them I interviewed one student, who had changed over to more ergonomic way of knitting after participating in the first part of this study. In this respect my study is a several events' case study. In order to analyse my data I used both qualitative and quantitative content analysis methods to complement each other. Most of my research participants had learned to knit in first years of elementary school or comprehensive school. Almost everyone had adopted the basics of knitting by imitating, and many of them had corrected "incorrect" positions from verbal instructions. Through practice the imitated position had gradually become the style unique to each knitter. The findings showed that students' background in knitting is quite varied due to the diverse level of craft teaching. This is reflected in their knitting grips and their interest in knitting. Students do not think that there is one right working grip. The most important thing is that working seems as fluent and relaxed as possible, at which point knitting is easy and flows freely. They often consider their own style so pleasing and well-functioning that they do not think there could be any room for improvement. This study pointed out that, while it is possible to change a knitter's working grip, there is a bigger challenge in acknowledging weaknesses in one's know how. According to the results of my research, the most common working grip among Finnish knitters' corresponds with the grip that has been described as ergonomically good. Over one third of all participants knitted this way. Hands keep the knitting firmly but without tension. The forefinger that guides the yarn from the ball rests gently against the knitting needle, and the yarn goes in front of the first joint of the forefinger. The position of the hands and loops is the same as in the ergonomically good grip, i.e. the fingertips of both hands and the loops are near the tips of the knitting needles, so that the fingers only have to move small distances. When knitters purl and plain, they commonly pick up the yarn from the back of the knitting needle in the same way as when knitting. While researching the common features of working grips I have learned what abnormal grips are like. Although I recognized many different ways to knit, all the peculiar grips were modifications of the continental way of knitting. The results of this study give a clear picture of those points knitters should focus their attention on in order to gain a good hold of the needles.

Median muotoilema : Muotoilun mediajulkisuus suomalaisessa talouslehdistössä

Designed by the Media The Media publicity of Design in the Finnish Economic Press The meaning of design has increased in consumer societies. Design is the subject of debate and the number of media discussions has also increased steadily. Especially the role of industrial design has been emphasised. In this study I examine the media publicity of design in the Finnish economic press from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s. The research question is connected to media representations: How is design represented in the Finnish economic press? In other words, what are the central topics of design in the economic press, and to what issues are the media debates connected? The usually repeated phrase that design discussions take place only on the cultural pages of the daily press or in cultural contexts is being changed. Design is also linked to the consumer culture and consumers everyday practices. The research material has been collected from the Finnish economic press. The qualitative sample consists of articles from Kauppalehti, Taloussanomat and from several economic papers published by the Talentum Corporation. The approach of the research is explorative, descriptive and hermeneutic. This means that the economic press articles are used to explore how design is represented in the media. In addition, the characteristics of design represented in the media are described in detail. The research is based on the interpretive tradition of studying textual materials. Background assumptions are thus grounded in hermeneutics. Erving Goffman s frame analysis is applied in analysing the economic press materials. The frames interpreted from the articles depict the media publicity of design in the Finnish economic press. The research opens up a multidimensional picture of design in the economic press. The analysis resulted in five frames that describe design from various points of view. In the personal frame designers are described in private settings and through their personal experiences. The second frame relates to design work. In the frame of mastery of the profession, the designers work is interpreted widely. Design is considered from the aspects of controlling personal know-how, co-operation and the overall process of design. The third frame is connected to the actual substance of the economic press. In the frame of economy and market, design is linked to international competitiveness, companies competitive advantage and benefit creation for the consumers. The fourth frame is connected to the actors promoting design on a societal level. In the communal frame, the economic press describes design policy, design research and education and other actors that actively develop design in the societal networks. The last frame is linked to the traditions of design and above all to the examination of the cultural transition. In the frame of culture the traditions of design are emphasised. Design is also connected to the industrial culture and furthermore to the themes of the consumer culture. It can be argued that the frames construct media publicity of design from various points of view. The frames describe situations, action and the actors of design. The interpreted media frames make it possible to understand the relation of interpreted design actions and the culture. Thus, media has a crucial role in representing and recreating meanings related to design. The publicity of design is characterised by the five focal themes: personification, professionalisation, commercialisation, communalisation and transition of cultural focus from the traditions of design to the industrial culture and the consumer culture. Based on my interpretation these themes are guided by the mediatisation of design. The design phenomenon is defined more often on the basis of the media representations in the public discourses. The design culture outlined in this research connects socially constructed and structurally organised action. Socially constructed action in design is connected to the experiences, social recreation and collective development of design. Structurally, design is described as professional know-how, as a process and as an economic profit generating action in the society. The events described by the media affect the way in which people experience the world, the meanings they connect to the events around themselves and their life in the world. By affecting experiences, the media indirectly affects human actions. People have become habituated to read media representations on a daily basis, but they are not used to reading and interpreting the various meanings that are incorporated in the media texts.

Topological stability through tame retractions

A smooth map is said to be stable if small perturbations of the map only differ from the original one by a smooth change of coordinates. Smoothly stable maps are generic among the proper maps between given source and target manifolds when the source and target dimensions belong to the so-called nice dimensions, but outside this range of dimensions, smooth maps cannot generally be approximated by stable maps. This leads to the definition of topologically stable maps, where the smooth coordinate changes are replaced with homeomorphisms. The topologically stable maps are generic among proper maps for any dimensions of source and target. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate methods for proving topological stability by constructing extremely tame (E-tame) retractions onto the map in question from one of its smoothly stable unfoldings. In particular, we investigate how to use E-tame retractions from stable unfoldings to find topologically ministable unfoldings for certain weighted homogeneous maps or germs. Our first results are concerned with the construction of E-tame retractions and their relation to topological stability. We study how to construct the E-tame retractions from partial or local information, and these results form our toolbox for the main constructions. In the next chapter we study the group of right-left equivalences leaving a given multigerm f invariant, and show that when the multigerm is finitely determined, the group has a maximal compact subgroup and that the corresponding quotient is contractible. This means, essentially, that the group can be replaced with a compact Lie group of symmetries without much loss of information. We also show how to split the group into a product whose components only depend on the monogerm components of f. In the final chapter we investigate representatives of the E- and Z-series of singularities, discuss their instability and use our tools to construct E-tame retractions for some of them. The construction is based on describing the geometry of the set of points where the map is not smoothly stable, discovering that by using induction and our constructional tools, we already know how to construct local E-tame retractions along the set. The local solutions can then be glued together using our knowledge about the symmetry group of the local germs. We also discuss how to generalize our method to the whole E- and Z- series.

Pengarna eller livet? : En kvalitativ och longitudinell studie om långtidsarbetslösa unga i ett aktörsperspektiv

Your money or your life? A qualitative follow-up study of the young unemployed from an actor perspective is a qualitative and longitudinal study following 36 unemployed young people in Helsinki over a span of ten years. The purpose of the study is to shed light on how a few young people view employment/unemployment and their lives and future, how they as unemployed perceive their encounters with society, and how society supports them. Four so-called key informants were followed at a finer level of empirical detail. They were chosen for the thematic interviews because of their different personalities, starting points and preferences. Although some differences were expected, what the results show is quite striking. The individual stories raise a number of questions about differences between young people, about society s view of the young unemployed, and about the principles behind the so-called activation policy and how society s support is distributed. The key informants descriptions underline that the group young unemployed does not consist of individuals who are alike but that life is complex, that paid work and unemployment can be perceived very differently, and that background and unofficial support can have consequences for self-perception and for ways of looking at the future, vocational choices, paid work and activation policy. Margaret S. Archer s theory of Morphogenesis and Barbara Cruikshank s theory of constructing democracies compose the study s theoretical framework. The key informants stories give a picture of a formal support system that, even though it puts part of the responsibility for unemployment on the individuals themselves, in the name of fairness and equality, treats them in an impersonal way, not giving their personal situation and wishes much weight. As a consequence, those who share the dominant values of society do well, while others who do not are faced with difficulties. The bigger the gap between society s and the individual s values, the bigger the risk to be met by little understanding and by penalties. And vice versa: Those who initially have the right values and know how to deal with authorities get heard and their opinions get accepted. The informants ask for a more personal encounter, which could improve both the atmosphere and the clients experiences of being heard. Still the risk of having a more individualistic system should be addressed, as a new system might generate new winners, but just as well give new losers. Finally, we have to ask if the so-called activation policy is looking for answers primarily to a macro-level problem on the micro-level. If it does not produce more jobs, its support for the unemployed will be insignificant. It is not enough to think about what to do at the grassroots level to make the system more functional and support job-seeking. If the current rate of unemployment endures, the quality of life of the unemployed should be addressed. A first step could be taken by placing less guilt on the unemployed. Instead of talking about activating the unemployed, discussion should be targeted at removing structural impediments to employment. If we want to have less polarisation between the those with paid work and those without, who often struggle with low incomes, we need to include the macro-level in the discussion. What does high unemployment mean in a work-based society, where the individual s self-perception and important social forms of support are linked to labour income? And what can be done at the macro-level to change this undesirable condition at the micro-level? Keywords: Unemployment, Youth, Public interventions, Activation policy, Individual actors, Qualitative, Longitudinal, Holistic, Helsinki, Finland

Customer Value Formation in Practice: A Practice-Theoretical Approach

This thesis introduces a practice-theoretical approach to understanding customer value formation to be used in the field of service marketing and management. In contrast to current studies trying to understand value formation by analysing customers as independent actors and thinkers, it is in this work suggested that customer value formation can be better understood by analysing how value is formed in the practices and contexts of the customers. The theoretical approach developed in this thesis is applied in an empirical study of family cruises. The theoretical analysis in this thesis results in a new approach for understanding customer value formation. Customer value is, according to this new approach, something that is formed in practice, meaning that value is formed in constellations of the customer and contextual elements like tools, physical spaces and contextually embedded images and know-how. This view is different from the current views that tend to see value as subjectively created, co-created, perceived or experienced by the customer. The new approach has implications on how we view customer value, but also on the methods and techniques we can use to understand customer value in empirical studies. It is also suggested that services could in fact be reconceptualised as practices. According to the stance presented in this thesis the empirical analysis of customer value should not focus on individual customers, but should instead take the contextual entity of practices as its unit of analysis. Therefore, ethnography is chosen as a method for exploring how customer value is formed in practice in the case of family cruises on a specific cruise vessel. The researcher has studied six families, as well as the context of the cruise vessel with various techniques including non-participant observation, participant observation and interviews in order to create an ethnographic understanding of the practices carried out on board. Twenty-one different practices are reported and discussed in order to provide necessary insight to customer value formation that can be used as input for service development.