Applying the positioning phase of the digital transformation model in practice for SMEs: toward systematic development of digitalization

Digital transformation (DT) refers to the changes in ways of working and business offering caused by adoption of digital technologies in an organization. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling with this transformation because of their limited resources and know-how. Thus, SMEs need practical grassroots-level help for DT that allows the companies to analyze where they stand in digitalization, and how they should proceed. This article discusses how SMEs can be supported in their DT by utilizing the DT model consisting of four consecutive phases for supporting companies’ systematic development of digitalization. The article focuses on the first phase of the DT model, positioning, where company’s digitalization status is analyzed in detail, and development ideas are identified. The positioning phase was conducted for 19 SMEs in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. The results indicate that the used process and tools were suitable to support SMEs for analyzing their digitalization status and identifying areas for improvement. The DT model and piloted tools have been published as a free-of-charge ApuaDigiin.fi online service to facilitate their widespread use in the future. In this way, public regional business development authors or research organizations can utilize the online service while supporting the digitalization of SMEs

Job pride and work orientation among blue-collar workers in the Finnish vehicle industry

Purpose Although the number of blue-collar industrial workers has been declining, manufacturing jobs continue to have considerable importance, even in technologically advanced economies. This study gives a voice to this often-overlooked group of workers, focusing on the Finnish vehicle industry. Design/methodology/approach The study assessed how manual workers in automotive manufacturing describe their job pride and how their accounts were related to conceptualizations of work orientation. The data included semi-structured interviews and an open-ended survey question on situations in which the respondents had felt proud of their work. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings According to the results, the respondents had a high level of job pride in general, but the meaning given to this attitude varied considerably, depending on the situation. The study participants' work orientation was a mixture of instrumental and intrinsic traits. However, there were also respondents who did not experience job pride or who had lost it because of the work circumstances. Originality/value Relatively little research has assessed the importance of job pride in the context of industrial manufacturing. Recognizing job pride in its variety is crucial information for employers who aim to develop working conditions and employee retention.Peer reviewe

Genre-adaptive Semantic Computing and Audio-based Modelling for Music Mood Annotation

This study investigates whether taking genre into account is beneficial for automatic music mood annotation in terms of core affects valence, arousal, and tension, as well as several other mood scales. Novel techniques employing genre-adaptive semantic computing and audio-based modelling are proposed. A technique called the ACTwg employs genre-adaptive semantic computing of mood-related social tags, whereas ACTwg-SLPwg combines semantic computing and audio-based modelling, both in a genre-adaptive manner. The proposed techniques are experimentally evaluated at predicting listener ratings related to a set of 600 popular music tracks spanning multiple genres. The results show that ACTwg outperforms a semantic computing technique that does not exploit genre information, and ACTwg-SLPwg outperforms conventional techniques and other genre-adaptive alternatives. In particular, improvements in the prediction rates are obtained for the valence dimension which is typically the most challenging core affect dimension for audio-based annotation. The specificity of genre categories is not crucial for the performance of ACTwg-SLPwg. The study also presents analytical insights into inferring a concise tag-based genre representation for genre-adaptive music mood analysis

Ammattiylpeyden kokeminen ja toiminnan rationaalisuus suorittavassa työssä

Ammattiylpeys on oman työn ja ammatin herättämä tunne tai asenne, joka pohjautuu saavutuksiin työssä, esimerkiksi omaan osaamiseen, onnistumisen hetkiin työssä tai kokemukseen työn merkityk- sellisyydestä. Tässä artikkelissa selvitämme, missä määrin ja millaisissa tilanteissa ammattiylpeyttä koetaan suorittavassa työssä. Tutkimusaineistona on internet-kyselyn (N=1 242) vastaukset, joita analysoimme sekä määrällisin että laadullisin menetelmin. Vastaajat työskentelevät kiinteistöpalvelu- ja teollisuusaloilla. Kyselyyn vastanneista suurin osa on melko tai erittäin ylpeitä työstään. Ylpeys kumpuaa työntekijöiden ammattitaidosta, hyvin tehdystä työstä sekä siitä saadusta kiitoksesta, joka tuo osaamisen esiin. Ylpeyttä koetaan myös kyvystä auttaa niin asiakkaita, omaa organisaatiota kuin koko yhteiskuntaa. Ylpeys voi olla myös selviytymistä työssä, joka koetaan raskaaksi, huonosti palkatuksi ja heikosti johdetuksi. Ammattiylpeys perustuu pääosin arvorationaaliseen ja vastuurationaaliseen työorientaatioon. Työllä siis koetaan olevan arvo sinänsä, ja lisäksi työntekijät kokevat työllään huolehtivansa yksilöiden, yhteisöjen ja yhteiskunnan tarpeista

What makes music memorable? Relationships between acoustic musical features and music-evoked emotions and memories in older adults

Background and objectives Music has a unique capacity to evoke both strong emotions and vivid autobiographical memories. Previous music information retrieval (MIR) studies have shown that the emotional experience of music is influenced by a combination of musical features, including tonal, rhythmic, and loudness features. Here, our aim was to explore the relationship between music-evoked emotions and music-evoked memories and how musical features (derived with MIR) can predict them both. Methods Healthy older adults (N = 113, age ≥ 60 years) participated in a listening task in which they rated a total of 140 song excerpts comprising folk songs and popular songs from 1950s to 1980s on five domains measuring the emotional (valence, arousal, emotional intensity) and memory (familiarity, autobiographical salience) experience of the songs. A set of 24 musical features were extracted from the songs using computational MIR methods. Principal component analyses were applied to reduce multicollinearity, resulting in six core musical components, which were then used to predict the behavioural ratings in multiple regression analyses. Results All correlations between behavioural ratings were positive and ranged from moderate to very high (r = 0.46–0.92). Emotional intensity showed the highest correlation to both autobiographical salience and familiarity. In the MIR data, three musical components measuring salience of the musical pulse (Pulse strength), relative strength of high harmonics (Brightness), and fluctuation in the frequencies between 200–800 Hz (Low-mid) predicted both music-evoked emotions and memories. Emotional intensity (and valence to a lesser extent) mediated the predictive effect of the musical components on music-evoked memories. Conclusions The results suggest that music-evoked emotions are strongly related to music-evoked memories in healthy older adults and that both music-evoked emotions and memories are predicted by the same core musical features.Peer reviewe

Työurien vakaus ja taantuma: yksityisen sektorin työntekijöiden työurapolut 2007–2015

Tarkastelemme tutkimuksessamme yksityisissä yrityksissä vuonna 2007 työskennelleiden 30–50-vuotiaiden suomalaisten työuria vuosina 2007–2015. Analysoimme Tilastokeskuksen työntekijä–työnantaja-aineiston (FLEED-FOLK) ja siihen yhdistetyn tilinpäätöspaneelin avulla yksilö-, perhe- ja yritystekijöiden, erityisesti yritysten kannattavuuden (käyttökate), yhteyttä työuriin. Työuria mittaamme vuotuisilla työssäolokuukausilla. Ensiksi tutkimme trajektorianalyysilla, miten työurat eriytyvät erilaisiksi työurapoluiksi. Toiseksi tutkimme multinomiaalisella logistisella regressiolla, miten eri yksilö-, perhe- ja yritystekijät ennakoivat eri polkuryhmiin sijoittumista. Trajektorianalyysi tuotti kuusi erilaista työurapolkutyyppiä. Tutkimusperiodille ajoittuneesta taantumasta huolimatta neljä viidestä työntekijästä sijoittui joko vakaalle tai seurannan aikana vakautuvalle työurapolulle. Korkeampi koulutusaste yhdistyi vakaampiin urapolkuihin. Lasten syntymä eriytti voimakkaasti naisten työuria, mutta ei juurikaan miesten. Parisuhde ennusti vakaata työuraa, ja eroaminen ja yksin eläminen vaihtelevia työuria. Myös parisuhteen muodostuminen seurantajaksolla liittyi epävakaampiin työuriin. Yritystekijöistä vakain urapolku oli niillä, jotka työskentelivät kannattavuudeltaan stabiileilla toimipaikoilla. Kannattavuudeltaan vaihtelevien samoin kuin laskevien yritysten toimipaikoissa työskentelevillä oli epävakaimmat työurat. Tulostemme mukaan työurat olivat enemmistöllä vakaita myös finanssikriisin aiheuttaman taloudellisen taantuman aikana. Tulos koskee niitä yksityisen sektorin työntekijöitä, jotka olivat työssä finanssikriisiä edeltävänä vuonna 2007

Co-culture of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells and endothelial cells on double collagen-coated honeycomb films

In vitro cell culture models representing the physiological and pathological features of the outer retina are urgently needed. Artificial tissue replacements for patients suffering from degenerative retinal diseases are similarly in great demand. Here, we developed a co-culture system based solely on the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cells. For the first time, hiPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and endothelial cells (EC) were cultured on opposite sides of porous polylactide substrates prepared by breath figures (BF), where both surfaces had been collagen-coated by Langmuir–Schaefer (LS) technology. Small modifications of casting conditions during material preparation allowed the production of free-standing materials with distinct porosity, wettability and ion diffusion capacity. Complete pore coverage was achieved by the collagen coating procedure, resulting in a detectable nanoscale topography. Primary retinal endothelial cells (ACBRI181) and umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (hUVEC) were utilised as EC references. Mono-cultures of all ECs were prepared for comparison. All tested materials supported cell attachment and growth. In mono-culture, properties of the materials had a major effect on the growth of all ECs. In co-culture, the presence of hiPSC-RPE affected the primary ECs more significantly than hiPSC-EC. In consistency, hiPSC-RPE were also less affected by hiPSC-EC than by the primary ECs. Finally, our results show that the modulation of the porosity of the materials can promote or prevent EC migration. In short, we showed that the behaviour of the cells is highly dependent on the three main variables of the study: the presence of a second cell type in co-culture, the source of endothelial cells and the biomaterial properties. The combination of BF and LS methodologies is a powerful strategy to develop thin but stable materials enabling cell growth and modulation of cell-cell contact. Statement of significance: Artificial blood-retinal barriers (BRB), mimicking the interface at the back of the eye, are urgently needed as physiological and disease models, and for tissue transplantation targeting patients suffering from degenerative retinal diseases. Here, we developed a new co-culture model based on thin, biodegradable porous films, coated on both sides with collagen, one of the main components of the natural BRB, and cultivated endothelial and retinal pigment epithelial cells on opposite sides of the films, forming a three-layer structure. Importantly, our hiPSC-EC and hiPSC-RPE co-culture model is the first to exclusively use human induced pluripotent stem cells as cell source, which have been widely regarded as an practical candidate for therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Tiedonkäsittelyn heikentymät ja työkyky

Tiedonkäsittelyn heikentymät ja työkyky -hankkeessa tutkittiin yliopistosairaalan muistipoliklinikoille ohjautuneiden työikäisten kognitiivisia heikentymiä ja niiden taustalla olevia tekijöitä. Lisäksi kehitettiin työssä ilmenevien kognitiivisten vaikeuksien yksilölliseen arviointiin ja työn muokkaukseen soveltuvia menetelmiä. Hankkeen yleisinä tavoitteina oli tiedonkäsittelyn häiriöiden varhaistunnistuksen ja hoitoonohjauksen, sekä niiden työkykyvaikutusten arvioinnin kehittäminen