Plasma-neutral interactions in the lower thermosphere-ionosphere:the need for in situ measurements to address focused questions

Abstract The lower thermosphere-ionosphere (LTI) is a key transition region between Earth’s atmosphere and space. Interactions between ions and neutrals maximize within the LTI and in particular at altitudes from 100 to 200 km, which is the least visited region of the near-Earth environment. The lack of in situ co-temporal and co-spatial measurements of all relevant parameters and their elusiveness to most remote-sensing methods means that the complex interactions between its neutral and charged constituents remain poorly characterized to this date. This lack of measurements, together with the ambiguity in the quantification of key processes in the 100–200 km altitude range affect current modeling efforts to expand atmospheric models upward to include the LTI and limit current space weather prediction capabilities. We present focused questions in the LTI that are related to the complex interactions between its neutral and charged constituents. These questions concern core physical processes that govern the energetics, dynamics, and chemistry of the LTI and need to be addressed as fundamental and long-standing questions in this critically unexplored boundary region. We also outline the range of in situ measurements that are needed to unambiguously quantify key LTI processes within this region, and present elements of an in situ concept based on past proposed mission concepts

Hyperspectral imaging in brain tumor surgery:evidence of machine learning-based performance

Abstract Background: Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has the potential to enhance surgical tissue detection and diagnostics. Definite utilization of intraoperative HSI guidance demands validated machine learning and public datasets that currently do not exist. Moreover, current imaging conventions are dispersed, and evidence-based paradigms for neurosurgical HSI have not been declared. Methods: We presented the rationale and a detailed clinical paradigm for establishing microneurosurgical HSI guidance. In addition, a systematic literature review was conducted to summarize the current indications and performance of neurosurgical HSI systems, with an emphasis on machine learning-based methods. Results: The published data comprised a few case series or case reports aiming to classify tissues during glioma operations. For a multitissue classification problem, the highest overall accuracy of 80% was obtained using deep learning. Our HSI system was capable of intraoperative data acquisition and visualization with minimal disturbance to glioma surgery. Conclusions: In a limited number of publications, neurosurgical HSI has demonstrated unique capabilities in contrast to the established imaging techniques. Multidisciplinary work is required to establish communicable HSI standards and clinical impact. Our HSI paradigm endorses systematic intraoperative HSI data collection, which aims to facilitate the related standards, medical device regulations, and value-based medical imaging systems

Modern visualization by digitally modeling Neolithic crafted human skulls

Abstract Our digital modeling in 3D aims to visualize Neolithic crafted skulls found in the Near East for their preservation and study taking into account both the possibilities of skull deformation in vivo as well as crafting them postmortem. Decapitation and burying or caching human skulls is met already in Palaeolithic contexts. Postmortem cranial crafting by drilling and carving, or modelling with plaster and asphalt using human skulls as basis was practiced in the Near East during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Late Neolithic period. The first examples of plastered human skulls were discovered at Jericho in the 1950s, then belonging to Jordan, after which to Israel and now to the Palestinian territories. Similar skulls were later found in various sites in the Near East. The examples digitally reconstructed here include skulls from Göbekli Tepe and Köşk Höyük found in Turkey, from the cave at Nahal Hemar at the Dead Sea in the Judean mountains of Israel and skulls from Jericho in the Palestinian territories. Both drawings and photographs were used in digitally reconstructing the skulls in 3D. The Blender software allowed us to sculpt the complex shape of the skull from a base mesh. Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) rendering sped up rendering thanks to Nvidia graphics cards. UV mapping was carried out for importing the texture. The visualization enabled us to make further anthropological observations. Beside the generally acknowledged Neolithic ”skull cult” we also wish briefly to discuss other reasons for the phenomena and practices

Sr isotope geochemistry of the Koillismaa Intrusion, Northern Finland

Abstract. Igneous activity during the early Palaeoproterozoic (2.4–2.5 Ga) led to the development of layered intrusions, mafic dyke swarms, and volcanic rock in the Earth’s cratonic regions. The layered mafic and ultramafic Paleoproterozoic intrusions in Fennoscandian Shield host Ni-Cu-PGE, titanium, vanadium, chromium, and iron deposits. The Koillismaa-Näränkävaara Complex comprises the Näränkävaara Intrusion, the Koillismaa Intrusion, and a strong positive gravity anomaly, which connects these distant eastern and western parts of the complex. This thesis focuses on Sr isotopic composition of the plagioclase in the Koillismaa Intrusion. The intrusion is composed mostly of gabbronorites, gabbros, and leucogabbros. It is divided into Marginal series and Layered series. The Marginal Series is Cu-Ni-PGE mineralized (for example Haukiaho and Kaukua), and the Layered Series contains at least two orthomagmatic mineralization which are the PGE-Cu-Ni enrichment at its central part (RT Reef) and the Fe-Ti-V enriched oxide gabbro (Mustavaara deposit) at its upper part. After its solidification, the intrusion was tectonized into several smaller blocks of which the central, up to 2200 m thick Porttivaara block is studied in this thesis. In situ Sr isotope compositions of plagioclase from the Koillismaa Intrusion shows differences between the Marginal Series and the Layered Series; the Marginal Series show an initial 87Sr/86Sr (2.44 Ga) of 0.7037, and for the Layered Series, the ratio is 0.7027. The isotopic difference indicates isotopically distinct magma types in the genesis of the Layered Series and the Marginal Series or more intense crustal contamination at the margin of the intrusion. Sr isotope ratio throughout the oxide gabbro, which includes the Mustavaara deposit is isotopically homogeneous which doesn’t support involvement of different types of magma in its formation. Similarly, the study suggests that the formation of RT reef did not involve magma replenishment. The highly radiogenic Sr isotopes obtained from the Marginal Series indicate that crustal contamination may have played a role in the genesis of the contact-type sulfide mineralization. The isotope composition of the Koillismaa Intrusion show affinity to coeval tholeiite group dykes and SHMB (GBNO and SHMB) group dykes. The bulk of the the Koillismaa Layered series is isotopically comparable to the MCUIV of the coeval Penikat Layered Intrusion

Osteoclastogenesis of human peripheral blood, bone marrow, and cord blood monocytes

Abstract Osteoclasts are multinucleated bone resorbing cells that can be differentiated from human monocytes in vitro. There are few studies comparing osteoclastogenesis of different monocyte sources. We compared monocytes from human bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood (PB), and umbilical cord blood (CB) and their osteoclastogenic potential by culturing them with RANKL (20 and 80 ng/ml) and M-CSF (10 ng/ml) for 14 days. We also cultured cells without growth factors, as umbilical cord blood monocytes have been reported to be able to fuse spontaneously into osteoclasts. The data was analysed on d4, d8, d11, and d14. After culture with RANKL and M-CSF, all types of cell cultures developed TRACP -positive multinuclear cells that were able to form resorption pits on human bone slices. Only occasional multinuclear cells and small infrequent resorbed areas could be found in PB and CB-derived cultures without growth factors. BM-derived cells formed greater resorption areas than PB- and CB-derived monocytes. The greatest monocyte population in BM samples were intermediate (CD14⁺⁺CD16⁺) and in PB and CB classical monocytes (76.3% and 54.4%, respectively). In conclusion, our data demonstrates that bone resorbing osteoclasts can be differentiated from BM, PB and CB. However, the osteoclast precursor origin can affect the osteoclast properties and function

Feature based robot programming

Abstract. Feature based robot programming lowers the skill level that is needed to program industrial robots. The features of a work object are used to create a task for the robot by sequencing robot skills. In this thesis tools were developed that is used to generate sequences and parameters for robot skills. The tools were tested in two applications. First application utilizes a 6D tracker to generate a skill sequence as a control recipe, with skill parameters, to be used by a skill control system of a robot. In the second application, a CAD model of work object in STEP format is used to generate control recipes with parameters for skills. The recipe generation uses geometrical features like vertices and edges of the target object. The open source Open Cascade CAD kernel was used to visualize and select features from the CAD model. Methods for annotating geometrical features and other product information to STEP models was developed.Piirrepohjainen robotin ohjelmointi. Tiivistelmä. Piirrepohjainen robotin ohjelmointi laskee robotin ohjelmoimiseen tarvittavaa tietotaitoa. Käsiteltävän kappaleen piirteitä käytettään muodostamaan tehtävän, joka koostuu järjestyksessä suoritettavista robotin taidoista. Tässä työssä kehitettiin työkaluja, joilla voidaan luoda tarvittavia parametreja robotin taidoille. Työkaluja testattiin kahdella sovelluksella. Ensimmäisessä sovelluksessa käytettiin anturia, joka seuraa osoitintyökalun kärjen paikkaa ja työkalun orientaatiota robotin taitopohjaisen ohjauksen ohjausreseptien parametrien muodostamiseen. Toisessa sovelluksessa työkappaleen 3D-mallia STEP formaatissa käytettiin taitojen suorittamiseen liittyvän ohjausreseptin parametrien muodostamiseen. Parametrit laskettiin kappaleen geometrian osista kuten reunaviivoista ja pisteistä. Avoimen lähdekoodin Open Cascade geometriamoottoria käytettiin STEP mallien visualisointiin ja piirteiden valitsemiseen. Lisäksi kehitettiin menetelmä, jolla STEP malliin voidaan lisätä tietoa käytetyistä piirteistä ja muuta taitojen ohjelmointiin liittyvää tietoa myöhempää käyttöä varten

Exploring the combination of tumor-stroma ratio, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and tumor budding with WHO histopathological grading on early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma prognosis

Abstract Background: While the relevance of the World Health Organization histopathological grading system as a prognostic tool for oral squamous cell carcinoma has received many critics, other histopathological features such as tumor-stroma ratio, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and tumor budding are displaying promising results. Here, we evaluated the prognostic impact of the incorporation of tumor-stroma ratio, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and tumor budding into World Health Organization histopathological grading for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: A total of 95 patients with early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma were enrolled in the study, and World Health Organization tumor grading, tumor-stroma ratio, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and tumor budding were evaluated in surgical slides stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Survival analyses for cancer-specific survival and disease-free survival were performed using Cox regression models, and receiver operating characteristic curves were applied for assessment of the performance of the combinations. Results: Tumor-stroma ratio (stroma-rich) was significantly and independently associated with both shortened cancer-specific survival and poor disease-free survival, individually and in combination with World Health Organization histopathological grading. The combination of tumor-stroma ratio with World Health Organization grading did not improve the discriminatory ability compared to tumor-stroma ratio alone. Although low tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were associated with shortened cancer-specific survival, the association did not withstand multivariate analysis. However, in combination with World Health Organization grading, low tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were independently associated with poor cancer-specific survival. The combination of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and World Health Organization histopathological grading displayed a better discrimination of poor cancer-specific survival than tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes alone, but not at a significant level. Conclusions: Our findings support tumor-stroma ratio as a potential prognostic marker for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma, and the incorporation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes into the World Health Organization grading system improves the prognostic ability of the tumor grading alone

Toiminnallisten tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelmien merkitys ja toteutuminen kouluympäristössä:kehityskohteiden ja toimenpiteiden analyysi

Tiivistelmä. Suomessa kasvatuksen ja koulutuksen saralla on jo pitkään tehty monipuolista tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuustyötä. Kuitenkin useat tutkimukset ja selvitykset osoittavat, että koulutus edelleen uusintaa eriarvoisuutta, eivätkä tasa-arvo ja yhdenvertaisuus toteudu kouluarjessa jokaisen kohdalla. Myös opettajankoulutuslaitosten tasa-arvotyö on ollut aktiivista, mutta tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuusprojekteista saadut tulokset eivät ole lopulta jääneet osaksi koulutuksen arkikäytäntöjä. Toiminnallinen tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelma on jokaiselle oppilaitokselle pakollinen asiakirja, joka oikein laadittuna voi olla tehokas työkalu koulun tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuustyön tarkasteluun ja kehittämiseen. Se on nimensä mukaan toiminnallinen suunnitelma, jonka tarkoitus on luoda toimenpiteitä sekä muutosta koulun arkeen. Pro gradu tutkielmassamme tarkastelemme peruskoulujen toiminnallisia tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelmia. Tutkimuksemme fokus on erityisesti suunnitelman toiminnallisessa osassa eli siinä, millä tavoin koulun tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuustilannetta on kartoitettu, millaisia kehityskohteita kartoituksesta on noussut sekä minkälaisia toimenpiteitä suunnitelmiin on kirjattu. Tutkimus on laadullinen ja toteutettu kvalitatiivisesti aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysia mukaillen. Aineiston keruu toteutettiin monipuolisin keinoin nettihaulla, lähettämällä sähköpostia satunnaisille kouluille ympäri Suomen sekä kyselemällä opetusalan Facebook -ryhmistä ja peruskouluissa työskenteleviltä tutuilta. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella oppilaitokset ovat hyvin eri vaiheissa tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuustyössään. Yhteneväistä on kuitenkin se, että työtä tasa-arvon sekä yhdenvertaisuuden edistämiseksi kouluissa tarvitaan lisää. Toiminnalliset tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelmat ovat hyvin vaihtelevia niin pituudeltaan, kuin sisällöiltään, eikä niissä aina ole tehty alkutilanteen kartoitusta tai esitetty kehityskohteita ja tarvittavia toimenpiteitä. Häirinnän ja syrjinnän kokemukset sekä seksuaalisuus ja sukupuolen moninaisuus nousivat eniten sekä suunnitelmien kehityskohteissa että toimenpiteissä. Lisäksi kehityskohteissa kouluviihtyvyyteen ja toimenpiteissä opetukseen ja ohjaukseen liittyvät teemat nostivat erityisesti päätään.The significance and implementation of functional gender equality and equity plans in the school environment : analysis of development areas and measures. Abstract. In Finland, a diverse range of efforts has long been made in the field of education to promote gender equality and equity. However, several studies and assessments indicate that education still perpetuates inequality, and equality and equity are not realized for everyone in the everyday school context. The gender equality work in teacher education institutions has also been active, but the results of gender equality and equity projects have not ultimately become part of everyday educational practices. A functional gender equality and equity plan is a mandatory document for every educational institution, and when properly formulated, it can be an effective tool for examining and developing the school’s gender equality and equity efforts. As the name suggests, it is an operational plan designed to create actions and changes in the school’s daily life. In our master’s thesis, we examine the functional gender equality and equity plans of comprehensive schools. Our focus is specifically on the practical aspect of the plan that is, how the school’s gender equality and equity situation has been assessed, what development areas have emerged from the assessment, and what kind of measures have been included in the plans. The research is qualitative and conducted using a content analysis approach. Data collection was carried out through various methods, including online searches, sending emails to random schools across Finland, and inquiries in education-related Facebook groups as well as from acquaintances working in comprehensive schools. Based on the research findings, educational institutions are at various stages in their gender equality and equity efforts. However, a common thread is the need for further work to promote gender equality and equity in schools. The functional gender equality and equity plans vary widely in terms of both length and content, and they do not always include an initial assessment of the situation or present development areas and necessary actions. Experiences of harassment and discrimination, as well as issues of sexuality and gender diversity, were prominent in both the development areas and the measures outlined in the plans. Additionally, themes related to school well-being in the development areas and themes related to teaching and guidance in the measures were particularly emphasized

Chronic oral exposure to Amistar fungicide does not significantly affect colour discrimination but may impact memory retention in bumblebees

Abstract Background: Intensive agriculture, including pesticides, is one of the many reasons for pollinator decline. The EU legislation on plant protection products (hereon pesticides) demands that the risks of active substances and their use in pesticide products are assessed for bees. However, the risk assessment is not always sufficient as shown, for example, in the case of the fungicide Amistar. The fungicide has been shown to cause lethal and sublethal effects on bumblebees at levels that, according to the EU risk assessment, do not require risk mitigation measures to protect bees. In order to understand the effects of chronic Amistar exposure on bumblebees, we studied whether 5 days of oral exposure to 0.015 µl Amistar (3.75 µg azoxystrobin/day) impairs bumblebees’ learning and memory performance in the 10-colour discrimination task. Results: Chronic Amistar treatment did not impair the learning of the bees, but a statistically non-significant negative trend was observed in memory retention between the final learning bout and the subsequent memory test. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that chronic sublethal exposure to Amistar fungicide did not significantly impair the learning ability of bumblebees. However, there was a trend towards impaired memory retention, although this was not statistically significant. These findings provide further support for the hypothesis that Amistar may have a negative effect on bee cognitive performance. It is important to continue studying the effects of widely used pesticides on pollinators, as their decline is a complex issue with multiple contributing factors. Understanding the effects of different pesticide residue levels on bumblebees can inform policymakers in making more sustainable pesticide legislation and help protect pollinators

Downstream impacts of peatland drainage on headwater stream biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

Abstract Intensive peatland drainage alters the physico-chemical status of the recipient streams, potentially leading to the loss of biodiversity and impaired ecosystem functioning. However, the extent of these changes, and particularly their impacts on downstream ecosystems, remain poorly understood. We studied the downstream effects of peatland drainage on stream biodiversity (aquatic bryophytes and macroinvertebrates) and key ecosystem processes (primary productivity, organic matter (OM) decomposition and OM standing stock). Our survey design comprised upstream (directly below drainage network) and downstream (∼300 m downstream) locations in 18 boreal headwater streams encompassing an extensive gradient of peatland drainage intensity (0–48 %). Drainage modified environmental conditions, with nutrient (TP, TN) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and inorganic sediment cover increasing with intensifying drainage, in both upstream and downstream sites. Species richness of both benthic macroinvertebrates and bryophytes was strongly reduced with increasing drainage intensity. Upstream and downstream sites responded in a similar manner, suggesting wide-ranging impacts of drainage on stream biodiversity. Regardless of site location, ecosystem processes were unrelated to drainage intensity. Our results confirm that intense peatland drainage not only modifies environmental conditions and biodiversity in adjoining streams, but these impacts propagate further downstream in the stream network. To prevent further degradation of drainage-impacted freshwater ecosystems, large-scale peatland restoration is needed, with prioritization of sites with the greatest potential (least drainage-induced damage) for biodiversity recovery