Multivariate Analysis of Finnish Dialect Data An Overview of Lexical Variation

During the process of writing a comprehensive dictionary ofFinnish dialects, a large set of maps describing the regionaldistribution of the dialect words have been compiled in electronicform. In this article, we set out to analyse this corpus ofdata in order to gain new insight on the variation of Finnishdialects. We use a wide range of multivariate data analysismethods, including principal components analysis, independentcomponents analysis, clustering, and multidimensional scaling.We explain how to preprocess the data to overcome the problemof uneven sampling caused by the way the data has been collected.We discuss the results obtained by these methods and comparethem to the traditional view of Finnish dialect groups.     

UX Curve: A method for evaluating long-term user experience

The goal of user experience design in industry is to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction with a product. So far, user experience studies have mostly focused on short-term evaluations and consequently on aspects relating to the initial adoption of new product designs. Nevertheless, the relationship between the user and the product evolves over long periods of time and the relevance of prolonged use for market success has been recently highlighted. In this paper, we argue for the cost-effective elicitation of longitudinal user experience data. We propose a method called the “UX Curve” which aims at assisting users in retrospectively reporting how and why their experience with a product has changed over time. The usefulness of the UX Curve method was assessed in a qualitative study with 20 mobile phone users. In particular, we investigated how users’ specific memories of their experiences with their mobile phones guide their behavior and their willingness to recommend the product to others. The results suggest that the UX Curve method enables users and researchers to determine the quality of long-term user experience and the influences that improve user experience over time or cause it to deteriorate. The method provided rich qualitative data and we found that an improving trend of perceived attractiveness of mobile phones was related to user satisfaction and willingness to recommend their phone to friends. This highlights that sustaining perceived attractiveness can be a differentiating factor in the user acceptance of personal interactive products such as mobile phones. The study suggests that the proposed method can be used as a straightforward tool for understanding the reasons why user experience improves or worsens in long-term product use and how these reasons relate to customer loyalty.     

Value creation dynamics in a project alliance

Project alliance requires all parties to work together in good faith, share project risks, and make unanimous decisions for the betterment of the project. A key feature of successful implementation of a project alliance is a focus on value creation and value for money. This paper proposes a qualitative system dynamics model to specify and explain dynamics of value creation processes in the context of project alliance. By synthesizing the existing literature and reports on project alliancing, this paper identifies four processes that have a strong influence on the value created in the project alliance context: work progression, rework, redesign and innovation, and rescheduling. In addition, we show how these value creation processes are interrelated and evolve over time. The effectiveness of these processes is influenced by the capability and motivation of the project alliance partners to discover works that do not fully utilize the available resources, and make quick decisions to capture these benefits.     

Browsing the information highway while driving: three in-vehicle touch screen scrolling methods and driver distraction

Distraction effects of three alternative touch screen scrolling methods for searching music tracks on a mobile device were studied in a driving simulation experiment with 24 participants. Page-by-page scrolling methods with Buttons or Swipe that better facilitate resumption of visual search following interruptions were expected to lead to more consistent in-vehicle glance durations and thus on less severe distraction effects than Kinetic scrolling. As predicted, Kinetic scrolling induced decreased visual sampling efficiency and increased visual load compared with Swipe, increased experienced workload compared with both Buttons and Swipe, as well as decreased lane-keeping accuracy compared with baseline. However, Buttons did not significantly excel Kinetic with any metric but on subjective ratings. Based on the results, we do not recommend the use of kinetic scrolling with in-vehicle touch screen displays in the manner used in the experiment. Instead, page-by-page swiping seems to suit significantly better for in-vehicle displays due to its systematic nature and low levels of pointing accuracy required for scrolling the pages.     

Comparison of the bone modeling effects caused by curved and straight nickel–titanium intramedullary nails

Nitinol (NiTi) shape memory metal alloy makes it possible to prepare functional implants. A curved intramedullary NiTi nail has been shown to cause bending of the bone, bone thickening, increase in cortical area, and reduction in bone longitudinal growth. The purpose of the present study was to find out whether these changes are caused by the bending force of the curved nail or by the intramedullary nailing itself. Pre-shaped intramedullary NiTi nails were implanted in the cooled martensitic form into the medullary cavity of the right femur in 12 rats, where they started to restore their austenitic form, causing a bending force. Straight nails were used as controls in another 12 rats. After 12 weeks, the operated femurs were compared with their non-operated contralateral counterparts and the differences were compared between the groups. Anteroposterior radiographs demonstrated bone bowing only in the curved nail group. Retardation of longitudinal growth was observed in both groups, showing that the growth effect seems to be due to the intramedullary nailing itself. Increase in bone cross-sectional area and cortical thickness were found in both groups. However, this increase was more evident with the curved nail, indicating that the bending force of the functional nail seems to induce these changes.     

Bioglass as a carrier for reindeer bone protein extract in the healing of rat femur defect

Bioactive glasses have been developed as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering but combination with reindeer bone protein extract has not been evaluated. We investigated the effects of bone protein extract implants (5–40 mg dosages) with bioglass (BG) carrier on the healing of rat femur defects. Bioglass implants and untreated defects served as controls. All doses of extract increased bone formation compared with the control groups, and bone union was enhanced with doses of 10 mg or more. In comparison with untreated defect, mean cross-sectional bone area at the defect site was greater when implants with BG + 15 mg of extract or bioglass alone were used, bone density at the defect site was higher in all bioglass groups with and without bone extract, and the BG + 15 mg extract dosage marginally increased bone torsional stiffness in mechanical testing. Bioglass performed well as a carrier candidate for reindeer bone protein extract.     

Traffic simulation based ship collision probability modeling

Maritime traffic poses various risks in terms of human, environmental and economic loss. In a risk analysis of ship collisions, it is important to get a reasonable estimate for the probability of such accidents and the consequences they lead to. In this paper, a method is proposed to assess the probability of vessels colliding with each other. The method is capable of determining the expected number of accidents, the locations where and the time when they are most likely to occur, while providing input for models concerned with the expected consequences. At the basis of the collision detection algorithm lays an extensive time domain micro-simulation of vessel traffic in the given area. The Monte Carlo simulation technique is applied to obtain a meaningful prediction of the relevant factors of the collision events. Data obtained through the Automatic Identification System is analyzed in detail to obtain realistic input data for the traffic simulation: traffic routes, the number of vessels on each route, the ship departure times, main dimensions and sailing speed. The results obtained by the proposed method for the studied case of the Gulf of Finland are presented, showing reasonable agreement with registered accident and near-miss data.     

User involvement: a review of the benefits and challenges

User involvement is a widely accepted principle in development of usable systems. However, it is a vague concept covering many approaches. This study first clarifies the nature of user involvement and its expected benefits, and secondly reviews three streams of research, to evaluate the benefits and problems of varied user involvement approaches in practice. The particular focus of this study is on the early activities in the development process. An analysis of the literature suggests that user involvement has generally positive effects, especially on user satisfaction, and some evidence exists to suggest that taking users as a primary information source is an effective means of requirements capture. However, the role of users must be carefully considered and more cost-efficient practices are needed for gathering users' implicit needs and requirements in real product development contexts.