Glyphosate Effectiveness in the Control of Macrophytes Under a Greenhouse Condition

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of glyphosate, as Rodeo(r) formulation, to control Eichhornia crassipes, Pistia stratiotes, Salvinia molesta, Salvinia herzogii and Urochloa subquadripara, under greenhouse conditions. The doses assessed were (480, 960, 1440, 1920, 2400, 2880, 3360 and 3840 g ha-1 of glyphosate) with 0.5% of the Aterbane(r) BR surfactant and a control, with no herbicide application. All experiments were conducted in a completely randomized experimental design with ten replications. Applications were carried out by precision backpack sprayer at a CO2 constant pressure of 25 psi and spray solution consumption of 200 L ha-1. Product effectiveness was determined by assessing the growth inhibitions and phytotoxicity signals during the periods of 3, 7, 15, 21, 30 and 45 days after application (DAA). At 45 DAA, the highest glyphosate dose (3840 g ha-1) displayed 100% effectiveness for all four macrophyte species. Under greenhouse conditions, the glyphosate in formulation Rodeo(r) with 0.5% of Aterbarne(r) BR surfactant showed excellent effectiveness, inhibiting the growth of the floating aquatic macrophytes. This procedure can be included on the tillage plans for these species.

Integrating open articles with open data in the life sciences with Europe PubMed Central.

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

On advancing business intelligence in the electricity retail market

In recent decades, business intelligence (BI) has gained momentum in real-world practice. At the same time, business intelligence has evolved as an important research subject of Information Systems (IS) within the decision support domain. Today’s growing competitive pressure in business has led to increased needs for real-time analytics, i.e., so called real-time BI or operational BI. This is especially true with respect to the electricity production, transmission, distribution, and retail business since the law of physics determines that electricity as a commodity is nearly impossible to be stored economically, and therefore demand-supply needs to be constantly in balance. The current power sector is subject to complex changes, innovation opportunities, and technical and regulatory constraints. These range from low carbon transition, renewable energy sources (RES) development, market design to new technologies (e.g., smart metering, smart grids, electric vehicles, etc.), and new independent power producers (e.g., commercial buildings or households with rooftop solar panel installments, a.k.a. Distributed Generation). Among them, the ongoing deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) has profound impacts on the electricity retail market. From the view point of BI research, the AMI is enabling real-time or near real-time analytics in the electricity retail business. Following Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm in the IS field, this research presents four aspects of BI for efficient pricing in a competitive electricity retail market: (i) visual data-mining based descriptive analytics, namely electricity consumption profiling, for pricing decision-making support; (ii) real-time BI enterprise architecture for enhancing management’s capacity on real-time decision-making; (iii) prescriptive analytics through agent-based modeling for price-responsive demand simulation; (iv) visual data-mining application for electricity distribution benchmarking. Even though this study is from the perspective of the European electricity industry, particularly focused on Finland and Estonia, the BI approaches investigated can: (i) provide managerial implications to support the utility’s pricing decision-making; (ii) add empirical knowledge to the landscape of BI research; (iii) be transferred to a wide body of practice in the power sector and BI research community.

Evaluation of novel programs in health counseling – their effectiveness in the oral health of young children, and their acceptance by parents and professionals in public dental service.

Aim and design: To evaluate family-based health counseling for young children, and to study the significance of adding parental self-care or the training of professionals to the programs. The effectiveness and acceptability of the programs were evaluated by comparing two new programs with an earlier one. Subjects and methods: The study was carried out in Vantaa, which was divided into three study areas. The subjects consisted of children born in 2008, particularly fi rstborn children, while children born in 2006 formed the historical control. The fi rst of the new programs emphasized oral hygiene and use of fl uoride, and the second program focused on proper diet and use of xylitol. The main outcome measure was mutansstreptococci (MS) in the dental biofi lm of two-year-olds, and the opinions of parents and dental professionals were evaluated using questionnaires. Results: The programs found wide acceptance among dental professionals. There were no group-related differences found in the MS scores of the two-year-olds. However, all groups combined, father’s advanced level of education and child’s proper use of xylitol were associated with negative MS scores. In the opinion of parents, the oral healthcare guidance at least somewhat met their expectations. Conclusions: The present fi ndings suggest that providing training and support for professionals in health education is important. The addition of parental self-care to supplement programs aimed at young children does not improve the program, although it may improve parental readiness to change their own health habits. Counseling for families might be best carried out through a routine patient-centered program.

The nature and role of trust in temporary virtual problem-solving teams

The objective of this study is to increase understanding of the nature and role of trust in temporary virtual problem-solving teams engaged in real-life co-creation activities, while much of previous research has been conducted in student settings. The different forms and bases of trust, possible trust barriers and trust building actions, and perceived role of trust in knowledge sharing and collaboration are analyzed. The study is conducted as a qualitative case study in case company. Data includes interviews from 24 people: 13 from 3 different project teams that were going on during the study, 8 from already finalized project teams, and 3 founders of case company. Additional data consists of communication archives from three current teams. The results indicate that there were both knowledge-based and swift trust present, former being based on work-related personal experiences about leaders or other team members, and latter especially on references, disposition to trust and institution-based factors such as norms and rules, as well as leader and expert action. The findings suggest that possible barriers of trust might be related to lack of adaptation to virtual work, unclear roles and safety issues, and nature of virtual communication. Actions that could be applied to enhance trust are for example active behavior in discussions, work-related introductions communicating competence, managerial actions and face-to-face interaction. Finally, results also suggest that trust has a focal role as an enabler of action and knowledge sharing, and coordinator of effective collaboration and performance in temporary virtual problem-solving teams.

Biosensor for determination of glucose in real samples of beverages

A biosensor was developed for spectrophotometric determination of glucose concentrations in real samples of orange juice energetic drinks, and sport drinks. The biosensor consisted of glucose oxidase (GOD) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) immobilized onto polyaniline activated with glutaraldehyde (PANIG). Immobilization parameters were optimized for GOD, and maximum immobilization yield was 16% when 5.0 mg of PANIG and 8.9 U prepared in 0.1 mol.L-1 sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) reacted for 60 minutes at 4 °C with gentle stirring. The linear operational range for glucose determination using optimized operational parameters was between 0.05 and 6.0 mg.mL-1 with a very good reproducibility of response. The results obtained in the biosensor were compared with those obtained using free enzymes (commercial kits) and then validated through statistical analysis using the Tukey test (95% confidence interval).

Analysis of the Change Management Process in a Multinational Company

The purpose of this thesis was to study change management and find out how the theory applies to practise with the help of studying an organizational change process. The goal was to investigate the different ways of the change management and how those could be utilized in practise. The purpose was also to see what kind of tools and information packages for change management the company involved has developed and taken in to use and check if these could have been utilized in the change process studied in this thesis. This thesis was established by studying the theory of change management and interviewing the people involved in the organizational change and the stakeholders. The questions were formed in line with the change management theory. The main theory used was John P. Kotter’s Eight Steps of Change. The study revealed valuable details about change processes in real life and concrete improvement ideas were recognized from the interviews. Overall the people were quite happy with the outcome of the change process. There were also some failures identified in this change process. Most probably those can be avoided in the future if people planning the change are familiar with the company’s new information packages and tools for change management. Change management is a complex area that is still today quite often forgotten by companies. Effective change management can give a huge competitive advantage for a company. Acknowledging that change process is always complex and not easy is already a good step forward in handling change processes. All changes need change management and understanding the way people react on change. A good and efficient change management is the key to make the change process smooth and easier for the people involved.

In search of the interrelatedness of innovation and internationalisation processes in entrepreneurial life science companies

This study is motivated by the question how resource scarce innovative entrepreneurial companies seek and leverage global resources. This study takes a resource-seeking perspective a step forward and suggests that resources that enable the entrepreneurial internationalisation are largely accrued from the early stages of entrepreneurial life; that is from the innovation development. Consequently, this study seeks to explain how innovation and internationalisation processes are interrelated in the entrepreneurial internationalisation. This main objective is approached through three research questions, (1) What role do inter-organisational relationships in innovation have in the entrepreneurial internationalisation process? (2) What kind of inward–outward links do inter-organisational relationships create in the resource-seeking-based entrepreneurial internationalisation process? (3) What kind of capability to collaborate forms in the interaction of inter-organisational relationship deployment? The research design is a mixed methods design that consists of quantitative pilot study and qualitative multiple case study of five entrepreneurial life science companies from Finland and Austria. The findings show that innovation and internationalisation processes are tightly interwoven in pre-internationalisation state. The findings also reveal that the more experienced companies are able to take advantage of complexcross-border inter-organisational relationship structures better than the starting companies. However, very minor evidence was found on inward links translating into outward links in the entrepreneurial internationalisation process, despite the expectation to observe more of these links in the data. Combined intangible-tangible resource-seeking was the most preferred to build links between inward–outward internationalisation but also to develop competence to collaborate. By adopting a resource- instead of market-seeking approach, this study illustrated that internationalisation extends to early stages of innovative companies, and that in high-technology companies’ potentially significant cross-border relationships have started to form long before incorporation. Therefore, these observations justified the firmer inclusion of pre-company history in innovative entrepreneurship studies. The study offers a conceptualisation of entrepreneurial internationalisation that is perceived as a process. The main theoretical contributions are in the areas of international entrepreneurship and in the behavioural process studies of entrepreneurial internationalisation and resource-based internationalisation. The inclusion of the innovation-based discussion, namely the innovation process, in the internationalisation process theories has clearly contributed to the understanding of entrepreneurial internationalisation in the context of international entrepreneurship. Innovation development is a central act of entrepreneurial companies, and neglecting innovation process investigation from entrepreneurial internationalisation leaves potentially influential mechanisms unexplored.

Customer Discovery and Customer Validation in Lean Software Startups

The traditional business models and the traditionally successful development methods that have been distinctive to the industrial era, do not satisfy the needs of modern IT companies. Due to the rapid nature of IT markets, the uncertainty of new innovations‟ success and the overwhelming competition with established companies, startups need to make quick decisions and eliminate wasted resources more effectively than ever before. There is a need for an empirical basis on which to build business models, as well as evaluate the presumptions regarding value and profit. Less than ten years ago, the Lean software development principles and practices became widely well-known in the academic circles. Those practices help startup entrepreneurs to validate their learning, test their assumptions and be more and more dynamical and flexible. What is special about today‟s software startups is that they are increasingly individual. There are quantitative research studies available regarding the details of Lean startups. Broad research with hundreds of companies presented in a few charts is informative, but a detailed study of fewer examples gives an insight to the way software entrepreneurs see Lean startup philosophy and how they describe it in their own words. This thesis focuses on Lean software startups‟ early phases, namely Customer Discovery (discovering a valuable solution to a real problem) and Customer Validation (being in a good market with a product which satisfies that market). The thesis first offers a sufficiently compact insight into the Lean software startup concept to a reader who is not previously familiar with the term. The Lean startup philosophy is then put into a real-life test, based on interviews with four Finnish Lean software startup entrepreneurs. The interviews reveal 1) whether the Lean startup philosophy is actually valuable for them, 2) how can the theory be practically implemented in real life and 3) does theoretical Lean startup knowledge compensate a lack of entrepreneurship experience. A reader gets familiar with the key elements and tools of Lean startups, as well as their mutual connections. The thesis explains why Lean startups waste less time and money than many other startups. The thesis, especially its research sections, aims at providing data and analysis simultaneously.

Customer Discovery and Customer Validation in Lean Software Startups

The traditional business models and the traditionally successful development methods that have been distinctive to the industrial era, do not satisfy the needs of modern IT companies. Due to the rapid nature of IT markets, the uncertainty of new innovations‟ success and the overwhelming competition with established companies, startups need to make quick decisions and eliminate wasted resources more effectively than ever before. There is a need for an empirical basis on which to build business models, as well as evaluate the presumptions regarding value and profit. Less than ten years ago, the Lean software development principles and practices became widely well-known in the academic circles. Those practices help startup entrepreneurs to validate their learning, test their assumptions and be more and more dynamical and flexible. What is special about today‟s software startups is that they are increasingly individual. There are quantitative research studies available regarding the details of Lean startups. Broad research with hundreds of companies presented in a few charts is informative, but a detailed study of fewer examples gives an insight to the way software entrepreneurs see Lean startup philosophy and how they describe it in their own words. This thesis focuses on Lean software startups‟ early phases, namely Customer Discovery (discovering a valuable solution to a real problem) and Customer Validation (being in a good market with a product which satisfies that market). The thesis first offers a sufficiently compact insight into the Lean software startup concept to a reader who is not previously familiar with the term. The Lean startup philosophy is then put into a real-life test, based on interviews with four Finnish Lean software startup entrepreneurs. The interviews reveal 1) whether the Lean startup philosophy is actually valuable for them, 2) how can the theory be practically implemented in real life and 3) does theoretical Lean startup knowledge compensate a lack of entrepreneurship experience. A reader gets familiar with the key elements and tools of Lean startups, as well as their mutual connections. The thesis explains why Lean startups waste less time and money than many other startups. The thesis, especially its research sections, aims at providing data and analysis simultaneously.

Giving voice to lifelong learning in professional nursing practice

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to uncover the meaning of lifelong learning to nurses in an Academic Health Care setting. Six female pediatric nurses were interviewed and audiotaped in response to 2 main questions of interpretation and engagement in lifelong learning with respect to their nursing practice. Four additional probing questions elicited responses of further qualities and characteristics of the meaning of lifelong learning. The emergent themes uncovered the characteristics and nature of the journey of lifelong learning. The themes evolved into parallel characteristics developing into the concepts of personal empowerment and occupational authorship. The personal empowerment concept involved processes whereby the participants overcame or removed barriers to engage in personal lifelong learning. Participants utilized personal power and internal motivators to sustain their engagement in lifelong learning. The occupational authorship concept involved participants controlling their exploration into lifelong learning through collaboration and recognition of occupational demands to be met as a professional. The remaining themes revealed a seasoning journey. This journey entailed a process of mastery through the themes of engagement discord, discovery pilgrimage, transforming, and maturation. The engagement in this journey resulted in their lifelong learning to becoming more intuitive and a part oftheir being. The overall theme uncovered from the journeys was one of a vocation described as a call to thinking critically of nursing practice. The participants responded to lifelong learning as a call to be a good nurse by using critical thinking through reflection, transformative and constructionist learning processes. This study gave voice to the meaning of lifelong learning in their nursing practice as interpreted by -ao the nurse participants.

The examination of assumptions in clinical nursing practice

This was a study designed to identify and explore the assumptions that Registered Nurses have about their current nursing role and practice. A qualitative case study approach was used to gather descriptive data. Thirteen study participants completed the indicators of critical thinking exercise and participated in a group session in which they identified positive and negative critical incidents in their clinical practice. The analysis of the anecdotes that were generated from the critical incident exercises revealed ten assumptions held by the Registered Nurses about their nursing practice. The ten assumptions were reflected back to the study participants to determine their level of agreement with each assumption. The ten assumptions were supported by the majority of the respondents. The Registered Nurses in this study appraised themselves affirmatively on eight out of nine indicators of critical thinking.

The principal in the high school: effectiveness in a climate of sharing

This pilot study developed a climate instrument which was administered in a sample of high schools in one board of education. Several tests were conducted i n order to determine the reliability and internal consistency of the instrument . The ability of the instrument to identify the demographic differences of school and gender was also tested. The relationship between leadership styles and an effective use of authority in creating a productive and rewarding work environment was the f ocus of t his study. Attitudes to leadership and perceived school morale were investigated in a demographic study, a climate survey, as well as a body of related literature. In light of the empirical research, an attempt was made to determine the extent to which the authority figure's behaviour and adopted leadership style contributed to a positive school climate : one in which t eachers were motivated to achieve to t he best of their abilities by way of their commitment and service. The tone of authority assumed by t he leader not only shapes the mood of the school environment but ultimately determines the efficiency and morale of t he teaching staff.

Violent Video Game Playing, Moral Reasoning, and Attitudes Towards Violence in Adolescents: Is There a Connection?

In this study of 109 adolescents from the eighth grade of seven public elementary schools in Ontario, the relationship among adolescents’ violent video game playing patterns, habits and attitudes, their levels of moral reasoning, and their attitudes towards violence in real life was investigated. In addition, gender differences were addressed. The mixed-methodology was employed combining qualitative and quantitative data. The research results confirmed that playing video games in general is a very popular activity among those adolescents. Significant negative relationship was found between adolescents’ amount of time playing violent video games during the day and their scores on The Sociomoral Reflection Measure. Significant difference was also found between adolescents who play violent video games and those who do not play violent video games on their scores on The Attitudes Towards Violence Scale. Boys and girls significantly differed in the amount of playing video games during the day, the reasons for playing video games, their favourite video game choices, and their favourite video game character choices. Boys and girls also significantly differed on their choices of personality traits of selected video game characters, the identification with video game characters, and their mood experiences while playing video games. The findings are put into the educational context and the context of normal development, and suggestions are given for parents, for educators, and for future violent video game research.

Compensatory Arm Reactions in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease

This study examined how perturbation-evoked compensatory arm reactions in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are influenced by explicit verbal instruction. Ten individuals with PD and 15 older adults without PD responded to surface translations with or without specific instruction to reach for and grasp the handrail. Electromyographic (EMG) and kinematic recordings were taken from the reaching arm. Results showed that individuals with and without PD benefitted similarly from explicit instruction. Explicit instruction resulted in earlier (p=0.005) and larger (p<0.001) medial deltoid EMG responses in comparison to no specific instructions. Compensatory arm reactions also occurred with a higher peak medio-lateral wrist velocity (p<0.001) and higher peak shoulder abduction angular velocity (p<0.001) with explicit instruction. Explicit instruction positively influenced compensatory arm reactions in individuals with and without PD. Future research is needed to determine whether the benefits of instruction persist over time and translate to a loss of balance in real life.