Congenital upper limb defects in Finland 1993-2005

Background: Interest in limb defects has grown after the thalidomide tragedy in the 1960s. As a result, congenital malformation registries, monitoring changes in birthprevalence and defect patterns, have been established in several countries. However, there are only a few true population based studies on birth prevalence of upper limb defects. The burden of hospital care among these children, specifically in terms of the number of admissions and total time spent in hospital, is also unknown. Aims and Methods: This study is based on information gathered from the Finnish Register of Congenital malformations (FRM) and the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register (FHDR). A total of 417 children born between 1993 and 2005 with an upper limb defect were gathered from the FRM. The upper limb defects were classified using the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand -classification that enables comparison with previous and future studies. Birth and live birth prevalence, sex and side distribution, frequency of associated anomalies as well as the proportion of perinatal and infant deaths according to the different subtypes were calculated. The number of hospital admissions, days spent in hospital, number and type of surgical operations were collected from the FHDR. Special features of two subgroups, radial ray defects (RRD) and constriction band syndrome (CBS), were explored. Results: Upper limb defects were observed in 417 of 753 342 consecutive births and in 392 of 750 461 live births. Birth prevalence was 5.5 per 10 000 births and 5.2 per 10 000 live births. Multiple anomalies or a known syndrome was found in 250 cases (60%). Perinatal mortality was 139 per 1000 births and infant mortality 135 per 1000 live births (overall Finnish perinatal mortality <5 per 1000 births and infant mortality 3.7 per 1000 live births). Altogether, 138 infants had RRD and 120 (87%) of these had either a known syndrome or multiple major anomalies. The proportion of perinatal deaths in RRD group was 29% (40/138) and infant deaths 35% (43/123). Fifty-one children had CBS in upper limbs. Fifteen of these (29%) had other major anomalies associated with constriction rings. The number of hospital admissions per year of children with congenital upper limb defects was 11-fold and the time spent in hospital 13-fold as compared with the general paediatric population. Conclusions: Birth prevalence of congenital upper limb defects was 5.5 per 10 000 births and 5.2 per 10 000 live births. RRD was especially associated with other major anomalies and high mortality. Nearly one third of the children with CBS also had other major anomalies suggesting different aetiologies inside the group. The annual burden of hospital care of children with congenital upper limb defects was at least 11-fold as compared with the general paediatric population.

SDN in an ISP Environment

As computer networks grow larger and more complex there is a need for a new, simpler kind of approach to configuring them. Software Defined Networking (SDN) takes the control plane away from individual nodes and centralizes the network control by utilizing a flow based traffic management. In this thesis the suitability of SDN in a small ISP (Internet Service Provider) network is considered for an alternative to the current traditional core network and access network OSSs (Operations Support System), mainly to simplify the network management but also to see what else would SDN offer for such an environment. Combining information learned from a theoretical study on the matter to a more practical experiment of SDN network simulation using Mininet simulation software and OpenDayLight SDN controller software does this. Although the simulation shows that SDN is able to provide the functionality needed for the network, the immaturity of the technology suggests that for a small ISP network there is no need to utilize SDN just yet. For when SDN becomes more commonplace a brief transition plan is introduced.

Early Life Intestinal Microbiota in Health and in Atopic Eczema

Decrease in microbial contacts in affluent societies is considered to lie behind the rise in allergic and other chronic inflammatory diseases during the last decades. Indeed, deviations in the intestinal microbiota composition and diversity have been associated with several diseases, such as atopic eczema. However, there is no consensus yet on what would constitute a beneficial or harmful microbiota. The aim of this thesis was to study the microbiota development in healthy infants and to characterize intestinal microbiota signatures associated with disease status and severity in infants with atopic eczema. The methodological aim was to compare and optimize methods for DNA extraction from fecal samples to be used in high-throughput microbiota analyses. It was confirmed that the most critical step in successful microbial DNA extraction from fecal samples is the mechanical cell lysis procedure. Based on this finding, an efficient semi-automated extraction process was developed that can be scaled for use in high-throughput platforms such as phylogenetic microarray used in this series of studies. By analyzing a longitudinal motherchild cohort for 3 years it was observed that the microbiota development is a gradual process, where some bacterial groups reach the degree of adult-type pattern earlier than others. During the breast-feeding period, the microbiota appeared to be relatively simple, while major diversification was found to start during the weaning process. By the age of 3 years, the child’s microbiota composition started to resemble that of an adult, but the bacterial diversity has still not reached the full diversity, indicating that the microbiota maturation extends beyond this age. In addition, at three years of age, the child’s microbiota was more similar to mother’s microbiota than to microbiota of nonrelated women.In infants with atopic eczema, a high total microbiota diversity and abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria was found to correlate with mild symptoms at 6 months. At 18 months, infants with mild eczema had significantly higher microbiota diversity and aberrant microbiota composition when compared to healthy controls at the same age. In conclusion, the comprehensive phylogenetic microarray analysis of early life microbiota shows the synergetic effect of vertical transmission and shared environment on the intestinal microbiota development. By the age of three years, the compositional development of intestinal microbiota is close to adult level, but the microbiota diversification continues beyond this age. In addition, specific microbiota signatures are associated with the existence and severity of atopic eczema and intestinal microbiota seems to have a role in alleviating the symptoms of this disease.

Development of project cash flow forecasting process

Process management refers to improving the key functions of a company. The main functions of the case company - project management, procurement, finance, and human resource - use their own separate systems. The case company is in the process of changing its software. Different functions will use the same system in the future. This software change causes changes in some of the company’s processes. Project cash flow forecasting process is one of the changing processes. Cash flow forecasting ensures the sufficiency of money and prepares for possible changes in the future. This will help to ensure the company’s viability. The purpose of the research is to describe a new project cash flow forecasting process. In addition, the aim is to analyze the impacts of the process change, with regard to the project control department’s workload and resources through the process measurement, and how the impacts take the department’s future operations into account. The research is based on process management. Processes, their descriptions, and the way the process management uses the information, are discussed in the theory part of this research. The theory part is based on literature and articles. Project cash flow and forecasting-related benefits are also discussed. After this, the project cash flow forecasting as-is and to-be processes are described by utilizing information, obtained from the theoretical part, as well as the know-how of the project control department’s personnel. Written descriptions and cross-functional flowcharts are used for descriptions. Process measurement is based on interviews with the personnel – mainly cost controllers and department managers. The process change and the integration of two processes will allow work time for other things, for example, analysis of costs. In addition to the quality of the cash flow information will improve compared to the as-is process. Analyzing the department’s other main processes, department’s roles, and their responsibilities should be checked and redesigned. This way, there will be an opportunity to achieve the best possible efficiency and cost savings.

Thoughts on work-in-progress crowdsourcing metrics of digital collections

The presentation consists of work-in-progress metrics of #digitalkoot, the crowdsourcing project launched by National Library of Finland

Requisites for a successful implementation of an automated inventory replenishment system

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää automaattisten tilausjärjestelmien onnistuneen käyttöönottoon taustalla vaikuttavia tekijöitä vähittäiskaupan toimialalla ja etsiä ratkaisua kyseisten järjestelmien onnistuneeseen käyttöönottoon tässä ympäristössä. Tutkimus analysoi yli sadan kaupan järjestelmän käyttöönottoa ja käyttöönoton tuloksia. Tutkimusta varten haastateltiin niin yhtiön sisältä kuin ulkopuoleltakin mukana olleita hankintajärjestelmän ja jalkautuksen asiantuntijoita. Tämän lisäksi järjestelmän käyttöönottaneisiin kauppoihin lähetettiin kyselyt, joita analysoitiin ryhmissä automaattisen tilausjärjestelmän tietojen pohjalta. Työn tuloksena pystyttiin tunnistamaan tietty joukko taustatekijöitä, jotka tulee ottaa käyttöönotossa huomioon sekä saatuihin tutkimustuloksiin perustuen kehitettiin malli vastaavanlaisten järjestelmien käyttöönotolle vähittäiskaupan alalle.

Finnish perceptions on management accounting systems: towards an upgraded sophistication model

This study is based on a large survey study of over 1500 Finnish companies’ usage, needs and implementation difficulties of management accounting systems. The study uses quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods to answer the research questions. The empirical data used in the study was gathered through structured interviews with randomly selected companies of varying sizes and industries. The study answers the three research questions by analyzing the characteristics and behaviors of companies working in Finland. The study found five distinctive groups of companies according to the characteristics of their cost information and management accounting system use. The study also showed that the state of cost information and management accounting systems depends on the industry and size of the companies. It was found that over 50% of the companies either did not know how their systems could be updated or saw systems as inadequate. The qualitative side also highlighted the needs for tailored and integrated management accounting systems for creating more value to the managers of companies. The major inhibitors of new system implementation were the lack of both monetary and human resources. Through the use of mixed methods and design science a new and improved sophistication model is created based on previous research results combined with the information gathered from previous literature. The sophistication model shows the different stages of management accounting systems in use and what companies can achieve with the implementation and upgrading of their systems.

VAP-1 as drug target in inflammation : structural features determining ligand interactions

Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1), which belongs to the copper amine oxidases (CAOs), is a validated drug target in inflammatory diseases. Inhibition of VAP-1 blocks the leukocyte trafficking to sites of inflammation and alleviates inflammatory reactions. In this study, a novel set of potent pyridazinone inhibitors is presented together with their X-ray structure complexes with VAP-1. The crystal structure of serum VAP-1 (sVAP-1) revealed an imidazole binding site in the active site channel and, analogously, the pyridazinone inhibitors were designed to bind into the channel. This is the first time human VAP-1 has been crystallized with a reversible inhibitor and the structures reveal detailed information of the binding mode on the atomic level. Similarly to some earlier studied inhibitors of human VAP-1, the designed pyridazinone inhibitors bind rodent VAP-1 with a lower affinity than human VAP-1. Therefore, we made homology models of rodent VAP-1 and compared human and rodent enzymes to determine differences that might affect the inhibitor binding. The comparison of the crystal structures of the human VAP-1 and the mouse VAP-1 homology model revealed key differences important for the species specific binding properties. In general, the channel in mouse VAP-1 is more narrow and polar than the channel in human VAP-1, which is wider and more hydrophobic. The differences are located in the channel leading to the active site, as well as, in the entrance to the active site channel. The information obtained from these studies is of great importance for the development and design of drugs blocking the activity of human VAP-1, as rodents are often used for in vivo testing of candidate drugs. In order to gain more insight into the selective binding properties of the different CAOs in one species a comprehensive evolutionary study of mammalian CAOs was performed. We found that CAOs can be classified into sub-families according to the residues X1 and X2 of the Thr/Ser-X1-X2-Asn-Tyr-Asp active site motif. In the phylogenetic tree, CAOs group into diamine oxidase, retina specific amine oxidase and VAP-1/serum amine oxidase clades based on the residue in the position X2. We also found that VAP-1 and SAO can be further differentiated based on the residue in the position X1. This is the first large-scale comparison of CAO sequences, which explains some of the reasons for the unique substrate specificities within the CAO family.

Modelling the simultaneous effects of intellectual capital and knowledge management on the organisational performance of Finnish companies

The aim of this study was to contribute to the current knowledge-based theory by focusing on a research gap that exists in the empirically proven determination of the simultaneous but differentiable effects of intellectual capital (IC) assets and knowledge management (KM) practices on organisational performance (OP). The analysis was built on the past research and theoreticised interactions between the latent constructs specified using the survey-based items that were measured from a sample of Finnish companies for IC and KM and the dependent construct for OP determined using information available from financial databases. Two widely used and commonly recommended measures in the literature on management science, i.e. the return on total assets (ROA) and the return on equity (ROE), were calculated for OP. Thus the investigation of the relationship between IC and KM impacting OP in relation to the hypotheses founded was possible to conduct using objectively derived performance indicators. Using financial OP measures also strengthened the dynamic features of data needed in analysing simultaneous and causal dependences between the modelled constructs specified using structural path models. The estimates were obtained for the parameters of structural path models using a partial least squares-based regression estimator. Results showed that the path dependencies between IC and OP or KM and OP were always insignificant when analysed separate to any other interactions or indirect effects caused by simultaneous modelling and regardless of the OP measure used that was either ROA or ROE. The dependency between the constructs for KM and IC appeared to be very strong and was always significant when modelled simultaneously with other possible interactions between the constructs and using either ROA or ROE to define OP. This study, however, did not find statistically unambiguous evidence for proving the hypothesised causal mediation effects suggesting, for instance, that the effects of KM practices on OP are mediated by the IC assets. Due to the fact that some indication about the fluctuations of causal effects was assessed, it was concluded that further studies are needed for verifying the fundamental and likely hidden causal effects between the constructs of interest. Therefore, it was also recommended that complementary modelling and data processing measures be conducted for elucidating whether the mediation effects occur between IC, KM and OP, the verification of which requires further investigations of measured items and can be build on the findings of this study.

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.

Korkokattosäännöksen vaikutukset pikalainamarkkinoihin

Lyhytaikaisista, pienehköistä ja vakuudettomista pikalainoista on muodostunut nopeasti osa suomalaisia kuluttajaluottomarkkinoita. Samalla pikalainatoimintaa koskevaa lainsäädäntöä on uudistettu useaan kertaan. Tämän kandidaatintutkielman tavoitteena on ollut selvittää, miten korkokattosäännös on vaikuttanut pikalainayhtiöiden tarjoamiin tuotteisiin ja alalla toimivan yritysjoukon kokoon. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisin menetelmin. Aineistona on käytetty Etelä-Suomen aluehallintoviraston ylläpitämän luotonantajarekisterin tietoja, Tilastokeskuksen tilastotietoja, keskeisiä oikeustapauksia sekä erikseen tutkielmaa varten kerättyjä pikalainayhtiöiden tuotetietoja. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin korkokattosäännöksen voimaantulon vähentäneen pikalainayritysten määrää huomattavasti. Yleisin tuote toimialalla on niin sanottu limiittiluotto joustavalla lainamäärällä ja takaisinmaksulla, minkä lisäksi yhtiöt tarjoavat lyhyitä ja pitkiä kertaluottoja. Korkokattosäännöksen tultua voimaan keskimääräinen luottosumma on kasvanut ja takaisinmaksuaika pidentynyt merkittävästi. Samalla luotoista maksettavien kulujen suhde lainamäärään on pienentynyt ja lainoja on myönnetty niin euro- kuin kappalemääräisesti selvästi aiempaa vähemmän. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että lakimuutoksella on ollut selkeitä vaikutuksia pikalaina-alaan. Luotonannon kiristyttyä laskeneet luottokustannukset hyödyttävät kuitenkin vain osaa luotonhakijoista. Muuttuneiden tuotteiden myötä pikalainatoiminta on siirtynyt lähemmäs muuta kuluttajaluottotoimintaa.

Movax Oy:n tuotteiden ja tekniikan käyttömahdollisuudet pilaantuneiden maa-alueiden ja pohjavesien kunnostushankkeissa

Työn tavoitteena on tarkastella erilaisia in-situ -kunnostusmenetelmiä maaperän ja pohjaveden kunnostushankkeissa ja niiden toteutusvaihtoehtoja sekä vertailla niitä keskenään. Työssä tarkastellaan myös lainsäädännön ja eri menetelmien kehittymistä, niiden tulevaisuuden näkymiä sekä pohditaan yrityksen tuotteiden liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia tämän pohjalta. Tietoa kerätään kirjallisuudesta sekä tapaustutkimuksista ja niitä peilataan yrityksen sisällä olevaan hiljaiseen tietoon. Löydettyä kirjallisuustietoa sekä tapaustutkimuksia on analysoitu SWOT-analyysien sekä ryhmittelyjen avulla. Työn tuloksena on esitetty vaihtoehtoinen tapa asentaa reaktiivinen seinämä pohjaveden kunnostushankkeissa yrityksen tuotteiden ja putkipaalujen avulla. Lisäksi työn pohjalta voidaan koota materiaalia ja lisätietoa asiakkaille sekä myynnin ja markkinoinnin tukemiseen. Tulosten pohjalta voidaan arvioida, että kyseinen menetelmä tukisi myös kestävän kehityksen periaatteita kunnostushankkeen toteutus- ja asennusvaiheessa. Menetelmän avulla voitaisiin mahdollisesti vähentää reaktiivisten seinämien asentamiseen liittyviä ympäristövaikutuksia.

Social media in the purchasing of knowledge-intensive business services

The purpose of this thesis was to understand how industrial buyers utilize social media in the purchasing of knowledge-intensive business services. By combining theories from past research a theoretical framework was formed to visualize the role of the social media at the different stages of the purchasing process. The subject was approached from the industrial buyers’ perspective instead of the knowledge-intensive business firm. The research was conducted using two qualitative research methods: interviews and netnography. The selected interviewees have been involved in the decision-making unit for purchasing knowledge-intensive business services. Additionally all of them are using various social media. Based on the interviews social media is used merely to support decision-making. Some of the interviewees had also shared their own experiences about the service and collaboration with the service provider with other social media users. Based on the interviews two social media were chosen for closer examination. The findings from netnography support the results from the interviews. The outcome of knowledgeintensive business services is dependable of the professionals. Therefore the information is used during decision-making process to confirm the formed image of the service, and the professionals of the service provider. Information obtained from social media complements information provided by the supplier. Even though the interviewees had not themselves used social media to find information about the service during search process, finding from netnography suggest it to exist. Industrial buyers ask other users’ opinions and experience about the services, and receive recommendations to them. Some recommendations are given publicly, but more discreet information is shared in private conversations. Observations in social media show that industrial buyers might be exposed to triggers to promote problem recognition as well. Companies share news and successful customer cases through their social media profiles, which might affect the industrial buyers, but to confirm this requires further research. The industrial buyers’ use of social media during different purchasing processes of knowledgeintensive business services can be conceptualize based on the findings. This helps companies to create right content to their social media pages, and encourage professionals to develop their networks in social media.

Academics as parents--parents as academics : a study of the integration of intellectual and child-care labours /

Discussions concerning the challenges of combining work and family are certainly not new, and still actively continue. There is, however, a silence in the related literature regarding a comprehensive description of integrating specifically university academic ~. work and family responsibilities. This silence is especially evident for men who are parents as well as academics. With the participation of 4 key informants, this qualitative research study gave voice to men and women who participate in the academic labour of a Canadian university as professors, and as graduate students, along with the parenting labour of at least 1 child under the age of7. Methodology was developed to reveal in-depth perspectives regarding the work practices employed by 4 key informants as they combined intellectual and child-care responsibilities. Multiple data collection methods included journal reflections, day time observation sessions, a focus group, and a final evaluation questionnaire. Using research findings, together with information extrapolated from Three Models of the Family (Eichler, 1997), this study also took steps toward developing a Proposed "Three Models of the University," to offer explanation for the work practices of the key informants as academics/parents, and also for future consideration in university policy formation.

Isolation and partial characterization of host cell wall surface glycoproteins: their involvement in agglutination, attachment and appressorium formation by piptocephalis virginiana

Cell surface proteins obtained by alkaline extraction from isolated cell walls of Mortierella pusilla and M. candelabrum, host and nonhost, respectively, to the mycoparasite, Piptocephalis virginiana, were tested for their ability to agglutinate mycoparasite spores. The host cell wall protein extract had a high agglutinating activity (788 a.u. mg- t ) as compared with the nonhost extract (21 a.li. mg- t ). SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the cell wall proteins revealed four protein bands, a, b, c, and d (Mr 117, 100, 85 and 64 kd, respectively) at the host surface, but not at the nonhost surface, except for the faint band c. Deletion of proteins b or c from the host cell wall protein extract significantly reduced its agglutinating activity. Proteins band c, obtained as purified preparations by a series of procedures, were shown to be two glycoproteins. Carbohydrate analysis by gas chromatography demonstrated that glucose and Nacetylglucosamine were the major carbohydrate components of the glycoproteins. It was further shown that the agglutinating activity of the pure preparation containing both band c was 500-850 times that of the single glycoproteins, suggesting the involvement of both glycoproteins in agglutination. The results suggest that the glycoproteins band c are the two subunits of agglutinin present at the host cell surface. The two glycoproteins band c purified from the host cell wall protein extract were further examined after various treatments for their possible role in agglutination, attachment and appressorium formation by the mycoparasite. Results obtained by agglutination and attachment tests showed: (1) the two glycoprotein-s are not only an agglutinin responsible for the mycoparasite spore agglutination, but may also serve as a receptor for the specific recognition, attachment and appressorium formation by the mycoparasite; (2) treatment of the rnycoparasite spores with various sugars revealed that arabinose, glucose and N-acetylglucosamine inhibited the agglutination and attachment activity of the glycoproteins, however, the relative percentage of appressorium formation was not affected by the above sugars; (3) the two glycoproteins are relatively stable with respect to their agglutinin and receptor functions. The present results suggest that the agglutination and attachment may be mediated directly by certain sugars present at the host and mycoparasite cell surfaces while the appressorlum formation may be the response of complementary combinations of both sugar and protein, the two parts of the glycoproteins at the interacting surfaces of two fungi.