Music Streaming's Impact on Cultural Diversity : Spotify and Recommendation Algorithms as Gatekeepers

The rapid growth of music streaming business has brought significant changes to the music industry, creating new opportunities for artists, labels, and consumers alike. Streaming services, like Spotify, use algorithmic recommendation systems to help users find the content relevant to them from the seemingly endless trove of music. As modern gatekeepers, these services – and the algorithms they use – yield significant power over culture, affecting the rights of both artists and listeners. This thesis examines the music business in the digitalized era, the algorithmic recommendation of music, and its impact on cultural diversity, the right to express and access culture. Additionally, I will examine what kinds of methods the international society, UN at its helm, has proposed to protect cultural rights and diversity.Musiikin suoratoistopalveluiden nopea kasvu on muuttanut musiikkialaa merkittävästi, luoden uusia mahdollisuuksia niin artisteille, levy-yhtiöille kuin kuluttajillekin. Suoratoistoalustat, kuten Spotify, käyttävät suosittelualgoritmeja ja koneoppimista helpottaakseen käyttäjälle relevantin sisällön löytämistä musiikin loputtomasta tulvasta. Moderneina portinvartijoina suoratoistopalveluilla – ja näin myös niiden käyttämillä suosittelualgoritmeilla – on paljon kulttuurista valtaa. Opinnäytetyössäni tutkin, minkälaisia vaikutuksia suoratoistopalveluilla ja suosittelualgoritmeilla, voi olla ihmisoikeuksiin; kulttuuriseen monimuotoisuuteen, ilmaisunvapauteen ja pääsyyn kulttuurin äärelle. Lisäksi tutkin, minkälaisia toimia kansainvälinen yhteisö YK:n johdolla on ehdottanut kulttuuristen oikeuksien turvaamiseksi

Lects in Helsinki Finnish - a probabilistic component modeling approach

This article examines Finnish lects spoken in Helsinki from the 1970s to the 2010s with a probabilistic model called Latent Dirichlet Allocation. The model searches for underlying components based on the linguistic features used in the interviews. Several coherent lects were discovered as components in the data, which counters the results of previous studies that report only weak co-variation between features that are assumed to present the same lect. The speakers, however, are not categorical in their linguistic behavior and tend to use more than one lect in their speech. This implies that the lects should not be considered in parallel with seemingly uniform linguistic systems such as languages, but as partial systems that constitute a network.Peer reviewe

Katomuotojen eteneminen yleiskielen hd-yhtymässä Helsingin puhekielessä

Peer reviewe

Educators' occupational well-being in health and social care education

BackgroundThe occupational well-being (OW) of educators can be defined as a balance between resources and workload factors as seen from four aspects of working life: (i) individual, (ii) working conditions, (iii) professional competence and (iv) work community. The research in this study examined the individual aspect as particular importance to the physical and mental workability of educators. Aims To study the individual aspect of the OW of educators as well as the associating factors.MethodsA cross-sectional survey design was conducted among educators working in health and social care education in Finland. The data were collected with an electronic survey using the 'Occupational well-being of social and health care teachers-index questionnaire'. The data were analysed with an SPSS version 27 using descriptive statistics, explorative factor analysis and linear regression analysis.ResultsThe educators (n = 552, response rate 31%) assessed their resources for managing their mental workload as quite poor (2.41, standard deviation [SD] 0.98). In addition, workplace support promoting OW was assessed as being quite poor (2.37, SD 0.88), and as especially requiring more measures during working hours. Associations with the individual aspect of OW were found between the personal and work-related background variables as well as overall OW.ConclusionsThe perceptions of the educators indicated that resources to cope with workload factors should be promoted. Investing in educators' resources at work, enabling well-being actions during working hours and avoiding backlog situations would all help promote the educators' OW.</p

Self-conductive interventions by educators aiming to promote individual occupational well-being—A systematic review

Educators experience mental and physical workload affecting their individual occupational well-being requiring attention. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize current research on self-conducted interventions aiming to promote individual occupational well-being of educators during working hours. This systematic review using narrative synthesis followed the PRISMA guidelines. The literature search was conducted without time limits using the databases CINAHL, Cochrane, ERIC, PsycInfo and PubMed resulting 13 studies. Self-conducted interventions were found using either physical (e.g. voice hydration/walking) or psychological exercises (e.g. meditation/self-reflection). Interventions’ achieved outcomes on educators’ individual occupational well-being was increasing their physical (e.g. physical activity/voice health) and mental resources (e.g. stress management/job satisfaction). This knowledge is useful for maintaining and promoting occupational well-being of educators</p

Työkyvyn tuen vaikuttavuus Tutkimuskatsaus työkyvyn tukitoimien työkyky- ja kustannusvaikutuksista

Katsauksen tavoitteena oli tunnistaa yksilö-, työpaikka- ja yhteiskuntatason työkyvyttömyyttä ehkäiseviä ja varhaisen työkyvyn tuen toimenpiteitä sekä selvittää, miten niiden vaikutuksia on mitattu ja mitä vaikutuksista tiedetään. Tutkimuksissa työkykyä arvioitiin useimmiten työkyvyttömyyden, sairauden tai oirehtimisen näkökulmista. Eniten tutkimusta oli yksilötason toimenpiteistä. Vahvinta näyttöä löytyi elintapainterventioiden, yksilölähtöisen stressinhallinnan, korvaavan työn mallin ja työn muokkauksen, osasairauspäivärahan ja yksilöpsykoterapian myönteisistä vaikutuksista. Kohtuullista näyttöä löytyi työuravalmennuksen, työkykykoordinaattoritoiminnan, psykososiaalisen työympäristön ja fyysisen ergonomian kehittämisen myönteisistä vaikutuksista. Erilaisten toimenpiteiden yhdistäminen todettiin usein vaikuttavaksi. Elintapainterventiot, yksilölähtöinen stressinhallinta, fyysisen ergonomian kehittäminen ja osasairauspäiväraha sekä jotkut psykoterapiamuodot voivat tuottaa myönteisiä kustannusvaikutuksia. Näytön puuttuminen ei tarkoita vaikutusten puuttumista. Lisää tutkimusta tarvitaan työyhteisö- ja yhteiskuntatason toimenpiteistä, työkykyjohtamisen kokonaisuuden, työelämän joustojen ja sairauspoissaolojen omailmoituskäytäntöjen vaikuttavuudesta.Tämä julkaisu on toteutettu osana valtioneuvoston selvitys- ja tutkimussuunnitelman toimeenpanoa (tietokayttoon.fi). Julkaisun sisällöstä vastaavat tiedon tuottajat, eikä tekstisisältö välttämättä edusta valtioneuvoston näkemystä

Miksi kato leviää? hd-yhtymän katovariantin diffuusion syyt Helsingin puhekielessä

Peer reviewe

Mobile Robots and RFID Technology-Based Smart Care Environment for Minimizing Risks Related to Employee Turnover during Pandemics

During a pandemic, it is imperative that all staff members have up-to-date information on changing work practices in the healthcare environment. This article presents a way to implement work environment orientation amongst different groups in care facilities by utilizing mobile robots, radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, and data synthesis. We offer a scenario based on a co-design approach, in which a mobile robot works as an orientation guide for new employees, RFID tags are applied on objects around the premises and people's clothing. The mobile robot takes advantage of the information provided by its known location and each RFID tag read by the RFID reader integrated with the robot. We introduce the scenario here, along with the details of its practical test implementation. Further, the challenges met in the test implementation are discussed as well as the future potential of its application. In conclusion, our study indicates that repetitive training and orientation-related duties can be successfully transferred to a mobile robot. Through RFID, the mobile robot can deliver the relevant information to the right people and thus contribute to patient and personnel safety and the resource efficiency of the orientation process

Sufficiency of Knowledge Processed in Patient Education in Dialysis Care

Purpose: Patient education improves health and treatment adherence of patients with chronic kidney disease. However, evidence about the sufficiency of patients’ knowledge processed in patient education is limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate subjective and objective sufficiency of knowledge processed in patient education in dialysis care and treatment.Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. The sample (n=162) comprised patients in predialysis or home dialysis. All eligible patients during the data collection timeframe (2016– 2017) in two university hospital districts in Finland were invited to participate. Subjective sufficiency was evaluated with a structured questionnaire having 34 items divided into six dimensions of empowering knowledge (bio-physiological, functional, social, experiential, ethical, and financial) on a Likert scale (1=not sufficient at all, 4=very sufficient). Objective sufficiency was evaluated with a structured knowledge test with 10 items (score range 0– 10, correct=1, wrong/no knowledge=0) based on the multidimensional content of patient education emphasizing bio-physiological dimension.Results: In subjective sufficiency of knowledge, the mean was 3.27 (SD 0.54). The bio-physiological dimension of empowering knowledge was the most sufficient (mean 3.52, SD 0.49) and the experiential the least (mean 2.8, SD 0.88). In objective sufficiency, the means ranged 5.15– 5.97 (SD 2.37– 2.68) among patients in different modalities of dialysis care and treatment. The least sufficient objective scores were bio-physiological and functional knowledge. The subjective and objective sufficiency did not correlate with each other.Conclusion: Patients’ knowledge, either subjective or objective, does not seem to be sufficient. Hence, attention should be paid to supporting patients with more personalized knowledge. Furthermore, the relationship between subjective and objective sufficiency needs future consideration, as their non-correspondence was a new discovery.Keywords: chronic kidney disease, hemodialysis, home, patient education as topic, peritoneal dialysis, renal dialysis </p

Työn ja perheen yhteensovittamisen kehityspolut sekä yhteydet työoloihin, perhetilanteeseen, terveydentilaan ja sairauspoissaoloihin

Työn ja perhe-elämän välisen rajapinnan konfliktit voivat heijastua työntekijöiden terveydessä ja työkyvyssä. Kahden seurantatutkimusaineiston avulla tarkasteltiin seuraavia teemoja: 1. millaisia kehityspolkuja työn ja perheen yhteensovittamisessa voidaan havaita kymmenen vuoden aikajänteellä, 2. mitkä työolo- ja perhetekijät ovat yhteydessä konflikteihin ja niiden kehitykseen sekä 3. ennustavatko konfliktit muutoksia terveydentilassa, työkyvyssä ja sairauspoissaoloissa. Erityisesti tutkittiin masennuksesta ja tuki- ja liikuntaelimistön sairauksista johtuvia poissaoloja. Käytetyt aineistot olivat Henkilöstön hyvinvointitutkimus, jossa seurattiin sosiaali- ja terveydenhuoltoalan työntekijöitä, ja Helsinki Health Study (HHS), jossa seurattiin lähtötasolla 40-60-vuotiaita Helsingin kaupungin työntekijöitä eri toimialoilta