”Turvallisuus on kaikkien juttu” – luotain turvallisuuskartoituksessa

Tämän ylemmän ammattikorkeakoulun opinnäytteen tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, löydetäänkö muotoiluluotaimen avulla toteutetulla turvallisuuskartoituksella uhkia tai vahvuuksia, joita perinteinen asiantuntija-arvio ei tunnistanut. Työn toissijainen tavoite oli selvittää, miten luotaimen käyttäjät havainnoivat ympäristöään luotaintutkimukseen osallistumisen jälkeen. Aineisto pääasiallisen tutkimuskysymyksen selvittämiseen saatiin turvallisuusasioihin keskittyvällä muotoiluluotaimella sekä luotaintutkimuksen purkamiseen käytetyllä teemahaastattelulla. Näiden tuotoksista muodostettiin luokitellut tulokset samankaltaisuuskaavion avulla. Saatuja lopputuloksia verrattiin asiantuntija-arvion havaintoihin. Toissijaiseen tutkimuskysymyksen vastaukset saatiin arvioimalla luotaimen palautukseen liittyneen kyselyn tuloksia sekä teemahaastattelussa esille nousseita asioita. Opinnäytetyön käytännön osan tutkimuskohteena toimi työeläkealalla toimivan yhtiön henkilöstö ja toimitila Helsingissä. Vastauksena tutkimuskysymykseen esitetään, että luotaintutkimus ei paljastanut sellaisia turvallisuusseikkoja, joita asiantuntija-arvio ei huomioinut. Asiantuntija-arvio tuotti kat-tavammin yksityiskohtaisia havaintoja. Sen sijaan opinnäytteen tutkimus paljasti, että luotaimen avulla syntyi asiantuntijahavaintoja täydentävää ja syventävää aineistoa. Luo-taajien palautteessa ja haastatteluissa osoittama kiinnostus turvallisuuskysymyksiin osoitti, että luotain aktivoi osallistujia ja saa heidät havainnoimaan ympäristöään uudella tavalla. Luotain osoittautui hyväksi tavaksi jalkauttaa turvallisuustietoisuutta organisaatiossa sekä kerätä havaintoja organisaation arjesta. Opinnäytteelle asetetut tavoitteet täyttyivät siltä osin, että tutkimuksen kautta luotiin ymmärrystä käyttäjälähtöisien menetelmien soveltuvuudesta turvallisuusalan kartoitus- ja selvitystehtäviin. Samalla syvennettiin kirjoittajan tutkimukseen osallistuneiden henkilöiden ymmärrystä turvallisuuskysymyksistä ja esiteltiin heille käyttäjälähtöisiä menetelmiä, joita he voivat hyödyntää omassa työssään. Lisäksi kirjoittajan ymmärrys sekä luotainmenetelmästä että käyttäjien huomioimisesta turvallisuussuunnittelussa vahvistui. Opinnäyte mahdollisti kirjoittajalle toimialalle uudenlaisen toimintamallin kokeilun sekä mahdollisuuden arvioida toimintamallia uuden liiketoiminnan pohjaksi. Opinnäytetyön jatkotutkimusaiheeksi esitetään vastaavan tutkimuksen toteuttamista esimerkiksi teollisuuslaitoksessa. Monipuolisempi ympäristö tuottaisi asiantuntija-arvion tekemiselle suurempia haasteita ja mahdollistaisi osallistujien kokemuksen laajamittaisen hyödyntämisen. Lisäksi jatkotutkimuksena voitaisiin selvittää yhteisöllisen luotaintutkimuksen hyödyntämistä esimerkiksi kauppakeskuksen tai kaupunginosan turvallisuustilanteen kartoituksessa perinteisen gallup-kyselyn sijaan."Safety Concerns Everyone" - Design Probes in Safety Surveys The aim of this Master’s thesis was to investigate whether a safety survey conducted with a design probe would uncover threats or strengths that a traditional survey based on expert evaluation would not uncover. A secondary aim was to examine how the participants to the survey observe their environment after the survey. Data for the first aim was gathered with a design probe and a themed interview, and classified with an affinity diagram. The end result was contrasted to observations from an expert evaluation. A result for the second research question was obtained by evaluating the results of a questionnaire attached to the design probe and issues a raised in the themed interview. The research target was the personnel and offices of a Helsinki-based company in the pension insurance industry. The results of the research in this thesis were twofold. First, the design probe did not uncover safety concerns not included in the expert evaluation. The evaluation produced more detailed and comprehensive observations than the design probe, but the design probe did produce data that complemented and deepened the survey. Based on the results of the questionnaire and interviews taking part in the design probe study stimulated participants and changed how they observe their environment. The design probe was an effective way of gathering everyday observations and for increasing safety awareness in the organization. Most of the objectives of this thesis were met. The research increased understanding of the applicability of user-centered design methods in safety surveys. Design probe participants gained understanding of safety issues and experience in user-centered design that they can use in their work. The author's understanding of design probes and the appreciation of involving users in safety planning increased. Finally this thesis made it possible to experiment with a novel method to the safety industry and provided a possibility to evaluate its business feasibility. A follow-up to this thesis, it is suggested to conduct similar research in an industrial plant. An increasingly complex and diverse environment provides more challenge to the expert evaluation and is therefore fertile ground for utilizing user experience. It might also be beneficial to investigate design probes as replacement to traditional polls in safety surveys of a shopping malls and city neighborhoods. An increasingly complex and diverse environment provides more challenge to the expert evaluation and is therefore fertile ground for utilizing user experience

ROSAT and BeppoSAX evidence of soft X-ray excess emission in the Shapley supercluster: A3571, A3558, A3560 and A3562

Excess soft X-ray emission in clusters of galaxies has so far been detected for sources that lie along lines-of-sight to very low Galactic HI column density (such as Coma, A1795, A2199 and Virgo, N_H 0.9-2.0 10^{20} cm-2). We show that the cluster soft excess emission can be investigated even at higher N_H, which provides an opportunity for investigating soft X-ray emission characteristics among a large number of clusters. The ROSAT PSPC analysis of some members of the Shapley concentration (A3571, A3558, A3560 and A3562, at N_H 4-4.5 10^{20} cm-2) bears evidence for excess emission in the 1/4 keV band. We were able to confirm the finding for the case of A3571 by a pointed SAX observation. Within the current sample the soft X-ray flux is again found to be consistently above the level expected from a hot virialized plasma. The data quality is however insufficient to enable a discrimination between alternative models of the excess low energy flux.Comment: ApJL in press, 5 figure

Suitability of random forest analysis for epidemiological research: Exploring sociodemographic and lifestyle-related risk factors of overweight in a cross-sectional design.

Aims: Factors that contribute to the development of overweight are numerous and form a complex structure with many unknown interactions and associations. We aimed to explore this structure (i.e. the mutual importance or hierarchy of sociodemographic and lifestyle-related risk factors of being overweight) using a machine-learning technique called random forest (RF). The results were compared with traditional logistic regression (LR) analysis. Methods: The cross-sectional FINRISK 2007 Study included 4757 Finns (aged 25-74 years). Information on participants' lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics were collected with questionnaires. Diet was assessed, using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Height and weight were measured. Participants with a body mass index (BMI) 25 kg/m(2) were classified as overweight. R-statistical software was used to run RF analysis (randomForest') to derive estimates for variable importance and out-of-bag error, which were compared to a LR model. Results: In total, 704 (32%) men and 1119 (44%) women had normal BMI, whereas 1502 (69%) men and 1432 (57%) women had BMI 25. Estimated error rates for the models were similar (RF vs. LR: 42% vs. 40% for men, 38% vs. 35% for women). Both models ranked age, education and physical activity as the most important risk factors for being overweight, but RF ranked macronutrients (carbohydrates and protein) as more important compared to LR. Conclusions: RF did not demonstrate higher power in variable selection compared to LR in our study. The features of RF are more likely to appear beneficial in settings with a larger number of predictors.Peer reviewe

A mathematical model for describing the retinal nerve fiber bundle trajectories in the human eye:Average course, variability, and influence of refraction, optic disc size and optic disc position

Previously we developed a mathematical model for describing the retinal nerve fiber bundle trajectories in the superior-temporal and inferior-temporal regions of the human retina, based on traced trajectories extracted from fundus photographs. Aims of the current study were to (i) validate the existing model, (ii) expand the model to the entire retina and (iii) determine the influence of refraction, optic disc size and optic disc position on the trajectories. A new set of fundus photographs was collected comprising 28 eyes of 28 subjects. From these 28 photographs, 625 trajectories were extracted. Trajectories in the temporal region of the retina were compared to the existing model. In this region, 347 of 399 trajectories (87%) were within the 95% central range of the existing model. The model was extended to the nasal region. With this extension, the model can now be applied to the entire retina that corresponds to the visual field as tested with standard automated perimetry (up to approximately 30 eccentricity). There was an asymmetry between the superior and inferior hemifields and a considerable location-specific inter-subject variability. In the nasal region, we found two "singularities", located roughly at the one and five o'clock positions for the right optic disc. Here, trajectories from relatively widespread areas of the retina converge. Associations between individual deviations from the model and refraction, optic disc size and optic disc position were studied with multiple linear regression. Refraction (P = 0.021) and possibly optic disc inclination (P = 0.09) influenced the trajectories in the superior-temporal region. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Unusual A2142 supercluster with a collapsing core: distribution of light and mass

We study the distribution, masses, and dynamical properties of galaxy groups in the A2142 supercluster. We analyse the global luminosity density distribution in the supercluster and divide the supercluster into the high-density core and the low-density outskirts regions. We find galaxy groups and filaments in the regions of different global density, calculate their masses and mass-to-light ratios and analyse their dynamical state with several 1D and 3D statistics. We use the spherical collapse model to study the dynamical state of the supercluster. We show that in A2142 supercluster groups and clusters with at least ten member galaxies lie along an almost straight line forming a 50 Mpc/h long main body of the supercluster. The A2142 supercluster has a very high density core surrounded by lower-density outskirt regions. The total estimated mass of the supercluster is M_est = 6.2 10^{15}M_sun. More than a half of groups with at least ten member galaxies in the supercluster lie in the high-density core of the supercluster, centered at the rich X-ray cluster A2142. Most of the galaxy groups in the core region are multimodal. In the outskirts of the supercluster, the number of groups is larger than in the core, and groups are poorer. The orientation of the cluster A2142 axis follows the orientations of its X-ray substructures and radio halo, and is aligned along the supercluster axis. The high-density core of the supercluster with the global density D8 > 17 and perhaps with D8 > 13 may have reached the turnaround radius and started to collapse. A2142 supercluster with luminous, collapsing core and straight body is an unusual object among galaxy superclusters. In the course of the future evolution the supercluster may be split into several separate systems.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press. References update

Impact of short-incubation MALDI-TOF MS on empiric antibiotic therapy in bloodstream infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus spp. and AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae

The impact of the short-incubation matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (si-MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry technique was evaluated in the treatment of bloodstream infections (BSIs) caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus spp., and Amp-C producing Enterobacteriaceae. A total of 124 bacteremia episodes were divided into 2 groups: i) si-MALDI-TOF group (n = 69) and ii) control group (n = 55). Identification by si-MALDI-TOF resulted in 12.8% increase in cases receiving appropriate antibiotic treatment within 48 h from blood culture draw. The importance of the rapid identification was emphasized in BSIs caused by enterococci (n = 62), where si-MALDI-TOF led to appropriate antibiotic treatment in 87.9% of cases (versus control group 65.5%, P = 0.036). Implementation of si-MALDI-TOF technology for microbial identification was associated with increased proportion of patients receiving effective antibiotic treatment within 48 h from blood culture draw. The effect was most significant in BSIs caused by enterococcal species and in a subgroup of immunosuppressed patients. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Thermal and non-thermal nature of the soft excess emission from Sersic 159-03 observed with XMM-Newton

Several nearby clusters exhibit an excess of soft X-ray radiation which cannot be attributed to the hot virialized intra-cluster medium. There is no consensus to date on the origin of the excess emission: it could be either of thermal origin, or due to an inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background. Using high resolution XMM-Newton data of Sersic 159-03 we first show that strong soft excess emission is detected out to a radial distance of 0.9 Mpc. The data are interpreted using the two viable models available, i.e., by invoking a warm reservoir of thermal gas, or relativistic electrons which are part of a cosmic ray population. The thermal interpretation of the excess emission, slightly favored by the goodness-of-fit analysis, indicates that the warm gas responsible for the emission is high in mass and low in metallicity.Comment: ApJ in pres

Image Analysis and Development of Graphical User Interface for Pole Vault Action

In recent years, motion estimation analysis has become one of the vital research areas in sport and has attracted the interest of many researchers toward events such as swimming, pole vaulting, and hurdling. In this paper, we present a novel method for determining the step length, speed, and the feet-contact-time on the running track of a pole vault athlete using a mono-camera arrangement. The step length and step frequency are essential descriptors of the approach run in pole vaulting. The approach along a linear trajectory is familiar to many throwing and jumping events. The measurement setting and image processing, as well as the step registration stages such as the block matching and optimal flow algorithm are presented and compared to alternative methods. The validation of the step size and step frequency accuracy is provided, using manually digitized step sizes as the baseline. The proposed methodology is efficient and straightforward, providing immediate feedback to the athlete and coaches. We were also successful in building a basic Graphical User Interface (GUI) to illustrate pole-vaulting actions during a performance. This research could be used as an initial step for developing a fully interactive platform that is capable of yielding supportive instructions to the athletes and the coaches on a real-time basis for self-assessment and further improvement.</p