Ikäihminen tietokoneen käyttäjänä : Nettirohkeus-kurssien sisällön ja opetusmenetelmien kehittäminen

Opinnäytetyöni koostuu Kontupisteen Nettirohkeus-kurssien uudistetusta kurssirungosta sekä kirjallisesta osasta, johon kuuluu alkuperäisten Nettirohkeus-kurssien kenttähavainnointituloksien sekä uudistetun kurssirungon käytettävyystestauksen tulosten raportointi. Opinnäytetyön teososa, Nettirohkeus-kurssien uudistettu kurssirunko sisältää tutkimuksen avulla aikaansaadun johdonmukaisemman rakenteen sekä uusia yksityiskohtia opetuksessa, joita ei alkuperäisellä kurssilla ollut otettu huomioon. Uudistettu kurssirunko on kehitetty havainnoimalla alkuperäisen kurssin opetusta ja myöhemmin korjaamalla käytettävyystestauksessa havaitut puutteet ja epäkohdat. Nettirohkeus-kursseja on järjestetty Kontulassa sijaitsevan Kontupisteen tiloissa. Kontupiste on Lasipalatsin Mediakeskus Oy:n hanke, jonka tavoitteisiin kuuluu uusien helposti lähestyttävien palvelukonseptien kehittäminen tietoyhteiskunnan arkisiin tarpeisiin. Kurssit on tarkoitettu kaikille tietokoneenkäytön aloittelijoille, mutta koska tutkimuksen kohteena olleen vuoden 2007 syksyn kurssien kaikki oppilaat olivat iäkkäämpiä ihmisiä, tutkimuksessa käsitellään ikäihmisiä tietokoneen ja Internetin käytön oppijoina. Internetin ja tietokoneen käyttö ovat tärkeitä taitoja kansalaisille alati kehittyvässä tietoyhteiskunnassa. Tämän päivän ikäihmiset ovat tottuneet käyttämään henkilökohtaisia asiakaspalveluita arjessaan, eivätkä ole saaneet koulutusta tietotekniikan käyttöön saatika kasvaneet lapsesta tietotekniikan kehityksen mukana. Teososan uudistettu kurssirunko vastaa tutkimuksen avulla löytyneiden erityisvaatimuksien mukaista rakennetta.

Supplier Energy Audits in Thermal Power Plants

This master’s thesis handles an operating model for an electric equipment supplier conducted sale oriented energy audit for pumping, fan and other motor applications at power plants. The study goes through the largest factors affecting internal electricity use at a power plant, finds an energy audit –like approach for the basis of information gathering and presents the information needed for conducting the analysis. The model is tested in practice at a kraft recovery boiler of a chemical pulping mill. Targets chosen represent some of the largest electric motor applications in the boiler itself and in its fuel handling. The energy saving potential of the chosen targets is calculated by simulating the energy consumption of the alternatives for controlling the targets, and thereafter combining the information with the volume flow duration curve. Results of the research are somewhat divaricated, as all the information needed is not available in the automation system. Some of the targets could be simulated and their energy saving potential calculated quite easily. At some of the targets chosen the monitoring was not sufficient enough for this and additional measurements would have been needed to base the calculations on. In traditional energy audits, energy efficiency of pump and fan applications is not necessarily examined. This means that there are good possibilities for developing the now presented targeted energy audit procedure basis further.

Developing of the Variable Speed Drive -control in simulated parallel pumping systems

This thesis presents briefly the basic operation and use of centrifugal pumps and parallel pumping applications. The characteristics of parallel pumping applications are compared to circuitry, in order to search analogy between these technical fields. The purpose of studying circuitry is to find out if common software tools for solving circuit performance could be used to observe parallel pumping applications. The empirical part of the thesis introduces a simulation environment for parallel pumping systems, which is based on circuit components of Matlab Simulink —software. The created simulation environment ensures the observation of variable speed controlled parallel pumping systems in case of different controlling methods. The introduced simulation environment was evaluated by building a simulation model for actual parallel pumping system at Lappeenranta University of Technology. The simulated performance of the parallel pumps was compared to measured values of the actual system. The gathered information shows, that if the initial data of the system and pump perfonnance is adequate, the circuitry based simulation environment can be exploited to observe parallel pumping systems. The introduced simulation environment can represent the actual operation of parallel pumps in reasonably accuracy. There by the circuitry based simulation can be used as a researching tool to develop new controlling ways for parallel pumps.

Oikeiston kurikulttuurista ja maailmanpolitiikan moraalista : keskustelua

Keskustelua. Vastaus artikkeliin: Pari kommenttia taistolaisuudesta / Seikko Eskola // Historiallinen aikakauskirja. 102 (2004) : 3, s. 40.6-407

Genome-wide enrichment analysis between endometriosis and obesity-related traits reveals novel susceptibility loci.

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition in women that results in pelvic pain and subfertility, and has been associated with decreased body mass index (BMI). Genetic variants contributing to the heritable component have started to emerge from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), although the majority remain unknown. Unexpectedly, we observed an intergenic locus on 7p15.2 that was genome-wide significantly associated with both endometriosis and fat distribution (waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI; WHRadjBMI) in an independent meta-GWAS of European ancestry individuals. This led us to investigate the potential overlap in genetic variants underlying the aetiology of endometriosis, WHRadjBMI and BMI using GWAS data. Our analyses demonstrated significant enrichment of common variants between fat distribution and endometriosis (P = 3.7 × 10(-3)), which was stronger when we restricted the investigation to more severe (Stage B) cases (P = 4.5 × 10(-4)). However, no genetic enrichment was observed between endometriosis and BMI (P = 0.79). In addition to 7p15.2, we identify four more variants with statistically significant evidence of involvement in both endometriosis and WHRadjBMI (in/near KIFAP3, CAB39L, WNT4, GRB14); two of these, KIFAP3 and CAB39L, are novel associations for both traits. KIFAP3, WNT4 and 7p15.2 are associated with the WNT signalling pathway; formal pathway analysis confirmed a statistically significant (P = 6.41 × 10(-4)) overrepresentation of shared associations in developmental processes/WNT signalling between the two traits. Our results demonstrate an example of potential biological pleiotropy that was hitherto unknown, and represent an opportunity for functional follow-up of loci and further cross-phenotype comparisons to assess how fat distribution and endometriosis pathogenesis research fields can inform each other.

Kamppailu identiteeteistä : identiteettiväittämät ja turvallisuusdiskurssi yhteiskunnallisten liikkeiden tukahduttamisessa ja oikeuttamisessa Kiinan kansantasavallassa

Abstract