Media Choice in Multicultural Business Interactions

[EN] The aim of this study was to identify which media is chosen for Computed-mediated Communication (CMC) in multicultural business interactions when the main language of communication is English as a lingua franca. The second aim was to determine how the results of this study should be taken into consideration at Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in curriculum development. The analyses employed in this survey followed Media synchronicity theory (MST), originally proposed by Dennis/Valacich (1997) and later refined by Dennis et al. (2008). This study was conducted using a mixed method approach with data from a quantitative survey regarding media usage of 274 respondents and qualitative theme interviews of five working life representatives. The findings indicate that the choice of media varies between different countries and is dependent on the different capabilities and synchronicity of the media. The team structure, communication processes, choice of language, cultural diversity and ethical rules of the company play an important role in communication and are meaningful when choosing the media for communication. The main conclusion is that the ability to choose the media that is suitable for varying communicative situations in working life has become essential and therefore needs to be developed as part of curriculum development work at HEIs.This work was supported by the Erasmus+ Project CoMoViWo, Communication in Mobile and Virtual Work under Grant KA 2014-1-F101-KA203-00851.Varhelahti, M.; Joshi, M.; Mikkilä-Erdmann, M.; Pérez-Sabater, C. (2017). Media Choice in Multicultural Business Interactions. Hermes. (56):163-180. https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v0i56.97230S1631805

Conceptual change challenges in medicine during professional development

This study investigates professional development during medical studies from a conceptual change perspective. Medical students' conceptual understanding and clinical reasoning concerning the central cardiovascular system were investigated during the first three years of study. Professional development was inspected from the perspectives of biomedical knowledge, clinical knowledge and skills needed to solve a patient case. Biomedical misconceptions regarding false beliefs and mental models were detected. Students with misconceptions were more likely to give lower level answers in clinical application tasks and to make inaccurate diagnoses compared to those students who had accurate conceptual understanding. Based on the results, pedagogical suggestions are discussed

Long-term observations of the background aerosol at Cabauw, The Netherlands

Long-term measurements of PM2.5 mass concentrations and aerosol particle size distributions from 2008 to 2015, as well as hygroscopicity measurements conducted over one year (2008-2009) at Cabauw, The Netherlands, are compiled here in order to provide a comprehensive dataset for understanding the trends and annual variabilities of the atmospheric aerosol in the region. PM2.5 concentrations have a mean value of 14.4 mu g m(-3) with standard deviation 2.1 mu g m(-3), and exhibit an overall decreasing trend of -0.74 mu g m(-3) year(-1). The highest values are observed in winter and spring and are associated with a shallower boundary layer and lower precipitation, respectively, compared to the rest of the seasons. Number concentrations of particles smaller than 500 nm have a mean of 9.2 x 10(3) particles cm(-3) and standard deviation 4.9x10(3) particles cm(-3), exhibiting an increasing trend between 2008 and 2011 and a decreasing trend from 2013 to 2015. The particle number concentrations exhibit highest values in spring and summer (despite the increased precipitation) due to the high occurrence of nucleation-mode particles, which most likely are formed elsewhere and are transported to the observation station. Particle hygroscopicity measurements show that, independently of the air mass origin, the particles are mostly externally mixed with the more hydrophobic mode having a mean hygroscopic parameter kappa of 0.1 while for the more hydrophilic mode kappa is 0.35. The hygroscopicity of the smaller particles investigated in this work (i.e., particles having diameters of 35 nm) appears to increase during the course of the nucleation events, reflecting a change in the chemical composition of the particles. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

ISO 26000 in Corporate Sustainability Practices: A Case Study of the Forest and Energy Companies in Bioeconomy

Peer reviewe

Medical students' biomedical and clinical knowledge: Combining longitudinal design, eye tracking and comparison with residents' performance

This study combines longitudinal and individual process-level analyses to investigate medical students' biomedical knowledge and how they generate a diagnosis for a patient case text. The diagnostic processes were investigated using the eye-tracking method, and students' processes were compared with those of residents. The results showed that students differed in their diagnostic performance in the beginning of the clinical phase. Of the students who had biomedical misconceptions in the preclinical phase, 69% ended up with an incorrect diagnosis, while 60% of students with accurate biomedical knowledge made a correct diagnosis. The processing of a patient case text was faster among better achieving students and residents. Furthermore, residents' illness-script activation could be seen from their eye-movement data as a relatively longer reading time regarding the sentence that concerned the enabling condition of the case. Based on the results of the study, pedagogical suggestions are discussed. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Enhancement of atmospheric H2SO4/H2O nucleation: Organic oxidation products versus amines

Atmospheric H2SO4 / H2O nucleation influencing effects have been studied in the flow tube IfT-LFT (Institute for Tropospheric Research – Laminar Flow Tube) at 293 ± 0.5 K and a pressure of 1 bar using synthetic air as the carrier gas. The presence of a possible background amine concentration in the order of 107–108 molecule cm−3 throughout the experiments has to be taken into account. In a first set of investigations, ozonolysis of olefins (tetramethylethylene, 1-methyl-cyclohexene, α-pinene and limonene) for close to atmospheric concentrations, served as the source of OH radicals and possibly other oxidants initiating H2SO4 formation starting from SO2. The oxidant generation is inevitably associated with the formation of organic oxidation products arising from the parent olefins. These products (first generation mainly) showed no clear effect on the number of nucleated particles within a wide range of experimental conditions for H2SO4 concentrations higher than ~107 molecule cm−3. Also the early growth process of the nucleated particles was not significantly influenced by the organic oxidation products in line with the expected growth by organic products using literature data. An additional, H2SO4-independent process of particle (nano-CN) formation was observed in the case of α-pinene and limonene ozonolysis for H2SO4 concentrations smaller than ~107 molecule cm−3. Furthermore, the findings confirm the appearance of an additional oxidant for SO2 beside OH radicals, very likely stabilized Criegee Intermediates (sCI). A second set of experiments has been performed in the presence of added amines in the concentrations range of a few 107–1010 molecule cm−3 applying photolytic OH radical generation for H2SO4 production without addition of other organics. All amines showed significant nucleation enhancement with increasing efficiency in the order pyridine < aniline < dimethylamine < trimethylamine. This result supports the idea of H2SO4 cluster stabilization by amines due to strong H2SO4↔amine interactions. On the other hand, this study indicates that for organic oxidation products (in presence of the possible amine background as stated) a distinct H2SO4 / H2O nucleation enhancement can be due to increased H2SO4 formation caused by additional organic oxidant production (sCI) rather than by stabilization of H2SO4 clusters due to H2SO4↔organics interactions

Crystalline cyclophane-protein cage frameworks

open10siCyclophanes are macrocyclic supramolecular hosts famous for their ability to bind atomic or molecular guests via noncovalent interactions within their well-defined cavities. In a similar way, porous crystalline networks, such as metal organic frameworks, can create microenvironments that enable controlled guest binding in the solid state. Both types of materials often consist of synthetic components, and they have been developed within separate research fields. Moreover, the use of biomolecules as their structural units has remained elusive. Here, we have synthesized a library of organic cyclophanes and studied their electrostatic self-assembly with biological metal-binding protein cages (ferritins) into ordered structures. We show that cationic pillar[S]arenes and ferritin cages form biohybrid cocrystals with an open protein network structure. Our cyclophane-protein cage frameworks bridge the gap between molecular frameworks and colloidal nanoparticle crystals and combine the versatility of synthetic supramolecular hosts with the highly selective recognition properties of biomolecules. Such host-guest materials are interesting for porous material applications, including water remediation and heterogeneous catalysis.openBeyeh N.K.; Nonappa; Liljestrom V.; Mikkila J.; Korpi A.; Bochicchio D.; Pavan G.M.; Ikkala O.; Ras R.H.A.; Kostiainen M.A.Beyeh, N. K.; Nonappa, ; Liljestrom, V.; Mikkila, J.; Korpi, A.; Bochicchio, D.; Pavan, G. M.; Ikkala, O.; Ras, R. H. A.; Kostiainen, M. A

21. Environmental disclosure in Japanese wood-related companies for 2005 and 2010

Environmental and sustainability reports by private sectors are primarily aimed at information disclosure for individual entities. Comparison of such reports in two different years, provide us with unique opportunity to explore underpinning changes. This article compares Japanese wood-related sectors in 2005 and in 2010. During this half-decade, the economy was sluggish, with a number of dramatic meltdowns symbolized by the “Lehman shock” in 2008. The period also experience upheaval of environmental movements with a major UN COP on biodiversity taking place in Nagoya in 2010, making comparison of these two years more interesting. Environmental disclosure from 51 companies mainly from 7 wood related sectors was reviewed. The trends in disclosed information was reviewed based on the following criteria: publishing of environmental reports, reference to illegal logging, definition of sustainable forest management, and membership to the Global Compact. The results indicated an increase in many of the indicators for large size companies, particularly for trading companies, while the majority of small and mid-size companies did not conduct basic activities such as publishing reports.[Book Chapter]: 21. Environmental disclosure in Japanese wood-related companies for 2005 and 2010, Part V. Ecosystem Service and Socioeconomic Aspects with Special Reference to Biodiversity, Integrative Observations and Assessments (Ecological Research Monographs / Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network), edited by Shin-ichi Nakano(中野 伸一), Tetsukazu Yahara(矢原 徹一), Tohru Nakashizuka(浅野 透), DOI:10.1007/978-4-431-54783-

Measurement report : Molecular composition and volatility of gaseous organic compounds in a boreal forest - from volatile organic compounds to highly oxygenated organic molecules

The molecular composition and volatility of gaseous organic compounds were investigated during April- July 2019 at the Station for Measuring Ecosystem - Atmosphere Relations (SMEAR) II situated in a boreal forest in Hyytiala, southern Finland. In order to obtain a more complete picture and full understanding of the molecular composition and volatility of ambient gaseous organic compounds (from volatile organic compounds, VOCs, to highly oxygenated organic molecules, HOMs), two different instruments were used. A Vocus proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Vocus PTR-ToF; hereafter Vocus) was deployed to measure VOCs and less oxygenated VOCs (i.e., OVOCs). In addition, a multi-scheme chemical ionization inlet coupled to an atmospheric pressure interface time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MION API-ToF) was used to detect less oxygenated VOCs (using Br- as the reagent ion; hereafter MION-Br) and more oxygenated VOCs (including HOMs; using NO3- as the reagent ion; hereafter MION-NO3). The comparison among different measurement techniques revealed that the highest elemental oxygen-to-carbon ratios (O : C) of organic compounds were observed by the MION-NO3 (0.9 +/- 0.1, average +/- 1 standard deviation), followed by the MION-Br (0.8 +/- 0.1); lowest O : C ratios were observed by Vocus (0.2 +/- 0.1). Diurnal patterns of the measured organic compounds were found to vary among different measurement techniques, even for compounds with the same molecular formula, suggesting contributions of different isomers detected by the different techniques and/or fragmentation from different parent compounds inside the instruments. Based on the complementary molecular information obtained from Vocus, MION-Br, and MION-NO3, a more complete picture of the bulk volatility of all measured organic compounds in this boreal forest was obtained. As expected, the VOC class was the most abundant (about 53.2 %), followed by intermediate-volatility organic compounds (IVOCs, about 45.9 %). Although condensable organic compounds (low-volatility organic compounds, LVOCs; extremely low volatility organic compounds, ELVOCs; and ultralow-volatility organic compounds, ULVOCs) only comprised about 0.2 % of the total gaseous organic compounds, they play an important role in new particle formation as shown in previous studies in this boreal forest. Our study shows the full characterization of the gaseous organic compounds in the boreal forest and the advantages of combining Vocus and MION API-ToF for measuring ambient organic compounds with different oxidation extents (from VOCs to HOMs). The results therefore provide a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular composition and volatility of atmospheric organic compounds as well as new insights into interpreting ambient measurements or testing/improving parameterizations in transport and climate models.Peer reviewe

Nordic dietary surveys. Study designs, methods, results and use in food-based risk assessments

National dietary surveys have been completed in all five Nordic countries for purposes of nutritional assessment. The NORDIRA project started in 2009 with objectives of sharing experiences within collection of food consumption data and applications of it in food-based risk assessment. The NORDIRA-group consisted of experts working within dietary surveys as well within risk assessment. The project collected results and methodological aspects of national dietary surveys, the presentations of food consumption figures and data calculation processes of risk assessment. This TemaNord report is a summary of the presentations and experiences shared during the three year period of the NORDIRA project. The group emphasizes a flexible food aggregation system in reporting food consumption to enable different kind of matching of data from food consumption and occurence of chemical substances