Factors Affecting the Corporate Decision-Making Process of Air Transport Manufacturers

Fuel economy is a pivotal question influencing the future sale and utilization of commercial aircraft. The NASA Aircraft Energy Efficiency (ACEE) Program Office has a program intended to accelerate the readiness of advanced technologies for energy efficient aircraft. Because the decision to develop a new airframe or engine is a major financial hazard for manufacturers, it is important to know what factors influence the decision making process. A method is described for identifying and ranking individuals and organizations involved at each stage of commercial air transport development, and the barriers that must be overcome in adopting new technologies

Saariselän paikallistason geodiversiteetti ja sen arviointi alfa, beeta ja gamma -tasoilla

Tiivistelmä. Globaalimuutos on merkittävä uhka luonnon monimuotoisuudelle. Geodiversiteettiin kohdistuu kielteisiä vaikutuksia, jotka ovat osin suhteellisen pysyviä. Geodiversiteettiä esiintyy eri mittakaavoilla, mutta paikallistason tutkimusta ei ole juurikaan tehty. Geodiversiteetin kvantifioinnissa voidaan hyödyntää biodiversiteetin tutkimuksessa yleisesti käytettyä alfa (α)-, beeta (β)- ja gamma (µ)-diversiteetin näkökulmaa. Mittaus kohdistuu eliölajien sijasta erilaisiin geokohteisiin, mikä on uusi tapa kvantifioida elotonta luontoa. Tutkielmassa tarkasteltiin, millaisista geokohteista Saariselän paikallistason geodiversiteetti muodostuu ja millaista se on alfa, beeta ja gamma -tasoilla arvioituna. Neljältä pohjoisboreaaliselta metsänrajametsän vaaralta kerättiin visuaalisen havainnoinnin menetelmällä geodiversiteettiaineisto elokuussa 2022. Aineisto koostui geodiversiteetin eri osa-alueisiin kuuluvista erilaisista geokohdehavainnoista. Yksittäisen tutkimusalan geokohteita mittaava alfa-geodiversiteetti kvantifioitiin keskiarvokuvaajien, niiden tilastollisen testauksen ja akkumulaatiokäyrien avulla. Tutkimusalojen välistä geokohteiden vaihtelua mittaava beeta-geodiversiteetti visualisoitiin NMDS-kuvaajalla (non-metric multidimensional scaling) ja kvantifioitiin Jaccardin dissimilariteettiarvojen kautta. Alfa- ja beeta-geodiversiteettiä tarkasteltiin vaarakohtaisesti ja eri ilmansuuntiin sijoittuvilta tutkimusalagradienteilta. Niiden osalta testattiin spatiaalinen autokorrelaatio. Gamma-geodiversiteetti kvantifioitiin laskemalla koko tutkimusalueelta havaittujen erilaisten geokohteiden kokonaismäärä. Saariselän paikallistason geodiversiteetti oli verrattain homogeenista muodostuen yleisimmin vain tietyistä geologisista ja geomorfologisista geokohteista, kuten moreenista ja fysikaalisesta rapautumisesta. Paikalliset olosuhteet huomioiden tulokset olivat odotettuja. Geodiversiteetti oli myös melko alhaista tutkimusalakohtaisen alfa-geodiversiteetin ollessa yleisimmin kaksi. Siitä huolimatta alfa, beeta ja gamma -tasojen kautta saatiin tarkempaa tietoa paikallistason geodiversiteetin vaihtelusta ja sen erityispiirteistä. Tulokset osoittivat, että alfa, beeta ja gamma -tasojen kvantifiointi soveltuu geodiversiteetin tutkimukseen ja käytettäväksi myös pienellä tutkimusalueella. Tietoa tarvitaan esimerkiksi elottoman luonnon kestokyvyn arviointiin suhteessa käyttöpaineisiin ja geosuojelun kohdentamiseen. Lisäksi alfa, beeta ja gamma -tasojen soveltaminen biodiversiteetin ja geodiversiteetin tutkimukseen voi viedä luonnon monimuotoisuuden tutkimusta yhdenmukaisempaan suuntaan

Terveydenhuollon koulutuksen kehittäminen

Tiivistelmä. Tutkielman tarkoituksena oli koota tietoja eri maiden terveydenhuollon koulutuksen keskeisistä tavoitteista. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tuottaa tietoa koulutuksen järjestäjille yhdenmukaisen koulutuksen edistämiseksi Suomessa ja muualla maailmassa. Tutkielma toteutettiin mukaeltuna kirjallisuuskatsauksena 2018–2020 välisenä aikana. Tutkielman aineisto koottiin Cinahl ja Scopus tietokannoista. Tutkielmaan valikoitui 5 tutkimusartikkelia vuosilta 2013–2018. Tutkimusartikkelien analysointi tapahtui sisällönanalyysilla. Tutkielman tuloksissa nousi esille kolme keskeistä teemaa terveydenhuollon kehittämistavoitteina: näyttöön perustuvan osaamisen vahvistaminen, elinikäisen oppimisen ja tutkimusosaamisen vahvistaminen sekä kansainvälisen yhteistyön vahvistaminen. Näyttöön perustuvan osaamisen osalta opiskelijoiden omat kokemukset tulisi saada osaksi näyttöön perustuvaa tietoa. Koulutuksen tulisi perustua näyttöön aina koulutussuunnittelusta opettajan ohjaukseen saakka. Terveydenhuollon koulutuksen kehittämiseksi tarvitaan myös kansainvälisesti yhteisten käytäntöjen ja terminologian yhteensovittamista sekä liikkuvuuden lisäämistä. Vahva tutkimusosaaminen luo akateemisen huippuosaamisen kulttuuria

The Hydrodynamic Radius of Particles in the Hybrid Lattice Boltzmann-Molecular Dynamics Method

We address the problem of the consistency of different measures of the hydrodynamic radius of solid point and composite solute particles incorporated into the hybrid lattice Boltzmann--molecular dynamics (LBMD) multiscale method. The coupling between the fluid and the particle phase is naturally implemented through a Stokesian type of frictional force proportional to the local velocity difference between the two. Using deterministic flow tests such as measuring the Stokes drag, hydrodynamic torques, and forces we first demonstrate that in this case the hydrodynamic size of the particles is ill-defined in the existing LBMD schemes. We then show how it is possible to effectively achieve the no-slip limit in a discrete simulation with a finite coefficient of the frictional force by demanding consistency of all these measures, but this requires a somewhat modified LB algorithm for numerical stability. Having fulfilled the criteria, we further show that in our consistent coupling scheme particles also obey the macroscopically observed fluctuation-dissipation theorem for the diffusion coefficient of a single particle without any adjustable parameters. In addition, we explicitly show that diffusion alone is not a good criterion for calibration of the frictional coupling.Peer reviewe

Robust high-dimensional precision matrix estimation

The dependency structure of multivariate data can be analyzed using the covariance matrix $\Sigma$. In many fields the precision matrix $\Sigma^{-1}$ is even more informative. As the sample covariance estimator is singular in high-dimensions, it cannot be used to obtain a precision matrix estimator. A popular high-dimensional estimator is the graphical lasso, but it lacks robustness. We consider the high-dimensional independent contamination model. Here, even a small percentage of contaminated cells in the data matrix may lead to a high percentage of contaminated rows. Downweighting entire observations, which is done by traditional robust procedures, would then results in a loss of information. In this paper, we formally prove that replacing the sample covariance matrix in the graphical lasso with an elementwise robust covariance matrix leads to an elementwise robust, sparse precision matrix estimator computable in high-dimensions. Examples of such elementwise robust covariance estimators are given. The final precision matrix estimator is positive definite, has a high breakdown point under elementwise contamination and can be computed fast

Quantitative Comparison against Experiments Reveals Imperfections in Force Fields’ Descriptions of POPC-Cholesterol Interactions

Cholesterol is a central building block in biomembranes, where it induces orientational order, slows diffusion, renders the membrane stiffer, and drives domain formation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have played a crucial role in resolving these effects at the molecular level; yet, it has recently become evident that different MD force fields predict quantitatively different behavior. Although easily neglected, identifying such limitations is increasingly important as the field rapidly progresses toward simulations of complex membranes mimicking the in vivo conditions: pertinent multicomponent simulations must capture accurately the interactions between their fundamental building blocks, such as phospholipids and cholesterol. Here, we define quantitative quality measures for simulations of binary lipid mixtures in membranes against the C–H bond order parameters and lateral diffusion coefficients from NMR spectroscopy as well as the form factors from X-ray scattering. Based on these measures, we perform a systematic evaluation of the ability of commonly used force fields to describe the structure and dynamics of binary mixtures of palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) and cholesterol. None of the tested force fields clearly outperforms the others across the tested properties and conditions. Still, the Slipids parameters provide the best overall performance in our tests, especially when dynamic properties are included in the evaluation. The quality evaluation metrics introduced in this work will, particularly, foster future force field development and refinement for multicomponent membranes using automated approaches.publishedVersio

Women with PCOS have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease regardless of diagnostic criteria - a prospective population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with many cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. However, it remains debatable whether the presence of multiple CVD risk factors translates to increased CVD events. DESIGN: A prospective, population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. METHODS: Individuals with an expected date of birth in 1966 in Northern Finland have been followed from birth. Women in the cohort were classified as having PCOS according to either the National Institute of Health (NIH) criteria (n = 144) or the Rotterdam criteria (n = 386) at age 31, and they were compared to women without any PCOS features. The study population was re-examined at age 46, and the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, heart failure and cardiovascular mortality, was recorded up to age 53. RESULTS: During the 22-year follow-up, both women with NIH-PCOS and women with Rotterdam-PCOS had a significantly higher risk for cardiovascular events than control women. The BMI-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for MACE in the Rotterdam-PCOS group and the NIH-PCOS group was 2.33 (1.26-4.30) and 2.47 (1.18-5.17), respectively. The cumulative hazard curves in both diagnostic categories began to diverge at age 35. Regarding the individual CVD endpoints, MI was significantly more prevalent in both women with NIH-PCOS (P = .010) and women with Rotterdam-PCOS (P = .019), when compared to control women. CONCLUSIONS: PCOS should be considered a significant risk factor for CVD. Future follow-up will show how the risk of CVD events develops after menopausal age

Effects of grade, smiley, and text on Danish and Finnish consumers’ perceptions of food safety inspection reports

Publicly accessible food safety inspection reports are a standard procedure to inform consumers on restaurants' food safety levels in many countries. This study examined how different formats of food safety inspection report are associated with consumer perceptions related to food safety, as well as other perceptions about the restaurant. The study was conducted in Denmark and Finland with similar inspection grade systems but differences in the distribution of awarded grades. We conducted a population-based survey experiment with a between-subjects design on nationally representative samples of the 18-70 years old Danish (n = 978) and Finnish (n = 907) populations. Respondents received one of six food safety inspection reports with different combinations of inspection grade with a smiley and/or text. According to the results, both Danish and Finnish consumers' food safety perceptions of the same grade were more positive when the report included a smiley, and more negative when the report included a text. Finnish respondents perceived a good food safety inspection grade more positively than Danish respondents but there were no country differences when the grade was poor. In addition, food safety inspection results elicited perceptions that were not related to food safety in both countries. The results suggest that if the grade is poor, the inclusion of text is effective in eliciting perceptions of increased food safety risk. If the grade is good, a standalone smiley may be most effective in eliciting positive perceptions of a high food safety level. Moreover, these results indicate the importance of carefully evaluating how to develop public accessible inspection grades to ensure they are correctly interpreted by consumers in different countries.Peer reviewe

Quantitative Comparison against Experiments Reveals Imperfections in Force Fields’ Descriptions of POPC–Cholesterol Interactions

Cholesterol is a central building block in biomembranes, where it induces orientational order, slows diffusion, renders the membrane stiffer, and drives domain formation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have played a crucial role in resolving these effects at the molecular level; yet, it has recently become evident that different MD force fields predict quantitatively different behavior. Although easily neglected, identifying such limitations is increasingly important as the field rapidly progresses toward simulations of complex membranes mimicking the in vivo conditions: pertinent multicomponent simulations must capture accurately the interactions between their fundamental building blocks, such as phospholipids and cholesterol. Here, we define quantitative quality measures for simulations of binary lipid mixtures in membranes against the C–H bond order parameters and lateral diffusion coefficients from NMR spectroscopy as well as the form factors from X-ray scattering. Based on these measures, we perform a systematic evaluation of the ability of commonly used force fields to describe the structure and dynamics of binary mixtures of palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) and cholesterol. None of the tested force fields clearly outperforms the others across the tested properties and conditions. Still, the Slipids parameters provide the best overall performance in our tests, especially when dynamic properties are included in the evaluation. The quality evaluation metrics introduced in this work will, particularly, foster future force field development and refinement for multicomponent membranes using automated approaches