Teacher students’ narratives about their language identities and future as language-aware teachers

Abstract. This study examined teacher students’ narratives about their language identities and future as language-aware teachers. The importance of the topic arises both from the current educational discussion around the topic, and the lack of research examining the connection between language identity and language awareness. In the theoretical framework, identity was explored through its flexible and multidimensional nature, as well as its connection to language and language learning. The complexity of multilingual identity and the importance of supporting multilingual identity in a classroom setting were discussed. Language awareness was studied from the societal perspective, and linguistic and critical approaches to the concept were introduced. The linguistic approach was found to comprise metalinguistic and cross-linguistic awareness, while the critical approach emphasized appreciation of multilingualism in the society. Language-aware practices connected to these approaches were examined. A narrative approach was used to conduct the study. Three narratives were collected in the form of theme interviews and the data was analyzed through thematic narrative analysis. The themes found from the data were divided under three main categories: personal themes, social themes, and themes related to the participants’ future role as language-aware teachers. The study revealed that language identity was a sensitive issue for the participants and that they saw language awareness essential in supporting students’ language identities. The study emphasized that by supporting students’ language identities and through language-aware practices, equality, learning and the holistic development of students are enhanced.Tiivistelmä. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tarkastella opettajaopiskelijoiden kertomuksia heidän kieli-identiteeteistään sekä tulevaisuudestaan kielitietoisina opettajina. Aiheen tärkeys nousee esiin ajankohtaisesta kasvatustieteellisestä keskustelusta aiheen ympärillä, sekä vähäisestä tutkimuksesta kieli-identiteetin ja kielitietoisuuden yhteydestä. Teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä tutkittiin identiteetin joustavaa ja moniulotteista luonnetta, sekä sen yhteyttä kieleen ja kielen oppimiseen. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin monikielisen identiteetin kompleksisuutta ja sen tukemisen tärkeyttä koulukontekstissa. Kielitietoisuutta tutkittiin yhteiskunnallisesta sekä kielellisestä ja kriittisestä näkökulmasta. Kielellisen näkökulman todettiin viittaavan metakielelliseen tietoisuuteen sekä tietoisuuteen kielten välisistä suhteista. Kriittisen näkökulman nähtiin painottavan monikielisyyden arvostamista yhteiskunnassa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin kielitietoisiin käytänteisiin liittyviä näkökulmia. Tutkimus toteutettiin soveltamalla narratiivista lähestymistapaa. Aineisto koostui kolmesta narratiivisesta teemahaastattelusta, ja sen analyysissä sovellettiin temaattisen narratiivisen analyysin periaatteita. Aineistosta löytyneet teemat jaettiin kolmen pääkategorian alle: yksilöllisiin teemoihin, sosiaalisiin teemoihin sekä teemoihin liittyen osallistujien tulevaisuuteen kielitietoisina opettajina. Tutkimus osoitti, että kieli-identiteetti oli sensitiivinen aihe osallistujille, ja he näkivät kielitietoisuuden välttämättömänä osana oppilaiden kieli-identiteetin tukemista. Tutkimus painottaa oppilaiden kieli-identiteetin tukemisen tärkeyttä sekä kielitietoisten käytänteiden merkitystä oppilaiden oppimisen ja kokonaisvaltaisen kehityksen sekä tasa-arvon edistämisessä

Tilauksesta suunnitteluun ohjautuvan tilaus-toimitusketjun analyysi

Tiivistelmä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on perehtyä Conlog Oy:n erään projektituotteen tilaustoimitusketjun nykytilaan. Käytännössä kaikki yrityksen tuotteista ovat räätälöitäviä, mutta projektien vaativuusaste riippuu usein tuotteiden sisältämän tekniikan määrästä ja laadusta. Tästä syystä tutkimuksen kohteeksi haluttiin valita asiakkaan lähtökohdista räätälöitävä tuote, joka sisältää verrattain paljon tekniikkaa. Voidaankin puhua tilauksesta suunnitteluun ohjautuvasta tuotantostrategiasta. Tämä asettaa etenkin yrityksen projektinjohdon, suunnittelun, hankinnan ja niiden prosessien vaatimustason korkealle. Nykytilan analyysin perusteella pyritään tuomaan esille toimitusketjun kannalta oleellisia, mahdollisen jatkokehittämisen arvoisia kohtia. Koska tilaus-toimitusketjut liittyvät mitä suurimmilta osin prosesseihin, syvennytään prosesseihin ensin kirjallisuuskatsauksessa ja myöhemmin varsinaisessa nykytilan kuvaamisessa. Tilaustoimitusketjuilla voidaan yleisesti ottaen katsoa olevan sekä yrityksen sisäinen, että ulkoinen ulottuvuus. Tutkimuksessa suoritetaankin katsaus yrityksen sisäisiin tilaustoimitusketjun prosesseihin, josta siirrytään tarkastelemaan ketjua laajemmasta perspektiivistä. Tämä työ on tapaustutkimus, jossa pääasiallisena tiedonkeruumenetelmänä on hyödynnetty yrityksen avainhenkilöiden haastatteluita laadullisen tutkimuksen menetelmin. Muita tietolähteitä ovat olleet esimerkiksi yrityksen tietojärjestelmät ja arkistot sekä työntekijöiden henkilökohtaiset kirjanpidot ja sähköpostikeskustelut. Tutkimuksen peruslähtökohtana tunnistettiin yrityksen tuotantostrategia (tilauksesta suunnitteluun, engineer-to-order) sekä tilaus-toimitusprosessi aliprosesseineen. Yrityksen aiemmissa prosessikuvauksissa ei tilaus-toimitusprosessia ole tunnistettu sellaisenaan. Prosesseista pyrittiin luomaan todenmukaiset kuvaukset, jotta prosesseissa mahdollisesti ilmenevä tarpeeton monimutkaisuus saataisiin tuotua esille jatkokehittämisen pohjaksi. Tutkittavan tilaus-toimitusketjun suurimmat haasteet vaikuttavat liittyvän informaation virtaukseen ketjun osapuolten ja prosessien välillä ja ketjun toiminnan kehittämiseen liittyviä ehdotuksia esitetään työn lopussa. Vaikka ehdotukset perustuvat nyt tutkittavan toimitusketjun haasteisiin, ovat ne luonteeltaan sellaisia, että niitä on mahdollista toteuttaa laaja-alaisesti kohdeyrityksessä.Analysis of an engineer-to-order supply chain. Abstract. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the current state of the order-supply chain of the selected project for the target company. Virtually all the company’s products are customizable, but the degree of customization and therefore complexity of projects often depends on the amount and quality of the technology they contain. For this reason, the aim was to select a customer customized product that contains a relatively large amount of technology. Thus, the products can be said to be engineered-to-order. This sets high requirements for the company’s project management, design, sourcing and the processes of those. The analysis of the current situation seeks to highlight relevant points in the supply chain that deserve further development. As supply chains are largely process-related, the study will first delve into the processes in the literature review and later in the actual current state description. Supply chains can generally be considered to have both an internal and an external dimension. The starting point of the study was to look at the company’s internal supply chain processes, from which it is natural to move into a wider perspective of the chain. This thesis is a case study where qualitative methods have been utilized. Interviews with key personnel have been the primary method of data collection while other sources of information have included company information systems and archives, as well as employee personal records and email conversations. The basic premise of this study was to identify the company’s production strategy (engineer-to-order) and the order-delivery process with its sub-processes. In the company’s previous process descriptions, the order-delivery process had not been identified as such. Process mapping and descriptions were aimed to be created to be as realistic as possible in order to highlight any unnecessary complexity of the processes as a basis for further development. According to the results of the study, the major challenges in the order-supply chain are related to the flow of information between the parties and processes in the chain and the related development proposals are presented at the end of the thesis. Although the proposals are based on the challenges of the selected supply chain, they are capable of being implemented on a wider perspective in the target company as well

Growth of sulphuric acid nanoparticles under wet and dry conditions

New particle formation, which greatly influences the number concentrations and size distributions of an atmospheric aerosol, is often followed by a rapid growth of freshly formed particles. The initial growth of newly formed aerosol is the crucial process determining the fraction of nucleated particles growing to cloud condensation nuclei sizes, which have a significant influence on climate. In this study, we report the laboratory observations of the growth of nanoparticles produced by nucleation of H₂SO₄ and water in a laminar flow tube at temperatures of 283, 293 and 303 K, under dry (a relative humidity of 1%) and wet conditions (relative humidity of 30%) and residence times of 30, 45, 60 and 90 s. The initial H₂SO₄ concentration spans the range from 2 × 10⁸ to 1.4 × 10¹⁰ molecule cm⁻³ and the calculated wall losses of H₂SO₄ were assumed to be diffusion limited. The detected particle number concentrations, measured by the Ultrafine Condensation Particle Counter (UCPC) and Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (DMPS), were found to depend strongly on the residence time. Hygroscopic particle growth, presented by growth factors, was found to be in good agreement with the previously reported studies. The experimental growth rates ranged from 20 nm h⁻¹ to 890 nm h⁻¹ at relative humidity (RH) 1% and from 7 nm h⁻¹ to 980 nm h⁻¹ at RH 30% and were found to increase significantly with the increasing concentration of H₂SO₄. Increases in the nucleation temperature had a slight enhancing effect on the growth rates under dry conditions. The influence of relative humidity on growth was not consistent – at lower H₂SO₄ concentrations, the growth rates were higher under dry conditions while at H₂SO₄ concentrations greater than 1 × 10¹⁰ molecule cm⁻³, the growth rates were higher under wet conditions. The growth rates show only a weak dependence on the residence time. The experimental observations were compared with predictions made using a numerical model, which investigates the growth of particles with three different extents of neutralization by ammonia, NH₃: (1) pure H₂SO₄ – H₂O particles; (2) particles formed by ammonium bisulphate, (NH₄)HSO₄; (3) particles formed by ammonium sulphate, (NH₄)₂SO₄. The highest growth rates were found for ammonium sulphate particles. Since the model accounting for the initial H₂SO₄ concentration predicted the experimental growth rates correctly, our results suggest that the commonly presumed diffusional wall losses of H₂SO₄ in case of long-lasting experiments are not so significant. We therefore assume that there are not only losses of H₂SO₄ on the wall, but also a flux of H₂SO₄ molecules from the wall into the flow tube, the effect being more profound under dry conditions and at higher temperatures of the tube wall. Based on a comparison with the atmospheric observations, our results indicate that sulphuric acid alone cannot explain the growth rates of particles formed in the atmosphere

Internet as a source of medicines information (MI) among frequent internet users

Background: The internet is widely and increasingly used to search for health information. Previous studies have focused mainly on health information on the internet and not specifically on medicines information (MI). Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the internet as a source of MI compared to other sources of MI; to identify those who use the internet as a source of MI; and to describe patterns of use of the internet as a source of MI. Methods: A cross-sectional design employed a web-based questionnaire posted by patients' and other organizations as well as pharmacies on their websites during six weeks in the beginning of 2014. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations of background variables to the use of different MI sources. Results: The most frequently used MI sources among respondents (n = 2489) were package leaflets (90%), pharmacists (83%), physicians (72%), and the internet (68%). According to a multivariate analysis, internet use for MI was associated with female gender, age <65 years, higher education, daily use of the internet, and continuous use of vitamins or herbals. MI was most commonly searched from a Finnish health portal (56%) and websites of pharmacies (41%). Of the respondents, nearly half (43%) used search engines to find information from the internet. The names of the medicinal product, symptom or disease were the most commonly used search terms. Conclusions: Well-educated, young women tend to search MI on the internet. Health care professionals should discuss reliable MI websites and tools that can help patients evaluate the reliability of information.Peer reviewe

Remarks on the Central Limit Theorem for Non-Convex Bodies

In this note, we study possible extensions of the Central Limit Theorem for non-convex bodies. First, we prove a Berry-Esseen type theorem for a certain class of unconditional bodies that are not necessarily convex. Then, we consider a widely-known class of non-convex bodies, the so-called p-convex bodies, and construct a counter-example for this class

Gemtuzumab-Ozogamicin-Related Impaired Hemoglobin-Haptoglobin Scavenging as On-Target/Off-Tumor Toxicity of Anti-CD33 AML Therapy : A Report of Two Cases

Gemtuzumab-ozogamicin (GO) is a humanized anti-CD33 antibody, which is conjugated to a cytotoxic calicheamicin. It is used to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in combination with chemotherapy. We describe here two GO-treated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases: both patients suffered from a toxic syndrome, which manifested as impaired hemoglobin-haptoglobin scavenging and accumulation of hemolysis-related products. Our observations and earlier reports indicated that the reaction was caused by GO-targeted destruction of CD33 + CD163+ monocytes/macrophages, which are responsible for the clearance of hemoglobin-haptoglobin complexes. The rise of plasma lactate dehydrogenase was an early sign of the reaction, and both patients had high levels of free plasma hemoglobin, but plasma haptoglobin and bilirubin levels were paradoxically normal. Symptoms included septic fever and abnormalities in cardiac tests and in the case of the first patient, severe neurological symptoms which required intensive care unit admittance. Therapeutic plasma exchanges supported the patients until the recovery of normal hematopoiesis. The symptoms may be easily confounded with infectious complications-related organ damage. Regarding the increasing use of gemtuzumab-ozogamicin and other emerging CD33-targeted cell therapies, we want to highlight this mostly unknown and probably underdiagnosed toxicity.Peer reviewe