Genetic uniqueness and socio-cultural conservation values of the endangered Yakutian Cattle

At the local level the values of the cattle were more related to everyday livelihood strategies of single households and families, whereas the representatives of the republic, in line with the newspapers, highlighted the importance of the cattle for Sakha's food production and for national identity. Thus, individuals at different levels were in favour of conserving the cattle, but for different reasons. The local residents and experts were more concerned about developing economically sustainable cattle production, whereas the experts in Yakutsk were concerned about the conservation of genetic resources. The genetic studies have indicated that Yakutian Cattle show genetic distinctiveness and have genetic value for the maintenance of cattle diversity

Varhaisen ja varhennetun kieltenopetuksen merkitys kielitaidon kehittymisen edistäjinä sekä niiden toteutus Suomessa

Tiivistelmä. Tämän kandidaatin tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, mitä varhainen ja varhennettu kieltenopetus termeinä tarkoittavat sekä paneutua siihen, kuinka niitä on toteutettu Suomessa. Lisäksi tarkastellaan syitä, jotka ovat johtaneet kieltenopetuksen varhentamiseen. Varhainen ja varhennettu kieltenopetus päätyivät tutkielman aiheeksi pääasiassa niiden ajankohtaisuuden vuoksi. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö ilmoittivat vuoden 2018 keväällä, että 1.1.2020 alkaen A1-kielen opetus varhennetaan alkamaan kaikissa Suomen kouluissa jo ensimmäisellä vuosiluokalla. Opetussuunnitelma on aiemmin määrittänyt A1-kielen opetuksen alkamaan viimeistään kolmannella luokalla. Perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteisiin 2014 on tämän vuoden toukokuussa (2019) tehty muutoksia sekä lisäyksiä koskien alkuopetuksessa tapahtuvan A1-kielen opetuksen tavoitteita sekä toteutustapaa. Kieltenopetuksen aloitusvuoden varhentamista on tapahtunut aiemminkin. Viimeksi vuonna 2016 kun B1-kielen opetuksen aloitusvuotta aikaistettiin yläkoulusta alakoulun viimeiselle vuosiluokalle. Tässä tutkielmassa perehdytään syvällisemmin varhennuspäätöksiin johtaneisiin syihin sekä Suomessa tapahtuneisiin kieltenopetuksen varhennusprosesseihin. Tässä tutkielmassa kielen oppimista sekä sen opetuksellisia lähtökohtia selvennetään erilaisten teorioiden sekä yleisten tavoitteiden valossa myös irrallaan koulukontekstista. Kielen oppimista voi tapahtua eri tavoilla sekä erilaisissa ympäristöissä, mitkä määrittävät kielen oppimisen luonnetta. Lisäksi kielen oppimiseen vaikuttavat tekijät, kuten motivaatio sekä ikä nousevat keskiöön. Varhaiseen kieltenopetukseen haetaan perusteluja iän merkityksestä kielen oppimiseen ja tutkielma myös vertailee lasten sekä aikuisten edellytyksiä kielenoppijana. Tutkimuskysymyksinä tässä kandidaatintyössä toimivat: ’’Mitä varhainen ja varhennettu vieraan kielen opetus tarkoittavat?’’ sekä ’’Miten kieltenopetuksen varhentamista on toteutettu Suomessa?’’. Tutkielma on toteutettu kuvailevan kirjallisuuskatsauksen menetelmin hyödyntäen myös kartoittavan kirjallisuuskatsauksen piirteitä. Sen teoreettinen viitekehys on kielen oppimisen teorioissa sekä lähivuosina julkaistuissa tiedotteissa koskien varhennettua ja varhaista kieltenopetusta sekä niihin liittyvää päätöksentekoa. Opetuksen intensiivisyys, vuorovaikutteisuus, leikillisyys, visuaalisuus, toiminnallisuus sekä struktuuri nousevat esiin varhaisen kielenopetuksen menetelmiä tarkasteltaessa. Käytössä olevaan opetussuunnitelmaan tehdyissä muutoksissa A1-kielen varhentamiseen liittyen on ensimmäistä kertaa myös määritetty mitä alkuopetuksen kieltenopetuksen tunneilla tulisi oppia sekä millaisiin sisältöihin keskittyä. Erityisesti oppimista tukevat vaihtelevat oppimisympäristöt mainitaan opetuksen järjestämisen näkökulmasta tärkeänä piirteenä. Kommunikatiivisen kompetenssin kehittäminen sekä kulttuurisen moninaisuuden ymmärtäminen nousevat opetussuunnitelmaan tehtyjen muutosten valossa varhaisen kieltenopetuksen päätavoitteiksi

EVALUATION OF HEAT TRANSFER BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR CFD MODELING OF A 3D PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER GEOMETRY

In this paper fluid flow and heat transfer are modeled in a corrugated 3D plate heat exchanger geometry with a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program, Fluent 6.1.22 (Fluent Inc., Lebanon), in order to find out the most realistic heat transfer boundary conditions for a plate heat exchanger. The built-in boundary conditions of Fluent available for this case are Heat flux, Convection and Constant wall temperature. The CFD models are verified with correlations and experimental data obtained by a flat plate test equipment of which parameters can be calculated analytically. Deficiencies are found in all the built-in heat transfer boundary conditions. Heat transfer modeling with CFD in a corrugated plate heat exchanger is problematic because of the assumptions that have to be made when defining the boundary conditions in the complex geometry. The values of the computational parameters have spatial variations and can not be defined explicitly. However, when compared to the experimental correlations in the literature, the Convection boundary condition gives the most realistic results in the case of corrugated plate heat exchanger

Planet Hunters: New Kepler planet candidates from analysis of quarter 2

We present new planet candidates identified in NASA Kepler quarter two public release data by volunteers engaged in the Planet Hunters citizen science project. The two candidates presented here survive checks for false-positives, including examination of the pixel offset to constrain the possibility of a background eclipsing binary. The orbital periods of the planet candidates are 97.46 days (KIC 4552729) and 284.03 (KIC 10005758) days and the modeled planet radii are 5.3 and 3.8 R_Earth. The latter star has an additional known planet candidate with a radius of 5.05 R_Earth and a period of 134.49 which was detected by the Kepler pipeline. The discovery of these candidates illustrates the value of massively distributed volunteer review of the Kepler database to recover candidates which were otherwise uncatalogued.Comment: Accepted to A

Radio-to-UV monitoring of AO 0235+164 by the WEBT and Swift during the 2006--2007 outburst

The blazar AO 0235+164 was claimed to show a quasi-periodic behaviour in the radio and optical bands. Moreover, an extra emission component contributing to the UV and soft X-ray flux was detected, whose nature is not yet clear. A predicted optical outburst was observed in late 2006/early 2007. We here present the radio-to-optical WEBT light curves during the outburst, together with UV data acquired by Swift in the same period. We found the optical outburst to be as strong as the big outbursts of the past: starting from late September 2006, a brightness increase of 5 mag led to the outburst peak in February 19-21, 2007. We also observed an outburst at mm and then at cm wavelengths, with an increasing time delay going toward lower frequencies during the rising phase. Cross-correlation analysis indicates that the 1 mm and 37 GHz flux variations lagged behind the R-band ones by about 3 weeks and 2 months, respectively. These short time delays suggest that the corresponding jet emitting regions are only slightly separated and/or misaligned. In contrast, during the outburst decreasing phase the flux faded contemporaneously at all cm wavelengths. This abrupt change in the emission behaviour may suggest the presence of some shutdown mechanism of intrinsic or geometric nature. The behaviour of the UV flux closely follows the optical and near-IR one. By separating the synchrotron and extra component contributions to the UV flux, we found that they correlate, which suggests that the two emissions have a common origin.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, in press for Astronomy and Astrophysic

WEBT and XMM-Newton observations of 3C 454.3 during the post-outburst phase. Detection of the little and big blue bumps

The blazar 3C 454.3 underwent an unprecedented optical outburst in spring 2005. This was first followed by a mm and then by a cm radio outburst, which peaked in February 2006. We report on follow-up observations by the WEBT to study the multiwavelength emission in the post-outburst phase. XMM-Newton observations on July and December 2006 added information on the X-ray and UV fluxes. The source was in a faint state. The radio flux at the higher frequencies showed a fast decreasing trend, which represents the tail of the big radio outburst. It was followed by a quiescent state, common at all radio frequencies. In contrast, moderate activity characterized the NIR and optical light curves, with a progressive increase of the variability amplitude with increasing wavelength. We ascribe this redder-when-brighter behaviour to the presence of a "little blue bump" due to line emission from the broad line region, which is clearly visible in the source SED during faint states. Moreover, the data from the XMM-Newton OM reveal a rise of the SED in the UV, suggesting the existence of a "big blue bump" due to thermal emission from the accretion disc. The X-ray spectra are well fitted with a power-law model with photoelectric absorption, possibly larger than the Galactic one. However, the comparison with previous X-ray observations would imply that the amount of absorbing matter is variable. Alternatively, the intrinsic X-ray spectrum presents a curvature, which may depend on the X-ray brightness. In this case, two scenarios are possible.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Asteroids' physical models from combined dense and sparse photometry and scaling of the YORP effect by the observed obliquity distribution

The larger number of models of asteroid shapes and their rotational states derived by the lightcurve inversion give us better insight into both the nature of individual objects and the whole asteroid population. With a larger statistical sample we can study the physical properties of asteroid populations, such as main-belt asteroids or individual asteroid families, in more detail. Shape models can also be used in combination with other types of observational data (IR, adaptive optics images, stellar occultations), e.g., to determine sizes and thermal properties. We use all available photometric data of asteroids to derive their physical models by the lightcurve inversion method and compare the observed pole latitude distributions of all asteroids with known convex shape models with the simulated pole latitude distributions. We used classical dense photometric lightcurves from several sources and sparse-in-time photometry from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Catalina Sky Survey, and La Palma surveys (IAU codes 689, 703, 950) in the lightcurve inversion method to determine asteroid convex models and their rotational states. We also extended a simple dynamical model for the spin evolution of asteroids used in our previous paper. We present 119 new asteroid models derived from combined dense and sparse-in-time photometry. We discuss the reliability of asteroid shape models derived only from Catalina Sky Survey data (IAU code 703) and present 20 such models. By using different values for a scaling parameter cYORP (corresponds to the magnitude of the YORP momentum) in the dynamical model for the spin evolution and by comparing synthetics and observed pole-latitude distributions, we were able to constrain the typical values of the cYORP parameter as between 0.05 and 0.6.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, January 15, 201

Characterization of the Pore Structure of Functionalized Calcium Carbonate Tablets by Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy and X-Ray Computed Microtomography

Novel excipients are entering the market to enhance the bioavailability of drug particles by having a high porosity and, thus, providing a rapid liquid uptake and disintegration to accelerate subsequent drug dissolution. One example of such a novel excipient is functionalized calcium carbonate, which enables the manufacture of compacts with a bimodal pore size distribution consisting of larger interparticle and fine intraparticle pores. Five sets of functionalized calcium carbonate tablets with a target porosity of 45%-65% were prepared in 5% steps and characterized using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and X-ray computed microtomography. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was used to derive the porosity using effective medium approximations, that is, the traditional and an anisotropic Bruggeman model. The anisotropic Bruggeman model yields the better correlation with the nominal porosity (R$^{2}$ = 0.995) and it provided additional information about the shape and orientation of the pores within the powder compact. The spheroidal (ellipsoids of revolution) shaped pores have a preferred orientation perpendicular to the compaction direction causing an anisotropic behavior of the dielectric porous medium. The results from X-ray computed microtomography confirmed the nonspherical shape and the orientation of the pores, and it further revealed that the anisotropic behavior is mainly caused by the interparticle pores. The information from both techniques provides a detailed insight into the pore structure of pharmaceutical tablets. This is of great interest to study the impact of tablet microstructure on the disintegration and dissolution performance.Drs Markl and Zeitler would like to acknowledge the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for funding (EP/L019922/1)

The Recently-Discovered Dwarf Nova System ASAS J002511+1217.2: A New WZ Sagittae Star

The cataclysmic variable ASAS J002511+1217.2 was discovered in outburst by the All-Sky Automated Survey in September 2004, and intensively monitored by AAVSO observers through the following two months. Both photometry and spectroscopy indicate that this is a very short-period system. Clearly defined superhumps with a period of 0.05687 +/- 0.00001 days (1-sigma) are present during the superoutburst, 5 to 18 days following the ASAS detection. We observe a change in superhump profile similar to the transition to ``late superhumps'' observed in other short-period systems; the superhump period appears to increase slightly for a time before returning to the original value, with the resulting superhump phase offset by approximately half a period. We detect variations with a period of 0.05666 +/- 0.00003 days (1-sigma) during the four-day quiescent phase between the end of the main outburst and the single echo outburst. Weak variations having the original superhump period reappear during the echo and its rapid decline. Time-resolved spectroscopy conducted nearly 30 days after detection and well into the decline yields an orbital period measurement of 82 +/- 5 minutes. Both narrow and broad components are present in the emission line spectra, indicating the presence of multiple emission regions. The weight of the observational evidence suggests that ASAS J002511+1217.2 is a WZ Sge-type dwarf nova, and we discuss how this system fits into the WZ classification scheme.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, accepted to PASP; minor revision to add two authors and adjust text to match that of the published version. No adjustments to results or conclusion

The WEBT Campaign on the Intermediate BL Lac Object 3C66A in 2007-2008

Prompted by a high optical state in September 2007, the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) consortium organized an intensive optical, near-IR (JHK) and radio observing campaign on the intermediate BL Lac object 3C 66A throughout the fall and winter of 2007 -- 2008. The source remained in a high optical state throughout the observing period and exhibited several bright flares on time scales of ~ 10 days. This included an exceptional outburst around September 15 - 20, 2007, reaching a peak brightness at R ~ 13.4. Our campaign revealed microvariability with flux changes up to |dR/dt| ~ 0.02 mag/hr. Our observations do not reveal evidence for systematic spectral variability or spectral lags. We infer a value of the magnetic field in the emission region of B ~ 19 e_B^{2/7} \tau_h^{-6/7} D_1^{13/7} G. From the lack of systematic spectral variability, we can derive an upper limit on the Doppler factor, D <= 28 \tau_h^{-1/8} e_B^{3/16}. This is in agreement with superluminal motion measurements of \beta_{app} \le 27 and argues against models with very high Lorentz factors of \Gamma > 50, required for a one-zone SSC interpretation of some high-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects detected at TeV gamma-ray energies.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa