Elders and the ITCs use to communicate with children and grandchildren

Past research in using ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in interpersonal communication showed that age plays an important role. There is a general assumption that the elderly are left behind regarding the adoption and the use of ICTs. Furthermore, elders tend to use ICTs mainly for instrumental purposes and the use is rather non-sophisticated. When elders are using ICTs to maintain their social network, similar patterns could be found: They start using internet, or intensify its use, when their children move abroad while they might decrease using the tool if the motivation ends. In this research we explore elders' incentives to go online and use internet services to communicate; the type of agencies they use to communicate with children and grandchildren abroad; and the situations that make them stop using the ICTs or even reject internet mediated communications. We base our discussion on the empirical evidence the two authors gathered in different cities and countries: Barcelona, Romania, Toronto, Los Angeles, Montevideo and Lima, through semi-structured interviews and observation, with people aged 60 years old and over. The results show that the ability for using ICT tools in an autonomous way is a better explanation than age. In this, we distinguish between assisted users and autonomous users. We found that oldest seniors and those seniors who are less socially active are more likely to be assisted users than those who are socially or professionally active. For them communication with their children and grandchildren abroad follows no agency or it is mediated by significant others from their local social network, who are able to use ICTs and select specific information to share, in the second step, with the elder. For some younger participants the use of ICTs is rather situational and imposed by their children or grandchildren, who installed the tool in the first place and assisted them in using it. Finally, other elders describe a proficient and independent use of ICTs so they use the devices and services the way they want to.We discuss the implications of the patterns in using ICTs, for elders' social life and their relationships with children and grandchildren. First, we emphasis the fact that those elders rejecting the ICTs or being unskilled in using them to communicate might be left out from their family circle, particularly when children are abroad -they would experience more isolation. Second, we underline the fact that when children and grandchildren are the ones that control the ICTs used by their parents and grandparents, they are controlling also the information flow and this will redefine the power relations between elders and their younger relatives.

Automobile Corporate Networks in Europe : Sectoral Specialization of Central and Eastern European Cities

The global automobile industry is made up of very large corporations and their various subsidiaries containing different functions that create complex locational structures. The networks formed by the 19 largest automobile transnational corporations constitute an automobile "oligopoly" representing more than 90% (OICA, 2012) of the world's production. Since the mid-1990s, Central and Eastern European cities have become attractive for transnational corporations and particularly for the production functions in the automobile sector. This leads to a crucial question. Are strategic functions (such as R&D) within these networks also located in Central and Eastern Europe, or is the region still manufacturing-oriented in the automobile industry? This paper focuses on the patterns and the main factors influencing the role of some of these new central and Eastern European cities that have become integrated in the global value chain of the automobile industry. By analysing the various locations of the specialized functions within the corporations, this study aims to extend the research on global value chains (Gereffi and Korzeniewicz; 1994, Sturgeon, 2000; Krätke, 2014). The spatial patterns of the various functions and the ownerships networks of the automobile industry are constructed in order to identify the cities supporting it. In particular, the way that national metropolises bring their national territories into the globalization of the automobile industry is addressed. For example, are there some specific advantages of capital cities compared to cities that have less integration in globalization terms?

Knowledge Map of Research on Biofuels

This work highlights and analyzes the citations and co-citations by different authors, countries and institutions in series of researches on biofuel. These relations represent a knowledge map which shows the areas of research by different countries and authors. The contributions of different institutions were also shown. With this knowledge map developed, areas of research that still need more attention as well as the most important studies were highlighted. The software used for this analysis is Citespace which is developed by Chaomei Chen. Sources of information are articles retrieved from ISI Web of Science. Biofuel as a renewable form of energy is discussed. Its sources, types, methods of production, effects, market, and producers were discussed. Also plans and strategies that aim at boosting world biofuel market were listed as well as recent researches on it. Knowledge mapping, its types and methods as well as the method and software used for the analysis were also discussed.

PhD Students’ Research Group Networks: a Qualitative Approach

This article examines the networks within the research groups where Spanish PhD students are pursuing their doctorate. Capó et al. (2007) used quantitative data to predict PhD students’ publishing performance from their background, attitudes, supervisors’ performance and research group networks. Variables related to the research group network had a negligible explanatory power on student performance once the remaining variables had been accounted for. In this article, a qualitative follow up of the same students is carried out using extreme case sampling and indepth interviews. The qualitative research shows networking as important for students. Out of the 115 aspects that students mention in the interviews as relevant to publishing in the qualitative research, 92 have to do with their supervisors, their research group or their network as a whole. Similarly, out of the 50 hindrances mentioned, 20 have to do with the networks or relations. The most commonly mentioned network-related topics are research group members pushing PhD students to publish, meeting researchers outside the research group, existence of other PhD students in the group, help with the PhD from group members, supervisor’s interest in the thesis, the possibility of discussing with experts on the PhD’s topic and frequent contact with the supervisor and research group members. Some of these characteristics were not, however, measured in the conventional quantitative social network survey

Identification of Turning Points in the Research on Titanium Dioxide Production and Application

This dissertation "Identification of turning points in the research on titanium dioxide production and application" aims at detecting in scientific literatures emerging trends and sudden changes in titanium dioxide production and application. These key changes are then studied to determine its transient patterns and its effect on the research on titanium dioxide production and application The source of information is from bibliographic data which discussed titanium dioxide production and application. These bibliographic data where obtained from ISI Web of Knowledge and then formed into a network of clusters by applying software called Citespace.

Vaasan Sähköverkko Oy:n keskijänniteverkon nykytilan määritys sekä kehittämissuunnitelma käyttövarmuuden näkökulmasta

Tämän työn tavoitteena on analysoida Vaasan Sähköverkko Oy:n keskijänniteverkon nykytila sekä selvittää verkon kehittämisen suuntaviivoja. Nykytilan määrityksessä selvitetään kuormitettavuusasteet, jännitteenalenemat, häviöt oiko- ja maasulkusuojauksen toimivuus sekä keskeytyskustannukset. Nykytilan määrityksen apuna käytettiin verkkotietojärjestelmä Xpowerin tehojako-, oikosulku- ja maasulkulaskentoja. Nykytila on määritetty sekä normaalissa kytkentätilanteessa, että tilanteessa jossa yksi sähköasema kerrallaan on poissa käytöstä. Nykytilan määrityksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että normaalissa kytkentätilanteessa keskijänniteverkko täyttää suurilta osin sille asetetut tekniset reunaehdot, jotka ovat jännitteenalenema, kuormitettavuus, oikosulkukestoisuus sekä oiko- ja maasulkusuojauksen havahtuvaisuus. Jotta reunaehdot toteutuisivat kokonaisuudessaan, tulee oikosulkukestottomien lähtöjen releasetteluja muuttaa tai vaihtaa oikosulkukestottomat johto-osuudet suurempi poikkipintaiseen johtimeen. Nykytilan määrityksen perusteella neljän päämuuntajan kuormitettavuusaste on yli 90 %, joten näiden asemien alueiden kehitystä tulee tarkkailla. Sähköasemien korvaustarkastelun perusteella viiden sähköaseman korvaus tuottaa ongelmia jo nykyisillä huippukuormilla. Työssä tehtyjen selvitystöiden perusteella Vaasan Sähköverkko Oy:n keskijänniteverkkoon lisättiin 10 maastokatkaisijaa sekä selvitettiin verkon mahdollisia tulevaisuuden kehittämisen suuntaviivoja.

Building the map of innovation for membrane materials (Ceramic membranes)

This work proposes a method of visualizing the trend of research in the field of ceramic membranes from 1999 to 2006. The presented approach involves identifying problems encountered during research in the field of ceramic membranes. Patents from US patent database and articles from Science Direct(& by ELSEVIER was analyzed for this work. The identification of problems was achieved with software Knowledgist which focuses on the semantic nature of a sentence to generate series of subject action object structures. The identified problems are classified into major research issues. This classification was used for the visualization of the intensity of research. The image produced gives the relation between the number of patents, with time and the major research issues. The identification of the most cited papers which strongly influence the research of the previously identified major issues in the given field was also carried out. The relations between these papers are presented using the metaphor of social network. The final result of this work are two figures, a diagram showing the change in the studied problems a specified period of time and a figure showing the relations between the major papers and groups of the problems

Hacia la autoformación permanente de los docentes en las comunidades de práctica: los talleres de internet en el Aula

El objetivo principal de este trabajo es determinar si las comunidades virtuales de práctica son un espacio adecuado para la autoformación de los docentes. Con este fin, primero se especifican algunos conceptos clave que ayuden a contextualizar el tema de la formación; en segundo lugar se recogen los rasgos que se consideran hoy necesarios para llevar a cabo la labor docente, dibujándose así el perfil “ideal” del profesor en el contexto actual desde distintos ángulos de vista; y por último, se narran algunas experiencias personales en las redes sociales para ilustrar el funcionamiento de este nuevo paradigma social.

Strategic Development of Electricity Distribution Networks – Concept and Methods

Strategic development of distribution networks plays a key role in the asset management in electricity distribution companies. Owing to the capital-intensive nature of the field and longspan operations of companies, the significance of a strategy is emphasised. A well-devised strategy combines awareness of challenges posed by the operating environment and the future targets of the distribution company. Economic regulation, ageing infrastructure, scarcity of resources and tightening supply requirements with challenges created by the climate change put a pressure on the strategy work. On the other hand, technology development related to network automation and underground cabling assists in answering these challenges. This dissertation aims at developing process knowledge and establishing a methodological framework by which key issues related to network development can be addressed. Moreover, the work develops tools by which the effects of changes in the operating environment on the distribution business can be analysed in the strategy work. To this end, the work discusses certain characteristics of the distribution business and describes the strategy process at a principle level. Further, the work defines the subtasks in the strategy process and presents the key elements in the strategy work and long-term network planning. The work delineates the factors having either a direct or indirect effect on strategic planning and development needs in the networks; in particular, outage costs constitute an important part of the economic regulation of the distribution business, reliability being thus a key driver in network planning. The dissertation describes the methodology and tools applied to cost and reliability analyses in the strategy work. The work focuses on determination of the techno-economic feasibility of different network development technologies; these feasibility surveys are linked to the economic regulation model of the distribution business, in particular from the viewpoint of reliability of electricity supply and allowed return. The work introduces the asset management system developed for research purposes and to support the strategy work, the calculation elements of the system and initial data used in the network analysis. The key elements of this asset management system are utilised in the dissertation. Finally, the study addresses the stages of strategic decision-making and compilation of investment strategies. Further, the work illustrates implementation of strategic planning in an actual distribution company environment.

Sosiaaliset mediat sisäisessä viestinnässä

Tässä kandidaatintyössä käsitellään sosiaalista mediaa yritysten sisäisessä viestinnässä. Määritellään mitä sosiaalinen media on, tutkitaan sen käyttäjäryhmiä ja luokkia, tutustutaan Web 2.0 käsitteeseen, esitellään verkostopalveluita ja verrataan näitä kaikki perinteisiin medioihin. Johtopäätöksissä tuodaan esille sosiaalisen median luonnetta, käyttökohteita yrityksessä, parhaita sovelluksia sekä suositellaan käyttötapoja. Lopuksi työssä käsitellään sosiaalisen median käytön ongelmia ja niiden ratkaisuja.

Bioenergia – verkoston operatiivinen ja strateginen kehittäminen

Nykypäivän entisestään kovenevassa globaalissa liiketoimintaympäristössä jatkuvan ja pitkäaikaisen kilpailukyvyn ylläpitämiseen ja kehittämiseen vaaditaan laajalti kyvykkyyksiä, kompetensseja ja erilaisia resursseja. Etenkään pienet yritykset eivät pysty vastaamaan nykypäivän liiketoiminnan vaatimuksiin ja tavoitteisiin, jolloin ne tarvitsevat osaamista ja resursseja ulkopuolisilta toimijoilta, jopa mahdollisilta kilpailijoiltaan. Painotus on kilpailutilanteessa siirtynyt yksittäisistä yrityksistä verkostojen välisiksi turnauksiksi liiketoiminnan armottomilla pelikentillä. Diplomityö pohjautuu Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston tutkimuskeskuksessa (TBRC) toteutettuun moniosaiseen tutkimukseen lämpöliiketoiminnan verkostorakenteista ja niiden ominaisuuksista. Tavoitteena on yleisen tietouden kasvattaminen pienten lämpölaitosalan toimijoiden verkostorakenteista, niiden eroista ja tulevaisuuden kehitysmahdollisuuksista. Pääpaino diplomityössä on juuri verkostojen kuvaamisella ja tietouden kasvattamisella, mutta myös rakenteiden ja toimintojen kehittämisessä vertikaalisen ja horisontaalisen verkostokehityksen viitekehyksen avulla, huomioiden operatiiviset ja strategiset tarpeet kilpailukyvyn ylläpitämisessä. Tutkimuksessa tunnistettiin huomattavia eroavaisuuksia lämpölaitosten toiminta-tavoissa sekä verkostorakenteissa ja niissä tapahtuvissa transaktioissa. Kirjallisuudessa esitettyjä onnistuneiden ja tehokkaasti toimivien verkostojen ominaisuuksien korrelaatioita lämpöliiketoiminnan operatiivisiin ja strategisiin toimintoihin vertaillaan tarkoitukseen muokatulla laadun talo -matriisilla. Tärkeimmiksi tulevaisuuden kehityskohteiksi analyysien perusteella havaittiin resurssien ja tietotaidon tehokkaamman jakamisen, yhteistyösuhteiden laajuuksien ja lukumäärien kasvattamisen sekä yhteistyösuhteiden strategisuuden lisäämisen.

Improving alumni administration by self-built information system : building IMMIT connected' to enhance alumni connection

Alumni are considered as precious resource of the institutions, thus improving alumni adminis-tration is critical. In information era, alumni administration is assisted by widespread information technology, such as social network sites. This paper aims to discover if a self-built information sys-tem would enhance alumni connection in the IMMIT context, and what kind of attributes would be helpful applying to the special context. The current online alumni services at other universities and at the IMMIT host university are analyzed, and then social media is introduced. After illustrating the social capital existing in IM-MIT, the type of the self-built information system is suggested, following an interpretation of the prototype. Two research models are utilized in this article: TAM and intentional social action model. The second model is adjusted with proposed parameters. Afterwards, a survey and an interview protocol are designed under the guidance of the models. The results are analyzed in several groups, and the proposed parameters are tested. A conclusion is drawn to indicate how to improve alumni‟s intention to use and how to achieve a better-accepted design.

Mapping financial stability

The ongoing global financial crisis has demonstrated the importance of a systemwide, or macroprudential, approach to safeguarding financial stability. An essential part of macroprudential oversight concerns the tasks of early identification and assessment of risks and vulnerabilities that eventually may lead to a systemic financial crisis. Thriving tools are crucial as they allow early policy actions to decrease or prevent further build-up of risks or to otherwise enhance the shock absorption capacity of the financial system. In the literature, three types of systemic risk can be identified: i ) build-up of widespread imbalances, ii ) exogenous aggregate shocks, and iii ) contagion. Accordingly, the systemic risks are matched by three categories of analytical methods for decision support: i ) early-warning, ii ) macro stress-testing, and iii ) contagion models. Stimulated by the prolonged global financial crisis, today's toolbox of analytical methods includes a wide range of innovative solutions to the two tasks of risk identification and risk assessment. Yet, the literature lacks a focus on the task of risk communication. This thesis discusses macroprudential oversight from the viewpoint of all three tasks: Within analytical tools for risk identification and risk assessment, the focus concerns a tight integration of means for risk communication. Data and dimension reduction methods, and their combinations, hold promise for representing multivariate data structures in easily understandable formats. The overall task of this thesis is to represent high-dimensional data concerning financial entities on lowdimensional displays. The low-dimensional representations have two subtasks: i ) to function as a display for individual data concerning entities and their time series, and ii ) to use the display as a basis to which additional information can be linked. The final nuance of the task is, however, set by the needs of the domain, data and methods. The following ve questions comprise subsequent steps addressed in the process of this thesis: 1. What are the needs for macroprudential oversight? 2. What form do macroprudential data take? 3. Which data and dimension reduction methods hold most promise for the task? 4. How should the methods be extended and enhanced for the task? 5. How should the methods and their extensions be applied to the task? Based upon the Self-Organizing Map (SOM), this thesis not only creates the Self-Organizing Financial Stability Map (SOFSM), but also lays out a general framework for mapping the state of financial stability. This thesis also introduces three extensions to the standard SOM for enhancing the visualization and extraction of information: i ) fuzzifications, ii ) transition probabilities, and iii ) network analysis. Thus, the SOFSM functions as a display for risk identification, on top of which risk assessments can be illustrated. In addition, this thesis puts forward the Self-Organizing Time Map (SOTM) to provide means for visual dynamic clustering, which in the context of macroprudential oversight concerns the identification of cross-sectional changes in risks and vulnerabilities over time. Rather than automated analysis, the aim of visual means for identifying and assessing risks is to support disciplined and structured judgmental analysis based upon policymakers' experience and domain intelligence, as well as external risk communication.

Sosiaalipsykologian uusia oppikirjoja

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

DSpace-CRIS tutorial

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