Terveydenhuollon säteilyn käytöstä (röntgendiagnostiikka ja toimenpideradiologia) väestölle aiheutuvan säteilyannoksen määrittäminen

Terveydenhuollon radiologisista tutkimuksista ja toimenpiteistä väestölle aiheutuva säteilyaltistus on kasvamassa. Kaikessa säteilyn käytössä terveydenhuollon säteilyn käyttö on suurin säteilyaltistuksen aiheuttaja. Väestön säteilyaltistusta ja sen kehittymistä on syytä seurata, koska säteilyn käytön aiheuttamat terveydelliset haittavaikutukset lisääntyvät väestön säteilyannoksen kasvaessa. Tässä raportissa esitetään yhteenveto viimeisimmästä Säteilyturvakeskuksen (STUK) tekemästä väestöannoksen määrityksestä Suomessa. Raportissa esitetään sekä väestöannosmäärityksen tulokset että laskennassa käytetyt menetelmät. Tuloksena esitetään kollektiivinen efektiivinen annos väestölle sekä väestön yksilöä kohti laskettu effektiivinen annos ja sen jakautuminen merkittävimpien tutkimusryhmien osalle. Laskennassa käytettiin vuonna 2008 Suomessa tehtyjen radiologisten tutkimusten ja toimenpiteiden lukumääriä ryhmiteltynä Suomen kuntaliiton luokituksen mukaisesti. Laskenta tehtiin sekä kaikille tutkimuksille ja toimenpiteille (tarkin menetelmä) että käyttäen EU:n ohjeiden mukaista nk. TOP 20 -menetelmää. Natiivitutkimusten osalta tutkittiin lisäksi ICRP:n julkaisemien kudosten painokertoimien vaikutusta tuloksiin. Tuloksia verrattiin aikaisempiin arvioihin ja kansainvälisiin tilastotietoihin. Kaikista röntgentutkimuksista ja toimenpiteistä yhteensä väestölle aiheutuva kollektiivinen efektiivinen annos vuonna 2008 Suomessa oli 2 396 841 mSv eli 0,45 mSv per väestön yksilö. Tietokonetomografiatutkimukset ovat ylivoimaisesti merkittävin tutkimusryhmä väestön säteilyannoksen kannalta. TT-tutkimuksista väestölle aiheutuneen annoksen osuus kaikkien röntgentutkimusten ja toimenpiteiden aiheuttamasta väestön kokonaisannoksesta on noin 58 %, kun muiden pääryhmien osuudet ovat vain 12–16 %. TT-tutkimuksista väestölle aiheutuneen annoksen osuus on jatkuvasti kasvanut ja oli 50 % jo vuonna 2005. TOP 20 -menetelmä antaa hyvän arvion väestön kokonaisannoksesta natiiviröntgentutkimusten osalta, mutta aliarvioi huomattavasti (15–59 %) väestön kokonaisannosta muiden pääryhmien osalta. Kokonaisuutena TOP 20 -menetelmä Suomen tapauksessa aliarvioi väestön kokonaisannosta noin 22 %. Tulokset osoittavat myös, että EU:n raportissa annetut TOP 20 -ryhmät eivät kaikilta osin edusta Suomessa väestöannoksen kannalta merkittävimpiä tutkimustyyppejä. Uusien ICRP:n julkaisemien kudosten painokertoimien käyttöönotto nostaa natiiviröntgentutkimuksista väestölle aiheutuvaa kokonaisannosta noin 22 %. Uusien painokertoimien vaikutuksessa efektiiviseen annokseen on kuitenkin suuria eroja eri anatomisten alueiden kohdalla. Suurin vaikutus on keuhkojen, kaularangan ja rintarauhasen (mammografia) röntgentutkimuksissa (28–135 % suuremmat kollektiiviset efektiiviset annokset), johtuen rintarauhasen painokertoimen kasvusta. TOP 20 -ryhmien osalta annokset Suomessa olivat toiseksi alimmat 12 Euroopan maan välisessä vertailussa. Väestölle aiheutuvan kollektiivisen efektiivisen annoksen epävarmuudeksi on arvioitu 10–50 % (k=2). Suurin epävarmuus aiheutuu tutkimusta tai toimenpidettä koskevan tyypillisen annoksen epävarmuudesta, erityisesti tietokonetomografiatutkimuksissa, läpivalaisututkimuksissa ja toimenpideradiologiassa

Effect Of Engineering Education On Students’ Ethical Attitudes

Integrating teaching about ethics in engineering degree has challenges: Teachers focused on the degree core topics may lack the expertise to handle the ethics, and teachers with an ethics background may struggle to connect the ethics teaching to the field-specific issues. In addition, a portion of the students themselves may consider the non-core topic to be unnecessary or demotivating, which poses further challenges for the teaching. In the paper, we explore the ethical attitudes of students based on a survey conducted on information technology, electrical engineering and computer sciences students at our university. The survey received 224 responses. We compare the attitudes of students depending on their progress in their studies and whether they have had any ethics teaching included in their studies. In addition, we discuss the students' attitudes compared to the ethical attitudes of the graduated engineers from a survey of members of a national engineering association. As the goal is to understand how to better integrate ethics teaching into education, we also discuss the students' views on how the teaching should be integrated and if students' previous encounters with ethics teaching affect their opinion on the matter.Peer reviewe

Tell It With Commits To Git

In the realm of higher education, team work is considered a crucial factor in facilitating the development of collaborative and work-life skills among students. Studies have shown that collaborative tasks promote a sense of community, belonging, and well-being among students. However, uneven work distribution and vague team roles can lead to dissatisfaction and reduced commitment, ultimately resulting in assignment failure and impeding progress towards graduation. This paper examines students' feedback on Britton et al.'s (2017) team quality questionnaire, along with their contributions to team performance. Additional questions were added to gauge how students communicate and organize their work within their teams, with an analysis of their activity and contributions measured from their git repositories. Ultimately, this paper presents successful ingredients for team work and suggests strategies for ensuring a positive experience in dynamic team settings. These strategies include clearly defined roles, equal workload distribution, and accountability mechanisms.Peer reviewe

Bachelor\u27s Thesis Seminar In Computer Sciences And Information Technology

A Bachelor’s thesis is typically an individually written literature review on a scientifically relevant topic. Additionally, some theses also describe empirical work or report an experiment. Firstly, we introduce how Bachelor’s theses are supervised in a joint thesis seminar for Computer Sciences and Information Technology at our university. The thesis seminar is organized three times a year. It consists of six small group meetings led by a supervisor and contains compulsory pre- and post-assignments and active peer discussions. In 2022, there were in total of 187 students participating in the spring, summer and autumn seminars. Secondly, we give an overview of the 98 completed theses. We classify the theses using ACM’s Computing Classification System and analyze keywords, the number of references and some other bibliometrics to learn about the students and the potential effects of their different study orientations. We also analyze 14 theses that reported practical work, like the implementation of an algorithm or using existing software tools. The main result of our work is to give a research-based view on the supervision of Bachelor’s theses, the organisation of the thesis seminar, and the bibliometrics of the completed thesis

Working-life ethical issues faced by engineers

In recent years, there have been public discussions about novel ethical issues emerging from new engineering fields, such as the usage of artificial intelligence. While those are important issues to discuss, they do not necessarily reflect the ethical issues engineers face in their work. In this paper, we discuss problems that engineers of different disciplines face in their professional life, based on a survey sent to members of the Association of Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland. From the 433 respondents, we received over 130 descriptions of ethical issues encountered within their professional lives. We divided the encountered issues of the survey into two main categories: ethical issues about general work life and those on more engineering-specific situations. The focus of this paper is on the engineering specific ethical issues and the reactions they encounter. We discuss about who noticed the problems and how the workplaces reacted to the issues. In addition, it is addressed whether companies have policies in place to handle ethical issues. Furthermore, we discuss the types of support the engineers indicated hoping to receive from different stakeholders. On a larger scale, the goal is also to gather knowledge on how to improve engineering education to meet the needs of future engineers on ethical issues.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Changes In Higher Education Communication Practices And Tools - Through The Pandemic Towards New Communication Models

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted traditional modes of communication in higher education institutions, leading to a shift towards remote communication and digital tools. This scientific paper examines the changes in higher education communication practices and tools resulting from the pandemic. The paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities presented by this shift and the ways in which teachers have applied communication models familiar from contact teaching to distance education. A previous review of published literature on adaptations in higher education institutions identified key factors for a successful transition to novel distance education communication practices and tools. These factors included effective use of digital platforms, skillful faculty with additional training and support available, and consistent efforts to maintain engagement and community building in the online environment. To determine how teachers have been able to adapt their communication practices and tool use at both the course and curriculum levels in response to the pandemic and whether they see these changes as welcome and lasting, a questionnaire survey was conducted at Tampere University. The results of the survey demonstrated how local experiences reflected the broader changes and contribute to the ongoing discussion about teachers adopting new communication models. However, some teachers expressed a desire to return to pre-COVID-19 practices, as they perceived contact learning as more engaging and effective. Therefore, the authors propose the creation of communication models by teaching staff for their own contexts as a tool for discussing and designing teaching-related communications.Peer reviewe

How to Support Prison Workers’ Perceived Readiness to Identify and Respond to Possible Gambling Problems : a Pilot Study from Two Finnish Prisons

Problem gambling is known to be prevalent among prisoners. However, it is not systematically screened and often remains undetected. This pilot study explores prison workers’ (N = 21) knowledge, views, and opinions about problem gambling in two Finnish prisons with a view to improving training and to developing better guidelines for identifying and responding to gambling problems. Four-fifths (81%) of prison workers considered problem gambling a serious issue in Finland. During the past year, more than nine in ten (94.1%) had encountered a prisoner with a gambling problem. Problem gambling was identified in connection with discussions about prisoners’ illegal activity (50%), financial situation (25%), or other problems (25%). Nearly half of the participants felt they did not have adequate training or information about problem gambling and related issues and expressed an interest in continuing education. This pilot study provides important direction for the development of tailored training programs for prison workers. The next step is to increase awareness of gambling programs in a wider national context and to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of training programs.Peer reviewe

Having it all: auto-graders reduce workload yet increase the quantity and quality of feedback

Due to COVID-19, teaching has moved online at an accelerated pace, and this movement will partially be permanent. Online teaching implies an automatic assessment of exercises. Using automated grading, the studied web development course (N=257) managed to serve students promptly and increase the amount of feedback received by students even if the number of submissions increased remarkably. Automatic graders guaranteed the uniformity of feedback, equal treatment, and most importantly, reduced the routine work of the personnel. Being less burdened, the course personnel could concentrate on assisting students in online discussion channels, where discussions were targeted for the students needing more help and support. Compared with previous manually assisted course implementations, the workload moved from "in situ" to prior to the course, where the most laborious part was the design of the exercises and the implementation of automatic graders. The amount of work for grading the exercises and assignment was decreased by about 70 per cent. In the graders, the feedback given by them is of paramount importance and should suggest necessary improvements. The graders enforced good coding conventions and other targets set for the code (e.g., maintainability and accessibility). In some cases, this feedback was modified during the course based on the difficulties experienced to give more targeted advice. Automatic grading provided a way for students to iteratively improve their code based on the feedback. The software and methods used in this course could be applied to such other courses and domains, where automatic grading is considered helpful.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Test Case Selection with Incremental ML

Context: Software projects applying continuous integration should run the tests very frequently, but often the number of test is huge and their execution takes a long time. This delays the feedback to the developer. Objective: Study if heuristic and especially incremental machine learning can help in finding an optimal test set that still finds the errors. Method: Several methods for reducing the tests were tested. Each method was applied to the example software its commit history, and the performance of the methods were compared. Results: The test set size can be radically reduced with automatic approaches. Furthermore, it was found that the incremental machine learning based test selection techniques eventually perform equally well or better than the best heuristic.Peer reviewe

Reducing particle emissions from marine engines – fuel choices and technology pathways

Particle emissions from marine applications have been receiving increasing attention in recent years, whether as black carbon for their impact in artic ice melting and global warming, as nanoparticles for their health impact or due to the general classification of soot as a carcinogenic substance by the World Health Organization. Fulfiling the global requirements of marine propulsion and power generation applications only a few technology paths are commercially available which have the potential to reduce particle emissions significantly. SOX scrubber in combination with traditional HFO operated diesel engines represent one route trying to achieve this objective. Alternatively, the engines can be converted to dual fuel operation, including liquified natural gas (LNG) operation or the fuel can be changed to a distillate liquid fuel which can be combined with a diesel particulate filter (DPF). In detail, these different approaches vary not only in terms of technical challenges, required onboard modifications and costs, but also with regards to their actual performance in reducing black carbon (BC), particle mass (PM) and nanoparticle-related particle number (PN) emissions. In the European Union the PN abatement performance will gain additional attention as in upcoming regulations a cutoff level for ultra-fine nanoparticle emissions of 10 nm will likely be introduced. In this contribution we present a comparison of the different technological options for low BC, PM &amp; PN with their respective challenges and performance characteristics. Measurements have been conducted on marine medium-speed and high-speed engines on both engine test beds and on board. The setups were chosen in a way to cover the range of commercially available paths to reduce particulate emissions. For the measurements a range of analytical devices for assessing particlerelated emissions (together with gaseous emissions measurements) were employed. Results are set in context of current and upcoming emission regulation for international, near-coast and inland water marine applications.<br/