Social pedagogy in Bulgaria

Social pedagogy in Bulgaria has a long and interesting tradition that has remained hidden from the international world of the subject. In Bulgaria, social pedagogy is a unique mixture of the German social pedagogical tradition, the Bulgarian pedagogical system and Russian pedagogical influence. Social pedagogy affirmed its position within the Bulgarian pedagogical space around the same time as Karl Mager used the term for the first time. In spite of the tight grip social pedagogy had on the Bulgarian education system, during the time of communism it was branded as ‘bourgeois science’ and was forbidden, but not forgotten. The second phase of the development of Bulgarian social pedagogy started at the beginning of the 1990s, as a result of the democratisation and liberalisation changes that took place following the fall of communism. Since that time, social pedagogy in the Bulgarian context has evolved into the remarkable science and practical field it is today. This article attempts to spread the knowledge of Bulgarian social pedagogy’s origins, traditions, concepts, theories and practices, and to open the door for further cooperation between Bulgaria and the international social pedagogical community

Venture capital -rahoitteisten alkuvaiheen teknologiayhtiöiden kasvu ja kansainvälistyminen

Previous research on growth models of companies has been focusing on modeling the growth of a company through a sequence of developmental stages. The stages models offer a simple, easy to understand framework to deal with the rather complex phenomenon of corporate growth. However, there are clear deficiencies which compromise the idea of stages models. A large number of different versions of stages models have been published, but yet there is not a widely accepted model. The purpose of this study is to establish a new conceptual framework for modeling the growth and internationalization of venture capital backed technology-based new companies. Based on the literature review and expert interviews, a new model is developed by applying a process view of the corporate growth. The model conceptualizes the growth and value creation of a technology-based new company, while using milestone achievement as the primarily input. The model is based on the idea of four parallel processes: 1) Value creation process, 2) Technology and product development process, 3) Business development process, and 4) Network and market development process. The Value creation process is seen as the backbone of the model, as the value creation is the ultimate target of a venture capital backed company. To map the development of a company on each one of the four processes, a set of key milestones has been composed. The new model developed in this study is further validated and tested through eight exploratory case studies. The case companies were selected from the Finnish ICT cluster. The case studies include detailed case descriptions, but the core of the case studies is the mapping of the acquired milestone information to the new model. The initial model is then further supplemented and finalized based on the case studies. As a result, the final evolution model for a technology-based new company is obtained. Key findings of the study include the discovery of different patterns of evolution revealed by the milestone mapping and the role of venture capital investors in accelerating the milestone achievement. Implications for entrepreneurs and recommendations for further research are also presented.Aikaisempi yritysten kasvumalleja käsittelevä tutkimus on keskittynyt kuvaamaan yrityksen kasvua kasvuvaiheiden sarjan kautta. Vaihemallit tarjoavat yksinkertaisen, helposti ymmärrtettävän viitekehyksen, joka auttaa käsittelemään varsin monimutkaisena ilmiönä pidettävää yrityksen kasvua. Vaihemalleissa on kuitenkin selviä puutteita, jotka kyseenalaistavat vaihemallien lähtökohtaisen idean. Erilaisia vaihemalleja on julkaistu suuri määrä, mutta yleisesti hyväksytty malli puuttuu edelleen. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on luoda uusi konseptuaalinen viitekehys venture capital -rahoitteisten alkuvaiheen teknologiayritysten kasvun ja kansainvälistymisen mallintamiseen. Kirjallisuustutkimukseen ja asiantuntijahaastatteluihin pohjautuen on kehitetty uusi malli soveltaen yrityksen kasvamisen prosessinäkökulmaa. Malli havainnollistaa teknologiayrityksen kasvun ja arvon luomisen käyttäen virstanpylväiden saavuttamista pääasiallisena lähtötietonaan. Malli perustuu ideaan neljästä rinnakkaisesta prosessista: 1) Arvon luomisen prosessi, 2) Teknologian ja tuotekehityksen prosessi, 3) Liiketoiminnan kehittämisen prosessi ja 4) Verkoston ja markkinoiden kehittämisen prosessi. Arvon luomisen prosessi nähdään mallin tukirankana, koska arvon luominen on venture capital -rahoitteisen yrityksen perimmäinen tarkoitus. Yrityksen kehittymisen seuraamiseksi jokaisessa neljässä prosessissa on luotu joukko keskeisimmistä virstanpylväistä. Tässä tutkimuksessa kehitetty uusi malli on edelleen validoitu ja testattu kahdeksan eksploratiivisen tapaustutkimuksen avulla. Tutkittavat yritykset valittiin suomalaisen ICT-klusterin yrityksistä. Tapaustutkimukset sisältävät yksityiskohtaiset kuvaukset yrityksistä. Tapaustutkimusten ydin on kuitenkin kerätyn virstanpylvästiedon kuvaaminen uutta mallia käyttäen. Alkuperäistä mallia on edelleen täydennetty ja viimeistelty tapaustutkimuksiin pohjautuen. Lopputuloksena esitetään valmis teknologiayhtiöiden evoluutiomalli. Tämän tutkimuksen tärkeimmät löydökset ovat virstanpylväiden kuvaamisen kautta löydetyt erilaiset evoluutiopolut sekä venture capital -sijoittajien rooli virstanpylväiden saavuttamisen kiihdyttäjänä. Lopuksi käsitellään tulosten merkitystä yrittäjille ja annetaan ehdotuksia jatkotutkimuksia varten

Business Value Is not only Dollars - Results from Case Study Research on Agile Software Projects

Business value is a key concept in agile software development. This paper presents results of a case study on how business value and its creation is perceived in the context of agile projects. Our overall conclusion is that the project participants almost never use an explicit and structured approach to guide the value creation throughout the project. Still, the application of agile methods in the studied cases leads to satisfied clients. An interesting result of the study represents the fact that the agile process of many projects differs significantly from what is described in the agile practitioners’ books as best practices. The key implication for research and practice is that we have an incentive to pursue the study of value creation in agile projects and to complement it by providing guidelines for better client’s involvement, as well as by developing structured methods that will enhance the value-creation in a project

Decline after immobilisation and recovery after remobilisation of synovial fluid IL1, TIMP, and chondroitin sulphate levels in young beagle dogs

OBJECTIVE: To monitor the concentration of markers of cartilage and synovium metabolism in the knee (stifle) joint synovial fluid of young beagles subjected to immobilisation and subsequent remobilisation.METHODS: The right hind limb of 17 dogs was immobilised in flexion for 11 weeks. Simultaneously, the contralateral left knee was exposed to increased weight bearing. The remobilisation period lasted 50 weeks. Litter mates served as controls. The concentration in joint lavage fluid of interleukin 1 (IL1) was measured by immunoassay, the activity of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) was determined by an extraction method, chondroitin sulphate (CS) concentration by precipitation with Alcian blue, hyaluronan (HA) by an ELISA-like assay using biotinylated HA-binding complexes, matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) by sandwich ELISA, and synovitis was scored by light microscopy.RESULTS: Synovitis or effusion was absent in all experimental and control groups. Immobilisation decreased the joint lavage fluid levels of IL1 (p<0.05), TIMP (p< 0.05), and the concentration of CS down to 38 (p<0.05) in comparison with untreated litter mates with normal weight bearing. Immobilisation did not affect the activity of PLA2, or the concentration of MMP-3 or HA in synovial fluid. Joint remobilisation restored the decreased concentrations of markers to control levels. Increased weight bearing did not change the concentrations of markers in comparison with the control joints with normal weight bearing.CONCLUSIONS: 11 weeks joint immobilisation decreased the concentration of markers of cartilage and synovium metabolism in the synovial fluid, and remobilisation restored the concentrations to control levels. The changes in joint metabolism induced by immobilisation, as reflected by the markers, are thus different from those found in osteoarthritis, where increased levels of these markers are associated with enhanced degradation and synthesis. These findings suggest that the change induced in joint metabolism by immobilisation is reversible in its early stages

Sustainable antibullying program implementation: School profiles and predictors

We examined the sustainability of the KiVa antibullying program in Finland from its nationwide roll‐out in 2009 to 2016. Using latent class analyses, we identified four different patterns of implementation. The persistent schools (43%) maintained a high likelihood of participation throughout the study period. The awakened (14%) had a decreasing trend during the first years, but then increased the likelihood of program participation. The tail‐offs (20%) decreased in the likelihood of participating after the third year, and the drop‐offs (23%) already after the first year. The findings suggest that many schools need support during the initial years to launch and maintain the implementation of evidence‐based programs; yet a large proportion of schools manage to sustain the program implementation for several years. The logistic regression analyses showed that large schools persisted more likely than small schools. Lower initial level of victimization was also related to the sustainability of the program. Finally, persistent program participation was predicted by several school‐level actions during the initial years of implementing the program. These results imply that the sustainability of evidence‐based programs could be enhanced by supporting and guiding schools when setting up the program during the initial implementation.</p

Variation of Absorption Angstrom Exponent in Aerosols From Different Emission Sources

The absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) describes the spectral dependence of light absorption by aerosols. AAE is typically used to differentiate between different aerosol types for example., black carbon, brown carbon, and dust particles. In this study, the variation of AAE was investigated mainly in fresh aerosol emissions from different fuel and combustion types, including emissions from ships, buses, coal-fired power plants, and residential wood burning. The results were assembled to provide a compendium of AAE values from different emission sources. A dual-spot aethalometer (AE33) was used in all measurements to obtain the light absorption coefficients at seven wavelengths (370-950 nm). AAE(470/950) varied greatly between the different emission sources, ranging from -0.2 +/- 0.7 to 3.0 +/- 0.8. The correlation between the AAE(470/950) and AAE(370-950) results was good (R-2 = 0.95) and the mean bias error between these was 0.02. In the ship engine exhaust emissions, the highest AAE(470/950) values (up to 2.0 +/- 0.1) were observed when high sulfur content heavy fuel oil was used, whereas low sulfur content fuels had the lowest AAE(470/950) (0.9-1.1). In the diesel bus exhaust emissions, AAE(470/950) increased in the order of acceleration (0.8 +/- 0.1), deceleration (1.1 +/- 0.1), and steady driving (1.2 +/- 0.1). In the coal-fired power plant emissions, the variation of AAE(470/950) was substantial (from -0.1 +/- 2.1 to 0.9 +/- 1.6) due to the differences in the fuels and flue gas cleaning conditions. Fresh wood-burning derived aerosols had AAE(470/950) from 1.1 +/- 0.1 (modern masonry heater) to 1.4 +/- 0.1 (pellet boiler), lower than typically associated with wood burning, while the burn cycle phase affected AAE variation.Peer reviewe

Investigating the chemical species in submicron particles emitted by city buses

Detailed chemical characterization of exhaust particles from 23 individual city buses was performed in Helsinki, Finland. Investigated buses represented different technologies in terms of engines, exhaust after-treatment systems (e.g., diesel particulate filter, selective catalytic reduction, and three-way catalyst) and fuels (diesel, diesel-electric (hybrid), ethanol, and compressed natural gas). Regarding emission standards, the buses operated at EURO III, EURO IV, and EEV (enhanced environmentally friendly vehicle) emission levels. The chemical composition of exhaust particles was determined by using a soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS). Based on the SP-AMS results, the bus emission particles were dominated by organics and refractory black carbon (rBC). The mass spectra of organics consisted mostly of hydrocarbon fragments (54-86% of total organics), the pattern of hydrocarbon fragments being rather similar regardless of the bus type. Regarding oxygenated organic fragments, ethanol-fueled buses had unique mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) of 45, 73, 87, and 89 (mass fragments of C2H5OC, C3H5O2+, C4H7O2+, and C4H9O2+, respectively) that were not detected for the other bus types at the same level. For rBC, there was a small difference in the ratio of C-4(+) and C-5(+) to C-3(+) for different bus types but also for the individual buses of the same type. In addition to organics and rBC, the presence of trace metals in the bus emission particles was investigated.Peer reviewe

Training a Scoring Function for the Alignment of Small Molecules

A comprehensive data set of aligned ligands with highly similar binding pockets from the Protein Data Bank has been built. Based on this data set, a scoring function for recognizing good alignment poses for small molecules has been developed. This function is based on atoms and hydrogen-bond projected features. The concept is simply that atoms and features of a similar type (hydrogen-bond acceptors/donors and hydrophobic) tend to occupy the same space in a binding pocket and atoms of incompatible types often tend to avoid the same space. Comparison with some recently published results of small molecule alignments shows that the current scoring function can lead to performance better than those of several existing methods

In vivo biocompatibility assessment of (PTFE–PVDF–PP) terpolymer-based membrane with potential application for glaucoma treatment

The aim of the work was to evaluate the in vivo biological behaviour of polymeric membrane materials for glaucoma implants. The base material was biostable synthetic terpolymer (PTFE–PVDF–PP) with proved biocompability (PN-EN ISO 10993). The samples manufactured in the form a membrane were subjected to chemical and physical treatment to create an open pore system within the polymer matrix. As a porogenic phase biodegradable natrium alginate in a fibrous form was employed. The non-perforating deep sclerectomy technique was performed in a rabbit model. The clinical observations were made after 14 and 30 days. During the study clinical symptoms of a moderate degree were observed, and histopathological changes were typical for foreign body implantation. At the end stage of the study no significant difference in histopathological assessment was found between control and experimental group. Similarities observed in both groups and relatively mild histopathological changes in the tissue surrounding the implant indicate that the observed symptoms come from a deep scleral trauma caused by surgery, and not by the presence of the implant itself

Influence of wood species on toxicity of log-wood stove combustion aerosols: A parallel animal and air-liquid interface cell exposure study on spruce and pine smoke

Background Wood combustion emissions have been studied previously either by in vitro or in vivo models using collected particles, yet most studies have neglected gaseous compounds. Furthermore, a more accurate and holistic view of the toxicity of aerosols can be gained with parallel in vitro and in vivo studies using direct exposure methods. Moreover, modern exposure techniques such as air-liquid interface (ALI) exposures enable better assessment of the toxicity of the applied aerosols than, for example, the previous state-of-the-art submerged cell exposure techniques. Methods We used three different ALI exposure systems in parallel to study the toxicological effects of spruce and pine combustion emissions in human alveolar epithelial (A549) and murine macrophage (RAW264.7) cell lines. A whole-body mouse inhalation system was also used to expose C57BL/6 J mice to aerosol emissions. Moreover, gaseous and particulate fractions were studied separately in one of the cell exposure systems. After exposure, the cells and animals were measured for various parameters of cytotoxicity, inflammation, genotoxicity, transcriptome and proteome. Results We found that diluted (1:15) exposure pine combustion emissions (PM1 mass 7.7 ± 6.5 mg m− 3, 41 mg MJ$^{Zahl}$) contained, on average, more PM and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) than spruce (PM1 mass 4.3 ± 5.1 mg m− 3, 26 mg MJ− 1) emissions, which instead showed a higher concentration of inorganic metals in the emission aerosol. Both A549 cells and mice exposed to these emissions showed low levels of inflammation but significantly increased genotoxicity. Gaseous emission compounds produced similar genotoxicity and a higher inflammatory response than the corresponding complete combustion emission in A549 cells. Systems biology approaches supported the findings, but we detected differing responses between in vivo and in vitro experiments. Conclusions Comprehensive in vitro and in vivo exposure studies with emission characterization and systems biology approaches revealed further information on the effects of combustion aerosol toxicity than could be achieved with either method alone. Interestingly, in vitro and in vivo exposures showed the opposite order of the highest DNA damage. In vitro measurements also indicated that the gaseous fraction of emission aerosols may be more important in causing adverse toxicological effects. Combustion aerosols of different wood species result in mild but aerosol specific in vitro and in vivo effects