Zaburoni HIV case: The law can sometimes be an ass, but not in this case

Lana Nowakowski's opinion piece on the High Court decision in the Zaburoni HIV case attacks "Queensland's absurd necessity to prove intention on transmission" and argues that "changes to the law are long overdue". Both claims are wrong...

Performance evaluation of elitist-mutated multi-objective particle swarm optimization for integrated water resources management

Optimal allocation of water resources for various stakeholders often involves considerable complexity with several conflicting goals, which often leads to multi-objective optimization. In aid of effective decision-making to the water managers, apart from developing effective multi-objective mathematical models, there is a greater necessity of providing efficient Pareto optimal solutions to the real world problems. This study proposes a swarm-intelligence-based multi-objective technique, namely the elitist-mutated multi-objective particle swarm optimization technique (EM-MOPSO), for arriving at efficient Pareto optimal solutions to the multi-objective water resource management problems. The EM-MOPSO technique is applied to a case study of the multi-objective reservoir operation problem. The model performance is evaluated by comparing with results of a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) model, and it is found that the EM-MOPSO method results in better performance. The developed method can be used as an effective aid for multi-objective decision-making in integrated water resource management.

Molecular Genetics of Age-related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD; OMIM # 603075) is an eye disease of the elderly, signs of which appear after the age of 50. In the Western world it is a leading cause of permanent visual loss with a prevalence of 8.5% in persons under 54 years of age and of 37% in persons over 75 years of age. Early forms of AMD may be asymptomatic, but in the late forms usually a central scotoma in the visual field follows severely complicating daily tasks. Smoking, age, and genetic predisposition are known risk factors for AMD. Until recently no true susceptibility genes had been identified though the composition of drusen deposits, the hallmarks of AMD, has suggested that the complement system might play a role in the pathogenesis of AMD. When four groups reported in March 2005, that, on chromosome 1q32, a Y402H variant in the complement factor H (CFH) gene confers risk for AMD in independent Caucasian samples, a new period in the field of genetic research of AMD started. CFH is a key regulator of the complement system. Thus, it is logical to speculate, that it plays a role in the pathogenesis of AMD. We performed a case-control association study to analyse whether the CFH Y402H variant contain a risk for AMD in the Finnish population. Although the population of Finland represents a genetic isolate, the CFH Y402H polymorphism was associated with AMD also in our patient sample with similar risk allele frequencies as in the other Caucasian populations. We further evaluated the effects of this variant, but no association between lesion subtype (predominantly classic, minimally classic or occult lesion) or lesion size of neovascular AMD and the CFH Y402H variant was detected. Neither did the variant have an effect on the photodynamic therapy (PDT) outcome. The patients that respond to PDT carried the risk genotype as frequently as those who did not respond, and no difference was found in the number of PDT sessions needed in patients with or without the risk genotypes of CFH Y402H. Functional analyses, however, showed that the binding of C-reactive protein (CRP) to CFH was significantly reduced in patients with the risk genotype of Y402H. In the past two years, the LOC387715/ high-temperature requirement factor A1 (HTRA1) locus on 10q26 has also been repeatedly associated with AMD in several populations. The recent discovery of the LOC387715 protein on the mitochondrial outer membrane suggests that the LOC387715 gene, not HTRA1, is the true predisposing gene in this region, although its biological function is still unknown. In our Finnish patient material, patients with AMD carried the A69S risk genotype of LOC387715 more frequently than the controls. Also, for the first time, an interaction between the CFH Y402H and the LOC387715 A69S variants was found. The most recently detected susceptibilty gene of AMD, the complement component 3 (C3) gene, encodes the central component of the complement system, C3. In our Finnish sample, an additive gene effect for the C3 locus was detected, though weaker than the effects for the two main loci, CFH and LOC387715. Instead, the hemicentin-1 or the elongation of very long chain fatty acids-like 4 genes that have also been suggested as candidate genes for AMD did not carry a risk for AMD in the Finnish population. This was the first series of molecular genetic study of AMD in Finland. We showed that two common risk variants, CFH Y402H and LOC387715 A69S, represent a high risk of AMD also in the isolated Finnish population, and furthermore, that they had a statistical interaction. It was demonstrated that the CFH Y402H risk genotype affects the binding of CFH to CRP thus suggesting that complement indeed plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AMD.

A Proportional plus Multiresonant Controller for Three-Phase Four-Wire High-Frequency Link Inverter

A new solution for unbalanced and nonlinear loads in terms of power circuit topology and controller structure is proposed in this paper. A three-phase four-wire high-frequency ac-link inverter is adopted to cater to such loads. Use of high-frequency transformer results in compact and light-weight systems. The fourth wire is taken out from the midpoint of the isolation transformer in order to avoid the necessity of an extra leg. This makes the converter suitable for unbalanced loads and eliminates the requirements of bulky capacitor in half-bridge inverter. The closed-loop control is carried out in stationary reference frame using proportional + multiresonant controller (three separate resonant controller for fundamental, fifth and seventh harmonic components). The limitations on improving steady-state response of harmonic resonance controllers is investigated and mitigated using a lead-lag compensator. The proposed voltage controller is used along with an inner current loop to ensure excellent performance of the power converter. Simulation studies and experimental results with 1 kVA prototype under nonlinear and unbalanced loading conditions validate the proposed scheme.

Group Beliefs : Studies on the Nature and Logic of Collective Doxastic Attitudes

This thesis studies the nature and logic of collective doxastic attitudes, or what is referred to in ordinary language as "group beliefs". Beliefs and other intentional attitudes are attributed to groups and collections of people, and such attributions are used to explain and predict the actions of groups. The thesis develops an understanding of group beliefs as voluntarily adopted views or acceptances rather than as ordinary beliefs. Such an understanding can provide new answers to questions concerning collective knowledge and justification of group beliefs, and it allows developing modal logics with collective doxastic and epistemic notions. The thesis consists of six articles. The first three articles are philosophical studies concerned with the nature of group beliefs. The last three articles are logical studies that aim at developing proof-theoretical calculi for reasoning about collective doxastic attitudes.

Kriitkko Einari J. Vehmas ja moderni taide

The doctoral dissertation Critic Einari J. Vehmas and Modern Art deals with one of the central figures of the Finnish art scene and his work as an art critic, art museum curator and cultural critic. The main body of research material consists of the writings of Einari J. Vehmas (1902 1980) from 1937 to the late 1960s. Vehmas wrote art reviews for magazines, and from the year 1945 he was a regular art critic for one of the major newspapers in Finland. Vehmas was heavily inclined towards French literature and visual arts. Marcel Proust and Charles Baudelaire influenced his views on the nature of art from the late 1920s onwards. Vehmas is commonly regarded as the most influential art critic of post-war Finland. His writings have been referred to and cited in numerous research papers on Finnish 20th-century art. A lesser known aspect of his work is his position as the deputy director of the Ateneum Art Museum, the Finnish national gallery. Through his art museum work, his opinions also shaped the canon of modern art considered particularly Finnish following the second world war. The main emphasis of the dissertation is on studying Vehmas s writings, but it also illustrates the diversity of his involvement in Finnish cultural life through biographical documents. The long chronological span of the dissertation emphasises how certain central themes accumulate in Vehmas s writings. The aim of the dissertation is also to show how strongly certain philosophical and theoretical concepts from the early 20th century, specifically Wassily Kandinsky s principle of inner necessity and Henri Bergson s epistemology highlighting intuition and instinct, continued to influence the Finnish art discourse even in the early 1960s, in part thanks to the writings of Vehmas. Throughout his production, Vehmas contemplated the state and future of modern art and humanity. Vehmas used a colourful, vitalistic rhetoric to emphasise the role of modern art as a building block of culture and humanity. At the same time, however, he was a cultural pessimist whose art views became infused with anxiety, a sense of loss, and a desire to turn his back on the world.

Carbon dynamics in peatlands under changing hydrology : Effects of water level drawdown on litter quality, microbial enzyme activities and litter decomposition rates

Pristine peatlands are carbon (C) accumulating wetland ecosystems sustained by a high water level (WL) and consequent anoxia that slows down decomposition. Persistent WL drawdown as a response to climate and/or land-use change directly affects decomposition: increased oxygenation stimulates decomposition of the old C (peat) sequestered under prior anoxic conditions. Responses of the new C (plant litter) in terms of quality, production and decomposability, and the consequences for the whole C cycle of peatlands are not fully understood. WL drawdown induces changes in plant community resulting in shift in dominance from Sphagnum and graminoids to shrubs and trees. There is increasing evidence that the indirect effects of WL drawdown via the changes in plant communities will have more impact on the ecosystem C cycling than any direct effects. The aim of this study is to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of WL drawdown on the new C by measuring the relative importance of 1) environmental parameters (WL depth, temperature, soil chemistry) and 2) plant community composition on litter production, microbial activity, litter decomposition rates and, consequently, on the C accumulation. This information is crucial for modelling C cycle under changing climate and/or land-use. The effects of WL drawdown were tested in a large-scale experiment with manipulated WL at two time scales and three nutrient regimes. Furthermore, the effect of climate on litter decomposability was tested along a north-south gradient. Additionally, a novel method for estimating litter chemical quality and decomposability was explored by combining Near infrared spectroscopy with multivariate modelling. WL drawdown had direct effects on litter quality, microbial community composition and activity and litter decomposition rates. However, the direct effects of WL drawdown were overruled by the indirect effects via changes in litter type composition and production. Short-term (years) responses to WL drawdown were small. In long-term (decades), dramatically increased litter inputs resulted in large accumulation of organic matter in spite of increased decomposition rates. Further, the quality of the accumulated matter greatly changed from that accumulated in pristine conditions. The response of a peatland ecosystem to persistent WL drawdown was more pronounced at sites with more nutrients. The study demonstrates that the shift in vegetation composition as a response to climate and/or land-use change is the main factor affecting peatland ecosystem C cycle and thus dynamic vegetation is a necessity in any models applied for estimating responses of C fluxes to changes in the environment. The time scale for vegetation changes caused by hydrological changes needs to extend to decades. This study provides grouping of litter types (plant species and part) into functional types based on their chemical quality and/or decomposability that the models could utilize. Further, the results clearly show a drop in soil temperature as a response to WL drawdown when an initially open peatland converts into a forest ecosystem, which has not yet been considered in the existing models.

Power Optimal Network-on-Chip Interconnect Design

A large part of today's multi-core chips is interconnect. Increasing communication complexity has made essential new strategies for interconnects, such as Network on Chip. Power dissipation in interconnects has become a substantial part of the total power dissipation. Techniques to reduce interconnect power have thus become a necessity. In this paper, we present a design methodology that gives values of bus width for interconnect links, frequency of operation for routers, in Network on Chip scenario that satisfy required throughput and dissipate minimal switching power. We develop closed form analytical expressions for the power dissipation, with bus width and frequency as variables and then use Lagrange multiplier method to arrive at the optimal values. We present a 4 port router in 90 nm technology library as case study. The results obtained from analysis are discussed.

Lippu, uhri, kansakunta : Ryhmäkokemukset ja -rajat Suomessa 1917 1945

This dissertation deals with the notions of sacrifice and violence in connection with the Fin¬nish flag struggles between 1917 and 1945. The study begins with the basic idea that sacrificial thinking is a key element in nationalism and the social cohesion of large groups. The method used in the study combines anthropological notions of totemism with psychoanalytical object relation theory. The aim is to explore the social and psychological elements of the Finnish national flag and the workers flags during the times of crisis and nation building. The phenomena and concepts addressed include self-sacrifice, scapegoating, remembrance of war, inclusion, and exclusion. The research is located at the intersection of nationalism studies and the cultural history of war. The analysis is based primarily on the press debates, public speeches and archival sources of the civic organizations that promoted the Finnish flag. The study is empirically divided into three sections: 1) the years of the Revolution and the Civil War (1917 1918), 2) the interwar period (1919 1938), and 3) the Second World War (1939 1945). The research demonstrates that the modern national flags and workers flags in Finland maintain certain characteristics of primitive totems. When referred to as a totem the flag means an emotionally charged symbol, a reservoir of the collective ideals of a large group. Thus the flag issue offers a path to explore the perceptions and memory of sacrifice and violence in the making of the First Republic . Any given large group, for example a nation, must conceptually pursue a consensus on its past sacrifices. Without productive interpretation sacrifice represents only meaningless violence. By looking at the passions associated with the flag the study also illuminates various group identities, boundaries and crossings of borders within the Finnish society at the same time. The study shows further that the divisive violence of the Civil War was first overcome in the late 1930s when the social democrats adopted a new perception of the Red victims of 1918 they were seen as part of the birth pains of the nation, and not only the martyrs of class struggle. At the same time the radical Right became marginalized. The study also illuminates how this development made the Spirit of the Winter War possible, a genuine albeit brief experience of horizontal brother and sisterhood, and how this spirit was reflected in the popular adoption of the Finnish flag. The experience was not based only on the external and unifying threat posed by the Soviet Union: it was grounded in a sense of unifying sacrifice which reflected a novel way of understanding the nation and its past sacrifices. Paradoxically, the newly forged consensus over the necessity and the rewards of the common sacrifices of the Winter War (1939 1940) made new sacrifices possible during the Continuation War (1941 1944). In spite of political discord and war weariness, the concept of a unified nation under the national flag survived even the absurdity of the stationary war phase. It can be said that the conflict between the idea of a national community and parliamentary party politics dissolved as a result of the collective experience of the Second World War.

Paimen vailla hiippakuntaa : Kenttäpiispan viran synty ja vaikutus sotilaspapiston asemaan Suomen puolustusvoimissa ja kirkossa vuosina 1939 - 1944

The main purpose of this research is to shed light on the factors that gave rise to the office of Field Bishop in the years 1939-1944. How did military bishophood affect the status of the head of military pastoral care and military clergy during these years? The main sources of my research are the collections in the Finnish National Archives, and I use a historical-qualitative method. The position of the military clergy was debated within both the Church and the Defence Forces before 1939. At that stage, Church law did not yet recognize the office of the leading military priest, the Field Dean. There had been a motion in 1932 to introduce the office of a military bishop, but the bishops' synod blocked it. The concept of Field Bishop appeared for the first time in 1927 in a Finnish military document, which dealt with pastoral care in the Polish military. The Field Dean in Finland had regularly proposed improvements to the salary of the military clergy before the Winter War. After the Winter War, arguments were made for strengthening the position of the military clergy: these arguments were based on the increased respect shown towards this clergy, especially due to their role in the care of the fallen, which had become their task during the war. Younger members of the military clergy in particular supported the demands to improve their position within the Church and the army. The creation of a Field Bishop was perceived as strengthening the whole military clergy, as the Field Bishop was envisioned as a bishop within the Church and a general within the Defence Forces. During that time the Field Dean was still without any military rank. The idea of a Field Bishop was recommended to Mannerheim in June 1940, after which the Defence Forces lent their support to the cause. The status of the military clergy, in Church law, made it to the agenda of the Church council in January 1941, thanks largely to the younger priests' group influence and Mannerheim's leverage. The bishops opposed the notion of a Field Bishop mostly on theological grounds but were ready to concede that the position the Field Dean in Church law required further defining. The creation of the office of Field Bishop was blocked in the Church law committee report issued close to the beginning of the Continuation War. The onset of that war, however, changed the course of events, as the President of the Republic appointed Field Dean Johannes Björklund as Field Bishop. Speculation has abounded about Mannerheim's role in the appointment, but the truth of the matter is not clear. The title of Field Bishop was used to put pressure on the Church, and, at the same time, Mannerheim could remain detached from the matter. Later, in September 1941, the Church council approved the use of the Field Bishop title to denote the head of military pastoral care in Church law, and Field Bishops were assigned some of the duties formerly pertaining to bishops. Despite all expectations and hopes, the new office of Field Bishop did not affect the status of the military clergy within the Defence Forces, as no ranks were established for them, and their salary did not improve. However the office of the Field Bishop within Army HQ was transformed from a bureau into a department in the summer of 1942. At the beginning of the Continuation War, the Field Bishop was criticized by certain military and Church clergy for favouring Russian Orthodox Christians in Eastern Karelia. Björklund agreed in principle with most of the Lutheran clergy on the necessity of Lutheranizing East Karelia but had to take into account the realities at Army HQ. As well, at the same time the majority of the younger clergy were serving in the army, and there was a lack of parish priests on the home front. Bishop Lehtonen had actually expressed the wish that more priests could have been released from the front to serve in local parishes. In his notes Lehtonen accused Björklund of trying to achieve the position of Field Bishop by all possible means. However, research has revealed a varied group of people behind the creation of the office of Field Bishop, including in particular younger clergy and the Defence Forces.

Relationships in food chains: an empirical examination of trust, commitment and communication

This report derives from the EU funded research project “Key Factors Influencing Economic Relationships and Communication in European Food Chains” (FOODCOMM). The research consortium consisted of the following organisations: University of Bonn (UNI BONN), Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing Research (overall project co-ordination); Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO), Department for Agricultural Markets, Marketing and World Agricultural Trade, Halle (Saale), Germany; University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute Seinäjoki Unit, Finland; Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), Food Marketing Research Team - Land Economy Research Group, Edinburgh and Aberdeen; Ashtown Food Research Centre (AFRC), Teagasc, Food Marketing Unit, Dublin; Institute of Agricultural & Food Economics (IAFE), Department of Market Analysis and Food Processing, Warsaw and Government of Aragon, Center for Agro-Food Research and Technology (CITA), Zaragoza, Spain. The aim of the FOODCOMM project was to examine the role (prevalence, necessity and significance) of economic relationships in selected European food chains and to identify the economic, social and cultural factors which influence co-ordination within these chains. The research project considered meat and cereal commodities in six different European countries (Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain, UK/Scotland) and was commissioned against a background of changing European food markets. The research project as a whole consisted of seven different work packages. This report presents the results of qualitative research conducted for work package 5 (WP5) in the pig meat and rye bread chains in Finland. Ruralia Institute would like to give special thanks for all the individuals and companies that kindly gave up their time to take part in the study. Their input has been invaluable to the project. The contribution of research assistant Sanna-Helena Rantala was significant in the data gathering. FOODCOMM project was coordinated by the University of Bonn, Department of Agricultural and Food Market Research. Special thanks especially to Professor Monika Hartmann for acting as the project leader of FOODCOMM.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Homogeneous Nucleation

Nucleation is the first step in a phase transition where small nuclei of the new phase start appearing in the metastable old phase, such as the appearance of small liquid clusters in a supersaturated vapor. Nucleation is important in various industrial and natural processes, including atmospheric new particle formation: between 20 % to 80 % of atmospheric particle concentration is due to nucleation. These atmospheric aerosol particles have a significant effect both on climate and human health. Different simulation methods are often applied when studying things that are difficult or even impossible to measure, or when trying to distinguish between the merits of various theoretical approaches. Such simulation methods include, among others, molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. In this work molecular dynamics simulations of the homogeneous nucleation of Lennard-Jones argon have been performed. Homogeneous means that the nucleation does not occur on a pre-existing surface. The simulations include runs where the starting configuration is a supersaturated vapor and the nucleation event is observed during the simulation (direct simulations), as well as simulations of a cluster in equilibrium with a surrounding vapor (indirect simulations). The latter type are a necessity when the conditions prevent the occurrence of a nucleation event in a reasonable timeframe in the direct simulations. The effect of various temperature control schemes on the nucleation rate (the rate of appearance of clusters that are equally able to grow to macroscopic sizes and to evaporate) was studied and found to be relatively small. The method to extract the nucleation rate was also found to be of minor importance. The cluster sizes from direct and indirect simulations were used in conjunction with the nucleation theorem to calculate formation free energies for the clusters in the indirect simulations. The results agreed with density functional theory, but were higher than values from Monte Carlo simulations. The formation energies were also used to calculate surface tension for the clusters. The sizes of the clusters in the direct and indirect simulations were compared, showing that the direct simulation clusters have more atoms between the liquid-like core of the cluster and the surrounding vapor. Finally, the performance of various nucleation theories in predicting simulated nucleation rates was investigated, and the results among other things highlighted once again the inadequacy of the classical nucleation theory that is commonly employed in nucleation studies.

Somali State Failure: Players, Incentives and Institutions

In Somalia the central government collapsed in 1991 and since then state failure became a widespread phenomenon and one of the greatest political and humanitarian problems facing the world in this century. Thus, the main objective of this research is to answer the following question: What went wrong? Most of the existing literature on the political economy of conflict starts from the assumption that state in Africa is predatory by nature. Unlike these studies, the present research, although it uses predation theory, starts from the social contract approach of state definition. Therefore, rather than contemplating actions and policies of the rulers alone, this approach allows us to deliberately bring the role of the society – as citizens – and other players into the analyses. In Chapter 1, after introducing the study, a simple principal-agent model will be developed to check the logical consistence of the argument and to make the identification of causal mechanism easier. I also identify three main actors in the process of state failure in Somalia: the Somali state, Somali society and the superpowers. In Chapter 2, so as to understand the incentives, preferences and constraints of each player in the state failure game, I in some depth analyse the evolution and structure of three central informal institutions: identity based patronage system of leadership, political tribalism, and the Cold War. These three institutions are considered as the rules of the game in the Somali state failure. Chapter 3 summarises the successive civilian governments’ achievements and failures (1960-69) concerning the main national goals, national unification and socio-economic development. Chapter 4 shows that the military regime, although it assumed power through extralegal means, served to some extent the developmental interest of the citizens in the first five years of its rule. Chapter 5 shows the process, and the factors involved, of the military regime’s self-transformation from being an agent for the developmental interests of the society to a predatory state that not only undermines the interests of the society but that also destroys the state itself. Chapter 6 addresses the process of disintegration of the post-colonial state of Somalia. The chapter shows how the regime’s merciless reactions to political ventures by power-seeking opposition leaders shattered the entire country and wrecked the state institutions. Chapter 7 concludes the study by summarising the main findings: due to the incentive structures generated by the informal institutions, the formal state institutions fell apart.

Structural aspects of semantic-directed clusters

Knowledge-based clusters are studied from the structural point of view. Generalized descriptions for such clusters are stated and illustrated. Peculiarities of certain knowledge-based cluster configurations are highlighted. The adequacy of the connectives logical and (“and”) logical or (“exclusive-or”) in describing such clusters is justified. The definition of “concept” is elaborated from the clustering point of view and used to establish the equivalence between, descriptions of clusters and concepts. The order-independence of semantic-directed clustering approach is established formally based on axiomatic considerations.

Becoming to Know: Essays on Extended Epistemology of Knowledge Creation

This qualitative, explorative study, which comprises four essays, focuses on knowledge management (KM). It seeks to answer the question: How can the knowledge creation theory of KM benefit from social learning theories? While studying the five development phases of knowledge creation theory of KM through 1995-2008 and applying some social learning theories in essays, the concepts of knowing, learning and becoming have emerged. Drawing on these three concepts and on becoming ontology and extended epistemology as research philosophies the study suggests the ‘becoming epistemology’ concept and develops the ‘becoming to know’ framework. The framework proposes becoming as phronesis of dialectic interactions between learning and knowing. It shows how becoming to know evolves as an interplay between concrete experience and logical thinking in the present and in a living context. The proposed framework could be considered a contribution to the current development phase of the knowledge creation theory of KM because it illustrates how ontological and epistemological knowledge spirals come together, which is the essence of the knowledge creation theory of KM.