Is hypoxia a stressor to American bullfrog tadpoles?

The aim of this study was to evaluate alterations to the physiological profile of cortisol in pro-metamorphose phase tadpoles of Lithobates catesbeianus exposed to hypoxia stressor in a capture experiment and in a crowding experiment. The capture study was performed by the treatments: stress due to individual capture with a hand net, stress due to batch capture with a hand net and stress due to capture by emptying. Three simultaneous replicates was done witch 12 animals were sampled (6 normoxia - immediately blood collection) and 6 hypoxia - blood collection after 15 min of air exposition) in two collection times with 5 days by intervals. The crowding study was performed by the treatments 1 tadpole L-1, 5 tadpoles L-1 and 10 tadpoles L-1. Three simultaneous replicates was done witch 8 animals (4 normoxia and 4 hypoxia) were sampled in the zero moment (ZM) - blood collection before the experiment, 6 animals/treatment (3 normoxia and 3 hypoxia) to 4 and 8 days and 18 animals/treatment (9 normoxia and 9 hypoxia) to 12 days. The average values to plasmatic cortisol varying from 1.7 to 5.1ng mL-1 (capture study) and 1.0 to 4.2ng mL-1 (crowding study). It concludes that the biomarker tested (cortisol) showed no alterations front of the stressor used. Alternatively, a larger response pattern to these stimuli may have been expressed in another level of an unmeasured hormone (corticosterone). And the bullfrog has great ability to adapt to different management compared to other aquatic organisms, which demonstrates the plasticity of these animals.

The adjustment from Russia to Finland for corporate repatriates: How the repatriation experience influences readjustment in the workplace

To manage foreign operations, companies must often send their employees on international assignments. Repatriating these expatriates can be difficult because they have been forgotten during their posting, and their new experiences are not utilised. In addition to the possible difficulties in organisational repatriation, the returnee can suffer from readjustment problems after a lengthy stay abroad has changed their habits and even identity. This thesis examines the repatriation experience of Finnish assignees returning from Russia. The purpose of the study is to understand how the repatriation experience influences their readjustment to work in Finland. This experience is influenced by many factors including personal and situational changes, the repatriation process, job and organisational factors, and individual’s motives. The theoretical background of the study is founded on two models of repatriation adjustment. A refined, holistic theoretical framework for the study is created. It describes the formation of the repatriation experience and its importance for readjustment to work and retention. The qualitative research approach is suitable for the thesis which examines the returnees’ personal experiences and feelings: a qualitative case study aims to explain the phenomenon in-depth and comprehensively. The data was collected in summer 2013 through semi-standardised interviews with eight Finnish repatriates. They had returned from Russia within the last two years. The data was analysed by structuring the interview transcripts using template analysis. The results supported earlier literature and suggest that the re-entry remains a challenging phase for both the individual and the company. For some, adjusting to a new job was difficult for various reasons. The repatriates underwent personal change and development and felt it was for the better. Many repatriates criticised the company’s repatriation process upon return. Finding a suitable return job was not clear. Instead, the returnees had to be active in finding a new position. Many assignees had only modest career-related motives regarding the assignment and they had realistic expectations about the return. Therefore they were not extremely surprised or dissatisfied when they were not actively offered positions or support by the company. The significance of motives stood out even more than the theory predicted. As predicted, they are linked to the expectations of employees. Moreover, if the employees are motivated to remain in the company, they can tolerate partly a negative repatriation experience. Despite the complexity of the return and readjustment, the assignment as a whole was seen as a rewarding experience by all participants.

Pelätty, vihattu vai rakastettu tietotekniikka elinikäisessä työ- ja oppimisympäristössä. Tietotekniikan merkitys työn ja työympäristön hallinnassa

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää niitä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat työn ja työympäristön hallintaan tietoteknisessä työssä: työn hallinta, työn nopeampi tekeminen, työn sisältö, työn tulokset ja vaikutusmahdollisuudet. Näitä tekijöitä tutkittiin suhteessa työntekijän tietoteknisiin taitoihin ja työntekijän ikään. Tutkimuksen viitekehyksenä ovat maailmanlaajuisesti tapahtuneet ja edelleen tapahtuvat muutokset työelämässä sekä tietoyhteiskunnan kehittyminen. Aikaisemmat tutkimukset nostavat esiin yleisiä kehityslinjoja, mutta myös ristiriitaisia tuloksia. Siksi tässä tutkimuksessa nämä kysymykset purettiin hyvin konkreettisiksi, työyhteisössä havaituiksi osakysymyksiksi ja suhteutettiin vastaajia koskeviin taustatietoihin. Tutkimus kohdistui eri ikäisiin työntekijöihin, joista osa on kokenut tietotekniikan tulon työelämään ja sen käytön lisääntymisen useamman viime vuosikymmenen aikana. Tänä aikana yhteiskunnassa on tapahtunut yleisemminkin merkittävää kehitystä, joka on nostanut esille laajemminkin tarpeet tietoteknisen osaamisen ja taitojen kehittymiseen ja elinikäiseen oppimiseen. Tämä tutkimus ajoittuu noihin vuosikymmeniin ja vaikka se kohdistuukin yhden organisaation sisällä koettuihin vaikutuksiin, niin on selvää, että yleisempikin yhteiskunnallinen kehitys heijastuu tuloksiin. Tämä tutkimus on tehty kvantitatiivisella tutkimusotteella. Tutkimusaineisto on kerätty sähköisellä lomakkeella. Tämän tutkimuksen mukaan tietoteknisiltä taidoiltaan hyvät kokivat hallitsevansa työnsä ja työympäristönsä paremmin kuin tietoteknisiltä taidoiltaan heikot. He kokivat myös tietotekniikan helpottaneen työtä, mahdollisuudet itsensä kehittämiseen lisääntyneen ja työn itsenäisyyden lisääntyneen. Tietoteknisiltä taidoiltaan heikot puolestaan kokivat työn ja työnympäristön hallinnan vähentyneen, työn vaativuuden lisääntyneen, työn tauotuksen vähentyneen, sosiaalisen ympäristön heikentyneen, työn henkisen rasittavuuden lisääntyneen, oman ammattialan arvostuksen vähentyneen ja työhön liittyvien vaikutusmahdollisuuksien vähentyneen. Tulosten perusteella kaikki työntekijät kokivat työn tulosten parantuneen tietotekniikan avulla, mutta toisaalta kokivat työn sisällön köyhtyneen tietotekniikan vuoksi – varsinkin iäkkäät työntekijät kokivat näin. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin myös työn ja työympäristön hallintaa tukevia ja uhkaavia tekijöitä. Tämän tutkimuksen mukaan pelot tietotekniikkaa kohtaan ja puutteellinen tuki tietoteknisissä ongelmissa uhkaavat työn ja työympäristön hallintaa.

In search of information systems value : a case study of the EHR benefits realisation efforts of three Swedish hospitals.

The Swedish public health care organisation could very well be undergoing its most significant change since its specialisation during the late 19th and early 20th century. At the heart of this change is a move from using manual patient journals to electronic health records (EHR). EHR are complex integrated organisational wide information systems (IS) that promise great benefits and value as well as presenting great challenges to the organisation. The Swedish public health care is not the first organisation to implement integrated IS, and by no means alone in their quest for realising the potential benefits and value that it has to offer. As organisations invest in IS they embark on a journey of value-creation and capture. A journey where a costbased approach towards their IS-investments is replaced with a value-centric focus, and where the main challenges lie in the practical day-to-day task of finding ways to intertwine technology, people and business processes. This has however proven to be a problematic task. The problematic situation arises from a shift of perspective regarding how to manage IS in order to gain value. This is a shift from technology delivery to benefits delivery; from an ISimplementation plan to a change management plan. The shift gives rise to challenges related to the inability of IS and the elusiveness of value. As a response to these challenges the field of IS-benefits management has emerged offering a framework and a process in order to better understand and formalise benefits realisation activities. In this thesis the benefits realisation efforts of three Swedish hospitals within the same county council are studied. The thesis focuses on the participants of benefits analysis projects; their perceptions, judgments, negotiations and descriptions of potential benefits. The purpose is to address the process where organisations seek to identify which potential IS-benefits to pursue and realise, this in order to better understand what affects the process, so that realisation actions of potential IS-benefits could be supported. A qualitative case study research design is adopted and provides a framework for sample selection, data collection, and data analysis. It also provides a framework for discussions of validity, reliability and generalizability. Findings displayed a benefits fluctuation, which showed that participants’ perception of what constituted potential benefits and value changed throughout the formal benefits management process. Issues like structure, knowledge, expectation and experience affected perception differently, and this in the end changed the amount and composition of potential benefits and value. Five dimensions of benefits judgment were identified and used by participants when finding accommodations of potential benefits and value to pursue. Identified dimensions affected participants’ perceptions, which in turn affected the amount and composition of potential benefits. During the formal benefits management process participants shifted between judgment dimensions. These movements emerged through debates and interactions between participants. Judgments based on what was perceived as expected due to one’s role and perceived best for the organisation as a whole were the two dominant benefits judgment dimensions. A benefits negotiation was identified. Negotiations were divided into two main categories, rational and irrational, depending on participants’ drive when initiating and participating in negotiations. In each category three different types of negotiations were identified having different characteristics and generating different outcomes. There was also a benefits negotiation process identified that displayed management challenges corresponding to its five phases. A discrepancy was also found between how IS-benefits are spoken of and how actions of IS benefits realisation are understood. This was a discrepancy between an evaluation and a realisation focus towards IS value creation. An evaluation focus described IS-benefits as well-defined and measurable effects and a realisation focus spoke of establishing and managing an on-going place of value creation. The notion of valuescape was introduced in order to describe and support the understanding of IS value creation. Valuescape corresponded to a realisation focus and outlined a value configuration consisting of activities, logic, structure, drivers and role of IS.

Two-phase flow measurements with spacer grid in a rod bundle geometry

Heat transfer effectiveness in nuclear rod bundles is of great importance to nuclear reactor safety and economics. An important design parameter is the Critical Heat Flux (CHF), which limits the transferred heat from the fuel to the coolant. The CHF is determined by flow behaviour, especially the turbulence created inside the fuel rod bundle. Adiabatic experiments can be used to characterize the flow behaviour separately from the heat transfer phenomena in diabatic flow. To enhance the turbulence, mixing vanes are attached to spacer grids, which hold the rods in place. The vanes either make the flow swirl around a single sub-channel or induce cross-mixing between adjacent sub-channels. In adiabatic two-phase conditions an important phenomenon that can be investigated is the effect of the spacer on canceling the lift force, which collects the small bubbles to the rod surfaces leading to decreased CHF in diabatic conditions and thus limits the reactor power. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be used to simulate the flow numerically and to test how different spacer configurations affect the flow. Experimental data is needed to validate and verify the used CFD models. Especially the modeling of turbulence is challenging even for single-phase flow inside the complex sub-channel geometry. In two-phase flow other factors such as bubble dynamics further complicate the modeling. To investigate the spacer grid effect on two-phase flow, and to provide further experimental data for CFD validation, a series of experiments was run on an adiabatic sub-channel flow loop using a duct-type spacer grid with different configurations. Utilizing the wire-mesh sensor technology, the facility gives high resolution experimental data in both time and space. The experimental results indicate that the duct-type spacer grid is less effective in canceling the lift force effect than the egg-crate type spacer tested earlier.

Characteristic Approach to Predicting Analysts’ Forecast Errors in the Finnish Market

Extensive literature shows that analysts’ forecasts and recommendations are often biased. Thus, it is important for the financial market to be able to recognize this bias to be able to correctly valuate public companies. This thesis uses characteristic approach, which was introduced by So (2013, pp. 615-640), to forecast analysts’ forecast errors and tests if predictable forecast error is fully incorporated into share prices. Data is collected of listed Finnish companies. Thesis’ timeframe spans over ten years from 2004 to 2013 consisting of 788 firm-years. Although there is earlier evidence that the characteristic approach is able to predict analysts’ forecast errors, no support for this is found in the Finnish market. This thesis contributes to the current knowledge by showing that the characteristic approach does not work universally as such but requires development to work especially in the smaller markets.

Naisjohtajat – miksi heitä ei ole ja mitä siitä? - miesjohtajien ja ei-johtavassa asemassa olevien naisten näkemyksiä case-yritys x:ssä

Joidenkin tutkimusten mukaan naisten vähäinen määrä johdossa voi olla uhka organisaatiolle. Lasikattoilmiöllä tarkoitetaan naisten urakehityksen katkeamista tietylle tasolle ylimmän johdon alapuolelle ikään kuin naisten ja tuon ylimmän tason välissä olisi lasinen, näkymätön katto, sukupuolistereotypioiden muodostama este. Yksi yleinen lasikaton selitysten kolmijako on henkilökohtaiset, organisatoriset ja yhteiskunnalliset tekijät. (Lämsä & Hautala 2004, 252). Hoyt (2007, 270-278) tekee kolmijaon seuraavasti: inhimillinen pääoma, sukupuolierot ja ennakkoluulot. Yritys X:n keskijohdossa työskentelee yksi nainen, ylimmässä johdossa ei yhtäkään. Tutkimuksessa halu-taan selvittää miesjohtajien ja ei-johtavassa asemassa olevien naisten käsitystä siitä, onko yritys x:ssä lasi-kattoa, miksi naisjohtajia on niin vähän ja "mitä siitä" ts. onko mitään ongelmaa olemassakaan. Tässä tutkimuksessa pohditaan diskurssianalyysin keinoin, miten yritys X:ssä puhutaan naisjohtajuusaiheesta, millai-seksi sukupuolen merkitys työelämässä määritellään ja mitä ajatellaan naisten kykenevyydestä johtajiksi. Naturalisoiva diskurssi oli vahva niin miesjohtajien ja ei-johtavassa asemassa olevien naisten puheessa. Sen lisäksi hahmotellaan familistista, empiiristä, humanistista ja historiallista diskurssia naisjohtajuuspuheesta. Diskurssien yhteenkietominen hegemonisoimisstrategiana kuvaa tapaa, jolla palasia muista diskursseista käytetään tukemaan tiettyä toista diskurssia (Jokinen et al. 1993c, 95) Miesjohtajien puheessa naisten keskeiset, ominaisuudet - liiallinen tarkkuus ja huolellisuus yhdistettynä epävarmuuteen - ovat ongelmallisia johtajanuran kannalta. Jos näistä johtajuuden kannalta negatiivisista ominaisuuksista ei jostain syystä kuitenkaan muodostuisi uralla etenemisen estettä, äitiys ja perheellisyys "luonnollisesti" tekee tämän. Aiheet myös kietoutuvat yhteen: äitiys ja vastuu perheestä lisäävät naisten huolellisuutta, tarkkuutta ja epävarmuutta entisestään. Lisäksi äitiyslomat ja työhön käytettävissä oleva aika ja puut-tuva halu käyttää elämästä iso osa uranluomiseen ovat johtajaksi etenemisen esteitä. Miesjohtajien mukaan tämä on jossain määrin ongelma, kun heterogeenisyyttä johtamiseen kuitenkin tarvittaisiin, mutta loppujen lopuksi kuitenkin melko epäkiinnostava ja pieni ongelma; ongelma ei miesten mielestä johdu miesten tai yhteiskunnallisista asenteista, vaan naisista itsestään ja he tarvitsevat uralla edetäkseen tukea, rohkaisua ja henkilöstöpankkeja, joita miesjohtajat voivat tuottaa. Johtaminen ylipäänsä ei ole miesjohtajien mielestä hirveän kiinnostavaa. Jos naiset (kaikesta edellä sanotusta huolimatta) etenevät yritysten johtoon, eivät he tule siellä toimeen keskenään. Kaiken kaikkiaan koko naisjohtajuusaihe ei ole kovin kiinnostava ja naisjohtajuuden vähäisyyden (mahdollisen) ongelman ratkaisee aika uuden, tasa-arvoisemman sukupolven myötä. Naishaastateltujen näkökulmasta sen sijaan naisilla on pyrkyä johtotehtäviin - joskaan ei samassa määrin kuin miehillä. Naishaastateltujen mukaan miehet suosivat toisiaan työelämässä ja naiset kohtaavat asenteita, joita vastaan joutuvat taistelemaan ja tästä syystä johtajien joukossa on niin vähän naisia. Historialliset tekijät pitävät asenteita yllä. Perheellisyys on naisille suurempi uraeste kuin miehille, "luonnollisesti". Naishaastateltujen mielestä naisten vähäisyys johdossa on merkittävä ongelma, koska naisilla on erityislaatuisia ominaisuuksia, joista olisi hyötyä tehtävässä. Naishaastateltujen puheessa miesten ominaisuuksia vastaavasti vähäteltiin. Naisjohtajien vähäisyyden ongelmalle ei naishaastateltujen mielestä kuitenkaan ole tehtävissä paljonkaan: miesten ja yhteiskunnan asenteiden pitäisi muuttua, mutta keinoja tähän ei esitetä, sen sijaan naisten itsensä pitäisi vain "yrittää vielä kovemmin".

Implementing Green IT approach for transferring Big Data over Parallel Data Link

The whole research of the current Master Thesis project is related to Big Data transfer over Parallel Data Link and my main objective is to assist the Saint-Petersburg National Research University ITMO research team to accomplish this project and apply Green IT methods for the data transfer system. The goal of the team is to transfer Big Data by using parallel data links with SDN Openflow approach. My task as a team member was to compare existing data transfer applications in case to verify which results the highest data transfer speed in which occasions and explain the reasons. In the context of this thesis work a comparison between 5 different utilities was done, which including Fast Data Transfer (FDT), BBCP, BBFTP, GridFTP, and FTS3. A number of scripts where developed which consist of creating random binary data to be incompressible to have fair comparison between utilities, execute the Utilities with specified parameters, create log files, results, system parameters, and plot graphs to compare the results. Transferring such an enormous variety of data can take a long time, and hence, the necessity appears to reduce the energy consumption to make them greener. In the context of Green IT approach, our team used Cloud Computing infrastructure called OpenStack. It’s more efficient to allocated specific amount of hardware resources to test different scenarios rather than using the whole resources from our testbed. Testing our implementation with OpenStack infrastructure results that the virtual channel does not consist of any traffic and we can achieve the highest possible throughput. After receiving the final results we are in place to identify which utilities produce faster data transfer in different scenarios with specific TCP parameters and we can use them in real network data links.

Att lindra ett lidande : en kvalitativ studie om lindrande av den mobbade elevens lidande

The study's aim is to achieve knowledge of how to relieve the suffering of the bullied student. The methodology in this study is hermeneutics. The theoretical perspective is the caritative theory. The questions in the study are: 1) What does it mean to relieve a suffering? 2) What can caregivers do to relieve the suffering of the young bullied pupil? 3) How do the caregivers experience their role in relieving the suffering? The review of previous research shows that bullying is a phenomenon that causes great harm to the health of young people. There are varying developed strategies to deal with bullying in the schools. Only one article studied the counsellor role in fighting bullying. There is a need to examine how a suffering can be relieved, how the caregiver experience handling bullying, and how caregivers can be involved in relieving the suffering the bullied youngster is going through. The empirical part of the study was conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews with counsellors who work with high school students. The study was conducted in close collaboration with the project "Analys av ungdomsenkäten" conducted by the youth researchers at Åbo Akademi and the Swedish Ostrobothnia Youth foundation (SOU). The collected material was analyzed according to Elo and Kyngäs (2007) guidelines for inductive content analysis. The result shows that caregivers play an important role in relieving a suffering. Counsellors emphasize the importance of a mutual relationship in order to relieve the victims suffering. Lack of time was the main culprit. The core of alleviating a suffering can be compared with those factors the informants take into account in the caring encounter with the bullied pupil.

β-carotene biotransformation to obtain aroma compounds

Carotenoids are important constituents of food due to their color and because their degradation products generate important volatile compounds in foods. Aroma compounds derived from carotenoids are widely distributed in nature, and they are precursors of many important aromas in foods such as fruits and in flowers as well. They present high aromatic potential and are therefore of great interest to the industries of aromas and fragrances. In this study, more than 300 previously isolated microorganisms with potential for biotransformation of β-carotene present in the culture medium were selected using the plate method; about 80 strains presented capacity to produce aroma compounds and 7 strains were selected by an untrained panel of tasters to generate aroma compounds. The β-ionone was the main compound produced by CS1 (34.0 mg.L-1) and CF9 (42.4 mg.L-1) microorganisms at 72 and 24 hours of fermentation, cultured with and without pre-inoculation, respectively. The β-damascone and pseudoionone were found in low concentrations, 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalen (TTN) was tentatively identified and other compounds such as apocarotenoids, apparently obtained from the cleavage of the central part of the carotenoid, were detected.

Chemical quality parameters and bioactive compound content of brazilian berries

There is a growing consumer demand for higher healthy foods such as berries which are a rich source of phenolic compounds. The current work evaluated blackberry cultivars: Cherokee, Tupy and Xavante; raspberry cultivars: Heritage, Fallgold and Black; and the hybrid Boysenberry. All berries were grown under homogenous subtropical conditions in Brazil. Black raspberry, Cherokee and Tupy blackberry cultivars showed the highest ratio between soluble solid contents and titratable acidity, and Fallgold and Heritage raspberry showed the highest titratable acidity. Total phenolic content ranged from 2.03 to 5.33 g kg–1 fresh weight and total anthocyanin content registered values from 0.41 to 1.81 g kg–1 fresh weight. The most common phenolic acids were gallic, p-coumaric and ellagic, and for anthocyanins: cyanidin-3-glucoside and malvinidin-3-glucoside. Antioxidant capacity ranged from 14.13 to 21.51 mol equivalent trolox kg–1 fresh weight. Black raspberry, all blackberry cultivars and the Boysenberry hybrid are appropriate to be consumed fresh, while Fallgold and Heritage raspberries are recommended to the food industry. Due to their phenolic richness and antioxidant properties, these fruits are of great interest to the fresh fruit market and to pharmaceutical industries. These results could help breeders and growers when planning the cultivar selection according to their foreseeable destination.

Innovation Ecosystem Perspectives on Financial Services Innovation

The context of financial services has been characterised by changes in the regulatory, technological and societal landscape. Consumers are increasingly interested in mobile payments, crowdfunding and microfinance services, either for themselves or because collaborative consumption is viewed as a more sustainable. Retail branches are re-organised to further meet the expectations of customers, start-ups focusing on technology for financial services (i.e. Fintech) are ever growing and financial services companies reinforce their own innovation practices (e.g. creation of innovation labs or venture capital investment funds). The innovation ecosystem around financial services companies represents the many actors with whom they can co-create and co-produce innovative new services for their customers (or for themselves). The innovation process is no longer a closed internal effort but needs to include external actors from the innovation ecosystem. This topic is especially interesting in a small and open economy where the financial centre takes a prominent place in the economy. The research question is therefore “How does the innovation ecosystem influence the innovation process within financial services companies?”. The influence of the innovation ecosystem on the innovation process within financial service companies mainly comes from its social capital and value creation efforts. However learning to work and exchange in an innovation ecosystem is also expected to influence the innovation process in place. Realizing the potential of the innovation ecosystem requires sufficient capabilities to manage new information coming from the innovation ecosystem. The professional associations provide the necessary coordination among actors in the innovation ecosystem to co-create and appropriate value, while fostering co-evolution within the innovation ecosystem.

Man måste tänka själv : klasslärares uppfattningar av undervisning i de naturvetenskapliga läroämnena

A teacher´s perception of a school subject affects a teacher´s teaching and by extension pupils´ learning. The main purpose of this thesis is to describe the variation in the ways class-teachers perceive teaching within science subjects and to illustrate how these teachers choose to work and why they choose as they do. This purpose is operationalized into three central research questions concerning a teacher´s perception of teaching, teachers´ experiences of working methods in the subject and different aspects that are consciously present when the teacher makes his or her choice of working methods. These aspects are viewed from two different perspectives: a subject educational perspective and a teacher perspective. The theoretical background of the study is interdisciplinary. The thesis is a qualitative study where the research approach is phenomenographic. The empirical investigation was made as two separate studies: a semistructured interview study (N = 15) followed by a stimulated recall study (N = 3), a combined interview and video-observation. Results from the empirical investigation indicate that regarding aims for science education teachers wish to awaken or maintain the pupils´ interest in nature and science and that the pupils within the science subjects shall build a base for fundamental general knowledge. As motives for teaching the science subjects teachers view the subjects as a foundation for everyday life, planning and democracy but also for pupils´ further studies and a possible career in the field. The interdisciplinary key competences and the care for the pupils´ well being are aspects that are consciously present when teachers make their choice of working methods. A great variation can be found in the teachers´ perceptions of the science subjects as subjects and of the working methods within these subjects. Teachers describe lack of time on their own part as well as for the pupil´s learning. Results from the empirical investigation also indicate that teachers modestly focus on aims for the teaching and communication regarding these aims. There seems to be an existing need for increased and qualitatively improved inservice education within these subjects.

Epstein-Barr-viruksen antigeeniosoitustestin kehittäminen

Epstein-Barr-virus (EBV) aiheuttaa mononukleoosia eli pusutautia, joka ilmenee yleensä murrosiällä tai nuorella aikuisiällä. Mononukleoosissa on tyypilliset nielutulehduksen oireet, minkä takia sitä on vaikea erottaa muiden taudinaiheuttajien aiheuttamista nielutulehduksista. Erotusdiagnostiikan käyttö nielutulehduksessa on oleellista, koska vain Streptokokki-bakteerien aiheuttamat nielutulehdukset vaativat antibioottihoitoa. Akuutin EBV-infektion pikadiagnostiikka perustuu nykyisellään infektion seurauksena muodostuvien heterofiilisten vasta-aineiden mittaamiseen verestä. Niiden mittaamisessa on useita ongelmia, koska useilla lapsilla niitä ei muodostu lainkaan ja vanhemmillakin niitä muodostuu yleensä vasta viikon päästä mononukleoosin oireiden alkamisesta. Mittaamalla EBV:n antigeeneja saataisiin positiivinen testitulos vasta-ainetestiä nopeammin. EBV:lle ei ole kuitenkaan kehitetty antigeeniosoitustestiä todennäköisesti siksi, että EBV:n erittymisen terveiden viruksen kantajien limakalvoille uskotaan olevan ongelma antigeenitestauksessa. Diplomityön tavoitteena oli kehittää akuutin EBV-infektion pikadiagnostiikkaan soveltuva limakalvonäytteestä tehtävä immunometrinen antigeeniosoitustesti. Työssä kehitettiin uusia polyklonaalisia vasta-aineita sekä testattiin kaupallisia vasta-aineita. Vasta-aineiden toimintaa tutkittiin immunomäärityksissä kokonaista EBV:ta ja puhdistettuja proteiiniantigeeneja vastaan. Monoklonaalisten vasta-aineiden kehitys lopetettiin ennen varsinaista tuottoa, koska ensin kehitetyt polyklonaaliset vasta-aineet eivät tunnistaneet natiivia virusta vaan pelkästään immunisointeihin käytetyt rekombinanttiset kohdeproteiinit. Kaupallisista vasta-aineista yhdellä onnistuttiin kehittämään tiettävästi maailman ensimmäinen immunometrinen EBV-antigeeniosoitustesti, jossa saatiin tunnistus sekä natiivilla EBV:lla että puhdistetulla proteiiniantigeenilla. Testin herkkyys proteiiniantigeenilla oli hyvä (4 pM) ja puhdistetulla EBV-virusvalmisteellakin todennäköisesti riittävä (6,2×106 viruspartikkelia/ml) kliiniseen diagnostiikkaan. Testillä ei kuitenkaan saatu suppeasta mononukleoosipotilaiden nielunäyteaineistosta yhtään EBV-positiivista tulosta. Referenssiksi tilatut PCR-testit osoittivat näytteiden EBV-pitoisuuksien olevan liian alhaisia osoitettavaksi kehitetyllä EBV-antigeeniosoitustestillä. PCR-testauksessa mononukleoosipotilaiden nielunäytteistä osoitettujen alhaisten EBV-määrien perusteella spekuloitiin, että olisiko edustavin näytteenottopaikka akuutissa EBV-infektiossa sittenkin nielun sijaan nenänielu. Myös kirjallisuudesta löytyi tälle tukea. EBV-antigeeniosoitustestin osoitettiin toimivan hyvin standardinäyte-materiaalilla. Testikehitysprojektin jatkon kannalta oleellista on kuitenkin vielä selvittää laajemmalla kliinisellä näyteaineistolla, mistä EBV:n antigeeneja pitäisi osoittaa akuutissa EBV-infektiossa ja ovatko niiden pitoisuudet riittävän korkeita.

Energy efficiency of glassmaking production

Master’s thesis Energy efficiency of glassmaking production gives description of glassmaking production and possible energy saving measures. Due to the high electricity and fuel prices the problem of rational energy utilization rises sharply. In addition the environmental issues also require a great attention. This work represented the feasible increasing of the furnace efficiency as the most productive activity. Thesis also provides a detail description of utilizing waste heat boiler. Also possible boiler characteristics are calculated and represented at the end of the thesis. As well as brief description of the feasibility of using this method of energy saving. The solution of this problem has a huge importance. Due to the increasing of energy costs and limits of raw materials, glassmaking industry should overcome on high efficiency operation mode. Especially, if such measures is making a significant contribution in the safety of environment.