Spontaneous Focusing on Quantitative Relations and the Development of Rational Number Conceptual Knowledge

The aim of the present set of studies was to explore primary school children’s Spontaneous Focusing On quantitative Relations (SFOR) and its role in the development of rational number conceptual knowledge. The specific goals were to determine if it was possible to identify a spontaneous quantitative focusing tendency that indexes children’s tendency to recognize and utilize quantitative relations in non-explicitly mathematical situations and to determine if this tendency has an impact on the development of rational number conceptual knowledge in late primary school. To this end, we report on six original empirical studies that measure SFOR in children ages five to thirteen years and the development of rational number conceptual knowledge in ten- to thirteen-year-olds. SFOR measures were developed to determine if there are substantial differences in SFOR that are not explained by the ability to use quantitative relations. A measure of children’s conceptual knowledge of the magnitude representations of rational numbers and the density of rational numbers is utilized to capture the process of conceptual change with rational numbers in late primary school students. Finally, SFOR tendency was examined in relation to the development of rational number conceptual knowledge in these students. Study I concerned the first attempts to measure individual differences in children’s spontaneous recognition and use of quantitative relations in 86 Finnish children from the ages of five to seven years. Results revealed that there were substantial inter-individual differences in the spontaneous recognition and use of quantitative relations in these tasks. This was particularly true for the oldest group of participants, who were in grade one (roughly seven years old). However, the study did not control for ability to solve the tasks using quantitative relations, so it was not clear if these differences were due to ability or SFOR. Study II more deeply investigated the nature of the two tasks reported in Study I, through the use of a stimulated-recall procedure examining children’s verbalizations of how they interpreted the tasks. Results reveal that participants were able to verbalize reasoning about their quantitative relational responses, but not their responses based on exact number. Furthermore, participants’ non-mathematical responses revealed a variety of other aspects, beyond quantitative relations and exact number, which participants focused on in completing the tasks. These results suggest that exact number may be more easily perceived than quantitative relations. As well, these tasks were revealed to contain both mathematical and non-mathematical aspects which were interpreted by the participants as relevant. Study III investigated individual differences in SFOR 84 children, ages five to nine, from the US and is the first to report on the connection between SFOR and other mathematical abilities. The cross-sectional data revealed that there were individual differences in SFOR. Importantly, these differences were not entirely explained by the ability to solve the tasks using quantitative relations, suggesting that SFOR is partially independent from the ability to use quantitative relations. In other words, the lack of use of quantitative relations on the SFOR tasks was not solely due to participants being unable to solve the tasks using quantitative relations, but due to a lack of the spontaneous attention to the quantitative relations in the tasks. Furthermore, SFOR tendency was found to be related to arithmetic fluency among these participants. This is the first evidence to suggest that SFOR may be a partially distinct aspect of children’s existing mathematical competences. Study IV presented a follow-up study of the first graders who participated in Studies I and II, examining SFOR tendency as a predictor of their conceptual knowledge of fraction magnitudes in fourth grade. Results revealed that first graders’ SFOR tendency was a unique predictor of fraction conceptual knowledge in fourth grade, even after controlling for general mathematical skills. These results are the first to suggest that SFOR tendency may play a role in the development of rational number conceptual knowledge. Study V presents a longitudinal study of the development of 263 Finnish students’ rational number conceptual knowledge over a one year period. During this time participants completed a measure of conceptual knowledge of the magnitude representations and the density of rational numbers at three time points. First, a Latent Profile Analysis indicated that a four-class model, differentiating between those participants with high magnitude comparison and density knowledge, was the most appropriate. A Latent Transition Analysis reveal that few students display sustained conceptual change with density concepts, though conceptual change with magnitude representations is present in this group. Overall, this study indicated that there were severe deficiencies in conceptual knowledge of rational numbers, especially concepts of density. The longitudinal Study VI presented a synthesis of the previous studies in order to specifically detail the role of SFOR tendency in the development of rational number conceptual knowledge. Thus, the same participants from Study V completed a measure of SFOR, along with the rational number test, including a fourth time point. Results reveal that SFOR tendency was a predictor of rational number conceptual knowledge after two school years, even after taking into consideration prior rational number knowledge (through the use of residualized SFOR scores), arithmetic fluency, and non-verbal intelligence. Furthermore, those participants with higher-than-expected SFOR scores improved significantly more on magnitude representation and density concepts over the four time points. These results indicate that SFOR tendency is a strong predictor of rational number conceptual development in late primary school children. The results of the six studies reveal that within children’s existing mathematical competences there can be identified a spontaneous quantitative focusing tendency named spontaneous focusing on quantitative relations. Furthermore, this tendency is found to play a role in the development of rational number conceptual knowledge in primary school children. Results suggest that conceptual change with the magnitude representations and density of rational numbers is rare among this group of students. However, those children who are more likely to notice and use quantitative relations in situations that are not explicitly mathematical seem to have an advantage in the development of rational number conceptual knowledge. It may be that these students gain quantitative more and qualitatively better self-initiated deliberate practice with quantitative relations in everyday situations due to an increased SFOR tendency. This suggests that it may be important to promote this type of mathematical activity in teaching rational numbers. Furthermore, these results suggest that there may be a series of spontaneous quantitative focusing tendencies that have an impact on mathematical development throughout the learning trajectory.

Fluid flow in T-junction of pipes

The aim of this work is to study flow properties at T-junction of pipe, pressure loss suffered by the flow after passing through T-junction and to study reliability of the classical engineering formulas used to find head loss for T-junction of pipes. In this we have compared our results with CFD software packages with classical formula and made an attempt to determine accuracy of the classical formulas. In this work we have studies head loss in T-junction of pipes with various inlet velocities, head loss in T-junction of pipes when the angle of the junction is slightly different from 90 degrees and T-junction with different area of cross-section of the main pipe and branch pipe. In this work we have simulated the flow at T-junction of pipe with FLUENT and Comsol Multiphysics and observed flow properties inside the T-junction and studied the head loss suffered by fluid flow after passing through the junction. We have also compared pressure (head) losses obtained by classical formulas by A. Vazsonyi and Andrew Gardel and formulas obtained by assuming T-junction as combination of other pipe components and observations obtained from software experiments. One of the purposes of this study is also to study change in pressure loss with change in angle of T-junction. Using software we can have better view of flow inside the junction and study turbulence, kinetic energy, pressure loss etc. Such simulations save a lot of time and can be performed without actually doing the experiment. There were no real life experiments made, the results obtained completely rely on accuracy of software and numerical methods used.

Palveluyrityksen brändin vaikutus ostopäätökseen b2b-markkinoilla

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on kuvata brändin olemusta ja menestystekijöitä ja ymmärtää palveluyrityksen brändin vaikutus ostotilanteessa b2b-markkinoilla. Tutkittavaa ongelmaa lähestytään teoreettisen ja empiirisen tutkimuksen kautta. Empiirisen näkökulman tutkimukseen tuo case-yritys, monipalveluyhtiö Barona, jonka brändin merkitystä ostotilanteessa b2b-markkinoilla tutkimuksessa arvioidaan. Tutkimuksen pääongelma on seuraava: Miten palveluyrityksen brändi vaikuttaa ostopäätökseen b2b-markkinoilla? Tutkimuksen lähestymistapa on kvalitatiivinen eli laadullinen. Tutkimusstrategia on case- eli tapaustutkimus ja tutkimusmenetelmänä on käytetty teemahaastattelua. Brändikokemuksen syntymistä ja sen vaikutusta ostopäätökseen tarkastellaan empiriaosiossa asiakkaan ja brändin hallinnoijan, eli Baronan, näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen tulokset tukevat sitä olettamusta, että palveluyrityksen brändillä on vaikutusta ostopäätöksessä myös b2b-markkinoilla. Brändit b2b-markkinoilla ovat saaneet kuluttajamarkkinoita vähemmän huomiota, sillä brändien vaikutus ostopäätöksessä koetaan irrationaaliseksi tekijäksi, ja yritysmarkkinoilla ostajien on ajateltu tekevän päätökset täysin rationaalisin perustein. Myös b2b-markkinoilla on päätöksentekijänä kuitenkin yksilö, ei organisaatio. Palvelua ostaessaan ostaja perustelee valintansa järkisyillä, kuten laadulla. Todelliset syyt hankintaan voivat kuitenkin olla hyvin toisenlaiset, kuten brändin status, menestys tai arvostus. Brändi on merkittävässä asemassa myös b2b-asiakkaan ostopäätösprosessissa, varsinkin silloin, kun erottautuminen on vaikeaa. Siinä missä palvelu itsessään lunastaa lupaustaan käyttäjälle, brändi tuottaa lisäarvoa yli palvelun toiminnallisen tarkoituksen. Brändi saa palvelun vaikuttamaan paremmalta. Tietynmerkkisen palvelun nähdessään asiakas odottaa sen tarjoavan tietyt asiat. Asiakas haluaa luottaa siihen, että laatu pysyy samana, eikä palvelua tarvitse joka kerta arvioida erikseen. Asiakas ostaa brändiin sisältyviä laatulupauksia omien tarpeidensa täyttämiseksi tehden valintansa sen perusteella, mitä hyötyä ja arvoa hän odottaa saavansa rahojensa vastineeksi.

Identification of extractives and polysaccharides as foulants in membrane filtration of pulp and paper mill effluents

The search for new renewable materials has intensified in recent years. Pulp and paper mill process streams contain a number of potential compounds which could be used in biofuel production and as raw materials in the chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to utilization, these compounds require separation from other compounds present in the process stream. One feasible separation technique is membrane filtration but to some extent, fouling still limits its implementation in pulp and paper mill applications. To mitigate fouling and its effects, foulants and their fouling mechanisms need to be well understood. This thesis evaluates fouling in filtration of pulp and paper mill process streams by means of polysaccharide model substance filtrations and by development of a procedure to analyze and identify potential foulants, i.e. wood extractives and carbohydrates, from fouled membranes. The model solution filtration results demonstrate that each polysaccharide has its own fouling mechanism, which also depends on the membrane characteristics. Polysaccharides may foul the membranes by adsorption and/or by gel/cake layer formation on the membrane surface. Moreover, the polysaccharides interact, which makes fouling evaluation of certain compound groups very challenging. Novel methods to identify wood extractive and polysaccharide foulants are developed in this thesis. The results show that it is possible to extract and identify wood extractives from membranes fouled in filtration of pulp and paper millstreams. The most effective solvent was found to be acetone:water (9:1 v/v) because it extracted both lipophilic extractives and lignans at high amounts from the fouled membranes and it was also non-destructive for the membrane materials. One hour of extraction was enough to extract wood extractives at high amounts for membrane samples with an area of 0.008 m2. If only qualitative knowledge of wood extractives is needed a simplified extraction procedure can be used. Adsorption was the main fouling mechanism in extractives-induced fouling and dissolved fatty and resin acids were mostly the reason for the fouling; colloidal fouling was negligible. Both process water and membrane characteristics affected extractives-induced fouling. In general, the more hydrophilic regenerated cellulose (RC) membrane fouled less that the more hydrophobic polyethersulfone (PES) and polyamide (PA) membranes independent of the process water used. Monosaccharide and uronic acid units could also be identified from the fouled synthetic polymeric membranes. It was impossible to analyze all monosaccharide units from the RC membrane because the analysis result obtained contained degraded membrane material. One of the fouling mechanisms of carbohydrates was adsorption. Carbohydrates were not potential adsorptive foulants to the sameextent as wood extractives because their amount in the fouled membranes was found to be significantly lower than the amount of wood extractives.

Characterisation of Laser Beam and Paper Material Interaction

It is known already from 1970´s that laser beam is suitable for processing paper materials. In this thesis, term paper materials mean all wood-fibre based materials, like dried pulp, copy paper, newspaper, cardboard, corrugated board, tissue paper etc. Accordingly, laser processing in this thesis means all laser treatments resulting material removal, like cutting, partial cutting, marking, creasing, perforation etc. that can be used to process paper materials. Laser technology provides many advantages for processing of paper materials: non-contact method, freedom of processing geometry, reliable technology for non-stop production etc. Especially packaging industry is very promising area for laser processing applications. However, there are only few industrial laser processing applications worldwide even in beginning of 2010´s. One reason for small-scale use of lasers in paper material manufacturing is that there is a shortage of published research and scientific articles. Another problem, restraining the use of laser for processing of paper materials, is colouration of paper material i.e. the yellowish and/or greyish colour of cut edge appearing during cutting or after cutting. These are the main reasons for selecting the topic of this thesis to concern characterization of interaction of laser beam and paper materials. This study was carried out in Laboratory of Laser Processing at Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland). Laser equipment used in this study was TRUMPF TLF 2700 carbon dioxide laser that produces a beam with wavelength of 10.6 μm with power range of 190-2500 W (laser power on work piece). Study of laser beam and paper material interaction was carried out by treating dried kraft pulp (grammage of 67 g m-2) with different laser power levels, focal plane postion settings and interaction times. Interaction between laser beam and dried kraft pulp was detected with different monitoring devices, i.e. spectrometer, pyrometer and active illumination imaging system. This way it was possible to create an input and output parameter diagram and to study the effects of input and output parameters in this thesis. When interaction phenomena are understood also process development can be carried out and even new innovations developed. Fulfilling the lack of information on interaction phenomena can assist in the way of lasers for wider use of technology in paper making and converting industry. It was concluded in this thesis that interaction of laser beam and paper material has two mechanisms that are dependent on focal plane position range. Assumed interaction mechanism B appears in range of average focal plane position of 3.4 mm and 2.4 mm and assumed interaction mechanism A in range of average focal plane position of 0.4 mm and -0.6 mm both in used experimental set up. Focal plane position 1.4 mm represents midzone of these two mechanisms. Holes during laser beam and paper material interaction are formed gradually: first small hole is formed to interaction area in the centre of laser beam cross-section and after that, as function of interaction time, hole expands, until interaction between laser beam and dried kraft pulp is ended. By the image analysis it can be seen that in beginning of laser beam and dried kraft pulp material interaction small holes off very good quality are formed. It is obvious that black colour and heat affected zone appear as function of interaction time. This reveals that there still are different interaction phases within interaction mechanisms A and B. These interaction phases appear as function of time and also as function of peak intensity of laser beam. Limit peak intensity is the value that divides interaction mechanism A and B from one-phase interaction into dual-phase interaction. So all peak intensity values under limit peak intensity belong to MAOM (interaction mechanism A one-phase mode) or to MBOM (interaction mechanism B onephase mode) and values over that belong to MADM (interaction mechanism A dual-phase mode) or to MBDM (interaction mechanism B dual-phase mode). Decomposition process of cellulose is evolution of hydrocarbons when temperature is between 380- 500°C. This means that long cellulose molecule is split into smaller volatile hydrocarbons in this temperature range. As temperature increases, decomposition process of cellulose molecule changes. In range of 700-900°C, cellulose molecule is mainly decomposed into H2 gas; this is why this range is called evolution of hydrogen. Interaction in this range starts (as in range of MAOM and MBOM), when a small good quality hole is formed. This is due to “direct evaporation” of pulp via decomposition process of evolution of hydrogen. And this can be seen can be seen in spectrometer as high intensity peak of yellow light (in range of 588-589 nm) which refers to temperature of ~1750ºC. Pyrometer does not detect this high intensity peak since it is not able to detect physical phase change from solid kraft pulp to gaseous compounds. As interaction time between laser beam and dried kraft pulp continues, hypothesis is that three auto ignition processes occurs. Auto ignition of substance is the lowest temperature in which it will spontaneously ignite in a normal atmosphere without an external source of ignition, such as a flame or spark. Three auto ignition processes appears in range of MADM and MBDM, namely: 1. temperature of auto ignition of hydrogen atom (H2) is 500ºC, 2. temperature of auto ignition of carbon monoxide molecule (CO) is 609ºC and 3. temperature of auto ignition of carbon atom (C) is 700ºC. These three auto ignition processes leads to formation of plasma plume which has strong emission of radiation in range of visible light. Formation of this plasma plume can be seen as increase of intensity in wavelength range of ~475-652 nm. Pyrometer shows maximum temperature just after this ignition. This plasma plume is assumed to scatter laser beam so that it interacts with larger area of dried kraft pulp than what is actual area of beam cross-section. This assumed scattering reduces also peak intensity. So result shows that assumably scattered light with low peak intensity is interacting with large area of hole edges and due to low peak intensity this interaction happens in low temperature. So interaction between laser beam and dried kraft pulp turns from evolution of hydrogen to evolution of hydrocarbons. This leads to black colour of hole edges.

Det planlagda och det som visar sig : klasslärarstuderandes syn på undervisning i teknisk slöjd

Sloyd as an activity concretizes man’s ability to, with the help of mind and body, reshape materials into objects and change her conditions for survival. The sloyd actor outside school works when the spirit moves her, while the pupil in school is expected to sloyd regardless of motivation. Subject teachers become experts on sloyd in educational settings, while the qualification requirements may set the class teachers’ voluntariness within parenthesis. All class teachers qualify to teach all core subjects of the national curriculum in Finland from preschool to grade six. The aim of the current thesis is to deepen the knowledge on how the science of sloyd education can support class teacher students’ future teaching in sloyd. In the empirical part of the study, Swedish-speaking Finnish class teacher students’ views on technical sloyd as one of their future subjects for teaching are examined. The class teacher’s qualifying skills in teaching technical sloyd are expected to take shape during only a few ECTS study points. The teacher students’ experience of the subject from the pupil’s perspective is supposed to move into a budding teacher subject. In a research-based teacher education, self-reflection and reflection as a dialogue are extended aided by research results. Intuitive thinking interplays with rational thinking during this time. The teacher student’s approach to make use of the autonomous free space in teaching is, in the current thesis, as considerations where the individual weighs the pros and cons in relation to various phenomena in sloyd and the school overall. The basis for an individual autonomy is shaped and is expected to interplay on the common arena of autonomy. In the exercise of their profession, the class teacher teaching sloyd is expected to oscillate between the sloyd educational practice and theory. The first step in this movement within the teacher education is the coverage of a selection of theories during the studies. The empirical part of the study is carried out at two separate occasions with directed open-ended interviews with fifteen class teacher students in the beginning and end of their first year of study. The data was analysed with a hermeneutic approach and a qualitatively oriented approach to content analysis. The results are mirrored against theory within the science of sloyd education. The results show that class teacher students have a versatile view of educational sloyd. The overall results overthrow parts of the researcher’s pre-understanding. The viewpoint of the students seems to broaden from a merely manual activity to seeing sloyd as an educational activity. In order for the results to gain significance in the teacher education of the future, a line of reasoning is conducted in order to recommend an extended dialogue and thirteen possible themes for enriching discussions are put forth as a result of the present study. The extended dialogue focuses on that teacher education should make conscious ventures to create opportunities for the students to take part in effective discussions on the subject of sloyd, complementing the existing dialogue between the teacher educator and the students. This thesis lends support to reflections on the following aspects of educational sloyd in these dialogues: the reasons for why the sloyd subject exists, the ambitions of the subject, the content and organization of the subject for students as well as for the teacher educators.