Type C bovine botulism outbreak due to carcass contaminated non-acidified silage.

The first reported bovine botulism outbreak in Finland is described. Nine out of 90 cattle on a dairy farm died after being fed non-acidified silage contaminated by animal carcasses. Type C botulinum neurotoxin gene was detected in one heifer by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the neurotoxin was detected by the mouse bioassay. Clostridium botulinum type C was isolated from liver samples. The isolated strain was identified with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis as group III C. botulinum. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a type C bovine botulism outbreak has been diagnosed by PCR and confirmed by subsequent isolation and AFLP identification of the disease strain. The importance of the acidification process in silage production to inhibit C. botulinum toxin production in silage and thus to prevent further botulism outbreaks is emphasized. Nevertheless, preformed toxin in the carcass is not destroyed by acid

HIDEA syndrome is caused by biallelic, pathogenic, rare or founder P4HTM variants impacting the active site or the overall stability of the P4H-TM protein

HIDEA syndrome is caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in P4HTM. The phenotype is characterized by muscular and central hypotonia, hypoventilation including obstructive and central sleep apneas, intellectual disability, dysautonomia, epilepsy, eye abnormalities, and an increased tendency to develop respiratory distress during pneumonia. Here, we report six new patients with HIDEA syndrome caused by five different biallelic P4HTM variants, including three novel variants. We describe two Finnish enriched pathogenic P4HTM variants and demonstrate that these variants are embedded within founder haplotypes. We review the clinical data from all previously published patients with HIDEA and characterize all reported P4HTM pathogenic variants associated with HIDEA in silico. All known pathogenic variants in P4HTM result in either premature stop codons, an intragenic deletion, or amino acid changes that impact the active site or the overall stability of P4H-TM protein. In all cases, normal P4H-TM enzyme function is expected to be lost or severely decreased. This report expands knowledge of the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of the disease.publishedVersio

Stainless steel weld metal designed to mitigate residual stresses

There have been considerable efforts to create welding consumables which on solid state phase transformation partly compensate for the stresses which develop when a constrained weld cools to ambient temperatures. All of these efforts have focused on structural steels which are ferritic. In the present work, alloy design methods have been used to create a stainless steel welding consumable which solidifies as δ ferrite, transforms almost entirely into austenite which then undergoes martensitic transformation at a low temperature of about 220◦C. At the same time, the carbon concentration has been kept to a minimum to avoid phenomena such as sensitisation. The measured mechanical properties, especially toughness, seem to be significantly better than commercially available martensitic stainless steel welding consumables, and it has been demonstrated that the use of the new alloy reduces distortion in the final joint

Direct Binding of the Flexible C-Terminal Segment of Periaxin to β4 Integrin Suggests a Molecular Basis for CMT4F

The process of myelination in the nervous system requires a coordinated formation of both transient and stable supramolecular complexes. Myelin-specific proteins play key roles in these assemblies, which may link membranes to each other or connect the myelinating cell cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. The myelin protein periaxin is known to play an important role in linking the Schwann cell cytoskeleton to the basal lamina through membrane receptors, such as the dystroglycan complex. Mutations that truncate periaxin from the C terminus cause demyelinating peripheral neuropathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease type 4F, indicating a function for the periaxin C-terminal region in myelination. We identified the cytoplasmic domain of β4 integrin as a specific high-affinity binding partner for periaxin. The C-terminal region of periaxin remains unfolded and flexible when bound to the third fibronectin type III domain of β4 integrin. Our data suggest that periaxin is able to link the Schwann cell cytoplasm to the basal lamina through a two-pronged interaction via different membrane protein complexes, which bind close to the N and C terminus of this elongated, flexible molecule.publishedVersio

Strategic change emerging in time

Abstract In this study, I address the need for an in-depth understanding of the temporal nature of strategic change. Accordingly, I examine how strategic change emerges in time in a small Finnish software company. The data for the study consists of strategy-making discussions with three company managers during the course of two years. With this study I contribute to process organization studies in general and post-processual strategy research in particular. By following a process-relational view of becoming reality and adopting an “in-time” view of temporality, I add to discussions on the temporal nature of strategy work. The in-time view enables me to examine strategic change as the fluidity of the present, in which both the past and the future are immanent. In addition to highlighting that processuality cannot be reduced to human actions, I follow the notion of agentic time, which analytically gives agency to relational events. With the in-time view, I aim to unpack especially two underlying tendencies behind theorizations of strategic change: first, the overemphasis on managers as the principle, controlling agents of strategic change, and second, the reduction of the complex and fluxing change processes into simple, static models. With the empirical analysis, I identify five ways in which the agency of time perceptibly manifests in strategic change: unforeseen events, the becoming meaning of events, the immediacy and irreversibility of an emerging situation, the immanent past in the present, and the conditionality of time. I also show the paradoxical tension between organizing processes efficiently over time and experiencing and reacting to novel events in time. Furthermore, I illustrate the multi-event nature of strategic change and show how the managers’ intentionality emerges from within relational events. In contrast to the prevailing view of strategic change as a pre-planned, future-oriented managerial activity, with this study I add to our understanding of strategic change as a continuous, unpredictable process emerging through the mutually constitutive relation between unowned events and human actions. Accordingly, I argue that temporality should be treated as a fundamental characteristic of reality, which defines the dynamics of strategic change, rather than as an objective background or subjective construction of strategy-making.Tiivistelmä Tällä tutkimuksella vastaan tarpeeseen ymmärtää syvällisemmin strategisen muutoksen ajallista luonnetta. Sen vuoksi tarkastelen tässä työssä, miten strateginen muutos kehkeytyy ajassa pienessä suomalaisessa ohjelmistoyrityksessä. Tutkimusaineistoni koostuu yrityksen kolmen johtajan kanssa käydyistä strategiakeskusteluista kahden vuoden ajalta. Tutkimukseni kontribuoi yleisesti prosessuaaliseen organisaatiotutkimukseen ja erityisesti jälkiprosessuaaliseen strategiatutkimukseen. Tuon tutkimuksessani esille ajallisuuden näkökulman muutosprosessiin. Seuraan prosessi-relationaalista aikakäsitystä, jossa menneisyys ja tulevaisuus nähdään läsnä olevina alati kehkeytyvässä nykyhetkessä. Sen mukaisesti korostan ajan agenttista luonnetta prosesseissa ja keskityn analyysissäni yksilöiden sijaan relationaalisiin tapahtumiin keskeisimpänä muutosvoimana. Tällä näkökulmalla pyrin ohittamaan erityisesti kaksi vallitsevaa strategiatutkimuksen ongelmaa: yritysjohdon roolin ylikorostamisen muutoksen hallitsijana, sekä monimutkaisen ja dynaamisen muutosprosessin liiallisen redusoimisen staattisiksi malleiksi. Tutkimuksessani tunnistan viisi ajan agenssin ilmenemismuotoa strategisessa muutoksessa: odottamattomat tapahtumat, tapahtumien ajassa muuttuva merkitys, elettyjen tilanteiden välittömyys ja peruuttamattomuus, menneisyyden läsnäolo nykyisyydessä, sekä ajan ehdollisuus. Lisäksi osoitan työssäni paradoksaalisen jännitteen ajan yli jatkumaan ja kehittymään suunniteltujen käytäntöjen, sekä ajassa kehkeytyvien hallitsemattomien tapahtumien kohdatessa. Korostan työssäni myös muutostapahtumien monitahoista ilmentymistä ja osoitan, kuinka johtajien tarkoitukselliset toimet muodostuvat tapahtumien sisällä. Tutkimuksellani kyseenalaistan käsityksen strategisesta muutoksesta suunniteltuna, tulevaisuusorientoituneena prosessina. Sen sijaan kuvaan sen jatkuvana ja ennustamattomana prosessina, joka kehkeytyy hallitsemattomien tapahtumien ja yksilöiden toimien sisäisenä dynamiikkana. Väitän, että ajallisuus tulisi nähdä todellisuutta luovana voimana joka määrittää strategisen muutoksen prosessuaalisen luonteen, eikä pelkästään tapahtumien objektiivisena taustana tai ihmisten subjektiivisena tulevaisuuden ja menneisyyden tulkintana strategiatyössä

Task‐based, GPU‐accelerated and robust library for solving dense nonsymmetric eigenvalue problems

In this paper, we present the StarNEig library for solving dense nonsymmetric standard and generalized eigenvalue problems. The library is built on top of the StarPU runtime system and targets both shared and distributed memory machines. Some components of the library have support for GPU acceleration. The library currently applies to real matrices with real and complex eigenvalues and all calculations are done using real arithmetic. Support for complex matrices is planned for a future release. This paper is aimed at potential users of the library. We describe the design choices and capabilities of the library, and contrast them to existing software such as LAPACK and ScaLAPACK. StarNEig implements a ScaLAPACK compatibility layer which should assist new users in the transition to StarNEig. We demonstrate the performance of the library with a sample of computational experiments.NLAFE

Narrating strategy in the flow of events:illusion and disillusion in strategy-making

Abstract Narrative strategy-making is useful in the mobilization of strategies because narratives impart coherence and linearity to our understanding of organizational events. Our paper examines the relation between narrative strategy-making and the flow of events. We present a longitudinal, participatory study of a software company seeking global growth. Specifically, we followed events preceding and succeeding construction of the strategic ‘success stories’ used by the software company’s managers in investor negotiations. We conceptualize the point of illusion and disillusion underlying the temporal construction and use of strategy narratives and show how the former enables strategy-making, while the latter constrains it. We add to narrative strategy research by elaborating the relation between the construction of strategy narratives and the flow of organizational events

Eternal today:the temporality paradox in strategy-making

Abstract In this chapter we focus on temporality in managerial strategy-making. In particular, we adopt an 'in-time' view to examine strategy-making as the fluidity of the present experience. We draw on a longitudinal, real-time study in a small Finnish software company. On the basis of our analysis, we found five manifestations of ‘in-time’ processuality in strategy-making. We further identify a temporality paradox that arises from the engagement of managers with two contradictory times: constructed linear ‘over time’ and experienced, becoming ‘in time’.These findings lead us to re-evaluate the nature of intention in strategy-making and to elaborate the constitutive relation between time as ‘the passage of nature’ and human agency. Consequently, we argue that temporality should not be treated merely as an objective background or a subjective managerial orientation, but as a fundamental characteristic of processuality that defines the dynamics of strategy-making