Red eyes in the necropsy floor: twenty cases of hyphema in dogs and cats

Hyphema (hemorrhage within the anterior chamber of the eye) can be caused by several mechanisms and can easily be detected in routine ophthalmic or necroscopic examination as discolored red eye(s). The purpose of this study is to report the cause of hyphema diagnosed as a postmortem finding in dogs and cats. Twenty cases, 14 dogs and six cats of several ages and breeds and of both sexes were included in the study. Hyphema presented as a unilateral (14 cases out of 20) or bilateral (6/20) disorder in dogs and cats and extension of hemorrhage varied from minimal to diffuse. Hyphema was secondary to systemic disease (15/20) or occurred as a primary ocular lesion (5/20) in four dogs and one cat. Primary hyphema was always unilateral. In four of these cases, the cause of hyphema was trauma and remaining case was caused by phacoclastic uveitis in a dog with bilateral hypermature cataract. Various causes of bleeding disorders were found related to secondary hyphema: in decreasing order of frequency, they included vasculitis (8/15), systemic hypertension (5/15), and acquired coagulopathies (2/15). Vasculitis due to feline infectious peritonitis accounted for half of the cases (n=3) of systemic hyphema in cats. The various pathological aspects and pathogenesis of hyphema in dogs and cats are described and discussed.

Video transcoding in a distributed cloud computing environment

Video transcoding refers to the process of converting a digital video from one format into another format. It is a compute-intensive operation. Therefore, transcoding of a large number of simultaneous video streams requires a large amount of computing resources. Moreover, to handle di erent load conditions in a cost-e cient manner, the video transcoding service should be dynamically scalable. Infrastructure as a Service Clouds currently offer computing resources, such as virtual machines, under the pay-per-use business model. Thus the IaaS Clouds can be leveraged to provide a coste cient, dynamically scalable video transcoding service. To use computing resources e ciently in a cloud computing environment, cost-e cient virtual machine provisioning is required to avoid overutilization and under-utilization of virtual machines. This thesis presents proactive virtual machine resource allocation and de-allocation algorithms for video transcoding in cloud computing. Since users' requests for videos may change at di erent times, a check is required to see if the current computing resources are adequate for the video requests. Therefore, the work on admission control is also provided. In addition to admission control, temporal resolution reduction is used to avoid jitters in a video. Furthermore, in a cloud computing environment such as Amazon EC2, the computing resources are more expensive as compared with the storage resources. Therefore, to avoid repetition of transcoding operations, a transcoded video needs to be stored for a certain time. To store all videos for the same amount of time is also not cost-e cient because popular transcoded videos have high access rate while unpopular transcoded videos are rarely accessed. This thesis provides a cost-e cient computation and storage trade-o strategy, which stores videos in the video repository as long as it is cost-e cient to store them. This thesis also proposes video segmentation strategies for bit rate reduction and spatial resolution reduction video transcoding. The evaluation of proposed strategies is performed using a message passing interface based video transcoder, which uses a coarse-grain parallel processing approach where video is segmented at group of pictures level.

Local Features in Image and Video Processing - Object Class Matching and Video Shot Detection

The usage of digital content, such as video clips and images, has increased dramatically during the last decade. Local image features have been applied increasingly in various image and video retrieval applications. This thesis evaluates local features and applies them to image and video processing tasks. The results of the study show that 1) the performance of different local feature detector and descriptor methods vary significantly in object class matching, 2) local features can be applied in image alignment with superior results against the state-of-the-art, 3) the local feature based shot boundary detection method produces promising results, and 4) the local feature based hierarchical video summarization method shows promising new new research direction. In conclusion, this thesis presents the local features as a powerful tool in many applications and the imminent future work should concentrate on improving the quality of the local features.

Avalon Media System project update: a Hydra solution for digital audio and video access

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Audio and Video Repositories at Scale: Indiana University’s Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

“Why share in uncertain conditions?” Factors of individual level knowledge sharing in offshoring cases

The objective of this Master’s Thesis was to research factors influencing and enhancing individual level knowledge sharing in offshore projects which often involve uncertainty of the knowledge provider’s own future. The purpose was to understand why individuals are willing to share their knowledge under these kinds of circumstances. In addition the goal was to identify obstacles to interpersonal knowledge sharing in order to understand how to mitigate their influence. The research was conducted as a qualitative multiple case study in a global IT company, and the data was gathered using semi-structured personal theme interviews within two different offshore projects. In order to a gain a wider perspective on the matter, some management representatives were interviewed as well. Data was analysed with the inductive content analysis method. Results of the study indicate that individuals are willing to share their knowledge despite of uncertainty if they are motivated, if they are provided with opportunities to do so, and if they have skills, competence and experience to share their knowledge. A strong knowledge sharing culture in the organization or team also works as a strong incentive for individual level knowledge sharing. The findings suggest that even under uncertain conditions it is possible to encourage people to share their knowledge if uncertainty can be decreased to a bearable level, a robust and personal connection and relationship between the knowledge provider and acquirer can be created and suitable opportunities for knowledge sharing are provided. In addition, based on the results the support and commitment of management and HR in addition to favourable environmental circumstances play an essential role in building a bridge between the knowledge provider and acquirer in order to create a virtual environment and space for knowledge sharing: Ba.

Consumer online communication of corporate social responsibility in the sin industry context: Cases in the global online gambling industry.

So-called sin industries are often related to harmfulness, unethical business, and unproductiveness. Nowadays, the alcohol, gambling, and tobacco industries are most often considered to be part of sin industries, which is also the context of this study. However, the definition of a sin industry is always related to time and culture. Despite the controversies of sin industries, there are studies that have shown that corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement is even more important for sin industries than for normal industries and that CSR has a positive effect on firm value in sin industries. With CSR this study refers to an ideology where company takes mostly voluntary actions towards various groups of stakeholders and the environment. In other words, the company goes beyond the legal norms and regulations. In particular, the purpose of this thesis is to find out how companies, operating in the online gambling industry, communicate about their CSR actions to consumers at their web pages. The online environment is essential for this study as online gambling environment is a source of many controversies in comparison to the traditional gambling halls and casinos. These include, for example, greater accessibility, anonymity, and availability of the service. This study uses qualitative textual analysis as its approach, more precisely the discourse analysis. In addition, as this study focuses on large international companies and their actions, also case study approach will be presented. The cases studied are Mybet, Unibet, and Bwin.Party. In order to study the subject, elements from discourse analysis are combined with insights of essential CSR theories, and the specific characteristics of the online gambling industry. As a background for the framework, this study uses the framework of Du & Vieira (2012). After analyzing the discourses of CSR communication and CSR practices, it seems that all of the case companies still do not use all the potential that the online environment provides in terms of CSR or stakeholder communication. There are large differences between different communication tools used at different web pages (gambling pages vs. corporation pages) and between the firms’ CSR profiles. Moreover, there are large differences in the CSR practices used in the web pages of the case companies. The findings of this study are partially alarming as the case companies represent the largest companies in the industry. There are major varieties between the companies’ CSR communication and clear shortcomings in some parts of the online communication. Moreover, the trust of the consumer was broken in some places. If this is the standard that the biggest players in the industry have set with regards to CSR communication, it is probable that the smaller players are performing even worse. Moreover, the regulators are most likely concentrating on the larger companies, so the smaller companies might have fewer incentives and pressure to perform according to the regulations or exceeding the legislation. The conclusions of this thesis provide insights to managers, regulators, and scholars. Suggestions for future studies are provided as well.

The Role of Video Based Content Marketing as a Part of Modern Marketing Communications

The thesis studies the role of video based content marketing as a part of modern marketing communications.

Digital services development – cases of Finland and LIBER

The presentation of Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen in The National and University Library in Zagreb March 18, 2015.

Fenomenologinen tutkimus video-EEG potilaiden kohtauskokemuksista

Tässä fenomenologisessa tutkimuksessa kuvaillaan Video-EEG –tutkimukseen (VEEG) tulevien potilaiden kokemuksia kohtauksistaan. Tutkimusasetelmana on käytetty fenomenologiseen psykologiaan kuuluvaa Giorgin menetelmää soveltaen sitä hoitotieteen tutkimukseen. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvailla neurologisten kohtausoireiden vuoksi VEEG-tutkimukseen tulleiden potilaiden kokemuksia kohtauksistaan ja tunnistaa sekä kuvailla kokemukseen liittyviä tekijöitä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli lisäta terveydenhoitohenkilökunnan ymmärrystä neurologisia kohtausoireita saavien ihmisten ohjaustarpeista. Materiaali kerättiin kahdeksalta potilaalta avoimilla haastatteluilla ja analysoitiin Giorgin analyysimenetelmällä. Aineistoon yhdistettiin kliinisen neurofysiologin lausunto ja muodostettiin kokemuskertomukset. Aineistosta tunnistettiin fenomenologista reduktiota käyttäen keskeiset kohtauksiin ja sairauteen liittyvät kokemukset. Käsitteiden suhdetta toisiinsa ja merkitystä sopeutumiselle analysoitiin käyttäen apuna Uncertainty in illness -mallia. Keskeisten kokemusten pohjalta toteutettiin kirjallisuushaku, jonka tuloksia reflektoitiin tämän tutkimuksen tuloksiin. Aineistosta muodostui kolme erillistä kokemuskertomusta: kertomus konkreettisista tapahtumista, kokemus hallinnan menettämisestä ja kokemus sairauden kanssa elämisesta. Keskeisiksi kokemussisällöiksi tunnistettiin kokemus terveysongelman hallinnasta, kokemus hallinnan menettämisestä, kokemus ympäristön negatiivisesta suhtautumisesta ja huoli läheisistä. Aikaisempaa tutkimusta löytyi kokemuksista terveysongelman hallinnasta ja hallinnan menetyksestä sekä ympäristön suhtautumisesta.

Relative frequency, clinical, neuroimaging, and postsurgical features of pediatric temporal lobe epilepsy

We describe the relative frequency, clinical features, neuroimaging and pathological results, and outcome after pharmacological or surgical intervention for a series of pediatric patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) from an epilepsy center in Brazil. The medical records of children younger than 12 years with features strongly suggestive of TLE were reviewed from January 1999 to June 1999. Selected children were evaluated regarding clinical, EEG, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigation and divided into three groups according to MRI: group 1 (G1, N = 9), patients with hippocampal atrophy; group 2 (G2, N = 10), patients with normal MRI, and group 3 (G3, N = 12), patients with other specific temporal lesions. A review of 1732 records of children with epilepsy revealed 31 cases with TLE (relative frequency of 1.79%). However, when the investigation was narrowed to cases with intractable seizures that needed video-EEG monitoring (N = 68) or epilepsy surgery (N = 32), the relative frequency of TLE increased to 19.11 (13/68) and 31.25% (10/32), respectively. At the beginning of the study, 25 of 31 patients had a high seizure frequency (80.6%), which declined to 11 of 31 (35.5%) at the conclusion of the study, as a consequence of pharmacological and/or surgical therapy. This improvement in seizure control was significant in G1 (P < 0.05) and G3 (P < 0.01) mainly due to good postsurgical outcome, and was not significant in G2 (P > 0.1, McNemar's test). These results indicate that the relative frequency of TLE in children was low, but increased considerably among cases with pharmacoresistant seizures. Patients with specific lesions were likely to undergo surgery, with good postoperative outcomes.

Fenomenologinen tutkimus video-EEG potilaiden kohtauskokemuksista

Tässä fenomenologisessa tutkimuksessa kuvaillaan Video-EEG –tutkimukseen (VEEG) tulevien potilaiden kokemuksia kohtauksistaan. Tutkimusasetelmana on käytetty fenomenologiseen psykologiaan kuuluvaa Giorgin menetelmää soveltaen sitä hoitotieteen tutkimukseen. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvailla neurologisten kohtausoireiden vuoksi VEEGtutkimukseen tulleiden potilaiden kokemuksia kohtauksistaan ja tunnistaa sekä kuvailla kokemukseen liittyviä tekijöitä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli lisätä terveydenhoitohenkilökunnan ymmärrystä neurologisia kohtausoireita saavien ihmisten ohjaustarpeista. Materiaali kerättiin kahdeksalta potilaalta avoimilla haastatteluilla ja analysoitiin Giorgin analyysimenetelmällä. Aineistoon yhdistettiin kliinisen neurofysiologin lausunto ja muodostettiin kokemuskertomukset. Aineistosta tunnistettiin fenomenologista reduktiota käyttäen keskeiset kohtauksiin ja sairauteen liittyvät kokemukset. Käsitteiden suhdetta toisiinsa ja merkitystä sopeutumiselle analysoitiin käyttäen apuna Uncertainty in illness -mallia. Keskeisten kokemusten pohjalta toteutettiin kirjallisuushaku, jonka tuloksia reflektoitiin tämän tutkimuksen tuloksiin. Aineistosta muodostui kolme erillistä kokemuskertomusta: kertomus konkreettisista tapahtumista, kokemus hallinnan menettämisestä ja kokemus sairauden kanssa elämisestä. Keskeisiksi kokemussisällöiksi tunnistettiin kokemus terveysongelman hallinnasta, kokemus hallinnan menettämisestä, kokemus ympäristön negatiivisesta suhtautumisesta ja huoli läheisistä. Aikaisempaa tutkimusta löytyi kokemuksista terveysongelman hallinnasta ja hallinnan menetyksestä sekä ympäristön suhtautumisesta.

Automatic recognition of fish from video sequences

The problem of automatic recognition of the fish from the video sequences is discussed in this Master’s Thesis. This is a very urgent issue for many organizations engaged in fish farming in Finland and Russia because the process of automation control and counting of individual species is turning point in the industry. The difficulties and the specific features of the problem have been identified in order to find a solution and propose some recommendations for the components of the automated fish recognition system. Methods such as background subtraction, Kalman filtering and Viola-Jones method were implemented during this work for detection, tracking and estimation of fish parameters. Both the results of the experiments and the choice of the appropriate methods strongly depend on the quality and the type of a video which is used as an input data. Practical experiments have demonstrated that not all methods can produce good results for real data, whereas on synthetic data they operate satisfactorily.