Surgical Treatment of Colorectal Cancer. Controversial Issues

Aims: This study was carried out to evaluate surgical treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) with special interest in present status and controversial issues: stenting as a palliative procedure for metastasized CRC (I), duration of thromboprophylaxis after the surgical treatment of CRC (II), treatment of the increasing population of elderly people (III) and the quality of life (QoL) after surgery for rectal cancer with special reference to pelvic floor dysfunction (IV). Materials and methods: The material consisted of patients with CRC operated on at Turku University Hospital between 2003 and 2008. In study II the data was collected retrospectively from electronic archives. In other studies the follow-up data was collected at postoperative control visits. In study IV the RAND-36 standardized questionnaire and additional questions assessing urinary, sexual and anorectal dysfunction were used. Results: The results of the current study showed that self-expanding metallic stents provided an alternative to palliative surgery in the treatment of obstructive CRC. Low molecular heparin given s.c. for a median of 11 days until hospital discharge seemed to provide sufficient thromboprophylaxis after surgery. With preoperative selection elderly patients with rectal cancer were suitable for major surgery for rectal cancer with morbidity and mortality rates comparable to those in younger patients. There was no difference between preoperative and one year postoperative general QoL for operated rectal cancer patients. Postoperative pelvic dysfunction was associated with an impaired QoL in some dimensions. Conclusions: Many individual factors regarding the patient and the disease must be taken into account when making treatment decisions in CRC to ensure successful treatment of CRC, patient satisfaction and QoL.Siirretty Doriast

Interpretable Tsetlin Machine For Explaining Board Games With Complex Game States

Stefan Dorra's For Sale is both a turn-based and simultaneous action zero-sum game where the objective is to become as rich as possible. The first phase of the game is a sequence of turn-based English auctions that bids for properties selected at random. The game itself is complex having a mix of multiple players, hidden information, and stochastic elements. Although auctions themselves have been thoroughly studied in literature this particular setup remains an open problem. In this thesis, we investigate the usage of the interpretable Coalesced Tsetlin Machine (CoTM) for solving these types of auction games providing both excellent play and an understanding of how to play. To this end, we first develop a self-playing reinforcement learning algorithm that achieves near optimal play. Secondly, based on this algorithm we construct a dataset with examples of optimal play. Thirdly, using CoTM we investigate various ways of understanding why particular moves are made. The CoTM is also shown to outperform popular methods such as decision trees, neural networks, and k-nearest neighbours. On average the CoTM accuracy is 84.55\% significantly outperforming the other competitors. We believe the resulting interpretability establishes that CoTM can be used for the interpretation of games that have a more complex game state than Hex and Go

Data Security in Cloud Computing Using Threshold Cryptography and User Revocation

Cloud computing is extremely well known in associations and foundations on the grounds that it provides services at low cost. Nonetheless, it additionally presents new difficulties for guaranteeing the confidentiality, integrity and access control of the information. Few methodologies are proposed to guarantee these security prerequisites however they are needed in a few routes, for example, infringement of information confidentiality. To address these issues a plan is proposed that make use of threshold cryptography in which information proprietor partitions clients in gatherings and provides single key to each client bunch for decoding of information and, every client in the gathering shares parts of the key. This plan not just gives the solid information confidentiality additionally lessens the quantity of keys and manages access control and user revocation

Lähdekielen vaikutus VA-partisiipin kolmessa eri käyttötavassa keskitason suomenoppijoilla : tarkastelussa saksan-, viron- ja puolankieliset suomenoppijat

Pro gradu -tutkielmassa tutkittiin lähdekielen vaikutusta suomen VA-partisiipin käyttöön saksan- viron- ja puolankielisillä keskitason suomenoppijoilla. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin Kansainvälisestä oppijansuomen korpuksesta. Tarkasteltavana oli kolme VA-partisiipin eri käyttötapaa: partisiippilausekkeessa, nesessiivirakenteessa ja referatiivirakenteessa. Lähdekielten valinnassa otettiin huomioon se, onko kielissä läheisiä rakennevastineita VA-partisiipin eri funktioille. Tutkimushypoteesina oli, että samanlaisuudet ja erot lähdekielten rakennevastineissa näkyisivät piirteiden korkeampina ja matalampina frekvensseinä tutkimusaineistossa. Tutkielmassa noudatettiin Jarvisin (2000; 2010) lähdekielen vaikutuksen tutkimista koskevaa viitekehystä. Kaikissa lähdekielissä oli melko läheinen vastine VA-partisiipin käytölle partisiippilausekkeessa. VA-partisiippilauseketta käyttivät kaikki ryhmät ylivoimaisesti eniten substantiivin etumääritteenä. Partisiippilausekkeen selvästi marginaalisia käyttötapoja olivat käyttö substantiivilausekkeena, predikatiiviadverbiaalina sekä predikatiivina. Puolankielisten havaittiin käyttävän partisiippilauseketta muita ryhmiä useammin. Nesessiivirakenteen lähimpänä vastineena saksassa on etumääritteenä toimiva modaalipartisiippi. Virossa ja puolassa ei ole partisiipin avulla muodostettavaa nesessiivisyyttä ilmaisevaa rakennetta. Odotusten mukaisesti saksankielisten havaittiin käyttävän nesessiivirakennetta eniten. Vironkieliset käyttivät nesessiivirakennetta selvästi vähiten; puolankieliset kuitenkin vain vähän harvemmin kuin saksankieliset. Havaintoja ei kuitenkaan voi pitää täysin luotettavina esiintymien pienen määrän takia. Referatiivirakenteelle on viron kielessä hyvin läheinen vastine. Puolassa lähin vastine on havaintoverbien yhteydessä käytettävä partisiipin preesensin sisältävä kongruoiva akkusatiivi-partisiippi -rakenne (AcP). Saksassa ei ole referatiivirakenteelle partisiippia käyttävää rakennevastinetta, vaan lähimpänä vastineena on havaintoverbien yhteydessä käytettävä akkusatiivi-infinitiivi -rakenne (AcI). Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että puolankieliset käyttivät referatiivirakennetta eniten. Vironkieliset käyttivät referatiivirakennetta odotusten vastaisesti vähiten. Referatiivirakenteen hallitsevan verbin semanttista tyyppiä koskeva hypoteesi ei osunut oikeaan, vaan saksan- ja puolankielisillä hallitseva verbi oli esimerkiksi psykologinen verbi tai kommunikaatioverbi suunnilleen yhtä usein kuin vironkielisillä, ja lähdekielten vastineiden rajoituksista huolimatta havaintoverbien osuudet olivat matalat. Ryhmänsisäistä homogeenisuutta koskevat havainnot tukivat havaintoja esiintymisfrekvensseistä: puolankielisten informanttien keskuudessa oli käytetty kaikkia kolmea VA-partisiipin funktiota selvästi useimmin. Saksan- ja vironkielisistä suunnilleen yhtä moni informantti oli käyttänyt VA-partisiippia partisiippilausekkeessa sekä referatiivirakenteessa, mutta vironkieliset harvimmin nesessiivirakennetta. Aiheessa on yhä tutkittavaa, esimerkiksi käyttäen äidinkielisten vertailuaineistoa sekä jotakin muuta oppijankorpusta, sillä tässä tutkimuksessa tekstilajin vaikutusta ei voitu täysin pois sulkea

Sustainable Concrete by Partially Replacing Coarse Aggregate Using Coconut Shell

A common feature of sustainable buildings is that they drastically reduce emissions, material use and water use and with involvement of economic vitality, environmental, health, and social equity in it. As a whole, the study main concern is the environment and the construction and building technology to enhance natural world as well as building materials. In view to provide new knowledge to the contractors and developers on how to improve the construction industry methods and services by using coconut shells and to sustain good product performance and meet recycling goals, there is need to design a technical specification of concrete using coconut shell as aggregates that will meet the Indian standard requirements in order to help contribute to the industry in saving the environment, to encourage the government to find solutions regarding the disposal to landfills of waste materials and save the environment. The use of coconut by products has been a long time source of income for some people. Recycling of the disposed material is one method of treating the agricultural waste. The used of coconut shell could be a valuable substitute in the formation of composite material that can be used as a housing construction,such as concrete

Energy content of krill and amphipods in the Barents Sea from summer to winter: variation across species and size

Arctic zooplankton develop large energy reserves, as an adaptation to strong seasonality, making them valuable prey items. We quantified the energy content (kJ g−1 dry weight) of abundant krill (arcto-boreal, Thysanoessa inermis and boreal, Meganyctiphanes norvegica) and amphipods (Arctic, Themisto libellula and sub-Arctic-boreal, Themisto abyssorum) in the Barents Sea in late summer (August) and early winter (December). Variation in energy content was attributed to species-specific traits and body size categories, the latter in part as a proxy for ontogeny. T. inermis had the highest energy content, (Aug: 26.8 ± 1.5 (SD) kJ g−1) and remained similar from summer to winter. Energy content increased in M. norvegica and decreased in both amphipod species, with the lowest energy content being in T. abyssorum (Dec: 17.8 ± 0.8 kJ g−1). The effect of body size varied between species, with energy content increasing with size in T. inermis and T. libellula, and no change with size in M. norvegica and T. abyssorum. The reproductive stages of T. libellula differed in energy content, being highest in gravid females. Energy content varied with species’ dependence on energy storage. Our findings highlight how phylogenetically and morphologically similar prey items cannot necessarily be considered equal from a predator´s perspective. Energetically, the northern T. inermis was higher quality compared to the more southern M. norvegica, and mostly so during summer. Ecological models and management strategies should consider such variation in prey quality, especially as Arctic borealization is expected to change species composition and the energetic landscape for predators.publishedVersio

Åtvaringar i private tilsetjingsforhold – ei vurdering av om rettstryggleiken til arbeidstakaren er godt nok ivareteke.

Temaet for masteroppgåva er «åtvaringar i private tilsetjingsforhold». Rettsområdet arbeidsrett består av verneomsynet som eit grunnfundament, men likevel nyttar ikkje arbeidsmiljølova omgrepet «åtvaring», og ein har heller ingen andre reglar som direkte regulerer dette for private tilsetjingsforhold. Åtvaringsinstituttet bærer dermed preg av eit svevande rettskjeldebilete til tross for at åtvaring er den mest alvorlege sanksjonen arbeidsgjevar kan kome med før oppseiing eller avskil. Siktemålet med masteroppgåva er å få ei meir handfast tilnærming til både vilkår og verknad for denne reaksjonsforma for å vurdere om rettstryggleiken til arbeidstakaren er godt nok ivareteke.MasteroppgåveJUS399MAJUR-2MAJU

Nesting synchrony and clutch size in migratory birds: Capital versus income breeding determines responses to variable spring onset

Synchronous reproduction of birds has often been explained by benefits from nesting together, but this concept fails to explain observed intraspecific variation and climate-mediated changes of breeding synchrony. Here, we present a theoretical model of birds that store resources for reproduction (capital breeders) to show how breeding synchrony, clutch size, and offspring recruitment respond to changes in timing of first possible breeding date. Our approach is based on individual fitness maximization when both prebreeding foraging and offspring development are time constrained. The model predicts less synchronous breeding, smaller clutch size, and higher chances for offspring recruitment in capital breeding birds that advance their nesting. For contrast, we also show that birds that need to acquire resources during egg laying (income breeders) do not change nesting synchrony but increase clutch size along with earlier breeding. The prediction of stronger nesting synchronization of capital breeders in years with late nesting onset is confirmed by empirical data on breeding synchrony of a high-latitude capital breeding sea duck, the common eider (Somateria mollissima). We predict that in warming high-latitude ecosystems, bird species that depend on stored reserves for reproduction are expected to desynchronize their nesting.publishedVersio

Experimental icing affects growth, mortality, and flowering in a high Arctic dwarf shrub

Acknowledgments This study was funded by the Research Council of Norway (POLARPROG grant 216051; SFF-III grant 223257/F50) and Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund (SMF grant 13/74). We thank Mathilde Le Moullec for helping with the fieldwork and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute for access to weather data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD