Consumption Over the Life Cycle: A Selected Literature Review

Simple life cycle and permanent income hypotheses imply that changes in consumption should be unforecastable. Rational forward-looking agents ought to smooth consumption over the life cycle and exhaust the asset stock accumulated during the working career in retirement. Empirical observations seem not to conform to these predictions of the simple theory of intertemporal choice which has given rise to elaborations on the benchmark model. The theoretical discussion of this paper concentrates on the litareture dealing with the seemingly problematic empirical regularities and on proposed explanations. The review of literature focuses particularly on the life cycle issues of consumption behaviour.consumption, life cycle, permanent income

Applications of Industrial Statistics

This dissertation examines knowledge and industrial knowledge creation processes. It looks at the way knowledge is created in industrial processes based on data, which is transformed into information and finally into knowledge. In the context of this dissertation the main tool for industrial knowledge creation are different statistical methods. This dissertation strives to define industrial statistics. This is done using an expert opinion survey, which was sent to a number of industrial statisticians. The survey was conducted to create a definition for this field of applied statistics and to demonstrate the wide applicability of statistical methods to industrial problems. In this part of the dissertation, traditional methods of industrial statistics are introduced. As industrial statistics are the main tool for knowledge creation, the basics of statistical decision making and statistical modeling are also included. The widely known Data Information Knowledge Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy serves as a theoretical background for this dissertation. The way that data is transformed into information, information into knowledge and knowledge finally into wisdom is used as a theoretical frame of reference. Some scholars have, however, criticized the DIKW model. Based on these different perceptions of the knowledge creation process, a new knowledge creation process, based on statistical methods is proposed. In the context of this dissertation, the data is a source of knowledge in industrial processes. Because of this, the mathematical categorization of data into continuous and discrete types is explained. Different methods for gathering data from processes are clarified as well. There are two methods for data gathering in this dissertation: survey methods and measurements. The enclosed publications provide an example of the wide applicability of statistical methods in industry. In these publications data is gathered using surveys and measurements. Enclosed publications have been chosen so that in each publication, different statistical methods are employed in analyzing of data. There are some similarities between the analysis methods used in the publications, but mainly different methods are used. Based on this dissertation the use of statistical methods for industrial knowledge creation is strongly recommended. With statistical methods it is possible to handle large datasets and different types of statistical analysis results can easily be transformed into knowledge.Siirretty Doriast

Business English Lingua Franca in intercultural (business) communication

Typically, the term intercultural is used as a synonym for international in the sense that it is used to refer to communication taking place between people with international backgrounds. Thus, a different cultural background equals to a different national background, which suggests that the communicators do not share the same mother tongue. In such situations the communicators basically have two options: first, one party can switch over to the other party’s mother tongue; and second, both can use a common language which is neither party’s native tongue. Both options call for intercultural communication

Same but different? The relationship between organizational culture and individual values: an exploratory study in Finland and Estonia

Siirretty Doriast

Using machine learning to predict smartphone usage

Abstract. This thesis shows the process of creating and analyzing a machine-learning model. It goes over prevalent classification algorithms and their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, techniques and metrics used to evaluate the performance of the model are introduced. In the latter part of the thesis, a Random Forest model is implemented. The objective was to predict the participants’ smartphone usage, more specifically the category of an application they had opened. This starts with a pre-processing phase, where relevant information is extracted from the raw data. Multiple variations of the model are built, and the best-performing model was able to achieve 63.37% accuracy. Additionally, the features are scored to provide more insight into the model. The thesis ends with a brief discussion section, which contemplates the reasons behind the results, some of the model’s deficiencies and how it could be improved

Dexamethasone and RU24858 induce survival and growth factor receptor bound protein 2, leukotriene B4 receptor 1 and annexin-1 expression in primary human neutrophils

Glucocorticoids are widely used anti-inflammatory medication in diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Glucocorticoids can either activate (transactivation) or inhibit (transrepression) transcription. RU24858 was introduced as a dissociated glucocorticoid and it has been reported to transrepress but not to transactivate. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of RU24858 and dexamethasone in human neutrophils. RU24858 delayed spontaneous neutrophil apoptosis and further enhanced GM-CSF- induced neutrophil survival to a similar extent as dexamethasone. Like dexamethasone RU24858 also reduced CXCL8 and MIP-1α. Unexpectedly however, RU24858 increased the expression of the glucocorticoid-inducible genes BLT-1, Annexin-1 and Grb-2 in neutrophils to a similar level as seen with dexamethasone. We have shown here that dexamethasone and RU24858 both increase Grb-2, BLT1 and Annexin-1 expression and inhibit CXCL8 and MIP-1α production. This suggests that RU24858 was not able to dissociate between transactivation and transrepression in human neutrophils but enhanced neutrophil survival. © the author(s), publisher and licensee Libertas Academica Ltd

The Evolution of English as the Business Lingua Franca: Signs of Convergence in Chinese and Finnish Professional Communication

This study questions the conventional view of the indirectness of Chinese communication. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Finnish and Chinese business professionals, the authors examine the effect of cultural identity on the directness of the communication of Chinese professionals who work for internationally operating Finnish companies located in Beijing and Shanghai, China, and who use English as the shared language with their Finnish colleagues. Three components of cultural identity (i.e., vocation as an international business professional, fairly young age, and the use of English as the business lingua franca) are particularly relevant in the participants’ professional communication and stimulated its openness and directness. The study finds that the evolution of English as the business lingua franca can be detected in the signs of convergence identified in Chinese and Finnish professional communication.Peer reviewe

"English? - Oh, it's just work!": A study of BELF users’ perceptions

With the increasing number of business professionals operating globally, knowledge of successful English lingua franca in business contexts (BELF) has become an important element in overall business know-how. Here, we report on a research project focusing on everyday BELF communication at work. It consists of an extensive survey, and related interviews among international business professionals. In addition to offering some quantitative data on communicative situations, the survey results show the respondents’ views of situation-specific factors in their communicative situations in relation to each other. Our findings suggest that English in today’s global business environment is “simply work” and its use is highly contextual. Thus, knowledge of the specific business context, the particular genres used in the particular business area, and overall business communication strategies are tightly intertwined with proficiency in English, which impacts upon teaching.Peer reviewe

Professional Communication in a Global Business Context: The Notion of Global Communicative Competence

On the basis of an extensive survey study conducted among business professionals engaging in global communication, this paper discusses communicative competence. Rapid changes in work environments, particularly advancing globalization and new technology, have highlighted the need for expanding our knowledge of the elements that constitute communicative competence in global encounters. Competence has been investigated by several researchers; however, the language perspective, particularly the language used for international communication, that is, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), has largely been ignored. Our findings indicate that global communicative competence (GCC) consists of three layers: multicultural competence, competence in English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) and the communicator's business know-how. Based on our findings, we present a model for GCC, which includes language as a key component. Implications for theory, practice, and education include the need for a multidisciplinary approach and the acknowledgement of ELF/BELF as the language of global interaction. ELF IBELF assumes a shared "core" of the English language, but focuses on interactional skills, rapport building, and the ability to ask for and provide clarifications.Peer reviewe