WWW visibility in marketing

Abstract. Social media is a vital channel for marketers nowadays. Customers are more empowered today than ever before and the Internet is accelerating the trend toward greater customer empowerment. In few years Web 2.0 has become a highly important media and it has changed the Web into platform where individuals can communicate, assemble and organize data. Web 2.0 also offers a variety of different “tools” for companies to be used in marketing. Because companies and products are visible and discussed in social media, it is recommendable that companies try to seek positive publicity in these media. Thesis aims to describe the opportunities social media provides in organizational use, as well as, to provide an overview of the current situation in social media utilization in Finland. Further, it seeks to investigate the challenges organizations have in social media or in a whole field of E-marketing, and what kind of plans organizations have for the future in a field of E-marketing. The study consists of theoretical and empirical parts. Literature part scrutinizes the literature that covers different sides of online marketing. Empirical part of the study was conducted as a survey research. Results are based on a questionnaire and interviews that were conducted among Finnish companies during time period of spring and autumn 2012. The data was gathered among companies operating in different fields of business. Interviews were transcribed and conclusions were made from those. Because of the limited number of participants that took part to the questionnaire, the results derived from it are merely suggestive. Nevertheless, interviews did strengthen the understanding that was inherited from the questionnaire. The findings reveal that e-marketing has a very important role in the companies’ marketing strategy. Majority of the firms see social media marketing as a positive thing. Yet, the companies were unsure whether they possess the needed skills to do marketing in social media effectively. The results imply that the reason for this is related to the skills and experience the companies have in social media marketing. Those are such issues though, that company will learn and will develop its own way to use social media. This was also showed in the results.Tiivistelmä. Sosiaalinen media on tärkeä markkinointikanava nykypäivänä. Kuluttajilla on nykyään enemmän mahdollisuuksia vaikuttaa kuin koskaan ennen, minkä lisäksi Internet tarjoaa yhä kasvavassa määrin vaikuttamiskeinoja. Muutamassa vuodessa Web 2.0:sta on tullut erittäin tärkeä media, joka on muuttanut Internetin alustaksi, jossa ihmiset voivat kommunikoida sekä koota ja järjestää tietoa. Web 2. tarjoaa useita ”työkaluja” myös yrityksille käytettäväksi markkinoinnissa. Koska yritykset ja tuotteet ovat näkyvissä ja keskustelun kohteena sosiaalisissa medioissa, on suositeltavaa, että yritykset yrittävät hakea positiivista julkisuutta näissä medioissa. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma pyrkii kuvailemaan mahdollisuuksia, joita sosiaalinen media tarjoaa organisaatioille, minkä lisäksi se tarjoaa yleiskuvan sosiaalisen median hyödyntämisestä Suomessa. Lisäksi tavoitteena on selvittää haasteita, joita organisaatioilla on sosiaalisessa mediassa tai laajemmin sähköisessä kaupankäynnissä, sekä selvittää yritysten tulevaisuuden visioita sähköiselle kaupankäynnille. Tämä työ koostuu kirjallisuuteen perustuvasta teoriaosuudesta sekä empiirisestä osuudesta. Kirjallisuusosuus tarjoaa laajan katsauksen tieteelliseen kirjallisuuteen verkkomarkkinoinnin eri puolilta. Työn empiiristä osuutta varten järjestettiin survey-tutkimus. Tulokset perustuvat kyselytutkimukseen ja haastatteluihin, jotka suoritettiin suomalaisten yritysten piirissä kevään ja syksyn 2012 välisenä aikana. Data kerättiin yrityksiltä, jotka edustivat eri toimialoja. Haastattelut litteroitiin ja päätelmät tehtiin niistä. Koska kyselyyn osallistuneiden yritysten määrää jäi rajalliseksi, kyselystä saadut tulokset ovat lähinnä suuntaa antavia. Siitä huolimatta, suoritetut haastattelut vain vahvistivat kuvaa, joka saatiin kyselystä. Tuloksista ilmenee, että sähköinen markkinointi on tärkeä osa yritysten markkinointistrategiaa. Suurin osa yrityksistä näkee sosiaalisessa mediassa tapahtuvan markkinoinnin positiivisena asiana. Kuitenkin yritykset olivat epävarmoja siltä, osaavatko he tehdä tehokasta markkinointia sosiaalisessa mediassa. Tulokset näyttävät, että epävarmuuden syy löytyy yritysten rajallisesta osaamisesta ja kokemuksesta sosiaalisen median markkinoinnin alueella. Nämä ovat tietenkin asioita, jotka yritys oppii ajan kuluessa ja joissa se kokemuksen karttuessa löytää oman, itselleen sopivan tavan toimia. Tämä tuli näytetyksi myös tuloksissa

Role of Lipids in Spheroidal High Density Lipoproteins

We study the structure and dynamics of spherical high density lipoprotein (HDL) particles through coarse-grained multi-microsecond molecular dynamics simulations. We simulate both a lipid droplet without the apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) and the full HDL particle including two apoA-I molecules surrounding the lipid compartment. The present models are the first ones among computational studies where the size and lipid composition of HDL are realistic, corresponding to human serum HDL. We focus on the role of lipids in HDL structure and dynamics. Particular attention is paid to the assembly of lipids and the influence of lipid-protein interactions on HDL properties. We find that the properties of lipids depend significantly on their location in the particle (core, intermediate region, surface). Unlike the hydrophobic core, the intermediate and surface regions are characterized by prominent conformational lipid order. Yet, not only the conformations but also the dynamics of lipids are found to be distinctly different in the different regions of HDL, highlighting the importance of dynamics in considering the functionalization of HDL. The structure of the lipid droplet close to the HDL-water interface is altered by the presence of apoA-Is, with most prominent changes being observed for cholesterol and polar lipids. For cholesterol, slow trafficking between the surface layer and the regimes underneath is observed. The lipid-protein interactions are strongest for cholesterol, in particular its interaction with hydrophobic residues of apoA-I. Our results reveal that not only hydrophobicity but also conformational entropy of the molecules are the driving forces in the formation of HDL structure. The results provide the first detailed structural model for HDL and its dynamics with and without apoA-I, and indicate how the interplay and competition between entropy and detailed interactions may be used in nanoparticle and drug design through self-assembly

Application of a genetic algorithm based model selection algorithm for identification of carbide-based hot metal desulfurization

Abstract Sulfur is considered as one of the main impurities in hot metal. Hot metal desulfurization is often carried out with pneumatic injection of a fine-grade desulfurization reagent using a submerged lance. The aim of this study was to develop a data-driven model for the process. The model selection algorithm carries out a simultaneous variable selection and optimization of number of hidden neurons with a combination of binary and integer coded Genetic Algorithm. The objective function applied in the search is repeated Leave-Multiple-Out cross-validation. The model considered is a feedforward neural network with a single hidden layer. In the inner loop of the algorithm, the computational load is reduced by making use of Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) architecture. The final model is trained using the Bayesian regularization. The results show that a well-generalizing data-driven model with good prediction performance can be repeatedly selected based on noisy industrial data with the help of a Genetic Algorithm, provided that the model is validated comprehensively with internal and external data sets

Polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with weight-loss attempts and perception of overweight independent of BMI : a population-based cohort study

Peer reviewe

Vibration‐based monitoring of gas‐stirring intensity in vacuum tank degassing

Abstract Liquid steel is typically stirred in a vacuum tank using argon gas injection to achieve a homogeneous composition and high‐purity steel. The aim of this work is to study the effect of vessel vibration on the operational state monitoring of the gas stirring in a vacuum tank degasser. Following an extensive analysis of vibration features, the root mean square (RMS) of vertical velocity is found to be the best feature for the measurement of the stirring intensity caused by the volumetric gas injection rate into the ladle. Smoothing is conducted using a centered median filter with a window length of 21 s. In this work, the operational state monitoring of gas stirring is described using a ladle responsiveness value (LRV). This describes the ability of a ladle to generate the maximum amount of vibration with the minimum amount of argon gas. The LRV summarized for each ladle reveals significant differences between them. Correspondingly, a rolling ladle responsiveness value (rLRV) is used for online monitoring of possible gas leakages. The rLRV can also be used for the online monitoring of the stirring efficiency and as its comparison with the overall efficiency of a specific ladle or all ladles

Polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with weight-loss attempts and perception of overweight independent of BMI:a population-based cohort study

Abstract Objectives: Up to 70% of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have pre-obesity or obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether women with PCOS have more weight-loss attempts than women without PCOS, regardless of BMI. Moreover, women's weight perceptions in relation to previous weight-loss attempts were evaluated. Methods: A population-based birth cohort study included women with (n = 278) and without PCOS (control individuals, n = 1560) who were examined at ages 31 and 46 years with questionnaires and clinical examinations. Results: Women with PCOS had more weight-loss attempts compared with control individuals at age 31 (47% vs. 34%, p <0.001) and 46 years (63% vs. 47%, p  < 0.001). At age 46 years, PCOS was associated with multiple weight-loss attempts in the adjusted model (odds ratio: 1.43 [95% CI: 1.00‐2.03], p = 0.05). The perception of having overweight was more prevalent in those with PCOS, even among participants with normal weight, at age 31 (PCOS 47% vs. control 34%, p  = 0.014) and 46 years (PCOS 60% vs. control 39%, p  = 0.001). Conclusions: Women with PCOS were more likely to have experienced multiple weight-loss attempts and a perception of having overweight compared with control individuals, regardless of obesity status

Genetic architecture of human plasma lipidome and its link to cardiovascular disease

Abstract Understanding genetic architecture of plasma lipidome could provide better insights into lipid metabolism and its link to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Here, we perform genome-wide association analyses of 141 lipid species (n = 2,181 individuals), followed by phenome-wide scans with 25 CVD related phenotypes (n = 511,700 individuals). We identify 35 lipid-species-associated loci (P <5 ×10−8), 10 of which associate with CVD risk including five new loci-COL5A1, GLTPD2, SPTLC3, MBOAT7 and GALNT16 (false discovery rate<0.05). We identify loci for lipid species that are shown to predict CVD e.g., SPTLC3 for CER(d18:1/24:1). We show that lipoprotein lipase (LPL) may more efficiently hydrolyze medium length triacylglycerides (TAGs) than others. Polyunsaturated lipids have highest heritability and genetic correlations, suggesting considerable genetic regulation at fatty acids levels. We find low genetic correlations between traditional lipids and lipid species. Our results show that lipidomic profiles capture information beyond traditional lipids and identify genetic variants modifying lipid levels and risk of CVD