A study of ICT student’s views on sustainable technology development

Abstract. In this thesis, I focused on sustainable technology development and services, and how they are understood by Finnish university students in modern society. Students discussed sustainable development in technology and services, in the public system, and private sector, and used the EUs green targets as a base for it. The thesis is focusing to analyze the digital technology development inside the European market areas and takes into account the cultural, economic, and geographical aspects about the topic. The reason for writing this thesis is understanding the values of digital product users’ backgrounds, habits, and values, because these have become an important part of sustainable change strategies and sustainable technology development. For this, I am conducting Nexus Analysis, which leads our focus to three main topics: discourses in place, historical body, and interaction order, to support a deeper understanding of students’ actions and decisions. I am taking the discourses of Finnish students, future developers, into analysis on sustainable change of technology development, and also what kind of values the student discourses contain, and what kind of methods and features should be remembered in digital technology development when trying to change those values and behavior. This scientific work includes familiarizing with previous research made on the topic, analysis of 163 student essays with quantitative data analysis, as well as qualitative nexus analysis where the focus is on discourses in place, historical body, and interaction order. Quantitative data gave me an overall understanding of favored topics and opinions by the students and nexus analysis provided me a deeper understanding of these student opinions and actions. This thesis is made as a collaboration with INTERACT research group which provided me the students’ essay materials for the analysis. As a result, I provided guidelines and important factors for behavioral and background analysis, but also, what kind of values are respected by students in the sustainable change. The most highlighted aspects to remember in the future development were focusing on transparency in organization processes, respecting local habits and interests when making marketing strategies, and also what kind of features are respected by the current university students studying in the information and communication (ICT) field. Another view is taken from employers, when sustainability is wanted to be a part of the company’s strategy and what features need to be remembered to improve the sustainability change efficiency in highly competitive markets. These values and factors should be remembered when designing new sustainable products and trying to gain the most efficient change strategies, also in marketing and consumer communication sectors. In conclusion, I provided two list as guidelines for supporting companies and organizations for more efficient sustainability development strategies. It includes topics that need to be discovered before development, what features need to be assimilated into product development, and also, what kind of values are respected by the people depending on the market area location. These matters will not guarantee success but will be most likely to gain more attention and interest in local markets where the product or change is targeted. This information can be used by organization employers in their processes or researchers in further analysis and research about sustainability changes and strategies, as a regional strategy guideline or targeted sustainable technology development guideline

Genetic Sharing with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Diabetes Reveals Novel Bone Mineral Density Loci.

Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is a highly heritable trait, but genome-wide association studies have identified few genetic risk factors. Epidemiological studies suggest associations between BMD and several traits and diseases, but the nature of the suggestive comorbidity is still unknown. We used a novel genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional False Discovery Rate (FDR) method to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with BMD by leveraging cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated disorders and metabolic traits. By conditioning on SNPs associated with the CVD-related phenotypes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides and waist hip ratio, we identified 65 novel independent BMD loci (26 with femoral neck BMD and 47 with lumbar spine BMD) at conditional FDR < 0.01. Many of the loci were confirmed in genetic expression studies. Genes validated at the mRNA levels were characteristic for the osteoblast/osteocyte lineage, Wnt signaling pathway and bone metabolism. The results provide new insight into genetic mechanisms of variability in BMD, and a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of clinical comorbidity

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways

International GWAS Consortium Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents

Background - Our aim was to identify genetic variants associated with blood pressure (BP) in childhood and adolescence. Methods and Results - Genome-wide association study data from participating European ancestry cohorts of the Early Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) Consortium was meta-analyzed across 3 epochs; prepuberty (4-7 years), puberty (8-12 years), and postpuberty (13-20 years). Two novel loci were identified as having genome-wide associations with systolic BP across specific age epochs: rs1563894 (ITGA11, located in active H3K27Ac mark and transcription factor chromatin immunoprecipitation and 5′-C-phosphate-G-3′ methylation site) during prepuberty (P=2.86×10 -8) and rs872256 during puberty (P=8.67×10 -9). Several single-nucleotide polymorphism clusters were also associated with childhood BP at

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 56 bone mineral density loci and reveals 14 loci associated with risk of fracture

Bone mineral density (BMD) is the most widely used predictor of fracture risk. We performed the largest meta-analysis to date on lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD, including 17 genome-wide association studies and 32,961 individuals of European and east Asian ancestry. We tested the top BMD-associated markers for replication in 50,933 independent subjects and for association with risk of low-trauma fracture in 31,016 individuals with a history of fracture (cases) and 102,444 controls. We identified 56 loci (32 new) associated with BMD at genome-wide significance (P &lt; 5 x 10&lt;sup&gt;-8&lt;/sup&gt;)). Several of these factors cluster within the RANK-RANKL-OPG, mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, endochondral ossification and Wnt signaling pathways. However, we also discovered loci that were localized to genes not known to have a role in bone biology. Fourteen BMD-associated loci were also associated with fracture risk (P &lt; 5 x 10&lt;sup&gt;-4&lt;/sup&gt;), Bonferroni corrected), of which six reached P &lt; 5 x 10&lt;sup&gt;-8&lt;/sup&gt;, including at 18p11.21 (FAM210A), 7q21.3 (SLC25A13), 11q13.2 (LRP5), 4q22.1 (MEPE), 2p16.2 (SPTBN1) and 10q21.1 (DKK1). These findings shed light on the genetic architecture and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying BMD variation and fracture susceptibility

Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways