Asiakaslähtöisen arvolupauksen rakentaminen Foodservice-ekosysteemissä : Foodservice-asiakkaan arvo-odotukset

Foodservice-ala on joutunut kamppailemaan 2020-luvulla niin koronapandemian aiheuttamaa kriisiä kuin inflaatiotakin vastaan. Tämä on ollut omiaan vauhdittamaan foodservice-tukkupalveluita tarjoavia yrityksiä kehittämään omaa liiketoimintaansa auttaakseen asiakkaitaan laajemmin haastavina aikoina. Perinteinen tuotekeskeisyyteen logiikkaan perustuvaa liiketoimintasuhdetta ei enää pidetä kasvustrategian avaimena ja liiketoiminnan kasvua haetaankin palveluliiketoiminnan kehittämisen kautta. Asiakasymmärryksen merkitys on välttämätöntä uutta liiketoimintaa harjoittaessa, jotta voidaan luoda asiakkaita houkuttelevia arvolupauksia. Lähestymällä foodservice-alaa palveluekosysteemikäsitteen kautta, voidaan monimutkaista, useista toimijoista koostuvaa, verkostoa tarkastella tasapainoisesta ja toimijoiden välisen näkökulman kautta, jossa arvoa luodaan yhteisesti eikä pelkän arvon luoja- ja arvon tuhoaja- roolien näkökulmasta. Arvon luontia palveluekosysteemissä tulisi täten arvioida aina tietyssä instituutiokehyksissä. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielman empiirinen konteksti on Foodservice-ala, jossa tutkitaan foodservice-asiakkaiden arvo-odotuksia. Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena on muodostaa toimeksiantajalle malli arvolupausten rakentamiseksi palveluliiketoiminnan yksikössä. Tutkielman teoriaosuudessa käsitellään ekosysteemejä, lähestymistapana palveluekosysteemit, arvolupauksia, niiden muodostumista palveluekosysteemeissä ja näkökulmia arvolupauksen rakentamiseksi. Teoriasta on johdettu tämän pro gradu - tutkielman viitekehys. Viitekehys havainnollistaa, millä tavoin tutkittavaa ilmiötä on lähestytty ja millaisista näkökulmista siihen on pureuduttu. Tutkimus on tehty kvalitatiivista menetelmää käyttäen. Tutkimuksessa havainnollistetaan foodservice-alan muuttuvaa luonnetta, joka perustelee sen, että palveluekosysteeminen lähestymistapa on relevantti tämän tutkielman kannalta. Tutkimus havainnollistaa foodservice-ekosysteemiä asiakkaan näkökulmasta, jossa palveluekosysteemiin kuuluvat toimijat voitiin jakaa välttämättömiin, mahdollistajiin, helpottajiin ja mukavuuden lisääjiin antaen aihetta myös jatkotutkimukselle. Arvo-odotuksia tutkittaessa, tutkimus nostaa esiin asiakkaiden tarpeen palvelujen räätälöinnille, jossa asiakkaita tulisi tarkastella yksittäisinä eikä osana laajaa segmenttiä. Arvo-odotuksissa korostui hinta-laatu -suhteen tärkeys, joustavuus, luotettavuus ja henkilökemiat. Tulosten perusteella voitiin luoda toimeksiantajayritykselle viisivaiheinen malli, jonka avulla voidaan muodostaa arvolupauksia foodservice-asiakaskentälle. Olennaista on huomioida yksittäisten asiakkaiden räätälöidyt tarpeet sekä alan muuttuva luonne, joka vaati yritykseltä jatkuvaa asiakastiedon keruuta ja arvolupausten päivittämistä tarpeita vastaaviksi

Haltuunottoprosessin kehittäminen ruokapalveluissa

Sopimusruokailupalvelu perustuu tilaaja-asiakkaan ja ruokapalvelun tuottajan väliseen sopimukseen. Tyypillisiä esimerkkejä sopimusruokailusta ovat opiskelijaravintolat tai yritysten henkilöstöravintolat, mutta myös kuntien ruokapalveluita on alettu entistä enemmän ulkoistaa ja toteuttaa sopimusruokailun toimintaperiaatteiden mukaisesti. Ruokapalvelun haltuunotto on tilaajan ja palveluntuottajan välinen monivaiheinen prosessi, joka sisältää palvelun kilpailuttamisen, sopimusprosessin, uuden toiminnan suunnittelun ja käynnistämisen. Kehittämistutkimuksessa selvitettiin mitä haasteita sopimusruokailupalvelun toimijan vaihdokseen liittyy ja miten sopimuksen osapuolet voisivat hoitaa palvelun aloituksen mahdollisimman onnistuneesti. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin havainnoimalla toimintaa case -kohteissa, kokoamalla materiaalia projektityöpajoissa ja haastattelemalla kahta henkilöä, jotka olivat osallistuneet ruokapalvelujen ulkoistamiseen. Aineiston analyysi tehtiin kehittävän työntutkimuksen viitekehyksen avulla pohtien, miten starttivaiheen haasteet ilmenevät haltuunoton toimintajärjestelmän sisäisinä ristiriitoina ja jännitteinä ja miten työyhteisö voi ratkoa niitä ekspansiivisen oppimisen kautta ja samalla kehittää uudenlaista ja parempaa toimintaa. Tutkimuksen lopputuloksena on toimeksiantajan käyttöön tarkoitettu ravintolan haltuunoton projektisuunnitelmapohja. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että haltuunoton onnistumisen kannalta tärkeimpiä asioita ovat tilaajan ja palvelun tuottajan yhteistyö ja viestintä, toistensa toimintaprosessien ymmärtäminen sekä haltuunottoprosessin aikainen molemminpuolinen oppiminen.Contract catering is based on a contract between a corporate customer and a supplier. Typi-cal examples of contract catering are student canteens and worksite canteens but it has also been a growing trend to outsource municipal worksite canteen services and to make a con-tract for catering. The transition of catering is a multidimensional process between a corpo-rate customer and a supplier, and it includes outsourcing, the arrangement process, as well as implementing and starting a new operation. In developmental research the challenges of changing contract catering suppliers were studied. It was also investigated how the partici-pants of the contract could start new operations most successfully. The research material was collected by observing the activity of the case study targets. Mate-rial was also gathered from project workshops and by interviewing two participants of the outsourcing process of food services. The research material was analyzed by developmental work research method discussing the challenges, conflicts and tensions of the transition pro-cess at the starting phase of a new contract and contemplating how to solve them by expan-sive learning, simultaneously developing new and better activities. The outcome of the research was a catering transition project plan for the commissioner. In conclusion, the most important aspects of succeeding at a catering transition process were co-operation, communication and understanding of the different processes between the par-ticipants. Learning from each other during transition process is also crucial

Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation on Virus and Virus-Like Particle Applications

Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) separates sample components based on their sizes in the absence of a stationary phase. It is well suited for high molecular weight samples such as virus-sized particles. The AF4 experiment can potentially separate molecules within a broad size range (~103−109 Da; particle diameter from 2 nm to 0.5−1 μm). When coupled to light scattering detectors, it enables rapid assays on the size, size distribution, degradation, and aggregation of the studied particle populations. Thus, it can be used to study the quality of purified viruses and virus-like particles. In addition to being an advanced analytical characterization technique, AF4 can be used in a semi-preparative mode. Here, we summarize and provide examples on the steps that need optimization for obtaining good separation with the focus on virus-sized particles

Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation on Virus and Virus-Like Particle Applications

Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) separates sample components based on their sizes in the absence of a stationary phase. It is well suited for high molecular weight samples such as virus-sized particles. The AF4 experiment can potentially separate molecules within a broad size range (~103−109 Da; particle diameter from 2 nm to 0.5−1 μm). When coupled to light scattering detectors, it enables rapid assays on the size, size distribution, degradation, and aggregation of the studied particle populations. Thus, it can be used to study the quality of purified viruses and virus-like particles. In addition to being an advanced analytical characterization technique, AF4 can be used in a semi-preparative mode. Here, we summarize and provide examples on the steps that need optimization for obtaining good separation with the focus on virus-sized particles

Automatic Annotation Service APPI : Named Entity Linking in Legal Domain

Texts referencing court decisions and statutes can be difficult to understand without context. It can be time consuming and expensive to find related statutes or to learn about context specific terminology. As a solution, we utilized a named entity linking tool for extracting information and tailored it into a service, Appi, that can automatically annotate legal documents to provide context to the readers. The service can identify and link named entities and references to legal texts to corresponding vocabularies and data sources by combining statistics- and rule-based named entity recognition with named entity linking. The results provide users with enhanced reading experience with contextual information and the possibility to access related materials, such as statutes and court decisions.Peer reviewe

Half a Century of Research on Membrane-Containing Bacteriophages: Bringing New Concepts to Modern Virology

Half a century of research on membrane-containing phages has had a major impact on virology, providing new insights into virus diversity, evolution and ecological importance. The recent revolutionary technical advances in imaging, sequencing and lipid analysis have significantly boosted the depth and volume of knowledge on these viruses. This has resulted in new concepts of virus assembly, understanding of virion stability and dynamics, and the description of novel processes for viral genome packaging and membrane-driven genome delivery to the host. The detailed analyses of such processes have given novel insights into DNA transport across the protein-rich lipid bilayer and the transformation of spherical membrane structures into tubular nanotubes, resulting in the description of unexpectedly dynamic functions of the membrane structures. Membrane-containing phages have provided a framework for understanding virus evolution. The original observation on membrane-containing bacteriophage PRD1 and human pathogenic adenovirus has been fundamental in delineating the concept of “viral lineages”, postulating that the fold of the major capsid protein can be used as an evolutionary fingerprint to trace long-distance evolutionary relationships that are unrecognizable from the primary sequences. This has brought the early evolutionary paths of certain eukaryotic, bacterial, and archaeal viruses together, and potentially enables the reorganization of the nearly immeasurable virus population (~1 × 1031) on Earth into a reasonably low number of groups representing different architectural principles. In addition, the research on membrane-containing phages can support the development of novel tools and strategies for human therapy and crop protection

Filarioid nematodes in cattle, sheep and horses in Finland

Background: In autumn 2006, Finnish meat inspection data revealed lesions in tendons, muscles and ligaments of bovine hind legs leading to partial condemnation of carcasses. In gross pathological examination at Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Oulu (now Fish and Wildlife Health) Research Unit, Onchocerca sp. (Filarioidea; Onchocercidae) nematodes were detected in lesions. Due to this, a pilot study was made in order to find out what filarioid nematodes do occur in cattle, horses and sheep in Finland. Methods: Ventral skin biopsies from 209 dairy cattle and 42 horses, as well as blood samples from 209 cattle, 146 horses and 193 sheep, were collected from different parts of Finland and examined for microfilariae. Visceral organs and other tissues from 33 cattle with parasitic lesions were studied histopathologically. Results: Onchocerca sp. microfilariae (mf), 240 μm long, range 225–260 μm, 5.4 μm thick, were found in 37% of the skin biopsies of cattle. All blood samples from cattle, horses and sheep and skin biopsies from horses were negative for mf. Ventral skin microfilaria prevalence in cattle was higher in southern Finland than in the North (p = 0.001). Animal age and sampling time was not associated with mf prevalence. The infection was evenly distributed among young and older animals. Macroscopic lesions on tissues included greenish-grey discolouration and often oedema. In most of the lesions, small pale nodules were seen on the fasciae. Histopathologic examination of the samples revealed mild to intense infiltration with eosinophilic granulocytes and multifocal nodular lymphoplasmacytic aggregations were seen. In some samples, there were granulomatotic lesions with central necrotic tissue and cell detritus, surrounded by eosinophilic granulocytes, lympho-, plasma- and histiocytes and some multinucleated giant cells. Around living nematodes no or only weak inflammatory changes were observed. Conclusion: Onchocerca sp. infection in cattle was found to be common in Finland, but the amount of pathological changes leading to condemnation of infected parts is low compared to the mf prevalence. Pronounced pathological changes are distinct but rare and mild changes are difficult to distinguish. No other filarioid nematodes were observed from the animals and it appears that horses and sheep may be free from filarioid nematodes in Finland

Can number and size of offspring increase simultaneously? - a central life-history trade-off reconsidered

Background: To maximize their fitness, parents are assumed to allocate their resources optimally between number and size of offspring. Although this fundamental life-history trade-off has been subject to long standing interest, its genetic basis, especially in wild mammals, still remains unresolved. One important reason for this problem is that a large multigenerational pedigree is required to conduct a reliable analysis of this trade-off. Results: We used the REML-animal model to estimate genetic parameters for litter size and individual birth size for a common Palearctic small mammal, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). Even though a phenotypic trade-off between offspring number and size was evident, it was not explained by a genetic trade-off, but rather by negative correlations in permanent and temporary environmental effects. In fact, even positive genetic correlations were estimated between direct genetic effects for offspring number and size indicating that genetic variation in these two traits is not necessarily antagonistic in mammals. Conclusions: Our results have notable implications for the study of the life-history trade-off between offspring number and size in mammals. The estimated genetic correlations suggest that evolution of offspring number and size in polytocous mammals is not constrained by the trade-off caused by antagonistic selection responses per se, but rather by the opposing correlative selection responses in direct and maternal genetic effects for birth size.peerReviewe

Astrocyte alterations in neurodegenerative pathologies and their modeling in human induced pluripotent stem cell platforms

Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the brain. They were long considered only as passive support for neuronal cells. However, recent data have revealed many active roles for these cells both in maintenance of the normal physiological homeostasis in the brain as well as in neurodegeneration and disease. Moreover, human astrocytes have been found to be much more complex than their rodent counterparts, and to date, astrocytes are known to actively participate in a multitude of processes such as neurotransmitter uptake and recycling, gliotransmitter release, neuroenergetics, inflammation, modulation of synaptic activity, ionic balance, maintenance of the blood–brain barrier, and many other crucial functions of the brain. This review focuses on the role of astrocytes in human neurodegenerative disease and the potential of the novel stem cell-based platforms in modeling astrocytic functions in health and in disease.Peer reviewe

Publishing and Using Legislation and Case Law as Linked Open Data on the Semantic Web

ISBN 978-3-030-62327-2 Springer, ChamPeer reviewe