Decision making and decision support in service systems

This thesis is a literature study that develops a conceptual model of decision making and decision support in service systems. The study is related to the Ä-Logi, Intelligent Service Logic for Welfare Sector Services research project, and the objective of the study is to develop the necessary theoretical framework to enable further research based on the research project results and material. The study first examines the concepts of service and service systems, focusing on understanding the characteristics of service systems and their implications for decision making and decision support to provide the basis for the development of the conceptual model. Based on the identified service system characteristics, an integrated model of service systems is proposed that views service systems through a number of interrelated perspectives that each offer different, but complementary, implications on the nature of decision making and the requirements for decision support in service systems. Based on the model, it is proposed that different types of decision making contexts can be identified in service systems that may be dominated by different types of decision making processes and where different types of decision support may be required, depending on the characteristics of the decision making context and its decision making processes. The proposed conceptual model of decision making and decision support in service systems examines the characteristics of decision making contexts and processes in service systems, and their typical requirements for decision support. First, a characterization of different types of decision making contexts in service systems is proposed based on the Cynefin framework and the identified service system characteristics. Second, the nature of decision making processes in service systems is proposed to be dual, with both rational and naturalistic decision making processes existing in service systems, and having an important and complementary role in decision making in service systems. Finally, a characterization of typical requirements for decision support in service systems is proposed that examines the decision support requirements associated with different types of decision making processes in characteristically different types of decision making contexts. It is proposed that decision support for the decision making processes that are based on rational decision making can be based on organizational decision support models, while decision support for the decision making processes that are based on naturalistic decision making should be based on supporting the decision makers’ situation awareness and facilitating the development of their tacit knowledge of the system and its tasks. Based on the proposed conceptual model a further research process is proposed. The study additionally provides a number of new perspectives on the characteristics of service systems, and the nature of decision making and requirements for decision support in service systems that can potentially provide a basis for further discussion and research, and support the practice alike.

Operations management in courts of justice - outlining functions, challenges and development possibilities

Professional services are an increasingly important group of economy and related to them there has been identified a fairly new concept called professional service operations management. However professional service operations management is still quite under-researched area which needs further research especially in specific contexts. This study aims to respond to that need by examining courts as an environment for operations management. As a result there is a preliminary structured description of what operations management is and could be in courts. The study also aims to inspire and tentatively classify possible areas for future research. Courts are examined based on three common perspectives for typical characteristics of professional services which can be identified in literature: the nature of customer role, the nature of professional work and the nature of process and product. The examination is based on research data from several research projects conducted in Finland and other European countries. Based on the examination it can be said that the operational environment of courts is highly complex and demanding because the case as an object of operations management tasks is challenging, the process sets strict requirements to the handling of the cases and the workforce is hard to direct.

Development of new heparin-like compounds and other antithrombotic drugs and their interaction with vascular endothelial cells

The anticlotting and antithrombotic activities of heparin, heparan sulfate, low molecular weight heparins, heparin and heparin-like compounds from various sources used in clinical practice or under development are briefly reviewed. Heparin isolated from shrimp mimics the pharmacological activities of low molecular weight heparins. A heparan sulfate from Artemia franciscana and a dermatan sulfate from tuna fish show a potent heparin cofactor II activity. A heparan sulfate derived from bovine pancreas has a potent antithrombotic activity in an arterial and venous thrombosis model with a negligible activity upon the serine proteases of the coagulation cascade. It is suggested that the antithrombotic activity of heparin and other antithrombotic agents is due at least in part to their action on endothelial cells stimulating the synthesis of an antithrombotic heparan sulfate.

Customer-driven service product development

This thesis studies customer-driven service product development and how to manage customer involvement in the service product development process. The theory part of this thesis is a literature review of the prior studies and the thesis also includes empirical evidence in the form of a case study about ABB.

Business-Oriented IT Tool Development For Service Delivery Process

The target of this thesis is to evaluate a bid, project and resource management IT tool for service delivery process via proof-of-concept (POC) project to assess, if the tested software is an appropriate tool for the Case Company’s business requirements. Literature suggests that IT projects implementation is still a grey area in scientific research. Also, IT projects have a notably high rate of failure, one significant reason for this being insufficient planning. To tackle this risk, the Case Company decided to perform a POC project, which involved a hands-on testing period of the assessed system. End users from the business side feel that current, highly tailored project management tool is inflexible, difficult to use, and sets unnecessary limitations for the business. Semi-structured interviews and a survey form are used to collect information about current business practices and business requirements related to the IT tool. For the POC project, a project group involving members from each of the Case Company’s four business divisions was established to perform the hands-on testing. Based on data acquired during the interviews and the hands-on testing period, a target state was defined and a gap analysis was carried out by comparing the features provided by the current tool and the tested tool to the target state, which are, together with the current state description, the most important result of the thesis.

New methods for controlling twin configurations and characterizing twin boundaries in 5M Ni-Mn-Ga for the development of applications

Traditional methods for studying the magnetic shape memory (MSM) alloys Ni-Mn-Ga include subjecting the entire sample to a uniform magnetic field or completely actuating the sample mechanically. These methods have produced significant results in characterizing the MSM effect, the properties of Ni-Mn-Ga and have pioneered the development of applications from this material. Twin boundaries and their configuration within a Ni-Mn-Ga sample are a key component in the magnetic shape memory effect. Applications that are developed require an understanding of twin boundary characteristics and, more importantly, the ability to predictably control them. Twins have such a critical role that the twinning stress of a Ni-Mn-Ga crystal is the defining characteristic that indicates its quality and significant research has been conducted to minimize this property. This dissertation reports a decrease in the twinning stress, predictably controlling the twin configuration and characterizing the dynamics of twin boundaries. A reduction of the twinning stress is demonstrated by the discovery of Type II twins within Ni-Mn-Ga which have as little as 10% of the twinning stress of traditional Type I twins. Furthermore, new methods of actuating a Ni-Mn-Ga element using localized unidirectional or bidirectional magnetic fields were developed that can predictably control the twin configuration in a localized area of a Ni-Mn-Ga element. This method of controlling the local twin configuration was used in the characterization of twin boundary dynamics. Using a localized magnetic pulse, the velocity and acceleration of a single twin boundary were measured to be 82.5 m/s and 2.9 × 107 m/s2, and the time needed for the twin boundary to nucleate and begin moving was less than 2.8 μs. Using a bidirectional magnetic field from a diametrically magnetized cylindrical magnet, a highly reproducible and controllable local twin configuration was created in a Ni-Mn-Ga element which is the fundamental pumping mechanism in the MSM micropump that has been co-invented and extensively characterized by the author.

Trends in adjuvant development for vaccines: DAMPs and PAMPs as potential new adjuvants

Aluminum salts have been widely used in vaccine formulations and, after their introduction more than 80 years ago, only few vaccine formulations using new adjuvants were developed in the last two decades. Recent advances in the understanding of how innate mechanisms influence the adaptive immunity opened up the possibility for the development of new adjuvants in a more rational design. The purpose of this review is to discuss the recent advances in this field regarding the attempts to determine the molecular basis and the general mechanisms underlying the development of new adjuvants, with particular emphasis on the activation of receptors of innate immune recognition. One can anticipate that the use of these novel adjuvants will also provide a window of opportunities for the development of new vaccines.

Severity score system for progressive myelopathy: development and validation of a new clinical scale

Progressive myelopathies can be secondary to inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) such as mucopolysaccharidosis, mucolipidosis, and adrenomyeloneuropathy. The available scale, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, was validated only for degenerative vertebral diseases. Our objective is to propose and validate a new scale addressing progressive myelopathies and to present validating data for JOA in these diseases. A new scale, Severity Score System for Progressive Myelopathy (SSPROM), covering motor disability, sphincter dysfunction, spasticity, and sensory losses. Inter- and intra-rater reliabilities were measured. External validation was tested by applying JOA, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), the Barthel index, and the Osame Motor Disability Score. Thirty-eight patients, 17 with adrenomyeloneuropathy, 3 with mucopolysaccharidosis I, 3 with mucopolysaccharidosis IV, 2 with mucopolysaccharidosis VI, 2 with mucolipidosis, and 11 with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy participated in the study. The mean ± SD SSPROM and JOA scores were 74.6 ± 11.4 and 12.4 ± 2.3, respectively. Construct validity for SSPROM (JOA: r = 0.84, P < 0.0001; EDSS: r = -0.83, P < 0.0001; Barthel: r = 0.56, P < 0.002; Osame: r = -0.94, P < 0.0001) and reliability (intra-rater: r = 0.83, P < 0.0001; inter-rater: r = 0.94, P < 0.0001) were demonstrated. The metric properties of JOA were similar to those found in SSPROM. Several clinimetric requirements were met for both SSPROM and JOA scales. Since SSPROM has a wider range, it should be useful for follow-up studies on IEM myelopathies.

Recombinant vaccines and the development of new vaccine strategies

Vaccines were initially developed on an empirical basis, relying mostly on attenuation or inactivation of pathogens. Advances in immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genomics, and proteomics have added new perspectives to the vaccinology field. The use of recombinant proteins allows the targeting of immune responses focused against few protective antigens. There are a variety of expression systems with different advantages, allowing the production of large quantities of proteins depending on the required characteristics. Live recombinant bacteria or viral vectors effectively stimulate the immune system as in natural infections and have intrinsic adjuvant properties. DNA vaccines, which consist of non-replicating plasmids, can induce strong long-term cellular immune responses. Prime-boost strategies combine different antigen delivery systems to broaden the immune response. In general, all of these strategies have shown advantages and disadvantages, and their use will depend on the knowledge of the mechanisms of infection of the target pathogen and of the immune response required for protection. In this review, we discuss some of the major breakthroughs that have been achieved using recombinant vaccine technologies, as well as new approaches and strategies for vaccine development, including potential shortcomings and risks.

Challenges in the research and development of new human vaccines

The field of vaccinology was born from the observations by the fathers of vaccination, Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur, that a permanent, positive change in the way our bodies respond to life-threatening infectious diseases can be obtained by specific challenge with the inactivated infectious agent performed in a controlled manner, avoiding the development of clinical disease upon exposure to the virulent pathogen. Many of the vaccines still in use today were developed on an empirical basis, essentially following the paradigm established by Pasteur, “isolate, inactivate, and inject” the disease-causing microorganism, and are capable of eliciting uniform, long-term immune memory responses that constitute the key to their proven efficacy. However, vaccines for pathogens considered as priority targets of public health concern are still lacking. The literature tends to focus more often on vaccine research problems associated with specific pathogens, but it is increasingly clear that there are common bottlenecks in vaccine research, which need to be solved in order to advance the development of the field as a whole. As part of a group of articles, the objective of the present report is to pinpoint these bottlenecks, exploring the literature for common problems and solutions in vaccine research applied to different situations. Our goal is to stimulate brainstorming among specialists of different fields related to vaccine research and development. Here, we briefly summarize the topics we intend to deal with in this discussion.

Green Service Level Agreement under Sustainability Lens in IT Industry

Nowadays, when most of the business are moving forward to sustainability by providing or getting different services from different vendors, Service Level Agreement (SLA) becomes very important for both the business providers/vendors and as well as for users/customers. There are many ways to inform users/customers about various services with its inherent execution functionalities and even non-functional/Quality of Services (QoS) aspects through negotiating, evaluating or monitoring SLAs. However, these traditional SLA actually do not cover eco-efficient green issues or IT ethics issues for sustainability. That is why green SLA (GSLA) should come into play. GSLA is a formal agreement incorporating all the traditional commitments as well as green issues and ethics issues in IT business sectors. GSLA research would survey on different traditional SLA parameters for various services like as network, compute, storage and multimedia in IT business areas. At the same time, this survey could focus on finding the gaps and incorporation of these traditional SLA parameters with green issues for all these mentioned services. This research is mainly points on integration of green parameters in existing SLAs, defining GSLA with new green performance indicators and their measurable units. Finally, a GSLA template could define compiling all the green indicators such as recycling, radio-wave, toxic material usage, obsolescence indication, ICT product life cycles, energy cost etc for sustainable development. Moreover, people’s interaction and IT ethics issues such as security and privacy, user satisfaction, intellectual property right, user reliability, confidentiality etc could also need to add for proposing a new GSLA. However, integration of new and existing performance indicators in the proposed GSLA for sustainable development could be difficult for ICT engineers. Therefore, this research also discovers the management complexity of proposed green SLA through designing a general informational model and analyses of all the relationships, dependencies and effects between various newly identified services under sustainability pillars. However, sustainability could only be achieved through proper implementation of newly proposed GSLA, which largely depends on monitoring the performance of the green indicators. Therefore, this research focuses on monitoring and evaluating phase of GSLA indicators through the interactions with traditional basic SLA indicators, which would help to achieve proper implementation of future GSLA. Finally, this newly proposed GSLA informational model and monitoring aspects could definitely help different service providers/vendors to design their future business strategy in this new transitional sustainable society.

Roadmap for Service Charging Development

Corporate support functions are increasingly being concentrated into service centers. Service Management principles guide companies in the transition. Service Financial Management is an integral part in supporting the strategic positioning of the service center. The main goal of this thesis is to create a step-by-step plan to improve and automate the service charging processes for the finance service function of the case company. Automating the service transaction data collection for reporting is expected to improve efficiency, reliability and transparency. Interviews with finance service managers are held to define current processes and areas for improvement. These create the basis for the creation of a development roadmap that takes place in two phases. The first phase is to create an environment where automation is possible, and the second phase is the automation of each finance service. Benchmarking interviews are held with the service centers in three other companies to discover best practices. The service charging processes between the studied companies are found incompatible, and suggestions for process automation cannot be inferred. Some implications of Service Financial Management decisions to the strategy of the service center are identified. The bundling of services and charging them inside or outside of the goal-setting frame of the business unit can be used to support the strategic choice and customer acceptance of the service center.

What is the current state of cloud service research and its promise for the future? A systematic literature review

The information technology (IT) industry has recently witnessed the proliferation of cloud services, which have allowed IT service providers to deliver on-demand resources to customers over the Internet. This frees both service providers and consumers from traditional IT-related burdens such as capital and operating expenses and allows them to respond rapidly to new opportunities in the market. Due to the popularity and growth of cloud services, numerous researchers have conducted studies on various aspects of cloud services, both positive and negative. However, none of those studies have connected all relevant information to provide a holistic picture of the current state of cloud service research. This study aims to investigate that current situation and propose the most promising future directions. In order to determine achieve these goals, a systematic literature review was conducted on studies with a primary focus on cloud services. Based on carefully crafted inclusion criteria, 52 articles from highly credible online sources were selected for the review. To define the main focus of the review and facilitate the analysis of literature, a conceptual framework with five main factors was proposed. The selected articles were organized under the factors of the proposed framework and then synthesized using a narrative technique. The results of this systematic review indicate that the impacts of cloud services on enterprises were the factor best covered by contemporary research. Researchers were able to present valuable findings about how cloud services impact various aspects of enterprises such as governance, performance, and security. By contrast, the role of service provider sub-contractors in the cloud service market remains largely uninvestigated, as do cloud-based enterprise software and cloud-based office systems for consumers. Moreover, the results also show that researchers should pay more attention to the integration of cloud services into legacy IT systems to facilitate the adoption of cloud services by enterprise users. After the literature synthesis, the present study proposed several promising directions for cloud service research by outlining research questions for the underexplored areas of cloud services, in order to facilitate the development of cloud service markets in the future.