Linking living lab characteristics and their outcomes : towards a conceptual framework

Despite almost a decade of living lab activity all over Europe, there still is a lack of empirical research into the practical implementation and the related outcomes of living labs. Therefore, this article proposes a framework to create a better understanding of the characteristics and outcomes of living labs. We investigate three living labs in Belgium and one in Finland to learn how the different building blocks of living lab environments contribute to the outputs of innovation projects launched within the lab. The findings imply that managers and researchers contemplating innovation in living labs need to consider the intended inputs and outcomes, and reframe their innovation activities accordingly. We formulate practical guidelines on how living labs should be managed on the levels of community interaction, stakeholder engagement, and methodological setup to succeed in implementing living lab projects and to create user-centred innovations. That way, living lab practitioners can work towards a more sustainable way of setting up living labs that can run innovation projects over a longer period of time. - See more at: http://timreview.ca/article/748#sthash.3xkJGgX9.dpu

Editorial : living labs and user innovation (December 2015)

Welcome to the January 2016 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review – the second of two issues on the theme of Living Labs and User Innovation. It is my pleasure welcome back our guest editors for December and January: Seppo Leminen (Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Aalto University, Finland), Dimitri Schuurman (iMinds and Ghent University, Belgium), Mika Westerlund (Carleton University, Canada), and Eelko Huizingh (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Neural mechanisms underlying word- and phrase-level morphological parsing

How is morphological and morphosyntactic information processed during sentence reading? Are the neural mechanisms underlying word- and phrase-level combinatorial processing overlapping or distinct? Here, electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) responses were recorded simultaneously during silent reading of Finnish sentences. The experimental conditions included 1) well-formed grammatical sentences (correct condition), 2) sentences containing morphosyntactic violations (adjective–noun number agreement violations), 3) morphological violations (incorrect stem allomorph and inflectional suffix combination), and 4) combined violations, containing both morphosyntactic and morphological violations. Signal space and source modeling results showed that morphosyntactic violations elicited a left anterior negativity effect, generated particularly in the left inferior frontal area. Morphological violations elicited a widespread negativity, resembling the N400. The neural sources of this negativity were localized most prominently to the right temporal cortical networks. Furthermore, all violations elicited P600 effects with similar widespread bilateral fronto-temporal neural generators that did not differ between morphosyntactic and morphological conditions. Our findings suggest at least partially distinct subnetworks in the fronto-temporal cortices for morphological and morphosyntactic parsing during the earlier stages of processes (∼400 ms post stimulus onset) and shared neural generators for the later processing stages.Peer reviewe

Mobiiliterveyspeliin liittyvät tarpeet, toiveet ja ideat

Terveyssuuntautuneisuus on vahvistumassa, mikä edellyttää uudenlaisia keinoja terveyden edistämiseksi. Väestön koulutustason nousu mahdollistaa tiedon paremman hyväksikäytön sekä uudenlaisen tiedonvälityksen ja terveysneuvonnan. Opinnäytetyö liittyy InnoHealth- projektiin, jonka tarkoituksena on valmentaa terveys- ja hyvinvointiteknologian toimijoita monipuoliseen yhteistyöhön opetuksen ja työelämäkäytäntöjen kehittämiseksi. Yhteistyöyrityksenä on Dato Systems Ay, jonka tavoitteena on kehittää sovellus, joka vastaa asiakkaiden tarpeita terveyden edistämisen näkökulmasta. Nyt kehitteillä olevassa sovelluksessa keskitytään ravitsemukseen ja liikuntaan. Opinnäytetyön tarkoitus on ottaa selvää mitä tarpeita, toiveita ja ideoita 18–50 –vuotiailla älypuhelimen käyttäjillä on mobiiliterveyspelistä. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on tuottaa tietoa, joka auttaa yhteistyöyritystä kehittämään mobiiliterveyspeliä asiakaslähtöisesti. Opinnäytetyö on laadullinen tutkimus, jonka aineistonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin teemahaastattelua. Teemahaastattelu toteutettiin haastattelemalla opinnäytetyön tekijöiden lähipiirin henkilöitä (n = 12), jotka olivat älypuhelimen käyttäjiä. Haastattelemalla saatu aineisto analysoitiin aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysiä käyttäen. Opinnäytetyön tulokset osoittivat, että kaikki haastateltavat kaipasivat tietoa ravitsemuksesta ja liikunnasta. Motivoitumiskeinoista tärkeimpinä pidettiin tulosten seurantaa, tavoitteita sekä niiden saavuttamista. Haastatteluista selvisi motivoitumisen olevan lähtöisin omista tarpeista ja taistelusta itseään vastaan. Sovelluksen helppokäyttöisyys, yksilöllisyys ja saatavuus olivat toiveita, joita haastateltavat korostivat vastauksissaan. Lisälaitteiksi toivottiin ainakin GPS-mahdollisuutta, sykemittaria, kalorilaskuria ja askelmittaria. Mobiililaite koettiin nopea- ja helppokäyttöiseksi. Selkeä hyötyä koettiin myös siitä, että mobiililaite kulkee aina mukana. Haastatteluvastauksissa korostui sovellukseen liittyvänä ideana se, että sovelluksen tulisi olla helppo ja yksinkertainen käyttää, mutta käyttöominaisuuksiltaan monipuolinen, jotta se vastaisi mahdollisimman laajan kohderyhmän tarpeisiin. Haastateltavat kokivat erityisesti kokonaisvaltaisen liikunnan ja ravitsemuksen yhdistävän sovelluksen tarpeelliseksi. Yhteistyöyritys on ollut tyytyväinen opinnäytetyön tuloksiin ja he ovat ottaneet ne huomioon tuotekehityksessään.Finnish people are becoming more health oriented and that requires new tools to promote health. The educational level is rising and it gives an opportunity to exploit more information in new ways. This thesis is based on InnoHealth project which aims to train healthcare and welfare technology operators in diverse collaboration to develop education and working life practices. Co-operation company is Dato Systems Ay. The company’s goal is to create a mobile phone application that is responding to clients’ needs in health promotion point of view. In this application the focus will be on nutrition and physical activity. The aim of the thesis is to provide information that helps co-operation company to develop customer-oriented mobile phone game for health. The goal is to find out what kind of needs, hopes and ideas 18 – 50 year old smartphone users have related to mobile phone game for health. In this thesis qualitative research was used and the data was collected by theme interviews. The interviews were accomplishing by interviewing smartphone users (n = 12) who belong to researcher’s inner circle. The collected data was analyzed by data-oriented content analysis. The results of the thesis pointed out that all interviewees need information concerning nutrition and physical activity. The most important motivating ways were setting goals, monitoring and accomplishing results. Most participants mentioned that they are motivated the best by their own needs and by competing against themselves. User friendliness, individuality and availability were hopes that the interviewees highlighted in their answers concerning the application. Additional devices like heart rate monitor, GPS, caloric counter and pedometer would be valuable qualities according the participants. Mobile phone was experienced as quick and easy to use. The mobile phone has the advantage of time and location independent training. The results pointed out that the application should be easy and simple to use but have versatile performance so that it would have potential to respond as many customer-oriented needs as possible. The interviewees experienced a comprehensive application that combines nutrition and physical activity especially necessary. The co-operation company has been satisfied with results and they have already used them in their product development

Low-level neural auditory discrimination dysfunctions in specific language impairment—A review on mismatch negativity findings

Abstract In specific language impairment (SLI), there is a delay in the child’s oral language skills when compared with nonverbal cognitive abilities. The problems typically relate to phonological and morphological processing and word learning. This article reviews studies which have used mismatch negativity (MMN) in investigating low-level neural auditory dysfunctions in this disorder. With MMN, it is possible to tap the accuracy of neural sound discrimination and sensory memory functions. These studies have found smaller response amplitudes and longer latencies for speech and non-speech sound changes in children with SLI than in typically developing children, suggesting impaired and slow auditory discrimination in SLI. Furthermore, they suggest shortened sensory memory duration and vulnerability of the sensory memory to masking effects. Importantly, some studies reported associations between MMN parameters and language test measures. In addition, it was found that language intervention can influence the abnormal MMN in children with SLI, enhancing its amplitude. These results suggest that the MMN can shed light on the neural basis of various auditory and memory impairments in SLI, which are likely to influence speech perception.Abstract In specific language impairment (SLI), there is a delay in the child’s oral language skills when compared with nonverbal cognitive abilities. The problems typically relate to phonological and morphological processing and word learning. This article reviews studies which have used mismatch negativity (MMN) in investigating low-level neural auditory dysfunctions in this disorder. With MMN, it is possible to tap the accuracy of neural sound discrimination and sensory memory functions. These studies have found smaller response amplitudes and longer latencies for speech and non-speech sound changes in children with SLI than in typically developing children, suggesting impaired and slow auditory discrimination in SLI. Furthermore, they suggest shortened sensory memory duration and vulnerability of the sensory memory to masking effects. Importantly, some studies reported associations between MMN parameters and language test measures. In addition, it was found that language intervention can influence the abnormal MMN in children with SLI, enhancing its amplitude. These results suggest that the MMN can shed light on the neural basis of various auditory and memory impairments in SLI, which are likely to influence speech perception.Peer reviewe

ERP priming studies of bilingual language processing

The aim of this review is to provide a selective overview of priming studies which have employed the event-related brain potential (ERP) technique in order to investigate bilingual language processing. The priming technique can reveal an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus influences the processing of another stimulus. Behavioral approaches, such as measuring reaction times, may not always be enough for providing a full view on the exact mechanisms and the time-course of language comprehension. Instead, ERPs have a time-resolution of a millisecond and hence they offer a precise temporal overview of the underlying neural processes involved in language processing. In our review, we summarize experimental research that has combined priming with ERP measurements, thus creating a valuable tool for examining the neurophysiological correlates of language processing in the bilingual brain.Peer reviewe

Categorizing the Growth Strategies of Small Firms

This study investigates the link between a small firm’s investment in R&D and its growth strategy. A firm’s growth strategy refers to the means by which the organization plans to achieve its objective to grow in volume and turnover. We categorize firm growth strategies into eight distinctive clusters: opportunity explorers, radical innovators, business developers, business expanders, profit makers, business rebuilders, stagnators, and downsizers. We argue that understanding a firm’s growth orientation provides a way to assess the returns of its R&D investments, because an organization’s intangible growth strategies and tangible inputs are connected

Effect of language experience on selective auditory attention: An event-related potential study

Dual language experience has typically been shown to improve various executive control functions. We investigated with event-related brain potentials (ERPs) recorded from early (natively) bilingual speakers and control participants whether it also affects auditory selective attention. We delivered to our participants two tone streams, one to the left and one to the right ear. Both streams consisted of standard tones and two types of infrequent deviant tones which had either an enhanced duration or intensity. The participants were instructed to attend either to the right or left stream and to detect longer-duration deviants in the attended stream. The results showed that the early bilinguals did not outperform the controls in target detection accuracy or speed. However, the late portion of the attention-related ERP modulation (the negative difference, Nd) was larger over the left hemisphere in the early bilinguals than in the controls, suggesting that the maintenance of selective attention or further processing of selectively attended sounds is enhanced in the bilinguals. Moreover, the late reorienting negativity (RON) in response to intensity-deviant tones was larger in the bilinguals, suggesting more efficient disengagement of attention from distracting auditory events. Hence, our results demonstrate that brain responses associated with certain aspects of auditory attention are enhanced in the bilingual adults, indicating that early dual language exposure modulates the neuronal responsiveness of auditory modality.Peer reviewe

Acquisition of L2 morphology by adult language learners

Learning a new language requires the acquisition of morphological units that enable the fluent use of words in different grammatical contexts. While accumulating research has elucidated the neural processing of native morphology, much less is known about how second-language (L2) learners acquire and process morphology in their L2. To address this question, we presented native speakers as well as beginning and advanced learners of Finnish with spoken (1) derived words, (2) inflected words, (3) novel derivations (novel combinations of existing stem + suffix), and (4) pseudo-suffixed words (existing stem + pseudo-suffix) in a passive listening EEG experiment. An early (60 msec after suffix deviation point) positive ERP response showed no difference between inflections and derivations, suggesting similar early parsing of these complex words. At 130 msec, derivations elicited a lexical ERP pattern of full-form memory-trace activation, present in the L2 beginners and advanced speakers to different degrees, implying a shift from lexical processing to more dual parsing and lexical activation of the complex forms with increasing proficiency. Pseudo-suffixed words produced a syntactic pattern in a later, 170 240 msec time-window, exhibiting enhanced ERPs compared to well-formed inflections, indicating second-pass syntactic parsing. Overall, the L2 learners demonstrated a gradual effect of proficiency towards L1-like responses. Advanced L2 learners seem to have developed memory traces for derivations and their neurolinguistic system is capable of early automatic parsing. This suggests that advanced learners have already developed sensitivity to morphological information, while such knowledge is weak in beginners. Discrepancies in ERP dynamics and topographies indicate partially differing recruitment of the language network in L1 and L2. In beginners, response differences between existing and novel morphology were scarce, implying that representations for complex forms are not yet well-established. The results suggest successful development of brain mechanisms for automatic processing of L2 morphology, capable of gradually attaining L1-like functionality with increasing proficiency. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe