Monitoring of Finnish arable land: changes in soil quality between 1987 and 1998

This study is part of the long-term monitoring of Finnish arable land and it is based on soil analyses of 705 monitoring sites sampled in 1998. The same sites were sampled twice previously,in 1974 and 1987. We describe here the state of the Finnish cultivated soils in 1998 and changes in soil quality since 1987. The samples were analysed for organic C, volume weight, pH, P, K, Ca, S, Mg, Al, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn.Macronutrients were extracted with 0.5 M ammonium acetate + 0.5 M acetic acid (pH 4.65) and most micronutrients, Al and heavy metals with the same solution + 0.02 M Na 2 EDTA. Hot water was used to extract B and Se. From 1987 to 1998, soil P, Ca, Mg, S, Cr, Cu, Zn, volume weight and electrical conductivity increased and soil K, B, pH and organic C decreased. There was no change in soil Al, Cd, Mn and Ni. Between 1987 and 1998,the use of P,K,B and Cu in mineral fertilisers declined whereas that of Ca in liming agents and Zn in mineral fertilisers increased. With the exception of P and Cu,these changes affected the concentrations of easily soluble macro- and micronutrients in the soil accordingly. The slight decrease in soil pH might be due to the increase in the use of fertliser N. The finding that soil Cd and Ni ceased to increase and that soil Cr increased only slightly was attributed to the dramatic reduction in national emissions and bulk depositions of heavy metals

Uuttuvien kivennäisaineiden pitoisuudet Suomen viljelysmaissa kunnittain

vokKirjasto Aj-

Mineral composition and its relation to texture and to some chemical properties in Finnish subsoils

vokKirjasto Aj-kPohjamaanäytteiden mineraalikoostumuksesta ja sen suhteesta lajitekoostumukseen sekä eräisiin kemiallisiin ominaisuuksii

Metaphors of the Market Economy and The Learning Community

2011 Topic: Education as Commodity: Liberal Arts Education in the Consumer Age Contemporary higher education is increasingly dominated by the realities and metaphors of the market economy. Education is an investment or a product. Students are consumers. Admissions counselors are salespeople and professors deliver their customers goods and services. Write an essay about this mindset and how it has affected your education. Have your attitudes towards the commoditization of education changed during your time at Butler? Fundamentally, how can or should liberal arts education fit within this worldview

Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis – Studies on Diagnosis and Treatment Outcomes

ABSTRACT Appendectomy has been the indisputable treatment of acute appendicitis for over a century. Acute appendicitis has been evaluated to always progress to perforation. Current evidence suggests complicated and uncomplicated acute appendicitis to be different forms of the disease. Complicated appendicitis requires emergency appendectomy with the exception of a restricted periappendicular abscess. Evidence of the feasibility of antibiotic therapy in the treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis has been provided by several randomized trials and meta-analyses mainly investigating combinations of intravenous followed by peroral antibiotics. In addition to treatment success, we need to consider treatment costs and patient-centered factors in assessing all different treatment options. With the emerging possibility of nonoperative treatment, accurate diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the appendicitis severity is of vital importance. Computed tomography (CT) is the current gold standard in appendicitis diagnostics, but it is accurately criticized for ionizing radiation, especially with appendicitis patient population consisting of mainly young adults. Low-dose CT protocols have been developed to address this issue. This series of studies aimed at comparing overall treatment costs (Study I) and patient quality of life (QOL), satisfaction, and treatment preference (Study III) between appendectomy and antibiotic therapy. To assess the issue of CT radiation, a low-dose protocol was compared with standard CT in the OPTICAP trial (Study II). The APPAC II trial (Study IV) aimed at optimizing antibiotic therapy for uncomplicated acute appendicitis by comparing p.o. monotherapy with i.v. followed by p.o. antibiotics. The possibility of symptomatic treatment is visited in the APPAC III study protocol (Study V). The overall cost of antibiotic therapy was significantly lower compared to appendectomy with similar QOL, but the patient satisfaction was higher in the appendectomy group. The low-dose CT protocol had comparable diagnostic accuracy with standard CT with significantly less radiation. Treatment success of the peroral monotherapy was clinically comparable to intravenous followed by peroral in the treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis. KEYWORDS: acute appendicitis, antibiotics, appendectomy, computed tomography imaging, costs, quality of life, uncomplicated acute appendicitis.TIIVISTELMÄ Umpilisäkkeen poisto on ollut umpilisäketulehduksen hoito yli vuosisadan ajan. Umpilisäketulehduksen on aiemmin ajateltu johtavan aina umpilisäkkeen puhkeamiseen, mutta nykyään tunnistetaan erikseen lievä ja vaikea tautimuoto. Vaikea umpilisäketulehdus vaatii kiireellisen leikkaushoidon lukuun ottamatta umpilisäkkeen vieruskudoksen paisetta. Useat satunnaistetut tutkimukset ja meta-analyysit ovat osoittaneet, että lievempää muotoa voidaan turvallisesti ja tehokkaasti hoitaa suonensisäisten (i.v.) ja tablettimuotoisten (p.o.) antibioottien yhdistelmällä. Verrattaessa leikkaus- ja antibioottihoitoa toisiinsa tulee hoidon tehon lisäksi huomioida hoidon kustannukset ja potilaskohtaiset tekijät. Antibioottihoidon mahdollisuus korostaa lievän umpilisäketulehduksen oikean diagnoosin ja tautimuotojen erottamisen välttämättömyyttä. Tietokonekuvantaminen (TT) on diagnostiikan kultainen standardi, mutta sen ongelmana on säderasitus. Tämä korostuu umpilisäketulehduksen yhteydessä, koska potilaat ovat pääasiassa nuoria aikuisia, minkä vuoksi on kehitetty matala-annoksisia TT-kuvantamistapoja. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli verrata leikkaus- ja antibioottihoidon kokonaiskustannuksia (Työ I) sekä potilaiden elämänlaatua ja tyytyväisyyttä (Työ III). Säderasituksen vähentämiseksi vertasimme matala-annoksista TT-kuvantamista standardiin TT-kuvantamiseen OPTICAP-tutkimuksessa (Työ II). APPAC II-tutkimuksessa vertasimme p.o. antibioottia i.v. ja p.o. antibiootin yhdistelmään antibioottihoidon optimoimiseksi (Työ IV). Oireenmukaisen hoidon mahdollisuutta arvioitiin suunnittelemalla lumekontrolloitu APPAC III -tutkimus (Työ V). Antibioottihoidon kustannukset olivat leikkaushoitoa merkittävästi alhaisemmat eikä potilaiden elämänlaadussa ollut eroa, mutta leikatut potilaat olivat tyytyväisempiä saamaansa hoitoon. Matala-annoksisen TT:n diagnostinen tarkkuus vastasi standardia TT:tä merkittävästi alhaisemmalla säderasituksella. Lievän umpilisäketulehduksen hoidossa p.o. antibiootti oli kliinisesti yhtä tehokas kuin i.v. ja p.o. hoidon yhdistelmä. AVAINSANAT: akuutti umpilisäketulehdus, antibiootti, elämänlaatu, kulut, lievä umpilisäketulehdus, umpilisäkkeen poisto, tietokonekuvantamine

Developments for the high frequency power transformer design and implementation

The thesis considers design and manufacturing of ferrite based high frequency power transformers. The primary aim of the work was to study core and winding losses and in particular thermal modeling of high frequency power transformers and to determine appropriate loss and temperature rise modeling methods for power converter applications. The secondary aim of the work was to study improved, mass manufacturable winding methods for toroidal, tube-type planar and disc-type planar high frequency power transformers. The analytical high frequency power transformer design equations for core and winding losses and transformer temperature rise were reviewed from literature, formulated for spreadsheet type calculations using excitation, material, geometry and winding implementation parameters and validated by in circuit temperature rise comparisons between calculated and measured values using regression analysis. The core and winding loss calculation methods in literature were found to provide appropriate accuracy for the practical design purposes. Thermal test block tests suggested a slight modification for analytical convective heat transfer equation from the literature. The results from in circuit temperature rise comparisons suggest that the transformer total losses can be predicted with the average standard error below 0.2 W with datasheet type information only. Further, if conductive thermal resistance from transformer via printed circuit board substrate to ambient is available the transformer operating temperature could be predicted with appropriate accuracy (5.6 °C) as well. The new manufacturing methods developed for toroidal, tube and disc-type transformer geometries were proved to be suitable for high frequency operation. With a common mode choke with static shield and windings deposited and etched directly on the toroidal NiZn core a transfer loss resonant frequency above 1.2 GHz was achieved. A multilayer foil winding with interleaved primary and secondary layers resulted resulted leakage inductance of 10 % of the value achieved using a wire-wound winding. The new developments for Z-folded inductive components resulted material cost savings, reduction of winding resistance and adjustability of leakage inductance and winding capacitances.reviewe

Weak Signals in Management Control Systems

The study reports a survey of 58 large and middle-sized Finnish companies, and uses partial least squares modeling to examine the effects of two contingency factors; perceived environmental uncertainty and strategy on the use of weak-signal-based foresight approach in organizations. In more detail it is explored if weak-signal-based foresight approach is a part of management control systems (MCS) of organizations. Furthermore it is explored if the integration of weak signals to MCS increases product innovation and improves performance in the organizations. The results indicate that the companies detect weak signals and that detection and utilization of weak signals is in a way or another a part of MCS. Also the positive relationship between prospector-strategy and detection of weak signals seems to be significant. Direct significant relationship between MCS that includes weak-signal-aspects and product innovation or performance was not found. However, a significant positive relationship between weak-signal-based foresight and product innovation was discovered. Also weak-signal-based foresight approach seems to improve performance via increased product innovation.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Ilokano-Spanish : Borrowing, code-switching or a mixed language?

Peer reviewe

Viljavuustutkimuksen tulkinnan ja nousevien fosfori- ja kaliummäärien kokeiden tulosten vertailu

vokKirjasto Aj-