Clones with finitely many relative R-classes

For each clone C on a set A there is an associated equivalence relation analogous to Green's R-relation, which relates two operations on A iff each one is a substitution instance of the other using operations from C. We study the clones for which there are only finitely many relative R-classes.Comment: 41 pages; proofs improved, examples adde

Terveydenhuoltolain työnjakoa ja kiireellistä hoitoa koskevien säädösten vaikutus sairaaloiden henkilöstövoimavaroihin ja henkilöstön sairaaloiden toimintaedellytyksistä saamaan kuvaan

Raportissa selvitetään, ovatko terveydenhuoltolain ja sen asetusten työnjakoa ja kiireellistä hoitoa koskevat säädösmuutokset vaikuttaneet sairaaloiden lääkäreiden rekrytointiin. Kun erikoislääkäri hakeutuu työpaikkaan, merkittäviä tekijöitä ovat työnantajan lisäksi ammattitovereiden näkemykset ja arvostukset. Selvityksen mukaan yliopistosairaanhoitopiireissä oli virkoja täyttämättä vähän. Muissa laajan päivystyksen sairaaloissa vaje oli noin 10 % ja ei-laajan päivystyksen keskussairaaloissa yli 12 %. Päivystyksessä tarvittavien erikoisalojen rekrytointitilanne näytti huononevan vuosina 2016 - 2017 vuodesta 2015, mutta vuonna 2018 trendi ei enää jatkunut. Haastateltavat arvioivat, että ei-laajan päivystyksen sairaanhoitopiireissä työnantajan imago tuntui heikentyvän säädösvalmistelun ja siihen liittyvän julkisen keskustelun aikana. Sairaanhoitopiirit, jotka joutuivat eniten median huomion kohteeksi, myös kärsivät eniten. Rekrytointi maan harvimmin asutuille alueille ja kaksikielisille alueille oli jo aiemmin koettu haastavaksi. Suurin kysymys erikoislääkäripulassa ei ole valmistuvien erikoislääkärien määrä, vaan heidän sijoittumisensa. Selvityshenkilö esittää, että rajaa yliopistollisen sairaanhoitopiirin ja muiden sairaanhoitopiirien välillä on häivytettävä. Erityisvastuualueen sairaanhoitopiirien tulisi toimia yhtenäisenä henkilöstön rekrytoijana. Yliopistollisen sairaalan ja yliopiston välistä yhteistoimintaa erikoislääkärikoulutuksessa tulisi tiivistää. Lopputavoitteena tulisi olla, että yliopistollista sairaalaa ylläpitävät sairaanhoitopiirit vastaavat erikoislääkärien saatavuudesta

On the effect of variable identification on the essential arity of functions

We show that every function of several variables on a finite set of k elements with n>k essential variables has a variable identification minor with at least n-k essential variables. This is a generalization of a theorem of Salomaa on the essential variables of Boolean functions. We also strengthen Salomaa's theorem by characterizing all the Boolean functions f having a variable identification minor that has just one essential variable less than f.Comment: 10 page

Clinical Alarms in a Gynaecological Surgical Unit: A Retrospective Data Analysis

Alarm fatigue refers to the desensitisation of medical staff to patient monitor clinical alarms, which may lead to slower response time or total ignorance of alarms and thereby affects patient safety. The reasons behind alarm fatigue are complex; the main contributing factors include the high number of alarms and the poor positive predictive value of alarms. The study was performed in the Surgery and Anaesthesia Unit of the Women’s Hospital, Helsinki, by collecting data from patient monitoring device clinical alarms and patient characteristics from surgical operations. We descriptively analysed the data and statistically analysed the differences in alarm types between weekdays and weekends, using chi-squared, for a total of eight monitors with 562 patients. The most common operational procedure was caesarean section, of which 149 were performed (15.7%). Statistically significant differences existed in alarm types and procedures between weekdays and weekends. The number of alarms produced was 11.7 per patient. In total, 4698 (71.5%) alarms were technical and 1873 (28.5%) were physiological. The most common physiological alarm type was low pulse oximetry, with a total of 437 (23.3%). Of all the alarms, the number of alarms either acknowledged or silenced was 1234 (18.8%). A notable phenomenon in the study unit was alarm fatigue. Greater customisation of patient monitors for different settings is needed to reduce the number of alarms that do not have clinical significance

Wood hemicelluloses as effective wall materials for spray-dried microcapsulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils

The most commonly-used and effective wall materials (WMs) for spray-dried microencapsulation of bioactive compounds are either costly, or derived from unsustainable sources, which lead to an increasing demand for alternatives derived from sustainable and natural sources, with low calories and low cost. Wood hemicelluloses obtained from by-products of forest industries appear to be attractive alternatives as they have been reported to have good emulsifying properties, low viscosity at high concentrations, high heat stability and low heat transfer. Here, we investigated the applicability of spruce galactoglucomannans (GGM) and birch glucuronoxylans (GX), to encapsulate flaxseed oil (FO, polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich plant based oil) by spray drying; and the results were compared to those of the highly effective WM, gum Arabic (GA). It was found that depending on solid ratios of WM:FO (1:1, 3:1 and 5:1), encapsulation efficiency of GGM was 88–96%, and GX was 63–98%. At the same encapsulation ratio, both GGM and GX had higher encapsulation efficiency than GA (49–92%) due to their ability to produce feed emulsions with a smaller oil droplet size and higher physical stability. In addition, the presence of phenolic residues in GGM and GX powders enabled them to have a greater ability to protect oil from oxidation during spray drying than GA. Physiochemical properties of encapsulated powders including thermal properties, morphology, molecular structure, particle size and water adsorption intake are also investigated. The study has explored a new value-added proposition for wood hemicelluloses which can be used as effective WMs in the production of microcapsules of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils for healthy and functional products in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.Peer reviewe

Wood hemicelluloses as effective wall materials for spray-dried microcapsulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils

The most commonly-used and effective wall materials (WMs) for spray-dried microencapsulation of bioactive compounds are either costly, or derived from unsustainable sources, which lead to an increasing demand for alternatives derived from sustainable and natural sources, with low calories and low cost. Wood hemicelluloses obtained from by-products of forest industries appear to be attractive alternatives as they have been reported to have good emulsifying properties, low viscosity at high concentrations, high heat stability and low heat transfer. Here, we investigated the applicability of spruce galactoglucomannans (GGM) and birch glucuronoxylans (GX), to encapsulate flaxseed oil (FO, polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich plant based oil) by spray drying; and the results were compared to those of the highly effective WM, gum Arabic (GA). It was found that depending on solid ratios of WM:FO (1:1, 3:1 and 5:1), encapsulation efficiency of GGM was 88–96%, and GX was 63–98%. At the same encapsulation ratio, both GGM and GX had higher encapsulation efficiency than GA (49–92%) due to their ability to produce feed emulsions with a smaller oil droplet size and higher physical stability. In addition, the presence of phenolic residues in GGM and GX powders enabled them to have a greater ability to protect oil from oxidation during spray drying than GA. Physiochemical properties of encapsulated powders including thermal properties, morphology, molecular structure, particle size and water adsorption intake are also investigated. The study has explored a new value-added proposition for wood hemicelluloses which can be used as effective WMs in the production of microcapsules of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils for healthy and functional products in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.Peer reviewe