The role of psychological distance in value creation

Purpose – The field of service research has devoted consider able attention to the customer's role as value creator, but there is a lack of research on understanding customers' psychological processes in value creation. This paper highlights the importance of psychological distance in value-creation processes. Psychological distance is the customer's perceived distance from service interactions in terms of spatial distance, temporal distance social distance and hypothetical distance. Critically, psychological distance influences cognitive processes and can influence how customers think and feel about the service interaction. An appreciation of psychological distance within service contexts can help managers to tailor the interaction in order to facilitate value creation. Methodology/approach – In this conceptual paper, we build on psychology research and service research to develop seven propositions that explore how psychological distance can operate within service interactions and how this might influence value creation. Findings – We divide the propositions into three sections. The first concerns how perceived psychological distance from the service interaction can act as a barrier to entering a service interaction. In particular, we consider the influence of social distance and spatial distance within the context of service interactions. The second section examines how psychological distance to the expected point of service use can influence how customers construe the service and the value creation. The third aspect addresses customer-specific characteristics that can impact on value creation by influencing perceived psychological distance toward the service

Review of industry-proposed in-pile thermionic space reactors. Volume I - General

Diode and reactor design and nuclear fuels including uranium carbide alloys, uranium dioxide and uranium dioxide cermets for industry proposed in-pile thermionic space reactor

Transfer learning and subword sampling for asymmetric-resource one-to-many neural translation

There are several approaches for improving neural machine translation for low-resource languages: monolingual data can be exploited via pretraining or data augmentation; parallel corpora on related language pairs can be used via parameter sharing or transfer learning in multilingual models; subword segmentation and regularization techniques can be applied to ensure high coverage of the vocabulary. We review these approaches in the context of an asymmetric-resource one-to-many translation task, in which the pair of target languages are related, with one being a very low-resource and the other a higher-resource language. We test various methods on three artificially restricted translation tasks—English to Estonian (low-resource) and Finnish (high-resource), English to Slovak and Czech, English to Danish and Swedish—and one real-world task, Norwegian to North Sámi and Finnish. The experiments show positive effects especially for scheduled multi-task learning, denoising autoencoder, and subword sampling.There are several approaches for improving neural machine translation for low-resource languages: monolingual data can be exploited via pretraining or data augmentation; parallel corpora on related language pairs can be used via parameter sharing or transfer learning in multilingual models; subword segmentation and regularization techniques can be applied to ensure high coverage of the vocabulary. We review these approaches in the context of an asymmetric-resource one-to-many translation task, in which the pair of target languages are related, with one being a very low-resource and the other a higher-resource language. We test various methods on three artificially restricted translation tasks-English to Estonian (low-resource) and Finnish (high-resource), English to Slovak and Czech, English to Danish and Swedish-and one real-world task, Norwegian to North Sami and Finnish. The experiments show positive effects especially for scheduled multi-task learning, denoising autoencoder, and subword sampling.Peer reviewe

Intake of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Associations with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. September 2017. Major: Epidemiology. Advisors: Alvaro Alonso, Pamela Schreiner. 1 computer file (PDF); xv, 182 pages.Background: The American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommend at least two servings of oily fish a week to promote cardiovascular health. Oily fish is rich in the long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). These, along with the vegetable-derived omega-3 PUFA alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), play major roles in normal physiological processes. The aim of this dissertation was to consider associations of fish, fish-derived omega-3 PUFAs DHA and EPA, and vegetable-derived omega-3 PUFA ALA with cardiovascular and glycemia outcomes, presented in three related manuscripts. Methods: All analyses utilized data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, a multi-center prospective study designed to investigate the etiology and natural history of cardiovascular disease. There have been five visits: the baseline in 1987–89 (visit 1) and four follow-up visits in 1990–92, 1993–95, 1996–98 and 2011–13. Data from visits 1 through 4 were used in this dissertation. Dietary data were collected at visits 1 and 3 via food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Paper 1: We studied the association of consumption of seafood, EPA, DHA, and ALA with fasting blood glucose (FBG) (n=13,173), HbA1c (n=11,575), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) (n=11,874). FBG and HbA1c were obtained using blood samples collected during study visits and diabetes status was identified through self-report and lab values. To estimate differences across exposure categories, linear regression was used for continuous outcomes (FBG, HbA1c), adjusting for repeated measures as appropriate; Cox proportional hazards regression with time varying covariates was used for the incident T2D outcome. Paper 2: We studied the association of consumption of seafood, EPA, DHA, and ALA with J-point height and heart rate-corrected (QTc) interval (n = 12,611). QTc interval and J-point height were measured using ECGs obtained during study visits. To estimate differences across exposure categories, generalized estimating equations were used to estimate odds ratios of prolonged QTc and J-point elevation and differences in continuous measures of QTc interval and J-point height. Paper 3: One ARIC field center collected plasma biomarker values from participants at visit 1, and these data were used to augment self-report dietary data obtained via FFQ. We imputed biomarker values for other participants using multiple imputation for chained equations and investigated the associations of plasma phospholipid measures of ALA, DHA, and EPA with prolonged QTc, HbA1c, and incident T2D. Results: Paper 1: In multivariable analyses, intake of seafood and DHA+EPA was favorably associated with FBG and HbA1c in non-diabetic participants, although the magnitude of the associations was small. ALA was not associated with FBG or HbA1c in non-diabetic participants. Among diabetic participants, intake of seafood, DHA+EPA, and ALA were adversely associated with FBG and HbA1c, with differential effects for seafood by sex and race. Finally, higher intake of ALA was associated with higher risk of incident T2D in normoglycemics, while seafood and DHA+EPA were not. Paper 2: Higher intakes of ALA+DHA+EPA and ALA were associated with a shorter QTc interval. None of the exposures were associated with prolonged QTc, J-point elevation, or J-point height. Paper 3: In the full cohort (imputed) and the Minnesota (observed) populations, none of the exposures was significantly associated with prolonged QTc, HbA1c, or incident T2D. Point estimates in both populations were similar across different covariate adjustments, and confidence intervals were narrower in the full cohort population than in the observed plasma population. Conclusions: Considering the dietary recommendations of the ADA and AHA, this dissertation examined the associations of dietary omega-3 PUFAs with cardiovascular and glycemia outcomes while also considering the implications of measurement error in the exposure of interest. Taken together, these results suggest that consumption of omega-3 PUFAs are not associated with certain cardiovascular outcomes in healthy individuals, and may be associated with deleterious glucose homeostasis in those with diabetes

Treatment of municipal wastewater in full-scale on-site sand filter reduces BOD efficiently but does not reach requirements for nitrogen and phosphorus removal

A traditional sand filter for treatment of household wastewater was constructed in the fall of 2012 at Biolinja 12, Turku, Finland. Construction work was led and monitored by an authorized wastewater treatment consultant. The filter was placed on a field bordered by open ditches from all sides in order to collect excess rain and snowmelt waters. The filter was constructed and insulated from the environment so that all outflowing water was accounted for. Untreated, mainly municipal, wastewater from Varissuo suburb was pumped from a sewer separately via three septic tanks (volume = 1 m(3) each) into the filters. Normally, wastewater was distributed to ground filters automatically according to pre-programmed schedule. Initially, the daily flow was 1200 L day(-1) to reflect the average organic load of a household of five persons (load: ca 237 g day(-1) BOD; 73 g day(-1) total N; and 10.4 g day(-1) total P). Later in the test, the flow rate was decreased first to 900 and then to 600 L day(-1) to better reflect the average volume produced by five persons. Volumes of inlet wastewater as well as treated water were monitored by magnetic flow meters. Samples were withdrawn from the inlet water, from the water entering the filters after the third septic tank, and from the outflowing water. After an initial adaption time, the reductions in BOD and chemical oxygen demand were constantly between 92 and 98%, showing that the biological degradation process in the filters functioned optimally and clearly comply with the national and EU standards. The reduction in total nitrogen and total phosphorus, however, reached required levels only during the first months of testing, apparently when buildup of microbial biomass was still ongoing. After this initial period of 3 months showing satisfactory reduction levels, the reduction of total nitrogen varied between 5 and 25% and total phosphorus mostly between 50 and 65%. Nitrification was efficient in the filter, but as indicated by high nitrate levels and poor nitrogen reductions, denitrification was inefficient or absent. During the winter period, the temperature in the filter dropped to near freezing, but at all time points, the flow of water was unaffected by freezing. During snowmelt and heavy rain, occasional flooding was observed. Such situations may lead to dilution rather than purification of the wastewater. In conclusion, the sand filter tested worked well for reduction of the organic load in municipal wastewater but failed to sufficiently reduce nitrogen and phosphorus levels.Peer reviewe

Long-term Outcome of Low-concentration Hexyl-5-aminolaevulinate Daylight Photodynamic Therapy for Treatment of Actinic Keratoses

Peer reviewe

Effect of process parameters on the energy requirement in ultrasonical treatment of waste sludge

Mechanical treatment methods are used as pre-treatment methods in order to enhance the efficiency of conventional sludge treatment processes and the sludge becomes more suitable for its complete treatment. The ultrasound is an alternative method among other methods, but because of its high energy requirement it should be optimized before utilization. This work gives the optimized parameters such as sonication time, sonication power (these parameters are the two factors which play part for energy calculations), type of sludge, cooling requirements and solid content in the sludge solution. Even if the previous researchers prefer to use the energy (specific energy usually), we have found out that both the sonication time and the sonication power have individual importance. For municipal sludge the main conclusion can be summarized as: “high power-short retention time” is more effective than “low power-long retention time”. As this phenomenon may alter from sludge to sludge, various combinations of power and retention time should be tried while keeping the volume small and the concentration below a certain level. The process should be performed at moderate temperatures and the efficiency increases if the sludge is as homogeneous as possible

Explaining the servitization paradox: a configurational theory and a performance measurement framework

Purpose Previous research reports mixed results regarding the performance impact of servitization in manufacturing firms. To resolve this, the purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptually consistent and comprehensive measurement framework for both dimensions, servitization and its performance effect, and apply in a configurational analysis to reexamine previous evidence, arriving at a configurational theory of the relationship between servitization and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Combining systematic literature review (SLR) and inductive reasoning, the existing indicators for servitization and performance are identified and clustered into groups that adequately represent both dimensions. The dataset is reanalyzed against the resulting framework to identify the configurational patterns and to formulate the theoretical propositions. Findings Financial and nonfinancial indicators of servitization and its performance impact are organized into a comprehensive measurement framework grounded on existing research. The subsequent meta-analysis shows that the positive or negative impacts of servitization on performance depend on how firms implement servitization strategies and which performance aspects are examined. Research limitations/implications The results explain when servitization can be successful and confirm the existence of the so-called servitization paradox. The meta-analysis identified patterns that explain the previous mixed results, shaping a configurational theory of servitization. Thus, the measurement framework is conceptually robust and has sufficient detail to capture servitization and its performance outcome as it feasibly distinguished between different organizational configurations. Originality/value The framework provides a comprehensive portfolio of indicators for both managers and scholars to measure servitization intensity and performance. This supports managers of servitizing firms in leading this organizational transformation while avoiding its organizational and financial paradoxes

Different species trait groups of stream diatoms show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin

Understanding the drivers of community structure is an important topic in ecology. We examined whether different species trait groups of stream diatoms (ecological guilds and specialization groups) show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin. We used local- and catchment-scale environmental and spatial variables in redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to examine community structuring. Local and catchment conditions and spatial variables affected diatom community structure with different relative importance. Local-scale environmental variables explained most of the variation in the low-profile and motile guilds, whereas local and spatial variables explained the same amount of the variation in the high-profile guild. The variations in the planktic guild and the specialist species were best explained by spatial variables, and catchment variables explained most variation only in generalist species. Our study showed that diatom communities in subarctic streams are a result of both environmental filtering and spatial processes. Our findings also suggested that dividing whole community into different groups by species traits can increase understanding of metacommunity organization.Peer reviewe

Different species trait groups of stream diatoms show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin

Understanding the drivers of community structure is an important topic in ecology. We examined whether different species trait groups of stream diatoms (ecological guilds and specialization groups) show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin. We used local- and catchment-scale environmental and spatial variables in redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to examine community structuring. Local and catchment conditions and spatial variables affected diatom community structure with different relative importance. Local-scale environmental variables explained most of the variation in the low-profile and motile guilds, whereas local and spatial variables explained the same amount of the variation in the high-profile guild. The variations in the planktic guild and the specialist species were best explained by spatial variables, and catchment variables explained most variation only in generalist species. Our study showed that diatom communities in subarctic streams are a result of both environmental filtering and spatial processes. Our findings also suggested that dividing whole community into different groups by species traits can increase understanding of metacommunity organization.Peer reviewe