Properties and Gratifications of Mobile Data Services: An Explorative Investigation

We identify, explore and categorize mobile service qualities (properties) and their valuations as gratifications based on a longitudinal field study of mobile data service use. Different properties - instrumental, aesthetic, and expressive - and service gratifications - content, process, and social - salient for various data services are identified during users\u27 mobile service experience. Service properties and gratifications offer a means to track, garner and organize multiple accounts of a mobile service and its value from a user\u27s point of view. The findings complement current technology acceptance theory by showing how artifact\u27s properties and its use gratifications shape and influence either continuation and expansion, or discontinuation of mobile data service use

Jatkosodan taistelut neuvostoliittolaisen historiteoksen kuvaamina

Artikkelin alussa tarkastellaan aluksi Neuvostoliiton historiankirjoitusta, todeten Stalinin ajalle olevan luonteenomaista subjektiivisuus ja salailu. "sotatapahtumat on esitetty Puna-armeijan suhteen liioitellun edullisessa värityksessä ja vastustajan menestymisestä on pyritty vaikenemaan." Lisäksi todetaan, että virallisen historiateoksen kuvaus Suomen talvisodasta rajoittuu yksinomaan Kannaksen sotatoimiin. "Nyttemmin on tälläkin alla Neuvostoliitossa tapahtunut muutos. Viime vuonna on Moskovassa julkaistu teos " Bitva za Leningrad" (Taistelu Leningradista), joka kuvailee Leningradin suunnan taisteluja sekä saksalaisia että suomalaisia vastaan vuosina 1941-44. Teos eroaa aikaisemmista kaltaisistaan ennen kaikkea siinä, että selvästi myönnetään Puna-armeijan epäonnistuneen määrättyjen tehtävien suosituksessa. Artikkelissa tarkastellaan tämän teoksen eräitä "mielenkiintoa herättäviä" kohtia sotatoimien eri vaiheissa

RELEVANCE VERSUS RIGOR IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH: AN ISSUE OF QUALITY

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Marginal Eyespots on Butterfly Wings Deflect Bird Attacks Under Low Light Intensities with UV Wavelengths

Predators preferentially attack vital body parts to avoid prey escape. Consequently, prey adaptations that make predators attack less crucial body parts are expected to evolve. Marginal eyespots on butterfly wings have long been thought to have this deflective, but hitherto undemonstrated function.Here we report that a butterfly, Lopinga achine, with broad-spectrum reflective white scales in its marginal eyespot pupils deceives a generalist avian predator, the blue tit, to attack the marginal eyespots, but only under particular conditions-in our experiments, low light intensities with a prominent UV component. Under high light intensity conditions with a similar UV component, and at low light intensities without UV, blue tits directed attacks towards the butterfly head.In nature, birds typically forage intensively at early dawn, when the light environment shifts to shorter wavelengths, and the contrast between the eyespot pupils and the background increases. Among butterflies, deflecting attacks is likely to be particularly important at dawn when low ambient temperatures make escape by flight impossible, and when insectivorous birds typically initiate another day's search for food. Our finding that the deflective function of eyespots is highly dependent on the ambient light environment helps explain why previous attempts have provided little support for the deflective role of marginal eyespots, and we hypothesize that the mechanism that we have discovered in our experiments in a laboratory setting may function also in nature when birds forage on resting butterflies under low light intensities

Financial capability and functional financial literacy in young adults with developmental language disorder

Background: Financial capability is an essential feature of the organisation of one’s personal life and engagement with society. Very little is known of how adequately individuals with developmental language disorder (DLD) handle financial matters. It is known that language difficulties place them at a disadvantage in many aspects of their development and during their transition into adulthood, leading to the possibility that financial issues may prove burdensome for them. This study examines the financial capability and functional financial literacy of young adults with DLD and compares them to those of age matched peers (AMPs). We tested the expectation that those with DLD would find financial management more challenging than would their peers, and that they would need to seek greater support from family members or other people. Methods: Participants completed a detailed individual interview, which included items drawn from the British Household Panel Survey and additional measures of financial capability, functional financial literacy and of perceived support. Nonverbal IQ, language, reading and numeracy measures were also collected. Results: Compared to typically developing AMPs, young people with DLD report less extensive engagement with financial products and lower competence in functional financial literacy. A considerably higher proportion of those with DLD (48% vs 16% of AMPs) report that they draw on support, primarily from parents, in various financial tasks, including paying bills, choosing financial products, and taking loans from family or friends. Conclusions: This is the first study to consider the financial capability skills and functional financial literacy of young adults with DLD. We provide novel evidence that some young adults with DLD lack functional financial skills and require support to successfully manage their finances. This has policy implications that relate not only to engaging affected individuals in discussions about financial management but also to wider familial support

Bayesian time series analysis of terrestrial impact cratering

Giant impacts by comets and asteroids have probably had an important influence on terrestrial biological evolution. We know of around 180 high velocity impact craters on the Earth with ages up to 2400Myr and diameters up to 300km. Some studies have identified a periodicity in their age distribution, with periods ranging from 13 to 50Myr. It has further been claimed that such periods may be causally linked to a periodic motion of the solar system through the Galactic plane. However, many of these studies suffer from methodological problems, for example misinterpretation of p-values, overestimation of significance in the periodogram or a failure to consider plausible alternative models. Here I develop a Bayesian method for this problem in which impacts are treated as a stochastic phenomenon. Models for the time variation of the impact probability are defined and the evidence for them in the geological record is compared using Bayes factors. This probabilistic approach obviates the need for ad hoc statistics, and also makes explicit use of the age uncertainties. I find strong evidence for a monotonic decrease in the recorded impact rate going back in time over the past 250Myr for craters larger than 5km. The same is found for the past 150Myr when craters with upper age limits are included. This is consistent with a crater preservation/discovery bias modulating an otherwise constant impact rate. The set of craters larger than 35km (so less affected by erosion and infilling) and younger than 400Myr are best explained by a constant impact probability model. A periodic variation in the cratering rate is strongly disfavoured in all data sets. There is also no evidence for a periodicity superimposed on a constant rate or trend, although this more complex signal would be harder to distinguish.Comment: Minor typos corrected in arXiv v2. Erratum (minor notation corrections) corrected in arXiv v3. (Erratum available from http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/~calj/craterTS_erratum.pdf

Secondary user relations in emerging mobile computing environments

Mobile technologies are enabling access to information in diverse environ.ments, and are exposing a wider group of individuals to said technology. Therefore, this paper proposes that a wider view of user relations than is usually considered in information systems research is required. Specifically, we examine the potential effects of emerging mobile technologies on end-­‐user relations with a focus on the ‘secondary user’, those who are not intended to interact directly with the technology but are intended consumers of the technology’s output. For illustration, we draw on a study of a U.K. regional Fire and Rescue Service and deconstruct mobile technology use at Fire Service incidents. Our findings provide insights, which suggest that, because of the nature of mobile technologies and their context of use, secondary user relations in such emerging mobile environments are important and need further exploration

RELEVANCE VERSUS RIGOR IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH: AN ISSUE OF QUALITY

Information Systems Working Papers Serie