Identification and application of bile metabolites to assess the exposure of fish to pharmaceuticals in the environment

Thousands of tons of pharmaceuticals are consumed yearly worldwide. Due to the continuous and increasing consumption and their incomplete elimination in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), pharmaceuticals and their metabolites can be detected in receiving waters, although at low concentrations (ng to low μg/L). As bioactive molecules the presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment must be considered potentially hazardous for the aquatic organisms. In this thesis, the biotransformation and excretion of pharmaceuticals in fish was studied. The main biotransformation pathways of three anti‐inflammatory drugs, diclofenac, naproxen and ibuprofen, in rainbow trout were glucuronidation and taurine conjugation of the parent compounds and their phase I metabolites. The same metabolites were present in fish bile in aquatic exposures as in fish dosed with intraperitoneal injection. Higher bioconcentration factor in bile (BCFbile) was found for ibuprofen when compared to diclofenac and naproxen. Laboratory exposure studies were followed by a study of uptake of pharmaceuticals in a wild fish population living in lake contaminated with WWTP effluents. Of the analyzed 17 pharmaceuticals and six phase I metabolites, only diclofenac, naproxen and ibuprofen was present in bream and roach bile. It was shown, that diclofenac, naproxen and ibuprofen excreted by the liver can be found in rainbow trout and in two native fish species living in the receiving waters. In the bream and roach bile, the concentrations of diclofenac, naproxen and ibuprofen were roughly 1000 times higher than those found in the lake water, while in the laboratory exposures, the bioconcentration of the compounds and their metabolites in rainbow trout bile were at the same level as in wild fish or an order of magnitude higher. Thus, the parent compounds and their metabolites in fish bile can be used as a reliable biomarker to monitor the exposure of fish to environmental pharmaceuticals present in water receiving discharges from WWTPs.

Stock Price Reactions on M&A, Dividends and Game Releases. Evidence from Gaming Industry.

A rapidly growing gaming industry, which specializes on PC, console, online and other games, attracts attention of investors and analysts, who try to understand what drives changes of the gaming industry companies’ stock prices. This master thesis shows the evidence that, besides long-established types of events (M&A and dividend payments), the companies’ stock price changes depend on industry-specific events. I analyzed specific for gaming industry events - game releases with respect to its subdivisions: new games-sequels, games ratings and subdivision according to a developer of a game (self-developed by publisher or outsourced). The master thesis analyzes stock prices of 55 companies from gaming industry from all over the world. The research period covers 5 year, spreading from April 2008 to April 2013. Executed with an event study method, results of the research show that all the analyzed events types have significant influence on the stock prices of the gaming industry companies. The current master thesis suggests that acquisitions in the industry affect positively bidders’ and targets’ stock prices. Mergers events cause positive stock price reactions as well. But dividends payments and game releases events influence negatively on the stock prices. Game releases’ effect is up to -2.2% of cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR) drop during the first ten days after the game releases. Having researched different kinds of events and identified the direction of their impact, the current paper can be of high value for investors, seeking profits in the gaming industry, and other interested parties.

From genotype to phenotype : diversity and population structure of Flavobacterium psychrophilum

Flavobacterium psychrophilum is the etiological agent of bacterial cold-water disease (BCWD) causing high fish mortalities and significant economic losses to the freshwater salmonid aquaculture industry around the world. Today BCWD outbreaks are mainly treated with environmentally hazardous antimicrobial agents and alternative preventative measures are urgently needed in order to ensure the well-being of animals and the sustainability of aquaculture. The diversity of pathogenic bacteria challenges the development of universal control strategies and in many cases the pathogen population structure, i.e. the total genetic diversity of the species must be taken into account. This work integrates the tools of modern molecular biology and conventional phenotypic microbiology to gain knowledge about the diversity and population structure of F. psychrophilum. The present work includes genetic characterization of a large collection of isolates collected from diverse origins and years, from aquaculture in a whole region including different countries, and provides the first international validation of a universal multilocus sequence typing (MLST) approach for unambiguous genetic typing of F. psychrophilum. Population structure analyses showed that the global F. psychrophilum population is subdivided into pathogenic species-specific clones, of which one particular genetic lineage, clonal complex CC-ST2, has been responsible for the majority of BCWD outbreaks in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in European aquaculture facilities over several decades. Genotypic and phenotypic population heterogeneity affecting antimicrobial resistance in F. psychrophilum within BCWD outbreaks was discovered. Specific genotypes were associated with severe infections in farmed rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and in addition to high adherence, antimicrobial resistance was strongly associated with outbreak strains. The study brought additional support for the hypothesis of an epidemic F. psychrophilum population structure, where recombination is an important force for the generation and maintenance of genetic diversity, and a significant contribution towards mapping the genetic diversity of this important fish pathogen. Evidence indicating dissemination of virulent strains with commercial movement of fish and fish products was strengthened.

Automatic recognition of fish from video sequences

The problem of automatic recognition of the fish from the video sequences is discussed in this Master’s Thesis. This is a very urgent issue for many organizations engaged in fish farming in Finland and Russia because the process of automation control and counting of individual species is turning point in the industry. The difficulties and the specific features of the problem have been identified in order to find a solution and propose some recommendations for the components of the automated fish recognition system. Methods such as background subtraction, Kalman filtering and Viola-Jones method were implemented during this work for detection, tracking and estimation of fish parameters. Both the results of the experiments and the choice of the appropriate methods strongly depend on the quality and the type of a video which is used as an input data. Practical experiments have demonstrated that not all methods can produce good results for real data, whereas on synthetic data they operate satisfactorily.

User Experience of Geocaching and Its Application to Tourism and Education

Advances in technology have provided new ways of using entertainment and game technology to foster human interaction. Games and playing with games have always been an important part of people’s everyday lives. Traditionally, human-computer interaction (HCI) research was seen as a psychological cognitive science focused on human factors, with engineering sciences as the computer science part of it. Although cognitive science has made significant progress over the past decade, the influence of people’s emotions on design networks is increasingly important, especially when the primary goal is to challenge and entertain users (Norman 2002). Game developers have explored the key issues in game design and identified that the driving force in the success of games is user experience. User-centered design integrates knowledge of users’ activity practices, needs, and preferences into the design process. Geocaching is a location-based treasure hunt game created by a community of players. Players use GPS (Global Position System) technology to find “treasures” and create their own geocaches; the game can be developed when the players invent caches and used more imagination to creations the caches. This doctoral dissertation explores user experience of geocaching and its applications in tourism and education. Globally, based on the Geocaching.com webpage, geocaching has been played about 180 countries and there are more than 10 million registered geocachers worldwide (Geocaching.com, 25.11.2014). This dissertation develops and presents an interaction model called the GameFlow Experience model that can be used to support the design of treasure hunt applications in tourism and education contexts. The GameFlow Model presents and clarifies various experiences; it provides such experiences in a real-life context, offers desirable design targets to be utilized in service design, and offers a perspective to consider when evaluating the success of adventure game concepts. User-centered game designs have adapted to human factor research in mainstream computing science. For many years, the user-centered design approach has been the most important research field in software development. Research has been focusing on user-centered design in software development such as office programs, but the same ideas and theories that will reflect the needs of a user-centered research are now also being applied to game design (Charles et al. 2005.) For several years, we have seen a growing interest in user experience design. Digital games are experience providers, and game developers need tools to better understand the user experience related to products and services they have created. This thesis aims to present what the user experience is in geocaching and treasure hunt games and how it can be used to develop new concepts for the treasure hunt. Engineers, designers, and researchers should have a clear understanding of what user experience is, what its parts are, and most importantly, how we can influence user satisfaction. In addition, we need to understand how users interact with electronic products and people, and how different elements synergize their experiences. This doctoral dissertation represents pioneering work on the user experience of geocaching and treasure hunt games in the context of tourism and education. The research also provides a model for game developers who are planning treasure hunt concepts.

Critical elements underpinning the emergence of the medical game ecosystem: gamifying traumatic brain injury rehabilitation in Finland

The healthcare sector is currently in the verge of a reform and thus, the medical game research provide an interesting area of research. The aim of this study is to explore the critical elements underpinning the emergence of the medical game ecosystem with three sub-objectives: (1) to seek who are the key actors involved in the medical game ecosystem and identify their needs, (2) to scrutinise what types of resources are required in medical game development and what types of relationships are needed to secure those resources, and (3) to identify the existing institutions (‘the rules of the game���) affecting the emergence of the medical game ecosystem. The theoretical background consists of service ecosystems literature. The empirical study conducted is based on the semi-structured theme interviews of 25 experts in three relevant fields: games and technology, health and funding. The data was analysed through a theoretical framework that was designed based upon service ecosystems literature. The study proposes that the key actors are divided into five groups: medical game companies, customers, funders, regulatory parties and complementors. Their needs are linked to improving patient motivation and enhancing the healthcare processes resulting in lower costs. Several types of resources, especially skills and knowledge, are required to create a medical game. To gain access to those resources, medical game companies need to build complex networks of relationships. Proficiency in managing those value networks is crucial. In addition, the company should take into account the underlying institutions in the healthcare sector affecting the medical game ecosystem. Three crucial institutions were identified: validation, lack of innovation supporting structures in healthcare and the rising consumerisation. Based on the findings, medical games cannot be made in isolation. A developmental trajectory model of the emerging medical game ecosystem was created based on the empirical data. The relevancy of relationships and resources is dependent on the trajectory that the medical game company at that time resides. Furthermore, creating an official and documented database for clinically valdated medical games was proposed to establish the medical game market and ensure an adequate status for the effective medical games. Finally, ecosystems approach provides interesting future opportunities for research on medical game ecosystems.

Critical elements underpinning the emergence of the medical game ecosystem:gamifying traumatic brain injury rehabilitation in Finland

The healthcare sector is currently in the verge of a reform and thus, the medical game research provide an interesting area of research. The aim of this study is to explore the critical elements underpinning the emergence of the medical game ecosystem with three sub-objectives: (1) to seek who are the key actors involved in the medical game ecosystem and identify their needs, (2) to scrutinise what types of resources are required in medical game development and what types of relationships are needed to secure those resources, and (3) to identify the existing institutions (‘the rules of the game���) affecting the emergence of the medical game ecosystem. The theoretical background consists of service ecosystems literature. The empirical study conducted is based on the semi-structured theme interviews of 25 experts in three relevant fields: games and technology, health and funding. The data was analysed through a theoretical framework that was designed based upon service ecosystems literature. The study proposes that the key actors are divided into five groups: medical game companies, customers, funders, regulatory parties and complementors. Their needs are linked to improving patient motivation and enhancing the healthcare processes resulting in lower costs. Several types of resources, especially skills and knowledge, are required to create a medical game. To gain access to those resources, medical game companies need to build complex networks of relationships. Proficiency in managing those value networks is crucial. In addition, the company should take into account the underlying institutions in the healthcare sector affecting the medical game ecosystem. Three crucial institutions were identified: validation, lack of innovation supporting structures in healthcare and the rising consumerisation. Based on the findings, medical games cannot be made in isolation. A developmental trajectory model of the emerging medical game ecosystem was created based on the empirical data. The relevancy of relationships and resources is dependent on the trajectory that the medical game company at that time resides. Furthermore, creating an official and documented database for clinically validated medical games was proposed to establish the medical game market and ensure an adequate status for the effective medical games. Finally, ecosystems approach provides interesting future opportunities for research on medical game ecosystems