Becoming a special educator – Finnish and Swedish students' views of their future profession

Peer reviewe

Food dependency in Sub Saharan Africa: Investigations into sources and policy debates

dissertationThis dissertation seeks to examine the question of why still largely agrarian and still largely nonindustrialized countries in SSA rely on grain imports to feed substantial portions of their populations at the expense of their own domestic agricultural sectors. Chapter 1 begins by tracing the beginnings of this dependency as it arose in tandem with the attention of international attention to the issue of food security that followed on the heels of the first postwar (early 1970s) food crisis. A review of the discourse and policy debates surrounding that issue over subsequent decades shows that food dependency was an inevitable outcome of the free market-open economy based policy solution to food security that emerged from the First (1975) World Food Summit. Chapter 2 employs a 44-country, 51-year panel within the context of Arthur Lewis' classical dual economy "development with unlimited supplies of labor" framework in which food imports potentially can substitute for increased productivity in domestic agriculture to prevent rising wages and a halt to a nascent process of capital accumulation. Results find no significant correlations between the economic modernization indicators and increasing food dependency as measured by imported grain levels. Results do suggest a significant association between increasing food dependency and panel eras specified by subsequent trade and policy regimes. More importantly, empirical results call for a re-evaluation of Lewis' original development model to focus on the role played by a supported food subsistence sector in creating economic possibilities for development. Chapter 3 takes a iv closer look at the grain import data of Chapter 2 in order to examine the volatility in those time series for nearly every country in the panel. First, grain import "acceleration episodes" are identified in accordance with defined criteria. Potential correlates of the identified episodes are then sought in categories of economic reform, external shocks, polity and civil conflict, and macroeconomic indicators. Results indicate likely correlations with low commodity price shocks, regime changes, and with trade openness as proxied by peak trade ratios at lower significance levels

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore: First reported case of M. persicum septic arthritis

In this report, we describe a case of septic arthritis caused by the newly described Mycobacterium persicum (formerly Mycobacterium kansasii complex). The patient's only significant exposure was home gardening. To our knowledge, this represents the first documented case of M. persicum infection in the United States and first septic arthritis

Determination of Oligopeptide Diversity within a Natural Population of Microcystis spp. (Cyanobacteria) by Typing Single Colonies by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

Besides the most prominent peptide toxin, microcystin, the cyanobacteria Microcystis spp. have been shown to produce a large variety of other bioactive oligopeptides. We investigated for the first time the oligopeptide diversity within a natural Microcystis population by analyzing single colonies directly with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The results demonstrate a high diversity of known cyanobacterial peptides such as microcystins, anabaenopeptins, microginins, aeruginosins, and cyanopeptolins, but also many unknown substances in the Microcystis colonies. Oligopeptide patterns were mostly related to specific Microcystis taxa. Microcystis aeruginosa (Kütz.) Kütz. colonies contained mainly microcystins, occasionally accompanied by aeruginosins. In contrast, microcystins were not detected in Microcystis ichthyoblabe Kütz.; instead, colonies of this species contained anabaenopeptins and/or microginins or unknown peptides. Within a third group, Microcystis wesenbergii (Kom.) Kom. in Kondr., chiefly a cyanopeptolin and an unknown peptide were found. Similar patterns, however, were also found in colonies which could not be identified to species level. The significance of oligopeptides as a chemotaxonomic tool within the genus Microcystis is discussed. It could be demonstrated that the typing of single colonies by MALDI-TOF MS may be a valuable tool for ecological studies of the genus Microcystis as well as in early warning of toxic cyanobacterial blooms