The role of trust and its evolution in distributed teams in a multinational organisation

Tutkimuksen päätavoitteena on ollut selvittää miten kansallinen ja organisaatiokulttuuri, niihin liittyvät normit ja arvot edesauttavat tai vaikeuttavat luottamuksen kehittymistä monikulttuurisissa tiimeissä maailmanlaajuisessa organisaatiossa. Tutkimuksen avulla haluttiin myös selvittää miten luottamus kehittyy hajautetuissa monikansallisissa tiimeissä WorldCom Internationalissa. Empiirinen tutkimusmenetelmä perustuu kvalitatiivisiin teemahaastatteluihin, jotka tehtiin WorldComin työntekijöille. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, ettei yhteisten sosiaalisten normien merkitys luottamuksen syntymiselle ole niin merkittävä, koska WorldComin yhtenäiset toimintatavat sekä hallitseva amerikkalaisen emoyhtiön "kotikulttuuri" muodostavat yhtenäiset toimintalinjat tiimeissä. Tietokonevälitteisen kommunikoinnin jatkuva käyttö on edesauttanut työntekijöiden ns. sosiaalisen älyn kehittymistä, sillä henkilökohtaisen tapaamisen puuttuminen kehittää vastaavasti taitoja aistia ja tulkita sähköpostien tai puhelinneuvotteluiden aikana välittyviä vastapuolen "näkymättömiä" vihjeitä.

A Fair and Secure Cluster Formation Process for Ad Hoc Networks

An efficient approach for organizing large ad hoc networks is to divide the nodesinto multiple clusters and designate, for each cluster, a clusterhead which is responsible forholding intercluster control information. The role of a clusterhead entails rights and duties.On the one hand, it has a dominant position in front of the others because it manages theconnectivity and has access to other node¿s sensitive information. But on the other hand, theclusterhead role also has some associated costs. Hence, in order to prevent malicious nodesfrom taking control of the group in a fraudulent way and avoid selfish attacks from suitablenodes, the clusterhead needs to be elected in a secure way. In this paper we present a novelsolution that guarantees the clusterhead is elected in a cheat-proof manner.

Thermal and structural study of guava (Psidium guajava L) powders obtained by two dehydration methods

Two food products (powders) were obtained by hot-air drying or lyophilisation methods on the whole guava fruits. The powders were characterised by sensory and thermal analyses (TGA-DSC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thermal, morphological and structural characterisations showed a similar behaviour for the two solids. TGA-DSC and IR showed the presence of pectin as the main constituent of solids. A semi-crystalline profile was evidenced by XRD, and lamellar/spherical morphologies were observed by SEM. Sensory analyses revealed an aroma highly related to guava. These value-added food products are an alternative to process guava and avoid loss during postharvest handling.

Evaluating the success of software development projects in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus

The size and complexity of projects in the software development are growing very fast. At the same time, the proportion of successful projects is still quite low according to the previous research. Although almost every project's team knows main areas of responsibility which would help to finish project on time and on budget, this knowledge is rarely used in practice. So it is important to evaluate the success of existing software development projects and to suggest a method for evaluating success chances which can be used in the software development projects. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the success of projects in the selected geographical region (Russia-Ukraine-Belarus). The second aim is to compare existing models of success prediction and to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Research was done as an empirical study. A survey with structured forms and theme-based interviews were used as the data collection methods. The information gathering was done in two stages. At the first stage, project manager or someone with similar responsibilities answered the questions over Internet. At the second stage, the participant was interviewed; his or her answers were discussed and refined. It made possible to get accurate information about each project and to avoid errors. It was found out that there are many problems in the software development projects. These problems are widely known and were discussed in literature many times. The research showed that most of the projects have problems with schedule, requirements, architecture, quality, and budget. Comparison of two models of success prediction presented that The Standish Group overestimates problems in project. At the same time, McConnell's model can help to identify problems in time and avoid troubles in future. A framework for evaluating success chances in distributed projects was suggested. The framework is similar to The Standish Group model but it was customized for distributed projects.

Thinking Outside the Box: Enhancing Science Teaching by Combining (Instead of Contrasting) Laboratory and Simulation Activities

The focus of the present work was on 10- to 12-year-old elementary school students’ conceptual learning outcomes in science in two specific inquiry-learning environments, laboratory and simulation. The main aim was to examine if it would be more beneficial to combine than contrast simulation and laboratory activities in science teaching. It was argued that the status quo where laboratories and simulations are seen as alternative or competing methods in science teaching is hardly an optimal solution to promote students’ learning and understanding in various science domains. It was hypothesized that it would make more sense and be more productive to combine laboratories and simulations. Several explanations and examples were provided to back up the hypothesis. In order to test whether learning with the combination of laboratory and simulation activities can result in better conceptual understanding in science than learning with laboratory or simulation activities alone, two experiments were conducted in the domain of electricity. In these experiments students constructed and studied electrical circuits in three different learning environments: laboratory (real circuits), simulation (virtual circuits), and simulation-laboratory combination (real and virtual circuits were used simultaneously). In order to measure and compare how these environments affected students’ conceptual understanding of circuits, a subject knowledge assessment questionnaire was administered before and after the experimentation. The results of the experiments were presented in four empirical studies. Three of the studies focused on learning outcomes between the conditions and one on learning processes. Study I analyzed learning outcomes from experiment I. The aim of the study was to investigate if it would be more beneficial to combine simulation and laboratory activities than to use them separately in teaching the concepts of simple electricity. Matched-trios were created based on the pre-test results of 66 elementary school students and divided randomly into a laboratory (real circuits), simulation (virtual circuits) and simulation-laboratory combination (real and virtual circuits simultaneously) conditions. In each condition students had 90 minutes to construct and study various circuits. The results showed that studying electrical circuits in the simulation–laboratory combination environment improved students’ conceptual understanding more than studying circuits in simulation and laboratory environments alone. Although there were no statistical differences between simulation and laboratory environments, the learning effect was more pronounced in the simulation condition where the students made clear progress during the intervention, whereas in the laboratory condition students’ conceptual understanding remained at an elementary level after the intervention. Study II analyzed learning outcomes from experiment II. The aim of the study was to investigate if and how learning outcomes in simulation and simulation-laboratory combination environments are mediated by implicit (only procedural guidance) and explicit (more structure and guidance for the discovery process) instruction in the context of simple DC circuits. Matched-quartets were created based on the pre-test results of 50 elementary school students and divided randomly into a simulation implicit (SI), simulation explicit (SE), combination implicit (CI) and combination explicit (CE) conditions. The results showed that when the students were working with the simulation alone, they were able to gain significantly greater amount of subject knowledge when they received metacognitive support (explicit instruction; SE) for the discovery process than when they received only procedural guidance (implicit instruction: SI). However, this additional scaffolding was not enough to reach the level of the students in the combination environment (CI and CE). A surprising finding in Study II was that instructional support had a different effect in the combination environment than in the simulation environment. In the combination environment explicit instruction (CE) did not seem to elicit much additional gain for students’ understanding of electric circuits compared to implicit instruction (CI). Instead, explicit instruction slowed down the inquiry process substantially in the combination environment. Study III analyzed from video data learning processes of those 50 students that participated in experiment II (cf. Study II above). The focus was on three specific learning processes: cognitive conflicts, self-explanations, and analogical encodings. The aim of the study was to find out possible explanations for the success of the combination condition in Experiments I and II. The video data provided clear evidence about the benefits of studying with the real and virtual circuits simultaneously (the combination conditions). Mostly the representations complemented each other, that is, one representation helped students to interpret and understand the outcomes they received from the other representation. However, there were also instances in which analogical encoding took place, that is, situations in which the slightly discrepant results between the representations ‘forced’ students to focus on those features that could be generalised across the two representations. No statistical differences were found in the amount of experienced cognitive conflicts and self-explanations between simulation and combination conditions, though in self-explanations there was a nascent trend in favour of the combination. There was also a clear tendency suggesting that explicit guidance increased the amount of self-explanations. Overall, the amount of cognitive conflicts and self-explanations was very low. The aim of the Study IV was twofold: the main aim was to provide an aggregated overview of the learning outcomes of experiments I and II; the secondary aim was to explore the relationship between the learning environments and students’ prior domain knowledge (low and high) in the experiments. Aggregated results of experiments I & II showed that on average, 91% of the students in the combination environment scored above the average of the laboratory environment, and 76% of them scored also above the average of the simulation environment. Seventy percent of the students in the simulation environment scored above the average of the laboratory environment. The results further showed that overall students seemed to benefit from combining simulations and laboratories regardless of their level of prior knowledge, that is, students with either low or high prior knowledge who studied circuits in the combination environment outperformed their counterparts who studied in the laboratory or simulation environment alone. The effect seemed to be slightly bigger among the students with low prior knowledge. However, more detailed inspection of the results showed that there were considerable differences between the experiments regarding how students with low and high prior knowledge benefitted from the combination: in Experiment I, especially students with low prior knowledge benefitted from the combination as compared to those students that used only the simulation, whereas in Experiment II, only students with high prior knowledge seemed to benefit from the combination relative to the simulation group. Regarding the differences between simulation and laboratory groups, the benefits of using a simulation seemed to be slightly higher among students with high prior knowledge. The results of the four empirical studies support the hypothesis concerning the benefits of using simulation along with laboratory activities to promote students’ conceptual understanding of electricity. It can be concluded that when teaching students about electricity, the students can gain better understanding when they have an opportunity to use the simulation and the real circuits in parallel than if they have only the real circuits or only a computer simulation available, even when the use of the simulation is supported with the explicit instruction. The outcomes of the empirical studies can be considered as the first unambiguous evidence on the (additional) benefits of combining laboratory and simulation activities in science education as compared to learning with laboratories and simulations alone.

How and why to measure the germination process?

In the last two centuries, papers have been published including measurements of the germination process. High diversity of mathematical expressions has made comparisons between papers and some times the interpretation of results difficult. Thus, in this paper is included a review about measurements of the germination process, with an analysis of the several mathematical expressions included in the specific literature, recovering the history, sense, and limitations of some germination measurements. Among the measurements included in this paper are the germinability, germination time, coefficient of uniformity of germination (CUG), coefficient of variation of the germination time (CVt), germination rate (mean rate, weighted mean rate, coefficient of velocity, germination rate of George, Timson’s index, GV or Czabator’s index; Throneberry and Smith’s method and its adaptations, including Maguire’s rate; ERI or emergence rate index, germination index, and its modifications), uncertainty associated to the distribution of the relative frequency of germination (U), and synchronization index (Z). The limits of the germination measurements were included to make the interpretation and decisions during comparisons easier. Time, rate, homogeneity, and synchrony are aspects that can be measured, informing the dynamics of the germination process. These characteristics are important not only for physiologists and seed technologists, but also for ecologists because it is possible to predict the degree of successful of a species based on the capacity of their harvest seed to spread the germination through time, permitting the recruitment in the environment of some part of the seedlings formed.

Lack of mutations of exon 2 of the MEN1 gene in endocrine and nonendocrine sporadic tumors

In addition to the mutations that underlie most cases of the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) syndrome, somatic mutations of the MEN1 gene have also been described in sporadic tumors like gastrinomas, insulinomas and bronchial carcinoid neoplasm. We examined exon 2 of this gene, where most of the mutations have been described, in 148 endocrine and nonendocrine sporadic tumors. DNA was obtained by phenol/chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation from 92 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples, and from 40 fresh tumor tissue samples. We used 5 pairs of primers to encompass the complete coding sequence of exon 2 of the MEN1 gene that was screened by the polymerase chain reaction-single-stranded conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) technique in 78 sporadic thyroid cancers: 28 follicular adenomas, 35 papillary carcinomas, 14 follicular carcinomas, and 1 anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. We also examined 46 adrenal lesions (3 hyperplasias, 3 adenomas and 35 adrenocortical carcinomas, 2 pheochromocytomas, 2 ganglioneuroblastomas, and 1 lymphoma) and 24 breast cancers (6 noninvasive, 16 infiltrating ductal, and 2 invasive lobular tumors). The PCR product of 5 tumors suspected to present band shifts by SSCP was cloned. Direct sense and antisense sequencing did not identify mutations. These results suggest that the MEN1 gene is not important in breast, thyroid or adrenal sporadic tumorigenesis. Because the frequency of mutations varies significantly among tumor subgroups and allelic deletions are frequently observed at 11q13 in thyroid and adrenal cancers, another tumor suppressor gene residing in this region is likely to be involved in the tumorigenesis of these neoplasms.

Dimensions and dynamics in integrin function

Integrins play crucial roles in cell adhesion, migration, and signaling by providing transmembrane links between the extracellular matrix and the cytoskeleton. Integrins cluster in macromolecular complexes to generate cell-matrix adhesions such as focal adhesions. In this mini-review, we compare certain integrin-based biological responses and signaling during cell interactions with standard 2D cell culture versus 3D matrices. Besides responding to the composition of the matrix, cells sense and react to physical properties that include three-dimensionality and rigidity. In routine cell culture, fibroblasts and mesenchymal cells appear to use focal adhesions as anchors. They then use intracellular actomyosin contractility and dynamic, directional integrin movements to stretch cell-surface fibronectin and to generate characteristic long fibrils of fibronectin in "fibrillar adhesions". Some cells in culture proceed to produce dense, three-dimensional matrices similar to in vivo matrix, as opposed to the flat, rigid, two-dimensional surfaces habitually used for cell culture. Cells within such more natural 3D matrices form a distinctive class of adhesion termed "3D-matrix adhesions". These 3D adhesions show distinctive morphology and molecular composition. Their formation is heavily dependent on interactions between integrin alpha5ß1 and fibronectin. Cells adhere much more rapidly to 3D matrices. They also show more rapid morphological changes, migration, and proliferation compared to most 2D matrices or 3D collagen gels. Particularly notable are low levels of tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase and moderate increases in activated mitogen-activated protein kinase. These findings underscore the importance of the dimensionality and dynamics of matrix substrates in cellular responses to the extracellular matrix.

Diurnal variation of vascular diameter and reactivity in healthy young men

The higher incidence of cardiovascular events in the morning is accompanied by an increased vascular tone. However, there are few published studies designed to evaluate the diurnal variation of vascular and endothelial parameters in healthy subjects. In the present investigation, we evaluated the diurnal variation in brachial artery diameter (BAD), flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and endothelium-independent dilation (NFMD) in a homogeneous sample of healthy non-smoker young men. Fifty subjects aged 20.8 ± 0.3 years (range: 18 to 25 years) were investigated by brachial artery ultrasound. Exclusion criteria were female gender and evidence of clinically significant health problems, including obesity. Volunteers were asked to rest and avoid fat meals as well as alcoholic beverages 48 h before and until completion of the evaluations. BAD, FMD and NFMD were measured at 7 am, 5 pm, and 10 pm and tested by repeated measures ANOVA. BAD was smaller at 7 am (mean ± SEM, 3.8 ± 0.1 mm) in comparison with 5 pm (3.9 ± 0.1) and 10 pm (4.0 ± 0.1 mm; P < 0.001). FMD values did not change significantly during the day, while NFMD increased more at 7 am (18.5 ± 1.1%), when compared to 15.5 ± 0.9% at 10 pm and 15.5 ± 0.9% at 5 pm (P = 0.04). The physiological state of vasoconstriction after awakening, with preserved capability to dilate in the morning, should be considered to be part of the healthy cardiovascular adaptation before considering later life risk factors and endothelial dysfunction.

Effect of methylprednisolone on perivascular pulmonary edema, inflammatory infiltrate, VEGF and TGF-beta immunoexpression in the remaining lungs of rats after left pneumonectomy

Pneumonectomy is associated with high rates of morbimortality, with postpneumonectomy pulmonary edema being one of the leading causes. An intrinsic inflammatory process following the operation has been considered in its physiopathology. The use of corticosteroids is related to prevention of this edema, but no experimental data are available to support this hypothesis. We evaluated the effect of methylprednisolone on the remaining lungs of rats submitted to left pneumonectomy concerning edema and inflammatory markers. Forty male Wistar rats weighing 300 g underwent left pneumonectomy and were randomized to receive corticosteroids or not. Methylprednisolone at a dose of 10 mg/kg was given before the surgery. After recovery, the animals were sacrificed at 48 and 72 h, when the pO2/FiO2 ratio was determined. Right lung perivascular edema was measured by the index between perivascular and vascular area and neutrophil density by manual count. Tissue expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) were evaluated by immunohistochemistry light microscopy. There was perivascular edema formation after 72 h in both groups (P = 0.0031). No difference was observed between operated animals that received corticosteroids and those that did not concerning the pO2/FiO2 ratio, neutrophil density or TGF-β expression. The tissue expression of VEGF was elevated in the animals that received methylprednisolone both 48 and 72 h after surgery (P = 0.0243). Methylprednisolone was unable to enhance gas exchange and avoid an inflammatory infiltrate and TGF-β expression also showed that the inflammatory process was not correlated with pulmonary edema formation. However, the overexpression of VEGF in this group showed that methylprednisolone is related to this elevation.

Periodic mechanical stress activates MEK1/2-ERK1/2 mitogenic signals in rat chondrocytes through Src and PLCγ1

The mitogenic effects of periodic mechanical stress on chondrocytes have been studied extensively but the mechanisms whereby chondrocytes sense and respond to periodic mechanical stress remain a matter of debate. We explored the signal transduction pathways of chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis under periodic mechanical stress. In particular, we sought to identify the role of the MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signaling pathway in chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis following cyclic physiologic mechanical compression. Under periodic mechanical stress, both rat chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis were significantly increased (P < 0.05) and were associated with increases in the phosphorylation of Src, PLCγ1, MEK1/2, and ERK1/2 (P < 0.05). Pretreatment with the MEK1/2-ERK1/2 selective inhibitor, PD98059, and shRNA targeted to ERK1/2 reduced periodic mechanical stress-induced chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis (P < 0.05), while the phosphorylation levels of Src-Tyr418 and PLCγ1-Tyr783 were not inhibited. Proliferation, matrix synthesis and phosphorylation of MEK1/2-Ser217/221 and ERK1/2-Thr202/Tyr204 were inhibited after pretreatment with the PLCγ1 inhibitor U73122 in chondrocytes in response to periodic mechanical stress (P < 0.05), while the phosphorylation site of Src-Tyr418 was not affected. Inhibition of Src activity with PP2 and shRNA targeted to Src abrogated chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis (P < 0.05) and attenuated PLCγ1, MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 activation in chondrocytes subjected to periodic mechanical stress (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that periodic mechanical stress promotes chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis in part through the Src-PLCγ1-MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signaling pathway, which links these three important signaling molecules into a mitogenic cascade.

The role of nuclear and other conventional power plants in the flexible energy system

This thesis reviews the role of nuclear and conventional power plants in the future energy system. The review is done by utilizing freely accesible publications in addition to generating load duration and ramping curves for Nordic energy system. As the aim of the future energy system is to reduce GHG-emissions and avoid further global warming, the need for flexible power generation increases with the increased share of intermittent renewables. The goal of this thesis is to offer extensive understanding of possibilities and restrictions that nuclear power and conventional power plants have regarding flexible and sustainable generation. As a conclusion, nuclear power is the only technology that is able to provide large scale GHG-free power output variations with good ramping values. Most of the currently operating plants are able to take part in load following as the requirement to do so is already required to be included in the plant design. Load duration and ramping curves produced prove that nuclear power is able to cover most of the annual generation variation and ramping needs in the Nordic energy system. From the conventional power generation methods, only biomass combustion can be considered GHG-free because biomass is considered carbon neutral. CFB combusted biomass has good load follow capabilities in good ramping and turndown ratios. All the other conventional power generation technologies generate GHG-emissions and therefore the use of these technologies should be reduced.

Resuming growth in Latin America: short and long term policies

The authors of this paper assert that the paralysis of the state generated by the crises of the 1970s and 1980s deprived the economies of the region of an important lever to resume and sustain growth. They thus maintain that to overcome stagnation it will be necessary to reconstruct the state's capacity to implement pro-growth policies. Following Keynes and Kalecki's ideas, but also classical development economists, the authors argue, first, that short-term macroeconomic policies, to reduce unemployment and to increase the degree of capacity utilization, should be used to promote the generation of profits to firms and to wake up entrepreneurs' animal spirits. Short-term expansionary policies should be coupled with measures to improve competitiveness and avoid balance of payments problems. They also claim that alternatives to the liberal programme will fail unless a pro-growth strategy is adopted which includes both short- and long-term policies. They thus propose that long-term policies must complete the package, signaling: a) sustained increases of effective demand in the future; and b) investment priorities to ensure that capacities will be created in strategic sectors and branches of the economy.

Development of a New Welding Product Quality Control and Management System Model for China

The Chinese welding industry is growing every year due to rapid development of the Chinese economy. Increasingly, companies around the world are looking to use Chinese enterprises as their cooperation partners. However, the Chinese welding industry also has its weaknesses, such as relatively low quality and weak management. A modern, advanced welding management system appropriate for local socio-economic conditions is required to enable Chinese enterprises to enhance further their business development. The thesis researches the design and implementation of a new welding quality management system for China. This new system is called ‗welding production quality control management model in China‘ (WQMC). Constructed on the basis of analysis of a survey and in-company interviews, the welding management system comprises the following different elements and perspectives: a ‗Localized congenital existing problem resolution strategies‘ (LCEPRS) database, a ‗human factor designed training system‘ (HFDT) training strategy, the theory of modular design, ISO 3834 requirements, total welding management (TWM), and lean manufacturing (LEAN) theory. The methods used in the research are literature review, questionnaires, interviews, and the author‘s model design experiences and observations, i.e. the approach is primarily qualitative and phenomenological. The thesis describes the design and implementation of a HFDT strategy in Chinese welding companies. Such training is an effective way to increase employees‘ awareness of quality and issues associated with quality assurance. The study identified widely existing problems in the Chinese welding industry and constructed a LCEPRS database that can be used in efforts to mitigate and avoid common problems. The work uses the theory of modular design, TWM and LEAN as tools for the implementation of the WQMC system.

Cognition in Seemingly Riskless Choices and Judgments.

We instillate rational cognition and learning in seemingly riskless choices and judgments. Preferences and possibilities are given in a stochastic sense and based on revisable expectations. the theory predicts experimental preference reversals and passes a sharp econometric test of the status quo bias drawn from a field study.