A call for viewshed ecology : Advancing our understanding of the ecology of information through viewshed analysis

JA was supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 661211, and JMJT by NERC grant NE/J008001/1.Peer reviewedPostprin

Pankin mobiilisovelluksen graafisen käyttöliittymän testaaminen

Tiivistelmä. Digitalisaation myötä merkittävä osa pankkipalveluista on siirtynyt mobiilisovelluksiin. Sovellusten ominaisuudet monipuolistuvat ja niiden käyttäjämäärät kasvavat koko ajan. Mobiilisovellusten kehittämisen ja testaamisen eräs ongelma on laitesukupolvien nopea kehitys. Eri käyttöjärjestelmät, ohjelmistoversiot, laitevalmistajat, laitteiden mallit, näyttökoot, näytön kuvasuhteet ja resoluutiot tuottavat lukemattoman määrän erilaisia laiteprofiileja, joiden kanssa sovelluksen tulisi toimia virheettömästi. Testaus on toistettava jokaisen uuden sovellus-, laite- ja käyttöjärjestelmäversion kohdalla. Laajasta laitekirjosta johtuen fyysisistä mobiililaitteista koostuvan testilaboratorion ylläpitäminen ei välttämättä ole realistista. Tässä diplomityössä on tarkasteltu pankkipalveluiden mobiilisovellusten testausta vertaamalla laitepohjaista ratkaisua, simulaattoreita ja emulaattoreita, virtuaalikoneita sekä pilvipalveluissa tapahtuvaa testausta. Pankkisovelluksen tapauksessa tietoturvalla on keskeinen merkitys, sillä kyseessä on asiakkaiden henkilötietojen sekä raha-asioiden käsittely. Tarkkojen ja yhtenäisten kriteereiden määrittely pankin mobiilisovelluksen graafisen käyttöliittymän testauksen automatisointiin on haasteellista. Testausratkaisun valinta riippuu kontekstista, tiimin asettamista vaatimuksista ja työyhteisön kulttuurista. Tässä tutkielmassa tehdyt analyysit antavat pohjan valinnalle.Testing the graphical user interface of the mobile banking application. Abstract. With digitalization, a significant portion of banking services have shifted to mobile applications. The features of the applications are diversifying, and the number of their users is constantly growing. One problem with the development and testing of mobile applications is the rapid development of device generations. Different operating systems, software versions, device manufacturers, device models, screen sizes, screen aspect ratios, and resolutions produce a myriad of different device profiles with which the application should work flawlessly. Testing must be repeated for each new version of application, device, and operating system. Due to the large variety of hardware, maintaining a test lab made up of physical mobile devices may not be realistic. This thesis examines the testing of mobile applications in banking services by comparing a device-based solution, simulators and emulators, virtual machines and testing in cloud services. In the case of a banking application, data security is of key importance, as it involves the processing of customers’ personal data as well as financial matters. Defining exact and unified criteria for automating the graphical user interface testing of a mobile banking application is challenging. The selection of the testing solution depends on the context, the requirements set by the team, and the culture of the work community. The analyses in this thesis provide a foundation for such a choice

Similarity in Fog and Rainfall Intermittency

Intermittent fog occurrences supply significant amounts of moisture to plants in the form of fog drip onto the soil surface thereby prompting interest in their statistical behavior at multiple timescales. A comparison of rainfall and fog measurements collected at an inland tropical cloud forest in Kenya and a coastal rangeland in Northern California is presented to explore whether fog occurrences have similar intermittency characteristics as rainfall. The results confirm that both rainfall and fog show approximate power law relations for distributions of dry period and event size consistent with predictions from self-organized criticality. Moreover, the spectral exponents of the on-off time series of the fog and rainfall exhibited an approximate f(-0.8) over a broad range of frequencies f, which is remarkably close to scaling exponents across sites experiencing different rainfall generation mechanisms. These results suggest that fog intermittency shares some properties of critical behavior documented in numerous rainfall studies. Plain Language Summary Beyond rainfall, intermittent fog occurrence provides water subsidy that is needed for sustaining transpiration and photosynthesis in forests. To study the connections between fog formation and rainfall, a comparison of rainfall and fog occurrence statistics is carried out at two sites: a Kenyan inland cloud forest and a coastal forest in Northern California. For durations exceeding 1 day, rainfall and fog event sizes and dry periods appear similar. Due to these similarities, intermittency in fog occurrences may abide by general laws describing critical phenomenon.Peer reviewe

Impact of land cover change on aboveground carbon stocks in Afromontane landscape in Kenya

Land cover change takes place in sub-Saharan Africa as forests and shrublands are converted to agricultural lands in order to meet the needs of growing population. Changes in land cover also impact carbon sequestration in vegetation cover with an influence on climate on continental scale. The impact of land cover change on tree aboveground carbon stocks was studied in Taita Hills, Kenya. The land cover change between 1987 and 2011 for four points of time was assessed using SPOT satellite imagery, while the carbon density in various land cover types was assessed with field measurements, allometric biomass functions and airborne laser scanning data. Finally, the mean carbon densities of land cover types were combined with land cover maps resulting in carbon stock values for given land cover types for each point of time studied. Expansion of croplands has been taking place since 1987 and before on the cost of thickets and shrublands, especially on the foothills and lowlands. Due to the land cover changes, the carbon stock of trees was decreasing until 2003, after which there has been an increase. The findings of the research is supported by forest transition model, which emphasizes increase of awareness of forests' role in providing ecosystem services, such as habitats for pollinators, water harvesting and storage at the same time when economic reasons in making land-use choices between cropland and woodland, and governmental legislation supports trees on farms.Land cover change takes place in sub-Saharan Africa as forests and shrublands are converted to agricultural lands in order to meet the needs of growing population. Changes in land cover also impact carbon sequestration in vegetation cover with an influence on climate on continental scale. The impact of land cover change on tree aboveground carbon stocks was studied in Taita Hills, Kenya. The land cover change between 1987 and 2011 for four points of time was assessed using SPOT satellite imagery, while the carbon density in various land cover types was assessed with field measurements, allometric biomass functions and airborne laser scanning data. Finally, the mean carbon densities of land cover types were combined with land cover maps resulting in carbon stock values for given land cover types for each point of time studied. Expansion of croplands has been taking place since 1987 and before on the cost of thickets and shrublands, especially on the foothills and lowlands. Due to the land cover changes, the carbon stock of trees was decreasing until 2003, after which there has been an increase. The findings of the research is supported by forest transition model, which emphasizes increase of awareness of forests' role in providing ecosystem services, such as habitats for pollinators, water harvesting and storage at the same time when economic reasons in making land-use choices between cropland and woodland, and governmental legislation supports trees on farms.Peer reviewe

Mutations in Ribonucleic Acid Binding Protein Gene Cause Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy

ObjectivesWe sought to identify a novel gene for dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).BackgroundDCM is a heritable, genetically heterogeneous disorder that remains idiopathic in the majority of patients. Familial cases provide an opportunity to discover unsuspected molecular bases of DCM, enabling pre-clinical risk detection.MethodsTwo large families with autosomal-dominant DCM were studied. Genome-wide linkage analysis was used to identify a disease locus, followed by fine mapping and positional candidate gene sequencing. Mutation scanning was then performed in 278 unrelated subjects with idiopathic DCM, prospectively identified at the Mayo Clinic.ResultsOverlapping loci for DCM were independently mapped to chromosome 10q25-q26. Deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing of affected individuals in each family revealed distinct heterozygous missense mutations in exon 9 of RBM20, encoding ribonucleic acid (RNA) binding motif protein 20. Comprehensive coding sequence analyses identified missense mutations clustered within this same exon in 6 additional DCM families. Mutations segregated with DCM (peak composite logarithm of the odds score >11.49), were absent in 480 control samples, and altered residues within a highly conserved arginine/serine (RS)-rich region. Expression of RBM20 messenger RNA was confirmed in human heart tissue.ConclusionsOur findings establish RBM20as a DCM gene and reveal a mutation hotspot in the RS domain. RBM20is preferentially expressed in the heart and encodes motifs prototypical of spliceosome proteins that regulate alternative pre-messenger RNA splicing, thus implicating a functionally distinct gene in human cardiomyopathy. RBM20mutations are associated with young age at diagnosis, end-stage heart failure, and high mortality

Sex differences and survival in adults with bicuspid aortic valves : verification in 3 contemporary echocardiographic cohorts

Background-—Sex-related differences in morbidity and survival in bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) adults are fundamentally unknown. Contemporary studies portend excellent survival for BAV patients identified at early echocardiographic-clinical stages. Whether BAV adults incur a survival disadvantage throughout subsequent echocardiographic-clinical stages remains undetermined. Methods and Results-—Analysis was done of 3 different cohorts of consecutive patients with echocardiographic diagnosis of BAV identified retrospectively: (1) a community cohort of 416 patients with first BAV diagnosis (age 35 21 years, follow-up 16 7 years), (2) a tertiary clinical referral cohort of 2824 BAV adults (age 51 16 years, follow-up 9 6 years), and (3) a surgical referral cohort of 2242 BAV adults referred for aortic valve replacement (AVR) (age 62 14 years, follow-up 6 5 years). For the community cohort, 20-year risks of aortic regurgitation (AR), AVR, and infective endocarditis were higher in men (all P=0.04); for a total BAV-related morbidity risk of 52 4% vs 35 6% in women (P=0.01). The cohort’s 25-year survival was identical to that in the general population (P=0.98). AR independently predicted mortality in women (P=0.001). Baseline AR was more common in men (P=0.02) in the tertiary cohort, with 20-year survival lower than that in the general population (P<0.0001); age-adjusted relative death risk was 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.29) for men versus 1.67 (95% CI 1.38-2.03) for women (P=0.001). AR independently predicted mortality in women (P=0.01). Baseline AR and infective endocarditis were higher in men (both =0.001) for the surgical referral cohort, with 15-year survival lower than that in the general population (P<0.0001); age-adjusted relative death risk was 1.34 (95% CI 1.22-1.47) for men versus 1.63 (95% CI 1.40-1.89) for women (P=0.026). AR and NYHA class independently predicted mortality in women (both P=0.04). Conclusions-—Within evolving echocardiographic-clinical stages, the long-term survival of adults with BAV is not benign, as both men and women incur excess mortality. Although BAV-related morbidity is higher in men in the community, and AR and infective endocarditis are more prevalent in men, women exhibit a significantly higher relative risk of death in tertiary and surgical referral cohorts, which is independently associated with A

Combining probability distributions of sea level variations and wave run-up to evaluate coastal flooding risks

Tools for estimating probabilities of flooding hazards caused by the simultaneous effect of sea level and waves are needed for the secure planning of densely populated coastal areas that are strongly vulnerable to climate change. In this paper we present a method for combining location-specific probability distributions of three different components: (1) long-term mean sea level change, (2) short-term sea level variations and (3) wind-generated waves. We apply the method at two locations in the Helsinki archipelago to obtain total water level estimates representing the joint effect of the still water level and the wave run-up for the present, 2050 and 2100. The variability of the wave conditions between the study sites leads to a difference in the safe building levels of up to 1&thinsp;m. The rising mean sea level in the Gulf of Finland and the uncertainty related to the associated scenarios contribute notably to the total water levels for the year 2100. A test with theoretical wave run-up distributions illustrates the effect of the relative magnitude of the sea level variations and wave conditions on the total water level. We also discuss our method's applicability to other coastal regions.</p

Small whole heart volume predicts cardiovascular events in patients with stable chest pain: insights from the PROMISE trial

Objectives The size of the heart may predict major cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with stable chest pain. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of 3D whole heart volume (WHV) derived from non-contrast cardiac computed tomography (CT). Methods Among participants randomized to the CT arm of the Prospective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of Chest Pain (PROMISE), we used deep learning to extract WHV, defined as the volume of the pericardial sac. We compared the WHV across categories of cardiovascular risk factors and coronary artery disease (CAD) characteristics and determined the association of WHV with MACE (all-cause death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina; median follow-up: 26 months). Results In the 3798 included patients (60.5 +/- 8.2 years; 51.5% women), the WHV was 351.9 +/- 57.6 cm(3)/m(2). We found smaller WHV in no- or non-obstructive CAD, women, people with diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, and metabolic syndrome. Larger WHV was found in obstructive CAD, men, and increased atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score (p < 0.05). In a time-to-event analysis, small WHV was associated with over 4.4-fold risk of MACE (HR (per one standard deviation) = 0.221; 95% CI: 0.068-0.721; p = 0.012) independent of ASCVD risk score and CT-derived CAD characteristics. In patients with non-obstructive CAD, but not in those with no- or obstructive CAD, WHV increased the discriminatory capacity of ASCVD and CT-derived CAD characteristics significantly. Conclusions Small WHV may represent a novel imaging marker of MACE in stable chest pain. In particular, WHV may improve risk stratification in patients with non-obstructive CAD, a cohort with an unmet need for better risk stratification