A noticeboard in "both worlds" unsurprising interfaces supporting easy bi-cultural content publication

We describe the design of a digital noticeboard to support communication within a remote Aboriginal community whose aspiration is to live in "both worlds", nurturing and extending their Aboriginal culture and actively participating in Western society and economy. Three bi-cultural aspects have emerged and are presented here: the need for a bi-lingual noticeboard to span both oral and written language traditions, the tension between perfunctory information exchange and social, embodied protocols of telling in person and the different ways in which time is represented in both cultures. The design approach, developed iteratively through consultation, demonstration and testing led to an "unsurprising interface", aimed at maximizing use and appropriation across cultures by unifying visual, text and spoken contents in both passive and interactive displays in a modeless manner.

Trickle Down

This work expresses the complicated and cyclical sense of economic aspiration and ambivalence so prevalent in the lived experience of contemporary capitalism. The three-channel video animation depicts a single US dollar bill falling in a dark void-space. These fragments of negotiable value, evidence of a laborious hand-drawn process, tumble in slow-motion into and out of each video frame, towards an unseen ground and uncertain future, acting as an elegiac expression of a deep sense of economic precarity.

Surveillance in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is an inherited cancer predisposition syn-drome characterized by early onset colorectal cancer (CRC) and several other extra-colonic cancers, most commonly endometrial cancer (EC) and gastric cancer. Our aim was to evaluate the efficiency and results of the ongoing CRC and EC surveillance programs and to investigate the grounds for future gastric cancer screening by comparing the gastric biopsies of mutation positive and negative siblings in search for premalignant lesions. We also compared a new surveillance method, computerized tomographic colonoscopy (CTC) with optic colonoscopy. The patient material consisted of 579 family members from 111 Finnish HNPCC families al-most all harboring a known mismatch repair gene mutation. The efficacy of CRC and EC surveillance programs on HNPCC patients was evaluated by comparing the stage and survival of cancer cases detected with surveillance versus without. The performance of a new technique, CTC, was explored using a same-day colonoscopy as a reference standard. The use of intrauterine aspiration biopsies for EC surveillance was intro-duced for the first time in a HNPCC setting. Upper GI endoscopies were performed and biop-sies taken from mutation carriers and their mutation-negative siblings. The present surveillance program for CRC proved to be efficient. The CRC cases detected by surveillance were at a significantly more favorable stage than those in the non-surveilled group. This advantage was reflected in a significantly higher CRC-specific survival in the sur-veilled group. The performance of a new technique, CTC was found insufficient for polyp detection in this population in which every polyp, no matter the size, should be detected and removed. Colono-scopy was confirmed as a better surveillance modality than CTC. We could not observe any of the assumed differences in the gastric mucosa from mutation carriers and their mutation-negative siblings and no cases of gastric cancer were detected. The results gave no support for gastric surveillance. The EC surveillance program (transvaginal ultrasound and intra-uterine biopsy every 2-3 years) seemed to be efficient. It yielded several asymptomatic cancer cases and premalignant lesions. The stage distribution of the endometrial cancers in the group under surveillance tended to be more favorable than that of the mutation-positive, symptomatic EC patients who had no surveillance. None of the surveilled EC patients died of EC compared to six in the non-surveilled patients during the follow up. The improvement was, however, not statistically sig-nificant, thus far. Another observation was the good performance of endometrial aspiration biopsies used in this setting for the first time.

Functional Outcome after Free Flap Reconstructions in Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer

Oral cancer ranks among the 10 most common cancers worldwide. Since it is commonly diagnosed at locally advanced stage, curing the cancer demands extensive tissue resection. The emergent defect is reconstructed generally with a free flap transfer. Repair of the upper aerodigestive track with maintenance of its multiform activities is challenging. The aim of the study was to extract comprehensive treatment outcomes for patients having undergone microvascular free flap transfer because of large oral cavity or pharyngeal cancer. Ninety-four patients were analyzed for postoperative survival and complications. Forty-four patients were followed-up and analyzed for functional outcome, which was determined in terms of quality of life, speech, swallowing, and intraoral sensation. Quality of life was assessed using the University of Washington Head and Neck Questionnaire. Speech was analyzed for aerodynamic parameters and for nasal acoustic energy, as well as perceptually for articulatory proficiency, voice quality, and intelligibility. Videofluorography was performed to determine the swallowing ability. Intraoral sensation was measured by moving 2-point discrimination. The 3-year overall survival was over 40%. The 1-year disease-free survival was 43%. Postoperative complications arose in over half of the patients. Flap success rate was high. Perioperative mortality varied between 2% and 11%. Unemployment and heavy drinking were the strongest predictors of survival. Sociodemographic factors were found to associate with quality of life. The global quality of life score deteriorated and did not return to the preoperative level. Significant reduction was detectable in the domains measuring chewing and speech, and in appearance and shoulder function. The basic elements necessary for normal speech were maintained. Speech intelligibility reduced and was related to the misarticulations of the /r/ and /s/ phonemes. Deviant /r/ and /s/ persisted in most patients. Hoarseness and hypernasality occurred infrequently. One year postoperatively, 98% of the patients had achieved oral nutrition and half of them were on a regular masticated diet. Overt and silent aspiration was encountered throughout the follow-up. At 12-month swallow test, 44% of the patients aspirated, 70% of whom silently. Of these patients, 15% presented with pulmonary changes referring to aspiration. Intraoral sensation weakened but was unrelated to oral functions. The results provide new data for oral reconstructions and highlight the importance of the functional outcome of the treatment for an oral cancer patient. The mouth and the pharynx encompass a unit of utmost functional complexity. Surgery should continue to make progress in this area, and methods that lead to good function should be developed. Operational outcome should always be evaluated in terms of function.

Is there a difference in sound acoustics between aspirating versus non-aspirating swallows in children with dysphagia?

Cervical auscultation (CA) may be used to complement the clinical feeding examination when assessing for oropharyngeal aspiration (OPA). Data exists on the acoustic properties of normal and abnormal swallowing sounds in adults and children. However, there are no published paediatric studies comparing the acoustic properties of sounds comparing OPA with non-OPA swallows. We aimed to determine if there is an acoustic difference between modified barium swallow (MBS)-identified OPA and non-OPA swallow sounds in children.

Kahdestaan kotona : Tutkimus vanhoista pariskunnista

In this study, which pertains to the field of social gerontology and family research, I analyse the meaning of everyday life as perceived by elderly couples living at home. I use the ethnographic approach, with the aim of interpreting meanings from the elderly people s personal point of view and to increase understanding of their way of life. The study deepens our conception of what gives purpose to the everyday life of elderly people. The number of elderly couples is growing and, to an increasing extent, a couple will live and cope together to a ripe old age. Such coping can also be viewed as an important resource for society. Ethnography tries to get close to people's life practices. I examine the day-to-day life of elderly couples based on textual data, which I obtained by visiting the homes of 16 couples in a total of five small municipalities in Southern Finland. The couples had married soon after the war or in the early 1950s. I found that the aspiration towards continuity, which unites the concepts of place and home, housework and a long marriage, is the most important notion connecting the discussion themes. The results show that in the opinion of the elderly, the concept of a good life is intertwined with a long marriage spent at home, as well as its values. Old people find that they lead an independent life if they feel that they can hold on to the key features of their way of life. Elderly couples ability to cope with everyday life involves taking care of housework and other tasks around the home together. This means that they support one another and have common goals and aspirations. Daily tasks provide substance in the lives of elderly couples. Each day has its rhythm, and the pace of this rhythm is set by routine and habits. Satisfaction stems from the fact that you can do something you are good at. The couples have also revised the division of housework. Men have learned to perform new tasks around the house when their wives can no longer manage them by themselves. Some tasks are given up. Day-to-day life at home and around the house provides room for men s participation. Mutual support and care between husband and wife can also protect them from having to resort to outside or official help. Old couples integrate their life experiences and memories, as well as present and future risks and opportunities. They wish to carry on their lives as before, and still think that their present life corresponds with their idea of a good life. Key words: elderly couples, continuity theory of aging, everyday life, social gerontology, family research

A Story about a Message that was a Story: Message Form and its Implications to Knowledge Flow

Knowledge Flow, my dear friend! I would like to introduce you to a close relative of yours: Organizational Communication. You might want to take a moment to hear what your newfound kin has to say. As bright as you are dear Flow, you're missing a piece of the puzzle - for one cannot study any aspect of an organization relating to communication without acknowledging the message. Without a message, communication does not exist. Organizational Communication has always appreciated this. Perhaps the time has come for you to join rank and do so too? The main point of this work is to prove that the form of a message considerably affects communication, interpretation - and knowledge flow. As stories are at the heart of this thesis; and entertaining, reader-friendly communication its main argument, the entire manuscript is written in story form and is intentionally breaking academic writing tradition as far as writing style goes. Each chapter reads as a story of sorts and put together they create a grand narrative of my journey as a PhD student, the research I have conducted and the outcomes of this work. Thus if a reader hopes to make any sense of this title, she must read it in the same way one would read a novel, from beginning to end. This is a thesis with three aspirations. First, it sets out to prove that knowledge flow cannot be studied without a message. Second, it moves on to give the reader a once-over of a much used message form: storytelling. After these two goals are tackled the path is clear to research if message form indeed is as essential as claimed. I do so through both a qualitative and a quantitative study. The former acted as both a stepping stone into the research area and as an inspirational pilot, from which the research design for the larger quantitative study was drawn. Together, these two studies answered my research question - and allowed me to fulfill the third, final and foremost aspiration of this study - bridging the gap between two separate fields of knowledge management: knowledge flow and storytelling.

Semi-similar solutions of the unsteady compressible second-order boundary layer flow at the stagnation point

Semi-similar solutions of the unsteady compressible laminar boundary layer flow over two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies at the stagnation point with mass transfer are studied for all the second-order boundary layer effects when the free stream velocity varies arbitrarily with time. The set of partial differential equations governing the unsteady compressible second-order boundary layers representing all the effects are derived for the first time. These partial differential equations are solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme. The results are obtained for two particular unsteady free stream velocity distributions: (a) an accelerating stream and (b) a fluctuating stream. It is observed that the total skin friction and heat transfer are strongly affected by the surface mass transfer and wall temperature. However, their variation with time is significant only for large times. The second-order boundary layer effects are found to be more pronounced in the case of no mass transfer or injection as compared to that for suction. Résumé Des solutions semi-similaires d'écoulement variable compressible de couche limite sur des corps bi-dimensionnels thermique, sont étudiées pour tous les effets de couche limite du second ordre, lorsque la vitesse de l'écoulement libre varie arbitrairement avec le temps. Le systéme d'équations aux dérivées partielles représentant tous les effets est écrit pour la premiére fois. On le résout numériquement á l'aide d'un schéma implicite aux différences finies. Les résultats sont obtenus pour deux cas de vitesse variable d'écoulement libre: (a) un écoulement accéléré et (b) un écoulement fluctuant. On observe que le frottement pariétal total et le transfert de chaleur sont fortement affectés par le transfert de masse et la température pariétaux. Néanmoins, leur variation avec le temps est sensible seulement pour des grandes durées. Les effets sont trouvés plus prononcés dans le cas de l'absence du transfert de masse ou de l'injection par rapport au cas de l'aspiration.

Simplified Treatment of Childhood Acute Bone and Joint Infections

Acute childhood osteomyelitis (OM), septic arthritis (SA), and their combination osteomyelitis with adjacent septic arthritis (OM+SA), are treated with long courses of antimicrobials and immediate surgery. We conducted a prospective multi-center randomized trial among Finnish children at age 3 months to 15 years in 1983-2005. According to the two-by-two factorial study design, children with OM or OM+SA received 20 or 30 days of antimicrobials, whereas those with SA were treated for 10 or 30 days. In addition, the whole series was randomized to be treated with clindamycin or a first-generation cephalosporin. Cases were included only if the causative agent was isolated. The treatment was instituted intravenously, but only for the first 2-4 days. Percutaneous aspiration was done to obtain a representative sample for bacteriology, but all other surgical intervention was kept at a minimum. A total of 265 patients fulfilled our strict inclusion criteria and were analyzed; 106 children had OM, 134 SA, and 25 OM+SA. In the OM group, one child in the long and one child in the short-term treatment group developed sequelae. One child with SA twice developed a late re-infection of the same joint, but the causative agents differed. Regarding surgery, diagnostic arthrocentesis or corticotomy was the only surgical procedure performed in most cases. Routine arthrotomy was not required even in hip arthritis. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) proved to be a reliable laboratory index in the diagnosis and monitoring of osteoarticular infections. The recovery rate was similar regardless of whether clindamycin or a first-generation cephalosporin was used. We conclude that a course of 20 days of these well-absorbing antimicrobials is sufficient for OM or OM+SA, and 10 days for SA in most cases beyond the neonatal age. A short intravenous phase of only 2-5 days often suffices. CRP gives valuable information in monitoring the course of illness. Besides diagnostic aspiration, surgery should be reserved for selected cases.

Nationalism Circumscribed : Transnational Governance of Minority Rights in Post-Cold War Europe

For the past two centuries, nationalism has been among the most influential legitimizing principles of political organization. According to its simple definition, nationalism is a principle or a way of thinking and acting which holds that the world is divided into nations, and that national and political units should be congruent. Nationalism can thus be divided into two aspects: internal and external. Internally, the political units, i.e., states, should be made up of only one nation. Externally each nation-state should be sovereign. Transnational national governance of rights of national minorities violates both these principles. This study explores the formation, operation, and effectiveness of the European post-Cold War minorities system. The study identifies two basic approaches to minority rights: security and justice. These approaches have been used to legitimize international minority politics and they also inform the practice of transnational governance. The security approach is based on the recognition that the norm of national self-determination cannot be fulfilled in all relevant cases, and so minority rights are offered as a compensation to the dissatisfied national groups, reducing their aspiration to challenge the status quo. From the justice perspective, minority rights are justified as a compensatory strategy against discrimination caused by majority nation-building. The research concludes that the post-Cold War minorities system was justified on the basis of a particular version of the security approach, according to which only Eastern European minority situations are threatening because of the ethnic variant of nationalism that exists in that region. This security frame was essential in internationalising minority issues and justifying the swift development of norms and institutions to deal with these issues. However, from the justice perspective this approach is problematic, since it justified double standards in European minority politics. Even though majority nation-building is often detrimental to minorities also in Western Europe, Western countries can treat their minorities more or less however they choose. One of the main contributions of this thesis is the detailed investigation of the operation of the post-Cold War minorities system. For the first decade since its creation in the early 1990s, the system operated mainly through its security track, which is based on the field activities of the OSCE that are supported by the EU. The study shows how the effectiveness of this track was based on inter-organizational cooperation in which various transnational actors compensate for each other s weaknesses. After the enlargement of the EU and dissolution of the membership conditionality this track, which was limited to Eastern Europe from the start, has become increasingly ineffective. Since the EU enlargement, the focus minorities system has shifted more and more towards its legal track, which is based on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Council of Europe). The study presents in detail how a network of like-minded representatives of governments, international organizations, and independent experts was able strengthen the framework convention s (originally weak) monitoring system considerably. The development of the legal track allows for a more universal and consistent, justice-based approach to minority rights in contemporary Europe, but the nationalist principle of organization still severely hinders the materialization of this possibility.

Development of atmospheric pressure ionization ion mobility spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry mass spectrometry

This study is focused on the development and evaluation of ion mobility instrumentation with various atmospheric pressure ionization techniques and includes the following work. First, a high-resolution drift tube ion mobility spectrometer (IMS), coupled with a commercial triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (MS), was developed. This drift tube IMS is compatible with the front-end of commercial Sciex mass spectrometers (e.g., Sciex API-300, 365, and 3000) and also allows easy (only minor modifications are needed) installation between the original atmospheric pressure ion source and the triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Performance haracteristics (e.g.,resolving power, detection limit, transmission efficiency of ions) of this IMS-MS instrument were evaluated. Development of the IMS-MS instrument also led to a study where a proposal was made that tetraalkylammonium ions can be used as chemical standards for ESI-IMS. Second, the same drift tube design was also used to build a standalone ion mobility spectrometer equipped with a Faraday plate detector. For this highresolution (resolving power about 100 shown) IMS device, a multi-ion source platform was built, which allows the use of a range of atmospheric pressure ionization methods, such as: corona discharge chemical ionization (CD-APCI), atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI), and radioactive atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (R-APCI). The multi-ion source platform provides easy switching between ionization methods and both positive and negative ionization modes can be used. Third, a simple desorpion/ionization on silicon (DIOS) ion source set-up for use with the developed IMS and IMS-MS instruments was built and its operation demonstrated. Fourth, a prototype of a commercial aspiration-type ion mobility spectrometer was mounted in front of a commercial triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The set-up, which is simple, easy to install, and requires no major modifications to the MS, provides the possibility of gathering fundamental information about aspiration mobility spectrometry.

Deformability Measurement of Single-Cells at High-Throughput With Imaging Flow Cytometry

Disease conditions like malaria, sickle cell anemia, diabetes mellitus, cancer, etc., are known to significantly alter the deformability of certain types of cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, circulating tumor cells, etc.). To determine the cellular deformability, techniques like micropipette aspiration, atomic force microscopy, optical tweezers, quantitative phase imaging have been developed. Many of these techniques have an advantage of determining the single cell deformability with ultrahigh precision. However, the suitability of these techniques for the realization of a deformability based diagnostic tool is questionable as they are expensive and extremely slow to operate on a huge population of cells. In this paper, we propose a technique for high-throughput (800 cells/s) determination of cellular deformability on a single cell basis. This technique involves capturing the image(s) of cells in flow that have undergone deformation under the influence of shear gradient generated by the fluid flowing through the microfluidic channels. Deformability indices of these cells can be computed by performing morphological operations on these images. We demonstrate the applicability of this technique for examining the deformability index on healthy, diabetic, and sphered red blood cells. We believe that this technique has a strong role to play in the realization of a potential tool that uses deformability as one of the important criteria in disease diagnosis.

Los universitarios y sus concepciones políticas a la luz del neotomismo argentino al filo de los siglos XIX y XX

Resumen: Los avances del liberalismo conmovieron, en buena medida, a la filosofía cristiana. Efectivamente él consagró el valor de la libertad como aspiración máxima y, en su nombre, se intentó sacudir el yugo de la autoridad y la Iglesia no quedó al margen, por lo que los católicos se replantearon muchas de sus posiciones, a fin de poder brindar las respuestas sociales que la sociedad estaba reclamando. Fue así que apareció la tercera escolástica, concebida como un movimiento de renovación contra el liberalismo que lo había invadido todo. Los propulsores de esta corriente decidieron restaurar en las escuelas y universidades la filosofía de Santo Tomás. La Argentina sufrió también las embestidas del liberalismo, lo que impulsó a los católicos a prepararse para plasmar soluciones en las más diversas áreas, con la idea de fondo de imponer el catolicismo como el principio organizador del medio social, argumentando que esa había sido la tendencia histórica en el país. Así fue como la tercera renovación escolástica, o neotomismo, penetró en la Argentina a fines del siglo XIX y en el XX, y se impuso tanto entre los seminaristas como en la Universidad de Córdoba y particularmente en su Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales. Durante los últimos años del otoño decimonónico la neoescolástica estuvo presente en muchas de las tesis presentadas en la Facultad de Derecho, siguiendo, en este aspecto, una tradición de la universidad cordobesa, la que predominaba también entre ciertos profesores. En este trabajo rastreamos los fundamentos del poder político que se encuentran en esos trabajos, refiriéndonos, por un lado, a la visión del grupo sobre el orden, a la igualdad y el progreso y, por otro, a los derechos del hombre.

Travellers' Types

This paper uses subjects’ self-reported justifications to explain discrepancies between observed heterogeneous behavior and the unique equilibrium prediction in a one-shot traveler’s dilemma experiment (TD). Principal components (PC) analysis suggests that iterative reasoning, aspiration levels, competitive behavior, attitudes towards risk and penalties and focal points may be behind different choices. Such reasons are coherent with same subjects’ behavior in other tests and experiments in which these particular issues are prominent. Overall, we identify types of subjects whose motivations are consistent across tasks.

IL-8-induced L-selectin shedding regulates its binding kinetics to PSGL-1

L-selectin plays a crucial role in inflammation cascade by initiating the tethering and rolling of leukocytes on endothelium wall. While many L-selectin molecules are rapidly shed from the cell surface upon activation, the remaining membrane-anchored L-selectin may still play an important role in regulating leukocyte rolling and adhesion with different binding kinetics. Here we developed an in vitro model to activate Jurkat cells via interlukin-8 (IL-8) and quantified the two-dimensional (2D) binding kinetics, using a micropipette aspiration assay, of membrane-anchored L-selectin to P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 (PSGL-1) ligand coupled onto human red blood cells (RBCs). The data indicated that L-selectin shedding reduced the amount of membrane-anchored L-selectin and lowered both its reverse and forward rates. These results suggested that the rolling dynamics of activated leukocytes was determined by two opposite impacts: reducing the surface presentation would enhance the rolling but lowering the kinetic rates would decrease the rolling. This finding provides a new insight into understanding how L-selectin shedding regulates leukocyte rolling and adhesion.