Työkyvyn hallinta, seuranta ja varhainen tuki : Tutkimus sairausvakuutuslain vuoden 2011 muutoksen vaikutuksista työpaikkojen toimintaan

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin vuoden 2011 sairausvakuutuslain muutoksen vaikutuksia työkyvyn hallintaan, seurantaan ja varhaiseen tukeen. Sairausvakuutuslakimuutos (L 1056/2010) edellyttää, että ”työpaikalla on yhteistyössä työterveyshuollon kanssa sovitut käytännöt siitä, miten työkyvyn hallintaa, seurantaa ja varhaista tukea toteutetaan työpaikan ja työterveyshuollon yhteisenä toimintana”, jotta työterveyshuollon korvausluokkaan 1 kuuluvista palveluista aiheutuvista kustannuksista korvattaisiin 50 %:n sijaan 60 %. Tutkimus toteutettiin kahdessa vaiheessa. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa tehtiin laaja, sähköinen kyselytutkimus, johon osallistui yli 1 000 työnantajaa. Toisessa vaiheessa kartoitettiin syvemmin työnantajien hyviksi kokemia työkyvyn hallinnan käytäntöjä sekä kehitysehdotuksia case-tutkimuksen menetelmin suppeammasta 22 työnantajan otoksesta. Tämän lisäksi haastateltiin viittä eri työterveyshuollon palveluntuottajaa. Yli 85 % kyselytutkimukseen osallistuneista ilmoitti sopineensa toimintakäytännöistä tai laatineensa toimenpideohjelman yhteistyössä työterveyshuollon kanssa, mikä on noin 10 prosenttiyksikköä enemmän kuin ennen vuotta 2011. Erilaisille toimintamalleille on laadittu suunnitelmia melko kattavasti, mutta suunnitelmien seuranta ei ole vielä systemaattista: suunnitelmiin ei ole kytketty tavoitteita, ja seurattavat mittarit puolestaan eivät välttämättä kytkeydy suunnitelmiin. Suurin osa tutkimuksen toiseen vaiheeseen osallistuneista organisaatioista koki lakimuutoksen onnistuneeksi tavaksi edistää työkyvyn hallintaa. Osallistuneissa organisaatioissa työkyvyn hallinta ja varhainen tuki on tullut viime vuosina keskimäärin systemaattisemmaksi ja tavoitteellisemmaksi. Haastateltavat kuitenkin korostivat organisaation omaa toimintaa ja valmiutta tärkeämmäksi työkyvyn hallinnassa. Haastateltavat pitivät suunnitelmien tekoa melko hyödyllisenä työkyvyn hallinnan kannalta ja osasivat mainita esimerkkejä hyvistä työkykykäytännöistä. Tavoitteiden seuranta ja mittaaminen ei kuitenkaan ole niin systemaattista kuin laajat suunnitelmat antaisivat olettaa. Tavoitteet on suunnitelmissa ilmaistu tyypillisesti yleisellä tasolla, jolloin niitä on vaikea mitata tai asettaa tavoitetasoja. Työpaikoilla seurataankin tyypillisesti helposti mitattavia asioita, kuten työtapaturmia, sairauspoissaoloja ja ennenaikaisia eläköitymisiä. Nämä kuvastavat myöhäisen vaiheen ongelmia. Varhaisen vaiheen tunnistamista tai ennaltaehkäisyn toteutumista ei seurata, oletettavasti niiden vaikean mitattavuuden vuoksi, vaikka tavoitteista nämä teemat löytyvät. Työkyvyn hallinnan kehittäminen on monivaiheinen prosessi, joka lähteäkseen käyntiin edellyttää yleistä tietoisuutta työkyvyn hallinnasta sekä henkilöstöasioista vastaavien tahojen kykyä kommunikoida muun johdon kanssa työkyvyn hallinnan kustannusvaikuttavuudesta. Onnistunut työkyvyn hallinta edellyttää lisäksi, että johto on sitoutunut siihen, sisäinen viestintä esimiehille ja työntekijöille toimii ja että henkilöstö osallistuu prosessiin

Towards a framework for work package allocation for GSD

Proceeding of: Proceeding of: OTM 2011 Workshops: Confederated International Workshops and Posters: EI2N+NSF ICE, ICSP+INBAST, ISDE, ORM, OTMA, SWWS+MONET+SeDeS, and VADER 2011, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, October 17-21, 2011Global software development is an inexorable trend in the software industry. The impact of the trend in conventional software development can be found in many of its aspects. One of them is task or work package allocation. Task allocation was traditionally driven by resource competency and availability but GSD introduces new complexities to this process including time-zones differences, costs and cultural differences. In this work a report on the construction of a framework for work-package allocation within GSD projects is presented. This framework lies on three main pillars: individual and organizational competency, organizational customization and sound assessment methods.This work is supported by the Spanish Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) under the Eureka Project E! 6244 PROPS-Tour and the national cooperation project SEM-IDi (IDI-20091150)

Opportunities for Stationary Fuel Cell Applications in Ohio: Public Finance and Other Strategies

Ohio has not, heretofore, been a major player in the deployment of stationary fuel cell applications, notwithstanding its status as a leader in developing fuel cell technology. One reason for this is that in the years since fuel cells became commercially available, fuel cell power generation had struggled to be cost effective in Ohio due to a combination low electricity prices and high natural gas prices, the latter being the most common fuel for stationary fuel cell applications. By 2015, this had changed. The Mid-Atlantic region was enjoying the lowest natural gas prices in North America as a result of regional shale development. Meanwhile, wholesale electricity prices in the PJM Interconnect regional transmission organization (Mid-Atlantic region) are among the highest in the nation. This has created therein a historically high “spark spread” -- the term used to describe the price differential between wholesale natural gas and electricity. What’s more, fuel cell generation qualifies for net metering, and may be valued at retail costs. Finally, additional new value for the avoided costs of carbon and other emissions may be derived from new ultra-efficient fuel cell technologies. As for other nascent technologies, early adoption will likely require public-private financing partnerships. There are available federal, state and local financing strategies to enable the deployment of fuel cells in Ohio. Loan programs such as the Energy Loan Fund and Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds can be used to support fuel cell demonstration with low interest loans. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds may also soon be available to support fuel cell deployment, depending upon pending Ohio legislation. In addition, the Public Utility Commission of Ohio has within its authority to support power purchase agreements or special arrangements for buyers to support generation that is in the interest of Ohio ratepayers (such as when it promotes economic development). The best places to acquire natural gas for power generation on long-term, fixed prices will be at gathering points along the natural gas pipeline and processing system. Such points offer natural gas producers the most flexibility to supply natural gas long term. Most of the gathering and processing points are currently located in southeastern Ohio, however new interstate pipelines are being built across northern Ohio. This new infrastructure may provide opportunities to locate stationary fuel cells in the generation, transmission and capacity-constrained northern Ohio market. Low gas prices may also provide opportunities for stationary fuel cell applications using low temperature fuel cells. Such fuel cells run directly on hydrogen, and heretofore, the costs of manufacturing, transporting and storing hydrogen has made the economics for such generation difficult. Low hydrogen feedstock costs, together with the ability low temperature fuel cells have to supply the lucrative peak loading market, may make such applications cost effective in the near term

Reliability Analysis of Component-Based Systems with Multiple Failure Modes

This paper presents a novel approach to the reliability modeling and analysis of a component-based system that allows dealing with multiple failure modes and studying the error propagation among components. The proposed model permits to specify the components attitude to produce, propagate, transform or mask different failure modes. These component-level reliability specifications together with information about systems global structure allow precise estimation of reliability properties by means of analytical closed formulas, probabilistic modelchecking or simulation methods. To support the rapid identification of components that could heavily affect systems reliability, we also show how our modeling approach easily support the automated estimation of the system sensitivity to variations in the reliability properties of its components. The results of this analysis allow system designers and developers to identify critical components where it is worth spending additional improvement efforts

Female responses to experimental removal of sexual selection components in Drosophila melanogaster

Despite the common assumption that multiple mating should in general be favored in males, but not in females, to date there is no consensus on the general impact of multiple mating on female fitness. Notably, very little is known about the genetic and physiological features underlying the female response to sexual selection pressures. By combining an experimental evolution approach with genomic techniques, we investigated the effects of single and multiple matings on female fecundity and gene expression. We experimentally manipulated the opportunity for mating in replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster by removing components of sexual selection, with the aim of testing differences in short term post-mating effects of females evolved under different mating strategies

Mating system variation drives rapid evolution of the female transcriptome in Drosophila pseudoobscura

Interactions between the sexes are believed to be a potent source of selection on sex-specific evolution. The way in which sexual interactions influence male investment is much studied, but effects on females are more poorly understood. To address this deficiency, we examined gene expression in virgin female Drosophila pseudoobscura following 100 generations of mating system manipulations in which we either elevated polyandry or enforced monandry. Gene expression evolution following mating system manipulation resulted in 14% of the transcriptome of virgin females being altered. Polyandrous females elevated expression of a greater number of genes normally enriched in ovaries and associated with mitosis and meiosis, which might reflect female investment into reproductive functions. Monandrous females showed a greater number of genes normally enriched for expression in somatic tissues, including the head and gut and associated with visual perception and metabolism, respectively. By comparing our data with a previous study of sex differences in gene expression in this species, we found that the majority of the genes that are differentially expressed between females of the selection treatments show female-biased expression in the wild-type population. A striking exception is genes associated with male-specific reproductive tissues (in D. melanogaster), which are upregulated in polyandrous females. Our results provide experimental evidence for a role of sex-specific selection arising from differing sexual interactions with males in promoting rapid evolution of the female transcriptome

Evolution of sex-specific pace-of-life syndromes: genetic architecture and physiological mechanisms

Sex differences in life history, physiology, and behavior are nearly ubiquitous across taxa, owing to sex-specific selection that arises from different reproductive strategies of the sexes. The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts that most variation in such traits among individuals, populations, and species falls along a slow-fast pace-of-life continuum. As a result of their different reproductive roles and environment, the sexes also commonly differ in pace-of-life, with important consequences for the evolution of POLS. Here, we outline mechanisms for how males and females can evolve differences in POLS traits and in how such traits can covary differently despite constraints resulting from a shared genome. We review the current knowledge of the genetic basis of POLS traits and suggest candidate genes and pathways for future studies. Pleiotropic effects may govern many of the genetic correlations, but little is still known about the mechanisms involved in trade-offs between current and future reproduction and their integration with behavioral variation. We highlight the importance of metabolic and hormonal pathways in mediating sex differences in POLS traits; however, there is still a shortage of studies that test for sex specificity in molecular effects and their evolutionary causes. Considering whether and how sexual dimorphism evolves in POLS traits provides a more holistic framework to understand how behavioral variation is integrated with life histories and physiology, and we call for studies that focus on examining the sex-specific genetic architecture of this integration

Biosynthesis of γ-aminobutyric acid by lactic acid bacteria in surplus bread and its use in bread making

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of bread as substrate for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) biosynthesis, establishing a valorization strategy for surplus bread, repurposing it within the food chain. Methods and results: Surplus bread was fermented by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to produce GABA. Pediococcus pentosaceus F01, Levilactobacillus brevis MRS4, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum H64 and C48 were selected among 33 LAB strains for the ability to synthesize GABA. Four fermentation experiments were set up using surplus bread as such, added of amylolytic and proteolytic enzymes, modifying the pH or mixed with wheat bran. Enzyme-treated slurries led to the release of glucose (up to 20 mg g-1 ) and free amino acid, whereas the addition of wheat bran (30% of bread weight) yielded the highest GABA content (circa 800 mg kg-1 of dry weight) and was the most suitable substrate for LAB growth. The selected slurry was ultimately used as an ingredient in bread making causing an increase in free amino acids. Conclusions: Besides the high GABA concentration (148 mg kg-1 dough), the experimental bread developed in this study was characterized by good nutritional properties, highlighting the efficacy of tailored bioprocessing technologies as means to mitigate food wastage. Significance and impact of study: Our results represent a proof of concept of effective strategies to repurpose food industry side streams

Researching Cultural Objects and Manuscripts in a Small Country: The Finnish Experience of Raising Awareness of Art Crime

In this article we shed light on the position of Finland in conversations on the movement of unprovenanced cultural objects, within the national, the Nordic and the global contexts. Finland's geopolitical position, as a hard border of the European Union neighbouring the Russian Federation, and its current legislative provisions, which do not include import regulations, mean that it has the potential to be significant in understanding the movement of cultural property at transnational levels. In particular, we outline a recent initiative started at the University of Helsinki to kick-start a national debate on ethical working with cultural objects and manuscripts. We analyse exploratory research on current awareness and opinion within Finland, and summarize our current work to produce robust research ethics to guide scholars working in Finland. Although Finland has a small population and is usually absent from international discussions on the illicit movement of cultural property (save a few exceptions), we argue that it is still possibleand importantfor scholars and others in Finland to affect policy and attitudes concerning art crime, provenance, and the role of stakeholders such as decision-makers, traders and the academy

Driving a low critical current Josephson junction array with a mode-locked laser

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