The arithmetic derivative and Leibniz-additive functions

An arithmetic function $f$ is Leibniz-additive if there is a completely multiplicative function $h_f$, i.e., $h_f(1)=1$ and $h_f(mn)=h_f(m)h_f(n)$ for all positive integers $m$ and $n$, satisfying $$f(mn)=f(m)h_f(n)+f(n)h_f(m)$$ for all positive integers $m$ and $n$. A motivation for the present study is the fact that Leibniz-additive functions are generalizations of the arithmetic derivative $D$; namely, $D$ is Leibniz-additive with $h_D(n)=n$. In this paper, we study the basic properties of Leibniz-additive functions and, among other things, show that a Leibniz-additive function $f$ is totally determined by the values of $f$ and $h_f$ at primes. We also consider properties of Leibniz-additive functions with respect to the usual product, composition and Dirichlet convolution of arithmetic functions

Sähköalan yrityksen toiminnanohjauksen kehittäminen : Case Sähköfinne Oy

Opinnäytetyön pääasiallisena tarkoituksena oli kehittää sähköasennusta sekä sähkölaitehuoltoa ja korjausta Kuopion alueella tarjoavan Sähköfinne Oy:n laatujärjestelmä vastaamaan yrityksen nykyistä, hiljattain suuresti muuttunutta toimintaa. Opinnäytetyöhön sisältyi myös pienimuotoinen selvitys dokumentinhallintaohjelmiston mahdollisesta hankinnasta yritykseen. Opinnäyteyön tekemistä varten tutustuttiin aihetta käsittelevään kirjallisuuteen ja laatujärjestelmästandardeihin sekä laadullisen tutkimuksen työtapoihin. Työ tehtiin tiiviissä yhteistyössä kohdeyrityksen liiketoimintajohtajan kanssa. Laatujärjestelmää käytiin läpi ja arvioitiin useissa palavereissa ja haastatteluissa yrityksen henkilöstön kanssa. Työn tuloksena saatiin aikaiseksi yrityksen toimintaan sopiva laatujärjestelmä, joka on tarkoitus julkaista yrityksessä koko henkilöstön käytettäväksi. Dokumentinhallintaohjelmiston hankkiminen ja käyttöönotto päätettiin jättää tulevaisuuteen.The main purpose of this thesis was to develop the quality system of Sähköfinne Oy, a company providing electrical installation as well as maintenance and repair of electrical appliances in the Kuopio region, to meet the company's recently greatly changed business practises. The thesis also included a small-scale study about the possible acquisition of a document management system in the target company. In order to make this thesis, the methodology of qualitative research as well as literature and standards relevant to the subject of the thesis were studied. The thesis was made in close cooperation with the business director of the target company. The quality system of the target company was reviewed and evaluated during various meetings and interviews with the company's staff. The result of the thesis was an appropriate quality system fitted for the practises of the target company. The quality system is to be published within the company to be used by the whole staff. The acquisition and deployment of a document management system was decided to be postponed

Suun terveyden edistäminen kotihoidon palveluja käyttävillä ikääntyneillä : -sähköinen ohjausmateriaali Valkeisen sairaalan kotihoidon henkilökunnalle

Tutkimusten mukaan ikääntyneiden hampaattomuus on vähentynyt ja yhä useammalla ikääntyneellä on omat hampaat. Iäkkäiden hampaallisuus lisää kariesriskiä ja ientulehduksia, jos hampaiden harjaus ja suun terveydestä huolehtiminen on jätetty toissijaiseksi asiaksi. Suun terveyden muutokset voivat vaikuttaa ikääntyneen henkilön yleisterveydentilaan. Kotihoidon henkilökunnan tehtävänä on huolehtia ikääntyneiden asiakkaidensa terveydentilasta, ja siksi on tärkeää, että kotihoidon henkilökunta saa lisää tietoa suun terveyden edistämisestä. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli tehdä Valkeisen sairaalan kotihoidonhenkilökunnalle sähköinen ohjausmateriaali ikääntyneen suun hoidosta. Toimeksiantajana oli Kuopion kaupungin suun terveydenhuolto. Ohjausmateriaalin tavoitteena on parantaa kotihoidon henkilökunnan tietoisuutta ikääntyvien suun terveydestä ja sen hoidosta sekä motivoida heitä edistämään ikääntyneiden asiakkaidensa suun terveyttä. Ohjausmateriaali tehtiin hoitajien neuvonnan ja ohjauksen tueksi. Opinnäytetyöhön kerättiin tutkimus- ja muuta teoriatietoa ikääntyvien suun terveydestä, suun terveydenhoidosta, suun terveyden edistämisestä, suun puhdistuksesta, ikääntyvien yleissairauksista, kotihoidon henkilökunnan suun terveyden hoidon tietoisuudesta, kotihoidossa olevien ikääntyvien suun terveydentilasta sekä sähköisen ohjausmateriaalin suunnittelusta. Näiden pohjalta tehtiin sähköinen ohjausmateriaali, jossa käsiteltiin ikääntyneen suun hoitoa. Keskeisiä asioita olivat hampaiden ja proteesien harjaus, kuivan suun hoito ja yleissairauksien vaikutus suun terveyteen. Valmiin ohjausmateriaalin arvioinnin tueksi tehtiin kyselylomake, joka toimitettiin Valkeisen sairaalan kotihoitajille ja Kuopion suun terveydenhuollon hammaslääkärille ja suuhygienistille. Kyselylomakkeen tarkoituksena oli saada vastaajien mielipide valmiista ohjausmateriaalista. Yleinen mielipide oli, että ohjausmateriaali oli hyvä ja tarpeellinen kokonaisuus. Jatkossa kotihoidon henkilökunta voi hyödyntää materiaalia jokapäiväisessä työskentelyssään.According to various studies toothlessness among elderly people has decreased and a growing number of elderly people have their own teeth. If brushing their teeth and taking care of oral health in general have been neglected, dentate elders face a higher risk of getting caries and gingivitis. Furthermore, changes in oral health may affect the general state of their health. The home care staff´s responsibility is to take care of elderly clients´ health, it is important that the staff will receive more information on how to advance oral health. The purpose of the thesis was to create an electronic instruction material for the home care staff of Valkeinen Municipal hospital. This assignment was commissioned by the oral health care of Kuopio. The purpose of the material is to improve the home care staff´s knowledge of oral health of elderly people and how it can be taken care of. In addition, the aim was to motivate the staff to advance the oral health of their elderly clients. The material was designed to support the counseling and guidance of the nurses. Data for the thesis consisted of survey and other theoretical knowledge of oral health of older people, of oral health care in general, of advancement of oral health, of oral cleaning, of the general condition of the elderly, of home care staff´s knowledge of taking care of oral health, of the state of oral health of the elderly in home care and of planning the electronic instruction material. The instructions material dealing with oral health care of elderly people was then created based on the material gathered. The key issues were the brushing of teeth and dentures, treatment of dry mouth and the effect of general condition on oral health. In order to help to evaluate the material, a questionnaire was made and administered to home care staff of hospital of Valkeinen. The Purpose of questionnaire was to find out the home care staff´s opinion on the material. The general opinion was that material was good and important as a whole. In the future home care staff can derive benefit from the material on their everyday job

Puruveden Mehtolanlahden kalastorakenne syksyllä 2015 sekä alustavat kalastonhoidon suositukset : Tutkimusraportti

Karelia-ammattikorkeakoulun Luonnonvara- ja ympäristöalan koulutus teki Puruveden Mehtolanlahden (noin 200 ha, suurin syvyys 3,5 metriä) kalastorakenteen tutkimuksen (22 verkkoyötä Nordic-yleiskatsausverkoilla) elo-syyskuussa 2015 Pro Puruvesi ry.:n toimeksiannosta. Tässä tutkimusraportissa kuvataan tutkimusalueen nykytilanne ja koekalastuksen suorittaminen, esitetään koekalastuksen tulokset sekä toimenpidesuosituksia Mehtolanlahden tilan kohentamiseksi

Co-create with stakeholders : Action research approach in service development

This paper promotes the value of including many stakeholders in service development. The experience of co-creative service development is examined through the lens of action research. Engaging multiple stakeholders in face-to-face, in simultaneous joint activities, from various organisations, with different levels of hierarchy, and dissimilar positions, may increase the diversification through the broadness of the information, knowledge, and experiences, and increase the amount, and quality of the development suggestions. This paper is an attempt to tell the story of action research and how it was applied to increase the understanding of the usefulness of multiple stakeholders in service development. Outcomes of a research project are presented. The paper ends with discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the conducted researc

A practical validation process for questionnaires in the field of health education and health promotion in schools

International audienceFrom an epistemological point of view, Potvin and Jones (2010), describe health promotion research as being applied by nature, producing knowledge about the conditions, practices and processes that makes changes possible and consider that research process should be health promoting itself. Creswell (2013) characterise a research by its philosophical assumptions (paradigms), strategies of inquiry and research methods. Do research in health education and promotion (HEPR) refers to only one (participatory) or more paradigms? Is there a specific set of research strategies and methods (mixed methods) for health promotion research? In fact, unlike others research fields (such as social psychology, sociology…) HEPR is not rooted in a particular theoretical and methodological framework. The research is about understanding practices rather than testing theories. In health education and health promotion, what is essential is not the framework but rather the practices/action and the people (individual, groups and institutions … stakeholders) who carry them out. The researcher can’t be outside of the action but is essentially an actor within it. A “neutral position” is not an option. The HEPR has two goals that must be addressed: creation of new knowledge “epistemic” and social transformation “transformative”. In our view HEPR is by definition epistemic and transformative. One must ask then whether these two goals are compatible in research. This kind of tension between two different aims is not exclusive to HEPR. It also operates in fields of research such as: political science, engineering science, social research and educational research in general… In all of these sciences research must firstly address themselves to actual practices. HEPR is also characterised by a willing engagement with complexity, a multidisciplinary approach and a specific ethical framework in relationship to the position of the stakeholders which are not “objects” but also “subjects” of the research process.In this communication we will discuss the impact of the epistemological status of HEPS on quantitative data collection. Questionnaires are routine tools to collect quantitative data, especially in psychology (Bjorner & Rugulies, 2010), psychometrics scales are commonly used to measure variables in specific and clearly defined areas. The validation process is based on classical methods (Falissard, 2008). In HEPS, depending on the research project, that questionnaires could be used but other kind of questionnaires are often build with the stakeholders, take into account the complexity and thus are multidimensional. These tools could explore people’s views, practices, lifestyle, background information about contexts… In addition, the validation, as a part of the whole research project, has to be feasible (amount of time, resources and competencies requested) and to take place in the participatory approach. The validation of such questionnaires is a complex process. This communication will take a stock of the different approaches used for the validation of a questionnaire and will suggest a practical model taking into account the nature of HEPR.Three main fields to explore in a validation process are questionnaire’s reliability, its validity and its sensitivity to change (Sauvé, 2005). Reliability aims to verify that the questionnaire is reproducible, i.e. if results are similar when the questionnaire is applied in the same conditions (Marx and al., 2003). Sensitivity to change test the ability of the questionnaire to detect changes, over time in general. Validity seeks to evaluate if questionnaire measure what it is supposed to measure. There are different points in validity: the face validity (appearance of the questionnaire: understanding by stakeholders, social acceptability in the context for which the questionnaire have been developed, compatibility with the values of the community…), the content validity (relevance and completeness of items), the construct validity (consistency of the underlying dimensions of the questionnaire) (Cronbach, 1951; Bjorner & Pejtersen, 2010), predictive validity (capacity to predict real results), concurrent validity (compare results with those obtain with another tool). Finally, when questionnaire have to be used in several language, a translation with an adaption to context and a back translation by people who speak the two languages is needed.Classical methods have been developed to explore each of these criteria; but they are particularly adapted for psychometric questionnaire which examine few dimensions (Falissard, 2008). The complex structure of a questionnaire makes the validation more difficult to perform. For example, reliability of a multi-items scale can be explored by a traditional test-retest, which compare answers of two collects of data one the sample, or with internal consistency, seeing that question of the same dimension are a kind of repetition. Internal consistency is easier to use, because it ask only one collect of data instead two for test-retest. Unfortunately, in HEPR questionnaire, exploring reliability by internal consistency is rarely possible because of the its structure.Moreover, it is not always possible to assess all the criteria. For example, compare results with those already obtained with another validate tools need that tool exists. It’s is more difficult in the field of health education because it’s a more recent field than psychology or quality of life in medicine area.In addition, it is noted that there isn’t a consensus between fields of psychology and medicine (Bouletreau and al., 1999). Indeed, they don’t always use the same terms and methods to explore the same criterion (Falissard, 2008), making a supplementary difficulty for those who are not familiar with validation.Based on this analysis, we have developed a step by step practical method (Jourdan, 2015) for different contexts, different research and especially underprivileged settings. The method is accompanied by a tool for stakeholders community to make the validation process and its pertinence understandable by the communities.This communication is to purpose a methodology to assess reliability, validity and sensibility to change in questionnaire validation process in the field of HEPR. It will be illustrated by an example, a questionnaire related to home-school collaboration developed and used in both Finland and France

Continuous glucose monitoring and HbA1c in the evaluation of glucose metabolism in children at high risk for type 1 diabetes mellitus

Aims: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) parameters, self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG), HbA1c and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were studied during preclinical type 1 diabetes mellitus. Methods: Ten asymptomatic children with multiple (>= 2) islet autoantibodies (cases) and 10 age and sex-matched autoantibody-negative controls from the Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) Study were invited to 7-day CGM with Dexcom G4 Platinum Sensor. HbA1c and two daily SMBG values (morning and evening) were analyzed. Five-point OGTTs were performed and carbohydrate intake was assessed by food records. The matched pairs were compared with the paired sample t-test. Results: The cases showed higher mean values and higher variation in glucose levels during CGM compared to the controls. The time spent >= 7.8 mmol/l was 5.8% in the cases compared to 0.4% in the controls (p = 0.040). Postprandial CGM values were similar except after the dinner (6.6 mmol/l in cases vs. 6.1 mmol/l in controls; p = 0.023). When analyzing the SMBG values higher mean level, higher evening levels, as well as higher variation were observed in the cases when compared to the controls. HbA1c was significantly higher in the cases [5.7% (39 mmol/mol) vs. 5.3% (34 mmol/mol); p = 0.045]. No differences were observed in glucose or C-peptide levels during OGTT. Daily carbohydrate intake was slightly higher in the cases (254.2 g vs. 217.7 g; p = 0.034). Conclusions: Glucose levels measured by CGM and SMBG are useful indicators of dysglycemia during preclinical type 1 diabetes mellitus. Increased evening glucose values seem to be common in children with preclinical type 1 diabetes mellitus. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe