Asymptotic and bootstrap tests for the dimension of the non-Gaussian subspace

Dimension reduction is often a preliminary step in the analysis of large data sets. The so-called non-Gaussian component analysis searches for a projection onto the non-Gaussian part of the data, and it is then important to know the correct dimension of the non-Gaussian signal subspace. In this paper we develop asymptotic as well as bootstrap tests for the dimension based on the popular fourth order blind identification (FOBI) method

Oppilaiden vieraiden kielten oppimismotivaatio alakoulussa

Tiivistelmä. Kansainvälisen liikkuvuuden ja globalisaation myötä kielitaito nähdään arvokkaana taitona työmarkkinoilla. Vieraat kielet ovat jokaisen ihmisen arkipäivää, koska eri maiden mediat näkyvät myös Suomessa ja niiden käyttö on erittäin yleistä. Kielitaito voi auttaa myös uusien mahdollisuuksien luomiseen ulkomailla esimerkiksi matkustelun muodossa. Vaikka kielitaito nähdäänkin tärkeänä taitona, on kielien vapaavalintaisen opiskelun väheneminen herättänyt huolestunutta keskustelua yhteiskunnassa. Tavoitteena tässä kandidaatintutkielmassa onkin selvittää, millaiset tekijät vaikuttavat oppilaiden vieraiden kielten oppimismotivaatioon alakoulussa. Tutkimusmenetelmänä tässä tutkielmassa on käytetty kuvailevaa kirjallisuuskatsausta. Aineistoa on kerätty eri tietokannoista ja se koostuu vanhemmista perusteoksista, tieteellisistä artikkeleista ja tutkimuksista vieraan kielen oppimisesta ja oppimismotivaatiosta. Aineistosta löytyy sekä kotimaista että ulkomaista lähdemateriaalia. Tutkielmasta käy ilmi, että sisäiseen ja ulkoiseen oppimismotivaatioon vaikuttavat monet eri tekijät. Ulkoisista tekijöistä varsinkin opettajan rooli on merkittävä oppilaan oppimismotivaatiolle kuten myös oppimisympäristö. Sisäisistä tekijöistä huomattava merkitys vieraan kielen oppimismotivaatiolle on oppilaan tuntemalla autonomian tunteella sekä hänen kokemallaan kieliminällä. Kieliminällä tarkoitetaan yksilön uskomusta itseensä kielen oppijana ja kielen käyttäjänä. Sukupuolella on myös todettu olevan erinäisiä vaikutuksia motivaatioon. Lisäksi oppiaineen pakollisuuden on huomattu heikentävän oppimismotivaatiota. Tutkielman tuloksia voidaan pitää pätevinä, sillä samansuuntaisia tutkimustuloksia löytyi monista eri aineistoista. Vaikka tulokset eivät sisällä konkreettisia neuvoja vieraan kielen oppimismotivaation lisäämiseen, voidaan niitä hyödyntää teoriatietona konkreettisemmille teoille

Antibody responses to nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in adults: A longitudinal household study

Background. Natural immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae is thought to be induced by exposure to S. pneumoniae or cross-reactive antigens. No longitudinal studies of carriage of and immune responses to S. pneumoniae have been conducted using sophisticated immunological laboratory techniques.Methods. We enrolled 121 families with young children into this study. Nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs were collected monthly for 10 months from all family members and were cultured in a standard fashion. Cultured S. pneumoniae isolates were serotyped. At the beginning (month 0) and end (month 10) of the study, venous blood was collected from family members 118 years old. Serotype-specific antipolysaccharide immunoglobulin G (IgG) and functional antibody and antibodies to pneumolysin, pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA), and pneumococcal surface antigen A (PsaA) were measured in paired serum samples.Results. Levels of anticapsular IgG increased significantly after carriage of serotypes 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F by an individual or family member. For serotype 14, a higher level of anticapsular IgG at the beginning of the study was associated with reduced odds of carriage (P = .0006). There was a small (similar to 20%) but significant increase in titers of antibodies to PsaA and pneumolysin but no change in titers of antibody to PspA.Conclusions. Adults respond to NP carriage by mounting anticapsular and weak antiprotein antibody responses, and naturally induced anticapsular IgG can prevent carriage

Hospital admissions and surgical treatment of children with lower-limb deficiency in Finland

Background and Aims: There are no population-based studies about hospital admissions and need for surgical treatment of congenital lower-limb deficiencies. The aim is to assess the impact children with lower-limb deficiencies pose to national hospital level health-care system. Materials and Methods: A population-based study was conducted using the national Register of Congenital Malformations and Care Register for Health Care. All 185 live births with lower-limb deficiency (1993-2008) were included. Data on hospital care were collected until 31 December 2009 and compared to data on the whole pediatric population (0.9 million) live born in 1993-2008. Results: The whole pediatric population had annually on average 0.10 hospital admissions and the mean length of in-patient care of 0.3 days per child. The respective figures were 1.5 and 5.6 in terminal lower-limb amputations (n = 7), 1.1 and 3.9 in long-bone deficiencies (n = 53), 0.6 and 1.9 in foot deficiencies (n = 26) and 0.4 and 2.6 in toe deficiencies (n = 101). Orthopedic surgery was performed in 72% (5/7) of patients with terminal amputations, in 62% (33/53) of patients with long bone, in 58% (14/24) of patients with foot and in 25% (25/101) of patients in toe deficiencies. Half (54%) of all procedures were orthopedic operations. Conclusion: In congenital lower-limb deficiencies the need of hospital care and the number of orthopedic procedures is multiple-fold compared to whole pediatric population. The burden to the patient and to the families is markedly increased, especially in children with terminal amputations and long-bone deficiencies of lower limbs.Peer reviewe

Impact of copper and zinc on the growth of saprotrophic fungi and the production of extracellular enzymes

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New constraints for QCD matter from improved Bayesian parameter estimation in heavy-ion collisions at LHC

The transport properties of quark-gluon plasma created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are quantified by an improved global Bayesian analysis using the CERN Large Hadron Collider Pb-Pb data at root s(NN) = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV. The results show that the uncertainty of the extracted transport coefficients is significantly reduced by including new sophisticated collective flow observables from two collision energies for the first time. This work reveals the stronger temperature dependence of specific shear viscosity, a lower value of specific bulk viscosity, and a higher hadronization switching temperature than in the previous studies. The sensitivity analysis confirms that the precision measurements of higher-order harmonic flow and their correlations are crucial in extracting accurate values of the transport properties. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Osasairauspäiväraha Suomessa : Etuutta saaneiden kokemuksia ja työhön paluu

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Clinical manifestations and outcomes of severe warfarin overanticoagulation: from the EWA study

Introduction: Severe warfarin overanticoagulation is a risk factor for bleeding, but there is little information on its manifestations, prognosis and factors affecting the outcome. We describe the manifestations and clinical outcomes of severe warfarin overanticoagulation in a large group of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).Material and methods: All international normalized ratio (INR) samples (n = 961,431) in the Turku University Hospital region between 2003 and 2015 were screened. A total of 412 AF patients with INR ≥9 were compared to 405 patients with stable warfarin anticoagulation for AF. Electronic patient records were manually reviewed to collect comprehensive data.Results: Of the 412 patients with INR ≥9, bleeding was the primary manifestation in 105 (25.5%). Non-bleeding symptoms were recorded in 165 (40.0%) patients and 142 (34.5%) had no symptoms. A total of 17 (16.2%) patients with a bleed and 67 (21.8%) without bleeding died within 30 days after the event. Intracranial haemorrhage strongly predicted death within 30 days. Other significant predictors were non-bleeding symptoms, active malignancies, recent bleed, history of myocardial infarction, older age, renal dysfunction and a recent treatment episode.Conclusions: Bleeds are not the major determinant of the poor prognosis in severe overanticoagulation, as coincidental INR ≥9 findings also associate with high mortality.</p

Asbestos-related cancers in Brazil

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Maternal gut and breast milk microbiota affect infant gut antibiotic resistome and mobile genetic elements

The infant gut microbiota has a high abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) compared to adults, even in the absence of antibiotic exposure. Here we study potential sources of infant gut ARGs by performing metagenomic sequencing of breast milk, as well as infant and maternal gut microbiomes. We find that fecal ARG and mobile genetic element (MGE) profiles of infants are more similar to those of their own mothers than to those of unrelated mothers. MGEs in mothers' breast milk are also shared with their own infants. Termination of breastfeeding and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis of mothers, which have the potential to affect microbial community composition, are associated with higher abundances of specific ARGs, the composition of which is largely shaped by bacterial phylogeny in the infant gut. Our results suggest that infants inherit the legacy of past antibiotic consumption of their mothers via transmission of genes, but microbiota composition still strongly impacts the overall resistance load