Sensory evaluation of different levels of roasting of New Zealand grown hazelnuts

Hazelnuts (Corylus aveIIana L.) are a very recent addition to commercial horticulture in New Zealand and Whiteheart has been selected as the primary commercial cultivar. No published information is available on the optimum temperatures needed to roast the dried nuts. An experiment was designed to investigate three different roasting treatments, blanching, light roast and full roast using a conveyer type roasting oven set at 200°C. The roasted samples were then analysed for proximate contents and evaluated using a taste panel. The appearance, texture, flavour and overall appearance was evaluated by 63 tasters at one time. The blanched nut was appreciated for its colour but it was considered too chewy and bland in taste compared to the roasted nuts. Each one of the heat treatments gave an improved rating for all of the attributes measured. Roasting in the oven set at 200°C for 6 minutes (full roast) was the treatment appreciated most by all tasters. Analysis of the correlation coefficients showed that the overriding impression about the hazelnuts comes from the flavour of the nut followed by its texture. The overall appearance of the nut was not highly rated by the tasters once the hazelnuts had been heat treated

”Työn merkityksellisyyden vois kiteyttää silleen, että tätä työtä mun on tarkoituskin tehdä.”:kasvatustieteilijöiden kokemuksia työn merkityksellisyydestä

Tiivistelmä. Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on tarkastella kasvatustieteilijöiden kokemuksia työn merkityksellisyydestä. Merkityksellisen työn tutkimus on lisääntynyt huomattavasti ja sen merkitys on nousemassa yhä suurempaan rooliin työelämän muutoksen keskellä. Tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet työn merkityksellisyyden olevan keskeisessä asemassa työhön liittyvässä motivaatiossa, sitoutumisessa ja hyvinvoinnissa sekä lisäävän elämäntyytyväisyyttä. Näin ollen työelämän kehittäminen yhä merkityksellisemmäksi voi edistää ihmisten yleistä hyvinvointia ja elämänlaatua, ja siksi tämä on myös merkittävä tutkimuskohde. Tutkielman teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimii Martelan ja Pessin näkemys työn merkityksellisyydestä sekä Stegerin ja kollegoiden WAMI-malli. Tutkimuksen keskeinen käsite on merkityksellinen työ, joka tarkoittaa itsessään arvokasta ja tekemisen arvoista työtä. Merkityksellinen työ toteuttaa yksilön etujen ohella yhteisiä etuja ja jotain suurempaa tarkoitusta, ja työn kautta yksilö voi aidosti toteuttaa ja ilmaista itseään sekä löytää merkitystä elämäänsä. Työn merkityksellisyyden kokemus viittaa yksilön kokonaisarvioon näiden tekijöiden toteutumisesta. Tutkimuksen empiirinen vaihe on toteutettu kvalitatiivisesti, ja tutkimusaineisto koostuu kuudesta kasvatustieteilijälle tehdystä teemahaastattelusta. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on syventää ymmärrystä työn merkityksellisyydestä kokonaisvaltaisesti ja verrata tuloksia aikaisempaan tutkimukseen ja lähdekirjallisuuteen tutkittavien yksilöllisyys huomioiden. Täten aineiston analyysimenetelmänä käytettiin teoriasidonnaista sisällönanalyysia. Kasvatustieteilijöiden kokemukset työn merkityksellisyydestä rakentuivat itsensä toteuttamisesta, työn laajemmasta päämäärästä, yhteenkuuluvuudesta ja työn tuottamista positiivista merkityksistä laajemmin yksilön elämään. Tutkimuksen tulokset tukevat aikaisempaa tutkimusta osoittaen työn merkityksellisyyden kokemuksen rakentuvan yksilö-, työ- ja työyhteisötason tekijöiden dynaamisesta kokonaisuudesta. Tutkimus tarjoaa tietoa avaintekijöistä, joiden kautta kasvatustieteilijöiden työn merkityksellisyyden kokemusta voidaan edistää ja ylläpitää. Tuloksia voi hyödyntää esimerkiksi työpaikoilla työntekijöiden merkityksellisyyden kokemuksen tukemiseen sekä uraohjauksen tukena ja sen käytäntöjen edistämisessä.“The meaningfulness of work can be summed up by the fact that this work is what I am meant to do.” : educational scientists’ experiences of the meaningfulness of work. Abstract. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine the experiences of educational scientists regarding the meaningfulness of work. Research on meaningful work has increased considerably, and its importance is rising to play a greater role during changes in working life. Studies have shown that the meaningfulness of work plays a central role in work-related motivation, commitment and well-being as well as increasing life satisfaction. Making working life more meaningful can promote people’s general well-being and quality of life, therefore this is a significant topic to research. Martela and Pessi’s view of the meaningfulness of work and the background theory of Steger and colleagues’ WAMI model serve as the theoretical framework of the thesis. The central concept of the study is meaningful work, which refers to work that is valuable in itself and worth doing. Meaningful work realizes common interests and a greater purpose, and through work, the individual can truly realize and express themselves and find meaning in their life. The experience of job meaningfulness refers to an individual’s overall assessment of the realization of these factors. This study is qualitative, and the data consists of six thematic interviews conducted with educational scientists. The goal of the study is to deepen the understanding of the meaningfulness of work and to compare the results with earlier research and source literature while considering the individuality of the subjects. The data were analyzed using abductive content analysis. The educational scientists’ experiences of the meaningfulness of work were built on self-realization, the broader goal of work, cohesion, and the positive meanings that work brings to the broader individual’s life. The results of the study support previous research, showing that the experience of the meaningfulness of work is formed by the dynamic whole of individual, work, and work community level factors. The study provides information on the key factors through which the experience of the meaningfulness of work of educational scientists can be promoted and maintained. The results can be used, for example, in workplaces to support employees’ experience of meaningfulness, as well as to support career guidance and promote its practices

Cliophysics: Socio-political Reliability Theory, Polity Duration and African Political (In)stabilities

Quantification of historical sociological processes have recently gained attention among theoreticians in the effort of providing a solid theoretical understanding of the behaviors and regularities present in sociopolitical dynamics. Here we present a reliability theory of polity processes with emphases on individual political dynamics of African countries. We found that the structural properties of polity failure rates successfully capture the risk of political vulnerability and instabilities in which 87.50%, 75%, 71.43%, and 0% of the countries with monotonically increasing, unimodal, U-shaped and monotonically decreasing polity failure rates, respectively, have high level of state fragility indices. The quasi-U-shape relationship between average polity duration and regime types corroborates historical precedents and explains the stability of the autocracies and democracies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Endogenous Constitutions: Politics and Politicians Matter, Economic Outcomes Don’t

We study changes in the form of government as an example of endogenously determined constitutions. For a sample of 202 countries over the period 1950-2006, we find that most changes are relatively small and roughly equally likely to be either in the direction of more parliamentarian or more presidential systems. Based on a fixed effects ordered logit panel data model estimated over the period 1951-2000 for 146 countries, we find that such changes in the constitution can be explained by characteristics of the political system, internal and external political conflicts, and political leaders, whereas economic and socio-demographic variables do not matter

Nursing students motivation toward their studies – a survey study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study focuses on Swedish nursing students' motivation toward their studies during their three year academic studies. Earlier studies show the importance of motivation for study commitment and result. The aim was to analyze nursing students' estimation of their degree of motivation during different semester during their education and to identify reasons for the degree of motivation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A questionnaire asking for scoring motivation and what influenced the degree of motivation was distributed to students enrolled in a nursing programme. 315 students who studied at different semesters participated. Analyzes were made by statistical calculation and content analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean motivation score over all semesters was 6.3 (ranked between 0–10) and differed significantly during the semesters with a tendency to lower score during the 5th semester. Students (73/315) with motivation score <4 reported explanations such as negative opinion about the organisation of the programme, attitude towards the studies, life situation and degree of difficulty/demand on studies. Students (234/315) with motivation score >6 reported positive opinions to becoming a nurse (125/234), organization of the programme and attitude to the studies. The mean score value for the motivation ranking differed significantly between male (5.8) and female (6.8) students.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Conclusions to be drawn are that nursing students mainly grade their motivation positive distributed different throughout their entire education. The main motivation factor was becoming a nurse. This study result highlights the need of understanding the students' situation and their need of tutorial support.</p

Is the Good Polity Attainable? Measuring the Quality of Democracy

This article introduces a discussion on defining, measuring, and assessing the quality of democracy. Providing a short overview of the papers of the Symposium, it places them within a broader context of current academic debate on various methodological, theoretical, and policy outreach dimensions of the topic

Northerners and Southerners Differ in Conflict Culture

The present study uses regression analysis of existing cross-national data sets to demonstrate that ingroup-outgroup discrimination and intergroup conflict management vary more along the north-south (latitudinal) axis than along the east-west axis of the Earth. Ingroup favoritism, outgroup rejection, political oppression, legal discrimination, and communication bullying are all less prevalent among Northerners than among Southerners in the Northern Hemisphere, but more prevalent among Northerners than among Southerners in the Southern Hemisphere. These findings provide a rich source for further research into how social conflicts are habitually experienced and handled by residents of northern versus southern habitats. A supplementary analysis specifies the extent to which ecological stressors-thermal stress, hydraulic stress, pathogenic stress, and subsistence stress-help explain why there are oppositely sloping north-south gradients of conflict culture above and below the equator. Taken in total, these results demonstrate the importance of considering latitude in forming a deeper understanding of conflict management and negotiation

A 4 year follow-up study of cognitive functioning in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Contains fulltext : 90777.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with moderate decrements in cognitive functioning, mainly in verbal memory, information-processing speed and executive functions. How this cognitive profile evolves over time is uncertain. The present study aims to provide detailed information on the evolution of cognitive decrements in type 2 diabetes over time. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with type 2 diabetes and 38 controls matched for age, sex and estimated IQ performed an elaborate neuropsychological examination in 2002-2004 and again in 2006-2008, including 11 tasks covering five cognitive domains. Vascular and metabolic determinants were recorded. Data were analysed with repeated measures analysis of variance, including main effects for group, time and the group x time interaction. RESULTS: Patients with type 2 diabetes showed moderate decrements in information-processing speed (mean difference in z scores [95% CI] -0.37 [-0.69, -0.05]) and attention and executive functions (-0.25 [-0.49, -0.01]) compared with controls at both the baseline and the 4 year follow-up examination. After 4 years both groups showed a decline in abstract reasoning (-0.16 [-0.30, -0.02]) and attention and executive functioning (-0.29 [-0.40, -0.17]), but there was no evidence for accelerated cognitive decline in the patients with type 2 diabetes as compared with controls (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: In non-demented patients with type 2 diabetes, cognitive decrements are moderate in size and cognitive decline over 4 years is largely within the range of what can be viewed in normal ageing. Apparently, diabetes-related cognitive changes develop slowly over a prolonged period of time.8 p