Packing dimension of mean porous measures

We prove that the packing dimension of any mean porous Radon measure on $\mathbb R^d$ may be estimated from above by a function which depends on mean porosity. The upper bound tends to $d-1$ as mean porosity tends to its maximum value. This result was stated in \cite{BS}, and in a weaker form in \cite{JJ1}, but the proofs are not correct. Quite surprisingly, it turns out that mean porous measures are not necessarily approximable by mean porous sets. We verify this by constructing an example of a mean porous measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb R$ such that $\mu(A)=0$ for all mean porous sets $A\subset\mathbb R$.Comment: Revised versio

Lasten sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehittymisen tukeminen varhaiskasvatuksessa

Tiivistelmä. Tämän kandidaatintutkielman aiheena on tutkia lasten sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehittymistä, siihen liittyvää tuen tarvetta sekä erityisesti tähän tuen tarpeeseen vastaamista varhaiskasvatuksessa. Tutkielman tavoitteena on tarkastella laajasti tutkimusaiheeseen liittyvässä tieteellisessä kirjallisuudessa sekä aiemmissa tutkimuksissa esiteltyjä pedagogisia menetelmiä ja toimintatapoja, joilla tukea lasten sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehittymistä varhaiskasvatuskontekstissa. Tässä tutkielmassa lasten haastavana pidettyä käyttäytymistä lähestytään lapsen luonnollisen tuen tarpeen näkökulmasta. Tämän tutkielman avulla saadaan yleiskäsitys lasten sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehityksestä, siihen liittyvästä tuen tarpeesta sekä siitä, kuinka lasten sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehitystä voidaan tukea varhaiskasvatuksessa. Tämä kandidaatin tutkielma on toteutettu kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Tutkielman tuloksista nousi esiin moniammatillisen tiimin, monialaisen yhteistyön sekä huoltajien kanssa tehtävän yhteistyön merkitys lapsen sosioemotionaalisen tuen tarpeen suunnittelussa, toteutuksessa ja arvioinnissa. Sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehitystä tukeva pedagogiikka on lasta osallistavaa ja mahdollistaa lapsen itseilmaisun. Varhaiskasvatuksen pedagoginen toiminta, johon kuuluu myönteinen ja kannustava palaute, tavoitteellinen ja suunnitelmallinen sosioemotionaalisten taitojen harjoittelu sekä pienryhmätoiminta, edistää lasten sosioemotionaalisten taitojen kehittymistä. Myös varhaiskasvattajan lämmin vuorovaikutustapa on yhteydessä lapsen tunne-elämän ja sosiaalisen kanssakäymisen edistämiseen. Tiukat säännöt ja rangaistukset sen sijaan eivät vähennä haastavana pidettyä käyttäytymistä, mutta ovat yleinen käytäntö varhaiskasvatuksessa. Varhaiskasvatuksen henkilöstö kokee tarvetta kehittää osaamistaan sosioemotionaalisten taitojen tukemisessa. Tulevaisuudessa alan koulutuksia tulisi kehittää vastaamaan tätä tarvetta

Motivaation vaikutus oppimiseen peruskoulussa

Tiivistelmä. Tämän kandidaatin tutkielman tavoitteena on kerätä tietoa motivaation eri lajeista ja motivaation vaikutuksesta oppimiseen peruskoulussa. Tämä tieto auttaa opettajaa muun muassa opetusmenetelmien, -aiheiden ja -materiaalien valinnassa siten, että ne motivoivat oppilaita enemmän. Motivaatio kun on oletettavasti usein keskeinen tekijä oppimisen edesauttamisessa. Tutkielman teoriapohja koostuu pääasiassa oppimisen ja motivaation käsitteiden määrittelystä. Keskiössä on erityisesti motivaation käsite, koska oppimisen käsite lienee yleisesti tunnetumpi. Motivaatioon liittyy myös todella monia alakäsitteitä. Lisäksi tutkielmassa määritellään muutamia olennaisia lähikäsitteitä sekä oppimiselle että motivaatiolle käsitteiden ja tutkimuskysymysten tukemiseksi. Koulussa opettajan on erittäin tärkeä tietää, millaisista asioista oppilaat ovat kiinnostuneet ja millaiset opetusmenetelmät toimivat heihin parhaiten. Jokainen oppilas on yksilö ja jokaisella on omat kiinnostuksenkohteet, ja esimerkiksi oppiainekohtaisen motivaation mukaan oppilaan valintoihin ja suoriutumiseen vaikuttaa suuresti se, mistä asioista hän on kiinnostunut ja mitä asiaa hän pitää tärkeänä (Salmela-Aro, 2018). Tämän tutkielman toisena keskeisenä tavoitteena onkin selvittää, millaiset toimintatavat opettajana toimisivat todennäköisimmin luokasta ja oppilaista riippumatta motivaation edistämiseksi. Tutkielma pyrkii selvittämään, millainen motivaatio on optimaalisinta oppimisen kannalta. Motivaation lajeja on tutkijasta ja tutkimuksesta riippuen enemmän tai vähemmän, mutta niiden vaikutuksessa oppimiseen on selkeästi eroja

The Dutch Healthy Diet Index : development, evaluation, and application

The Dutch Healthy Diet index – Development, Evaluation, and Application Linde van Lee Abstract Background: Dietary indices evaluate the conformity of an individual’s diet with pre-defined standards. Generally, dietary guidelines are used for this purpose. As no index based on the current dietary guidelines was available in the Netherlands, the aim of the present thesis was to develop, evaluate, and apply a dietary index for use in the country. Methods and results: The Dutch Healthy Diet index (DHD-index) was developed on the basis of the 2006 Dutch dietary guidelines using data relating to 749 young adults who completed two 24-hour recalls in the Dutch national food consumption survey 2003. The index comprises ten components on physical activity, vegetables, fruit, dietary fibre, saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, consumption occasions with acidic drinks and foods, sodium, and alcohol. Scores for each component range between 0 (no adherence) and 10 (complete adherence) points. The DHD-index was inversely associated with energy intake and positively associated with most micronutrient intakes when adjusted for energy intake. We compared the DHD-index score based on two 24-hour recalls with the index based on the food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) of 121 adults from the European Food Consumption Validation study. We revealed an acceptable correlation (r=0.48) and absolute agreement between the indices based on the two methods. The prospective relationship with mortality outcomes was studied in 3593 of the Rotterdam Study participants who were followed for 20 years. The DHD-index per 10 points increment was associated with a 9% (95% CI 0.87-0.96) risk reduction for all-cause mortality, and non-significantly associated with risk reductions for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke mortality. Among women, shared dinners were associated with lower DHD-index scores for that day than solo dinners in 1740 participants who contributed multiple 24-hour recalls in the Nutrition Questionnaires plus study. Among men and women, dinners shared with family members were associated with a higher DHD-index score on that day than dinners shared with others. Furthermore, in a subsample of 1235 participants in the Nutrition Questionnaires plus study, we evaluated the DHD-index based on the newly developed 34-item DHD-FFQ, a short questionnaire to assess diet quality in time-limited settings. The DHD-index based on the DHD-FFQ showed an acceptable correlation (r=0.56) with the index based on a 180-item FFQ, but showed a large variation in bias at individual level. Conclusions: The DHD-index based on an FFQ, on multiple 24-hour recalls, or on the DHD-FFQ was considered a valid tool to rank participants according to their diet quality. The DHD-index was therefore considered useful to monitor populations, study diet–disease associations, and identify subpopulations at risk of poor diet quality.</p

Does bariatric surgery prior to total hip or knee arthroplasty reduce post-operative complications and improve clinical outcomes for obese patients? Systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIMS: Our aim was to determine whether, based on the current literature, bariatric surgery prior to total hip (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) reduces the complication rates and improves the outcome following arthroplasty in obese patients. METHODS: A systematic literature search was undertaken of published and unpublished databases on the 5 November 2015. All papers reporting studies comparing obese patients who had undergone bariatric surgery prior to arthroplasty, or not, were included. Each study was assessed using the Downs and Black appraisal tool. A meta-analysis of risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) was performed to determine the incidence of complications including wound infection, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), revision surgery and mortality. RESULTS: From 156 potential studies, five were considered to be eligible for inclusion in the study. A total of 23 348 patients (657 who had undergone bariatric surgery, 22 691 who had not) were analysed. The evidence-base was moderate in quality. There was no statistically significant difference in outcomes such as superficial wound infection (relative risk (RR) 1.88; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.95 to 0.37), deep wound infection (RR 1.04; 95% CI 0.65 to 1.66), DVT (RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.13 to 2.44), PE (RR 0.51; 95% CI 0.03 to 8.26), revision surgery (RR 1.24; 95% CI 0.75 to 2.05) or mortality (RR 1.25; 95% CI 0.16 to 9.89) between the two groups. CONCLUSION: For most peri-operative outcomes, bariatric surgery prior to THA or TKA does not significantly reduce the complication rates or improve the clinical outcome. This study questions the previous belief that bariatric surgery prior to arthroplasty may improve the clinical outcomes for patients who are obese or morbidly obese. This finding is based on moderate quality evidence. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2016;98-B:1160-6

CyanoHAB Occurrence and Water Irrigation Cyanotoxin Contamination: Ecological Impacts and Potential Health Risks

The world-wide occurrence of harmful cyanobacteria blooms “CyanoHAB” in fresh and brackish waters creates problems for all life forms. During CyanoHAB events, toxic cyanobacteria produce cyanotoxins at high levels that can cause chronic and sub-chronic toxicities to animals, plants and humans. Cyanotoxicity in eukaryotes has been mainly focused on animals, but during these last years, data, related to cyanotoxin (mainly microcystins, MCs) impact on both aquatic and terrestrials crop plants irrigated by water containing these toxins, have become more and more available. This last cited fact is gaining importance since plants could in a direct or indirect manner contribute to cyanotoxin transfer through the food chain, and thus constitute a potent health risk source. The use of this contaminated irrigation water can also have an economical impact which appears by a reduction of the germination rate of seeds, and alteration of the quality and the productivity of crop plants. The main objective of this work was to discuss the eventual phytotoxicity of cyanotoxins (microcystins) as the major agricultural impacts induced by the use of contaminated water for plant irrigation. These investigations confirm the harmful effects (ecological, eco-physiological, socio-economical and sanitary risk) of dissolved MCs on agricultural plants. Thus, cyanotoxin phytotoxicity strongly suggests a need for the surveillance of CyanoHAB and the monitoring of water irrigation quality as well as for drinking water

Finnish Version of the Eating Assessment Tool (F-EAT-10) : A Valid and Reliable Patient-reported Outcome Measure for Dysphagia Evaluation

Our aim was to validate a Finnish version of the Eating Assessment Tool (F-EAT-10) for clinical use and to test its reliability and validity in a multicenter nationwide study. Normative data were acquired from 180 non-dysphagic participants (median age 57.0 years, 62.2% female). Dysphagia patients (n = 117, median age 69.7 years, 53.0% female) referred to fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) completed F-EAT-10 before the examination and after 2 weeks. Patients underwent the 100-ml water swallow test (WST) and FEES was evaluated using the following three scales: the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating Scale, Penetration-Aspiration Scale, and the Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale. An operative cohort of 19 patients (median age 75.8 years, 57.9% female) underwent an endoscopic operation on Zenker's diverticulum, tight cricopharyngeal muscle diagnosed in videofluorography, or both. Patients completed the F-EAT-10 preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. The cut-off score for controls was = 3 is abnormal. Re-questionnaires for test-retest reliability analysis were available from 92 FEES patients and 123 controls. The intraclass correlation coefficient was excellent for the total F-EAT-10 score (0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.91-0.95). Pearson correlation coefficients were strong (p < 0.001) for each of the questions and the total score. Internal consistency as assessed by Cronbach's alpha was excellent (0.95). Some correlations between findings in FEES and 100-ml WST with F-EAT-10 were observed. The change in subjective symptoms of operative patients paralleled the change in F-EAT-10. F-EAT-10 is a reliable, valid, and symptom-specific patient-reported outcome measure for assessing dysphagia among Finnish speakers.Peer reviewe

Sinonasal inverted papilloma - malignant transformation and non-sinonasal malignancies

Objectives: To assess malignant transformation rate, non-sinonasal malignancies, and factors contributing to recurrence in patients treated for sinonasal inverted papilloma (SNIP).Study design: Retrospective study.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients treated for SNIP (n = 296) between the years 1984-2014 at Helsinki University Hospital. Data from the Finnish Cancer Registry confirmed the number of those patients with sinonasal and non-sinonasal malignancies.Results: Only 2 of 296 (0.7%) patients primarily diagnosed with benign SNIP developed sinonasal cancer in a mean follow-up of 5.8 years. The most common non-sinonasal cancer sites were similar to those reported for the whole Finnish population. None of the patients presented with an HPV-associated non-sinonasal malignancy. The recurrence rate among patients who underwent attachment-oriented surgery was significantly lower compared to those operated on with other approaches (40.2% vs. 56.6%, p = 0.006). Dysplasia in SNIP was associated with a higher recurrence rate (p Conclusions: Malignant transformation of SNIP was rare. Patients with SNIP were not prone to HPV-associated non-sinonasal malignancies. Endoscopic resection and attachment-oriented surgery have become predominant approaches in the treatment of SNIP; meanwhile, the total number of SNIP recurrences has decreased.</p

Innovation and the circular economy: A systematic literature review

The circular economy emerged as an alternative model to the linear system, which now appears to be reaching its physical limitations. To transition to a circular economy, companies must not only be aware of but also engage in more sustainable practices. For such a transition, companies must rethink and innovate their business models and the ways they propose value to their clients while simultaneously considering environmental and social facets. This systematic literature review sought to map out from the company perspective the key topics interrelated with innovation and the circular economy, describing the internal and external factors to consider in such transition processes. Key lines of research were identified, and suggestions for future research and for facilitating movement toward a circular economy are provided. This work contributes to deepening the literature by identifying the priority areas concerning the circular economy and encouraging future research that meets international standards of excellence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio