A controlled follow-up study of adolescents exposed to a school shooting - Psychological consequences after four months

Background: In November 2007, a student shot eight people and himself at Jokela High School, Finland. This study aims to evaluate the long-term effects of exposure to a school shooting among adolescents. Method: Associations between psychological outcomes and background factors were analysed and compared with "comparison students" four months after the incident. A questionnaire including Impact of Event Scale (IES) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-36) was used. Results: Half of the females and a third of the males suffered from posttraumatic distress. High level of posttraumatic distress (IES >= 35), predicting PTSD, was observed in 27% of the females and 7% of the males. The odds ratio was 6.4 (95% confidence interval 3.5-10.5) for having high levels of posttraumatic distress. Severe or extreme exposure and female gender were found to increase the risk. Forty-two percent of the females and 16% of the males had psychiatric disturbance (GHQ >= 9). Severe or extreme exposure, older age and female gender increased the risk. Perceived support from family and friends was found to be protective. Conclusions: The observed risk and protective factors were similar to earlier studies. Follow-up will be essential in identifying factors predicting persisting trauma-related symptoms in adolescence. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Reflectance properties of selected arctic-boreal land cover types: field measurements and their application in remote sensing

International audienceWe developed a mobile remote sensing measurement facility for spectral and anisotropic reflectance measurements. We measured reflection properties (BRF) of over 100 samples from most common land cover types in boreal and subarctic regions. This extensive data set serves as a unique reference opportunity for developing interpretation algorithms for remotely sensed materials as well as for modelling climatic effects in the boreal and subarctic zones. Our goniometric measurements show that the reflectances of the most common land cover types in the boreal and subarctic region can differ from each other by a factor of 100. Some types are strong forward scatterers, some backward scatterers, some reflect specularly, some have strong colours, some are bright in visual, some in infrared. We noted that spatial variations in reflectance, even among the same type of vegetation, can be well over 20%, diurnal variations of the same order and seasonal variation often over a factor of 10. This has significant consequences on the interpretation of satellite and airborne images and on the development of radiation regime models in both optical remote sensing and climate change research. We propose that the accuracy of optical remote sensing can be improved by an order of magnitude, if better physical reflectance models can be introduced. Further improvements can be reached by more optimised design of sensors and orbits/flight lines, by the effective combining of several data sources and better processing of atmospheric effects. We conclude that more extensive and systematic laboratory experiments and field measurements are needed, with more modelling effort

”Nyt ku ollaan vähän niinku jaettu porukoita, niin tuntuu sillä tavalla helpommalta”:2. luokan oppilaiden ja opettajien kokemuksia kahdesta pedagogisesta toimintamallista

Tiivistelmä. Opetuskulttuuri on hitaasti muuttuvaa. Vaikka vuoden 2014 Perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteet ohjaa entistä eheyttävämpään opetukseen, on pedagogisten toimintamallien muutokseen käytännön tasolla varattava aikaa. Eheytetyn, kokonaisvaltaisen opetuksen vastakohdaksi nähdään Suomessa perinteisesti vuosikymmeniä toteutettu oppiainejakoisen opetuksen malli. Konstruktivistista, kokonaisvaltaista oppimiskäsitystä pyritään ilmentämään opetussuunnitelman lisäksi fyysisellä ympäristöllä. Uusien, jo rakennettujen ja rakenteilla olevien koulujen oppimisympäristö pyrkii tukemaan yhteisöllistä ja eheyttävää oppimiskäsitystä muun muassa arkkitehtuurisilla valinnoillaan. Oppilaat ja opettajat voivat työskennellä jopa sadalle henkilölle mitoitetuissa yhteisissä tiloissa. Tämä pro gradu -tutkimus on toteutettu erään uuden koulun 2. -luokkien solussa. Tutkimuskohteessa kolme 2. -luokkaa toteutti syyslukukaudella 2016 yhteisessä tilassa yhteisöllistä ja oppiainerajatonta opetusta. Lukuvuoden 2017 keväällä tila jaettiin osiin ja toimintaa muutettiin oppiainejakoisempaan ja opettajajohtoisempaan malliin, jossa oltiin pääosin oman luokan kesken. Toive oli noussut oppilaiden ja kotiväen kautta. Tutkimuskysymykset ovat: Minkälaisia kokemuksia oppilailla ja opettajilla on syksyn koulunkäynnistä verrattuna kevään koulunkäyntiin? Miksi eheytetyn, yhteisöllisen luokkatoiminnan mallista luovuttiin ja palattiin perinteisempään luokka- ja oppiainejakoiseen malliin? Tutkimus on metodologialtaan fenomenografinen tapaustutkimus. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin oppilaita haastatellen ja näin selvittäen kokemuksia syys- ja kevätlukukauden pedagogisista toimintamalleista. Myös opettajia haastateltiin sekä syksyllä että keväällä, jolloin oppilailta kerättyyn aineistoon saatiin mukaan aikuisen mielipide ja näkökulma vastauksia täydentämään. Tutkimuksen teoreettisessa osassa perehdytään alkuopetusikäisen oppijan kehitykseen ja niihin oppimiskäsityksiin, jotka ovat ohjanneet ja ohjaavat Suomen peruskoulun opetuskulttuuria ja oppimisympäristöjä. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat erityisesti opetuksen eheyttäminen ja kokonaisvaltainen oppiminen, johon vuoden 2014 opetussuunnitelman perusteet opettajia ja kouluja kannustaa. Lisäksi määritellään oppimisympäristön käsite. Oppimisympäristö laajassa merkityksessään on kuvattu sosiaalisen, psyykkisen ja fyysisen oppimisympäristön näkökulmista, ja tämä jaottelu ohjaa myös tulosten analysointia. Tutkimuksen tulosten mukaan oppilaat kokivat sosiaalisen oppimisympäristön syksyllä liian laajana, ja sosiaaliseen ympäristöön liittyi erityisesti työrauhan merkitys. Työrauhan koettiin keväällä parantuneen verrattuna syksyyn. Sosiaalinen oppimisympäristö koettiin keväällä kooltaan miellyttävämpänä ja turvallisempana kuin syksyllä, kun oppilaat siirtyivät toimimaan pääasiassa omien luokkien parissa. Merkitseviä olivat lisäksi psyykkisen ja fyysisen oppimisympäristön osa-alueet. Psyykkisestä ympäristöstä erityisen tärkeäksi oppilaat kokivat valinnan vapauden, jota kevätlukukaudella koettiin olevan enemmän kuin syksyn toimintamallissa. Tämä pro gradu -tutkimus käsittelee yhtä tapausta, mutta antaa näkökulmaa myös yhteiskunnallisella tasolla. Uudet koulut ovat usein moduuli- ja yhtenäiskouluja, joiden rakentaminen perustuu erityisesti yhteisöllisen ja laaja-alaisen oppimisen käsityksiin. Tämä tutkimus kuvaa alkuopetusikäisten oppilaiden ja opettajien kokemuksia siitä, millaista on toimia perinteisten luokkien sijaan yhdessä, yhteisessä tilassa

Augmenting Immersive Telepresence Experience with a Virtual Body

We propose augmenting immersive telepresence by adding a virtual body, representing the user's own arm motions, as realized through a head-mounted display and a 360-degree camera. Previous research has shown the effectiveness of having a virtual body in simulated environments; however, research on whether seeing one's own virtual arms increases presence or preference for the user in an immersive telepresence setup is limited. We conducted a study where a host introduced a research lab while participants wore a head-mounted display which allowed them to be telepresent at the host's physical location via a 360-degree camera, either with or without a virtual body. We first conducted a pilot study of 20 participants, followed by a pre-registered 62 participant confirmatory study. Whereas the pilot study showed greater presence and preference when the virtual body was present, the confirmatory study failed to replicate these results, with only behavioral measures suggesting an increase in presence. After analyzing the qualitative data and modeling interactions, we suspect that the quality and style of the virtual arms, and the contrast between animation and video, led to individual differences in reactions to the virtual body which subsequently moderated feelings of presence.Comment: Accepted for publication in Transactions in Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), to be presented in IEEE VR 202

Time trends in referrals to child and adolescent gender identity services : a study in four Nordic countries and in the UK

Purpose: To explore whether the increase observed in referrals to child and adolescent gender identity services (GIDSs) has been similar in four Nordic countries and in the UK. Materials and methods: Numbers of referrals per year in 2011–2017 were obtained from all GIDS in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK and related to population aged <18. Results: A similar pattern of increase in referral rates was observed across countries, resulting in comparable population adjusted rates in 2017. In children, male:female birth sex ratio was even; in adolescents, a preponderance of females (birth sex) was observed, particularly in Finland. Conclusions: The demand for GIDSs has evolved similarly across Nordic countries and the UK. The reasons for the increase are not known but increased awareness of gender identity issues, service availability, destigmatization as well as social and media influences may play a role

Isolation of dental stem cell-enriched populations from continuously growing mouse incisors

Continuous growth of the rodent incisor is enabled by epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells (ESCs and MSCs) which unceasingly replenish enamel and dentin, respectively, that wear by persistent animal gnawing. Lineage tracing studies have provided evidence that ESCs contribute to all epithelial lineages of the tooth in vivo. Meanwhile, in the mouse incisor, MSCs continuously contribute to odontoblast lineage and tooth growth. However, in vitro manipulation of ESCs has shown little progress, mainly due to lack of appropriate protocol to successfully isolate, culture, expand, and differentiate ESCs in vitro without using the co-culture system. In this chapter we describe the isolation of the Sox2-GFP+ cell population that is highly enriched in ESCs. Isolated cells can be used for various types of analyses, including in vitro culture, single cell-related analyses, etc. Furthermore, we describe ways to obtain populations enriched in the incisor MSCs using FACS sorting of antibody-labeled cells. Easily accessible FACS sorting enables easy and relatively fast isolation of the cells labeled by the fluorescent protein. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019.Peer reviewe

Virtual Reality Sickness Reduces Attention During Immersive Experiences

In this paper, we show that Virtual Reality (VR) sickness is associated with a reduction in attention, which was detected with the P3b Event-Related Potential (ERP) component from electroencephalography (EEG) measurements collected in a dual-task paradigm. We hypothesized that sickness symptoms such as nausea, eyestrain, and fatigue would reduce the users' capacity to pay attention to tasks completed in a virtual environment, and that this reduction in attention would be dynamically reflected in a decrease of the P3b amplitude while VR sickness was experienced. In a user study, participants were taken on a tour through a museum in VR along paths with varying amounts of rotation, shown previously to cause different levels of VR sickness. While paying attention to the virtual museum (the primary task), participants were asked to silently count tones of a different frequency (the secondary task). Control measurements for comparison against the VR sickness conditions were taken when the users were not wearing the Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and while they were immersed in VR but not moving through the environment. This exploratory study shows, across multiple analyses, that the effect mean amplitude of the P3b collected during the task is associated with both sickness severity measured after the task with a questionnaire (SSQ) and with the number of counting errors on the secondary task. Thus, VR sickness may impair attention and task performance, and these changes in attention can be tracked with ERP measures as they happen, without asking participants to assess their sickness symptoms in the moment