FIN-CLARIN: A Framework for Depositing and Disseminating Language Resources for R&D

Researchers and developers in academia and industry would benefit from a facility that enables them to easily locate, licence and use the kind of empirical data they need for testing and refining their hypotheses and to deposit and disseminate their data e.g. to support replication and validation of reported scientific experiments. To answer these needs initially in Finland, there is an ongoing project at University of Helsinki and its collaborators to create a user-friendly web service for researchers and developers in Finland and other countries. In our talk, we describe ongoing work to create a palette of extensive but easily available Finnish language resources and technologies for the research community, including lexical resources, wordnets, morphologically tagged corpora, dependency syntactic treebanks and parsebanks, open-source finite state toolkits and libraries and language models to support text analysis and processing at customer site. Also first publicly available results are presented.

Toward a widely usable finite-state morphology workbench for less studied languages, 1: Desiderata

Most of the world’s languages lack electronic word form dictionaries. The linguists who gather such dictionaries could be helped with an efficient morphology workbench that adapts to different environments and uses. A widely usable workbench could be characterized, ideally, as generally applicable, extensible, and freely available (GEA). It seems that such a solution could be implemented in the framework of finite-state methods. The current work defines the GEA desiderata and starts a series of articles concerning these desiderata in finite- state morphology. Subsequent parts will review the state of the art and present an action plan toward creating a widely usable finite-state morphology workbench.

Finite-State Spell-Checking with Weighted Language and Error Models

In this paper we present simple methods for construction and evaluation of finite-state spell-checking tools using an existing finite-state lexical automaton, freely available finite-state tools and Internet corpora acquired from projects such as Wikipedia. As an example, we use a freely available open-source implementation of Finnish morphology, made with traditional finite-state morphology tools, and demonstrate rapid building of Northern Sámi and English spell checkers from tools and resources available from the Internet.

Guessers for Finite-State Transducer Lexicons

Language software applications encounter new words, e.g., acronyms, technical terminology, names or compounds of such words. In order to add new words to a lexicon, we need to indicate their inflectional paradigm. We present a new generally applicable method for creating an entry generator, i.e. a paradigm guesser, for finite-state transducer lexicons. As a guesser tends to produce numerous suggestions, it is important that the correct suggestions be among the first few candidates. We prove some formal properties of the method and evaluate it on Finnish, English and Swedish full-scale transducer lexicons. We use the open-source Helsinki Finite-State Technology to create finitestate transducer lexicons from existing lexical resources and automatically derive guessers for unknown words. The method has a recall of 82-87 % and a precision of 71-76 % for the three test languages. The model needs no external corpus and can therefore serve as a baseline.

A cross-linguistic study of lexical iconicity and its manifestation in bird names

Abstract This dissertation is a cross-linguistic study of lexical iconicity. The study is based on a genealogically stratified sample of 237 languages. The aim is to contribute with an empirical study to the growing dialogue focusing on different forms of lexical iconicity. The conceptual framework of the present study is based on an analysis of types and means of lexical iconicity in the sample languages. Archaeological and cultural evidence are used to tie lexical iconicity to its context. Phenomena related to lexical iconicity are studied both cross-linguistically and language-specifically. The cognitive difference between imitation and symbolism is essential. Lexical iconicity is not only about the iconic relationship between form and referents, but also about how certain iconic properties may become conventional, means used to create sound symbolism. All the sample languages show some evidence of lexical iconicity, demonstrating that it is a universal feature. Nine comparisons of onomatopoeic verbs and nouns, with samples varying between six and 141 languages, show that typologically highly different languages use similar means for creating words based on sound imitation. Two cross-linguistic comparisons of bird names demonstrate that a vast majority of the Eurasian names of the common cuckoo and the world-wide names of crow and raven of the 141 genera are onomatopoeic.

Psychological resources, their social antecedents, and association with well-being and health behaviour in early adulthood

The success of entering work life, young people s psychological resources and self-reported well-being were studied in a longitudinal setting from a life-span developmental-contextual perspective in early adulthood. The aim was to analyse how psychosocial characteristics in early childhood and adolescence predict successful entrance into work life, how this is associated with well-being, and to assess the level of psychological resources such as dispositional optimism, personal meaning of work and coping in early adulthood. The role of these and social support, in the relationship between regional factors (such as place of residence and migration), self-reported health and life satisfaction was studied. The association between a specific coping strategy, i.e. eating and drinking in a stressful situation and eating habits, was studied to demonstrate how coping is associated with health behaviour. Multivariate methods, including binary logistic regression analyses and ANOVA, were used for statistical analyses. The subjects were members of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, which consists of all women and men born in 1966 in the two northernmost provinces of Finland (n= 12,058). The most recent follow-up, at the age of 31 years when 11,637 subjects were alive, took place in 1997-1998. The results show, first, that social resources in the childhood family and adolescence school achievement predict entrance into the labour market. Secondly, psychosocial resources were found to mediate the relationship between migration from rural to urban areas, and subjective well-being. Thirdly, psychological resources at entrance into the labour market were found to develop from early infancy on. They are, however, influenced later by work history. Fourthly, stress-related eating and drinking, as a way of coping, was found to be directly associated with unhealthy eating habits and alcohol use. Gender differences were found in psychosocial resources predicting, and being associated with success in entering the labour market. For men, the role of attitudinal and psychological factors seems to be especially important in entrance into work life and in the development of psychological resources. For women, academic attainment was more important for successfully entering work life, and lack of emotional social support was a risk factor for stress-related eating only among women. Stress-related eating and drinking habits were predicted by a long history of unemployment as well as a low level of education among both genders, but not excluding an academic degree among men. The results emphasize the role of childhood psychosocial factors in preventing long-term unemployment and in enhancing psychological well-being in early adulthood. Success in entering work life, in terms of continuous work history, plays a crucial role for well-being and the amount of psychological resources in early adulthood. The results emphasize the crucial role of enhancing psychological resources for promoting positive health behaviour and diminishing regional differences in subjective well-being.

Language in Acquisition : Early Lexical Development and Associations between Lexicon and Grammar Findings from Full-Term and Very-Low-Birth-Weight Finnish Children

The aim was to analyse the growth and compositional development of the receptive and expressive lexicons between the ages 0,9 and 2;0 in the full-term (FT) and the very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children who are acquiring Finnish. The associations between the expressive lexicon and grammar at 1;6 and 2;0 in the FT children were also studied. In addition, the language skills of the VLBW children at 2;0 were analysed, as well as the predictive value of early lexicon to the later language performance. Four groups took part in the studies: the longitudinal (N = 35) and cross-sectional (N = 146) samples of the FT children, and the longitudinal (N = 32) and cross-sectional (N = 66) samples of VLBW children. The data was gathered by applying of the structured parental rating method (the Finnish version of the Communicative Development Inventory), through analysis of the children´s spontaneous speech and by administering a a formal test (Reynell Developmental Language Scales). The FT children acquired their receptive lexicons earlier, at a faster rate and with larger individual variation than their expressive lexicons. The acquisition rate of the expressive lexicon increased from slow to faster in most children (91%). Highly parallel developmental paths for lexical semantic categories were detected in the receptive and expressive lexicons of the Finnish children when they were analysed in relation to the growth of the lexicon size, as described in the literature for children acquiring other languages. The emergence of grammar was closely associated with expressive lexical growth. The VLBW children acquired their receptive lexicons at a slower rate and had weaker language skills at 2;0 than the full-term children. The compositional development of both lexicons happened at a slower rate in the VLBW children when compared to the FT controls. However, when the compositional development was analysed in relation to the growth of lexicon size, this development occurred qualitatively in a nearly parallel manner in the VLBW children as in the FT children. Early receptive and expressive lexicon sizes were significantly associated with later language skills in both groups. The effect of the background variables (gender, length of the mother s basic education, birth weight) on the language development in the FT and the VLBW children differed. The results provide new information of early language acquisition by the Finnish FT and VLBW children. The results support the view that the early acquisition of the semantic lexical categories is related to lexicon growth. The current findings also propose that the early grammatical acquisition is closely related to the growth of expressive vocabulary size. The language development of the VLBW children should be followed in clinical work.

Struggles over resources and representations in territorial conflicts in the Northern Autonomous Atlantic Region (RAAN), Nicaragua

Territoriality is a central issue in indigenous peoples struggles. The territorial struggles involve struggles over the control of natural resources and over political participation and representation, but also over the perception of territorial rights and the symbolic representation of the territory. These struggles are carried through both in material and symbolic ways through recurring to different discourses and representations that provide legitimation for the territorial claims of the group. The study is located in the Northern Autonomous Atlantic Region of Nicaragua. The study concerns the territorial strategies, conceptions and practices of the indigenous people and other actors. Territorial conflicts exist between the autonomous region and the central government of Nicaragua, between mestizo settlers and indigenous people, between different indigenous groups, and between these and development agents such as conservation projects. The study focuses on how territorial discourses and representations are used to legitimate territorial control. Environmental, historical and cartographical discourses are the most important discourses recurred to. The influence of discourses and representations on the territorial practices and policies of the different actors, the links between the local struggles and global processes, and the broader structural factors impacting on the territorial struggles are also analysed. Among the structural factors are the problems related to land tenure and management and the use of natural resources, the advance of the agricultural frontier, the institutional weaknesses of the central and regional governments and the legislative processes. The territorial discourses are both recurred to in a strategic way and also grounded in local ideals and practices. The discourses have produced real effects for example in legislation, land tenure systems, political representation and environmental practices. Although the use of discourses and representations are an important power tool in territorial struggles, territorial control cannot be effectively accomplished merely through representing territorial claims in a legitimate way or through reforming legislation, as the conflicts are also largely a result of structural factors affecting the region. The fieldwork was carried out during a total of twelve months between 2000 and 2002. The research methods used were semi-structured interviews, participant observation and participatory research methods. A broad range of literary sources were also used to collect data. The study is located within the field of critical political geography with a discursive political ecology approach. It can be called a critical realist approach to the discursive analysis of indigenous territoriality.

Short- and long-term consequences of food resources on Ural owl Strix uralensis reproduction

Life-history theory states that although natural selection would favour a maximisation of both reproductive output and life-span, such a combination can not be achieved in any living organism. According to life-history theory the reason for the fact that not all traits can be maximised simultaneously is that different traits compete with each other for resources. These relationships between traits that constrain the simultaneous evolution of two or more traits are called trade-offs. Therefore, during different life-stages an individual needs to optimise its allocation of resources to life-history components such as growth, reproduction and survival. Resource limitation acts on these traits and therefore investment in one trait, e.g. reproduction, reduces the resources available for investment in another trait, e.g. residual reproduction or survival. In this thesis I study how food resources during different stages of the breeding event affect reproductive decisions in the Ural owl (Strix uralensis) and the consequences of these decisions on parents and offspring. The Ural owl is a suitable study species for such studies in natural populations since they are long-lived, site-tenacious, and feed on voles. The vole populations in Fennoscandia fluctuate in three- to four-year cycles, which create a variable food environment for the Ural owls to cope with. The thesis gives new insight in reproductive costs and their consequences in natural animal populations with emphasis on underlying physiological mechanisms. I found that supplementary fed Ural owl parents invest supplemented food resources during breeding in own self-maintenance instead of allocating those resources to offspring growth. This investment in own maintenance instead of improving current reproduction had carry-over effects to the following year in terms of increased reproductive output. Therefore, I found evidence that reduced reproductive costs improves future reproductive performance. Furthermore, I found evidence for the underlying mechanism behind this carry-over effect of supplementary food on fecundity. The supplementary-fed parents reduced their feeding investment in the offspring compared to controls, which enabled the fed female parents to invest the surplus resources in parasite resistance. Fed female parents had lower blood parasite loads than control females and this effect lasted until the following year when also reproductive output was increased. Hence, increased investment in parasite resistance when resources are plentiful has the potential to mediate positive carry-over effects on future reproduction. I further found that this carry-over effect was only present when potentials for future reproduction were good. The thesis also provides new knowledge on resource limitation on maternal effects. I found that increased resources prior to egg laying improve the condition and health of Ural owl females and enable them to allocate more resources to reproduction than control females. These additional resources are not allocated to increase the number of offspring, but instead to improve the quality of each offspring. Fed Ural owl females increased the size of their eggs and allocated more health improving immunological components into the eggs. Furthermore, the increased egg size had long-lasting effects on offspring growth, as offspring from larger eggs were heavier at fledging. Limiting resources can have different short- and long-term consequences on reproductive decisions that affect both offspring number and quality. In long-lived organisms, such as the Ural owl, it appears to be beneficial in terms of fitness to invest in long breeding life-span instead of additional investment in current reproduction. In Ural owls, females can influence the phenotypic quality of the offspring by transferring additional resources to the eggs that can have long-lasting effects on growth.

The Protection of Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources: The Role of Databases and Registers

"The Protection of Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources: The Role of Databases and Registers" ABSTRACT Yovana Reyes Tagle The misappropriation of TK has sparked a search for national and international laws to govern the use of indigenous peoples knowledge and protection against its commercial exploitation. There is a widespread perception that biopiracy or illegal access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK) continues despite national and regional efforts to address this concern. The purpose of this research is to address the question of how documentation of TK through databases and registers could protect TK, in light of indigenous peoples increasing demands to control their knowledge and benefit from its use. Throughout the international debate over the protection of TK, various options have been brought up and discussed. At its core, the discussion over the legal protection of TK comes down to these issues: 1) The doctrinal question: What is protection of TK? 2) The methodological question: How can protection of TK be achieved? 3) The legal question: What should be protected? And 4) The policy questions: Who has rights and how should they be implemented? What kind of rights should indigenous peoples have over their TK? What are the central concerns the TK databases want to solve? The acceptance of TK databases and registers may bring with it both opportunities and dangers. How can the rights of indigenous peoples over their documented knowledge be assured? Documentation of TK was envisaged as a means to protect TK, but there are concerns about how documented TK can be protected from misappropriation. The methodology used in this research seeks to contribute to the understanding of the protection of TK. The steps taken in this research attempt to describe and to explain a) what has been done to protect TK through databases and registers, b) how this protection is taking place, and c) why the establishment of TK databases can or cannot be useful for the protection of TK. The selected case studies (Peru and Venezuela) seek to illustrate the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of the establishment of TK databases, which entail not only legal but also political, socio-economic and cultural issues. The study offers some conclusions and recommendations that have emerged after reviewing the national experiences, international instruments, work of international organizations, and indigenous peoples perspectives. This thesis concludes that if TK is to be protected from disclosure and unauthorized use, confidential databases are required. Finally, the TK database strategy needs to be strengthened by the legal protection of the TK itself.

Customer asset management in action: using customers portfolio for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value

Suvi Nenonen Customer asset management in action: using customer portfolios for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value Customers are crucial assets to all firms as customers are the ultimate source of all cash flows. Regardless this financial importance of customer relationships, for decades there has been a lack of suitable frameworks explaining how customer relationships contribute to the firm financial performance and how this contribution can be actively managed. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the customer asset, contemporary marketing has investigated the use of financial theories and asset management practices in the customer relationship context. Building on this, marketing academics have promoted the customer lifetime value concept as a solution for valuating and managing customer relationships for optimal financial outcomes. However, the empirical investigation of customer asset management lags behind the conceptual development steps taken. Additionally, the practitioners have not embraced the use of customer lifetime value in guiding managerial decisions - especially in the business-to-business context. The thesis points out that there are fundamental differences between customer relationships and investment instruments as investment targets, effectively eliminating the possibility to use financial theories in a customer relationships context or to optimize the customer base as a single investment portfolio. As an alternative, the thesis proposes the use of customer portfolio approach for allocating resources across the customer base for improved shareholder value. In the customer portfolio approach, the customer base of a firm is divided into multiple portfolios based on customer relationships’ potential to contribute to the shareholder value creation. After this, customer management concepts are tailored to each customer portfolio, designed to improve the shareholder value in their own respect. Therefore, effective customer asset management with the customer portfolio approach necessitates that firms are able to manage multiple parallel customer management concepts, or business models, simultaneously. The thesis is one of the first empirical studies on customer asset management, bringing empirical evidence from multiple business-to-business case studies on how customer portfolio models can be formed, how customer portfolios can be managed, and how customer asset management has contributed to the firm financial performance.

Customer asset management in action: using customers portfolio for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value

Suvi Nenonen Customer asset management in action: using customer portfolios for allocating resources across business-to-business relationships for improved shareholder value Customers are crucial assets to all firms as customers are the ultimate source of all cash flows. Regardless this financial importance of customer relationships, for decades there has been a lack of suitable frameworks explaining how customer relationships contribute to the firm financial performance and how this contribution can be actively managed. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the customer asset, contemporary marketing has investigated the use of financial theories and asset management practices in the customer relationship context. Building on this, marketing academics have promoted the customer lifetime value concept as a solution for valuating and managing customer relationships for optimal financial outcomes. However, the empirical investigation of customer asset management lags behind the conceptual development steps taken. Additionally, the practitioners have not embraced the use of customer lifetime value in guiding managerial decisions - especially in the business-to-business context. The thesis points out that there are fundamental differences between customer relationships and investment instruments as investment targets, effectively eliminating the possibility to use financial theories in a customer relationships context or to optimize the customer base as a single investment portfolio. As an alternative, the thesis proposes the use of customer portfolio approach for allocating resources across the customer base for improved shareholder value. In the customer portfolio approach, the customer base of a firm is divided into multiple portfolios based on customer relationships’ potential to contribute to the shareholder value creation. After this, customer management concepts are tailored to each customer portfolio, designed to improve the shareholder value in their own respect. Therefore, effective customer asset management with the customer portfolio approach necessitates that firms are able to manage multiple parallel customer management concepts, or business models, simultaneously. The thesis is one of the first empirical studies on customer asset management, bringing empirical evidence from multiple business-to-business case studies on how customer portfolio models can be formed, how customer portfolios can be managed, and how customer asset management has contributed to the firm financial performance.