Capacitive silicon MEMS based combined accelerometer and gyroscope sensors in headlight levelling systems

When driving in conditions with suboptimal lighting, the use of headlights is essential for safe travel. However, headlights pose a fundamental safety conflict as with increasing headlight intensity, visibility is improved, but this simultaneously increases the glaring effect on pedestrians and oncoming traffic, reducing overall safety. To address this issue, the UN has launched a regulation binding all original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, of the concurring regions to implement automatic head light levelling systems that aim to keep the headlight alignment optimal. The regulation will apply to all new type approvals starting from September 2026 and all vehicles starting from September 2029. Since in most cases OEMs are offering a great variety of different automobiles, this regulation is putting high pressure to find a general cost-effective solution that works for every model and configuration. When switching from manual headlight alignment to automatic, the system needs to consider how load from passengers and luggage is tilting the vehicle and what is the vehicle pose in respect to the road angle. In static situations, this can be handled with a 3-axis accelerometer sensor in combination with an extended Kalman filter. When adjustment in dynamic situations is required, the complexity of algorithms between sensor data and actuators controlling the headlight alignment becomes significantly higher. The system needs to now take into account accelerations, breaking, driving in bends and vibration effects. To improve interpretation of these dynamic situations, a 3-axis gyroscope must be implemented to the system as well. Additionally, in dynamic situations, a fast response time is crucial and when considering the relatively small angles of adjustments needed, effects of lifetime degradation start to play are role in accuracy. This means that high reliability and performance of the measurement capability is needed for the whole system to retain its accuracy. Development in the MEMS field has enabled manufacturing of low cost, but extremely accurate, stable and reliable accelerometers and gyroscopes, which makes them a good candidate to address the aforementioned problems. This paper is reviewing an automatic headlight levelling solution utilizing a combined accelerometer and gyroscope sensor, which is based on capacitive silicon MEMS technology

High Mercury Concentrations of European Perch (Perca fluviatilis) in Boreal Headwater Lakes with Variable History of Acidification and Recovery

High dissolved organic carbon and low pH are often associated with elevated mercury content of fish in boreal lakes, but less is known about the fish mercury dynamics in lakes recovering from acidification stress. We measured total mercury concentration (THg) in muscle of European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and evaluated the overall correlation with environmental and growth variables in 24 boreal headwater lakes in the 2010s. We found negative correlations of length-corrected perch THg with lake pH and perch growth, but no correlation with dissolved organic carbon. The main emphasis in the present study was focused to a subset of ten lakes in southern Finland with known perch THg during severe acidification in the 1980-1990s. The comparison of perch THg concentrations in the 2010s with values determined in the 1980-1990s showed a sharp increase in most acidic lakes where the perch populations suffered from severe acid stress in the 1980s. This increase was attributed to growth condensation caused by sharp decrease in perch growth during recovery of reproduction capacity and the consequent increases in population densities of perch. Our results highlight the importance of perch growth rate and population density for understanding the variability of fish Hg in boreal headwater lakes, where recovery from acidification can lead to higher mercury concentration of fish in certain cases.Peer reviewe

Siun soten tiimimalli paransi hoitoon pääsyä

Vertaisarvioitu.Lähtökohdat Siun soten terveysasemilla asiakas odotti vastaanottoa aiemmin jopa kuusi viikkoa. Terveysasemia päätettiin vuonna 2019 kehittää Siun soten tiimimallilla perusteina terveyshyötymalli ja lean ja tavoitteina parempi asiakas- ja henkilöstökokemus, vaikuttavuus ja tuottavuus. Tutkimus valottaa tiimimallin vaikutuksia suomalaisessa terveysasemaympäristössä. Menetelmät Arvioimme asiakaskokemusta, hoidon saatavuutta, saavutettavuutta, jatkuvuutta, turvallisuutta ja henkilöstökokemusta Kiteen, Liperin ja Niinivaaran terveysasemilla keväällä 2021. Tulokset Helmikuussa 2021 Kiteen, Liperin ja Niinivaaran asiakkaista 89–92 % pääsi hoitoon alle viikossa (aiemmin 25–31 %, p < 0,05), ja aika kolmanteen vapaaseen aikaan oli 0 päivää. Kuukaudessa hoidettiin 334–1 050 asiakasta enemmän kuin ennen mallin aloitusta. Niiden osuus, jotka eivät saaneet yhteyttä terveysasemaan, on pienentynyt 10–20 prosentista kahdeksaan prosenttiin. Kiteen hoitajien sairaspoissaolot lisääntyivät. Päätelmät Hoitoon pääsy on parantunut. Asiakastyytyväisyys on hyvällä ja henkilöstön työtyytyväisyys tyydyttävällä tasolla. Pandemian kuormitus vaikeuttaa tulkintaa. Tiimimalli vaikuttaa lupaavalta tavalta vastata perusterveydenhuollon haasteisiin. Jatkotutkimuksia tarvitaan pitkäaikaistulosten, vaikuttavuuden ja tuottavuuden arvioimiseksi.Peer reviewe

Cyclical regulation of the insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 gene in response to 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3

The nuclear receptor vitamin D receptor (VDR) is known to associate with two vitamin D response element (VDRE) containing chromatin regions of the insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) gene. In non-malignant MCF-10A human mammary cells, we show that the natural VDR ligand 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)2D3) causes cyclical IGFBP3 mRNA accumulation with a periodicity of 60 min, while in the presence of the potent VDR agonist Gemini the mRNA is continuously accumulated. Accordingly, VDR also showed cyclical ligand-dependent association with the chromatin regions of both VDREs. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play an important role both in VDR signalling and in transcriptional cycling. From the 11 HDAC gene family members, only HDAC4 and HDAC6 are up-regulated in a cyclical fashion in response to 1α,25(OH)2D3, while even these two genes do not respond to Gemini. Interestingly, HDAC4 and HDAC6 proteins show cyclical VDR ligand-induced association with both VDRE regions of the IGFBP3 gene, which coincides with histone H4 deacetylation on these regions. Moreover, combined silencing of HDAC4 and HDAC6 abolishes the cycling of the IGFBP3 gene. We assume that due to more efficient VDR interaction, Gemini induces longer lasting chromatin activation and therefore no transcriptional cycling but monotonically increasing IGFBP3 mRNA. In conclusion, 1α,25(OH)2D3 regulates IGFBP3 transcription through short-term cyclical association of VDR, HDAC4 and HDAC6 to both VDRE-containing chromatin regions

Spatial and temporal trends of mercury in freshwater fish in Fennoscandia (1965-2015)

Source at http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2467116Mercury (Hg) emissions to the atmosphere cause elevated Hg levels in fish, even in many remote regions of the world. Here we present an extensive database of more than 50 000 measurements of Hg in fish, including 2 775 individual water bodies in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russian part of Kola Peninsula) sampled between 1965 and 2015. The data have been analysed for spatial patterns and temporal trends, on raw and weight-adjusted data. The database presents a useful reference for assessment of impacts of environmental policy on Hg in freshwater fish (i.e. Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and The Minamata Convention on Mercury)

Improved environmental status : 50 years of declining fish mercury levels in boreal and subarctic Fennoscandia

Temporally (1965–2015) and spatially (55°–70°N) extensive records of total mercury (Hg) in freshwater fish showed consistent declines in boreal and subarctic Fennoscandia. The database contains 54 560 fish entries (n: pike > perch ≫ brown trout > roach ≈ Arctic charr) from 3132 lakes across Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russian Murmansk area. 74% of the lakes did not meet the 0.5 ppm limit to protect human health. However, after 2000 only 25% of the lakes exceeded this level, indicating improved environmental status. In lakes where local pollution sources were identified, pike and perch Hg concentrations were significantly higher between 1965 and 1990 compared to values after 1995, likely an effect of implemented reduction measures. In lakes where Hg originated from long-range transboundary air pollution (LRTAP), consistent Hg declines (3–7‰ per year) were found for perch and pike in both boreal and subarctic Fennoscandia, suggesting common environmental controls. Hg in perch and pike in LRTAP lakes showed minimal declines with latitude, suggesting that drivers affected by temperature, such as growth dilution, counteracted Hg loading and food web exposure. We recommend that future fish Hg monitoring sampling design should include repeated sampling and collection of pollution history, water chemistry, fish age, and stable isotopes to enable evaluation of emission reduction policies

Tunnistustiedon siirtäminen ja federointi Ubilogin Authentication Serverissä

Increasing number of user accounts and segmentation of user identity information into separate identity silos is becoming problematic both for users and service providers. Identity federation is a way to mitigate this problem, by enabling single sign-on between services and identity information sharing between identity silos. In this thesis we examine four specific identity federation scenarios and present a number of use cases for each and we lay out an evaluation criteria for the use cases. Then Ubilogin, a federated single sign-on system by Ubisecure Solutions, is evaluated against the requirements of each use case and a number of possible models for improving the system are analyzed. Especially pseudonym support and federation partner discovery are discussed and changes recommended. Also two different models for handling the external federation links, direct federation and central IDP proxy, are analyzed and central proxy is found to be a useful model in many situations. The changes were implemented by a group including the author and the new version of Ubilogin is evaluated again against the use case criteria. Also a new tool called Federation Manager is introduced and is found to be useful in simplifying handling of the certain use cases.Yhä lisääntyvät käyttäjätilit ja käyttäjätietojen segmentoituminen eri identiteettisiiloihin on kasvava ongelma sekä käyttäjille että palveluntarjoajille. Identiteettien federointi lievittää näitä ongelmia mahdollistamalla kertakirjautumisen palvelusta toiseen ja käyttäjätietojen jakamisen identiteettisiilojen välillä. Tässä työssä tutkitaan neljää identiteettien federointiskenaariota ja esitetään käyttötapauksia kuhunkin liittyen. Lisäksi esitetään evaluaatiokriteerit käyttötapauksia varten. Sen jälkeen evaluoidaan Ubilogin -kertakirjautumispalvelin näitä kriteereitä vasten ja mahdollisia malleja järjestelmän parantamiseksi analysoidaan. Erityisesti pseudonyymitukea ja federaatiopartnerien valintaa tutkitaan ja muutoksia ehdotetaan. Myös kahta ulkoisten federaatiolinkkien hallintamallia, suorafederointi ja keskitetty tunnistusvälipalvelin, analysoidaan ja keskitetty tunnistusvälipalvelin todetaan hyödylliseksi malliksi monissa tilanteissa. Suositellut muutokset toteutettiin ryhmässä johon myös kirjoittaja kuului ja uusi Ubilogin-versio evaluoidaan uudelleen käyttötapausten kriteerejä vasten. Myös uusi työkalu nimeltään Federation Manager esitellään ja todetaan hyödylliseksi tiettyjen käyttötapausten yksinkertaistamisessa

Puulajeittaisten läpimittajakaumien ja tukkisaannon ennustaminen laserkeilausaineiston ja digitaalisen ilmakuvan avulla

TutkimusselosteSeloste artikkelista: Peuhkurinen, J., Maltamo, M. & Malinen, J. 2008. Estimating species-specific diameter distributions and saw log recoveries from ALS data and aerial photographs: a distribution-based approach. Silva Fennica 42(4): 625–641