Strokovne kompetence bodocih uciteljev za implementacijo prepoznavanja vrst v soli - studija primera iz Nemcije

This study investigates how well prepared student teachers are to implement species identification in school. Data were collected with the help of a questionnaire and a PowerPoint presentation in which local plant and animal species were presented. Participants (n = 357) correctly identified, on average, 23% of the plants and 44% of the animals. They identified plants mainly by flower characteristics and leaves, and animals mainly by shape and colour. Family and school were key sources of participants’ knowledge of species. The self-estimated competence of participants to identify species was positively correlated with their taxonomic knowledge and the amount of time they had spent on species identification during their own schooldays. The number of correctly identified plant and animal species increased with interest in identifying species and participation in species identification courses. Participants considered learner-centred education and experience-based learning, and the use of living organisms to be most important when identifying species in school. (DIPF/Orig.

Lasersintraus - metallirankojen tulevaisuus? : lasersintrattujen ja valettujen metallirankojen istuvuus- ja kestävyyserot vertailussa

Osaproteeseja käytetään korvaamaan osaa hampaistosta, kun jäljellä on vielä muutamia jäännöshampaita. Osaproteeseja on muovisia sekä metallirunkoisia. Metallirunkoisilla osaproteeseilla päästään sirompiin rakenteisiin ja kestävämpään lopputulokseen. Hammasteknikot ovat tähän asti valmistaneet metallirungon pääasiassa käsityönä valamalla. Lasersintraus on uusi teknologia, jolla osaproteesin metallirunko 3D-tulostetaan lasersintrauslaitteella tietokoneohjelman avulla, ilman perinteisen valmistuksen lukuisia käsin tehtäviä vaiheita. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli tutkia, ovatko lasersintraamalla valmistetut metallirangat istuvampia ja kestävämpiä kuin perinteisellä valmistustavalla valmistetut. Kestävyyttä testattiin valmistamalla molemmilla valmistustavoilla identtisiä tankoja, joita taivutettiin tarkoitukseen tehdyllä koneella samalla voimalla ja tiheydellä. Koekappaleiden katkeamiseen vaadittava taivutusten määrä mitattiin. Istuvuuskokeeseen valmistettiin kipsimallille joukon pelkistettyjä, identtisiä rangan tapaisia koekappaleita molemmilla valmistustavoilla. Elektronimikroskoopin avulla mitattiin koekappaleiden ja kipsimallin väliin jäävä rako. Rasituskokeiden tulokseksi saatiin lasersintrattujen rankojen parempi kestävyys. Valettujen tankojen murtumistapa tosin viittasi epäonnistumiseen ennen valua tapahtuvassa kanavoinnissa. Istuvuuskokeissa perinteisellä tavalla valmistetut rangat istuivat mallille paremmin. Kuitenkin on otettava huomioon suunnitteluohjelmiston ja lasersintrattuja metallituotteita valmistavan AM Finlandin oman laitteiston mahdollinen epätarkkuus, koska tekniikka on varsin uutta ja kehitysvaiheessa. Tutkimustulos jossa saatiin selville, että tietokoneavusteisesti tuotettu yksilöllinen työ on laadultaan käsityönä tuotetulle varteenotettava haastaja jo tekniikan varhaisessa vaiheessa, on merkittävä alan tulevaisuuden kannalta.Metal framed partial dentures are being used to replace part of the dentition if only few teeth are missing. Partial dentures can be made of full plastic or with a metal frame. Metal framed denture has a lighter structure and is more durable than a plastic denture. Until now, dental technicians have been manufacturing metal frames as manually by casting metal. Laser sintering is a new technology where the metal frame is 3D-printed with a metal printer which is supervised by a designing program. This technology manufactures metal frames without the many arduous tasks that are done by hand in the traditional technique. The goal of our thesis is to examine if the laser sintered metal frames are better fitting and more durable than the ones manufactured in the traditional way. The durability was tested by making identical bars by both manufacturing techniques and then bent with the same force and phase by a bending machine. We calculated how many bends does it takes to brake the bars. In order to compare the fitting we manufactured simplified and identical metal frames by both techniques and measured the gap between the frame and the gypsum model with an electron microscope. The result of the durability test was that laser sintered metal bars were more durable than the ones manufactured by the traditionally. Although the way that the traditionally made bars broke indicated that there was a failure with the spruing before casting. Traditionally manufactured frames were clearly better in the fitting tests. The possible inaccuracy in the designing program and AM Finlands hardware have to be taken into consideration be- cause of the early stage and development phase of this technology. The result of examination, which indicated that unique work manufactured computer aided is a true challenger to a handcrafted work in this stage of technology, is significant for dental technology

Katekismus sarjakuviksi

Katekismus sarjakuviksi on opinnäytetyö, jonka tavoitteena on valmistaa sarjakuvina kerrottu katekismus ja saada se käyttöön seurakuntaan tai seurakuntiin. Teoriaosan alku määrittelee esimerkkejä käyttäjistä eli rippikouluikäisistä erilaisista oppijoista. Työssä kerrotaan lyhyesti rippikoulun pääasiat. Yksi kappale käsittelee Katekismusta ja sen sisältöä. Lopussa kerrotaan sarjakuvan ja kuvan käytöstä sekä siitä, miten sarjakuvakatekismusta voi hyödyntää rippikoulutyössä.Opinnäytetyöhön kuuluu erillisenä osana sarjakuva, jolla on salassapitosopimus voimassa. Sarjakuva julkaistaan erillisenä teoksena

Plasticity of histamine H3 receptor expression and binding in the vestibular nuclei after labyrinthectomy in rat

Background: In rat, deafferentation of one labyrinth (unilateral labyrinthectomy) results in a characteristic syndrome of ocular and motor postural disorders (e.g., barrel rotation, circling behavior, and spontaneous nystagmus). Behavioral recovery (e.g., diminished symptoms), encompassing 1 week after unilateral labyrinthectomy, has been termed vestibular compensation. Evidence suggesting that the histamine H3 receptor plays a key role in vestibular compensation comes from studies indicating that betahistine, a histamine-like drug that acts as both a partial histamine H1 receptor agonist and an H3 receptor antagonist, can accelerate the process of vestibular compensation. Results: Expression levels for histamine H3 receptor (total) as well as three isoforms which display variable lengths of the third intracellular loop of the receptor were analyzed using in situ hybridization on brain sections containing the rat medial vestibular nucleus after unilateral labyrinthectomy. We compared these expression levels to H3 receptor binding densities. Total H3 receptor mRNA levels (detected by oligo probe H3X) as well as mRNA levels of the three receptor isoforms studied (detected by oligo probes H3A, H3B, and H3C) showed a pattern of increase, which was bilaterally significant at 24 h post-lesion for both H3X and H3C, followed by significant bilateral decreases in medial vestibular nuclei occurring 48 h (H3X and H3B) and 1 week post-lesion (H3A, H3B, and H3C). Expression levels of H3B was an exception to the forementioned pattern with significant decreases already detected at 24 h post-lesion. Coinciding with the decreasing trends in H3 receptor mRNA levels was an observed increase in H3 receptor binding densities occurring in the ipsilateral medial vestibular nuclei 48 h post-lesion. Conclusion: Progressive recovery of the resting discharge of the deafferentated medial vestibular nuclei neurons results in functional restoration of the static postural and occulomotor deficits, usually occurring within a time frame of 48 hours in rats. Our data suggests that the H3 receptor may be an essential part of pre-synaptic mechanisms required for reestablishing resting activities 48 h after unilateral labyrinthectomy

Storage of neural histamine and histaminergic neurotransmission is VMAT2 dependent in the zebrafish

Monoaminergic neurotransmission is greatly dependent on the function of the vesicular monoamine transporter VMAT2, which is responsible for loading monoamines into secretory vesicles. The role of VMAT2 in histaminergic neurotransmission is poorly understood. We studied the structure and function of the histaminergic system in larval zebrafish following inhibition of VMAT2 function by reserpine. We found that reserpine treatment greatly reduced histamine immunoreactivity in neurons and an almost total disappearance of histamine-containing nerve fibers in the dorsal telencephalon and habenula, the most densely innervated targets of the hypothalamic histamine neurons. The reserpine treated larvae had an impaired histamine-dependent dark-induced flash response seen during the first second after onset of darkness, implying that function of the histaminergic network is VMAT2 dependent. Levels of histamine and other monoamines were decreased in reserpine treated animals. This study provides conclusive evidence of the relevance of VMAT2 in histaminergic neurotransmission, further implying that the storage and release mechanism of neural histamine is comparable to that of other monoamines. Our results also reveal potential new insights about the roles of monoaminergic neurotransmitters in the regulation of locomotion increase during adaptation to darkness.Peer reviewe

Salsolinol: an Unintelligible and Double-Faced Molecule—Lessons Learned from In Vivo and In Vitro Experiments

Salsolinol (1-methyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline) is a tetrahydroisoquinoline derivative whose presence in humans was first detected in the urine of Parkinsonian patients on l-DOPA (l-dihydroxyphenylalanine) medication. Thus far, multiple hypotheses regarding its physiological/pathophysiological roles have been proposed, especially related to Parkinson’s disease or alcohol addiction. The aim of this review was to outline studies related to salsolinol, with special focus on in vivo and in vitro experimental models. To begin with, the chemical structure of salsolinol together with its biochemical implications and the role in neurotransmission are discussed. Numerous experimental studies are summarized in tables and the most relevant ones are stressed. Finally, the ability of salsolinol to cross the blood–brain barrier and its possible double-faced neurobiological potential are reviewed.Peer reviewe

Short photoperiod-induced decrease of histamine H3 receptors facilitates activation of hypothalamic neurons in the Siberian Hamster

Nonhibernating seasonal mammals have adapted to temporal changes in food availability through behavioral and physiological mechanisms to store food and energy during times of predictable plenty and conserve energy during predicted shortage. Little is known, however, of the hypothalamic neuronal events that lead to a change in behavior or physiology. Here we show for the first time that a shift from long summer-like to short inter-like photoperiod, which induces physiological adaptation to winter in the Siberian hamster, including a body weight decrease of up to 30%, increases neuronal activity in the dorsomedial region of the arcuate nucleus (dmpARC) assessed by electro physiological patch-clamping recording. Increased neuronal activity in short days is dependent on a photoperiod-driven down-regulation of H3 receptor expression and can be mimicked in long-day dmpARC neurons by the application of the H3 receptor antagonist, clobenproprit. Short-day activation of dmpARC neurons results in increased c-Fos expression. Tract tracing with the trans-synaptic retrograde tracer, pseudorabies virus, delivered into adipose tissue reveals a multisynaptic neuronal sympathetic outflow from dmpARC to white adipose tissue. These data strongly suggest that increased activity of dmpARC neurons, as a consequence of down-regulation of the histamine H3 receptor, contributes to the physiological adaptation of body weight regulation in seasonal photoperiod

Surgically-treated Hip Fracture in older People. With Special Emphasis on Mortality Analysis

Hip fractures are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Cervical and trochanteric fractures have a different morphometry, surgical treatment, and outcome. Polypharmacy, common in older people, is associated with increased mortality. The risk factors for mortality can be identified based on cause-of-death analysis. In this population-based study, 461 older, surgically in 1999-2000 treated hip fracture patients were enrolled. Incidence, morphometry, medication, mortality, and cause-of-death were analysed. Hip fractures were most commonly sustained by women, occurred mostly indoors, and often in institutions. One in four patients had sustained a previous fracture. Routine clinical radiographs revealed no differences in the hip geometry between hip fracture types. Age-adjusted mortality was higher in men than in women during the follow-up. Chronic lung disease and male sex were predictors of mortality after cervical fracture. In men, potent anticholinergics were associated with excess age-adjusted mortality. Men were more likely to die from circulatory disease and dementia after hip fracture than women. Mortality after hip fracture was 3-fold higher than that of the general population, including every cause-of-death class. Fracture prevention in institutions and homes, indoor safety measures, and treatment of chronic lung diseases should be encouraged. Hip morphometry analyses require more accurate measures than that provided by routine radiographs. Careful use of potent anticholinergics may reduce mortality. Compared to the general population, excess mortality after hip fracture was evident up to 9 years after hip fracture. Cause-of-death analysis indicates that all major comorbidities require optimal treatment after hip fracture surgery.Siirretty Doriast

A Domain Specific Graphical User Interface Framework

Since the early days of software development, there has been an ongoing trend towards higher-order or higher level abstractions in programming languages, software libraries and application frameworks. Some of the arguments for software development tools with higher levels of abstraction include simpler software development, improved portability and better maintainability. Higher level abstractions can however lead to reduced performance. This thesis presents an innovative graphical user interface software solution that mixes high-level and low-level approaches to achieve acceptable performance while retaining good maintainability. The solution is an extension to a graphical application framework called JavaFX. The scope of this thesis is defined by a software development project which goal is to create a graphical user interface framework. The framework is used in the creation of customer specific user interfaces for an accompanying intralogistics system. The resulting user interfaces must be able to visualize possibly thousands of objects moving on a factory floor. The views must simultaneously support user-initiated zooming, panning, and tilting of the two-dimensional view. Meeting these requirements while maintaining acceptable performance, requires an unconventional solution and a deviation from idiomatic JavaFX. The user interface framework in question is developed using a high-level graphical user interface application framework called JavaFX. JavaFX is the most recent graphical user interface toolkit included in the official Java Development Kit. It has many reactive traits and other modern high-level properties. Overcoming performance challenges with JavaFX when producing views with thousands of animated items was the key research challenge in this research. Some attention is also given to replacing JavaFX built-in dependency injection system with Spring framework to improve JavaFX suitability to the task at hand. This thesis presents a hybrid solution that overcomes JavaFX’s performance challenges in the problem domain, while retaining as much as possible of the usefulness of the high-level features present in the JavaFX framework. The key innovation is a mechanism that enables automated rendering of sprite-bitmaps from JavaFX scene-graph nodes. The solution includes a system that draws the automatically generated bitmaps to a lower-level JavaFX component called Canvas. The solution enables layered mixing of regular JavaFX views with the custom high-performance views, including seamless resizing and event handling between the two types of views. The solution enables the developers of customer specific user interfaces to choose an appropriate graphics rendering type, such that only objects that cause performance issues, typically items which number exceeds dozens, need to use the more complex high-performance system

Unusual trading activity prior to merger and acquisition announcements – evidence from the United States

This paper investigates how unusual trading volume of stocks precede favourable/unfavourable merger or acquisition announcements. I find that the cumulative abnormal returns after the announcement are on average lower on stocks that experience unusually low or high trading volume prior to the announcement day than on normal volume stocks. My findings contradict slightly with the previous literature, which supports the idea that unusually high trading volume signals more positive future returns. The data consists of the United States stocks from 2002 to 2015. The focus is on the target stocks – i.e. the company being acquired or merged into the buying company