Análisis de los apoyos que reciben los jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual en su transición a la vida adulta en España: una investigación a partir de experiencias de profesionales y personas con discapacidad = Analysis of support received by young people with intellectual disabilities in their transition to adulthood in Spain: an investigation based on the experiences of professionals and people with disabilities

The objective of this study is to gather information regarding the adaptation of the range of socio educational projects and services aimed at the transition to an adult life of young persons with intellectual disabilities in Spain. The research of the study has been done in three stages. During each stage, a specific tool has been used. One to one in-depth interviews have been undertaken with 45 professionals and 20 individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Delphi method has been applied to two panels consisting of 20 experts each. Firstly, results focus on the approach to different issues related to the devices. Secondly, the training opportunities that these individuals receive to ease the transition period is addressed. And finally, the study refers to the participation of the individuals themselves and their families in the process. The developed analysis allows us to propose strategies to improve the transition to adult life

Experimental analysis of optimization techniques on the road passenger transportation problem

Analyzing the state of the art in a given field in order to tackle a new problem is always a mandatory task. Literature provides surveys based on summaries of previous studies, which are often based on theoretical descriptions of the methods. An engineer, however, requires some evidence from experimental evaluations in order to make the appropriate decision when selecting a technique for a problem. This is what we have done in this paper: experimentally analyzed a set of representative state-of-the-art techniques in the problem we are dealing with, namely, the road passenger transportation problem. This is an optimization problem in which drivers should be assigned to transport services, fulfilling some constraints and minimizing some function cost. The experimental results have provided us with good knowledge of the properties of several methods, such as modeling expressiveness, anytime behavior, computational time, memory requirements, parameters, and free downloadable tools. Based on our experience, we are able to choose a technique to solve our problem. We hope that this analysis is also helpful for other engineers facing a similar problem

Managing regulatory risks when outsourcing network-related services in the electricity distribution sector

Deregulation of the electricity sector liberated the electricity sale and production for competitive forces while in the network business, electricity transmission and distribution, natural monopoly positions were recognised. Deregulation was accompanied by efficiencyoriented thinking on the whole electricity supply industry. For electricity distribution this meant a transition from a public service towards profit-driven business guided by economic regulation. Regulation is the primary means to enforce societal and other goals in the regulated monopoly sector. The design of economic regulation is concerned with two main attributes; end-customer price and quality of electricity distribution services. Regulation limits the costs of the regulated company but also defines the desired quality of monopoly services. The characteristics of the regulatory framework and the incentives it provides are therefore decisive for the electricity distribution sector. Regulation is not a static factor; changes in the regulatory practices cause discontinuity points, which in turn generate risks. A variety of social and environmental concerns together with technological advancements have emphasised the relevance of quality regulation, which is expected to lead to the large-scale replacement of overhead lines with underground cables. The electricity network construction activity is therefore currently witnessing revolutionary changes in its competitive landscape. In a business characterised by high statutory involvement and a high level of sunk costs, recognising and understanding the regulatory risks becomes a key success factor. As a response, electricity distribution companies have turned into outsourcing to attain efficiency and quality goals. This doctoral thesis addresses the impacts of regulatory risks on electricity network construction, which is a commonly outsourced activity in the electricity distribution network sector. The chosen research approach is characterised as an action analytical research on account of the fact that regulatory risks are greatly dependent on the individual nature of the regulatory regime applied in the electricity distribution sector. The main contribution of this doctoral thesis is to develop a concept for recognising and managing the business risks stemming from economic regulation. The degree of outsourcing in the sector is expected to increase in years to come. The results of the research provide new knowledge to manage the regulatory risks when outsourcing services.

Shared and not shared : Providing repository services on a national level

Presentation at the Open Repositories 2012 conference

Music digitalization and its effects on the Finnish music industry stakeholders

For the past two decades the music digitalization has been considered the most significant phenomenon in the music industry as the physical sales have been decreasing rapidly. The advancement of the digital technology and the internet have facilitated the digitalization in the music industry and affected all stages of the music value chain, namely music creation, distribution and consumption. The newly created consumer culture has led to the establishment of novel business models such as music subscriptions and à-la-carte downloads websites and live streaming. The dynamic digital environment has presented the music industry stakeholders with the challenge to adapt to the requirements of the constantly changing modern consumers’ needs and demands. The purpose of this study was to identify how music digitalization can influence change in the Finnish music industry value chain; i.e. how digitalization affects the music industry stakeholders, their functions and inter-relatedness and how the stakeholders are able to react to the changes in the industry. The study was conducted as a qualitative research based entirely on primary data in the form of semi-structured interviews with experts from different units of the Finnish music industry value chain. Since the study offers assessment of diverse viewpoints on the value chain, it further provides an integrated picture of the Finnish music industry current situation and its competitive environment. The results suggest that the music industry is currently in a turbulent stage of experimentation with new business models and digital innovations. However, at this point it is impossible to determine which business model will be approved by the consumers in the longer run. Nevertheless, the study confirmed the claim that consumption of music in its digital form is to become dominant over the traditional physical copies sales in the nearest future. As a result the music industry is becoming more user-oriented; that is the focus is shifting from music production towards artist branding and management and visibility to the audience. Furthermore, the music industry is undergoing the process of integration with other industries such as media, social networks, internet services providers and mobile phone manufacturers in order to better fulfill the consumers’ needs. The previously underrated live music and merchandising are also increasing their significance for the revenues in the stagnant music markets. Therefore, the music industry is developing at present towards becoming an integrated entertainment industry deeply penetrating every point of modern people’s leisure activities.

The value of digitalization of services in the new service development

The purpose of this thesis is to study factors that have an impact on the company’s capabilities to identify and analyze the value of digitalization of services during the early stages of service development process and evaluate them from the perspective of a case company. The research problem was defined: “How digitalization of services affects delivering the services of the future?” The research method of this thesis was based on the qualitative case study which aimed to study both company’s and customer’s set of values. The study included a literature review and a development study. The empirical research part consisted of analyzing three existing services, specifying a new digital service concept and its feasibility analysis as part of a business requirement phase. To understand the set of values, 10 stakeholder interviews were conducted and earlier customer surveys were utilized, and additionally, a number of meetings were conducted with the case company representatives to develop service concept, and evaluate the findings. The impact of the early stages of service development process discovered to reflect directly in the capabilities of the case company to identify and create customer value were related to the themes presented in the literature review. In order to specify the value achieved from the digitalization the following areas of strategic background elements were deepened during the study: Innovations, customer understanding and business service. Based on the findings, the study aims to enhance the case company’s capability to identify and evaluate the impact of the digitalization in delivering services of the future. Recognizing the value of digital service before the beginning of the development project is important to the businesses of both customer and provider. By exploring the various levels of digitalization one can get the overall picture of the value gained from utilizing digital opportunities. From the development perspective, the process of reviewing and discovering the most promising opportunities and solutions is the key step in order to deliver superior services. Ultimately, a company should understand the value outcome determination of the individual services as well as their digital counterparts.

Productivity and Services – Safety Telephone Services for the Elderly

Previous research on productivity is often associated with manufacturing or uses manufacturing definitions of productivity. Marketing research on services has not been satisfied with the manufacturing definitions. No universal definition for service productivity exists. The lack of a universal definition highlights the complexity entailed in the concept of productivity. The objective of this study was to investigate service productivity in situations, where traditional ways are in some cases even not possible or are not enough. In one definition of the productivity of service organisations there is the efficiency of the organisation on the input side and on the output side the customers’ perceived quality or value-in-use. To learn about value-in-use, many methods have been developed. A common practice is to make customer opinion surveys in the form of customer questionnaires and interviews. However, customers cannot always be asked directly, for example, because of impaired cognitive abilities. Such cases include the elderly and children. Furthermore, customer opinion surveys are time consuming. In addition, customers do not always know what kind of services they would benefit from. For the empirical part of the study, a business area was identified where traditional ways of measuring value-in-use are difficult or in some cases even not possible. This business area is safety telephone services. These services are most often used by the elderly. The way to define value-in-use here was to assess how well the services offered met customer expectations. Comparing the services customers asked for and the services provided to them indicated whether customer expectations were met. This study showed that customers had their ideas concerning the contents of the services but many times the services provided did not meet these expectations. Organisational efficiency aspirations can decrease customers’ value-in-use. This study found a solution, in which increasing organisational efficiency would go hand-in-hand with increasing customers’ value-in-use; the result being that the organisations’ needs and the service users’ expectations were in line. Value creation for customers produced organisational efficiency and thus increased productivity. In this study, customer expectations were observed by means of wellness technology. With the help of modern technology, customer expectations can be followed quickly and easily and customers can co-create with the organisation. This type of an approach could be useful even in the development of other services for other ages and in different contexts. If a service organisation decreases the number of personnel and, at the same time, tries to offer services to the same or a larger clientele, customers easily notice the change, which is often negative. To avoid harmful decrease in value-in-use, limitations to the aspiration of efficiency should be implemented – one of such is that the organisation is required to meet certain quality standards defined by experts. The aim is to secure that, as a result of efficiency aspirations in the organisation, the quality of the service offerings does not diminish below mutually agreed standards. Traditionally, when productivity in services has been estimated, organisational efficiency has not been combined with both customer expectations and an expert assessment of quality. This study contributes with novel thinking entitled ‘Relationship Management of the Elderly’. This study handles productivity, expert defined quality and value-in-use in an organisational context, which is practically untouched in previous research studies.

Micro Data Repositories: Increasing the Value of Research on the Web

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Effects of life cycle profits on the profitability of industrial heavy duty cranes

The goal of the thesis was to investigate how much after-sales profits a crane sale generates over the life cycle of the crane and the effects of these after-sales profits on the overall profitability of the crane. The thesis utilizes theories about life cycle costing from an equipment and service supplier’s point of view. However, instead of costs, the thesis is focused on the life cycle after-sales profits from maintenance services and spare parts provided for the sold crane. The case study approach was chosen and a total of five cranes from three different segments were investigated. An eight-step life cycle profit calculation model was developed in order to analyze the chosen cases’ life cycle profits systematically. The results of the investigation suggest that the life cycle after-sales profits are significant in value. In the case analyses they accounted for between 20% and 44% of the overall life cycle profits of the case cranes. The after-sales profits should be taken into account already in the pricing when offering a crane to a customer.

Evaluation of hygienic-sanitary conditions of hospital nutrition and dietary services from the perspectives of internal and external auditors

The objective of this study was to evaluate the hygienic-sanitary conditions of hospital nutrition and dietary services using external and internal auditors. Eleven hospitals were evaluated for their nutrition and dietary services using an evaluation checklist based on food safety requirements in the current legislation. The checklist was applied by an internal auditor (a technical supervisor) and an external auditor (a professional with experience in food services) between August and October 2011. According to the number of items on the evaluation checklist that were considered adequate, the hospital facilities were ranked as excellent, good, regular, bad, or very bad. The results obtained by the auditors were compared. According to these results, it can be said that most of the hospital nutrition and dietary services were rated as good for overall quality by the internal auditor, while the external auditor classified them as Regular. There was a clear difference between the evaluations of the auditors, both in terms of the number of items considered adequate and the overall requirements' average score. It can be concluded that hospital nutrition and dietary services should meet safety requirements in order to provide food. These facilities should have external audits conducted as a way to prevent routine problems from being perpetuated.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows on the Economic Growth of Bangladesh. The Roles of Infrastructural Facilities

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow has been a key concern for Bangladesh to obtain additional support for the economic development. The Government of Bangladesh continuously competing with other South Asian countries and putting more effort to increase the number of FDI inflows in the country. From the country’s perspective, the constant increasing rate of economic growth shows a positive outcome of FDI inflow. However, the country still not performing up to the mark to pull enough FDI inflows to its potential. Thus, this study discusses about the major determinants and factors affecting FDI inflows in Bangladesh. Among those determinants and factors, infrastructural facility is considered as the most important to affect FDI inflows. FDI inflow is fundamentally depending upon infrastructural facilities to achieve its desire success. Foreign investors take this issue very seriously because based on this they can measure their ease of doing business in the host country. Despite of providing a large market size, due to having weak and lack of infrastructural facilities, Bangladesh is facing trouble in drawing attention of the foreign investors. In order to make the infrastructural facilities happen, it is highly required to organize each of the systems under of it. The body of this study discussed about the weak infrastructures in Bangladesh such as transport and communication, power and energy, education system, and governance services. Improvement in one of these systems cannot provide valuable positive changes on FDI inflows. It requires improvement in all the weak systems to grasp multinational companies and attract foreign investors. On the basis of this research problem, research questions are established. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to answer the research questions. Furthermore, several theories have been applied to justify possible scenarios from the research problem. In addition, the history in between Bangladesh, trade liberalization, and FDI inflows is presented briefly.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows on the Economic Growth of Bangladesh. The Roles of Infrastructural Facilities

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow has been a key concern for Bangladesh to obtain additional support for the economic development. The Government of Bangladesh continuously competing with other South Asian countries and putting more effort to increase the number of FDI inflows in the country. From the country’s perspective, the constant increasing rate of economic growth shows a positive outcome of FDI inflow. However, the country still not performing up to the mark to pull enough FDI inflows to its potential. Thus, this study discusses about the major determinants and factors affecting FDI inflows in Bangladesh. Among those determinants and factors, infrastructural facility is considered as the most important to affect FDI inflows. FDI inflow is fundamentally depending upon infrastructural facilities to achieve its desire success. Foreign investors take this issue very seriously because based on this they can measure their ease of doing business in the host country. Despite of providing a large market size, due to having weak and lack of infrastructural facilities, Bangladesh is facing trouble in drawing attention of the foreign investors. In order to make the infrastructural facilities happen, it is highly required to organize each of the systems under of it. The body of this study discussed about the weak infrastructures in Bangladesh such as transport and communication, power and energy, education system, and governance services. Improvement in one of these systems cannot provide valuable positive changes on FDI inflows. It requires improvement in all the weak systems to grasp multinational companies and attract foreign investors. On the basis of this research problem, research questions are established. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to answer the research questions. Furthermore, several theories have been applied to justify possible scenarios from the research problem. In addition, the history in between Bangladesh, trade liberalization, and FDI inflows is presented briefly

On the creative economy chain in Brazil: potential and challenges

ABSTRACT The article presents an analysis of the Creative Economy in Brazil, showing its development potential for the generation of income and employment, in order to the country's development resumption. They are initially presented concepts and features of the Creative Economy for, in sequence, to analyze the economic development profile and potential of this industry in Brazil. The empirical part introduces some methodological aspects, in continuing with the analysis of the creative chain contribution to the generation of Value Added and employment in the country, and a vision of their foreign trade.potential. Finally, the challenges to the implementation of public policies are investigated.

Effect of drug utilization reviews on the quality of in-hospital prescribing: a quasi-experimental study

Affiliation: Louise Potvin: Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal

The Lack of Credibility on the Web and its Ramifications Under Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act

Un résumé en français est également disponible.