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Recent studies have highlighted the importance of ordinality skills in early numerical development. Here, we investigate individual differences in ordering sets of items and suggest that children might also differ in their tendency to spontaneously recognize and use numerical order in everyday situations. This study investigated the individual differences in 3- to 4-year-old children's tendency to spontaneously focus on numerical order (SFONO), and their association with early numerical skills. One hundred fifty children were presented with three SFONO tasks designed as play-like activities, where numerical order was one aspect that could be focused on. In addition, the children were administered tasks addressing spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), numerical ordering, cardinality recognition, and number sequence production. Our results showed that children had substantial individual differences in all measures, including SFONO tendency. Children's SFONO tendency was associated with their early numerical skills. To further investigate the association between SFONO tendency and numerical ordering skills, a hierarchical regression was conducted for a group of children who could successfully order sets from one to three at a minimum and were regarded as likely having the requisite skills to spontaneously focus on numerical order. The findings reveal that SFONO tendency had a unique contribution to children's numerical ordering skills, even after controlling for age, cardinality recognition, and number sequence production. The results suggest that SFONO tendency potentially plays a relevant role in children's numerical development.

In the process of learning, assessment is relevant from multiple perspectives. Learning assessment guides student learning and teaching either knowingly or unconsciously. This study takes a closer look at the meanings given to online assessment by academic adult students and how they experience different assessment feedback. The study was conducted as a qualitative online survey for adult students (N=35). Adult students valued assessment feedback and their perceptions about assessment were mainly traditional. They considered assessment feedback as truthful and used self-assessment as a natural part of their own learning process. They did not experience the peer-assessment of their own learning as central or reliable. Written teacher assessment feedback on whether the content to learn was understood correctly was central from students' point of view. New forms of assessment and assessment such as group-peer feedback or teacher asynchronous voice feedback were perceived as interesting novelties. According to the results of this study, the objectives of learning assessment should be clear and shared with the students. The continuous nature of the sustainable learning process emphasizes the versatility of assessment as a natural part of e-learning. Versatile online assessment practices will play an important role in strengthening student agency and ownership of their own learning in the future of digitally-enhanced higher education.

Strengthening the agency of higher education students is one of the key objectives of higher education. Research has shown that the agency of higher education students can be significantly strengthened through different types of assessment feedback practices. However, the role of assessment feedback in strengthening the students agency is not fully understood in practice. While formative, student-centred feedback practices are becoming more common, summative, end-of-course, teacher-centred feedback practices are still prevalent in higher education. This study seeks to address the research gap of how university students perceive their agency to be constructed in the context of teacher-centred summative written and audio feedback. From these premises, the research question was designed: what kind of agency emerges from students' experiences of summative assessment feedback? The study was conducted as a qualitative online survey for university students (N=35) in Finland. The data was analyzed by means of qualitative systematic data driven content analysis. According to the results, students perceive the summative assessment feedback they receive from their teachers as a reflection of their own agency and how it is shaped. In the light of the assessment practices examined, students' agency was found to be reflexive, contradictory and incomplete. The results show that the recognition of the relationship between student agency and assessment feedback in higher education is important but still less well recognised. The results of this study are relevant for the development of assessment feedback practices that sustainably promote the construction of student agency in the context of lifelong learning and digitalisation of teaching in higher education.

The number of immigrant students in Finland is increasing; thus, this qualitative case study investigates ways of providing targeted support measures for recently arrived Finnish language learners (RAFLLs) in Finnish lower secondary education. Focusing on linguistic responsiveness, the teaching arrangements and support measures are examined not only from a teacher perspective but also from the perspectives of municipality- and national-level actors by utilizing ecological systems theory. The findings revealed two themes, sustainability and holistic linguistic responsiveness, that reflect the core issues of the current challenges related to organizing teaching and support measures for RAFLLs. Sustainable support measures should be developed on and between all ecosystemic levels. Furthermore, measures for supporting RAFLLs must be developed with an all-encompassing linguistically responsive approach (LRA). The development processes require a more coherent dialogue between the schools, the municipalities, and the national-level actors.

This longitudinal multiple case study explores children's transitions within early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland. In ECEC children typically transition from one group or center to another. This study explores how physical, social and philosophical discontinuities and continuities constitute these transitions. Five focus children's transitions were followed in and between separate ECEC centers. The data include interviews with parents and educators as well as observations noted. Fabian's discontinuity division, which argues that transition consists of physical, social, and philosophical discontinuities, was used for content analysis of interviews as primary data. Interpretations were reflected on and supplemented with fieldnotes as secondary data. Analysis demonstrated that children's transitions in ECEC comprise various permutations of discontinuities and continuities. Based on our findings, we suggest that the dis-/continuities in children's daily lives should be considered when identifying and planning transitions as well as in planning ECEC centers' operation and grouping structures.

We examined Finnish pre-service primary school teachers' understandings of the role of language(s) in learning mathematics and how these understandings developed during a period of teaching practice. We also examined how the participants experienced the usefulness of the ready-made multilingual digital material "Binogi" and how the teaching practice period influenced their thoughts on multilingual pedagogies. Our results indicate that the teacher training period increased awareness of linguistic challenges and of the importance of students' L1s in learning. However, some participants' views reflected monolingual ideologies, especially regarding the conditional use of L1s. Regarding linguistic support, the participants reported using visual supports and explaining vocabulary and structures. Although many participants perceived "Binogi" as beneficial and motivating, less than half used it. Some participants emphasised that the practice period reinforced their understanding of the importance of multilingual pedagogies. It is important to critically reflect on the language policies and practices of Finnish teacher education and support the dialogue between research and practice regarding a shared understanding of valuing linguistic diversity in teacher education.

BACKGROUND: Schools play a significant role in adolescent sexual health (SH) promotion. Although adolescents' SH has improved, growing challenges still exist in some areas. Previous studies have noted a lack of knowledge about SH promotion implementation in school environments. The purpose of this review is to describe the contents, methods, and outcomes of adolescent SH promotion in school environments. METHODS: Three databases (Cinahl, ERIC, Medline) were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in 2011 to 2022, to identify SH promotion in school environments for adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old. After critical appraisal, inductive content analysis was conducted. RESULTS: After screening, 25 studies from 8 countries were included. Sexually transmitted diseases and contraception were emphasized in the contents of the methods. Five SH promotion methods were identified: traditional, virtual, interactive, practical skills supporting, and creative. The outcomes were advancement in SH abilities, changes in sexual behavior, and the strengthening of sexual identity. CONCLUSIONS: The contents mostly considered negative consequences of sexual behavior, whereas positive aspects were less discussed. Traditional methods were emphasized, yet positive outcomes were identified regardless of the method. SH promotion should aim to better support adolescents' sexual identity reinforcement.

To retrieve columnar intensive aerosol properties from sun–sky photometers, both irradiance and radiance calibration factors are needed. For the irradiance the solar calibration constant, V0, which denotes the instrument counts for a direct normal solar flux extrapolated to the top of the atmosphere, must be determined. The solid view angle, SVA, is a measure of the field of view of the instrument, and it is important for obtaining the radiance from sky diffuse irradiance measurements. Each of the three sun-photometer networks considered in the present study (SKYNET, AERONET, WMO GAW) adopts different protocols of calibration, and we evaluate the performance of the on-site calibration procedures, applicable to every kind of sun–sky photometer but tested in this analysis only on SKYNET Prede POM01 instruments, during intercomparison campaigns and laboratory calibrations held in the framework of the Metrology for Aerosol Optical Properties (MAPP) European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) project. The on-site calibration, performed as frequently as possible (ideally monthly) to monitor changes in the device conditions, allows operators to track and evaluate the calibration status on a continuous basis, considerably reducing the data gaps incurred by the periodic shipments for performing centralized calibrations. The performance of the on-site calibration procedures for V0 was very good at sites with low turbidity, showing agreement with a reference calibration between 0.5 % and 1.5 % depending on wavelengths. In the urban area, the agreement decreases between 1.7 % and 2.5 %. For the SVA the difference varied from a minimum of 0.03 % to a maximum of 3.46 %.

Objectives: Given that pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic hypertension (CTEPH) are rare yet severe subtypes of pulmonary hypertension significantly impacting patients’ lives, this study analyzed the total societal costs of these conditions in Finland. Methods: PAH (n = 247) and CTEPH (n = 177) patients diagnosed between 2008 and 2019 were analyzed for primary and specialty outpatient visits, emergency visits, hospitalizations, home and institutional care, sick leaves, disability pensions, and drug costs for 5 years before and after diagnosis. Results: In PAH and CTEPH, annual specialty care number of outpatient visits increased from 3.8 and 3.3 (5 years before diagnosis) to 13.8 and 9.5 one-year post-diagnosis, then decreased to 9.2 and 4.0 at 5 years post-diagnosis. Annual inpatient days rose from 2.8 and 2.7 to 16.1 and 19.7 pre-diagnosis, then fell to 10.2 and 3.5 post-diagnosis, respectively. Within 5 years post-diagnosis, in working-age 70 % PAH and 42 % CTEPH patients received disability pensions. Drug therapy accounted for most costs (67 % in PAH and 60 % in CTEPH), followed by inpatient care, disability pensions, and outpatient care. Total costs were significantly lower for CTEPH, especially after pulmonary endarterectomy. Among PAH subtypes, the highest costs were in patients with PAH associated with connective tissue diseases. Conclusions: PAH and CTEPH cause a significant economic burden on patients and society with considerable differences depending on the PAH subtype and whether the patient has undergone PEA operation or not.

The aim of the article is to explore the tensions and dilemmas that arise when bottom-up projects involving young people are placed within policy- and administratively driven institutions. The tensions and dilemmas are illustrated through three cases. The first case illustrates the colliding interests that can arise when institutions seem unable to create space for ideas from youth projects, while the second shows how bottom-up work is subordinated to policy priorities and high-level management anxieties. The third case illustrates the difficulties that arise when youth projects aiming at doing transformative and educative work collide with formal mechanisms of the legal system. The tensions and dilemmas at play are analysed through the concepts of disciplinary and project logic. The article concludes with a discussion of power relations, ownership, and control connected to youth projects and participation.

BackgroundBurdening health and illness issues such as physical or mental illnesses, accidents, disabilities, and life events such as birth or death influence the health and functioning of families and contribute to the complexity of care and health care costs. Considerable research has confirmed the benefits of a family systems–centered care approach for patients, family caregivers, families, and health care professionals. However, health care professionals face barriers in working with families, such as feeling unprepared. Family systems–centered therapeutic conversations support families’ day-to-day coping, resilience, and health. A family systems care unit (FSCU) was recently established as a real-life laboratory at one of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences. In this unit, health care professionals offer therapeutic conversations to families and individual family members to support daily symptom management and functioning, soften suffering, and increase health and well-being. These conversations are observed in real time through a 1-way window by other health care professionals, students, and trainees and are recorded with video for research and education. Little is known about how therapeutic conversations contribute to meaningful changes in burdened families and the benefits of vicarious learning in a real-life laboratory setting for family systems care. ObjectiveIn this research program, we aim to deepen our understanding of how therapeutic conversations support families and individuals experiencing burdening health and illness issues and how the FSCU laboratory setting supports the learning of students, clinical trainees, and health care professionals. MethodsHere we apply a transformational action research design, including parallel and subsequent substudies, to advance knowledge and practice in family systems care. Qualitative multiple-case study designs will be used to explore the benefits of therapeutic conversations by analyzing recordings of the therapeutic conversations. The learning processes of students, trainees, and professionals will be investigated with descriptive qualitative study designs based on single and focus group interviews. The data will be analyzed with established coding methods. ResultsTherapeutic conversations have been investigated in 3 single-case studies, each involving a sequence of 3 therapeutic conversation units. Data collection regarding the second research question is planned. ConclusionsPreliminary results confirm the therapeutic conversations to support families’ coping. This renders the FSCU a setting for ethically sensitive research. This program will not only support the health and well-being of families, but also contribute to relieving the financial and workforce burdens in the health and social care system. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/53090

Abstract Background In familial pulmonary fibrosis (FPF) at least two biological relatives are affected. Patients with FPF have diverse clinical features. Research question We aimed to characterize demographic and clinical features, re-evaluate high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans and histopathology of surgical lung biopsies, assess survival and investigate the suitability of risk prediction models for FPF patients. Study design A retrospective cohort study. Methods FPF data (n = 68) were collected from the medical records of Oulu University Hospital (OUH) and Oulaskangas District Hospital between 1 Jan 2000 and 11 Jan 2023. The inclusion criterion was pulmonary fibrosis (PF) (ICD 10-code J84.X) and at least one self-reported relative with PF. Clinical information was gathered from hospital medical records. HRCT scans and histology were re-evaluated. Results Thirty-seven (54.4%) of the patients were men, and 31 (45.6%) were women. The mean ages of the women and men were 68.6 and 61.7 years, respectively (p = 0.003). Thirty-seven (54.4%) patients were nonsmokers. The most common radiological patterns were usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) (51/75.0%), unclassifiable (8/11.8%) and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) (3/4.4%). Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) was observed as a single or combined pattern in 13.2% of the patients. According to the 2022 guidelines for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), the patients were categorized as UIP (31/45.6%), probable UIP (20/29.4%), indeterminate for UIP (7/10.3%) or alternative diagnosis (10/14.7%). The histopathological patterns were UIP (7/41.2%), probable UIP (1/5.9%), indeterminate for UIP (8/47.2%) and alternative diagnosis (1/5.9%). Rare genetic variants were found in 9 patients; these included telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT, n = 6), telomerase RNA component (TERC, n = 2) and regulator of telomere elongation helicase 1 (RTEL1, n = 1). Half of the patients died (n = 29) or underwent lung transplantation (n = 5), with a median survival of 39.9 months. The risk prediction models composite physiology index (CPI), hazard ratio (HR) 1.07 (95.0% CI 1.04–1.10), and gender-age-physiology index (GAP) stage I predicted survival statistically significantly (p

Abstract Entropic forces have been argued to drive bacterial chromosome segregation during replication. In many bacterial species, however, specifically evolved mechanisms, such as loop-extruding SMC complexes and the ParABS origin segregation system, contribute to or are even required for chromosome segregation, suggesting that entropic forces alone may be insufficient. The interplay between and the relative contributions of these segregation mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we develop a biophysical model showing that purely entropic forces actually inhibit bacterial chromosome segregation until late replication stages. By contrast, our model reveals that loop-extruders loaded at the origins of replication, as observed in many bacterial species, alter the effective topology of the chromosome, thereby redirecting and enhancing entropic forces to enable accurate chromosome segregation during replication. We confirm our model predictions with polymer simulations: purely entropic forces do not allow for concurrent replication and segregation, whereas entropic forces steered by specifically loaded loop-extruders lead to robust, global chromosome segregation during replication. Finally, we show how loop-extruders can complement locally acting origin separation mechanisms, such as the ParABS system. Together, our results illustrate how changes in the geometry and topology of the polymer, induced by DNA-replication and loop-extrusion, impact the organization and segregation of bacterial chromosomes.

Abstract Background Parent and infant separation in the neonatal unit is associated with adverse health outcomes. Family-integrated care has several advantages and the potential to reduce these adverse outcomes but requires parental presence. This study aimed to explore the views of parents and neonatal healthcare professionals (nHCPs) on barriers and facilitators to parental presence in a Swiss neonatal unit and to identify possible differences between nHCPs and parents, and between mothers and fathers. Methods Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with parents and focus group discussions with nHCPs. Inductive content analysis was used to identify barriers and facilitators to parental presence in the neonatal unit. Results Twenty parents (10 mothers and 10 fathers) and 21 nHCPs (10 nurses and 11 physicians) participated in the study. Parents and nHCPs experienced barriers and facilitators related to: (1) Structural factors of the institution, such as infrastructure or travel and distance to the neonatal unit. (2) Organization and time management of parental presence, daily activities, and work. (3) Resources, which include factors related to the legal situation, support services, family, and friends. (4) Physical and psychological aspects, such as pain, which mainly affected mothers, and aspects of emotional distress, which affected both parents. Self-care was an important physical and psychological facilitator. (5) Parent-professional interaction. Parental presence was influenced by communication, relationship, and interaction in infant care; and (6) Cultural aspects and language. Some perspectives differed between mothers and fathers, while the overall views of parents and nHCPs provided complementary rather than conflicting insights. Using visit plans to support the organization, educating nHCPs in knowledge skills and available resources to improve encouragement and information to parents, strengthening parent self-care, and improving nHCPs’ attitudes towards parental presence were seen as possible improvements. Conclusions Multifactorial barriers and facilitators determine parental presence and experience in the neonatal unit. Parents and nHCPs made specific recommendations to improve parental presence.

ObjectivesTo assess the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and self-reported adherence to preventive measures in Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods4,299 participants from a digital cohort were followed between September 2020 and November 2021. Baseline equivalised disposable income and education were used as SES proxies. Adherence was assessed over time. We investigated the association between SES and adherence using multivariable mixed logistic regression, stratifying by age (below/above 65 years) and two periods (before/after June 2021, to account for changes in vaccine coverage and epidemiological situation).ResultsAdherence was high across all SES strata before June 2021. After, participants with higher equivalised disposable income were less likely to adhere to preventive measures compared to participants in the first (low) quartile [second (Adj.OR, 95% CI) (0.56, 0.37–0.85), third (0.38, 0.23–0.64), fourth (0.60, 0.36–0.98)]. We observed similar results for education.ConclusionNo differences by SES were found during the period with high SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates and stringent measures. Following the broad availability of vaccines, lower incidence, and eased measures, differences by SES started to emerge. Our study highlights the need for contextual interpretation when assessing SES impact on adherence to preventive measures.

This paper examines how worldviews and national values are displayed in the national (Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) curricula of Sweden, Finland and Norway. The specific interest is to investigate what similarities and differences there are between these three ECEC curricula with regard to the position of religions and other worldviews. ECEC is often the first societal arena for children to enter and to negotiate their personal values, worldviews, and memberships in relation to the values represented in the surrounding social context. Countries employ different policies for dealing with diversity. Home languages for example, are often supported whereas for home cultures and worldviews, the policies and practices are more varied across contexts. By utilising a curriculum analysis informed content analysis, this study examines the curricular ECEC framework in each country context, highlighting the displayed national value preferences connected to worldviews. The study shows that these three Nordic countries have both similarities but also significant differences in the ways in which they approach the interrelatedness of the aims of national values and worldview.

For an Indigenous population, there is a need for an inclusive educational space from the language and culture srevitalisation perspective. This is especially important during the early years when the basics of the language are formed alongside cultural knowledge. This paper takes a closer look at a South Sámi preschool language learning environment through the lenses of teachers. The South Sámi (South Saami) is the southernmost Sámi population, frequently described as a minority within the minority. The estimation for South Sámi speakers in Norway is around 300, making the language severely endangered This paper aims to take a closer look at how early childhood education teachers describe the South Sámi language learning space in their preschool environment. For this study, in total, three preschool teachers from a South Sámi preschool were interviewed. This textual data were analysed with content analysis. According to the results, the early childhood education in South Sámi context was seen as an important inclusive language and cultures revitalising space with a clear societal responsibility.

The concept of pedagogy is the key to understanding pedagogy in early childhood education (ECE) in the Nordic countries, which are known for their high quality of life and education. However, in ECE, there are several different approaches toward pedagogy and it can be said that pedagogy is a multidimensional and dynamic concept. In this paper, the different approaches to pedagogy are defined and reconceptualized through an integrative literature analysis focusing on scientific papers and research reports of the concept. Five approaches to pedagogy were constructed: pedagogy through interaction, pedagogy through scaffolding, pedagogy through didactics, pedagogy through expertise, and pedagogy through future orientation. The identified tensions and elements within the five approaches are presented. Finally, the shared elements among these pedagogical approaches are presented in a dynamic model.