Finding a suitable performance testing tool

Abstract. The pursuit of finding the most suitable testing software for each project is a difficult task as there are a lot of software effective finding certain kind of problems but completely missing others in the field of stress and load testing. A silver bullet solving all problems in a cost effective and reliable way has not yet been found. This project was done as a systematic literature review to find whether there are solutions documented capable of testing everything in a cost-effective way. The document starts with an introduction of the task, originating from a real software testing company’s suggestion of finding suitable test software that can, cost effectively and reliably, fulfil the needs of the company. A history section is describing the reason of testing importance, basics of testing and what others have found in their studies of the area. The research method is described in detail followed by results describing tools found during the research divided in sections by license type. The sectioning by license type was selected for the benefit of testing companies that are interested in further developing tools found to their own interest. Findings and answered research questions were presented and discussed followed by possible implications and further research suggestions to future scholars interested in the matter. The systematic literature review found a total of 40 different tools identified during the data extraction process. One complete software system was available commercially including heavy support and help functions for the customer. A different approach linking open source and relatively inexpensive pieces of software together to achieve a composite solution was also identified. The solution included the most common and most popular individual piece of software identified by the study. All found pieces of software were listed and commented briefly mainly with information originating from the authors’ home pages

Production Capability Creation (PCC) for Collaborative Construction Projects – A Qualitative Study From Finland

The construction industry has been suffering from modest productivity development in recent decades. To address the recognized problems, collaborative delivery methods are replacing traditional project delivery models, especially in large and complex projects.The aim of this research is to describe the production capability creation (PCC) process as a solution for planning the production phase. The PCC process should be implemented parallel to the design phase and owned by the production. A qualitative and inductive approach, based primarily on case company interviews, is applied to identify the twelve most important challenges for preplanning in the design phase from a group of different types of stakeholders in construction projects. Based on these challenges, the main areas of PCC are structured, solving the depicted production challenges, enabling a wasteless and cost-efficient production phase to avoid unnecessary delays and problems. Parallel implementation of PCC and design processes of the building naturally also improve the result of the design itself. With PCC, contractors can recognize the need for improvement in their processes but, more importantly, can directly contribute to the design of the building. Described PCC process solves major challenges emerging from the case company interviews. Earlier literature on capability creation is scarce, and for the construction industry it is even more narrow. The PCC process presented in this research enables significant improvement in efficiency and effectiveness, and the elimination of waste in the construction industry

Differences in collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylase assembly between two Caenorhabditis nematode species despite high amino acid sequence identity of the enzyme subunits

The collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases (P4Hs) are essential for proper extracellular matrix formation in multicellular organisms. The vertebrate enzymes are α2β2 tetramers, in which the β subunits are identical to protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). Unique P4H forms have been shown to assemble from the <i>Caenorhabditis</i> <i>elegans</i> catalytic α subunit isoforms PHY-1 and PHY-2 and the β subunit PDI-2. A mixed PHY-1/PHY-2/(PDI-2)<sub>2</sub> tetramer is the major form, while PHY-1/PDI- 2 and PHY-2/PDI-2 dimers are also assembled but less efficiently. Cloning and characterization of the orthologous subunits from the closely related nematode <i>Caenorhabditis</i> <i>briggsae</i> revealed distinct differences in the assembly of active P4H forms in spite of the extremely high amino acid sequence identity (92-97%) between the <i>C. briggsae</i> and <i>C. elegans</i> subunits. In addition to a PHY-1/PHY-2(PDI-2)<sub>2</sub> tetramer and a PHY-1/PDI-2 dimer, an active (PHY- 2)<sub>2</sub>(PDI-2)<sub>2</sub> tetramer was formed in <i>C. briggsae</i> instead of a PHY-2/PDI-2 dimer. Site-directed mutagenesis studies and generation of inter-species hybrid polypeptides showed that the N-terminal halves of the <i>Caenorhabditis</i> PHY-2 polypeptides determine their assembly properties. Genetic disruption of <i>C. briggsae phy-1</i> (<i>Cb-dpy-18</i>) via a <i>Mos1</i> insertion resulted a small (short) phenotype that is less severe than the dumpy (short and fat) phenotype of the corresponding <i>C. elegans</i> mutants (<i>Ce-dpy-18</i>). <i>C. briggsae</i> <i>phy-2</i> RNA interference produced no visible phenotype in the wild type nematodes but produced a severe dumpy phenotype and larval arrest in <i>phy-1</i> mutants. Genetic complementation of the <i>C. briggsae</i> and <i>C. elegans</i> <i>phy-1</i> mutants was achieved by injection of a wild type <i>phy-1</i> gene from either species

Space greeter:a low-powered facial recognition device for public spaces

Abstract. Facial recognition is becoming more common all the time with its potentials and with its threats. It’s getting more accurate and, it has gotten multiple use cases by far, for example in the field of security. As the technology has matured and highly efficient low-cost computers have been developed, it is now possible to implement an affordable real-time facial recognition system. This thesis contains our implementation of a facial recognition software that aims to recognise person’s face and attach it to a name from a database in order to greet them by name. In addition, this thesis contains the evaluation of the implementation and possible future work. We examine existing programs and libraries in order to determine which would work in our use case. For facial recognition, OpenCV library was deemed the best option for its straightforward implementation and a broad range of functions, basic HTML and PHP based website for user interface and MySQL for storage. Testing system recognition speed and accuracy in real-life deployment was not possible due to covid-19, but a minor test with fewer participants was concluded. Further testing for face recognition performance was done with a FERET-database. Our tests show that real-time facial recognition with a Raspberry pi 4B as a platform is possible with decent accuracy and speed. In good lighting conditions and with a high confidence level, our algorithm achieved a 2-second delay for face recognition. In theoretical testing using a FERET dataset of 994 persons, our algorithm achieved an accuracy of 93.84\% and a delay of 360-milliseconds when easier images were used. With more difficult and realistic images, the accuracy was 52.80\% and delay 370-milliseconds. Nevertheless, our implementation could be enhanced further, and we discuss the possible means in the summary chapter.Abstract. Kasvojentunnistus yleistyy jatkuvasti samalla luoden uusia mahdollisuuksia, mutta myös erilaisia uhkia. Kasvojentunnistusohjelmien tarkkuus paranee jatkuvasti ja ympärillämme on paljon eri käyttökohteita näille tarkoille ohjelmille, esimerkiksi turvallisuusalalla. Kasvojentunnistuksen parantuneen tarkkuuden sekä edullisten tietokoneiden kehityksen myötä myös edulliset reaaliaikaiset kasvojentunnistusohjelmat ovat mahdollistuneet. Opinnäytetyössämme esittelemme oman implementaatiomme kasvojentunnistusjärjestelmästä, joka osaa tervehtiä henkilöitä heidän nimillään. Tutkimme työtämme varten olemassa olevia ohjelmia ja kirjastoja selvittääksemme mitkä niistä soveltuisivat parhaiten käyttötarkoitukseemme. Päätimme käyttää kasvojentunnistukseen OpenCV-kirjastoa sen helppokäyttöisyyden ja runsaiden ominaisuuksien vuoksi. Käyttöliittymän toteuttamiseen käytimme HTML ja PHP -kieliä sekä tietokantana toimi MySQL. Järjestelmän laajamuotoista testaamista julkisella paikalla emme voineet toteuttaa Covid-19 -viruksen vuoksi, mutta suppeampi testaus suoritettiin muutamalla koehenkilöllä. Lisäksi kasvojentunnistuksen nopeutta ja tarkkuutta mitattiin käyttäen FERET-tietokantaa. Testimme osoittavat, että kasvojentunnistus on mahdollista toteuttaa kohtuullisella tarkkuudella ja nopeudella Raspberry Pi 4B -tietokonetta käyttäen. Hyvissä valaistusolosuhteissa algoritmimme saavutti kahden sekunnin viiveen kasvojentunnistamiseen. Teoreettisilla testeillä käytettäessä FERET-tietojoukkoa 994:stä ihmisestä algoritmimme saavutti 93.84\%:n tarkkuuden 360-millisekunnin viiveellä helpommilla kuvilla. Hankalampia kuvia käytettäessä tarkkuus oli 52.80\% ja viive 370-millisekuntia. Yhteenvedossa tarkastelemme kuinka implementaatiotamme voisi kehittää edelleen

Appropriation as a perspective and topic in the study of religion and spirituality

Cultural appropriation is a timely topic that has been taking up a lot of space in public discussions. The concept is often applied in heated debates aimed at calling out’ different actors and actions as appropriation, or on the other hand to defend against such accusations. This thematic issue seeks to look at the topic from a broader and more nuanced perspective, asking what different expressions of appropriation appear in the field of and in relation to religion and spirituality. What discourses and discussions emerge around instances of religious and spiritual appropriation? And how is appropriation understood, negotiated or problematized within, across and around different religious and spiritual groups? The publication is part of the research project ‘Learning from Religion and Spirituality’ (Academy of Finland 2019-2023) [325148]

New Spirituality from the learning perspective

Peer reviewe

Silmien liikkeiden simulointi etäläsnäolorobotissa

Tiivistelmä. Koronaviruspandemian takia etätyöskentely on lisääntynyt valtavasti. Opiskelijat katsovat luentoja kotoaan ja työkaverit näkevät toisiaan vain videokuvan välityksellä. Kysymykseksi jää, voiko läsnäoloa parantaa etätyöskentelyssä äänen ja videokuvan lisäksi. Tässä työssä esitellään järjestelmä, joka kopioi käyttäjän silmien liikettä robotin silmien liikkeiksi reaaliajassa. Käyttäjän kasvoja kuvaamalla saadaan tietoon käyttäjän silmien asento tunnistamalla kuvasta kasvot ja sitten rajaamalla silmät. Silmien asentojen tieto lähetetään UDP (User Datagram Protocol) tiedonsiirtoprotokollan avulla toiselle tietokoneelle. Siellä tieto otetaan vastaan ja lähetetään virtuaalikoneelle, jolla käytetään ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) käyttöjärjestelmää. ROS2-järjestelmässä käytetään action client ja data publisher -osaohjelmia. Data publisher lähettää action clientille paikkatietoa, jonka avulla robotin liikkuminen tapahtuu. Action client antaa käskyjä robotin XL-320 -servoille, jotka liikuttavat robotin silmiä samaan asentoon käyttäjän kanssa. Järjestelmän viivettä testattiin pyytämällä käyttäjää katsomaan puolelta toiselle ja mittaamalla viivettä videokuvasta. Aikaväli valittiin käyttäjän silmien liikkeiden ja robotin silmien liikkeiden pysähtymisen välillä. Viivettä syntyi tietokoneen laskiessa tunnistusalgorimejä ja robotin liikuttaessa servoja. Tuloksena saatu viive on liian pitkä luomaan luonnollista etäläsnäolokokemusta.Simulation of eye movement in a telepresence robot. Abstract. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, remote working has been increasing significantly. Students watch lectures from home and coworkers see each other only through video. Question remains whether presence can be improved with remote working in addition to voice and video. In this project a system was developed that copies user’s eye movements to robot’s eye movements in real time. Filming the user’s face will give the user’s eyes position by recognizing their face and then cropping their eyes. The eyes position is sent with UDP (User Datagram Protocol) data transfer protocol to another computer. There information is received and sent to virtual machine, which uses ROS2 (Robot Operating System) operating system. ROS2 system uses action client and data publisher nodes. Data publisher sends position information to action client which controls the robot. Action client gives commands to robot’s XL-320 servo motors, which move robot’s eyes to same position as the user’s. System’s delay was tested by asking user to look from side to side and measuring the delay from video. Time interval was chosen between the end of user’s eye movement and the end of robots eye movement. Delay was produced with computer calculating recognition algorithms and robot moving the servos. Resulting delay is too long to create natural telepresence experience

Current evidence for a modulation of low back pain by human genetic variants

The manifestation of chronic back pain depends on structural, psychosocial, occupational and genetic influences. Heritability estimates for back pain range from 30% to 45%. Genetic influences are caused by genes affecting intervertebral disc degeneration or the immune response and genes involved in pain perception, signalling and psychological processing. This inter-individual variability which is partly due to genetic differences would require an individualized pain management to prevent the transition from acute to chronic back pain or improve the outcome. The genetic profile may help to define patients at high risk for chronic pain. We summarize genetic factors that (i) impact on intervertebral disc stability, namely Collagen IX, COL9A3, COL11A1, COL11A2, COL1A1, aggrecan (AGAN), cartilage intermediate layer protein, vitamin D receptor, metalloproteinsase-3 (MMP3), MMP9, and thrombospondin-2, (ii) modify inflammation, namely interleukin-1 (IL-1) locus genes and IL-6 and (iii) and pain signalling namely guanine triphosphate (GTP) cyclohydrolase 1, catechol-O-methyltransferase, μ opioid receptor (OPMR1), melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), transient receptor potential channel A1 and fatty acid amide hydrolase and analgesic drug metabolism (cytochrome P450 [CYP]2D6, CYP2C9)