Perceptions of twelve-step mutual-help groups and their associations with motivation, treatment attendance and alcohol outcomes among chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems.

BACKGROUND: Twelve-step mutual-help groups (TMGs) are among the most available forms of support for homeless individuals with alcohol problems. Qualitative research, however, has suggested that this population often has negative perceptions of these groups, which has been shown to be associated with low TMG attendance. It is important to understand this population's perceptions of TMGs and their association with alcohol outcomes to provide more appropriate and better tailored programming for this multiply affected population. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to (a) qualitatively examine perception of TMGs in this population and (b) quantitatively evaluate its association with motivation, treatment attendance and alcohol outcomes. METHODS: Participants (N=62) were chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems who received single-site Housing First within a larger evaluation study. Perceptions of TMGs were captured using an open-ended item. Quantitative outcome variables were created from assessments of motivation, treatment attendance and alcohol outcomes. RESULTS: Findings indicated that perceptions of TMGs were primarily negative followed by positive and neutral perceptions, respectively. There were significant, positive associations between perceptions of TMGs and motivation and treatment attendance, whereas no association was found for alcohol outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Although some individuals view TMGs positively, alternative forms of help are needed to engage the majority of chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems.

Mise en pratique d'un support de cours dans le cadre d'une formation spécialisée en santé au travail à la Faculté des sciences de la santé, Université d'Abomey Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin

La promotion de la santé au travail, le transfert de connaissances et l'échange d'expériences font partie, entre autres, des missions de l'Institut universitaire romand de Santé au Travail (IST). La collaboration entre un pays industrialisé et un pays en voie de développement peut fortement contribuer à la prise de conscience d'un concept important comme celui de la santé au travail. Au Bénin, une formation spécialisée en santé au travail a été mise en place depuis une dizaine d'années. Pour soutenir ses activités de coopération, l'IST a développé, avec le soutien de l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) et avec le concours du Service de toxicologie industrielle et des pollutions intérieures de l'Etat de Genève (STIPI), le livre « Introduction à l'hygiène du travail ». Ce document représente un support de cours utile pour former des spécialistes et des intervenants en santé et sécurité au travail qui ne sont pas hygiénistes du travail. Il a été imprimé en 2007 à grande échelle dans la série « Protecting workers' health » de l'OMS et est accessible électroniquement sur le site de l'OMS. Le but de ce travail de diplôme est de mettre en pratique et d'évaluer ce support de cours dans le cadre d'une formation spécialisée en Santé au Travail à la Faculté des Sciences de la Santé de l'Université d'Abomey Calavi à Cotonou, Bénin. Le module d'hygiène du travail a été donné sur une semaine de cours. La semaine était composée de cours théoriques, de visites d'entreprises ainsi que d'un examen d'évaluation en fin de semaine. Globalement, malgré la densité du cours, les messages importants du module ont été acquis. Le support du cours est un outil permettant de transmettre les bases d'une discipline importante dans le domaine de la santé au travail, notamment dans un pays où la législation est encore balbutiante.

Lack of support for the association between facial shape and aggression: a reappraisal based on a worldwide population genetics perspective

Antisocial and criminal behaviors are multifactorial traits whose interpretation relies on multiple disciplines. Since these interpretations may have social, moral and legal implications, a constant review of the evidence is necessary before any scientific claim is considered as truth. A recent study proposed that men with wider faces relative to facial height (fWHR) are more likely to develop unethical behaviour mediated by a psychological sense of power. This research was based on reports suggesting that sexual dimorphism and selection would be responsible for a correlation between fWHR and aggression. Here we show that 4,960 individuals from 94 modern human populations belonging to a vast array of genetic and cultural contexts do not display significant amounts of fWHR sexual dimorphism. Further analyses using populations with associated ethnographical records as well as samples of male prisoners of the Mexico City Federal Penitentiary condemned by crimes of variable level of inter-personal aggression (homicide, robbery, and minor faults) did not show significant evidence, suggesting that populations/individuals with higher levels of bellicosity, aggressive behaviour, or power-mediated behaviour display greater fWHR. Finally, a regression analysis of fWHR on individual"s fitness showed no significant correlation between this facial trait and reproductive success. Overall, our results suggest that facial attributes are poor predictors of aggressive behaviour, or at least, that sexual selection was weak enough to leave a signal on patterns of between- and within-sex and population facial variation.

Multilayer switch hardware support for Linux

VDSL on teknologia, joka mahdollistaa nopeat Internet-yhteydet tavallista puhelinlinjaa käyttäen. Tätä varten käyttäjä tarvitsee VDSL-modeemin ja Internet-operaattori reitittimen, johon VDSL-linjat kytketään. Reitittimen on oltava suorituskykyinen, jotta kaikki VDSL-liikenne voidaan reittittää eteenpäin. Tehokkuutta haetaan tekemällä suuri osa reitityksestä erityisillä reititinpiireillä. Tässä diplomityössä käsitellään reititinpiirien teoriaa ja niiden hallintaa. Lisäksi vertailtiin kolmen suuren valmistajan tuotteita. Tuotteiden tarjoamat ominaisuudet vaikuttivat hyvin yhteneväisiltä. Ominaisuuksien hallinta ja toteutus olivat erilaisia. Työn tavoitteena oli löytää ohjelmistoarkkitehtuuri piirien ohjaamiseen niin, että Linux-käyttöjärjestelmän ytimen palveluja voitaisiin käyttää mahdollisimman hyödyllisesti. Työssä havaittiin, että ohjelmistoarkkitehtuurin voi määritellä monella eri tavalla riippuen siitä, miten piiri on kytketty prosessoriin, mitä piirin ominaisuuksia halutaan käyttää ja miten arkkitehtuuria halutaan jatkossa laajentaa.

Porting a Java library to different platforms

Viime aikoina matkapuhelimet ovat alkaneet tukea Javaa matkapuhelinsovellusten ohjelmointikielenä. Javan perusajatus on, että kerran käännetty sovellus voidaan suorittaa useilla laitealustoilla ilman uudelleenkääntämisen tarvetta. Jotta sovellukset voisivat toimia uudella alustalla, niiden käyttämät kirjastot tulee siirtää uudelle alustalle. Tämä diplomityö tutkii tämänkaltaiseen siirtoprojektiin liittyviä asioita. Diplomityön aikana käyttöliittymäkirjasto siirrettiin olemassa olleelta alustalta kahdelle uudelle alustalle. Toinen uusista alustoista oli vanhan alustan uusi versio, ja toinen oli kokonaan uusi alusta. Ohjelmiston siirtämistä helpottaa jos alkuperäinen ohjelmisto on suunniteltu siirrettävyyttä silmälläpitäen. Varsinaiset ohjelmaan tehtävät muutokset ovat tällöin helppoja tehdä. Hyvälaatuisen lopputuloksen saaminen vaatii kuitenkin aina että ohjelmisto myös testataan huolellisesti.

Implementation of Customer Relationship Management system to support channel partners

Työn tavoitteena oli selvittää, kokevatko matkapuhelinalalla toimivat kanavapartnerit heitä varten suunnitellun asiakassuhdehallintajärjestelmän lisäarvopalveluna vaiko eivät. Työ toteutettiin asiakastyytyväisyystutkimuksen avulla, jossa mitattiin erilaisten partnereiden asennetta palvelua kohtaan. Työn tuloksena ilmeni, että palvelussa olevan informaation määrällä ei ollut suurta vaikutusta asiakkaiden tyytyväisyyteen. Syyt ovat pikemminkin yleisissä asenteissa vastaavia palveluja kohtaan.

Diploid males support a two-step mechanism of endosymbiont-induced thelytoky in a parasitoid wasp.

BACKGROUND: Haplodiploidy, where females develop from diploid, fertilized eggs and males from haploid, unfertilized eggs, is abundant in some insect lineages. Some species in these lineages reproduce by thelytoky that is caused by infection with endosymbionts: infected females lay haploid eggs that undergo diploidization and develop into females, while males are very rare or absent. It is generally assumed that in thelytokous wasps, endosymbionts merely diploidize the unfertilized eggs, which would then trigger female development. RESULTS: We found that females in the parasitoid wasp Asobara japonica infected with thelytoky-inducing Wolbachia produce 0.7-1.2 % male offspring. Seven to 39 % of these males are diploid, indicating that diploidization and female development can be uncoupled in A. japonica. Wolbachia titer in adults was correlated with their ploidy and sex: diploids carried much higher Wolbachia titers than haploids, and diploid females carried more Wolbachia than diploid males. Data from introgression lines indicated that the development of diploid individuals into males instead of females is not caused by malfunction-mutations in the host genome but that diploid males are most likely produced when the endosymbiont fails to activate the female sex determination pathway. Our data therefore support a two-step mechanism by which endosymbionts induce thelytoky in A. japonica: diploidization of the unfertilized egg is followed by feminization, whereby each step correlates with a threshold of endosymbiont titer during wasp development. CONCLUSIONS: Our new model of endosymbiont-induced thelytoky overthrows the view that certain sex determination mechanisms constrain the evolution of endosymbiont-induced thelytoky in hymenopteran insects. Endosymbionts can cause parthenogenesis through feminization, even in groups in which endosymbiont-diploidized eggs would develop into males following the hosts' sex determination mechanism. In addition, our model broadens our understanding of the mechanisms by which endosymbionts induce thelytoky to enhance their transmission to the next generation. Importantly, it also provides a novel window to study the yet-poorly known haplodiploid sex determination mechanisms in haplodiploid insects.

Integrating Group Support Systems to innovation process of a forest company

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of Group Support Systems (GSS) to overall efficiency of innovation process. Overall efficiency was found to be a sum of meeting efficiency, product effectiveness, and learning efficiency. These components were studied in various working situations common in early stages of innovation process. In the empirical part of this study, the suitability of GSS at the forest company was assessed. The basics for this study were idea generation meetings held at LUT and results from the surveys done after the sessions. This data combined with the interviews and theoretical background was used to analyze suitability of this technology to organizational culture at the company. The results of this study are divided to theory and case level. On theory level GSS was found to be a potentially valuable tool for innovation managers, especially at the first stages of the process. On case level, GSS was found to be a suitable tool at Stora Enso for further utilization. A five step implementation proposal was built to illustrate what would be the next stages of GSS implementation, if technology was chosen for further implementation.

Wage differentials between native and immigrant women in Spain: accounting for differences in support

Purpose: The objective of the study is to quantify the wage gap between native and immigrant women in Spain, taking into account differences in their characteristics and the need to control for common support. If immigrant women are segregated in occupations with few native women, it is important to take this into account to analyse wage differentials between both collectives. Methodology: We use microdata from the Continuous Sample of Working Histories (Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales) on wages and other personal characteristics such as gender, country of origin, and age to apply the matching procedure and the decomposition of the wage gap along the lines of Ñopo (2008) for the analysis of wage differentials between native and immigrant women. The advantage of this procedure is that we can simultaneously estimate the common support and the mean counterfactual wage for the women on the common support (i.e., comparing native and immigrant women with similar observable characteristics). In addition, we can describe differences not only at the mean but also along the entire wage distribution. Findings: The results obtained indicate that, on average, immigrant women earn less than native women in the Spanish labour market. This wage gap is bigger when we consider immigrant women from developing countries, but our main finding is that an important part of this wage gap is related to differences in common support (i.e., immigrant women are segregated in certain jobs with low wages different from those occupied by native women). If the need to control for common support is neglected, estimates of the wage gap will be biased. Originality: Studying the case of Spain is particularly interesting because it is a country with abundant and recent immigration. Immigrant women account for more than half of the total immigrants in Spain, and unlike other host countries, they come from a highly varied range of countries, with origins as diverse as Latin America, the Maghreb and Eastern Europe. To our knowledge, no other study has explicitly focused on the analysis of the wage differential of immigrant women in the Spanish labour market by taking into account the need to control for common support. Moreover, published papers illustrating the potentiality of Ñopo"s (2008) methodology are also very scarce.

Bystander responses to a violent incident in an immersive virtual environment

Under what conditions will a bystander intervene to try to stop a violent attack by one person on another? It is generally believed that the greater the size of the crowd of bystanders, the less the chance that any of them will intervene. A complementary model is that social identity is critical as an explanatory variable. For example, when the bystander shares common social identity with the victim the probability of intervention is enhanced, other things being equal. However, it is generally not possible to study such hypotheses experimentally for practical and ethical reasons. Here we show that an experiment that depicts a violent incident at life-size in immersive virtual reality lends support to the social identity explanation. 40 male supporters of Arsenal Football Club in England were recruited for a two-factor between-groups experiment: the victim was either an Arsenal supporter or not (in-group/out-group), and looked towards the participant for help or not during the confrontation. The response variables were the numbers of verbal and physical interventions by the participant during the violent argument. The number of physical interventions had a significantly greater mean in the ingroup condition compared to the out-group. The more that participants perceived that the Victim was looking to them for help the greater the number of interventions in the in-group but not in the out-group. These results are supported by standard statistical analysis of variance, with more detailed findings obtained by a symbolic regression procedure based on genetic programming. Verbal interventions made during their experience, and analysis of post-experiment interview data suggest that in-group members were more prone to confrontational intervention compared to the out-group who were more prone to make statements to try to diffuse the situation.

Development of support and drive systems for defiberization drum

Diplomityön tarkoituksena oli kuidutusrumpulaitteiston käytön- ja kannatuksen kehittä-minen. Työ rajattiin laajuutensa vuoksi koskemaan tuotesarjan viittä pienintä kokoa. Työn alkuosassa käsitellään kuidutuksen teoriaa ja siihen soveltuvia laitteistoja. Käytön suunnittelun kannalta olennaista käynnistystehon tarvetta on tarkasteltu lähtökohdaisesti fysiikan avulla. Perustietoja teorialle on haettu aiemmista tutkimuksista sekä kirjallisuu-desta. Tarkastelun tuloksena teoriaa on kehitty ja se on saatu vastaamaan todellisuutta aiempaa paremmin. Kannatuksen ja käytön toteuttamisvaihtoja etsittäessä on käytetty systemaattisen koneen-suunnittelun keinoja. Saatuja ideoita on arvioitu teknillis-taloudellisin perustein ja näistä on valittu parhaat vaihtoehdot jatkokehitykseen. Jatkokehitysvaiheessa ratkaisuvaihto-ehtoja on tarkasteltu komponenttitasolla ja näistä on tehty yksityiskohtaiset kustannus-laskelmat. Työn tuloksena on esitetty kannatuksen ja käytön toteutusvaihtoehto, jonka avulla voidaan saavuttaa merkittäviä kustannussäästöjä. Korkea, 30 prosentin kustannussäästö-tavoite saavutettiin.