3D shape based reconstruction of experimental data in Diffuse Optical Tomography

Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) aims at recovering three-dimensional images of absorption and scattering parameters inside diffusive body based on small number of transmission measurements at the boundary of the body. This image reconstruction problem is known to be an ill-posed inverse problem, which requires use of prior information for successful reconstruction. We present a shape based method for DOT, where we assume a priori that the unknown body consist of disjoint subdomains with different optical properties. We utilize spherical harmonics expansion to parameterize the reconstruction problem with respect to the subdomain boundaries, and introduce a finite element (FEM) based algorithm that uses a novel 3D mesh subdivision technique to describe the mapping from spherical harmonics coefficients to the 3D absorption and scattering distributions inside a unstructured volumetric FEM mesh. We evaluate the shape based method by reconstructing experimental DOT data, from a cylindrical phantom with one inclusion with high absorption and one with high scattering. The reconstruction was monitored, and we found a 87% reduction in the Hausdorff measure between targets and reconstructed inclusions, 96% success in recovering the location of the centers of the inclusions and 87% success in average in the recovery for the volumes

Traditional and new sources of grain protein in the healthy and sustainable Nordic diet

Cereal foods provide carbohydrates and dietary fibre, but also protein. To support the goals of sustainable development, cereal grain proteins should be more efficiently used to replace animal proteins. In the Nordic countries, wheat is the major source of cereal protein, followed by rye, oats, and barley. Although oats have been traditionally consumed as many staple foods in the Nordic countries and new oat-based food concepts are emerging, the potential of oats as a healthy and sustainable protein source is still underused. Oat protein is high in nutritional quality, and oats also contain unique phytochemicals and dietary fibres with proven health effects. Therefore, utilization of traditional wholegrain oat products to replace animal protein sources would increase both health-supporting components and cereal diversity in Nordic diets. While novel oat-based meat, milk, and dairy analogues do not contribute as much to dietary fibre, vitamin and mineral intake as corresponding whole grain products, they provide valuable and effective means to reduce animal protein intake, and thus, the environmental burden

Using shared goal setting to improve access and equity: a mixed methods study of the Good Goals intervention

Background: Access and equity in children’s therapy services may be improved by directing clinicians’ use of resources toward specific goals that are important to patients. A practice-change intervention (titled ‘Good Goals’) was designed to achieve this. This study investigated uptake, adoption, and possible effects of that intervention in children’s occupational therapy services. Methods: Mixed methods case studies (n = 3 services, including 46 therapists and 558 children) were conducted. The intervention was delivered over 25 weeks through face-to-face training, team workbooks, and ‘tools for change’. Data were collected before, during, and after the intervention on a range of factors using interviews, a focus group, case note analysis, routine data, document analysis, and researchers’ observations. Results: Factors related to uptake and adoptions were: mode of intervention delivery, competing demands on therapists’ time, and leadership by service manager. Service managers and therapists reported that the intervention: helped therapists establish a shared rationale for clinical decisions; increased clarity in service provision; and improved interactions with families and schools. During the study period, therapists’ behaviours changed: identifying goals, odds ratio 2.4 (95% CI 1.5 to 3.8); agreeing goals, 3.5 (2.4 to 5.1); evaluating progress, 2.0 (1.1 to 3.5). Children’s LoT decreased by two months [95% CI −8 to +4 months] across the services. Cost per therapist trained ranged from £1,003 to £1,277, depending upon service size and therapists’ salary bands. Conclusions: Good Goals is a promising quality improvement intervention that can be delivered and adopted in practice and may have benefits. Further research is required to evaluate its: (i) impact on patient outcomes, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and (ii) transferability to other clinical contexts

Reaganized Rock: The 1983 Beach Boys Ban and the U.S. Culture Wars

In 1983, Ronald Reagan’s Interior Secretary, James Watt, decided that rock bands would not perform at the Independence Day celebration that year because they would “attract unwanted elements.” With the Beach Boys having played the event in the past, Watt suffered a backlash even from Reagan himself. In this article, I analyze the media discussions on the ideological undercurrents of how rock was defined as an idea by different people involved. I track rock’s transformation from being a target of a culture war, to the terrain for such a struggle, and finally to a tool for demonstrating ideological allegiances.</p

Epäonnistumisen poliittinen ideologia Disco Elysium -pelissä

Artikkeli tutkii poliittisten ideologioiden esittämistä Disco Elysium -pelissä (Viro 2019) epäonnistumisen tematiikan kautta. Virolaisen indie-peliyhtiö ZA/UM:n kehittämässä, fiktiiviseen maailmaan sijoittuvassa roolipelissä pelaajan tehtävänä on selvittää poliittisesti motivoitunut lynkkaus Revacholin kaupungin telakka-alueella. Tehtävää vaikeuttaa protagonistin ennen pelin alkua ottama humalaputki, jonka jäljiltä hän ei kykene muistamaan nimeään, persoonaansa tai edes maailmaansa. Artikkeli kysyy, miten absurdin humoristinen mutta synkkä peli rakentaa kuvauksia erilaisista poliittisista ideologioista (kommunismista, fasismista, kapitalismista ja sentrismistä) ja mahdollistaa pelaajan kanssakäymisen näiden ideologioiden kanssa epäonnistumisen kautta.Artikkeli pohtii epäonnistumista sekä pelimekaanisena että pelin maailmaan rakennettuna temaattisena elementtinä. Lähipeluun avulla se tuottaa analyysia pelin esittämästä maailmasta ja sen pelillisistä ratkaisuista ja kontekstualisoi sitten löydöksiään suhteessa pelin kehittäjien näkemyksiin työstään sekä pelin vastaanottoon kriitikoiden parissa. Artikkeli väittää, että pelimekaanisten ratkaisuidensa avulla peli esittää epäonnistumisen kautta näkemyksiä kuvailemistaan ideologioista ja rakentaa samalla laajempaa maailmankuvaa, jonka keskiössä on epäonnistumisen oma ideologisuus._____Disco Elysium and the political ideology of failure The article explores the portrayal of political ideologies in the video game Disco Elysium (2019) through the thematic of failure. Developed by an Estonian indie game company ZA/UM, the role-playing game sets player in a fictive world and tasks him with solving a politically motivated lynching at the industrial harbor district of the city of Revachol. The mission is hindered by the protagonist’s drinking binge prior to the start of the game, which has caused him to forget his name, persona and even his world. The article questions how the absurdly humorous and yet dark game constructs its depictions of political ideologies (communism, fascism, capitalism, and centrism) and enables the player to interact with these ideologies through the notion of failure.The article examines failure as both a game mechanical and a thematical element built into the game’s world. Through the method of close-playing, it produces analysis of the world produced by the game as well as its game mechanical decisions. It then contextualizes its findings in relation to the pronouncements of the game developers regarding their work as well as the game’s reception among critics in international gaming media. The article argues that through its game mechanical decisions, the game uses failure to create arguments regarding the political ideologies it depicts. It uses these arguments to create a wider worldview, at the heart of which lies an ideology of failure.</p

Epäonnistumisen poliittinen ideologia Disco Elysium -pelissä

Artikkeli tutkii poliittisten ideologioiden esittämistä Disco Elysium -pelissä (Viro 2019) epäonnistumisen tematiikan kautta. Virolaisen indie-peliyhtiö ZA/UM:n kehittämässä, fiktiiviseen maailmaan sijoittuvassa roolipelissä pelaajan tehtävänä on selvittää poliittisesti motivoitunut lynkkaus Revacholin kaupungin telakka-alueella. Tehtävää vaikeuttaa protagonistin ennen pelin alkua ottama humalaputki, jonka jäljiltä hän ei kykene muistamaan nimeään, persoonaansa tai edes maailmaansa. Artikkeli kysyy, miten absurdin humoristinen mutta synkkä peli rakentaa kuvauksia erilaisista poliittisista ideologioista (kommunismista, fasismista, kapitalismista ja sentrismistä) ja mahdollistaa pelaajan kanssakäymisen näiden ideologioiden kanssa epäonnistumisen kautta. Artikkeli pohtii epäonnistumista sekä pelimekaanisena että pelin maailmaan rakennettuna temaattisena elementtinä. Lähipeluun avulla se tuottaa analyysia pelin esittämästä maailmasta ja sen pelillisistä ratkaisuista ja kontekstualisoi sitten löydöksiään suhteessa pelin kehittäjien näkemyksiin työstään sekä pelin vastaanottoon kriitikoiden parissa. Artikkeli väittää, että pelimekaanisten ratkaisuidensa avulla peli esittää epäonnistumisen kautta näkemyksiä kuvailemistaan ideologioista ja rakentaa samalla laajempaa maailmankuvaa, jonka keskiössä on epäonnistumisen oma ideologisuus. &nbsp; Disco Elysium and the political ideology of failure &nbsp; The article explores the portrayal of political ideologies in the video game Disco Elysium (2019) through the thematic of failure. Developed by an Estonian indie game company ZA/UM, the role-playing game sets player in a fictive world and tasks him with solving a politically motivated lynching at the industrial harbor district of the city of Revachol. The mission is hindered by the protagonist’s drinking binge prior to the start of the game, which has caused him to forget his name, persona and even his world. The article questions how the absurdly humorous and yet dark game constructs its depictions of political ideologies (communism, fascism, capitalism, and centrism) and enables the player to interact with these ideologies through the notion of failure. The article examines failure as both a game mechanical and a thematical element built into the game’s world. Through the method of close-playing, it produces analysis of the world produced by the game as well as its game mechanical decisions. It then contextualizes its findings in relation to the pronouncements of the game developers regarding their work as well as the game’s reception among critics in international gaming media. The article argues that through its game mechanical decisions, the game uses failure to create arguments regarding the political ideologies it depicts. It uses these arguments to create a wider worldview, at the heart of which lies an ideology of failure

Nonlinear approach to difference imaging in diffuse optical tomography

Difference imaging aims at recovery of the change in the optical properties of a body based on measurements before and after the change. Conventionally, the image reconstruction is based on using difference of the measurements and a linear approximation of the observation model. One of the main benefits of the linearized difference reconstruction is that the approach has a good tolerance to modeling errors, which cancel out partially in the subtraction of the measurements. However, a drawback of the approach is that the difference images are usually only qualitative in nature and their spatial resolution can be weak because they rely on the global linearization of the nonlinear observation model. To overcome the limitations of the linear approach, we investigate a nonlinear approach for difference imaging where the images of the optical parameters before and after the change are reconstructed simultaneously based on the two datasets. We tested the feasibility of the method with simulations and experimental data from a phantom and studied how the approach tolerates modeling errors like domain truncation, optode coupling errors, and domain shape errors