Gravitational Techniwaves

We investigate the production and possible detection of gravitational waves stemming from the electroweak phase transition in the early universe in models of minimal walking technicolor. In particular we discuss the two possible scenarios in which one has only one electroweak phase transition and the case in which the technicolor dynamics allows for multiple phase transitions.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures. v2: minor changes, references added, title changed in journa

Nitric oxide mediates interleukin-1 induced inhibition of glycosaminoglycan synthesis in rat articular cartilage

Interleek-1β (IL-1) is a key mediator of cartilage matrix degradation in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. It was found that the IL-1-induced suppression of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) synthesis in rat articular cartilage occurred simultaneously with the accumulation of nitrite (a metabolite of nitric oxide (NO) in aqueous milieu) in the culture medium. NO-synthase inhibitors, L-NMMA and L-NIO, inhibited both these IL-1 effects. Dexamethasone suppressed GAG synthesis additively to IL-1, but did not alter nitrite accumulation. Three NO-donors (GEA 3175, SNAP and SIN-1) also had an inhibitory effect on cartilage GAG synthesis. Therefore, it is concluded that IL-1 induced suppression of GAG synthesis in rat articular cartilage is mediated by the production of NO

The Electroweak Phase Transition in Ultra Minimal Technicolor

We unveil the temperature-dependent electroweak phase transition in new extensions of the Standard Model in which the electroweak symmetry is spontaneously broken via strongly coupled, nearly-conformal dynamics achieved by the means of multiple matter representations. In particular, we focus on the low energy effective theory introduced to describe Ultra Minimal Walking Technicolor at the phase transition. Using the one-loop effective potential with ring improvement, we identify regions of parameter space which yield a strong first order transition. A striking feature of the model is the existence of a second phase transition associated to the electroweak-singlet sector. The interplay between these two transitions leads to an extremely rich phase diagram.Comment: 38 RevTeX pages, 9 figure

Holographic neutrino transport in dense strongly-coupled matter

A (toy) model for cold and luke-warm strongly-coupled nuclear matter at finite baryon density and isospin chemical potential is used to study neutrino transport. The complete charged current two-point correlators are computed in the strongly-coupled medium and their impact on neutrino transport is analyzed. The full result is compared with various approximations for the current correlators and the distributions, including the degenerate approximation, the hydrodynamic approximation as well as the diffusive approximation and we comment on their successes. Further improvements are discussed.Comment: 69 pages + Appendix; 27 figure

Aerosol-optics model for the backscatter depolarisation ratio of mineral dust particles

The size-dependence of the linear depolarisation ratio of mineral dust aerosols is investigated. Laboratory measurements on 131 different aerosol samples with varying size distributions and mineralogical compositions are fitted with a homogeneous spheroid model. A minimum-bias and minimum-variance fit of the data is obtained for prolate model particles with a refractive index of 1.525+0.001i and an aspect ratio of 0.87. The model error is analysed by varying the input parameters to the light-scattering computations. It is found that the scattering of the measurements about the model can mainly be explained by variation of the morphology and dielectric properties, and to a much lesser extent by variation in the geometric standard deviation of the size distribution. The modelling of the data is extended by using size-shape distributions of spheroids. The results indicate that there is some freedom in choosing the best-fit weights of the shape-distribution of spheroids, which could potentially be useful when extending the model to multiple wavelengths, or to including additional optical parameters other than depolarisation. However, it is also found that the most reasonable fits of the data are obtained by mildly aspherical prolate and oblate spheroids, which limits the freedom of adjusting the best-fit weights

Experimental manipulation of Blue Tit nest height does not support the thermoregulation hypothesis

Birds show immense variation in nest sizes within species. At least six different hypotheses have been forwarded to explain intraspecific variation in nest size in cavity nesting species, but very few of those hypotheses have been tested experimentally. In our study, when nestlings were 2 days old, we manipulated the height of 182 Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nests to either 5 cm or 11 cm while standardising their ectoparasite load and genetic and maternal background. In line with the hypothesis that larger nests provide thermoregulatory benefits, we expected experimentally enlarged nests to show increased growth of nestlings compared to shallow nests, or to improve female somatic condition. We found that the nest height manipulation affected the tail length of 16-day old nestlings, but did not affect any other morphometric measure (tarsus length, body mass, head size and wing length). In addition nest height manipulation had no impact on nestling survival and did not affect female body condition. Our results do not therefore provide strong support for the thermoregulatory hypothesis and suggest regional differences in the relationship between nest size and reproductive success.Peer reviewe

Virtuaalisen Big Roomin työkalut ja ohjelmistot

Tiivistelmä. Big Room on etenkin isoissa rakennusalan allianssihankkeissa käytettävä konsepti, jonka tarkoituksena on tehostaa tiedonkulkua ja vähentää päätöksenteon hidasteita keräämällä projektin eri sidosryhmät samaan fyysiseen tilaan. Teknologisen kehityksen ja viime vuosien pandemian vauhdittamana Big Roomin järjestäminen fyysisen tilan sijaan virtuaalisena on kuitenkin lisääntynyt. Tämä on puolestaan lisännyt tarvetta löytää ratkaisuja Big Roomin tärkeiden elementtien, kuten kommunikoinnin, tiedon jakamisen ja erilaisten projektinhallinnan työkalujen korvaamiseksi virtuaalisessa muodossa niin, että sen hyödyt säilyvät. Tämän kandidaatintyön tavoitteena on tutkia virtuaalisen Big Roomin käsitettä sekä löytää vaihtoehtoja Big Roomin tärkeimpien elementtien virtualisoimisessa käytettäville ohjelmistoille ja työkaluille. Tutkimusmenetelmänä tässä työssä käytetään kirjallisuuskatsausta perustuen aiheesta aiemmin tehtyyn tutkimukseen. Tutkimuksessa löydettiin useita vaihtoehtoja työkaluiksi ja ohjelmistoiksi fyysisen Big Roomin tärkeimpien elementtien virtualisoimiseen. Työssä esitetään löydettyjen ohjelmistojen ja työkalujen valintakriteerejä virtuaaliseen Big Roomiin, kuten projektin työntekijöiden aikaisempaa kokemusta sovelluksista sekä ominaisuuksien laajuutta. Lisäksi työssä ehdotetaan ohjelmistoista ja työkaluista koostettu esimerkkipaketti, joka virtualisoi Big Roomin tärkeimmät toiminnallisuudet sekä pienessä, että suuressa projektissa.The software and tools of virtual Big Room. Abstract. Big Room is a concept that is mostly used in big construction project alliances. The purpose of Big Room is to make flow of information more effective and lessen the time used in decision-making by gathering the stakeholders in the same room. The last two years’ global pandemic combined with the technological evolution has sped up the process to transfer from physical Big Rooms to virtual ones. This transfer has increased the need of solutions to replace the important elements of physical Big Room, like communication, knowledge sharing, and various project management tools, so the virtual Big Room will have the same positive impact as physical Big Room. The goal of this bachelor’s thesis will be to explain the concept of Big Room and to find possible software and tools to virtualize the most important elements of Big Room. The method used in this thesis is literature review based on the earlier study of Big Room. This thesis depicts different criteria, like the project’s stakeholders’ earlier experience of the apps or the scope of the provided features in choosing of the software and tools to virtualize the Big Room. This thesis also provides an example of a package for small and big projects that consists of the software and tools to virtualize the most important elements of Big Room

Moniammatillista kuntoutumista edistävää työotetta tukevat ja estävät tekijät yliopistosairaalan vuodeosastolla

Tiivistelmä. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on kuvailla miten moniammatillista kuntoutumista edistävää työotetta tukevat ja estävät tekijät sekä työotteeseen vaikuttava lähiesimiehen toiminta näyttäytyvät yliopistosairaalan kirurgisilla ja sisätautisilla vuodeosastoilla. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tuottaa ajankohtaista tietoa moniammatillisen kuntoutumista edistävän työotteen nykytilasta yliopistosairaalan vuodeosastoilla. Tavoitteena on, että tuotettua tietoa voidaan jatkossa hyödyntää osastojen toiminnan kehittämisessä ja työyksikkökohtaisten kehittämissuunnitelmien ja toimintamallien laatimisessa sekä lähiesimiesten johtamisosaamisen kehittämisessä moniammatillista kuntoutumista edistävää työotetta tukevaksi. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostuu kymmenestä teemahaastattelusta. Haastatteluihin osallistui vuodeosastojen sekä niillä työskentelevän terapiahenkilöstön lähiesimiehiä sekä sairaanhoitajia, fysioterapeutteja ja toimintaterapeutteja. Aineisto analysoitiin induktiivisella sisällön analyysillä. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että hoitohenkilöstö ja heidän esimiehensä ovat yhtä mieltä siitä, mitkä työotteeseen vaikuttavat tekijät tällä hetkellä tukevat ja mitkä estävät moniammatillisen kuntoutumista edistävän työotteen toteutumista yliopistosairaalan vuodeosastoilla. Lähiesimiehen toiminta sekä työyhteisön ilmapiiri koetaan edistävinä tekijöinä, joiden varaan on tulevaisuudessa hyvä lähteä kehittämään työotetta tukevia yhteisiä toimintamalleja. Suurimmat kehittämistarpeet koskevat moniammatillisen tiimin eri ammattilaisten roolien tunnistamista ja esille tuomista sekä merkityksellisen tiedon siirtymisen varmistamista kommunikointia ja vuorovaikutusta kehittämällä. Jatkossa olisi tarpeen tehdä tutkimusta siitä, että miten moniammatillista kuntoutumista edistävää työotetta on pystytty jalkauttamaan työyksiköihin sitä edistävällä johtamisella ja millaisia hyötyjä tästä on seurannut organisaatioiden moniammatillisen johtamisen sekä asiakkaiden näkökulmasta.Multiprofessional rehabilitation approach in university hospital wards : promoting and hindering factors. Abstract. The purpose of this study was to describe how factors promoting and hindering a multiprofessional rehabilitation approach and the first line manager actions impacting the approach manifested in the surgical and medical wards of a university hospital. The aim of the study is to produce up-to-date information about the current status of multiprofessional rehabilitation approach in the wards of a university hospital. The objective is that the information produced could in future be utilised to develop ward practices and to draw up work unit-specific development plans and approaches, as well as to develop first line managers’ management skills which promote a multiprofessional approach. The study material consisted of ten thematic interviews. The interviewees included first line managers of the therapy and staff working in wards as well as nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis. The results of the study show that nursing staff and managers agree on the factors that currently promote or hinder the implementation of a multiprofessional rehabilitation approach in the university hospital wards. The actions of first line manager and the atmosphere in the work unit were perceived as promoting factors which should serve as a basis when developing a common framework promoting a rehabilitation approach. The greatest development needs are related to identifying the roles of the professionals involved in multiprofessional teamwork and ensuring the transfer of significant information through increased communication and interaction. In future, research should focus on how successfully practices that promote a multiprofessional rehabilitation approach have been implemented in work units through supportive management. In addition, the benefits this has resulted in from the viewpoint of organisations’ multiprofessional management and clients would also warrant further study