Huoltajien käsityksiä lasten hyvinvoinnista varhaiskasvatuksen vuorohoidossa

Tiivistelmä. Tutkimuksessani selvitin, millaisia käsityksiä huoltajilla on lasten hyvinvoinnista vuorohoidossa. Tutkimukseni tavoitteena oli saada tietoa lasten hyvinvoinnista vuorohoidossa huoltajien näkökulmasta. Erityisesti vuorohoidossa olevien lasten hyvinvointia on tutkittu suhteellisen vähän, joten tavoitteena oli myös tuottaa uutta tietoa tutkittavasta ilmiöstä. Tutkimuksessani hyödynsin fenomenografista tutkimusmenetelmää. Tutkimuksen aineiston keräsin sähköisellä kyselylomakkeella erään pohjoispohjanmaalaisen kaupungin vuorohoitoa tarvitsevien lasten huoltajilta. Kyselyyn sain 14 huoltajan vastauksen. Aineistoin analyysin tein mukaillen fenomenografiselle tutkimukselle tyypillistä nelivaiheista analyysiä. Tutkimukseni mukaan huoltajat pitivät lasten hyvinvointia hyvänä varhaiskasvatuksen vuorohoidossa. Tutkimustulosteni perusteella lasten hyvinvointi vuorohoidossa jakautuu kahteen kategoriaan, jotka ovat arjen pedagogiset käytänteet ja lapsen yksilöllinen kohtaaminen. Huoltajien käsitysten mukaan arjen pedagogisiin käytänteisiin liittyy säännöllinen rytmi, uni ja lepo, tiedonkulku, ravinto ja ruokailu, riittävästi aktiviteetteja, pienryhmätoiminta, kodinomaisuus, vaihtelevat ryhmäkoot ja vaihtuvat aikuisten sekä toiveena oli, että vuororyhmiin saataisiin enemmän henkilökuntaa. Lapsen yksilölliseen huomiointiin huoltajien käsitysten mukaan puolestaan liittyi sensitiivinen henkilökunta, aikuisen läsnäolo, tunnetaidot, lapsen yksilöllisten tuentarpeiden huomiointi, lapsilähtöisyys, aikuisen tuki ja ohjaus leikkitilanteissa, lapselle tilan antaminen, lapsen tarpeisiin vastaaminen sekä vertais- ja kaverisuhteet. Tutkimukseni tulokset eivät ole yleistettävissä, sillä tutkimuksen otos on suhteellisen pieni ja aineisto kerättiin yhden kaupungin vuorohoitoyksiköissä olevien lasten huoltajilta. Tutkimuksessa saamiani tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää vuorohoidon kehittämistyössä

Classifying Flies Based on Reconstructed Audio Signals

Advancements in sensor technology and processing power have made it possible to create recording equipment that can reconstruct the audio signal of insects passing through a directed infrared beam. The widespread deployment of such devices would allow for a range of applications previously not practical. A sensor net of detectors could be used to help model population dynamics, assess the efficiency of interventions and serve as an early warning system. At the core of any such system is a classification problem: given a segment of audio collected as something passes through a sensor, can we classify it? We examine the case of detecting the presence of fly species, with a particular focus on mosquitoes. This gives rise to a range of problems such as: can we discriminate between species of fly? Can we detect different species of mosquito? Can we detect the sex of the insect? Automated classification would significantly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of vector monitoring using these sensor nets. We assess a range of time series classification (TSC) algorithms on data from two projects working in this area. We assess our prior belief that spectral features are most effective, and we remark on all approaches with respect to whether they can be considered ``real-time''

The effect of contaminants on the application of polyamine functionalised ion exchange resins for uranium extraction from sulfate based mining process waters

Three in-house produced polyamine functionalised ion exchange resins and Purolite S985 (a commercial ion exchange resin) have been assessed for their ability to extract UO22+ from a variety of aqueous matrices applicable to current and potential future uranium mining processes. The uptake of common contaminant species in uranium processing liquors at variable acid concentrations has been assessed, with Al3+ and MoO42− showing the most extraction, with AsO43−, Eu3+ and Fe3+ showing extractions >10% at low [H+]. Extraction of MoO42−, AsO43−, Eu3+ and Fe3+ was seen to decrease with increasing [H+]. The impact of increasing [Cl−] on UO22+ and Fe3+ extraction has been determined. Fe3+ showed low extractions by all resins, with no dependence on [Cl−]. In contrast, increasing suppression of UO22+ uptake was seen with increasing [Cl−] up to 80 g L−1, with extraction remaining constant beyond this [Cl−]. At high [Cl−] (>50 g L−1) Purolite S985 was seen to remove UO22+ from solution more effectively than all synthesised polyamine resins. The presence of Fe3+ in solution was seen to suppress UO22+ uptake by around 10% when [Fe3+]/[UO22+] increased from 0 to 2. Fe3+ extraction by all studied resins was promoted by the presence of UO22+ in solution. This was most prevalent with Purolite S985, with an extraction of 30% for [Fe3+]/[UO22+] = 2 by Purolite S985. All resins were tested using a process water from a uranium mine and have shown an ability to selectively extract UO22+ from such solutions, with the best synthetic resin recovering 15.7% more uranium than Purolite S985

Localization and classification of paddy field pests using a saliency map and deep convolutional neural network

We present a pipeline for the visual localization and classification of agricultural pest insects by computing a saliency map and applying deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) learning. First, we used a global contrast region-based approach to compute a saliency map for localizing pest insect objects. Bounding squares containing targets were then extracted, resized to a fixed size and used to construct a large standard database called Pest ID. This database was then utilized for self-learning of local image features which were, in turn, used for classification by DCNN. DCNN learning optimized the critical parameters, including size, number and convolutional stride of local receptive fields, dropout ratio and the final loss function. To demonstrate the practical utility of using DCNN, we explored different architectures by shrinking depth and width and found effective sizes that can act as alternatives for practical applications. On the test set of paddy field images, our architectures achieved a mean Accuracy Precision (mAP) of 0.951, a significant improvement over previous methods

The hydrolysis of aluminium, a mass spectrometric study

Abstract This thesis is focused on the hydrolysis of aluminium, the polymerisation of the hydrolysis products, and how these can be monitored by mass spectrometric methods. The main aim of this research is to figure out how the aqueous speciation of aluminium changes as a function of pH (3.2–10), concentration (1–100 mM), reaction time (1s–14d), and counter anion (Cl-, SO42-, HCOO-). The method used was electrospray mass spectrometry. The results showed more variable speciation than those suggested earlier. The main species were Al2, Al3, and Al13, which were found in all of the conditions under scrutiny. The effect of pH was the most remarkable of all the parameters researched. The formation of large highly charged complexes was strongly dependent on it. Also the Al-concentration in the bulk solution had a clear effect on speciation: in dilute solutions there were more protonated ligands and less attached counter anions. This could mean that the species in more diluted bulk solutions had fewer different states of charge. Reaction time caused only minor changes to speciation in the initial pH: there was slightly more variation of a certain sized species in the aged solution. In elevated pH, the birth of important Al13 oligomers was time dependent. The effect of the counter anion was tremendous. In a chloride environment the speciation was rich and diversified. With sulphate the speciation was limited to solid- like compounds, and the variation of single-sized species was almost lacking. The formate as a counter anion caused most surprising results; the charge of aluminium in some studied complexes was lowered from the common 3+ to 1+. If this reaction also occurs in natural circumstances, the uses of aluminium formate would be wide. The results can be utilised in following the progress of dissolution, the mobilization and toxicity of aluminium in natural waters, as well as in water purification, and in reaching minimal chemical contamination levels in sludge as well as in aqueous waste