An MD-PhD program in Brazil: students’ concepts of science and of common sense

In 1995, a pioneering MD-PhD program was initiated in Brazil for the training of medical scientists in experimental sciences at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The program’s aim was achieved with respect to publication of theses in the form of papers with international visibility and also in terms of fostering the scientific careers of the graduates. The expansion of this type of program is one of the strategies for improving the preparation of biomedical researchers in Brazil. A noteworthy absence of interest in carrying out clinical research limits the ability of young Brazilian physicians to solve biomedical problems. To understand the students’ views of science, we used qualitative and quantitative triangulation methods, as well as participant observation to evaluate the students’ concepts of science and common sense. Subjective aspects were clearly less evident in their concepts of science. There was a strong concern about "methodology", "truth" and "usefulness". "Intuition", "creativity" and "curiosity" were the least mentioned thematic categories. Students recognized the value of intuition when it appeared as an explicit option but they did not refer to it spontaneously. Common sense was associated with "consensus", "opinion" and ideas that "require scientific validation". Such observations indicate that MD-PhD students share with their senior academic colleagues the same reluctance to consider common sense as a valid adjunct for the solution of scientific problems. Overcoming this difficulty may be an important step toward stimulating the interest of physicians in pursuing experimental research.

Coping with genetic diversity: the contribution of pathogen and human genomics to modern vaccinology

Vaccine development faces major difficulties partly because of genetic variation in both infectious organisms and humans. This causes antigenic variation in infectious agents and a high interindividual variability in the human response to the vaccine. The exponential growth of genome sequence information has induced a shift from conventional culture-based to genome-based vaccinology, and allows the tackling of challenges in vaccine development due to pathogen genetic variability. Additionally, recent advances in immunogenetics and genomics should help in the understanding of the influence of genetic factors on the interindividual and interpopulation variations in immune responses to vaccines, and could be useful for developing new vaccine strategies. Accumulating results provide evidence for the existence of a number of genes involved in protective immune responses that are induced either by natural infections or vaccines. Variation in immune responses could be viewed as the result of a perturbation of gene networks; this should help in understanding how a particular polymorphism or a combination thereof could affect protective immune responses. Here we will present: i) the first genome-based vaccines that served as proof of concept, and that provided new critical insights into vaccine development strategies; ii) an overview of genetic predisposition in infectious diseases and genetic control in responses to vaccines; iii) population genetic differences that are a rationale behind group-targeted vaccines; iv) an outlook for genetic control in infectious diseases, with special emphasis on the concept of molecular networks that will provide a structure to the huge amount of genomic data.

Study of the comprehension of the scientific method by members of a university health research laboratory

In Brazil, scientific research is carried out mainly at universities, where professors coordinate research projects with the active participation of undergraduate and graduate students. However, there is no formal program for the teaching/learning of the scientific method. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the comprehension of the scientific method by students of health sciences who participate in scientific projects in an academic research laboratory. An observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using Edgar Morin complexity as theoretical reference. In a semi-structured interview, students were asked to solve an abstract logical puzzle - TanGram. The collected data were analyzed using the hermeneutic-dialectic analysis method proposed by Minayo and discussed in terms of the theoretical reference of complexity. The students’ concept of the scientific method is limited to participation in projects, stressing the execution of practical procedures as opposed to scientific thinking. The solving of the TanGram puzzle revealed that the students had difficulties in understanding questions and activities focused on subjects and their processes. Objective answers, even when dealing with personal issues, were also reflected on the students’ opinions about the characteristics of a successful researcher. Students’ difficulties concerning these issues may affect their scientific performance and result in poorly designed experiments. This is a preliminary study that should be extended to other centers of scientific research.

Intelligence acquisition methods in cyber domain : examining the circumstantial applicability of cyber intelligence acquisition methods using a hierarchical model

Phenomena in cyber domain, especially threats to security and privacy, have proven an increasingly heated topic addressed by different writers and scholars at an increasing pace – both nationally and internationally. However little public research has been done on the subject of cyber intelligence. The main research question of the thesis was: To what extent is the applicability of cyber intelligence acquisition methods circumstantial? The study was conducted in sequential a manner, starting with defining the concept of intelligence in cyber domain and identifying its key attributes, followed by identifying the range of intelligence methods in cyber domain, criteria influencing their applicability, and types of operatives utilizing cyber intelligence. The methods and criteria were refined into a hierarchical model. The existing conceptions of cyber intelligence were mapped through an extensive literature study on a wide variety of sources. The established understanding was further developed through 15 semi-structured interviews with experts of different backgrounds, whose wide range of points of view proved to substantially enhance the perspective on the subject. Four of the interviewed experts participated in a relatively extensive survey based on the constructed hierarchical model on cyber intelligence that was formulated in to an AHP hierarchy and executed in the Expert Choice Comparion online application. It was concluded that Intelligence in cyber domain is an endorsing, cross-cutting intelligence discipline that adds value to all aspects of conventional intelligence and furthermore that it bears a substantial amount of characteristic traits – both advantageous and disadvantageous – and furthermore that the applicability of cyber intelligence methods is partly circumstantially limited.

Measurement of social value creation with non-financial measures

This research examines the concept of social entrepreneurship which is a fairly new business model. In the field of business it has become increasingly popular in recent years. The growing awareness of the environment and concrete examples of impact created by social entrepreneurship have encouraged entrepreneurs to address social problems. Society’s failures are tried to redress as a result of business activities. The purpose of doing business is necessarily no longer generating just profits but business is run in order to make a social change with the profit gained from the operations. Successful social entrepreneurship requires a specific nature, constant creativity and strong desire to make a social change. It requires constant balancing between two major objectives: both financial and non-financial issues need to be considered, but not at the expense of another. While aiming at the social purpose, the business needs to be run in highly competitive markets. Therefore, both factors need equally be integrated into an organization as they are complementary, not exclusionary. Business does not exist without society and society cannot go forward without business. Social entrepreneurship, its value creation, measurement tools and reporting practices are under discussion in this research. An extensive theoretical basis is covered and used to support the findings coming out of the researched case enterprises. The most attention is focused on the concept of Social Return on Investment. The case enterprises are analyzed through the SROI process. Social enterprises are mostly small or medium sized. Naturally this sets some limitations in implementing measurement tools. The question of resources requires the most attention and therefore sets the biggest constraints. However, the size of the company does not determine all – the nature of business and the type of social purpose need to be considered always. The mission may be so concrete and transparent that in all cases any kind of measurement would be useless. Implementing measurement tools may be of great benefit – or a huge financial burden. Thus, the very first thing to carefully consider is the possible need of measuring value creation.

The role of business model in computer game development organizations

The computer game industry has grown steadily for years, and in revenues it can be compared to the music and film industries. The game industry has been moving to digital distribution. Computer gaming and the concept of business model are discussed among industrial practitioners and the scientific community. The significance of the business model concept has increased in the scientific literature recently, although there is still a lot of discussion going on on the concept. In the thesis, the role of the business model in the computer game industry is studied. Computer game developers, designers, project managers and organization leaders in 11 computer game companies were interviewed. The data was analyzed to identify the important elements of computer game business model, how the business model concept is perceived and how the growth of the organization affects the business model. It was identified that the importance of human capital is crucial to the business. As games are partly a product of creative thinking also innovation and the creative process are highly valued. The same applies to technical skills when performing various activities. Marketing and customer relationships are also considered as key elements in the computer game business model. Financing and partners are important especially for startups, when the organization is dependent on external funding and third party assets. The results of this study provide organizations with improved understanding on how the organization is built and what business model elements are weighted.

Climate change and global responsibility - the role of energy consumption, GDP and CO2 emissions

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges faced by this generation. Despite being the single most important environmental challenge facing the planet and despite over two decades of international climate negotiations, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise. By the middle of this century, GHGs must be reduced by as much as 40-70% if dangerous climate change is to be avoided. In the Kyoto Protocol no quantitative emission limitation and reduction commitments were placed on the developing countries. For the planning of the future commitments period and possible participation of developing countries, information of the functioning of the energy systems, CO2 emissions development in different sectors, energy use and technological development in developing countries is essential. In addition to the per capita emissions, the efficiency of the energy system in relation to GHG emissions is crucial for the decision of future long-term burden sharing between countries. Country’s future development of CO2 emissions can be defined by the estimated CO2 intensity of the future and the estimated GDP growth. The changes in CO2 intensity depend on several factors, but generally developed countries’ intensity has been increasing in the industrialization phase and decreasing when their economy shifts more towards the system dominated by the service sector. The level of the CO2 intensity depends by a large extent on the production structure and the energy sources that are used. Currently one of the most urgent issues regarding global climate change is to decide the future of the Kyoto Protocol. Negotiations on this topic have already been initiated, with the aim of being finalised by the 2015. This thesis provides insights into the various approaches that can be used to characterise the concept of comparable efforts for developing countries in a future international climate agreement. The thesis examines the post-Kyoto burden sharing questions for developing countries using the contraction and convergence model, which is one approach that has been proposed to allocate commitments regarding future GHG emissions mitigation. This new approach is a practical tool for the evaluation of the Kyoto climate policy process and global climate change negotiations from the perspective of the developing countries.

Quality of outsourced IT services in different degrees of offshoring

The Finnish IT service market can be described to be at a turning point. The clients are ever more interested on services delivered from offshore but certain issues keep them cautious. There is a lack of knowledge on what implications different degrees of offshoring have on service quality. Although there has been significant amount of research related to both service quality and offshoring, several questions are unanswered, terminology remains ambivalent and research findings are inconsistent. The study focuses on the interception of these two fields. The purpose of the study is to learn more about service quality in different degrees of offshoring. At the same time it aims to contribute in narrowing the research gaps. The degree of offshoring can be divided to three delivery modes: onshore, collaboration and offshore. The study takes a mixed method approach where the quantitative and qualitative phases are executed sequentially. First data was gathered from incident management system. Resolution time in different degrees of offshoring was analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Jonckheere-Terpstra tests. In addition, the compliance to Service Level Agreement (SLA) in different degrees of offshoring was examined with cross tabulation. The findings from the quantitative analysis suggested that the services with offshore delivery mode perform the best in terms of promptness and SLA compliance. However, several issues were found related to the data and for that reason, the findings should be considered with prudence. After the quantitative analysis, the study moved on to qualitative data collection and analysis. Four semi-structured interviews were held. The interviewees represented different organizational roles and had experiences from different delivery modes. Several themes were covered in the interviews, including: the concept of quality, the subjectivity or objectivity of service quality, expectations and prejudices towards offshore deliveries, quality produced in India, proactiveness of offshore resources, quality indicators and the scarcity of collaborative deliveries. Several conclusions can be made from the empirical research. Firstly, the quality in different delivery modes was found to be controversial topic. Secondly, in the collaborative delivery covered in the study, the way tasks and resources are allocated seem to cause issues. On the other hand inexperienced offshore resources are assigned to the delivery and on the other hand only routine tasks are assigned to the resources. This creates a self-enforcing loop that results in low motivation, low ownership and high employee turnover in offshore. Nevertheless, this issue is not characteristic only to collaborative deliveries but rather allocation of tasks and resources. Moreover, prejudices were identified to affect the perceived service quality in non-predictable way. The research also demonstrated that there is a need in focal company for further data gathering and analysis.

The Role of Content Marketing in Company Branding

The purpose of this study is to provide a deep understanding of the concept of content marketing in relation to company branding.

The role of organization-level factors on informal learning process

This study discusses the nature of informal learning process in business organizations, and the importance of different organization-level factors in this process. The purpose of this study is to understand the role of organization-level factors on informal learning process with three subquestions: how informal learning process takes place in business organizations, what organization-level factors affects informal learning process, and how informal learning process is affected by organizational-level factors. The theoretical background of this study includes literatures on the concept of informal learning, its process, and organization-level factors that can affect informal learning process. The empirical research has been conducted in this study by face-to-face interviews. The interviews were conducted between June and August 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thirteen interviews were made with the employees from different hierarchical levels from four freight forwarding MNCs in Bangladesh. Constant comparative analysis has been used to process the collected data until reaching a level of saturation. The empirical research found that all the phases in an informal learning process are not linear and sequential, and the role of organization-level factors on each phase varies with the degree and nature of each factor. In addition, the results also revealed that all the organization-level factors do not interact with each other while playing their role on informal learning process. The findings of this study considerably extend our understanding of the important role of HRD, manager, colleague, culture, and work structure on informal learning process in the workplace. However, future research in different organizational contexts is required to generalize the findings of this study.

Karl Polanyi, Athens and us: the contemporary significance of Polanyi's thought

Karl Polanyi is considered one of the most prominent social scientists of the 20th century. In his writings, an important concern was the relationship between the markets and the society (therefore, the state) as a whole; to discuss it, he introduced the concept of "embeddedness", fundamental for his study of the origins and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. An important part of his heritage is the study of the economic history of what he called "ancient societies," especially of Classical Greece. Polanyi used these studies to compare the ancient societies with his own times, in an effort to understand them all. This paper aims to relate Polanyi's work on the Athenian society with his studies about the modern times, showing that it is possible to draw lessons from Polanyi's thought on the relationship between the society, the state and the market that can help to design a political agenda for our days. In the first part, we present the most important aspects o the life and work of Polanyi, and in the second we discuss the most important aspects of his worldview. Then, in the third part, we study his view of the early Athenian economy; mainly, we focus on the coexistence of a kind of state planning and a market, showing how this understanding is crucial for the whole Polanyian legacy, with its emphasis in the comparison of different societies and times. We conclude by underlining the relevance of this interpretation advanced by Polanyi to understand the societies of our days, focusing on some proposals to extend his approach to deal with our contemporary problems.

Hierarchy and Expansiveness in Two-Dimensional Subshifts of Finite Type

Subshifts are sets of configurations over an infinite grid defined by a set of forbidden patterns. In this thesis, we study two-dimensional subshifts offinite type (2D SFTs), where the underlying grid is Z2 and the set of for-bidden patterns is finite. We are mainly interested in the interplay between the computational power of 2D SFTs and their geometry, examined through the concept of expansive subdynamics. 2D SFTs with expansive directions form an interesting and natural class of subshifts that lie between dimensions 1 and 2. An SFT that has only one non-expansive direction is called extremely expansive. We prove that in many aspects, extremely expansive 2D SFTs display the totality of behaviours of general 2D SFTs. For example, we construct an aperiodic extremely expansive 2D SFT and we prove that the emptiness problem is undecidable even when restricted to the class of extremely expansive 2D SFTs. We also prove that every Medvedev class contains an extremely expansive 2D SFT and we provide a characterization of the sets of directions that can be the set of non-expansive directions of a 2D SFT. Finally, we prove that for every computable sequence of 2D SFTs with an expansive direction, there exists a universal object that simulates all of the elements of the sequence. We use the so called hierarchical, self-simulating or fixed-point method for constructing 2D SFTs which has been previously used by Ga´cs, Durand, Romashchenko and Shen.

Datenherrschaft – an Ethically Justified Solution to the Problem of Ownership of Patient Information

Patient information systems are crucial components for the modern healthcare and medicine. It is obvious that without them the healthcare cannot function properly – one can try to imagine how brain surgery could be done without using information systems to gather and show information needed for an operation. Thus, it can be stated that digital information is irremovable part of modern healthcare. However, the legal ownership of patient information lacks a coherent and justified basis. The whole issue itself is actually bypassed by controlling pa- tient information with different laws and regulations how patient information can be used and by whom. Nonetheless, the issue itself – who owns the patient in- formation – is commonly missed or bypassed. This dissertation show the problems if the legislation of patient information ownership is not clear. Without clear legislation, the outcome can be unexpected like it seems to be in Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom: the lack of clear regulation has come up with unwanted consequences because of problematic Eu- ropean Union database directive implementation in those countries. The legal ownership is actually granted to the creators of databases which contains the pa- tient information, and this is not a desirable situation. In healthcare and medicine, we are dealing with issues such as life, health and information which are very sensitive and in many cases very personal. Thus, this dissertation leans on four philosophical theories form Locke, Kant, Heidegger and Rawls to have an ethically justified basis for regulating the patient infor- mation in a proper way. Because of the problems of property and ownership in the context of information, a new concept is needed and presented to replace the concept of owning, that concept being Datenherrschaft (eng. mastery over in- formation). Datenherrschaft seems to be suitable for regulating patient infor- mation because its core is the protection of one’s right over information and this aligns with the work of the philosophers whose theories are used in the work. The philosophical argumentation of this study shows that Datenherrschaft granted to the patients is ethically acceptable. It supports the view that patient should be controlling the patient information about themselves unless there are such specific circumstance that justifies the authorities to use patient information to protect other people’s basic rights. Thus, if the patients would be legally grant- ed Datenherrschaft over patient information we would endorse patients as indi- viduals who have their own and personal experience of their own life and have a strong stance against any unjustified paternalism in healthcare. Keywords: patient information, ownership, Datenherrschaft, ethics, Locke, Kant, Heidegger, Rawls

Hydrogen Sensor Application of Anodic Titanium Oxide Nanostructures

Hydrogen (H2) fuel cells have been considered a promising renewable energy source. The recent growth of H2 economy has required highly sensitive, micro-sized and cost-effective H2 sensor for monitoring concentrations and alerting to leakages due to the flammability and explosiveness of H2 Titanium dioxide (TiO2) made by electrochemical anodic oxidation has shown great potential as a H2 sensing material. The aim of this thesis is to develop highly sensitive H2 sensor using anodized TiO2. The sensor enables mass production and integration with microelectronics by preparing the oxide layer on suitable substrate. Morphology, elemental composition, crystal phase, electrical properties and H2 sensing properties of TiO2 nanostructures prepared on Ti foil, Si and SiO2/Si substrates were characterized. Initially, vertically oriented TiO2 nanotubes as the sensing material were obtained by anodizing Ti foil. The morphological properties of tubes could be tailored by varying the applied voltages of the anodization. The transparent oxide layer creates an interference color phenomena with white light illumination on the oxide surface. This coloration effect can be used to predict the morphological properties of the TiO2 nanostructures. The crystal phase transition from amorphous to anatase or rutile, or the mixture of anatase and rutile was observed with varying heat treatment temperatures. However, the H2 sensing properties of TiO2 nanotubes at room temperature were insufficient. H2 sensors using TiO2 nanostructures formed on Si and SiO2/Si substrates were demonstrated. In both cases, a Ti layer deposited on the substrates by a DC magnetron sputtering method was successfully anodized. A mesoporous TiO2 layer obtained on Si by anodization in an aqueous electrolyte at 5°C showed diode behavior, which was influenced by the work function difference of Pt metal electrodes and the oxide layer. The sensor enabled the detection of H2 (20-1000 ppm) at low operating temperatures (50–140°C) in ambient air. A Pd decorated tubular TiO2 layer was prepared on metal electrodes patterned SiO2/Si wafer by anodization in an organic electrolyte at 5°C. The sensor showed significantly enhanced H2 sensing properties, and detected hydrogen in the range of a few ppm with fast response/recovery time. The metal electrodes placed under the oxide layer also enhanced the mechanical tolerance of the sensor. The concept of TiO2 nanostructures on alternative substrates could be a prospect for microelectronic applications and mass production of gas sensors. The gas sensor properties can be further improved by modifying material morphologies and decorating it with catalytic materials.

Acquisition Failure: The case of a multinational enterprise from an emerging market failing in Indonesia.

The escalation in the number of mergers and acquisition transactions involving emerging market firms is a relatively recent phenomenon; as a consequence academic research in such topic is rather limited. The purpose of this research study was to discuss the possible reasons that led the acquisition failure of an emerging multinational firm and an Indonesian player. Extensive theoretical research was performed and it had been achieved, based on this, the finding of a framework that facilitated to understand the way in which the concepts of cultural distances and relate liabilities of foreignness in the process of acquisitions of foreign companies in emerging markets. The theoretical background collects literature related to acquisitions, models of cultural studies between nations and liabilities of foreignness. It has been generated a variety of frameworks that aid to understand the way that the institutional distance and cultural factors together with the concept of liabilities of foreignness can affect the process of market entry of an emerging multinational company to the extent that the best way to stop losing money is to abandon the project. The empirical research consisted of selective semi-structured interviews and an extensive research in available public data on the chosen study case of this research. There were several factors that were identified as the cause of the failure in the market entry of a Mexican multinational firm in Indonesia. The weakness shown by the local government authorities was used by the local community leaders who rioted because of discomfort. These groups were the ones who made the government submit to the extent that the agreements reached at the beginning of the deal were either canceled or modified in a way that favored always the local community. The contributions of this study fall into the knowledge field of emerging multinational firms and market entry process.