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Abstract Background Smoking in pregnancy constitutes a preventable risk factor for fetal/child development and maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) seems to contain a momentum that can break the chain of adverse outcomes by promoting maternal prenatal health practices. This study aimed to explore the association of MFA with smoking at any time during pregnancy and smoking cessation in early pregnancy, and the modifying role of MFA on the expected effects of education and prenatal psychological distress (PPD) on prenatal smoking behavior. Methods The pregnant women (n = 3766) participated in the The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study in Finland between December 2011 and April 2015. The binary outcomes, smoking at any time during pregnancy and smoking cessation in early pregnancy, were obtained from self-reports at gestational weeks (gwks) 14 and 34 and The Finnish Medical Birth Register. MFA was assessed with the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS) at gwks 24 and 34. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the association between MFA and maternal prenatal smoking behavior. Findings The prevalence of smoking was 16.5%, and 58.1% of the smokers quit smoking during pregnancy. The independent associations of total MFA scores with prenatal smoking behavior were not established (aOR = 1.00-1.02, multiplicity adjusted p > 0.05). A higher score in the altruistic subscale of MFA, Giving of self, associated with a higher probability of smoking cessation (24 gwks: aOR = 1.13, 95% CI [1.04, 1.24], p = 0.007, multiplicity adjusted p = 0.062; 34 gwks: aOR = 1.17, 95% CI [1.07, 1.29], p

Abstract Background Few studies have examined cold-related symptoms among cold workplace workers in Thailand. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cold-related cardiorespiratory, circulatory, and general symptoms and performance degradation among Thai chicken industry workers and identify vulnerable groups. Methods Overall, 422 workers aged from 18 to 57 years at four chicken meat factories in Thailand were interviewed for cold-related symptoms and complaints. The results were expressed in terms of model-based adjusted prevalence and prevalence differences (PDs) in percentage points (pp) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results In total, 76.1% of the respondents reported cold-related respiratory symptoms, 24.6% reported cardiac symptoms, 68.6% reported circulatory symptoms, and 72.1% reported general symptoms. In addition, 82.7% of the respondents reported performance degradation. Cold-related respiratory symptoms increased by PD 29.0 pp. (95% CI 23.4–34.6) from the lowest to the highest educational group, with a similar pattern observed in performance degradation. Forklift drivers and storage and manufacturing workers complained of cold-related respiratory symptoms more than office staff (PD 22.1 pp., 95% CI 12.8–31.3; 12.0 pp., 95% CI 2.4–21.6; and 17.5 pp., 95% CI 11.5–23.6, respectively); they also reported more performance degradation (PD 24.1 pp., 95% CI 17.0–31.2; 19.8 pp., 95% CI 14.1–25.6; and 14.8 pp., 95% CI 8.0–22.6, respectively). Weekly alcohol consumers reported more performance problems owing to cold (PD 18.2 pp., 95% CI 13.9–22.6) than non-consumers of alcohol. Cardiac and circulation symptoms were more common in women than men (PD 10.0 pp., 95% CI 1.1–18.9; and 8.4 pp., 95% CI 0.5–16.4, respectively). The age trend in performance issues was curved, with the highest prevalence among those aged 35–44 years, while the oldest workers (45–57 years) perceived less cold-related symptoms, particularly thirst. Conclusions Cold-related symptoms and performance degradation were found to be common in this industry, with vulnerable groups comprising of highly educated workers, forklift drivers, storage and manufacturing workers, weekly alcohol consumers, aging workers, and women. The results demonstrate a need for further research on the adequacy of protection provided against the cold, particularly given that global warming will increase the contrast between cold workplaces and outdoor heat.

University-industry collaboration aims at mutually beneficial knowledge and technology exchange between higher education and business. Prototyping new products is one sweet spot where industry can gain new valuable knowledge and understanding of technology, while higher education institutions develop the skills and competences of students by encouraging them to work on authentic real-life problems. From the “design thinking” perspective, rapid product development can be defined as the creation of new products, in the shortest timescales possible, that meet the criteria of desirability, feasibility, and viability. This article addresses rapid product development by presenting a case study of developing prototypes in university-industry collaboration. As a result, the study highlights key design principles, such as the importance of involving teachers, business representatives, and students in collaborative project design, of focusing on the customers or service users who will benefit from the design, and of guiding students participating in co-creation activities. Presenting conclusions for both academics and the industry, the article contributes to design thinking and rapid product development in university-industry collaboration.

Many studies emphasise the need for supporting higher education students to develop general competences. In this study, we report on the first cycle of a design-based research project conducted in the Design Factory context. The aim of the project is to understand how general competences can be integrated into course modules and within university-industry collaboration in a successful way. In this study, we report on a theoretical problem analysis and describe the design solution, namely the Design Factory implementation. We then move on to an empirical problem analysis and investigate how students reported developing general competences in the implementation. When discussing the implications for further developing the design solution, we conclude that communication has a vital role in university-industry collaboration; it is essential in clarifying the multilevel learning opportunities (e.g., the subject content, development of general competences) for students, and in aligning industry interests with educational learning objectives. We also reflect on the first development cycle as a whole and provide implications for refining the design process. Finally, we draw conclusions from the whole DBR project and provide a new theoretical perspective (cf. Edelson, 2002), namely design-based education in the co-creation contexts, that can be utilised when investigating the development of general competences in the Design Factory context.

Climate change sets high pressures on the construction industry to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the carbon storage properties and potential to use renewable resources efficiently, wooden multi-storey construction (WMC) is an interesting alternative for the construction industry to enhance sustainable development combined with the aesthetic and well-being benefits of wood perceived among many consumers. For forest industry firms, industrial wood construction is a possibility to seek for business opportunities and bring socio-economic benefits for local economies. Despite positive drivers, WMC still remains a niche even in the forest-rich countries.The purpose of our study is to add understanding on the WMC market development by conducting a systematic literature analysis on international peer-reviewed studies from the past 20 years. Our special focus is on the role of WMC in the housing markets studied from the perspectives of the demand, supply and local governance factors. As specific aims, we 1) synthesize the key barriers and enabling factors for the WMC market growth; 2) identify the actors addressed in the existing studies connected to the WMC market development, and 3) summarize research methods and analytical approaches used in the previous studies. As a systematic method to make literature searches in Web of Science and Scopus for years 2000â2020, we employed PRISMA guidelines. By using pre-determined keywords, our searches resulted in a sample of 696 articles, of which 42 full articles were after selection procedure included in-depth content analysis. Our results showed cost-efficiency gains from industrialized prefabrication and perceived sustainability benefits by consumers and architects enabled a WMC market diffusion. The lack of experiences on the WMC, and path dependencies to use concrete and steel continue to be key barriers for increased WMC. Although our research scope was the global WMC market development, most of the literature concerned the Nordic region. The key actors covered in the literature were businesses (e.g., contractors, manufacturers and architects) involved in the wood construction value-chains, while residents and actors in the local governance were seldomly addressed. Currently, case studies, the use of qualitative data sets and focus on the Nordic region dominate the literature. This hinders the generalizability of findings in different regional contexts. In the future, more research is needed on how sustainability-driven wood construction value-chains are successfully shaping up in different geographical regions, and how they could challenge the dominant concrete-based construction regime.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Purpose: Higher education institutions are being challenged to sustain their relevance in a disruptive world by moving from ego-systems to ecosystems. Teachers, as key actors, are required to redesign their work, shifting from traditional teacher-led processes towards the facilitation of student-driven learning in authentic environments. In ecosystems, with students, colleagues, and work-life partners, teachers need to modify their work by crafting their tasks, relationships, and mindsets. This study aims to make the change in teachers’ work transparent on a practical level. Study design/methodology/approach: A qualitative and practice-based approach was used to explore teacher facilitators experiences of their job crafting. Findings: The findings reveal the new meaning and relevance of the teacher facilitators work and can raise the awareness of higher education institutions to cultivate the future competencies of teachers. Originality/value: The study introduces the new nature and purpose of teachers’ work as a part of ecosystems. We suggest higher education institutions nurture an experimental learning culture and support teachers to go out of their comfort zones. Developing collaborative job crafting can be a sustainable way to do that and avoids the disconnection between what we are doing and what we should be doing.

For 150 years the crayfish plague disease agent Aphanomyces astaci has been the cause of mass mortalities among native European crayfish populations. However, recently several studies have highlighted the great variability of A. astaci virulence and crayfish resistance toward the disease. The main aim of this study was to compare the response of two crayfish species, the European native noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) and the invasive alien marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis), to an A. astaci challenge with a highly virulent strain from haplogroup B and a lowly virulent strain from haplogroup A. In a controlled infection experiment we showed a high resistance of marbled crayfish against an A. astaci infection, with zoospores from the highly virulent haplogroup B strain being able to infect the crayfish, but unable to cause signs of disease. Furthermore, we demonstrated a reduced virulence in the A. astaci strain belonging to haplogroup A, as shown by the light symptoms and the lack of mortality in the generally susceptible noble crayfish. Interestingly, in both marbled crayfish and noble crayfish challenged with this strain, we observed a significant decrease of the detected amount of pathogen’s DNA during the experiment, suggesting that this A. astaci haplogroup A strain has a decreased ability of penetrating into the cuticle of the crayfish. Our results provide additional evidence of how drastically strains belonging to A. astaci haplogroup B and haplogroup A differ in their virulence. This study confirmed the adaptation of one specific A. astaci haplogroup A strain to their novel European hosts, supposedly due to reduced virulence. This feature might be the consequence of A. astaci’s reduced ability to penetrate into the crayfish. Finally, we experimentally showed that marbled crayfish are remarkably resistant against the crayfish plague disease and could potentially be latently infected, acting as carriers of highly virulent A. astaci strains.

Native European crayfish conservation was triggered by invasion of crayfish plague disease agent, Aphanomyces astaci, starting 1860s in Northern Italy. Resulting crayfish plague epidemics quickly spread over Continental Europe, then to Finland, Sweden and finally, after running amok around Europe, A. astaci was discovered also in Iberian Peninsula, Norway, Ireland, and United Kingdom in 1970s and 1980s. By that time significant proportion of native crayfish stocks had been lost, and while crayfish plague epidemics were still recorded, also industrialization and waterways construction were causing damage to remaining native crayfish stocks. While alien crayfish introductions, at least Faxonius limosus, already gave rise to first wave of crayfish plague epidemics in late 19th century, later in 1960s it was decided that introductions of alien Pacifastacus leniusculus should be initiated to replace native European crayfish populations. Decisions were based on presumed advantages for fishery, suitable habitat requirements and supposed immunity against A. astaci. Furthermore, conservation of native European crayfish species was sidelined and focus shifted toward alien crayfish stocking routine and consumption. Alien crayfish species introductions resulted in repeated waves of crayfish plague epidemics among remaining native crayfish stocks. It was soon discovered that alien crayfish of North American origin were, as suspected, permanent reservoirs for A. astaci, that some of those alien species were losing their resistance against selected strains of A. astaci and struggled in European aquatic ecosystems. In this article, we introduce numerous motives behind grand mistake of introducing alien crayfish species to Europe and then promoting their stocks instead of focusing on conservation of native crayfish species. We outline how false economical, biological and ecologic assumptions were used to justify a hasty introduction of alien crayfish, which has further devastated native crayfish and also permanently changed European aquatic ecosystems, both with disastrous consequences. Lesson to be learnt is that science-based warnings about alien species damage to native ecosystems and native crayfish must be taken with utmost caution. Protection of native European crayfish should be core issue, not commercial activities. Finally, we summarize main threats and actions needed to protect remaining native freshwater crayfish fauna in Europe.

UNESCO World Heritage cities can become smart cities if they take into account their cultural heritage and integrate diverse actors, including universities in their innovation practices. This article addresses the hackathon as an innovation contest method in the urban and educational context. Specifically, it concentrates on hackathon design, particularly the focus of the event, as well as the outputs. Although the design plays an integral part in a hackathon, particularly in goal achievement, design has not yet been thoroughly studied in mainly descriptive hackathon research. To address the subject, this article presents a case study of a dual-focused, i.e., combined urban and educational hackathon in the City of Rauma, which has a World Heritage Old Town that aims to integrate its historical uniqueness with modern city services. As a result, the article portrays the process and outputs of a hackathon carried out with the collaboration of two higher education institutions (HEIs) and the Entrepreneur Association of Rauma. Presenting conclusions for both academics and the public sector, the article contributes to the literature on urban and educational hackathons in smart cities with a heritage context.

In this study, we provide novel insight into building and managing growth in a new emerging market: the operation and maintenance of a heterogeneous and expanding vehicle fleet in a smart city environment. There are several different types of players in this emerging market and a dominant player is still missing. Based on our empirical findings, we identified three key characteristics of a growing business and the ability to reach a leading position: 1) co-creation through resource integration and service exchange is preferable for responding to market demands; 2) a digital platform is critical to create the necessary knowledge for resource integration and service exchange; and 3) smart services glue the ecosystem and platform together and create the outcome that solves the defined business problem. Most importantly, all three elements—ecosystem, platform and smart services—create a uniform environment in which to grow the business in a new emerging market.

Open data offers possibilities to accelerate both innovations and co-creation activities in cities and regions. Likewise, open source software development is an efficient way to create new services. Open data can be used to promote better information sharing and offers various opportunities for third-party developers. Co-creation improves the commitment of different stakeholders and ensures that the created solutions are based on real needs. For these reasons, it is only logical that these two themes are linked together in smart city activities. This paper presents a practical open data and co-creation development made in the region of Häme, Finland. This paper contributes to smart cities research by describing the development of two smart city services: the Tavastia Events API and "Hämeenlinna in pocket" smartphone application. It describes strategies that facilitate beneficial participation and collaboration in smart city open data initiatives. Based on Linked Events, an open source solution developed for the city of Helsinki, modification and implementation were made to create a centralized and open service, to collect and publish event-related data via an application programming interface (API) in the Häme region. A smartphone application was then developed, making use of the developed Events API and other data sources, to provide citizens with the most common digital services, and a platform for digital participation in Häme.

Abstract Background Most Finnish adolescents are not sufficiently physically active. Health education (HE) provides beneficial starting point for physical activity (PA) promotion in schools. This study evaluates an intervention integrated into three HE lessons to increase PA and reduce sedentary behavior (SB) among eighth graders. Methods All public secondary schools in Tampere, Finland participated and were randomized to intervention (INT, n = 7) and comparison group (COM, n = 7). In INT (690 students, 36 classes) the teachers (n = 14) implemented behavioral theory-driven content during three HE lessons. In COM (860 students, 41 classes) the teachers (n = 14) carried out standard lessons. The evaluation was based on RE-AIM: Effectiveness was assessed from baseline to 4 weeks (Follow-up 1) and Maintenance from 4 weeks to 7 months (Follow-up 2) with change in students’ PA and SB and related psychosocial and parental factors. Methods included questionnaire, accelerometer and activity diary. Linear mixed models with baseline adjustments and random effect correction were used to compare the difference in change between INT and COM. Data on Reach, Adoption and Implementation were collected during the process. Results Intervention effects were only seen in the self-reported data favoring INT in the weekly number of days with at least 1 h of brisk leisure PA (0.3 [95%CI 0.1 to 0.6]), proportion of students meeting PA recommendations (4.1 [95%CI 2.5 to 5.7]), proportion of students reporting that their family sets limitations for screen time (5.4 [95%CI 3.3 to 7.4]) and in the number of days on which the students intended to do leisure PA in the following week (0.3 [95%CI 0.1 to 0.6]). The effects on PA were still beneficial for INT at Follow-up 2. The intervention reached 96% of the students, was adopted in all 7 schools and was implemented by 13/14 teachers in 35/36 classes. Conclusions The intervention was feasible and had small favorable effects on students’ self-reported PA, intention to do PA and family norm in screen time. The effects on PA persisted until Follow-up 2. It is likely that for greater impacts the HE lessons should have been supported with other actions without compromising feasibility. Trial registration NCT01633918 (June 27th, 2012).

The digital content in smart city, is a critical asset. It can be used for multiple purposes and offers added value layers for customization and personalization of services. Numerous research issues, related to standardization, annotation, visualization and sentiment analysis pose critical research questions. In our approach within a greatest context of academic research we deal with the semi-automatic annotation of smart city contexts, and more specifically the annotation of twitter-content for the promotion of citizen's engagement. We discuss in detail the feasibility of technical approaches with the deployment of open platforms and approaches, towards value adding services. The greatest challenge of our research is to promote an open-collaborative semantic annotation framework for social content in smart city, promoting engagement modes.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) seem to be the most efficient way of achieving the intended aerial tasks, according to recent improvements. Various researchers from across the world have studied a variety of UAV formations and path planning methodologies. However, when unexpected obstacles arise during a collective flight, path planning might get complicated. The study needs to employ hybrid algorithms of bio-inspired computations to address path planning issues with more stability and speed. In this article, two hybrid models of Ant Colony Optimization were compared with respect to convergence time, i.e., the Max-Min Ant Colony Optimization approach in conjunction with the Differential Evolution and Cauchy mutation operators. Each algorithm was run on a UAV and traveled a predetermined path to evaluate its approach. In terms of the route taken and convergence time, the simulation results suggest that the MMACO-DE technique outperforms the MMACO-CM approach.

Abstract Introduction There has been a growing effort to characterize the time‐varying functional connectivity of resting state (RS) fMRI brain networks (RSNs). Although voxel‐wise connectivity studies have examined different sliding window lengths, nonsequential volume‐wise approaches have been less common. Methods Inspired by earlier co‐activation pattern (CAP) studies, we applied hierarchical clustering (HC) to classify the image volumes of the RS‐fMRI data on 28 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their 27 typically developing (TD) controls. We compared the distribution of the ASD and TD groups' volumes in CAPs as well as their voxel‐wise means. For simplification purposes, we conducted a group independent component analysis to extract 14 major RSNs. The RSNs' average z‐scores enabled us to meaningfully regroup the RSNs and estimate the percentage of voxels within each RSN for which there was a significant group difference. These results were jointly interpreted to find global group‐specific patterns. Results We found similar brain state proportions in 58 CAPs (clustering interval from 2 to 30). However, in many CAPs, the voxel‐wise means differed significantly within a matrix of 14 RSNs. The rest‐activated default mode‐positive and default mode‐negative brain state properties vary considerably in both groups over time. This division was seen clearly when the volumes were partitioned into two CAPs and then further examined along the HC dendrogram of the diversifying brain CAPs. The ASD group network activations followed a more heterogeneous distribution and some networks maintained higher baselines; throughout the brain deactivation state, the ASD participants had reduced deactivation in 12/14 networks. During default mode‐negative CAPs, the ASD group showed simultaneous visual network and either dorsal attention or default mode network overactivation. Conclusion Nonsequential volume gathering into CAPs and the comparison of voxel‐wise signal changes provide a complementary perspective to connectivity and an alternative to sliding window analysis.

Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with higher body mass index (BMI), diabetes, older age and male gender, which are all risk factors for severe COVID-19.We aimed to study if OSA is an independent risk factor for COVID-19 infection or for severe COVID-19.Methods OSA diagnosis and COVID-19 infection were extracted from the hospital discharge, causes of death and infectious diseases registries in individuals who participated in the FinnGen study (n=260 405). Severe COVID-19 was defined as COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine association. Comorbidities for either COVID-19 or OSA were selected as covariates. We performed a meta-analysis with previous studies.Results We identified 445 individuals with COVID-19, and 38 (8.5%) of them with OSA of whom 19 out of 91 (20.9%) were hospitalised. OSA associated with COVID-19 hospitalisation independent from age, sex, BMI and comorbidities (p-unadjusted=5.13×10−5, OR-adjusted=2.93 (95% CI 1.02 to 8.39), p-adjusted=0.045). OSA was not associated with the risk of contracting COVID-19 (p=0.25). A meta-analysis of OSA and severe COVID-19 showed association across 15 835 COVID-19 positive controls, and n=1294 patients with OSA with severe COVID-19 (OR=2.37 (95% 1.14 to 4.95), p=0.021).Conclusion Risk for contracting COVID-19 was the same for patients with OSA and those without OSA. In contrast, among COVID-19 positive patients, OSA was associated with higher risk for hospitalisation. Our findings are in line with earlier works and suggest OSA as an independent risk factor for severe COVID-19.

A system that can fly off and touches down to execute particular tasks is a flying robot. Nowadays, these flying robots are capable of flying without human control and make decisions according to the situation with the help of onboard sensors and controllers. Among flying robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are highly attractive and applicable for military and civilian purposes. These applications require motion planning of UAVs along with collision avoidance protocols to get better robustness and a faster convergence rate to meet the target. Further, the optimization algorithm improves the performance of the system and minimizes the convergence error. In this survey, diverse scholarly articles were gathered to highlight the motion planning for UAVs that use bio-inspired algorithms. This study will assist researchers in understanding the latest work done in the motion planning of UAVs through various optimization techniques. Moreover, this review presents the contributions and limitations of every article to show the effectiveness of the proposed work.

In this study, we investigate the sputtering yield of tungsten surfaces by energetic particles, focusing on the effect of surface orientation and the incoming irradiation angle, by means of molecular dynamics. We develop a simulation approach to simulate sputtering from completely random surface orientations. This allows obtaining the sputtering yields averaged over a sufficiently large number of orientations, to obtain statistically significant yields representative of a polycrystalline sample with random grain orientations. We find that the total sputtering yield is dependent on the surface orientation, and that the results for random surfaces are clearly different from that of any of the low-index ones or their average. The different low index surfaces and the random surfaces also showed that the sputtering yield is dependent on the incoming angle of the ion. The outgoing angle of the sputtered tungsten atoms was observed to be very sensitive to the surface orientation. Different features on the tungsten surface were observed to drastically affect the sputtering yield at certain angles. Keywords: Sputtering, Tungsten, Irradiation, Helium, Argon

High quality is organizations’ competitive advantage. It is beneficial to base this on professional approach, and basic concepts and definitions with scientific foundation. The necessary main concepts consist of quality, quality management, quality improvement and quality assurance. Organizations’ top management is responsible of the quality management decisions and implementations. The present practical situation is fragmented and the implementations are most often based on the instrumental means of the different methodological schools, which is confusing and detrimental to the understanding and usefulness of the concept of quality management. It is not beneficial to build a special system for quality management by only following the requirements of the general standard. This cannot ensure competitive business advantage. In this article, we present an alternative approach that is a natural practical way to realize quality management as the teleological solution, Quality Integration, in which the general and specific quality concepts, principles and methodology are embedded within the normal business management activities. Our Quality Integration is based on the thinking of organizational learning. Its framework covers both running the current business and improving the overall business performance. This model has been used as the thinking framework in practical organizational cases since 1990’s. As the business circumstances change constantly, the organization must be constantly ready to renew through both small and radical changes. This change also receives resistance, and the development takes place according to a multi-phase process towards the new integration and requires a proper recognition and decisions. Principles of the organizational learning can help organizations in a consistent way. Evaluation of the overall organizational performance is an important quality management practice and should take into account performance enablers (processes) and also the results obtained thereof. In our approach, the evaluation criteria emphasize organizational learning and integration. The external context of the organization has a crucial role in achieving and developing the business objectives. The organization’s strategy can no longer be based on the value chains but on finding ways to alter them radically through value networking. The organization is influenced by the true and all-inclusive reality, which differs from the apparent reality perceived by the senses, and which is only revealed through consciousness. Understanding this reinforces awareness and trust that are important factors also in quality management and quality assurance.

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emitted by terrestrial vegetation participate in a diversity of natural processes. These compounds impact both short-range processes, such as on plant protection and communication, and long-range processes, for example by participating in aerosol particle formation and growth. The biodiversity of plant species around the Earth, the vast assortment of emitted BVOCs, and their trace atmospheric concentrations contribute to the substantial remaining uncertainties about the effects of these compounds on atmospheric chemistry and physics, and call for the development of novel collection devices that can offer portability with improved selectivity and capacity. In this study, a novel solid-phase microextraction (SPME) Arrow sampling system was used for the static and dynamic collection of BVOCs from a boreal forest, and samples were subsequently analyzed on site by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This system offers higher sampling capacity and improved robustness when compared to traditional equilibrium-based SPME techniques, such as SPME fibers. Field measurements were performed in summer 2017 at the Station for Measuring Ecosystem–Atmosphere Relations (SMEAR II) in Hyytiälä, Finland. Complementary laboratory tests were also performed to compare the SPME-based techniques under controlled experimental conditions and to evaluate the effect of temperature and relative humidity on their extraction performance. The most abundant monoterpenes and aldehydes were successfully collected. A significant improvement on sampling capacity was observed with the new SPME Arrow system over SPME fibers, with collected amounts being approximately 2 × higher for monoterpenes and 7–8 × higher for aldehydes. BVOC species exhibited different affinities for the type of sorbent materials used (polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)–carbon wide range (WR) vs. PDMS–divinylbenzene (DVB)). Higher extraction efficiencies were obtained with dynamic collection prior to equilibrium regime, but this benefit during the field measurements was small, probably due to the natural agitation provided by the wind. An increase in temperature and relative humidity caused a decrease in the amounts of analytes extracted under controlled experimental conditions, even though the effect was more significant for PDMS–carbon WR than for PDMS–DVB. Overall, results demonstrated the benefits and challenges of using SPME Arrow for the sampling of BVOCs in the atmosphere.

Abstract Advanced structural characterisation techniques which are rapid to use, non-destructive and structurally definitive on the nanoscale are in demand, especially for a detailed understanding of extended-defects and their influence on the properties of materials. We have applied the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique in a scanning electron microscope to non-destructively characterise and quantify antiphase domains (APDs) in GaP thin films grown on different (001) Si substrates with different offcuts. We were able to image and quantify APDs by relating the asymmetrical intensity distributions observed in the EBSD patterns acquired experimentally and comparing the same with the dynamical electron diffraction simulations. Additionally mean angular error maps were also plotted using automated cross-correlation based approaches to image APDs. Samples grown on substrates with a 4° offcut from the [110] do not show any APDs, whereas samples grown on the exactly oriented substrates contain APDs. The procedures described in our work can be adopted for characterising a wide range of other material systems possessing non-centrosymmetric point groups.

مطالعه­ فونستیک زنبورهای زیرخانواده­ Banchinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) در جنوب استان کرمان، در سال­های 1393 و 1394 با استفاده از 8 تله­ مالیز در شهرستان­های جیرفت و فاریاب انجام شد. سه گونه از این زیرخانواده به نام­های Exetastes adperssorius (Thunberg, 1824)، Lissonota pleuralis Brischke, 1880 و Syzeuctus irrisorius (Rossi, 1794) جمع­آوری و شناسائی گردیدند. گونه­ L. pleuralis برای استان کرمان و جنس و گونه­ S. irrisorius، برای فون ایران گزارش جدید می­باشند.

Atomically thin black phosphorus shows promise for optoelectronics and photonics, yet its instability under environmental conditions and the lack of well-established large-area synthesis protocols hinder its applications. Here, the authors demonstrate a stable black phosphorus ink suitable for printed ultrafast lasers and photodetectors.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, leading to loss of cognition, and eventually death. The disease is characterized by the formation of extracellular aggregates of the amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide and neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein inside cells, and oxidative stress. In this study, we investigate a series of Ru(III) complexes (Ru-N) derived from NAMI-A in which the imidazole ligand has been substituted for pyridine derivatives, as potential therapeutics for AD. The ability of the Ru-N series to bind to Aβ was evaluated by NMR and ESI-MS, and their influence on the Aβ peptide aggregation process was investigated via electrophoresis gel/western blot, TEM, turbidity, and Bradford assays. The complexes were shown to bind covalently to the Aβ peptide, likely via a His residue. Upon binding, the complexes promote the formation of soluble high molecular weight aggregates, in comparison to peptide precipitation for peptide alone. In addition, TEM analysis supports both amorphous and fibrillar aggregate morphology for Ru-N treatments, while only large amorphous aggregates are observed for peptide alone. Overall, our results show that the Ru-N complexes modulate Aβ peptide aggregation, however, the change in the size of the pyridine ligand does not substantially alter the Aβ aggregation process.

Crayfish plague, caused by the pathogen Aphanomyces astaci, is one of the main factors responsible for the decimation of the native European crayfish species Austropotamobius pallipes. In Spain, two North American freshwater crayfish species, Procambarus clarkii and Pacifastacus leniusculus, were intentionally introduced during the 1970s for aquaculture and fishery purposes. Since then, incidences of crayfish plague have been continually reported. In this work, we evaluated more than 50 diagnosed cases of crayfish plague that have occurred in the Iberian Peninsula since 2004 by performing a microscopic examination of infected specimens and by molecularly identifying and haplotyping the pathogen. Our results showed that (i) the pathogen A. astaci has been active 45 years since the first introductions of the invasive North American crayfish species in the Iberian Peninsula, and (ii) P. clarkii and P. leniusculus are chronic reservoirs of the crayfish plague pathogen. Moreover, our data confirmed a correspondence between pathogen origin and spread and the specific haplotypes carried by the North American invasive crayfish located in the vicinity of each outbreak. We generated a crayfish plague incidence map of the Iberian Peninsula that shows (i) a northern area, mainly inhabited by alien P. leniusculus, where crayfish plague cases are associated with the b-haplotype specific to P. leniusculus, and (ii) southern, central and eastern areas that are basically inhabited by alien P. clarkii, where crayfish plague cases are associated with the d1- and d2-haplotypes specific to P. clarkii. The results presented here are evidence of the long standing and negative impact of the two invasive crayfish species on the native species, indicating the need for more extensive control measures.

The dissemination of disinformation and fabricated content on social media is growing. Yet little is known of what the functional Twitter data analysis methods are for languages (such as Finnish) that include word formation with endings and word stems together with derivation and compounding. Furthermore, there is a need to understand which themes linked with misinformation—and the concepts related to it—manifest in different countries and language areas in Twitter discourse. To address this issue, this study explores misinformation and its related concepts: disinformation, fake news, and propaganda in Finnish language tweets. We utilized (1) word cloud clustering, (2) topic modeling, and (3) word count analysis and clustering to detect and analyze misinformation-related concepts and themes connected to those concepts in Finnish language Twitter discussions. Our results are two-fold: (1) those concerning the functional data analysis methods and (2) those about the themes connected in discourse to the misinformation-related concepts. We noticed that each utilized method individually has critical limitations, especially all the automated analysis methods processing for the Finnish language, yet when combined they bring value to the analysis. Moreover, we discovered that politics, both internal and external, are prominent in the Twitter discussions in connection with misinformation and its related concepts of disinformation, fake news, and propaganda.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play a key role in atmospheric chemistry and physics. They participate in photochemical reactions in the atmosphere, which have direct implications on climate through, e.g. aerosol particle formation. Forests are important sources of VOCs, and the limited resources and infrastructures often found in many remote environments call for the development of portable devices. In this research, the potential of needle trap microextraction and portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the study of VOCs at forest site was evaluated. Measurements were performed in summer and autumn 2014 at the Station for Measuring Ecosystem-Atmosphere Relations (SMEAR II) in Hyytiälä, Finland. During the first part of the campaign (summer) the applicability of the developed method was tested for the determination of monoterpenes, pinonaldehyde, aldehydes, amines and anthropogenic compounds. The temporal variation of aerosol precursors was determined, and evaluated against temperature and aerosol number concentration data. The most abundant monoterpenes, pinonaldehyde and aldehydes were successfully measured, their relative amounts being lower during days when particle number concentration was higher. Ethylbenzene, p- and m-xylene were also found when wind direction was from cities with substantial anthropogenic activity. An accumulation of VOCs in the snow cover was observed in the autumn campaign. Results demonstrated the successful applicability of needle trap microextraction and portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the rapid in situ determination of organic gaseous compounds in the atmosphere.

A survey was conducted to study the fauna of the subfamily Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in southern Iranian provinces of Fars and Hormozgan. The specimens were collected using Malaise traps, light traps and sweep nets from a variety different habitats between 2011 and 2013. A total of twelve species of three genera (Enicospilus Stephens; Ophion Fabricius and Eremotylus Forster) were identified, of which the five species Enicospilus flavocephalus (Kirby), E. merdarius (Holmgren), E. monostigmata (Vollenhoven), E. ramidulus (L.) and Eremotylus sibiricus Szépligeti are newly recorded from Iran. This work raise the number of ophionines of Iran to 26 species and four genera. A key to the Iranian genera and species of Ophioninae is provided.

Background: Previous studies investigating neuropsychological functioning of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have only analysed certain abilities, such as executive functions or language. While comprehensive assessment of the neuropsychological profile of children with ASD has been the focus of recent research, most of the published evidence originates from single centres. Though studies on differences in neuropsychological features of children with ASD across countries are essential for identifying different phenotypes of ASD, such studies have not been conducted. Objective: Our goal was to assess the neuropsychological abilities of children with ASD in northern Finland and Egypt and to examine the effect of age and intelligence quotient (IQ) on these abilities. Design: Selected verbal and non-verbal subtests of the neuropsychological assessment NEPSY were used to examine 88 children with ASD in northern Finland (n=54, age M=11.2, IQ M=117.1) and Egypt (n=34, age M=8.4, IQ M=96.6). Results: Finnish ASD children scored significantly higher than their Egyptian counterparts on the verbal NEPSY subtests Comprehension of Instructions (p

The narrow-clawed crayfish (Pontastacus leptodactylus) is an alien species in Finland with only a few populations reported from the southeastern region during the last century. We discovered a productive population in the lake Jängynjärvi, which is upstream from the previously reported wild narrow-clawed crayfish population in that region. Preliminary studies indicated that this population is not infected with Aphanomyces astaci. We collected narrow-clawed crayfish samples from the lake Jängynjärvi population for both infection challenge and genetic studies, in order to investigate possible A. astaci resistance among this Finnish population and to evaluate their phylogenetic position that would enable us to speculate different scenarios of distribution pathways or origin of the population. The infection studies indicated that the narrow-clawed crayfish in this population were more resistant against A. astaci infection (B haplogroup A. astaci) compared to the noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) from the lake Rytky in North Savo, while all crayfish of both species in the B haplogroup A. astaci challenged groups died within 58 days post-infection. Results of the phylogenetic reconstruction indicate that the lake Jängynjärvi narrow-clawed crayfish are closely related to narrow-clawed crayfish from the lake Bolshoye near Krasnoye, located on the White Sea island of Solovestky and also populations from Tyumen region, both in Russia. This could confirm previous speculations about introduction of the narrow-clawed crayfish from Russia into Finland or could indicate previous hydrological connection.

Virtual Forest is a web-based, open-access learning environment about forests designed for primary-school pupils between the ages of 10 and 13 years. It is pedagogically designed to develop an understanding of ecology, to enhance conceptual development and to give a holistic view of forest ecosystems. Various learning tools, such as concept maps, activating questions, self-assessment, and other exercises, can be implemented to achieve these goals. The information is presented using the capabilities of hypermedia. The interactive systematic wholeness of nature is presented for the learners, within the context of a forest ecosystem and with examples of a few core ecological phenomena, including the cycling of matter, the flow of energy and population dynamics. The e-learning environment is designed to be used for blended learning, together with face-to-face instruction. Virtual Forest is about Finnish forests, but the pedagogical framework can be adapted for biological education in general.

PURPOSE:Long-term side effects of the treatments are common in survivors of irradiated pediatric brain tumors. Ionizing radiation in combination with surgery and chemotherapy during childhood may reduce vertebral height and bone mineral density (BMD), and cause growth failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the late consequences of tumor treatments on vertebrae in survivors of childhood brain tumors. METHODS:72 adult survivors (mean age 27.8 years, standard deviation 6.7) of irradiated childhood brain tumor were studied by spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for vertebral abnormalities from the national cohort of Finland. Patients were treated in five university hospitals in Finland between the years 1970 and 2008. Subject height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The morphology and height/depth ratio of the vertebrae in the middle of the kyphotic thoracic curvature (Th8) and lumbar lordosis (L3) were examined. Vertebrae were analyzed by Genant's semiquantative (SQ) method and spinal deformity index (SDI) was calculated. BMD was measured by using dual X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS:4.2% (3/72) of the patients had undiagnosed asymptomatic vertebral fracture and 5.6% (4/72) of patients had radiation-induced decreased vertebral body height. Male patients had flatter vertebrae compared with females. Patient age at the time of irradiation, BMI and irradiation area correlated to vertebral morphology differentially in males and females. BMD had no association with the vertebral shape. Patients who had received craniospinal irradiation were shorter than the general population. CONCLUSION:Childhood brain tumor survivors had a high number of vertebral abnormalities in young adulthood. Irradiation was associated with abnormal vertebral morphology and compromised final height. Male gender may predispose vertebrae to the side effects of irradiation.

Emerging interest in psychological ownership in the domain of marketing calls for better understanding of situations wherein the customers are also the owners of the company. Accordingly, psychological ownership has been proposed to capture the intimate link between customer-owners and the cooperative. However, empirical research has found a diluted relationship between customer-owners and cooperatives in practice. The paper examines empirical data from customer-owners of a Finnish retail cooperative for insight into the factors that prevent feelings of psychological ownership from emerging. By means of thematic analysis, the study identified nine challenges and several distinct reasons for them.

Global introductions of aquatic species and their associated pathogens are threatening worldwide biodiversity. The introduction of two North American crayfish species, Procambarus clarkii and Pacifastacus leniusculus, into Japan in 1927 seems to have negatively affected native Japanese crayfish populations of Cambaroides japonicus. Several studies have shown the decline of these native populations due to competition, predation and habitat colonization by the two invasive North American crayfish species. Here, we identify an additional factor contributing to this decline. We report the first crayfish plague outbreaks in C. japonicus populations in Japan, which were diagnosed using both histological and molecular approaches (analyses of the internal transcribed spacer region). Subsequent analyses of the mitochondrial ribosomal rnnS and rnnL regions of diseased specimens indicate that these outbreaks originated from a P. clarkii population and identify a novel haplotype of Aphanomyces astaci, d3-haplotype, hosted by P. clarkii. Overall, our findings demonstrate the first two cases of crayfish plague in Japan, and the first case in a non-European native crayfish species, which originated from the red swamp crayfish P. clarkii. This finding is a matter of concern for the conservation of the native freshwater species of Japan and also highlights the risk of introducing crayfish carrier species into biogeographic regions harboring species susceptible to the crayfish plague.