Varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien ja varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajien käsityksiä toimintakulttuurin kehittämisestä

Tiivistelmä. Varhaiskasvatuksen toimintakulttuuri on jatkuvasti muuttuva ja se vaatii systemaattista arviointia ja kehittämistä. Varhaiskasvatuksen toimintakulttuuri vaikuttaa myös varhaiskasvatuksen laatuun. Pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien ja varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajien käsityksiä toimintakulttuurin kehittämiseen liittyvistä haastavista ja edistävistä tekijöistä. Teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä avataan varhaiskasvatuksen toimintakulttuuria ja sen kehittämistä. Tutkielma on toteutettu kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena ja lähestymistapana käytetään fenomenografista tutkimusotetta. Tutkimusaineisto on kerätty sähköisellä kyselylomakkeella, jonka kautta saatiin 24 vastausta; 18 varhaiskasvatuksen opettajilta ja kuusi varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajilta. Aineisto on analysoitu aineistolähtöisesti. Tutkielman tuloksissa toimintakulttuurin kehittämiseen liittyvien haastavien tekijöiden osalta korostuivat resurssitekijöihin liittyvät haasteet. Negatiivinen suhtautuminen toimintakulttuurin kehittämistä kohtaan sekä epäselvyydet liittyen varhaiskasvatushenkilöstön työnkuviin ja vastuualueisiin koettiin myös haasteina. Tutkittavien mukaan toimintakulttuurin kehittämistä puolestaan edistivät riittävät resurssit kehittämiseen ja tavoitteiden toteuttamiseen. Resurssitekijöissä painotettiin ammattitaidon sekä pohja- ja täydennyskoulutuksen tärkeyttä. Tulosten perusteella tiimin yhteistyön toimivuus edistää toimintakulttuurin kehittämistä. Lisäksi kehitys- ja kehittämismyönteiset sekä motivoituneet ja sitoutuneet työkaverit ovat edistäviä tekijöitä. Tutkittavien mukaan myös toimiva yhteistyö johtajan ja henkilöstön välillä edistää toimintakulttuurin kehittämistä

Persistence of Trichinella spiralis in Rat Carcasses Experimentally Mixed in Different Feed

Trichinella spiralis infected rat carcasses were incubated for 6 weeks in several animal feeds to assess how long Trichinella can present a risk for an outbreak in contaminated feeds. In groups of 6, 24 infected target rats were placed in silage, grained barley, propionic acid-preserved feed, and also into simulated pasture conditions. Test environments were sampled after one-, 2-, 4-, and 6-week-incubations. Trichinella larvae were recovered by digestion, and their infectivity was evaluated in rats. A two-week incubation reduced the number of recovered larvae, but still after 6 weeks low numbers were isolated from all feeds except from the experimental group simulating pasture conditions. After 2 weeks storage, the larvae were infective in all storage environments. However, up to 4 weeks, they survived only in the propionic acid-fermented feed and there in small numbers with reduced reproductive capability. This indicates the possibility of farm animals to get infection from rats or other infected material being hazardously mixed with hay or other feed. If silage is stored for at least one month before use, however, the risk from this forage appears to be minimized

”Jokainen lapsi on ainutlaatuinen ja arvokas juuri sellaisena kuin hän on”:yksilöllisyys varhaiskasvatuksessa

Tiivistelmä. Kandidaatintutkielmamme käsittelee narratiivisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen keinoin yksilöllisyyden huomioimista varhaiskasvatuksessa. Tutkielmamme pohjalla toimii Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteet (2016), jota täydentää aiheesta tehty tutkimus ja kirjallisuus. Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteissa yksilöllisyys tulee esille useissa kohdissa, mistä voi päätellä, että yksilöllisyyden huomioon ottaminen on tärkeää varhaiskasvatuksen arjessa. Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteissa (2016, 19) todetaan muun muassa, että ”Jokainen lapsi on ainutlaatuinen ja arvokas juuri sellaisenaan kuin hän on. Jokaisella lapsella on oikeus tulla kuulluksi, nähdyksi, huomioon otetuksi ja ymmärretyksi omana itsenään sekä yhteisönsä jäsenenä.” Tutkielmassa käsittelemme yksilöllisyyden huomioimiseen liittyvien tekijöiden lisäksi hieman myös muutamaa tekijää, joiden alle yksilöllisyys on vaarassa joissain tilanteissa jäädä, eli sukupuolta, monikulttuurisuutta ja ikää. Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteiden (2016) mukaan yksilöllisyys tulee huomioida toimintakulttuurissa, joka kattaa muun muassa oppimisympäristön ja -käsityksen, työtavat ja vuorovaikutuksen. Nämä samat tekijät nousivat esille myös tutkimusmateriaaleissa, joita tutkimusta varten kävimme läpi. Toimintakulttuuria tulee muokata siten, että se ottaa huomioon erilaiset tarpeet, joita lapsilla on. Varhaiskasvatuksen oppimiskäsityksen tulee huomioida muun muassa lasten kiinnostuksen kohteet ja oppimisympäristön sekä lapsiryhmän moninaisuus ja yksilölliset tarpeet. Työtavoista esille yksilöllisen huomioimisen kannalta nousi havainnointi ja dokumentointi. Tavalla, jolla kasvattaja kohtaa lapsen sekä on hänen kanssaan vuorovaikutuksessa voi tulkita olevan myös vaikutuksensa

Eeva-Maija Tammekann in memoriam

Eeva-Maija Tammekann (9.5.1930–12.10.2016) oli poikkeuksellisen tarmokas kirjastoalan uudistaja. Hänen työsarkansa ulottui moninaisista kansainvälisistä tehtävistä yksittäisen kirjaston toimintatapoihin. Tammekannin elämässä yhdistyivät Suomen tieteellisten kirjastojen kehittäminen ja Suomen ja Viron historia kiinnostavalla tavalla

Sibling Similarity in Education Across and Within Societies

The extent to which siblings resemble each other measures the omnibus impact of family background on life chances. We study sibling similarity in cognitive skills, school grades, and educational attainment in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden. the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also compare sibling similarity by parental education and occupation within these societies. The comparison of sibling correlations across and within societies allows us to characterize the omnibus impact of family background on education across social landscapes. Across countries, we find larger population-level differences in sibling similarity in educational attainment than in cognitive skills and school grades. In general, sibling similarity in education varies less across countries than sibling similarity in earnings. Compared with Scandinavian countries, the United States shows more sibling similarity in cognitive skills and educational attainment but less sibling similarity in school grades. We find that socioeconomic differences in sibling similarity vary across parental resources, countries, and measures of educational success. Sweden and the United States show greater sibling similarity in educational attainment in families with a highly educated father. and Finland and Norway show greater sibling similarity in educational attainment in families with a low-educated father. We discuss the implications of our results for theories about the impact of institutions and income inequality on educational inequality and the mechanisms that underlie such inequality.Peer reviewe

Effects of Articular Cartilage Constituents on Phosphotungstic Acid Enhanced Micro-Computed Tomography

Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (CE mu CT) with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) has shown potential for detecting collagen distribution of articular cartilage. However, the selectivity of the PTA staining to articular cartilage constituents remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the dependence of PTA for the collagen content in bovine articular cartilage. Adjacent bovine articular cartilage samples were treated with chondroitinase ABC and collagenase to degrade the proteoglycan and the collagen constituents in articular cartilage, respectively. Enzymatically degraded samples were compared to the untreated samples using CE mu CT and reference methods, such as Fourier-transform infrared imaging. Decrease in the X-ray attenuation of PTA in articular cartilage and collagen content was observed in cartilage depth of 0-13% and deeper in tissue after collagen degradation. Increase in the X-ray attenuation of PTA was observed in the cartilage depth of 13- 39% after proteoglycan degradation. The X-ray attenuation of PTA-labelled articular cartilage in CE mu CT is associated mainly with collagen content but the proteoglycans have a minor effect on the X-ray attenuation of the PTA-labelled articular cartilage. In conclusion, the PTA labeling provides a feasible CE mu CT method for 3D characterization of articular cartilage.Peer reviewe

Determining collagen distribution in articular cartilage using contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography

Objective: Collagen distribution within articular cartilage (AC) is typically evaluated from histological sections, e.g., using collagen staining and light microscopy (LM). Unfortunately, all techniques based on histological sections are time-consuming, destructive, and without extraordinary effort, limited to two dimensions. This study investigates whether phosphotungstic acid (PTA) and phosphomolybdic acid (PMA), two collagen-specific markers and X-ray absorbers, could (1) produce contrast for AC X-ray imaging or (2) be used to detect collagen distribution within AC. Method: We labeled equine AC samples with PTA or PMA and imaged them with micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) at pre-defined time points 0, 18, 36, 54, 72, 90, 180, 270 h during staining. The micro-CT image intensity was compared with collagen distributions obtained with a reference technique, i.e., Fourier-transform infrared imaging (FTIRI). The labeling time and contrast agent producing highest association (Pearson correlation, BlandeAltman analysis) between FTIRI collagen distribution and micro-CT -determined PTA distribution was selected for human AC. Results: Both, PTA and PMA labeling permitted visualization of AC features using micro-CT in non-calcified cartilage. After labeling the samples for 36 h in PTA, the spatial distribution of X-ray attenuation correlated highly with the collagen distribution determined by FTIRI in both equine (mean +/- S.D. of the Pearson correlation coefficients, r = 0.96 +/- 0.03, n = 12) and human AC (r = 0.82 +/- 0.15, n = 4). Conclusions: PTA-induced X-ray attenuation is a potential marker for non-destructive detection of AC collagen distributions in 3D. This approach opens new possibilities in development of non-destructive 3D histopathological techniques for characterization of OA. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd and Osteoarthritis Research Society International.Peer reviewe

Micro-Scale Distribution of CA4+ in Ex vivo Human Articular Cartilage Detected with Contrast-Enhanced Micro-Computed Tomography Imaging

Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (CE mu CT) with cationic and anionic contrast agents reveals glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content and distribution in articular cartilage (AC). The advantage of using cationic stains (e.g., CA4+) compared to anionic stains (e.g., Hexabrix (R)), is that it distributes proportionally with GAGs, while anionic stain distribution in AC is inversely proportional to the GAG content. To date, studies using cationic stains have been conducted with sufficient resolution to study its distributions on the macro-scale, but with insufficient resolution to study its distributions on the micro-scale. Therefore, it is not known whether the cationic contrast agents accumulate in extra/pericellular matrix and if they interact with chondrocytes. The insufficient resolution has also prevented to answer the question whether CA4+ accumulation in chondrons could lead to an erroneous quantification of GAG distribution with low-resolution mu CT setups. In this study, we use high-resolution mu CT to investigate whether CA4+ accumulates in chondrocytes, and further, to determine whether it affects the low-resolution ex vivo mu CT studies of CA4+ stained human AC with varying degree of osteoarthritis. Human osteochondral samples were immersed in three different concentrations of CA4+ (3 mgI/ml, 6 mgI/ml, and 24 mgI/ml) and imaged with high-resolution mu CT at several timepoints. Different uptake diffusion profiles of CA4+ were observed between the segmented chondrons and the rest of the tissue. While the X-ray -detected CA4+ concentration in chondrons was greater than in the rest of the AC, its contribution to the uptake into the whole tissue was negligible and in line with macro-scale GAG content detected from histology. The efficient uptake of CA4+ into chondrons and surrounding territorial matrix can be explained by the micro-scale distribution of GAG content. CA4+ uptake in chondrons occurred regardless of the progression stage of osteoarthritis in the samples and the relative difference between the interterritorial matrix and segmented chondron area was less than 4%. To conclude, our results suggest that GAG quantification with CE mu CT is not affected by the chondron uptake of CA4+. This further confirms the use of CA4+ for macro-scale assessment of GAG throughout the AC, and highlight the capability of studying chondron properties in 3D at the micro scale.Peer reviewe

3D morphometric analysis of calcified cartilage properties using micro-computed tomography

Objective: Our aim is to establish methods for quantifying morphometric properties of calcified cartilage (CC) from micro-computed tomography (mu CT). Furthermore, we evaluated the feasibility of these methods in investigating relationships between osteoarthritis (OA), tidemark surface morphology and open subchondral channels (OSCCs). Method: Samples (n = 15) used in this study were harvested from human lateral tibial plateau (n = 8). Conventional roughness and parameters assessing local 3-dimensional (3D) surface variations were used to quantify the surface morphology of the CC. Subchondral channel properties (percentage, density, size) were also calculated. As a reference, histological sections were evaluated using Histopathological osteoarthritis grading (OARSI) and thickness of CC and subchondral bone (SCB) was quantified. Results: OARSI grade correlated with a decrease in local 3D variations of the tidemark surface (amount of different surface patterns (r(s) = -0.600, P = 0.018), entropy of patterns (EP) (r(s) = -0.648, P = 0.018), homogeneity index (HI) (r(s) = 0.555, P = 0.032)) and tidemark roughness (TMR) (r(s) = -0.579, P = 0.024). Amount of different patterns (ADP) and EP associated with channel area fraction (CAF) (r(p) = 0.876, P <0.0001; r(p) = 0.665, P = 0.007, respectively) and channel density (CD) (r(p) = 0.680, P = 0.011; r(p) = 0.582, P = 0.023, respectively). TMR was associated with CAF (r(p) = 0.926, P <0.0001) and average channel size (r(p) = 0.574, P = 0.025). CC topography differed statistically significantly in early OA vs healthy samples. Conclusion: We introduced a mu-CT image method to quantify 3D CC topography and perforations through CC. CC topography was associated with OARSI grade and OSCC properties; this suggests that the established methods can detect topographical changes in tidemark and CC perforations associated with OA. (c) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Osteoarthritis Research Society International. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

An Automatic Regularization Method : An Application for 3-D X-Ray Micro-CT Reconstruction Using Sparse Data

X-ray tomography is a reliable tool for determining the inner structure of 3-D object with penetrating X-rays. However, traditional reconstruction methods, such as Feldkamp-Davis-Kress (FDK), require dense angular sampling in the data acquisition phase leading to long measurement times, especially in X-ray micro-tomography to obtain high-resolution scans. Acquiring less data using greater angular steps is an obvious way for speeding up the process and avoiding the need to save huge data sets. However, computing 3-D reconstruction from such a sparsely sampled data set is difficult because the measurement data are usually contaminated by errors, and linear measurement models do not contain sufficient information to solve the problem in practice. An automatic regularization method is proposed for robust reconstruction, based on enforcing sparsity in the 3-D shearlet transform domain. The inputs of the algorithm are the projection data and a priori known expected degree of sparsity, denoted as 0 <C-prPeer reviewe