BUSINESS CONCEPTS OF MOBILE VALUE-ADDED SERVICES FROM OPERATOR’S POINT OF VIEW

Tämä diplomityö on tehty Lappeenrannassa Telecom Business Research Centerin 5T-projektiin liittyen. Työssä tutkitaan matkaviestinnän lisäarvopalveluiden liiketoimintakonsepteja operaattoreiden näkökulmasta. Lisäarvopalvelut laajentavat operaattoreiden palveluvalikoimaa. Niiden osuuden telekommunikaatioalan yritysten ja erityisesti operaattoreiden tuotoista on ennustettu kasvavan huomattavasti. Työn tärkeimpänä tavoitteena on tuoda uusia näkökulmia ja lisätä ymmärrystä lisäarvopalveluiden liiketoimintakonseptin rakentamisprosessista. Tätä tietämystä käytetään edesauttamaan työn empiirisessä osuudessa tutkitun Content Gateway -tuotteen liiketoimintaa. Tarjoamalla nopean liitynnän ja laskutuskanavan ulkopuolisten palveluntarjoajien ja operaattorin välille tämä tuote mahdollistaa operaattorille ja palveluntarjoajille lisäarvopalveluiden liiketoiminnan käynnistämisen. Lisäarvopalveluiden arvonluontiprosessi vaatii lukuisia yhteistyötä tekeviä osapuolia, joiden yhteistoiminta on dynaamista ja tiedonvälitys avointa, interaktiivista ja nopeaa. Arvonluontiin liittyy myös monia konvergoituvia kehityssuuntia. Perinteinen arvoketjuajattelu on riittämätön uuteen, verkottuneeseen toimintaympäristöön ja sen tilalle on tullut modernimpi arvoverkostomalli. Arvoverkosto luo kilpailuetunsa muita verkostoja vastaan jakamalla resurssit ja kompetenssit optimaalisesti ja liittämällä strategisen ja operationaalisen johtamisen kulttuurit toisiinsa. Tässä työssä verrataan arvoverkoston teoreettisia tavoitteita kahteen lisäarvopalveluiden liiketoimintakonseptiin. Näistä ensimmäinen, i-mode –niminen konsepti on valittu vertailuun edistyksellisyytensä ja tulevaa kehitystä ennakoivien ominaispiirteidensä vuoksi. Toinen esimerkkikonsepti on rakennettu edellä mainitun Content Gateway -tuotteen ympärille. Tutkimus sisältää mm. liikekumppaneiden hankinnan, ansaintalogiikoiden ja verkostojen johtamisen analysoinnin. Työn tuloksena on saatu ohjeita siihen, miten operaattori voi rakentaa tällaista konseptia ja mitä seikkoja tulee ottaa huomioon erityisesti sanomapalveluihin liittyvässä liiketoiminnassa.

Epidemiological studies of childhood and adolescence headache

The main purpose of this study was to examine the changes in the prevalence, incidence, and characteristics of headache in childhood and adolescence. In addition, the predictors of the change in the occurrence of childhood headache and the association between adolescent headache and behavior were studied. The occurrence and characteristics of headache were investigated as part of a prospective follow-up study, where 6-year-old children and their families (n=1132) were followed to the age of 12-years (n=1126). The study design entailed both a cohort and case-control group. The incidence of headache and the association between headache and behavior were studied in another cohort, consisting of 11-year-old twins (n=5393), who were followed to the age of 17 (n=4159). The prevalence rates of headache increased during the follow-up, especially in boys whose mothers suffered from frequent headache. The incidence rates of frequent headache changed the most in girls between ages of 11 and 14. Early-onset migraine and tension-type headache were equal predictors of migraine at age 12. The age-related changes observed in pain localization, concurrent symptoms and triggers were considerable. Headache frequency was significantly associated with externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors and adaptive behaviors as rated by parents, but only with externalizing problem behaviors as rated by teachers. Headache both in children and adolescents is characterized by its changing nature. Its prevention and treatment should take familial, environmental and psychosocial aspects into account.

THE MARKETING OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: Understanding the concepts of marketing and market orientation of social enterprises within the context of Pakistani market

The concepts of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises have been extensively discussed in the previous two decades, yet the topic is still not matured yet. Most of the available literature is focused on defining these terms. Similarly, limited number of authors has discussed the marketing function of these enterprises or how marketing is interpreted in social entrepreneurship models. However, there is a plethora of literature on marketing entailing many different theories, amongst which the newest one is the “market orientation concept”. Market orientation is a mix of customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination suggesting marketing to be a part of the business philosophy. This study focuses on the marketing and market orientation of social enterprises while giving an overview of the literature of marketing and market orientation in social enterprises. This study aims to provide two basic questions, 1) what is the literature on marketing and market orientation of social enterprises while explaining the literature of social enterprises in Pakistan and 2) how these concepts are interpreted in social enterprises in Pakistani market. Key features of research methodology include case study approach while conducting thematic analysis using thematic networks. The results indicate that only a limited number of authors have discussed market orientation concept in social enterprises. The results from the interview data indicate the usage of marketing by a firm unconsciously without a specific marketing department. In addition to that, it has been found that in social enterprise world competition is tackled through a win-win approach with a view that many enterprises working for society improve the society which is the basic mission of any social enterprise. The data also showed that in Pakistani market, social enterprise concept is not legally used yet, which allows for more room for innovation. This study intends to give a new perspective to the theorists to use market orientation concept in social enterprises and also to managers to use marketing as their business philosophy in order to satisfy the stakeholders for better delivery of their businesses and as well for social good.

Health Related Quality of Life after Childhood Cancer - A Finnish Nationwide survey

The purpose of this Finnish epidemiological nationwide cross-sectional study was to evaluate the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) of young people that have survived childhood cancer at least four years after cancer diagnosis. The study aims were (1) to increase knowledge and understanding about the relationship between childhood cancer and its treatment and HRQL of childhood cancer survivors and (2) to identify survivors who need and could benefit from ongoing long-term follow-up, as well as (3) to identify what kind of aftercare the childhood cancer survivors will possibly need. HRQL and fatigue of currently still young survivors of extracranial childhood malignancies were evaluated with self-reports and parent proxy reports. HRQL was measured with age-appropriate generic instruments: PedsQL™, SF-36, 15D, 16D and 17D. Fatigue for children and adolescents aged below 18 years was measured with the PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale Finnish version. PedsQL™ parent-proxy and the PedsQL™ Multidimensional Fatigue Scale Parentproxy instruments were used to assess the perception of the parents on HRQL and fatigue of their children and adolescents. Postal-survey questionnaires were mailed to 852 childhood cancer survivors aged 11-27 years and their randomly selected gender-, age and living-place matched controls, as well as under 18-year-old children´s parents. A total of 474 survivors, 595 controls, 209 survivor’s parent and 253 control’s parent replied. The mean age of survivors at the time of the study was 18.4 years. The mean length of survival was 12.3 years, and the mean age at diagnosis 5.5 years. The most of the Finnish childhood cancer survivors evaluated that their HRQL as good. Survivors rated their HRQL equal or higher than their controls. The only dimension where the survivors scored poorer than the controls was the 15D mobility dimension. Survivors of childhood cancer did not suffer from significant fatigue. There were subgroups of childhood cancer survivors who had poorer level of HRQL, and suffered from fatigue more than the reference group. The demographic factors that associated with poorer HRQL were female gender, greater weight, living alone, need of remedial education, an additional non-cancer diagnosis, survivors with siblings, and self-reported unhappiness. Disease-related factors that associated with poorer HRQL were higher age at the time of diagnosis, the diagnosis of Wilms tumor, neuroblastoma, or osteosarcoma, and treatment with stem cell transplantation. The factors associated with more fatigue in survivors were male gender, older age at evaluation, the need of remedial education at school, lower overall average grade in the latest school marks report, length of survival more than 10 years, lower HRQL-scores, and a sarcoma diagnosis. However, all the used demographic and disease related factors explained only about one third of the variation in the HRQL scores. In open questions, the survivors were most worried about their physical health, but were also worried about their mental health, cancer inheritance, late-effects, and fertility and relapse issues. It seems that there are subgroups of survivors who need and could benefit from ongoing long-term follow-up. In the future, the survivors of childhood cancer need more information about their physical and mental health, as well as on their cancer inheritance, possible late-effects including fertility issues, and on the risk of relapse.

Administration of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 and xylitol with a novel pacifier in early childhood

Probiotic bifidobacteria are used in the prevention and treatment of childhood diseases. On the other hand, these bacteria are also connected to dental caries. The purpose of the present work was to test a food supplement containing Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 (B. lactis BB-12) and xylitol, and to investigate its health effects, properties and safety when used in a novel pacifier in early childhood. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, newborn infants (n=163) were assigned randomly to receive B. lactis BB-12, xylitol, or sorbitol from the age of 1– 2 monthsto 2 years with a pacifier or a spoon. Children were followed up to four years of age. A part of the parents participating in the clinical trial evaluated the feasibility of the novel administration method. The pattern of tablet release from the pouch of the pacifier was tested in adults. The food supplement tablet containing B. lactis BB-12 and xylitol could be delivered in a safe and controlled way with the novel pacifier. The early administration of B. lactis BB-12 did not result in permanent oral colonization of this probiotic or affect the colonization of mutans streptococci in early childhood. Moreover, B. lactis BB-12 did not increase the occurrence of caries. Controlled administration of B. lactis BB-12 significantly reduced the incidence of respiratory infections during the first eight months of life in a Finnish population with breastfed infants. To conclude, administration of B. lactis BB-12 in early childhood is safe with regard to the future dental health of the child. In addition, B. lactis BB-12 may add to the protection against respiratory infections provided by human breast milk in infancy.

Methods of Telecommunication Technology Forecasting

This master's thesis coversthe concepts of knowledge discovery, data mining and technology forecasting methods in telecommunications. It covers the various aspects of knowledge discoveryin data bases and discusses in detail the methods of data mining and technologyforecasting methods that are used in telecommunications. Main concern in the overall process of this thesis is to emphasize the methods that are being used in technology forecasting for telecommunications and data mining. It tries to answer to some extent to the question of do forecasts create a future? It also describes few difficulties that arise in technology forecasting. This thesis was done as part of my master's studies in Lappeenranta University of Technology.

Utilisation of Statistics in Intelligent Web Applications

Web-portaalien aiheenmukaista luokittelua voidaan hyödyntää tunnistamaan käyttäjän kiinnostuksen kohteet keräämällä tilastotietoa hänen selaustottumuksistaan eri kategorioissa. Tämä diplomityö käsittelee web-sovelluksien osa-alueita, joissa kerättyä tilastotietoa voidaan hyödyntää personalisoinnissa. Yleisperiaatteet sisällön personalisoinnista, Internet-mainostamisesta ja tiedonhausta selitetään matemaattisia malleja käyttäen. Lisäksi työssä kuvaillaan yleisluontoiset ominaisuudet web-portaaleista sekä tilastotiedon keräämiseen liittyvät seikat.

Development of FDI Climate in Russia and Estonia in the Post-Soviet Era

Tämän diplomityön tavoite on selvittää Venäjän ja Viron investointi-ilmapiirien kehitystä suorien ulkomaisten investointien osalta. Tarkastelujakson pituus on Neuvostoliiton hajoamisesta tähän päivään. Työn teoriaosassa käydään läpi suoran ulkomaisen investoinnin määritelmä ja siihen liittyviä teorioita sekä investointi-ilmapiirin käsite ja osatekijät. Venäjälle ja Viroon tulleiden suorien ulkomaisten investointien vuosittaista kehitystä tarkastellaan empiirisen osan alussa. Diplomityön loppuosassa käydään läpi erilaisia taloustieteellisiä mittareita, jotka kuvaavat investointi-ilmapiirin tai ainakin joidenkin sen osatekijöiden kehittymistä. Kyseisiä mittareita on lopulta verrattu investointivirtoihin ja samalla on etsitty mahdollisia korrelaatioita. Mittarit paljastavat eroja Venäjän ja Viron investointi-ilmapiirien kehityksissä. Ne selittivät ainakin osittain suorienulkomaisten investointien virtoja Venäjälle ja Viroon.

In Search of Corporate Renewal: How to Benefit from Corporate Venturing?

Despite the rapid change in today's business environment there are relatively few studies about corporate renewal. This study aims for its part at filling that research gap by studying the concepts of strategy, corporate renewal, innovation and corporate venturing. Its purpose is to enhance our understanding of how established companies operating in dynamic and global environment can benefit from their corporate venturing activities. The theoretical part approaches the research problem in corporate and venture levels. Firstly, it focuses on mapping the determinants of strategy and suggests using industry, location, resources, knowledge, structure and culture, market, technology and business model to assess the environment and using these determinants to optimize speed and magnitude of change.Secondly, it concludes that the choice of innovation strategy is dependent on the type and dimensions of innovation and suggests assessing market, technology, business model as well as novelty and complexity related to each of them for choosing an optimal context for developing innovations further. Thirdly, it directsattention on processes through which corporate renewal takes place. On corporate level these processes are identified as strategy formulation, strategy formation and strategy implementation. On the venture level the renewal processes are identified as learning, leveraging and nesting. The theoretical contribution of this study, the framework of strategic corporate venturing, joins corporate and venture level management issues together and concludes that strategy processes and linking processes are the mechanism through which continuous corporate renewaltakes place. The framework of strategic corporate venturing proposed by this study is a new way to illustrate the role of corporate venturing as a purposefullybuilt, different view of a company's business environment. The empirical part extended the framework by enhancing our understanding of the link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing in its real life environment in three Finnish companies: Metso, Nokia and TeliaSonera. Characterizing companies' environmentwith the determinants of strategy identified in this study provided a structured way to analyze their competitive position and renewal challenges that they arefacing. More importantly the case studies confirmed that a link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing exists and found out that the link is not as straight forward as indicated by the theory. Furthermore, the case studies enhanced the framework by indicating a sequence according to which the processes work. Firstly, the induced strategy processes strategy formulation and strategy implementation set the scene for corporate venturing context and management processes and leave strategy formation for the venture. Only after that can strategies formed by ventures come back to the corporate level - and if found viable in the corporate level be formalized through formulation and implementation. With the help of the framework of strategic corporate venturing the link between corporaterenewal and corporate venturing can be found and managed. The suggested response to the continuous need for change is continuous renewal i.e. institutionalizing corporate renewal in the strategy processes of the company. As far as benefiting from venturing is concerned the answer lies in deliberately managing venturing in a context different to the mainstream businesses and establishing efficientlinking processes to exploit the renewal potential of individual ventures.

Converter-flux-based current control of voltage source PWM rectifiers - analysis and implementation

Pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) rectifier technology is increasingly used in industrial applications like variable-speed motor drives, since it offers several desired features such as sinusoidal input currents, controllable power factor, bidirectional power flow and high quality DC output voltage. To achieve these features,however, an effective control system with fast and accurate current and DC voltage responses is required. From various control strategies proposed to meet these control objectives, in most cases the commonly known principle of the synchronous-frame current vector control along with some space-vector PWM scheme have been applied. Recently, however, new control approaches analogous to the well-established direct torque control (DTC) method for electrical machines have also emerged to implement a high-performance PWM rectifier. In this thesis the concepts of classical synchronous-frame current control and DTC-based PWM rectifier control are combined and a new converter-flux-based current control (CFCC) scheme is introduced. To achieve sufficient dynamic performance and to ensure a stable operation, the proposed control system is thoroughly analysed and simple rules for the controller design are suggested. Special attention is paid to the estimationof the converter flux, which is the key element of converter-flux-based control. Discrete-time implementation is also discussed. Line-voltage-sensorless reactive reactive power control methods for the L- and LCL-type line filters are presented. For the L-filter an open-loop control law for the d-axis current referenceis proposed. In the case of the LCL-filter the combined open-loop control and feedback control is proposed. The influence of the erroneous filter parameter estimates on the accuracy of the developed control schemes is also discussed. A newzero vector selection rule for suppressing the zero-sequence current in parallel-connected PWM rectifiers is proposed. With this method a truly standalone and independent control of the converter units is allowed and traditional transformer isolation and synchronised-control-based solutions are avoided. The implementation requires only one additional current sensor. The proposed schemes are evaluated by the simulations and laboratory experiments. A satisfactory performance and good agreement between the theory and practice are demonstrated.

Analytical Study on the Influence of Geometrical Parameters on the Fatigue Strength of Welds with Undercuts

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of geometric parameters on the fatigue strength of the welded joint. The thesis includes the analytical study pertaining to variation of undercut and the weld toe radius. The theoretical part includes the concepts of fracture mechanics, different stages of the crack propagation and finally the results. The numerical results are obtained from FRANC2D/L. The results show that the fatigue strength of the welded structure depends on the parameters of the welds such as the weld toe radius, weld angle, height of the undercut and plate thickness. The results show that the fatigue life can be improved by having the undercut as minimum as possible. However there has been significant variation on the fatigue life of the structure when the weld toe radius is increased.

Investigation and data adaptive analysis of CARS spectra

In this diploma work advantages of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectrometry (CARS) and various methods of the quantitative analysis of substance structure with its help are considered. The basic methods and concepts of the adaptive analysis are adduced. On the basis of these methods the algorithm of automatic measurement of a scattering strip size of a target component in CARS spectrum is developed. The algorithm uses known full spectrum of target substance and compares it with a CARS spectrum. The form of a differential spectrum is used as a feedback to control the accuracy of matching. To exclude the influence of a background in CARS spectra the differential spectrum is analysed by means of its second derivative. The algorithm is checked up on the simulated simple spectra and on the spectra of organic compounds received experimentally.

The grammar of psychosis

This thesis is concerned with the philosophical grammar of certain psychiatric concepts, which play a central role in delineating the field of psychiatric work. The concepts studied are ‘psychosis’, ‘delusion’, ‘person’, ‘understanding’ and ‘incomprehensibility’. The purpose of this conceptual analysis is to provide a more perspicuous view of the logic of these concepts, how psychiatric work is constituted in relation to them, and what this tells us about the relationships between the conceptual and the empirical in psychiatric concepts. The method used in the thesis is indebted primarily to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s conception of philosophy, where we are urged to look at language uses in relation to practices in order to obtain a clearer overview of practices of interest; this will enable us to resolve the conceptual problems related to these practices. This questioning takes as its starting point the concept of psychosis, a central psychiatric concept during the twentieth century. The conceptual analysis of ‘psychosis’ shows that the concept is logically dependent on the concepts of ‘understanding’ and ‘person’. Following the lead found in this analysis, the logic of person-concepts in psychiatric discourse is analysed by a detailed textual analysis of a psychiatric journal article. The main finding is the ambiguous uses of ‘person’, enabling a specifically psychiatric form of concern in human affairs. The grammar of ‘understanding’ is then tackled from the opposite end, by exploring the logic of the concept of ‘incomprehensibility’. First, by studying the DSM-IV definition of delusion it is shown that its ambiguities boil down to the question of whether psychiatric practice is better accounted for in terms of the grammar of ‘incorrectness’ or ‘incomprehensibility’. Second, the grammar of ‘incomprehensibility’ is further focused on by introducing the distinction between positive and negative conceptions of ‘incomprehensibility’. The main finding is that this distinction has wide-ranging implications for our understanding of psychiatric concepts. Finally, some of the findings gained in these studies are ‘put into practice’ in studying the more practical question of the conceptual and ethical problems associated with the concept of ‘prodromal symptom of schizophrenia’ and the agenda of early detection and intervention in schizophrenia more generally.