A retrospective search for bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) antigens in histological specimens by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) has been only sporadically identified as a causative agent of respiratory disease in Brazil. This contrasts with frequent reports of clinical and histopathological findings suggestive of BRSV-associated disease. In order to examine a possible involvement of BRSV in cases of calf pneumonia, a retrospective search was performed for BRSV antigens in histological specimens submitted to veterinary diagnostic services from the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais. Ten out of 41 cases examined (24.4%) were positive for BRSV antigens by immunohistochemistry (IPX). Eight of these cases (19.5%) were also positive by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA), and 31 cases (75.6%) were negative in both assays. In the lungs, BRSV antigens were predominantly observed in epithelial cells of bronchioles and less frequently found in alveoli. In one case, antigens were detected only in the epithelium of the alveolar septae. The presence of antigen-positive cells was largely restricted to epithelial cells of these airways. In two cases, positive staining was also observed in cells and cellular debris in the exudate within the pulmonary airways. The clinical cases positive for BRSV antigens were observed mainly in young animals (2 to 12 month-old) from dairy herds. The main microscopic changes included bronchointerstitial pneumonia characterized by thickening of alveolar septae adjacent to airways by mononuclear cell infiltrates, and the presence of alveolar syncytial giant cells. In summary, the results demonstrate the suitability of the immunodetection of viral antigens in routinely fixed tissue specimens as a diagnostic tool for BRSV infection. Moreover, the findings provide further evidence of the importance of BRSV as a respiratory pathogen of young cattle in southeastern and southern Brazil.

Search and Paper SKU Analysis of Recipes Meeting EUPS Standard

The theoretical research of the study concentrated on finding theoretical frameworks to optimize the amount of needed stock keeping units (SKUs) in manufacturing industry. The goal was to find ways for a company to acquire an optimal collection of stock keeping units needed for manufacturing needed amount of end products. The research follows constructive research approach leaning towards practical problem solving. In the empirical part of this study, a recipe search tool was developed to an existing database used in the target company. The purpose of the tools was to find all the recipes meeting the EUPS performance standard and put the recipes in a ranking order using the data available in the database. The ranking of the recipes was formed from the combination of the performance measures and price of the recipes. In addition, the tool researched what kind of paper SKUs were needed to manufacture the best performing recipes. The tool developed during this process meets the requirements. It eases and makes it much faster to search for all the recipes meeting the EUPS standard. Furthermore, many future development possibilities for the tool were discovered while writing the thesis.

IFRS-standardien noudattaminen liikearvon raportoinnissa suomalaisissa listayhtiöissä

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia liikearvoon liittyvien IFRS 3- ja IAS 36 –standardien säännösten noudattamista suomalaisten korkean liikearvon määrän omaavien listayhtiöiden tilinpäätöksissä. Teoria muodostettiin tarkastelemalla aihepiirin tieteellisiä julkaisuja, sekä yritysten kirjanpitoa ohjailevia liikearvoon liittyviä säännöksiä. Tutkimusmenetelmä oli kvalitatiivinen, ja empiirisenä aineistona käytettiin viiden yrityksen tilinpäätöksiä vuodelta 2011. Yritykset valittiin tarkastelemalla liikearvon suhteellista osuutta omasta pääomasta. Analysointimenetelmänä käytettiin sisällönanalyysia, ja tutkimuksen runko muodostettiin tilintarkastukseen tarkoitetun tarkastuslistan avulla. Tutkimuksessa tuotettiin tarkkaa ja kuvailevaa tietoa säännösten noudattamisesta kohdeyrityksissä. IFRS 3- ja IAS 36 –standardeissa on määritelty tarkat esitysvaatimukset tilinpäätöksissä esitettävälle liikearvoon liittyvälle tiedolle. Esitettäviä tietoja ovat esimerkiksi kuvaus yritysostojen yhteydessä syntyneestä liikearvosta, sekä selvitys liikearvon arvonalentumistestauksessa käytetyistä avainoletuksista. Kohdeyritysten havaittiin noudattavan tutkimuksessa tarkasteltuja esitysvaatimuksia noin 94 % tarkkuudella. Virheet eivät keskittyneet tiettyihin esitysvaatimuksiin, vaan eri yritykset tekivät erilaisia virheitä liikearvon raportoinnissa.

Feasibility studies of the weldability of structural steels used in the offshore environment

The rising demand for oil and gas has made it very necessary for the oil and gas industries to explore the offshore. There is a huge resources which is available in the offshore. The search for oil and gas is faced with greater challenges because of the nature of the marine environment as it poses difficult and harsh conditions for the construction of offshore structures. The major problem of the construction of offshore structure is the ability to produce a sound weld that gives the whole structure the structural integrity needed to withstand the harsh environmental conditions. This research work presents the performance of typical offshore steels with improved weldability. The ability of reducing the carbon content of thermo-mechanically rolled steels down to 0.08% makes it possible to achieve good weldability, toughness and strength for high strength steels used in offshore applications. Importantly, the ideal welding procedure should be strictly followed as recommended. The fabrication process is as important as the welding procedure in achieving a sound weld which is free of weld defects such as hydrogen induced cracking, lamellar tearing and solidification cracking. This research work also considers the corrosion as it affects offshore structure and necessary measures to mitigate the problem caused by corrosion.

Das persönliche Glück auf dem unpersönlichen Markt. Deutsche und finnische Kontaktanzeigen im 20. Jahrhundert - eine kontrastive und diachrone Textsortenuntersuchung

Min avhandling är en diakronisk och kontrastiv undersökning av texttyper. Forskningsmaterialet består av kontaktannonser i tidningarna Süddeutsche Zeitung och Helsingin Sanomat under tiden 1900 – 1999. Materialet består av 652 tyska och 538 finska annonser. De undersökta annonserna har publicerats i maj och har samlats från ovannämnda tidningar vart tionde år. Materialet har analyserats med ett statistiskt SPSS-program. I avhandlingen analyseras utvecklingen av ovannämnda texttyp under hundra år i två olika kulturer, den tyska och den finska. Syftet med avhandlingen är att med hjälp av detta material finna språkliga och kulturella likheter och skillnader i kontaktannonser. Utgångspunkten är att språkliga uttryck avspeglar sin tids samhälleliga värderingar, vilka således också påverkar sökandet efter en livskamrat. Analysresultaten granskas sålunda i ett större samhälleligt sammanhang under olika decennier. Annonstexterna undersöks dock inte utgående från enskilda samhälleliga skeenden. Avhandlingen analyserar 13 olika informationsenheter i kontaktannonserna, huruvida dessa enheter förekommer under hela den aktuella perioden och om samma informationsenheter förekommer i annonser i de båda kulturerna. Avhandlingen är sålunda intra- och interlingual samt interkulturell. Genom denna metod får man fram de kännetecken som är betecknande för denna texttyp under en viss tid i de bägge kulturerna. Avhandlingen är indelad i tre delar. Den första delen ger bakgrundsinformation om äktenskapets och familjebegreppets historia samt om uppkomsten av den tyska och finska pressen. Den andra teoretiska delen behandlar text- och texttyplingvistik samt nuvarande forskning inom dessa områden. Den tredje och mest omfattade delen består av en kvalitativ och kvantitativ analys, som omfattar 11 olika forskningsdelar. Undersökningen visar att man i texttypen kontaktannonser kan upptäcka skillnader t ex redan däri att en tysk annons skiljer sig från en finsk vad längd och informationsmängd beträffar. En finsk annons förlitar sig i sin språkliga knapphet på att läsaren förstår kontexten i texttypen. Av avhandlingen framgår också att vid analys av texttyper bör deras historiska och kulturella kontext beaktas, eftersom analysen påvisar att texttyperna är historie- och kulturbundna.

Inbound marketing in practice. Case study: Lainaaja.fi

The general purpose of the thesis was to describe and explain the particularities of inbound marketing methods and the key advantages of those methods. Inbound marketing can be narrowed down to a set of marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling prospects towards a business and its products on the Internet by producing useful and relevant content to prospects. The main inbound marketing methods and channels were identified as blogging, content publishing, search engine optimization and social media. The best way to utilise these methods is producing great content that should cover subjects that interest the target group, which is usually a composition of buyers, existing customers and influencers, such as analysts and media The study revealed increase in Lainaaja.fi traffic and referral traffic sources that was firmly confirmed as statistically significant, while number of backlinks and SERP placement were clearly positively correlated, but not statistically significant. The number of new registered users along with new loan applicants and deposits did not show correlation with increased content producing. The conclusion of the study shows inbound marketing campaign clearly increasing website traffic and plausible help on getting better search engine results compared to control period. Implications are clear; inbound marketing is an activity that every business should consider implementing. But just producing content online is not enough; equal amount of work should be put into turning the visitors into customers. Further studies are recommended on using inbound marketing combined with monitoring of landing pages and conversion optimization to incoming visitors.

Content marketing and the significance of corporate branding

Tämän tutkielman tavoite on tutkia vahvan brandin merkitystä ja syitä, miksi yritykset käyttävät sisältömarkkinointia brandin rakentamisessa, sekä selvittää mitkä ovat yritysten sisältömarkkinointi-investointien tavoitteet, odotetut seuraukset ja koetut hyödyt ja tulokset. Teoriaosassa esitetään empiriaosaa varten tarvittava akateeminen taustatutkimustieto. Empiria on toteutettu puoli-struktroiduilla kahdenkeskisillä puhelinhaastatteuilla. Haastateltavina ovat työn toimeksiantajan Calcus Kustannus Oy:n viisi asiakasta. Näiden yritysten liikevaihto vaihtelee 23-75M€ välillä, ja yritykset toimivat pääosin suomen B2B yritysmarkkinoilla. Haastateltavat henkilöt ovat yrityksissä vastuussa markkinointipäätöksistä. Tulokset osoittavat, että vahvalla brandilla on erittäin suuri merkitys yrityksen kasvun ja menestyksen kannalta, ja että yritykset käyttävät sisältömarkkinointia brandin rakentamisessa, koska se kasvattaa brandipääomaa tehokkaasti. Sisältömarkkinoinnilla yritykset pyrkivät kasvttamaan heidän asiakkaidensa branditietoisuutta ja brandiuskollisuutta, sekä brandinsa uskottavuutta jakamalla aidosti kiinnostavaa ja lisäarvoa tuottavaa sisältöä. Lisäksi yrityksen asiantuntija-, sekä mielipidejohtajaroolin vahvistaminen koettiin erittäin tärkeäksi. Sisältömarkkinoinnin koetaan olevan brandin rakentamisessa tehokkaampaa kuin traditionaalinen markkinointi, minkä vuoksi yritykset tulevat kasvattamaan sen osuutta markkinointisuunnitelmissaan tulevaisuudessa.

On the development of an unstructured grid solver for inert and reactive high speed flow simulations

An unstructured grid Euler solver for reactive compressible flow applications is presented. The method is implemented in a cell centered, finite volume context for unstructured triangular grids. Three different schemes for spatial discretization are implemented and analyzed. Time march is implemented in a time-split fashion with independent integrators for the flow and chemistry equations. The capability implemented is tested for inert flows in a hypersonic inlet and for inert and reactive supersonic flows over a 2-D wedge. The results of the different schemes are compared with each other and with independent calculations using a structured grid code. The strengths and the possible weaknesses of the proposed methods are discussed.

Solution of aerospace problems using structured and unstructured strategies

Products developed at industries, institutes and research centers are expected to have high level of quality and performance, having a minimum waste, which require efficient and robust tools to numerically simulate stringent project conditions with great reliability. In this context, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) plays an important role and the present work shows two numerical algorithms that are used in the CFD community to solve the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations applied to typical aerospace and aeronautical problems. Particularly, unstructured discretization of the spatial domain has gained special attention by the international community due to its ease in discretizing complex spatial domains. This work has the main objective of illustrating some advantages and disadvantages of numerical algorithms using structured and unstructured spatial discretization of the flow governing equations. Numerical methods include a finite volume formulation and the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations are applied to solve a transonic nozzle problem, a low supersonic airfoil problem and a hypersonic inlet problem. In a structured context, these problems are solved using MacCormackÂ’s implicit algorithm with Steger and WarmingÂ’s flux vector splitting technique, while, in an unstructured context, Jameson and MavriplisÂ’ explicit algorithm is used. Convergence acceleration is obtained using a spatially variable time stepping procedure.

Welding current effect on diffusible hydrogen content in flux cored arc weld metal

The application of flux cored arc welding (FCAW) has increased in manufacturing and fabrication. Even though FCAW is well known for its good capability in producing quality welds, few reports have been published on the cause of the relatively high diffusible hydrogen content in the weld metal and its relation with the ingredients used in the wire production and with the welding parameters (mainly welding current). This paper describes experiments where data obtained from weld metal diffusible hydrogen analysis, metal droplet collection, and high-speed recording of metal droplet transfer were used to evaluate the effect of welding current on diffusible hydrogen content in the weld metal. The results from gas chromatography analysis showed that weld metal hydrogen content indeed increased with welding current. A polynomial regressional analysis concluded that hydrogen increase with current was better described by a linear function with proportional constant of approximately 0.7 or 70%. Different from the GMA welding transfer behavior, statistical analysis showed only a small increase in metal droplet size with increasing current. The metal transfer mode remained in the globular range for currents between 100 and 150 A. The most surprising findings were with the high-speed cinematography recording. Observing the high speed movies, it was possible to see that at low current, "unmelted" flux sporadically touched the weld pool but at higher current, the flux remained touching the weld pool during the whole time of droplet formation and transfer. It is believed that since the flux has ingredients that contain hydrogen, hydrogen passes through the arc undisturbed, going to the weld bead intact and increasing the hydrogen content in the weld metal. Another important observation is regarding to droplet size. Droplet size increased with increasing current because forces from decomposed gases from the flux could sustain the droplets, retarding their transfer and allowing them to grow.

Serva ad ministrare : tjänandets ethos i vårdledarskap

Avhandlingen syftar till att ur ett vårdvetenskapligt perspektiv beskriva och upptäcka tjänandets meningsinnehåll samt fördjupa förståelsekunskap om tjänandets ethos i förhållande till vårdledarskap med en inriktning på det vårdadministrativa. Syftet är även att skapa en idealmodell som öppnar för en ny eller annorlunda förståelsehorisont för tjänandets ethos i vårdledarskap. Kunskapssökandet sker genom följande delstudier: (1) I begreppsbestämningen genomförs begreppsanalyser av tjäna och tjänst med avsikt att öppna för en grundförståelse och tankestruktur i forskningsuppgiften. (2) I det idéhistoriska spåras tjänandets ontologiska arv och idémönster fram genom tolkning av historiska källornas texter från 1900-talets första hälft i ljuset av sjuksköterskeledarskap utgående från Sophie Mannerheims, Bertha Wellins och Bergljot Larssons idéer och tankeströmningar. (3) Sökandet fortsätter i dagens kliniska kontextbas genom kvalitativa djupintervjuer med 30 deltagare (vårdledare och vårdare) från Finland, Sverige och Norge. Förförståelsen och forskningens teoretiska perspektiv har rötter i Erikssons caring science-tradition och vårdvetenskapens ontologiska grundantaganden som utvecklats vid Åbo Akademi, Enheten för vårdvetenskap i Vasa. Forskningsansatsen är inspirerad av H-G Gadamers filosofiska hermeneutik. Designen är explorativ-deskriptiv, idiografisk och implicerar ett hypotetisk-deduktivt tillvägagångssätt. Tjänandet och vårdledarskapets ethos upptäcks och tolkas genom det metodologiska närmandet: Erikssons hermeneutiska begreppsbestämningsmodell, idéhistoriska läsakt och hermeneutiska läsakt. Materialet bildar förståelsehorisonter genom den hermeneutiska dialogens successiva och oändliga rörelse. Horisonterna reflekteras mot teorikärnan för att öppna för ny förståelse av tjänandets meningsinnehåll, vårdledarskap och vårdadministration. I slutandet sker en horisontsammansmältning och en reflektiv anslutning till vårdvetenskapens teorikärna som visar hur tjänandets ethos blir evident i vårdledarskap. Resultatet visar att vårdledarskap som är tjänande för patienten och vårdkulturen synliggörs i vårdadministrationens kontext genom huvudets skärpa, handens gärningar och hjärtats visdom. Tjänandets sanna, goda och sköna tidlösa rörelse är riktad mot hälsa och helande. I dag sammankopplas tjänande inom vårdorganisationer med hälsoekonomiska förhållanden, effektivitet, produktivitet och rationalitet, vilket strider mot tjänandets värdegrund, människans värdighet och respekt för livet. Vårdorganisationernas etiska ansvar är att fungera som samhälleliga förebilder, tillrättalägga för vårdadministrationernas tjänande och stå i patientens tjänst. Gestaltningen av tjänandets ethos i vårdledarskap öppnar för nya diskurser, riktningar, visioner och handlingar i den vårdadministrativa verkligheten. Avhandlingen ger vårdvetenskapens systematiska grundforskning ett teoritillskott av fördjupad förståelse av tjänandets och vårdledarskapets historiska och samtida ontologiska evidens och ethos med applikationen på klinisk vårdvetenskap.

In search of information systems value : a case study of the EHR benefits realisation efforts of three Swedish hospitals.

The Swedish public health care organisation could very well be undergoing its most significant change since its specialisation during the late 19th and early 20th century. At the heart of this change is a move from using manual patient journals to electronic health records (EHR). EHR are complex integrated organisational wide information systems (IS) that promise great benefits and value as well as presenting great challenges to the organisation. The Swedish public health care is not the first organisation to implement integrated IS, and by no means alone in their quest for realising the potential benefits and value that it has to offer. As organisations invest in IS they embark on a journey of value-creation and capture. A journey where a costbased approach towards their IS-investments is replaced with a value-centric focus, and where the main challenges lie in the practical day-to-day task of finding ways to intertwine technology, people and business processes. This has however proven to be a problematic task. The problematic situation arises from a shift of perspective regarding how to manage IS in order to gain value. This is a shift from technology delivery to benefits delivery; from an ISimplementation plan to a change management plan. The shift gives rise to challenges related to the inability of IS and the elusiveness of value. As a response to these challenges the field of IS-benefits management has emerged offering a framework and a process in order to better understand and formalise benefits realisation activities. In this thesis the benefits realisation efforts of three Swedish hospitals within the same county council are studied. The thesis focuses on the participants of benefits analysis projects; their perceptions, judgments, negotiations and descriptions of potential benefits. The purpose is to address the process where organisations seek to identify which potential IS-benefits to pursue and realise, this in order to better understand what affects the process, so that realisation actions of potential IS-benefits could be supported. A qualitative case study research design is adopted and provides a framework for sample selection, data collection, and data analysis. It also provides a framework for discussions of validity, reliability and generalizability. Findings displayed a benefits fluctuation, which showed that participants’ perception of what constituted potential benefits and value changed throughout the formal benefits management process. Issues like structure, knowledge, expectation and experience affected perception differently, and this in the end changed the amount and composition of potential benefits and value. Five dimensions of benefits judgment were identified and used by participants when finding accommodations of potential benefits and value to pursue. Identified dimensions affected participants’ perceptions, which in turn affected the amount and composition of potential benefits. During the formal benefits management process participants shifted between judgment dimensions. These movements emerged through debates and interactions between participants. Judgments based on what was perceived as expected due to one’s role and perceived best for the organisation as a whole were the two dominant benefits judgment dimensions. A benefits negotiation was identified. Negotiations were divided into two main categories, rational and irrational, depending on participants’ drive when initiating and participating in negotiations. In each category three different types of negotiations were identified having different characteristics and generating different outcomes. There was also a benefits negotiation process identified that displayed management challenges corresponding to its five phases. A discrepancy was also found between how IS-benefits are spoken of and how actions of IS benefits realisation are understood. This was a discrepancy between an evaluation and a realisation focus towards IS value creation. An evaluation focus described IS-benefits as well-defined and measurable effects and a realisation focus spoke of establishing and managing an on-going place of value creation. The notion of valuescape was introduced in order to describe and support the understanding of IS value creation. Valuescape corresponded to a realisation focus and outlined a value configuration consisting of activities, logic, structure, drivers and role of IS.

Sourgrass densities affecting the initial growth and macronutrient content of coffee plants

The objective of this work was to evaluate the coexistence effects of coffee (Coffea arabica) with densities of sourgrass (Digitaria insularis) on crop macronutrient content and plant growth. The experiment was conducted in plots where one coffee plant was maintained in coexistence with 0 (weed-free check), 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 sourgrass plants, using a completely randomized design with three replicates. Reduction of coffee growth and macronutrient content, except P that increased, started when the coexistence occurred with sourgrass plants in a density of 1 plant per plot. In general, macronutrient content was reduced by 18-50%, while growth characteristics were reduced by 9-41%, when coffee plants coexisted with 16 plants of sourgrass. Thus, sourgrass competition for nutrients was a strong factor limiting coffee plant growth.

Assessment of Young Learners’ English Proficiency in Bilingual Content Instruction CLIL

This applied linguistic study in the field of second language acquisition investigated the assessment practices of class teachers as well as the challenges and visions of language assessment in bilingual content instruction (CLIL) at primary level in Finnish basic education. Furthermore, pupils’ and their parents’ perceptions of language assessment and LangPerform computer simulations as an alternative, modern assessment method in CLIL contexts were examined. The study was conducted for descriptive and developmental purposes in three phases: 1) a CLIL assessment survey; 2) simulation 1; and 3) simulation 2. All phases had a varying number of participants. The population of this mixed methods study were CLIL class teachers, their pupils and the pupils’ parents. The sampling was multi-staged and based on probability and random sampling. The data were triangulated. Altogether 42 CLIL class teachers nationwide, 109 pupils from the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade as well as 99 parents from two research schools in South-Western Finland participated in the CLIL assessment survey followed by an audio-recorded theme interview of volunteers (10 teachers, 20 pupils and 7 parents). The simulation experimentations 1 and 2 produced 146 pupil and 39 parental questionnaires as well as video interviews of volunteered pupils. The data were analysed both quantitatively using percentages and numerical frequencies and qualitatively employing thematic content analysis. Based on the data, language assessment in primary CLIL is not an established practice. It largely appears to be infrequent, incidental, implicit and based on impressions rather than evidence or the curriculum. The most used assessment methods were teacher observation, bilingual tests and dialogic interaction, and the least used were portfolios, simulations and peer assessment. Although language assessment was generally perceived as important by teachers, a fifth of them did not gather assessment information systematically, and 38% scarcely gave linguistic feedback to pupils. Both pupils and parents wished to receive more information on CLIL language issues; 91% of pupils claimed to receive feedback rarely or occasionally, and 63% of them wished to get more information on their linguistic coping in CLIL subjects. Of the parents, 76% wished to receive more information on the English proficiency of their children and their linguistic development. This may be a response to indirect feedback practices identified in this study. There are several challenges related to assessment; the most notable is the lack of a CLIL curriculum, language objectives and common ground principles of assessment. Three diverse approaches to language in CLIL that appear to affect teachers’ views on language assessment were identified: instrumental (language as a tool), dual (language as a tool and object of learning) and eclectic (miscellaneous views, e.g. affective factors prioritised). LangPerform computer simulations seem to be perceived as an appropriate alternative assessment method in CLIL. It is strongly recommended that the fundamentals for assessment (curricula and language objectives) and a mutual assessment scheme should be determined and stakeholders’ knowledge base of CLIL strengthened. The principles of adequate assessment in primary CLIL are identified as well as several appropriate assessment methods suggested.