Housing the skilled migrants in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area : International attractiveness of housing, neighbourhoods and the city region

The aim of this thesis is to examine the skilled migrants’ satisfaction with the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The examination is executed on three scales: housing, neighbourhoods and the city region. Specific focus is on the built environment and how it meets the needs of the migrants. The empirical data is formed of 25 semi-structured interviews with skilled migrants and additionally 5 expert interviews. Skilled and educated workforce is an increasingly important resource in the new economy, and cities are competing globally for talented workers. With aging population and a need to develop its innovational structure, the Helsinki Metropolitan Area needs migrant workforce. It has been stated that quality of place is a central factor for skilled migrants when choosing where to settle, and from this perspective their satisfaction with the region is significant. In housing, the skilled migrants found the price-quality ratio and the general sizes of apartments inadequate. The housing market is difficult for the migrants to approach, since they often do not speak Finnish and there are prejudices towards foreigners. The general quality of housing was rated well. On the neighbourhood level, the skilled migrants had settled in residential areas which are also preferred by the Finnish skilled workers. While the migrants showed suburban orientation in their settlement patterns, they were not concentrated in the suburban areas which host large shares of traditional immigrant groups. Migrants were usually satisfied with their neighbourhoods; however, part of the suburban dwellers were unsatisfied with the services and social life in their neighbourhoods. Considering the level of the city region, the most challenging feature for the skilled migrants was the social life. The migrants felt that the social environment is homogeneous and difficult to approach. The physical environment was generally rated well, the most appreciated features being public transportation, human scale of the Metropolitan Helsinki, cleanliness, and the urban nature. Urban culture and services were seen good for the city region’s size, but lacking in international comparison.

Waveform synthesis using Walsh functions International Journal of Electronics

A software and a microprocessor based hardware for waveform synthesis using Walsh functions are described. The software is based on Walsh function generation using Hadamard matrices and on the truncated Walsh series expansion for the waveform to be synthesized. The hardware employs six microprocessor controlled programmable Walsh function generators (PWFGs) for generating the first six non-vanishing terms of the truncated Walsh series. Improved approximation to a given waveform may be achieved by employing additional PWFGs.

Cretaceous-Tertiary diversification among select Scolopendrid centipedes of South India

Given that peninsular India was part of the Gondwanan super continent, part of its current biota has Gondwanan origin. To determine the Gondwanan component of the peninsular Indian biota, a large number of species spanning diverse taxonomic groups need to be sampled from multiple, if not all, of the former Gondwanan fragments. Such a large scale phylogenetic approach will be time consuming and resource intensive. Here, we explore the utility of a limited sampling approach, wherein sampling is confined to one of the Gondwanan fragments (peninsular India), in identifying putative Gondwanan elements. To this end, samples of Scolopendrid centipedes from Western Ghats region of peninsular India were subjected to molecular phylogenetic and dating analyses. The resulting phylogenetic tree supported monophyly of the family Scolopendridae which was in turn split into two clades constituting tribes Otostigmini and Scolopendrini-Asanadini. Bayesian divergence date estimates suggested that the earliest diversifications within various genera were between 86 and 73 mya, indicating that these genera might have Gondwanan origin. In particular, at least four genera of Scolopendrid centipedes, Scolopendra, Cormocephalus, Rhysida and Digitipes, might have undergone diversification on the drifting peninsular India during the Late Cretaceous. These putative Gondwanan taxa can be subjected to more extensive sampling to confirm their Gondwanan origin. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recombination Drives Genetic Diversification of Streptococcus dysgalactiae Subspecies equisimilis in a Region of Streptococcal Endemicity

Infection of the skin or throat by Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis (SDSE) may result in a number of human diseases. To understand mechanisms that give rise to new genetic variants in this species, we used multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) to characterise relationships in the SDSE population from India, a country where streptococcal disease is endemic. The study revealed Indian SDSE isolates have sequence types (STs) predominantly different to those reported from other regions of the world. Emm-ST combinations in India are also largely unique. Split decomposition analysis, the presence of emm-types in unrelated clonal complexes, and analysis of phylogenetic trees based on concatenated sequences all reveal an extensive history of recombination within the population. The ratio of recombination to mutation (r/m) events (11:1) and per site r/m ratio (41:1) in this population is twice as high as reported for SDSE from non-endemic regions. Recombination involving the emm-gene is also more frequent than recombination involving housekeeping genes, consistent with diversification of M proteins offering selective advantages to the pathogen. Our data demonstrate that genetic recombination in endemic regions is more frequent than non-endemic regions, and gives rise to novel local SDSE variants, some of which may have increased fitness or pathogenic potential.