Owl melanin-based plumage redness is more frequent near than away from the equator: implications on the effect of climate change on biodiversity

Climate change acts as a major new selective agent on many organisms, particularly at high latitudes where climate change is more pronounced than at lower latitudes. Studies are required to predict which species are at a high risk of extinction and whether certain phenotypes may be more affected by climate change than others. The identification of susceptible phenotypes is important for evaluating the potential negative effect of climate change on biodiversity at the inter- and intraspecific levels. Melanin-based coloration is an interesting and easily accessible candidate trait because, within certain species, reddish pheomelanin-based coloration is associated with adaptations to warm climates. However, it is unclear whether the same holds among species. We tested one prediction of this hypothesis in four owl genera (wood, scops, screech, and pygmy owls), namely that darker reddish species are more prevalent near the equator than polewards. Our comparative analysis is consistent with this prediction for the northern hemisphere, suggesting that pale reddish species may be adapted to cold climates and dark reddish species to warmer climates. Thus, climate change may have a larger negative impact on pale pheomelanic owls and favour dark pheomelanic species.

Managing Human Factor in Accounting Change - Introducing Activity Based Costing System to Organization

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on identifioida yleisimmät toimintolaskennan implementointiin liittyvät ongelmat ja muutosprojektin onnistumiseen vaikuttavat tekijät. Tavoitteena on myös saada kokonaisvaltainen kuva siitä, miksi laskentatoimen muutokset ovat vaikeita implementoida ja miten ihmisten käyttäytyminen vaikuttaa muutosprosessin onnistumiseen. Sekä laskentatoimen että muutosjohtamisen teorioita tarkastellaan laaja-alaisen kuvan saamiseksi siitä, miten ihmisiin ja heidän käyttäytymiseensä liittyvät tekijät vaikuttavat muutosprojektin onnistumiseen tai epäonnistumiseen. Tutkielma käyttää empiirisiä tutkimustuloksia pohjana aiheen tarkastelulle. Tutkielma tarjoaa ehdotuksia tulevaisuuden tutkimukselle liittyen laskentatoimen muutoksen kriittisiin tekijöihin. Kiinnostavimpia alueita tulevaisuuden tutkimukselle on pohtia tarkemmin, miten työntekijöiden oletukset johtajien motiiveista muutoksen takana vaikuttavat muutosvastarintaan sekä miten organisaation rakenne ja muutosvastarintavaikuttavat muutoksen institutionaalistamiseen.

Continent wide response of mountain vegetation to climate change

Climate impact studies have indicated ecological fingerprints of recent global warming across a wide range of habitats. Whereas these studies have shown responses from various local case studies, a coherent large-scale account on temperature-driven changes of biotic communities has been lacking. Here we use 867 vegetation samples above the treeline from 60 summit sites in all major European mountain systems to show that ongoing climate change gradually transforms mountain plant communities. We provide evidence that the more cold-adapted species decline and the more warm-adapted species increase, a process described here as thermophilisation. At the scale of individual mountains this general trend may not be apparent, but at the¦larger, continental scale we observed a significantly higher abundance of thermophilic species in 2008, compared with 2001. Thermophilisation of mountain plant communities mirrors the degree of recent warming and is more pronounced in areas where the temperature increase has been higher. In view of the projected climate change the observed transformation suggests a progressive decline of cold mountain habitats and their biota.

Translation of polarity cues into asymmetric spindle positioning in "Caenorhabditis elegans"

Abstract: Asymmetric cell division is important to generate tissue diversity. The Caenorhabditis elegans embryo is well suited to study the mechanisms of asymmetric cell division. In wild type one-cell stage embryos, the spindle sets up along the anterior-posterior axis (AP). During anaphase, the spindle elongates. While the anterior spindle pole is relatively immobile, the posterior spindle pole moves towards the posterior cortex during anaphase leading to an asymmetric spindle position. As a result, the first cleavage gives rise to a large anterior blastomere and a smaller posterior one, which differs also in cell fate determinants. This posterior spindle displacement occurs in response to polarity cues set up along the AP axis by the PAR proteins and is due to imbalanced pulling forces acting on the two spindle poles, with net forces acting on the posterior spindle pole being more extensive than those at the anterior one. The project of my thesis was to characterize the involvement of two new components, gpr-1 and gpr-2, in spindle positioning. These genes encode essentially identical proteins containing a GoLoco motif characteristic of proteins interacting with α subunits of heterotrimeric G protein (Gα). In gpr-1/2(RNAi) embryos and in embryos lacking simultaneously two α subunits, goa-1 and gpa-16, (Ga(RNAi) embryos), there is a minimal posterior displacement of the spindle during anaphase, and the first division is equal. I found that the pulling forces acting on the two spindle poles is weak and equal in gpr-1/2(RNAi) and Gα (RNAi) embryos. I found that GPR-1/2 acts downstream of polarity cues for generation of pulling forces. Furthermore, I showed that GPR-1/2 distribution was enriched at the posterior cortex during metaphase whereas GOA-1 and GPA-16 were uniformly distributed at the cell cortex throughout the cell cycle. Gα subunits oscillate between GDP- and GTP-bound forms. Gα signaling is turned on by GDP/GTP exchange catalyzed by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and turned off by hydrolysis of GTP catalyzed by GTPase activating proteins (GAPs). A third class of proteins, the guanine dissociation inhibitors (GDIs), binds the GDP-bound form of Gα subunits and inhibits nucleotide exchange. I found that GPR-1/2 acts as a GDI for GOA-1. Taken together, my findings suggest a model in which differential activation of Gα subunits along the AP axis may translate into generation of differential pulling forces on the anterior and posterior spindle poles, and, thus, asymmetric cell division. Résumé L'embryon du nématode Caenorhabditis elegans est un modèle approprié pour étudier les mécanismes de la division asymétrique. Chez l'embryon précoce, le fuseau mitotique se forme le long de l'axe antéro-postérieur (A/P) et au centre de l'embryon, le pôle antérieur restant relativement immobile alors que le pôle postérieur du fuseau se déplace vers le cortex postérieur au cours de l'anaphase conduisant à une position excentrée du fuseau. 11 en résulte une première division qui génère un blastomère antérieur et postérieur de grande et petite taille respectivement et qui diffèrent en facteurs développementaux. Ce déplacement postérieur se produit en réponse de la polarité établie par la distribution polarisée des protéines PAR et est le résultat de la génération de forces inégales tirant sur les deux pôles du fuseau, les forces agissant sur le pôle postérieur du fuseau étant plus grandes. Le projet de ma thèse était d'identifier la fonction de deux nouveaux constituants, gpr-1 et gpr-2 dans le positionnement asymétrique du fuseau. Ces gènes codent essentiellement pour la même protéine qui contient un motif GoLoco, caractéristique des protéines interagissant avec la sous-unité alpha des protéines G hétérotrimériques. Chez l'embryon gpr-1/2(RNAi) et chez les embryons dépourvus d'activité de deux sous-unités alpha, goa-1 et gpa-16, (Gα(RNAi)), j'ai montré qu'il y avait un déplacement minimal du fuseau vers le pôle postérieur au cours de l'anaphase et la première division est symétrique en raison de forces faibles et égales agissant sur les deux pôles du fuseau. J'ai également montré que gpr-1/2 était requis en aval des signaux établissant la polarité pour générer les forces responsables du positionnement asymétrique du fuseau. De plus, j'ai montré que GPR-1/2 était enrichi au pôle postérieur lors de la métaphase alors que GOA-1 et GPA-16 étaient localisés de façon uniforme au cortex de l'embryon précoce. Gas oscillent entre une forme liée au GDP et une forme liée au GTP. La signalisation des Gas est activée par l'échange GDP/GTP qui est catalysé par des protéines GEFs. La signalisation des Gas est désactivée par l'hydrolyse du GTP qui est catalysée par des protéines GAPs. Une troisième classe de protéines, GDIs lie la forme GDP et inhibe l'échange de nucléotides. J'ai montré que GPR-1/2 agissait comme un GDI pour GOA-1. Mes résultats suggèrent un modèle dans lequel une activation différentielle des Gα le long de l'axe A/P pourrait générer des forces différentielles sur le pôle antérieur et postérieur du fuseau.

Analysis of thermal properties of phase change materials (PCM) using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC)

Commercially available PCM RT 20, RT 27, SP 22, A17 and SP 25 A8. Were analyzed using dynamic and step method of heat flux DSC. The results of the dinamic and step method were compared with commercial valures. It was found that RT 20 & RT 27 showed good conforming of results with commercial values while SP 22 A17 & SP 25 A8 did not show conformity.

Numerical analysis of including phase change material in a domestic hot water cylinder

The domestic hot water cylinder incorporates encapsulated pcm placed in 57 vertical pipes. The use of PCM increases the thermal energy storage capacity of the cylinder and allows the use of low cost electricity during low peak periods. After experimental validation the numerical model developed in the project will be used to optimize the distribution of the pcm inside the water tank.

Improvement of the thermal performance of commercial freezers using phase change materials (PCM)

The aim of this work is to improve the thermal performance of commercial freezers using phase change materials (PCM) and the prove the importance of the correct PCM selection (melting temperature) for each application. To do this a vertical freezer with and without macro encapsulation PCM are used to assess the benefits of using PCM in minimizing temperature fluctuations and to maintain at the lowest possible temperature the freezer under heat of losses.

Exploring the strategic impact of technological change - Studies on the role of Internet in magazine publishing

Over the past few decades, turbulent change has characterized the situation in the media industry. It has been noted that digitalization and new media are strongly influencing the industry: it is changing the existing market dynamics and requires new strategies. Prior research on the impact of digitalization and the Internet has emphasized news-focused media such as newspaper publishing and broadcasting, yet magazine publishing is very seldom the focus of the research. This study examines how the Internetimpacts magazine publishing. The work presents a multi-level analysis on the role and impact of the Internet on magazine products, companies and industry. The study is founded on strategic management, technology management and media economics literature. This study consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic and discusses the overall results of the study. The second part comprises five research publications. Qualitative research methods are used throughout. The results of the study indicate that the Internet has not had a disruptive effect on magazine publishing, and that its strategic implications could rather be considered complementary to the print magazine and the business as a whole. It seems that the co-specialized assets, together with market-related competencies and unchanged core competence have protected established firms from the disruptive effect of the new technology in magazine publishing. In addition, it seems that the Internet offers a valuable possibility to build and nourish customer relationships. The study contributes tomedia management and economics research by moving from product- or industry-level investigations towards a strategic-management perspective.

MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE:New Business Models Applying Wireless Technology as a Source of Competitive Edge

The diffusion of mobile telephony began in 1971 in Finland, when the first car phones, called ARP1 were taken to use. Technologies changed from ARP to NMT and later to GSM. The main application of the technology, however, was voice transfer. The birth of the Internet created an open public data network and easy access to other types of computer-based services over networks. Telephones had been used as modems, but the development of the cellular technologies enabled automatic access from mobile phones to Internet. Also other wireless technologies, for instance Wireless LANs, were also introduced. Telephony had developed from analog to digital in fixed networks and allowed easy integration of fixed and mobile networks. This development opened a completely new functionality to computers and mobile phones. It also initiated the merger of the information technology (IT) and telecommunication (TC) industries. Despite the arising opportunity for firms' new competition the applications based on the new functionality were rare. Furthermore, technology development combined with innovation can be disruptive to industries. This research focuses on the new technology's impact on competition in the ICT industry through understanding the strategic needs and alternative futures of the industry's customers. The change speed inthe ICT industry is high and therefore it was valuable to integrate the DynamicCapability view of the firm in this research. Dynamic capabilities are an application of the Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm. As is stated in the literature, strategic positioning complements RBV. This theoretical framework leads theresearch to focus on three areas: customer strategic innovation and business model development, external future analysis, and process development combining these two. The theoretical contribution of the research is in the development of methodology integrating theories of the RBV, dynamic capabilities and strategic positioning. The research approach has been constructive due to the actual managerial problems initiating the study. The requirement for iterative and innovative progress in the research supported the chosen research approach. The study applies known methods in product development, for instance, innovation process in theGroup Decision Support Systems (GDSS) laboratory and Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and combines them with known strategy analysis tools like industry analysis and scenario method. As the main result, the thesis presents the strategic innovation process, where new business concepts are used to describe the alternative resource configurations and scenarios as alternative competitive environments, which can be a new way for firms to achieve competitive advantage in high-velocity markets. In addition to the strategic innovation process as a result, thestudy has also resulted in approximately 250 new innovations for the participating firms, reduced technology uncertainty and helped strategic infrastructural decisions in the firms, and produced a knowledge-bank including data from 43 ICT and 19 paper industry firms between the years 1999 - 2004. The methods presentedin this research are also applicable to other industries.

Patents in the Information and Communications Technology Sector - Development Trends, Problem Areas and Pressures for Change

The patent system was created for the purpose of promoting innovation by granting the inventors a legally defined right to exclude others in return for public disclosure. Today, patents are being applied and granted in greater numbers than ever, particularly in new areas such as biotechnology and information andcommunications technology (ICT), in which research and development (R&D) investments are also high. At the same time, the patent system has been heavily criticized. It has been claimed that it discourages rather than encourages the introduction of new products and processes, particularly in areas that develop quickly, lack one-product-one-patent correlation, and in which theemergence of patent thickets is characteristic. A further concern, which is particularly acute in the U.S., is the granting of so-called 'bad patents', i.e. patents that do not factually fulfil the patentability criteria. From the perspective of technology-intensive companies, patents could,irrespective of the above, be described as the most significant intellectual property right (IPR), having the potential of being used to protect products and processes from imitation, to limit competitors' freedom-to-operate, to provide such freedom to the company in question, and to exchange ideas with others. In fact, patents define the boundaries of ownership in relation to certain technologies. They may be sold or licensed on their ownor they may be components of all sorts of technology acquisition and licensing arrangements. Moreover, with the possibility of patenting business-method inventions in the U.S., patents are becoming increasingly important for companies basing their businesses on services. The value of patents is dependent on the value of the invention it claims, and how it is commercialized. Thus, most of them are worth very little, and most inventions are not worth patenting: it may be possible to protect them in other ways, and the costs of protection may exceed the benefits. Moreover, instead of making all inventions proprietary and seeking to appropriate as highreturns on investments as possible through patent enforcement, it is sometimes better to allow some of them to be disseminated freely in order to maximize market penetration. In fact, the ideology of openness is well established in the software sector, which has been the breeding ground for the open-source movement, for instance. Furthermore, industries, such as ICT, that benefit from network effects do not shun the idea of setting open standards or opening up their proprietary interfaces to allow everyone todesign products and services that are interoperable with theirs. The problem is that even though patents do not, strictly speaking, prevent access to protected technologies, they have the potential of doing so, and conflicts of interest are not rare. The primary aim of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the dynamics and controversies of the U.S. and European patent systems, with the focus on the ICT sector. The study consists of three parts. The first part introduces the research topic and the overall results of the dissertation. The second part comprises a publication in which academic, political, legal and business developments that concern software and business-method patents are investigated, and contentiousareas are identified. The third part examines the problems with patents and open standards both of which carry significant economic weight inthe ICT sector. Here, the focus is on so-called submarine patents, i.e. patentsthat remain unnoticed during the standardization process and then emerge after the standard has been set. The factors that contribute to the problems are documented and the practical and juridical options for alleviating them are assessed. In total, the dissertation provides a good overview of the challenges and pressures for change the patent system is facing,and of how these challenges are reflected in standard setting.

Barley development as affected by rate of change of photoperiod

The rate of leaf appearance of barley varies substantially with time of sowing. This variation has been related to both the length and the rate of change of photoperiod at the time of plant emergence. An outdoor pot experiment was conducted to test if rate of change of photoperiod directly affects phasic development and rate of leaf emergence of spring barley. Two photoperiod-sensitive cultivars (Bandulla and Galleon) were subjected to five photoperiod regimes: two constant photoperiods, of 14 and 15·5 h, and three different rates of change of photoperiod of c. 2, 9 and 13 min/day from seedling emergence to awn initiation. Photoperiod treatments significantly affected the duration from seedling emergence to awn initiation in both cultivars. Rate of change of photoperiod did not affect the rate of development towards awn initiation independently of the absolute daylength it produced. Although Bandulla had a longer duration than Galleon at any photoperiod regime, the cultivars did not vary in their sensitivity to photoperiod. When this phase was divided into the leaf initiation (LI) and spikelet initiation (SI) phases, it was evident that the sensitivity to photoperiod was not constant, being in general higher during the SI than during the LI phase. However, the magnitude of the change in sensitivity was cultivar-dependent, indicating that sensitivity to photoperiod during the different phases could be under independent genetic control. Final numbers of primordia (leaves together with maximum spikelet number) were negatively affected by increasing photoperiods, but once again, there was no evidence of any effect of the rate of change of photoperiod which was independent of the average photoperiod. Both cultivars showed similar sensitivities for final leaf number but maximum spikelet number was more sensitive to photoperiod in Galleon than in Bandulla. Highly significant linear relationships between leaf number and thermal time were found for all combinations of cultivars and photoperiod regimes (r2 > 0·98). The rate of leaf appearance (RLA) was similar for both cultivars (c. 0·0185 leaves/°Cd) and did not alter during plant development or in response to the change in photoperiod at awn initiation. The range in RLA was greater for Galleon (0·0170–0·0205 leaves/°Cd) than for Bandulla (0·0173–0·0186 leaves/°Cd). Neither of these cultivars exhibited a significant relationship between rate of leaf emergence and photoperiod or rate of change of photoperiod. The lack of significant relationships between RLA and length or rate of change of photoperiod is in contrast with previous reports using time of sowing as a main treatment.