Realidade virtual e robótica em cirurgia: aonde chegamos e para onde vamos?

Minimally Invasive Surgery, Telesurgery, Robotics and Virtual Reality represent the technological frontiers that have revolutionized operating practices nowadays. These new technologies aim at improving the quality of assistance offered to patients; thus, they demand from the medical staff more effective measures as far as scientific research, training and expenditure of time and financial resources are concerned. In the past, surgeons have led several medical revolutions, such as the use of antiseptic surgical methods by Semelweiss, the use of anesthesia by Warren, antibiotic therapy, the transplants and the onset of the minimally invasive surgery by Mouret and Perissat. The objective of this article is to present the outreach of this new technology which comprises minimal access, computing, robotics and teletransmission. We have concluded that the new technologies developed in the medical field in the last decades, will offer new options and challenges for the treatment of the surgical patient, leading the scientific knowledge to a new era, the one of the virtual environment.

Value co-creation through virtual community participation

Consumers create a great deal of content in the Internet. As they do not get a monetary compensation for doing so, it seems apparent that other types of reward are derived from giving up one's time and other resources. The purpose of this study is to describe value creation and user participation in a virtual community. It can be broken down into three research questions. 1. What is the value creation logic of a virtual community? 2. What value is perceived by virtual community users? 3. What is the association between value perceived by virtual community users and their participation in a community? The study employs the discussion on value co-creation as well as perspectives on the notion of value for consumers to create a theoretical framework for value creation. To understand value creation in the context of virtual communities and to create a theoretical framework for user participation, existing literature and research on virtual communities is discussed. The empirical part of the study employs quantitative methodology to analyze data collected by sending a survey questionnaire to the users of a Finnish wellbeing-based virtual community. The results indicate that virtual community users perceive self-development, enjoyment, reputation-building and community commitment value when using the service and that value perceptions are associated with community participation. Moreover, it was found that different types of value are associated with different forms of participation. Based on the findings, it is suggested that the four types of value make up a considerable share of value for virtual community users. Moreover, as the results indicate that different value types are associated with different forms of participation, it suggested that virtual community organizers consider what forms of participation they want to promote and design their virtual communities to support creation of the different types of value accordingly.

The potential of social networking sites in inpatriate adjustment

People make up one of the most important resources for a corporation and therefore it has to continuously seek an ever more diverse and international workforce. Inpatriation is another way of utilizing foreign expertise in a corporation. An inpatriate refers to a person that is on an international assignment at the headquarters of a corporation, where they have been sent either from a subsidiary abroad or from a third country outside the corporation. Strengthening the social network of the inpatriate and their family contributes to the adjustment process and furthermore the success of the work assignment. As social networking sites are currently the fastest developing personal networking tools in the world, it is interesting to see how they can help in inpatriate adjustment. The objective of this thesis is to explore the potential of social networking sites (SNS) in inpatriate adjustment. The main objective can be divided into three sub objectives: 1. What is SNS used for during the inpatriate assignment? 2. What are the inpatriates’ motivations to use SNS? 3. Could the three facets of adjustment (work, interaction and general) be gained through SNS? This qualitative study utilizes the theme interview data collection method and the thematic analysis approach for analysing the interview data. From the interviews with five Indian inpatriates in Finland the most mentioned uses of SNS were related to participating (sharing opinions, recommendations and discussing things and connecting to friends, family and colleagues) and consuming (collecting information for work and free time), the least mentioned use of SNS was producing (posting videos, photos and updates). An interesting finding was that the five interviewees did not use SNS for purely entertainment motives at all during their assignment. This thesis found that all three facets of adjustment could potentially be gained through SNS.

Virtual technology and haptic interface solutions for design and control of mobile working machines

Commercially available haptic interfaces are usable for many purposes. However, as generic devices they are not the most suitable for the control of heavy duty mobile working machines like mining machines, container handling equipment and excavators. Alternative mechanical constructions for a haptic controller are presented and analysed. A virtual reality environment (VRE) was built to test the proposed haptic controller mechanisms. Verification of an electric motor emulating a hydraulic pump in the electro-hydraulic system of a mobile working machine is carried out. A real-time simulator using multi-body-dynamics based software with hardware-in-loop (HIL) setup was used for the tests. Recommendations for further development of a haptic controller and emulator electric motor are given.

Value Co-Creation Through Virtual Community environment, Case: Oma Olivia

The purpose of this thesis is to examine what elements of value co-creation create value for participants of Oma Olivia magazine through Olivia magazine’s virtual community environment. Furthermore the aim is to discover why readers take part in creating Oma Olivia in order to discover is Oma Olivia worth publishing in the future. The data is collected from secondary and primary sources by scanning the existing academic literature and by conducting interviews and surveys. The empirical results state that the hypothesis model created from the academic literature is statistically significant and the elements of value co- creation process create value for readers. Magazine publishing organization may want to consider publishing Oma Olivia also in the future due to its nature of creating value for customers.

Taisteluteknisen osaamisen kehittyminen Virtual Battlespace 2-koulutuksessa

Diplomityöni tavoitteena oli tutkia Panssariprikaatin Panssarijääkärikomppaniassa vuonna 2012 toteutetun Virtual Battlespace 2 – simulaattorijärjestelmän hyötypilotoinnin yhteyttä yksikössä palvelleiden varusmiesten taisteluteknisen osaamisen kehittymiseen. Tutkimuksella on liityntäpintoja Puolustusvoimien maapuolustuksen kehittämisohjelmaan ja se tukee jalkaväen taistelukoulutuksen kehittämistä. Kyseessä on laadullinen tutkimus, jossa tutkittava ilmiö on VBS2-järjestelmän koulutuskäytön yhteys ja mahdollinen vaikutus koulutettavien oppimiseen. Ilmiötä tarkastellaan koulutettavien henkilökohtaisten kokemusten ja oppimisen reflektion näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen viitekehys on muodostettu toimintakyvyn kehittämistä, taisteluteknisen osaamisen rakentumista sekä virtuaalisia oppimisympäristöjä käsittelevistä teorioista. Tutkimusmenetelmänä sovellettiin tapaustutkimusta, jonka empiirinen aineisto kerättiin Panssarijääkärikomppanian varusmiesten ja henkilökunnan teemahaastatteluin. Aineisto käsiteltiin aineistolähtöisen analyysin periaattein. Tutkimuksen tuloksina ilmeni, että VBS2:n käytöllä ja Panssarijääkärikomppanian varusmiesten oppimisella oli heidän kokemuksensa perusteella havaittavissa yhteys. Keskeisenä havaintona VBS2-koulutus auttoi koulutettavia luomaan itselleen mielikuvan tavoitellusta toiminnasta, joka toimi sisäisenä vertailukohtana maastossa toteutettavassa taistelukoulutuksessa. Varusmiesten näkemykset VBS2-koulutuksen vaikutuksista oman taisteluteknisen osaamisensa kehittymiseen vaihtelevat hieman koulutustason ja tehtävän mukaan. Upseerikokelailla ja ryhmänjohtajilla oppimisessa korostuivat taistelukentän tapahtumien sekä oman joukon toiminnan kokonaisuuden hahmottamisen merkitys, jota tuki virtuaalisen oppimisympäristön avulla aikaan saatu poikkeuksellinen havainnollisuus. Miehistön jäsenet kiinnittivät johtajia enemmän huomiota järjestelmän tekniseen toimivuuteen liittyviin seikkoihin sekä eri toiminnallisuuksien realistisuuteen. Henkilökunta koki VBS2-koulutuksen vähentävän erityisesti teoriaoppituntien tarvetta ja nopeuttavan varusmiesten taisteluteknisten aiheiden oppimisprosessia siten, että maastossa toteutettaville soveltaville taisteluharjoituksille on käytettävissä aiempaa enemmän aikaa. VBS2-koulutus tukee käytännön kokemusten perusteella pitkävaikutteisesti maastossa tapahtuvaa taistelukoulutusta. Käytännön taisteluharjoitusten laadun koettiin lisäksi parantuneen varusmiesten ollessa totuttua aiemmin valmiita soveltamaan oppimaansa, sillä tyypillisimmät virheet oli saatu karsittua jo hyvin lyhytkestoisen VBS2-koulutuksen avulla. Yleisesti haastatellut varusmiehet pitivät VBS2:ta mielekkäänä ja motivoivana välineenä nykyaikaisen taistelukentän olosuhteiden ja oman sekä vihollisen toiminnan havainnollistamiseen ja opettamiseen. Myönteisten koulutustulosten aikaan saaminen edellyttää kouluttajilta korkeaa ammattitaitoa sekä VBS2:n käytön monipuolista hallintaa. Järjestelmäalustan tekniseen laatuun, toimivuuteen ja luotettavuuteen on panostettava, sillä erilaisista laitteisto-ongelmista johtuneet häiriötilanteet koettiin yhtenä eniten oppimista haittaavana ja motivaatiota laskevana tekijänä.

Social networks and networking facilitating internationalization: Experiences of two Finnish fashion companies

Background: Fashion is a dynamic and creative industry where larger retailers are enjoying international success. Small businesses however are struggling in the face of international expansion, as they lack the necessary resources and managerial know-how. The Finnish fashion industry has neither been able to develop the industry environment to support small and micro firms nor has Finland relevant finance or public domains, such as, seen in other Nordic countries. Networking has been recognized to facilitate organizational growth and international expansion in industries such as manufacturing and high technology. It has enabled smaller companies to gain resources, knowledge and experiences otherwise unattainable. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore how networking has been utilized in the Finnish fashion industry. Particularly social relationships and networks are examined, as they emphasize the importance of individuals. Exploration on the past actions should also provide insight how networks and networking could be utilized and developed in the future. Main findings: It was discovered that the Finnish fashion industry (social) network is rather dense. This was mainly due to the small size of the Finnish market. In the early years of the establishment of the company, close contacts seemed to be utilized. As a company expands and extends its business, the relationships tended to move towards more utilitarian in nature. However, in some cases, the long term relationships had also affectionate features, such as trust and commitment. International networking was found to have positive impact on business opportunities. Participation to events, such as trade shows, was perceived as one of the best ways to meet new international contacts and to develop ones network. Active networking in the Finnish market, however, created both domestic and international opportunities. Furthermore, cooperation and open communication were discovered to facilitate innovation and projects. The public sector seemed to lack the interest in supporting the fashion industry according to the interviewees. The major issues for the fashion industry still concerned, among others, funding, administrative guidance and public support for developing the industry as a whole.

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.

Value co-creation in gaming the industry: A qualitative research on virtual discussion forums

This study discusses the procedures of value co-creation that persist in gaming industry. The purpose of this study was to identify the procedures that persist in current video gaming industry which answers the main research problem how value is co-created in video gaming industry followed by three sub questions: (i) What is value co-creation in gaming industry? (ii) Who participates in value co-creation in gaming industry? (iii) What are the procedures that are involved in value co-creation in gaming industry? The theoretical background of the study consists of literature relating to the theory of marketing i.e., notion of value, conventional understanding of value creation, value chain, co-creation approach, co-production approach. The research adopted qualitative research approach. As a platform of relationship researcher used web 2.0 tool interface. Data were collected from the social networks and netnography method was applied for analyzing them. Findings show that customer and company both co-create optimum level of value while they interact with each other and within the customers as well. However mostly the C2C interaction, discussions and dialogues threads that emerged around the main discussion facilitated to co-create value. In this manner, companies require exploiting and further motivating, developing and supporting the interactions between customers participating in value creation. Hierarchy of value co-creation processes is the result derived from the identified challenges of value co-creation approach and discussion forums data analysis. Overall three general sets and seven topics were found that explored the phenomenon of customer to customer (C2C) and business to customer (B2C) interaction/debating for value co-creation through user generated contents. These topics describe how gamer contributes and interacts in co-creating value along with companies. A methodical quest in current research literature acknowledged numerous evolving flows of value in this study. These are general management perspective, new product development and innovation, virtual customer environment, service science and service dominant logic. Overall the topics deliver various realistic and conceptual implications for using and handling gamers in social networks for augmenting customers’ value co-creation process.

Virtual Cellar of the Estonian Literary Museum: the Challenges of the Open Access in the Digital Era

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

The Purdue University Research Repository (PURR): An institutional data management service with a virtual research environment, data publication, and archiving

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