Digitaalisen opetuksen kasvuyritysten kansainvälistymiseen vaikuttavat tekijät

As well as many other industries, education is currently being disrupted by new emerging digital solutions. Teachers all around the world are adopting new digital materials to their everyday teaching including digital books and educational games. This recent trend engenders opportunity for new companies to emerge with cutting-edge digital educational solutions. Furthermore, with a digital solution expansion to international markets without heavy investments is possible. However, for example in Finland only few companies have been able to successfully enter new markets with educational technology. Internationalization strategies have been widely studied during the past few decades. The early studies already identified a set of different market entry modes including export, licensing, franchising, joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries. However, for small resource-limited companies, export is the most viable option. Export allows company to maintain the full control of the process and product without making heavy investments on the internationalization. The export performance framework shows that the export strategy is depending on both internal (company resources) and external factors (country and industry characteristics). More recent studies have also identified alternative entry modes such as cooperative strategies and innovative use of internet. However, the previous literature has not studied this topic purely in education industry and therefore does not provide detailed knowledge for startups planning international expansion in digital education industry. The aim of this study is to identify key determinants for market entry strategy selection for startups in digital education, and identify different strategies for addressing the major challenges in the digital education markets. To study this topic, 15 interviews were carried out to both experts of internationalization of digital education and companies that are pursuing international expansion with digital educational solutions. The data analysis followed Gioia methodology (Gioia, Corley, & Hamilton, 2012), in which 1st-order terms are identified first, and then the 2nd-order themes are established accordingly. The findings revealed several market-level factors that drive the market entry strategy selection. These factors were related to cultural and regulatory differences, trust and reliability, different customer types and customer needs. In addition, the findings showed several strategies how companies can address the challenges related to the above market-level factors. Therefore, this study provides managers of startups with insights of digital education markets as well as a toolkit for addressing the market-level challenges in digital education.Opetusala on kokemassa suuria muutoksia uusien digitaalisten ratkaisuiden myötä. Opettajat ympäri maailmaa ottavat opetuskäyttöön uusia digitaalisia ratkaisuja kuten digitaalisia oppikirjoja sekä oppimispelejä. Opetuksen digitalisaatio synnyttää uusia yrityksiä, jotka tuottavat innovatiivisia ja moderneja teknologiaratkaisuja opetuskäyttöön. Tämänlaisille digitaalisia ratkaisuja tuottaville yrityksille on mahdollista myös kasvaa kansainvälisesti ilman suuria alkuinvestointeja. Kuitenkin vain muutama suomalainen digitaalisia ratkaisuja tuottava yritys on kyennyt onnistuneesti laajentumaan uusille markkinoille. Kansainvälistymisstrategioita on tutkittu laajalti viimeisten vuosikymmenien aikana. Jo aikaiset tutkimukset määrittelivät erilaisia tapoja tunkeutua uusille markkinoille. Näitä tapoja ovat muun muassa vienti, lisensointi, franchise-periaate, yhteisyritys sekä tytäryhtiö. Useimmille pienille yrityksille suora vienti on kuitenkin parhaiten sopiva tapa kansainvälistyä. Suora vienti antaa yritykselle täyden kontrollin operaatiosta ja tuotteesta vaatimatta kuitenkaan suuria alkuinvestointeja. Viennin suorituskyky –malli osoittaa, että vientistrategia perustuu sekä sisäisiin (yrityksen resurssit) että ulkoisiin tekijöihin (markkina- ja toimiala kohtaisiin tekijöihin). Uudemmat tutkimukset ovat lisäksi esittäneet vaihtoehtoisia tapoja tunkeutua markkinoille kuten yhteistyöhön perustuvat strategiat ja internetin innovatiivinen hyödyntäminen. Kirjallisuus ei kuitenkaan ole tutkinut kansainvälistymistä pelkästään opetusalan näkökulmasta, eikä täten tarjoa yksityiskohtaista tietoa pienten digitaalisia ratkaisuja tuottavan yrityksen kansainvälistymisestä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tunnistaa keskeisimmät tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat pienten kasvuyritysten tapaan tunkeutua markkinoille, sekä tunnistaa erilaisia strategioita markkinoiden keskeisimpien haasteiden ylittämiseen. Tutkimuksessa suoritettiin 15 haastattelua sekä opetuksen kansainvälistämisen eksperteille että pienille kasvuyrityksille, jotka ovat kansainvälistyneet digitaalisen opetuksen alalla. Haastatteludata analysoitiin käyttämällä Gioia-metodia (Gioia et al., 2012), jossa tunnistetaan ensin ensimmäisen tason aiheet, joiden perusteella voidaan luoda laajempia toisen tason teemoja. Tutkimuksen tulokset toivat ilmi useita markkina-tason tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat yrityksen tapaan tunkeutua markkinoille. Nämä tekijät liittyivät kulttuuriin ja sääntelyyn, luotettavuuteen, erilaisiin asiakastyyppeihin, sekä asiakkaiden tarpeisiin. Tulokset toivat esiin myös useita tapoja, joilla yritykset voivat ylittää keskeiset haasteet liittyen edellä mainittuihin markkina-tason tekijöihin. Tutkimuksen tulokset tuovat esiin markkinoiden keskeisiä piirteitä sekä erilaisia tapoja vastata markkinoiden erityispiirteistä syntyviin haasteisiin

Evaluating Net-Zero Energy Houses from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011

The Solar Decathlon is a two year, international project where university students compete to design, build, and test energy-efficient, net-zero homes. By definition, net-zero energy houses annually produce as much electricity as they consume. The 2011 Solar Decathlon, held in Washington D.C., had 19 university teams from around the world. Unfortunately, many past Solar Decathlon houses have traditionally been very costly. However, the 2011 Solar Decathlon was the first competition to have an affordability contest. The affordability contest required each home to be valued under an estimated builder’s cost of $250,000, forcing the teams to select economically feasible solutions for creating net zero energy houses, finding super-efficient, solar- powered, and affordable houses can be done by evaluating the contests associated with the Solar Decathlon 2011. The main cost-effective and energy saving components were discovered by researching final competition scoring of each specific contest. Heat pump water heaters, properly sized photovoltaic arrays, and HVAC systems with proper dehumidification were the main findings of this research, fortunately, all of these findings can immediately be implemented into the design of net-zero energy housing with off-the-shelf products

Reliability and validity of brief psychosocial measures related to dietary behaviors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Measures of psychosocial constructs are required to assess dietary interventions. This study evaluated brief psychosocial scales related to 4 dietary behaviors (consumption of fat, fiber/whole grains, fruits, and vegetables).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two studies were conducted. Study 1 assessed two-week reliability of the psychosocial measures with a sample of 49 college students. Study 2 assessed convergent and discriminant validity of the psychosocial measures with dietary nutrient estimates from a Food Frequency Questionnaire on 441 men and 401 women enrolled in an Internet-based weight loss intervention study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Study 1 test-retest reliability ICCs were strong and ranged from .63 to .79. In study 2, dietary fat cons, fiber/whole grain cons and self-efficacy, fruit and vegetable cons and self-efficacy, and healthy eating social support, environmental factors, enjoyment, and change strategies demonstrated adequate correlations with the corresponding dietary nutrient estimates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Brief psychosocial measures related to dietary behaviors demonstrated adequate reliability and in most cases validity. The strongest and most consistent scales related to dietary behaviors were healthy eating change strategies and enjoyment. Consistent convergent validity was also found for the cons of change scales. These measures can be used in intervention studies to evaluate psychosocial mediators of dietary change in overweight and obese individuals.</p

Mass fluxes and isofluxes of methane (CH4) at a New Hampshire fen measured by a continuous wave quantum cascade laser spectrometer

We have developed a mid‐infrared continuous‐wave quantum cascade laser direct‐absorption spectrometer (QCLS) capable of high frequency (≥1 Hz) measurements of 12CH4 and 13CH4 isotopologues of methane (CH4) with in situ 1‐s RMS image precision of 1.5 ‰ and Allan‐minimum precision of 0.2 ‰. We deployed this QCLS in a well‐studied New Hampshire fen to compare measurements of CH4 isoflux by eddy covariance (EC) to Keeling regressions of data from automated flux chamber sampling. Mean CH4 fluxes of 6.5 ± 0.7 mg CH4 m−2 hr−1 over two days of EC sampling in July, 2009 were indistinguishable from mean autochamber CH4 fluxes (6.6 ± 0.8 mgCH4 m−2 hr−1) over the same period. Mean image composition of emitted CH4 calculated using EC isoflux methods was −71 ± 8 ‰ (95% C.I.) while Keeling regressions of 332 chamber closing events over 8 days yielded a corresponding value of −64.5 ± 0.8 ‰. Ebullitive fluxes, representing ∼10% of total CH4 fluxes at this site, were on average 1.2 ‰ enriched in 13C compared to diffusive fluxes. CH4 isoflux time series have the potential to improve process‐based understanding of methanogenesis, fully characterize source isotopic distributions, and serve as additional constraints for both regional and global CH4 modeling analysis

Dilatonic global strings

We examine the field equations of a self-gravitating global string in low energy superstring gravity, allowing for an arbitrary coupling of the global string to the dilaton. Massive and massless dilatons are considered. For the massive dilaton the spacetime is similar to the recently discovered non-singular time-dependent Einstein self-gravitating global string, but the massless dilaton generically gives a singular spacetime, even allowing for time-dependence. We also demonstrate a time-dependent non-singular string/anti-string configuration, in which the string pair causes a compactification of two of the spatial dimensions, albeit on a very large scale.Comment: 18 pages RevTeX, 3 figures, references amende

Precision timing of PSR J1012+5307 and strong-field GR tests

We report on the high precision timing analysis of the pulsar-white dwarf binary PSR J1012+5307. Using 15 years of multi-telescope data from the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) network, a significant measurement of the variation of the orbital period is obtained. Using this ideal strong-field gravity laboratory we derive theory independent limits for both the dipole radiation and the variation of the gravitational constant.Comment: 3 pages, Proceedings of the 12th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity (MG 12

Nucleotide Frequencies in Human Genome and Fibonacci Numbers

This work presents a mathematical model that establishes an interesting connection between nucleotide frequencies in human single-stranded DNA and the famous Fibonacci's numbers. The model relies on two assumptions. First, Chargaff's second parity rule should be valid, and, second, the nucleotide frequencies should approach limit values when the number of bases is sufficiently large. Under these two hypotheses, it is possible to predict the human nucleotide frequencies with accuracy. It is noteworthy, that the predicted values are solutions of an optimization problem, which is commonplace in many nature's phenomena.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Cosmological perturbations on local systems

We study the effect of cosmological expansion on orbits--galactic, planetary, or atomic--subject to an inverse-square force law. We obtain the laws of motion for gravitational or electrical interactions from general relativity--in particular, we find the gravitational field of a mass distribution in an expanding universe by applying perturbation theory to the Robertson-Walker metric. Cosmological expansion induces an ($\ddot a/a) \vec r$ force where $a(t)$ is the cosmological scale factor. In a locally Newtonian framework, we show that the $(\ddot a/a) \vec r$ term represents the effect of a continuous distribution of cosmological material in Hubble flow, and that the total force on an object, due to the cosmological material plus the matter perturbation, can be represented as the negative gradient of a gravitational potential whose source is the material actually present. We also consider the effect on local dynamics of the cosmological constant. We calculate the perihelion precession of elliptical orbits due to the cosmological constant induced force, and work out a generalized virial relation applicable to gravitationally bound clusters.Comment: 10 page