Virtual communities : a virtual treasure trove for end-user developers

End-user development is a very common but often largely overlooked phenomenon in information systems research and practice. End-user development means that regular people, the end-users of software, and not professional developers are doing software development. A large number of people are directly or indirectly impacted by the results of these non-professional development activities. The numbers of users performing end-user development activities are difficult to ascertain precisely. But it is very large, and still growing. Computer adoption is growing towards 100% and many new types of computational devices are continually introduced. In addition, other devices not previously programmable are becoming so. This means that, at this very moment, hundreds of millions of people are likely struggling with development problems. Furthermore, software itself is continually being adapted for more flexibility, enabling users to change the behaviour of their software themselves. New software and services are helping to transform users from consumers to producers. Much of this is now found on-line. The problem for the end-user developer is that little of this development is supported by anyone. Often organisations do not notice end-user development and consequently neither provide support for it, nor are equipped to be able to do so. Many end-user developers do not belong to any organisation at all. Also, the end-user development process may be aggravating the problem. End-users are usually not really committed to the development process, which tends to be more iterative and ad hoc. This means support becomes a distant third behind getting the job done and figuring out the development issues to get the job done. Sometimes the software itself may exacerbate the issue by simplifying the development process, deemphasising the difficulty of the task being undertaken. On-line support could be the lifeline the end-user developer needs. Going online one can find all the knowledge one could ever need. However, that does still not help the end-user apply this information or knowledge in practice. A virtual community, through its ability to adopt the end-user’s specific context, could surmount this final obstacle. This thesis explores the concept of end-user development and how it could be supported through on-line sources, in particular virtual communities, which it is argued here, seem to fit the end-user developer’s needs very well. The experiences of real end-user developers and prior literature were used in this process. Emphasis has been on those end-user developers, e.g. small business owners, who may have literally nowhere to turn to for support. Adopting the viewpoint of the end-user developer, the thesis examines the question of how an end-user could use a virtual community effectively, improving the results of the support process. Assuming the common situation where the demand for support outstrips the supply.

Assessment of genetic diversity using RAPD analysis in a germplasm collection of sea buckthorn

Selostus: Tyrnin geneettisen monimuotoisuuden arviointi RAPD analyysillä

Changes in the contents of kaempherol, quercetin and L-ascorbic acid in sea buckthorn berries during maturation

Selostus: Tyrnin marjojen kamferoli-, kversetiini- ja L-askorbiinihappopitoisuuksien muutokset kypsymisen aikana

A General Chart of the Baltic or East Sea, including the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland compiled from the Surveys - [Overview]

London : W. Faden 1803

Roundwood shipping in the Baltic Sea region

Itämeren liikenteen on ennustettu kasvavan voimakkaasti tulevaisuudessa. Metsäteollisuus toimialana on kuitenkin syklinen. Tällä hetkellä raakapuun tuonti Suomeen on hienoisessa nousussa, kun taas Ruotsissa tuonnin alamäki jatkuu. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli kuvata ja arvioida raakapuun merikuljetuksia Itämeren alueella. Tutkimuksessa esitetään keskeisimmät raakapuun materiaalivirrat Itämerellä ja kuvataan satamatekniikan ja alustyypin valinnan vaikutusta, kun tavoitteena on saavuttaa tehokas raakapuun kuljetusketju. Tutkimuksen merkittävin tulos on teoreettinen edestakaisen matkan laskentamalli, jonka on tarkoitus kuvata aluskohtaista kustannustehokkuutta sekä kapasiteettia tietyllä laivausreitillä. Malli sopii käytettäväksi varsinaisen linjaliikenteen reittisuunnittelun perustana.

Assessment of Coastal Bird Populations and Habitats on the Finnish Coast of the Baltic Sea: Implications for Monitoring and Management

Coastal birds are an integral part of coastal ecosystems, which nowadays are subject to severe environmental pressures. Effective measures for the management and conservation of seabirds and their habitats call for insight into their population processes and the factors affecting their distribution and abundance. Central to national and international management and conservation measures is the availability of accurate data and information on bird populations, as well as on environmental trends and on measures taken to solve environmental problems. In this thesis I address different aspects of the occurrence, abundance, population trends and breeding success of waterbirds breeding on the Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea, and discuss the implications of the results for seabird monitoring, management and conservation. In addition, I assess the position and prospects of coastal bird monitoring data, in the processing and dissemination of biodiversity data and information in accordance with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other national and international commitments. I show that important factors for seabird habitat selection are island area and elevation, water depth, shore openness, and the composition of island cover habitats. Habitat preferences are species-specific, with certain similarities within species groups. The occurrence of the colonial Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) is partly affected by different habitat characteristics than its abundance. Using long-term bird monitoring data, I show that eutrophication and winter severity have reduced the populations of several Finnish seabird species. A major demographic factor through which environmental changes influence bird populations is breeding success. Breeding success can function as a more rapid indicator of sublethal environmental impacts than population trends, particularly for long-lived and slowbreeding species, and should therefore be included in coastal bird monitoring schemes. Among my target species, local breeding success can be shown to affect the populations of the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), the Eider (Somateria mollissima) and the Goosander (Mergus merganser) after a time lag corresponding to their species-specific recruitment age. For some of the target species, the number of individuals in late summer can be used as an easier and more cost-effective indicator of breeding success than brood counts. My results highlight that the interpretation and application of habitat and population studies require solid background knowledge of the ecology of the target species. In addition, the special characteristics of coastal birds, their habitats, and coastal bird monitoring data have to be considered in the assessment of their distribution and population trends. According to the results, the relationships between the occurrence, abundance and population trends of coastal birds and environmental factors can be quantitatively assessed using multivariate modelling and model selection. Spatial data sets widely available in Finland can be utilised in the calculation of several variables that are relevant to the habitat selection of Finnish coastal species. Concerning some habitat characteristics field work is still required, due to a lack of remotely sensed data or the low resolution of readily available data in relation to the fine scale of the habitat patches in the archipelago. While long-term data sets exist for water quality and weather, the lack of data concerning for instance the food resources of birds hampers more detailed studies of environmental effects on bird populations. Intensive studies of coastal bird species in different archipelago areas should be encouraged. The provision and free delivery of high-quality coastal data concerning bird populations and their habitats would greatly increase the capability of ecological modelling, as well as the management and conservation of coastal environments and communities. International initiatives that promote open spatial data infrastructures and sharing are therefore highly regarded. To function effectively, international information networks, such as the biodiversity Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) under the CBD, need to be rooted at regional and local levels. Attention should also be paid to the processing of data for higher levels of the information hierarchy, so that data are synthesized and developed into high-quality knowledge applicable to management and conservation.

Sea pieces, Op. 55

Soitinnus: Piano.