The use of open spatial data in the characterisation of the surface environment

Abstract. As the availability of open spatial data is increased, its use in various fields in working life has become more common. Posiva uses GIS in the biosphere assessment to produce projections of the development of the surface environment and ecosystems of Olkiluoto. Biosphere assessment is part of the safety case programme for assessing long-term safety and its purpose is to characterise the development of the surface environment and its conditions in the past, present and in the future at the Olkiluoto site and assess the radiological impacts in the surface environment during the assessment time frame. In former studies, Posiva has used open spatial data in the biosphere assessment as supplements in creating maps modelling the development of the Olkiluoto surface environment. This study examined the new approaches to utilising open spatial data in surface environment characterisation, from a perspective of long-term safety case. The objective was to discover the features that are possible to represent with open spatial data. The work was conducted with the commercial ArcGIS programme application ArcMap 10.6 using only open spatial data. The model characterisations were created from the Olkiluoto, Hanhikivi and Kivetty sites on their soil types, biotope types and land use, catchment areas, water quality and watersheds. The topics were selected according to the previous surface environment studies conducted by Posiva and the results of this study were compared to the results of previous characterisations conducted at the Olkiluoto site and its surrounding areas. The results indicated that open spatial data can be utilised in characterising the surface environment and it is possible to partially replace other survey methods. The quality of open spatial data varied from very detailed to very coarse. The most informative characterisations were terrain maps, soil type and sea sediment maps, and biotope and land use maps as the data was the most detailed. When observed together these maps provided even more information. As open spatial data can be produced by anyone, it is advisable to be aware of the producers when using the data. The data owned and produced by public administration are more reliable than the data produced and provided by an individual user of GIS

Happamat sulfaattimaat ja niiden aiheuttama kuormitus Suomen rannikkoalueilla ja Itämeren vesistöissä

Tiivistelmä. Happamia sulfaattimaita edeltäneet sulfiittimaat ovat muodostuneet muinaisen Litorinameren alueelle noin 4000–8000 vuotta sitten. Maaperän hapettuessa sulfiittimaista muodostuu monimutkaisten kemiallisten reaktioiden seurauksena sulfaattimaita, joista alhaisen pH:n vuoksi lähtevät alkuaineet liikkeelle kuormittaen erityisesti vesistöjä. Happamat sulfaattimaat ovat yleinen ilmiö Suomen rannikkoseudulla ja erityisesti Pohjanmaan alueella. Ihmisen toiminta, esimerkiksi maanviljely, metsätalous ja kaivostoiminta, lisäävät happamuuden aikaan saamaa kuormitusta, minkä vuoksi ympäristöhaittoja on pyrittävä ehkäisemään erilaisilla menetelmillä

Sensitiiviset perheaiheet haastattelututkimuksessa – Eettiset haasteet, perhesalaisuudet ja intervention mahdollisuus

Artikkelissa kysymme, millaisia keskenään samanlaisia pohdintoja ja kokemuksia tutkijat kohtaavat, kun he lähestyvät perheaiheita haastattelumetodilla. Artikkeli pohjautuu kolmen kirjoittajan perhetutkimuksen ja sosiaalitieteiden kentille sijoittuviin haastattelututkimuksiin. Artikkelin fokus on perheaiheiden sensitiivisyyttä koskevissa yhtenevissä kysymyksissä. Pohdimme myös tutkimukseen liittyviä eettisiä kysymyksiä ja otamme keskusteluun sekä tutkittavan että tutkijan tunteet. Tarkastelemme erityisesti perhesalaisuuksia ja intervention mahdollisuuksia. Kokemuksemme mukaan ne korostuvat, kun tutkimuksen kohteena ovat arkaluontoiset perheaiheet.  Valitut teemat perustuvat väitöskirjatutkimustemme haastatteluaineistoihin, henkilökohtaisiin tutkimuskokemuksiimme ja aiempaan tutkimuskirjallisuuteen. Artikkelissa osoitamme, että on tärkeää antaa ääni ihmisten kokemuksille sensitiivisistä perheaiheista, mutta se edellyttää erityistä lähestymistapaa

Miten kansasta tulee vernakulaari? : Kansanrunoudentutkimuksen, kirjallisuushistorian ja kansankirjoittajien tutkimuksen kansakuva 1820-luvulta 2010-luvulle

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan kansa-käsitteen käyttöä ja siihen liittyviä muutoksia ja jännitteitä Suomessa pitkällä aikavälillä 1820-luvulta 2010-luvulle. Aineistolähtöisessä artikkelissa analysoidaan neljän tapausesimerkin avulla sitä, mitä kansa-käsitteellä ja sen johdannaisilla on tehty ja miten käsitystä kansasta ja kansanomaisesta on tuotettu eri aikoina. Analyysin kohteena ovat 1800-luvun alun varhaiset kansanrunojulkaisut, ensimmäiset suomenkielisen kirjallisuuden kirjallisuushistoriat, kansanrunoudentutkimuksen muuttuva kuva kansanrunojen ja kansanperinteen tuottajista sekä 2000-luvulla käynnistynyt 1800-luvun itseoppineiden kansankirjoittajien tutkimus. Artikkeli tuo esiin kansa-käsitteeseen liittyviä käsitehistoriallisia jatkuvuuksia ja havainnollistaa, miten ne ovat synnyttäneet, vahvistaneet ja ylläpitäneet yhteiskunnallisiin, poliittisiin ja sosiaalisiin rajoihin liittyviä käsityksiä. Lisäksi artikkelissa kiinnitetään huomiota siihen, miten käsite vernakulaari ja sen tarkoittama yhteisöjen omaehtoinen kulttuuri-ilmaisu ilmestyvät vähitellen kansanomaisen rinnalle tai tilalle tieteellisissä diskursseissa. Artikkelissa esitetään, ettäsisällöllisessä mielessä vernakulaari alkoi hahmottua tutkimuksissa sitä mukaa, kun kollektiivinen kansa väistyi ala- ja osakulttuureita sekä yksilöä ja yksilöllisiä tulkintoja korostavien tutkimussuuntausten tieltä. Artikkelin kirjoittajat hahmottavat vernakulaarin yhtenä työkaluna, joka auttaa tutkijoita suuntaamaan katsettaan parin vuosisadan aikana kanonisoituneen kansa-käsityksen katveisiin ja löytämään uusia näkökulmia menneisyyden elettyyn, koettuun ja monin eri tavoin tulkittuun todellisuuteen.Peer reviewe

Maternal depressive symptoms during and after pregnancy are associated with poorer sleep quantity and quality and sleep disorders in 3.5-year-old offspring

Objective: Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy have been associated with poor offspring sleep. Yet, it remains unknown whether depressive symptoms throughout pregnancy are more harmful to the child than depressive symptoms only during certain time periods in pregnancy, whether associations are specific to pregnancy stage, whether maternal symptomatology after pregnancy mediates or adds to the prenatal effects, and whether any effects are specific to some child sleep characteristics. Methods: A total of 2321 mothers from the Prediction and Prevention of Pre-eclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) study completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale biweekly between gestational weeks thorn days 12 + 0/13 + 6 and 38 + 0/39 + 6. At child's mean age of 3.5 (standard deviation = 0.7) years, mothers completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II and answered questions on child sleep quantity and quality using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ) and sleep disorders using the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. Results: Maternal depressive symptoms showed high stability throughout pregnancy. Children of mothers with clinically significant symptomatology throughout pregnancy had shorter mother-rated sleep duration, longer sleep latency, higher odds for waking up two or more times during the night and for total and several specific sleep disorders. These associations were robust to covariates. However, maternal depressive symptoms at the child follow-up fully mediated the associations with sleep duration and awakenings, partially mediated those with sleep latency and disorders, and added to the effects on sleep disorders. Conclusion: Maternal depressive symptoms throughout pregnancy are associated with mother-rated child sleep quantity, quality, and disorders. Maternal depressive symptoms at child follow-up mediate and add to the prenatal adverse effects on child sleep characteristics. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Maternal Depressive Symptoms During and After Pregnancy and Psychiatric Problems in Children

OBJECTIVE: Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of psychiatric problems in children. A more precise understanding of the timing of the symptoms during pregnancy and their independence of other prenatal and postnatal factors in predicting child psychopathology risk is needed. We examined whether maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy predict child psychiatric problems, whether these associations are trimester- or gestational-week-specific and/or independent of pregnancy disorders, and whether maternal depressive symptoms after pregnancy mediate or add to the prenatal effects. METHOD: The study sample comprised 2,296 women and their children born in Finland between 2006-2010, participating in the prospective pregnancy cohort study Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) and followed up from 1.9 to 5.9 years of age. The women completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale biweekly between gestational weeks+days 12+0/13+6 and 38+0/39+6 or delivery. In the follow-up, they completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II and Child Behavior Checklist 1½-5. RESULTS: Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy predicted significantly higher internalizing (0.28 SD unit per SD unit increase [95% CI = 0.24-0.32]), externalizing (0.26 [0.23-0.30]), and total problems (0.31 [0.27-0.35]) in children. These associations were nonspecific to gestational week and hence pregnancy trimester, independent of pregnancy disorders, and independent of, although partially mediated by, maternal depressive symptoms after pregnancy. Psychiatric problems were greatest in children whose mothers reported clinically significant depressive symptoms across pregnancy trimesters and during and after pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy predict increased psychiatric problems in young children. Preventive interventions from early pregnancy onward may benefit offspring mental health.Peer reviewe

Maternal postpartum depressive symptoms partially mediate the association between preterm birth and mental and behavioral disorders in children

Preterm birth has been linked with postpartum depressive (PPD) disorders and high symptom levels, but evidence remains conflicting and limited in quality. It remains unclear whether PPD symptoms of mothers with preterm babies were already elevated before childbirth, and whether PPD symptoms mediate/aggravate the effect of preterm birth on child mental disorders. We examined whether preterm birth associated with maternal PPD symptoms, depressive symptoms trajectories from antenatal to postpartum stage, and whether PPD symptoms mediated/aggravated associations between preterm birth and child mental disorders. Mothers of preterm (n = 125) and term-born (n = 3033) children of the Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction study reported depressive symptoms four times within 8 weeks before and twice within 12 months after childbirth. Child mental and behavioral disorder diagnoses until age 8.4-12.8 years came from medical register. Preterm birth associated with higher PPD symptoms (mean difference = 0.19 SD, 95% CI 0.01, 0.37, p = 0.04), and higher odds (odds ratio = 2.23, 95% CI 1.22, 4.09, p = 0.009) of the mother to belong to a group that had consistently high depressive symptoms levels trajectory from antenatal to postpartum stage. PPD symptoms partially mediated and aggravated the association between preterm birth and child mental disorders. Preterm birth, maternal PPD symptoms and child mental disorders are associated, calling for timely prevention interventions.Peer reviewe

Reply to : Proofreading deficiency in mitochondrial DNA polymerase does not affect total dNTP pools in mouse embryos

Non peer reviewe