Turku Centre for Computer Science – Annual Report 2013

Due to a major reform of organization and responsibilities of TUCS, its role, activities, and even structures have been under reconsideration in 2013. The traditional pillar of collaboration at TUCS, doctoral training, was reorganized due to changes at both universities according to the renewed national system for doctoral education. Computer Science and Engineering and Information Systems Science are now accompanied by Mathematics and Statistics in newly established doctoral programs at both University of Turku and &Aring;bo Akademi University. Moreover, both universities granted sufficient resources to their respective programmes for doctoral training in these fields, so that joint activities at TUCS can continue. The outcome of this reorganization has the potential of proving out to be a success in terms of scientific profile as well as the quality and quantity of scientific and educational results.&nbsp; International activities that have been characteristic to TUCS since its inception continue strong. TUCS&rsquo; participation in European collaboration through EIT ICT Labs Master&rsquo;s and Doctoral School is now more active than ever. The new double degree programs at MSc and PhD level between University of Turku and Fudan University in Shaghai, P.R.China were succesfully set up and are&nbsp; now running for their first year. The joint students will add to the already international athmosphere of the ICT House.&nbsp; The four new thematic reseach programmes set up acccording to the decision by the TUCS Board have now established themselves, and a number of events and other activities saw the light in 2013. The TUCS Distinguished Lecture Series managed to gather a large audience with its several prominent speakers. The development of these and other research centre activities continue, and&nbsp; new practices and structures will be initiated to support the tradition of close academic collaboration.&nbsp; The TUCS&rsquo; slogan Where Academic Tradition Meets the Exciting Future has proven true throughout these changes. Despite of the dark clouds on the national and European economic sky, science and higher education in the field have managed to retain all the key ingredients for success. Indeed, the future of ICT and Mathematics in Turku seems exciting.</p

Proceedings of the seventh international conference on well-being in the information society : fighting inequalities (WIS 2018)

This publication contains selected and reviewed abstracts that were presentded at the Well-Being In the Information Society - WIS 2018 conference, which took place in Turku in Finland, during 27-29 August, 2018. The conference, which started in 2006, is a biannual event that is now being held for the seventh time. The conference is multidisciplinary in nature. It brings together scientist and practitioners from several academic disciplines and professional specializations from around the world who share their current expertise and experiences, and exchange their views on the latest developments within the field. The focal point of the WIS conference has from the beginning been the use of information technology to promote equality in well-being. This, together with the main theme of the conference this year, ‘fighting inequalities’, is reflected in the content and emphasis in the publication. We would like to express our gratitude to all of those who have contributed to the WIS 2018 conference. We owe our special thanks to the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, the Foundation for Economic Education and Åbo Akademi University Foundation. Without the financial support received from it, the event could not have taken place. The Programme Committee and the Programme Chairs also deserve appreciations for their work and the time that they committed to ensure that the conference became successful. We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the authors and thank them for participating in this publication, as well the external reviewers to helped to ensure the quality of it. It is our great pleasure and honour to introduce this issue of the TUCS Lecture Notes to the readers. We hope that it will stimulate the interest for further research about fighting inequality in well-being

Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society: Fighting Inequalities (WIS 2018)

The purpose of this paper is to explore what factors affect users’ satisfaction and continued usage intention about the health tourism website and predict continuance intentions of multiple-type users. Multi-motive information systems continuance model (MISC) will be applied in this study as this model is a comprehensive model for predicting how expectations and motives influences user satisfaction and continuance intentions. Users of a Chinese health tourism website (www.chinamht.com.cn) will be investigated through an online survey. Moreover, the data will be analyzed in structural equation model (SME) approach and at least 200 effective answers should be collected as the validity of SME relies on large numbers of samples. The contribute of this work may be enhance the understanding of influence factors as well as in utilizing the websites to fit the expectations of users and attract more visit.</p

Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society: Fighting Inequalities (WIS 2018)

Online health communities have been argued to play an important role in smoking quitting and maintenance from the social support perspective. But little is known about the character of online social support among Chinese smokers in online health communities. This study aims to explore what social support Chinese smokers share via online health communities. The data in a Chinese online community called Baidu Quitting Smoking Bar were crawled via pro-gramming. The content analysis was employed to analyze the content of messages. A pilot study was conducted to identify the classification of social support. Two threads with corresponding messages (N=835) were randomly selected and categorized based on the social support behavior code (SSBC). Findings shown that emotional support is the most widespread, following informational support, network and esteem support, while tangible support is rare. Surprisingly, self-disclosure is common in this online community. These messages only record smokers’ cessation progress or personal accomplishment without seeking social support. Further study will be conducted based on this pilot study to identify so-cial support for smoking cessation in online communities with the full data collected.</p

Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society: Fighting Inequalities (WIS 2018)

This publication contains selected and reviewed abstracts that were presentded at the Well-Being In the Information Society - WIS 2018 conference, which took place in Turku in Finland, during 27-29 August, 2018. The conference, which started in 2006, is a biannual event that is now being held for the seventh time. The conference is multidisciplinary in nature. It brings together scientist and practitioners from several academic disciplines and professional specializations from around the world who share their current expertise and experiences, and exchange their views on the latest developments within the field. The focal point of the WIS conference has from the beginning been the use of information technology to promote equality in well-being. This, together with the main theme of the conference this year, ‘fighting inequalities’, is reflected in the content and emphasis in the publication. We would like to express our gratitude to all of those who have contributed to the WIS 2018 conference. We owe our special thanks to the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, the Foundation for Economic Education and Åbo Akademi University Foundation. Without the financial support received from it, the event could not have taken place. The Programme Committee and the Programme Chairs also deserve appreciations for their work and the time that they committed to ensure that the conference became successful. We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the authors and thank them for participating in this publication, as well the external reviewers to helped to ensure the quality of it. It is our great pleasure and honour to introduce this issue of the TUCS Lecture Notes to the readers. We hope that it will stimulate the interest for further research about fighting inequality in well-being.</p

Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society: Fighting Inequalities (WIS 2018)

Effective methods are needed to identify and manage risks in healthcare to improve patient safety and hence the reputation of health care. Analysing safety related records and learning from ‘touch and go’ situations as well as accidents is one possible way of preventing hazardous conditions from occurring in healthcare, both public and private. The eventuality of an incident or an accident may markedly be reduced if the risks connected to it are efficiently diagnosed. This paper explores how a data mining technique can be applied to healthcare in order to discover harm causing factors in vast amounts of patient safety records.</p

Letters from the War of Ecosystems – An Analysis of Independent Software Vendors in Mobile Application Marketplaces

The recent emergence of a new generation of mobile application marketplaces has changed the business in the mobile ecosystems. The marketplaces have gathered over a million applications by hundreds of thousands of application developers and publishers. Thus, software ecosystems—consisting of developers, consumers and the orchestrator—have emerged as a part of the mobile ecosystem. This dissertation addresses the new challenges faced by mobile application developers in the new ecosystems through empirical methods. By using the theories of two-sided markets and business ecosystems as the basis, the thesis assesses monetization and value creation in the market as well as the impact of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and developer multihoming— i. e. contributing for more than one platform—in the ecosystems. The data for the study was collected with web crawling from the three biggest marketplaces: Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Phone Store. The dissertation consists of six individual articles. The results of the studies show a gap in monetization among the studied applications, while a majority of applications are produced by small or micro-enterprises. The study finds only weak support for the impact of eWOM on the sales of an application in the studied ecosystem. Finally, the study reveals a clear difference in the multi-homing rates between the top application developers and the rest. This has, as discussed in the thesis, an impact on the future market analyses—it seems that the smart device market can sustain several parallel application marketplaces.Muutama vuosi sitten julkistetut uuden sukupolven mobiilisovellusten kauppapaikat ovat muuttaneet mobiiliekosysteemien liiketoimintadynamiikkaa. Nämä uudet markkinapaikat ovat jo onnistuneet houkuttelemaan yli miljoona sovellusta sadoilta tuhansilta ohjelmistokehittäjiltä. Nämä kehittäjät yhdessä markkinapaikan organisoijan sekä loppukäyttäjien kanssa ovat muodostaneet ohjelmistoekosysteemin osaksi laajempaa mobiiliekosysteemiä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan mobiilisovellusten kehittäjien uudenlaisilla kauppapaikoilla kohtaamia haasteita empiiristen tutkimusmenetelmien kautta. Väitöskirjassa arvioidaan sovellusten monetisaatiota ja arvonluontia sekä verkon asiakasarviointien (engl. electronicWord-of-Mouth, eWOM) ja kehittäjien moniliittymisen (engl. multi-homing) — kehittäjä on sitoutunut useammalle kuin yhdelle ekosysteemille — vaikutuksia ekosysteemissä. Työn teoreettinen tausta rakentuu kaksipuolisten markkinapaikkojen ja liiketoimintaekosysteemien päälle. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty kolmelta suurimmalta mobiilisovellusmarkkinapaikalta: Apple App Storesta, Google Playstä ja Windows Phone Storesta. Tämä artikkeliväitöskirja koostuu kuudesta itsenäisestä tutkimuskäsikirjoituksesta. Artikkelien tulokset osoittavat puutteita monetisaatiossa tutkittujen sovellusten joukossa. Merkittävä osa tarkastelluista sovelluksista on pienten yritysten tai yksittäisten kehittäjien julkaisemia. Tutkimuksessa löydettiin vain heikkoa tukea eWOM:in positiiviselle vaikutukselle sovellusten myyntimäärissä. Työssä myös osoitetaan merkittävä ero menestyneimpien sovelluskehittäjien sekä muiden kehittäjien moniliittymiskäyttäytymisen välillä. Tällä havainnolla on merkitystä tuleville markkina-analyyseille ja sen vaikutuksia on käsitelty työssä. Tulokset esimerkiksi viittaavat siihen, että markkinat pystyisivät ylläpitämään useita kilpailevia kauppapaikkoja.Siirretty Doriast

Letters from the War of Ecosystems – An Analysis of Independent Software Vendors in Mobile Application Marketplaces

The recent emergence of a new generation of mobile application marketplaces has changed the business in the mobile ecosystems. The marketplaces have gathered over a million applications by hundreds of thousands of application developers and publishers. Thus, software ecosystems&mdash;consisting of developers, consumers and the orchestrator&mdash;have emerged as a part of the mobile ecosystem.&nbsp; This dissertation addresses the new challenges faced by mobile application developers in the new ecosystems through empirical methods. By using the theories of two-sided markets and business ecosystems as the basis, the thesis assesses monetization and value creation in the market as well as the impact of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and developer multihoming&mdash; i. e. contributing for more than one platform&mdash;in the ecosystems. The data for the study was collected with web crawling from the three biggest marketplaces: Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Phone Store.&nbsp; The dissertation consists of six individual articles. The results of the studies show a gap in monetization among the studied applications, while a majority of applications are produced by small or micro-enterprises. The study finds only weak support for the impact of eWOM on the sales of an application in the studied ecosystem. Finally, the study reveals a clear difference in the multi-homing rates between the top application developers and the rest. This has, as discussed in the thesis, an impact on the future market analyses&mdash;it seems that the smart device market can sustain several parallel application marketplaces. - - - - - Muutama vuosi sitten julkistetut uuden sukupolven mobiilisovellusten kauppapaikat ovat muuttaneet mobiiliekosysteemien liiketoimintadynamiikkaa. N&auml;m&auml; uudet markkinapaikat ovat jo onnistuneet houkuttelemaan yli miljoona sovellusta sadoilta tuhansilta ohjelmistokehitt&auml;jilt&auml;. N&auml;m&auml; kehitt&auml;j&auml;t yhdess&auml; markkinapaikan organisoijan sek&auml; loppuk&auml;ytt&auml;jien kanssa ovat muodostaneet ohjelmistoekosysteemin osaksi laajempaa mobiiliekosysteemi&auml;.&nbsp; T&auml;ss&auml; v&auml;it&ouml;skirjassa tarkastellaan mobiilisovellusten kehitt&auml;jien uudenlaisilla kauppapaikoilla kohtaamia haasteita empiiristen tutkimusmenetelmien kautta. V&auml;it&ouml;skirjassa arvioidaan sovellusten monetisaatiota ja arvonluontia sek&auml; verkon asiakasarviointien (engl. electronicWord-of-Mouth, eWOM) ja kehitt&auml;jien moniliittymisen (engl. multi-homing) &mdash; kehitt&auml;j&auml; on sitoutunut useammalle kuin yhdelle ekosysteemille &mdash; vaikutuksia ekosysteemiss&auml;. Ty&ouml;n teoreettinen tausta rakentuu kaksipuolisten markkinapaikkojen ja liiketoimintaekosysteemien p&auml;&auml;lle. Tutkimuksen aineisto on ker&auml;tty kolmelta suurimmalta mobiilisovellusmarkkinapaikalta: Apple App Storesta, Google Playst&auml; ja Windows Phone Storesta.&nbsp; T&auml;m&auml; artikkeliv&auml;it&ouml;skirja koostuu kuudesta itsen&auml;isest&auml; tutkimusk&auml;sikirjoituksesta. Artikkelien tulokset osoittavat puutteita monetisaatiossa tutkittujen sovellusten joukossa. Merkitt&auml;v&auml; osa tarkastelluista sovelluksista on pienten yritysten tai yksitt&auml;isten kehitt&auml;jien julkaisemia. Tutkimuksessa l&ouml;ydettiin vain heikkoa tukea eWOM:in positiiviselle vaikutukselle sovellusten myyntim&auml;&auml;riss&auml;. Ty&ouml;ss&auml; my&ouml;s osoitetaan merkitt&auml;v&auml; ero menestyneimpien sovelluskehitt&auml;jien sek&auml; muiden kehitt&auml;jien moniliittymisk&auml;ytt&auml;ytymisen v&auml;lill&auml;. T&auml;ll&auml; havainnolla on merkityst&auml; tuleville markkina-analyyseille ja sen vaikutuksia on k&auml;sitelty ty&ouml;ss&auml;. Tulokset esimerkiksi viittaavat siihen, ett&auml; markkinat pystyisiv&auml;t yll&auml;pit&auml;m&auml;&auml;n useita kilpailevia kauppapaikkoja.</p