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  • Anttonen, Jetro (2019)
    In this thesis, a conditional BVARX forecasting model for short and medium term economic forecasting is developed. The model is especially designed for small-open economies and its performance on forecasting several Finnish economic variables is assessed. Particular attention is directed to the hyperparameter choice of the model. A novel algorithm for hyperparameter choice is proposed and it is shown to outperform the marginal likelihood based approach often encountered in the literature. Other prominent features of the model include conditioning on predictive densities and exogeneity of the global economic variables. The model is shown to outperform univariate benchmark models in terms of forecasting accuracy for forecasting horizons up to eight quarters ahead.
  • Koppatz, Maximilian (2022)
    Automatic headline generation has the potential to significantly assist editors charged with head- lining articles. Approaches to automation in the headlining process can range from tools as creative aids, to complete end to end automation. The latter is difficult to achieve as journalistic require- ments imposed on headlines must be met with little room for error, with the requirements depending on the news brand in question. This thesis investigates automatic headline generation in the context of the Finnish newsroom. The primary question I seek to answer is how well the current state of text generation using deep neural language models can be applied to the headlining process in Finnish news media. To answer this, I have implemented and pre-trained a Finnish generative language model based on the Transformer architecture. I have fine-tuned this language model for headline generation as autoregression of headlines conditioned on the article text. I have designed and implemented a variation of the Diverse Beam Search algorithm, with additional parameters, to perform the headline generation in order to generate a diverse set of headlines for a given text. The evaluation of the generative capabilities of this system was done with real world usage in mind. I asked domain-experts in headlining to evaluate a generated set of text-headline pairs. The task was to accept or reject the individual headlines in key criteria. The responses of this survey were then quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Based on the analysis and feedback, this model can already be useful as a creative aid in the newsroom despite being far from ready for automation. I have identified concrete improvement directions based on the most common types of errors, and this provides interesting future work.
  • Mikkonen, Sampsa (2023)
    Orphan medicinal products (OMPs) are pharmaceuticals, that are utilized in the treatment of rare diseases. Rare diseases are diseases with a prevalence of at most five individuals out of 10 000. Clinical trials with statistically robust clinical data are challenging to conduct with rare diseases, since patient populations are small and the amount of trial subjects enrolling into these trials are usually scarce. Rare diseases also represent a variety of different diseases with divergent properties (5000-8000 identified). This presents challenges in health technology assessment (HTA) when reimbursements for these treatments are assessed and decided, especially when these treatments are usually considerably expensive and burdening to national health care systems. The main objectives for this study and master´s thesis was to research via interviews with experienced professionals from pharmaceutical industry and officials as how to define, monitor and assess the clinical effectiveness of OMP treatments, how to enhance their market access, and how to develop the current conditional reimbursement system in Finland. The interviewees (n=12) all represented from their respective backgrounds and introduced opinions from their own occupational positions and frameworks based on their professional experience. The study was executed as a qualitative study utilizing semi-structured interviews with predetermined questions and themes between 6th of April 2023 and 8th of June 2023. The interviewees were initially contacted via email and phone by one of this thesis supervisors from a professional pool of individuals identified using purposive sampling. The interview transcriptions were examined and analyzed using content analysis, and they were coded and grouped into themes. When inquired, the most common opinions regarding how to define and monitor clinical effectiveness of OMP treatments, the most common answers emphasized individual clinical assessment, real world data (RWD) collection, consideration of symptom control and overall quality of life, economic effectiveness, and clinical expert assessment. Market access of OMPs could be enhanced with more flexible and bold applications for negotiations and agreements, and a need for uniform, predictable MEA procedures, parameters for treatment discontinuation, outcomes-based models, and earlier proactive start for initial negotiations on behalf of the payer (society). The existing conditional reimbursement system might be developed with outcomes-based models, increased dialogue and trust between companies and officials within the realm of negotiations, uniform and predictable MEA procedures, and already established MEA negotiation frameworks to fast tract OMP market access. Development of the existing conditional reimbursement scheme, as well as objective to enhance market access environment in Finland could be accomplished by novel, flexible, patient specific, holistic and bold systems with an emphasis on systematic collection of RWD. Uniform and predictable MEA procedures with predetermined negotiation frameworks could bring value through faster market access and valuable predictability for pharmaceutical companies in their operations. Rapid market access of OMPs could be beneficial via clinical effectiveness of the treatments, as well as through collecting valuable clinical data from the medicinal products.
  • Grotell, Milo; de Miguel, Elena; Aaltio, Juho; Manner, Aino; Vahermo, Mikko; Yli-Kauhaluoma, Jari; Linden, Anni-Maija; Aitta-aho, Teemu; Korpi, Esa (2018)
    Johdanto: Gamma-aminovoihappo (GABA) on aivojen yleinen inhibitorinen välittäjäaine. A-tyypin GABA-reseptorit (GABAAR) ovat inotrooppisia ja koostuvat useista eri alayksiköistä. Hermoliitoksien ulkopuolella olevat GABAA-reseptorit sisältävät yleensä δ-alayksikön, joka on kohde muun muassa neuroaktiivisille steroideille. Näitä hermoliitoksen ulkopuolisia GABAA-reseptoreita on havaittu muiden alueiden ohella muun muassa ventraalisessa tegmentumissa (VTA), jossa ne säätelevät välillisesti alueella olevia mesokortikolimbisiä dopamiiniratoja. Näiden ratojen projektiot accumbens-tumakkeeseen ovat tärkeässä asemassa palkkiokäyttäytymisessä ja riippuvuuksien synnyssä. VTA:n hermoliitosten ulkopuolisten GABAA-reseptorien aktivaatio esimerkiksi neuroaktiivisella steroidilla, ganaksolonilla, ja GABA-kohdan aktivaattorilla, gaboksadolilla, aiheuttaa koe-eläinmalleissa välttämiskäyttäytymistä. Vastaavaa välttämiskäyttäytymistä ei synny, mikäli δ-alayksikön sisältävät GABAAR on geneettisesti poistettu. Muiden lääke- ja huumausaineiden kohdalla ei tällä hetkellä tiedetä, miten vähentynyt hermoliitoksen ulkopuolinen inhibitio vaikuttaa alueiden toimintaan. Materiaalit ja menetelmät: Tutkimusasetelmassa käytimme koe-eläinmallia, josta δ-alayksikkö oli poistettu (δ-KO). Käytimme ehdollistettua paikka -testiä määrittääksemme morfiinin, metamfetamiinin ja mefedronin palkitsevuutta. Lisäksi tutkimme morfiinin vaikutusta kivuntuntemukseen käyttäen hännänkohotuskoetta ja kuuma levy -koetta. Tulokset: Huomasimme, että δ-KO hiirillä ei synny morfiinin aiheuttamaa ehdollistumista paikkaan, mutta toisaalta nämä hiiret ovat herkempiä morfiinin aiheuttamalle kivunlievitykselle hännänkohotustestissä. Stimulanttien kohdalla emme havainneet, että δ-alayksikön puute aiheuttaisi erilaista ehdollistumisvastetta. Diskussio: Lisätutkimukset ovat tarpeellisia, jotta voidaan tutkia, voisiko δ-GABAA-reseptoriantagonisteilla olla suotuisia vaikutuksia morfiinin palkitsevuuden vähentämisessä ja samalla kivunlievityksen tehostamisessa.
  • Järvinen, Vili (2024)
    Työ käsittelee tunnettujen virtausdynamiikan yhtälöiden, Navier-Stokesin yhtälöiden ja Eulerin yhtälöiden välistä yhteyttä ja näiden ratkaisujen välisiä suppenemisehtoja. Työn ensimmäisessä kappaleessa esitellään työlle tärkeät perustiedot sisältäen esimerkiksi heikon derivaatan ja Sobolev-avaruuksien määritelmät ja useamman tärkeän funktioavaruuden ja jälkilauseiden määritelmät. Työn toinen kappale käsittelee tarkemmin Navier-Stokesin yhtälöitä ja Eulerin yhtälöitä. Kappaleessa esitellään ensin Navier-Stokesin yhtälöiden määritelmät ja sen jälkeen esitellään määritelmä ratkaisun olemassaololle. Kappaleen päätteeksi esitellään myös Eulerin yhtälön määritelmä. Neljännessä kappaleessa esitellään tutkielman pääaihe, eli Navier-Stokesin ja Eulerin yhtälöiden ratkaisujen välinen yhteys viskositeettitermin lähestyessä nollaa. Kappaleessa esitellään Tosio Katon tulos, jossa annetaan ekvivalentteja ehtoja sille, että Navier-Stokesin yhtälön heikko ratkaisu suppenee viskositeetin supetessa kohti Eulerin yhtälön ratkaisua. Tämä tulos todistetaan tutkiel- massa yksityiskohtaisesti. Lopuksi työn viimeisessä kappaleessa esitellään James. P. Kelliherin lisäykset Katon tuloksiin, jotka näyttävät, että Navier-Stokesin yhtälön ratkaisun u gradientti ∇u voidaan korvata ratkaisun u pyörteisyydellä ω(u). Kuten aiemmassa kappaleessa, niin myös tämä tulos esitellään yksityiskohtaisesti työssä. Työssä on vaadittu laajaa ymmärrystä monelta eri matematiikan osa-alueelta. Työn toinen kappale sisältää pitkälti analyysin metodeja sivuten muun muassa funktionaalianalyysiä ja funktioavaruuksien teoriaa. Kolmannessa ja neljännessä kappaleessa keskitytään pitkälti osittais- differentiaaliyhtälöiden teoriaan. Lisäksi työssä käsitellään laajalti myös reaalianalyysin aiheita. Päälähteinä työssä on käytetty Lawrence C. Evansin ”Partial Differential Equations” -teosta, Tosio Katon artikkelia ”Remarks on Zero Viscosity Limit” ja James P. Kelliherin artikkelia ”On Kato’s conditions for vanishing viscosity limit”.
  • Pulkkinen, Emma (2016)
    This thesis looks at the development of young Finns’ confidence in education between 1999 and 2013. The purpose of the thesis is to explore how economic turbulence in the form of booms and busts affects young people’s perceptions of the link between education and employability. The starting point of this research is the rapid expansion of education in Finland and its effects on the labour market. The average educational level of Finns has increased dramatically in a short period of time. Educational expansion has not only resulted in a better educated population, but has also had its effects on unemployment levels of the highly educated, as well as the number of individuals who are over-educated for their jobs. When the supply of educated labour has come to exceed the demand for it, education no longer guarantees a job, but is increasingly necessary to better position oneself on the labour market. Previous research in the field has largely focused on the link between educational credentials and employability, as well as youth transitions from education to the labour market. Such transitions from education to employment are often aided by work experience acquired during one’s studies. Furthermore, while education alone may no longer be enough for a smooth transition, those young people with higher levels of education are still better off than their less educated counterparts. This thesis will focus more on young people’s own perceptions of the relationship between education and employability rather than observing their school to work transitions. While youth expectations of the labour market are increasingly researched, this thesis offers a new perspective by introducing the concept of ’confidence in education’. Young people’s confidence in education is still very much under researched in the sociology of education as well as sociology of work. The data utilised in this study is a collection of Finnish Youth Barometers from 1999 (N=1251), 2007 (N=1903), and 2013 (N=1903). The Finnish Youth Barometer is an annual survey that collects data on young people’s attitudes and values. This research will utilise two survey questions regarding young people’s confidence in education. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are differences in how young people have responded to these questions in 1999, 2007, and 2013. In addition to the development of young people’s confidence in education over time, this thesis will also look at how one’s confidence level in education may depend on their age or primary activity. The methods include descriptive statistics for the chosen variables as well as the Kruskal-Wallis test, which is used to analyse between group differences. Results show that young Finns’ confidence in education follows the development of the Finnish economy. While confidence in education has remained at a high level between 1999 and 2013, there seem to be clear differences in the level of confidence when comparing times reflecting economic busts (1999 and 2013) with a time of economic prosperity (2007). Furthermore, there are also observable differences between young people in education and those who are in employment. Confidence in education is higher among young people who are still in education when compared to those in employment. This is reinforced by the result that confidence in education is higher among the younger age groups than the older ones; the younger age groups are more likely to still be in education, while the individuals in the older age groups are more likely to have already acquired some work experience. These results show that confidence in education is linked to developments in the economy: young Finns had higher confidence in education during the economic busts of the 1990s and the most recent economic and financial crisis that started in 2008. The fact that confidence in education is higher in times of economic turmoil signals that the value of education has not decreased as the average educational level has increased. In fact, education seems to maintain its value, especially during bad times. Educational credentials give an individual a competitive advantage in an overcrowded labour market where supply of labour exceeds demand. In addition, the fact that confidence levels are lower among those young people who are either already in employment, or have more likely already had work experience, signals that experienced realities of the labour market may not match with previous beliefs that education better’s one’s employability. More research is needed to better examine the reasons why confidence in education diminishes as a young person ages.
  • Elkin, Yury (2017)
    In this thesis we extend topological model of planar robotic hands emerging in the field of topological robotics. This research elaborates further recent works of Robert Ghrist and others. The main purpose of this thesis is to classify configuration spaces in terms of topological and algebraic invariants, which among others provides complexity estimates for potential optimization algorithms. The thesis is split into two parts. In the first part we investigate a robotic system consisting of a single hand which can occupy any position as long as it doesn't self-intersect. Using a new innovative representation of positions we are able to treat two basic movements of the robotic arm: the 'claw' and the 'swap' movements separately. The main appliance of this part is the nerve theorem, which helps to establish that under some restrictions the configuration space of such robotic hand has the homotopy type of S^1. In the second part we investigate systems consisting of multiple hands. This time we are dealing with hands limited to length one whose positions satisfy the two conditions: each pairwise hand trace intersection is contractible and the hand intersection graph is a forest. As the local main result we prove that the fundamental group of such robotic system is isomorphic to the Artin right-angeled group, where the set of generators is in bijection with the set of all hands and relations are determined by the intersection graph. The main tool exploited in this chapter is the Seifert-van Kampen theorem. Although the results are proven only for some special cases, the thesis introduces methodology that can drive their generalization further. In the final chapter we give a few sophisticated research directions.
  • Jin, Jiawei (2014)
    In user studies of human-computer interaction, experiments on new devices and techniques are often made on experiment software, which is developed separately for each device and technique. A systematic experimental platform, capable of running experiments on a number of technologies, would facilitate the design and implementation of such experiments. To do this, a configurable framework was created to allow relative pointing and absolute pointing input to be enhanced with adaptive pointing and smoothed pointing techniques. This thesis discusses both the internals of the framework as well as how a platform is developed based on the framework. Additionally, two calibration modules were designed to transform the relative pointing input to absolute pointing and obtain the necessary parameters which will be applied in smoothed pointing. As a part of the deployment, the experiment module was made to provide a platform which allowed the enhanced pointing experience to be evaluated and generated proper output according to the results of the experiment task. One key achievement presented in this thesis is that the relative pointing devices are integrable with adaptive pointing and smoothed pointing which support for absolute pointing devices in general. Another key result presented in this thesis is that the configurable framework based experimental platform provides proper functions which meet the demands of professional pointing evaluation. ACM Computing Classification System (CCS): I.4.1 [Digitization and Image Capture]: Camera calibration, I.4.3 [Enhancement]: Smoothing, I.4.8 [Scene Analysis]: Tracking
  • von Schöneman, Katja (2018)
    Details concerning the creation of the first woman are not described in the sacred book of Muslims, the Qurʾān. The best-known passage, usually understood as a description of the creation of the primeval couple, is in the beginning of Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, Chapter of women, which mentions people being created from a single soul, nafs wāḥida, from which God also created its mate, zawj. In early Islamic exegesis, tafsīr, this notion was elaborated and the nafs became understood as Adam (Ādam) and the zawj as Eve (Ḥawwāʾ), the latter being made from the former’s rib – thus, secondarily to him. This interpretation was most likely influenced by the religio-cultural milieu, particularly its Jewish and Christian traditions. The interpretive information further accumulated and transformed in medieval Qurʾānic commentaries, tafāsīr. The present study is designed to analyze the diachronic development of the discourse in medieval Sunnī tafāsīr on the passage “ẖalaqakum min nafsin wāḥidatin wa-ẖalaqa minhā zawjahā”, described above. The time frame of the study is from the late 9th to the 15th century, thus, concentrating on the classical period of the development of Islamic exegesis. Ten well-known exegetes and their tafāsīr were selected for the study. Their exegetic accounts regarding the passage of interest are analyzed with a theoretical framework of genealogical and critical linguistic analysis. The focus is on tracing the accumulation of potential misogynous elements in the overall style and content of exegeses on the creation of the first woman. In addition to obvious manifestations of gender hierarchy, the study aims at addressing some implicatures which are likely to contribute to the patriarchal ethos typical for many interpretative accounts. The passage of interest is understood as the creation of the primeval couple in all commentary accounts examined in the study. The concept of nafs wāḥida, single soul, is interpreted as the first man, Ādam, and the mate created form this soul, zawj, as Ḥawwāʾ. These elaborated exegetic suppositions on human creation are further strengthened throughout the classical period during which a conclusive command to keep women indoors is repeated time and again. Based on the analyses performed in the study, the diachronic development of medieval Sunnī exegesis can be divided into three consecutive discursive stages. The first stage is characterized by normativization of the concept so that nafs wāḥida, single soul, becomes established as Ādam and the mate created form this soul, zawj, as Ḥawwāʾ. The woman is interpreted being made from Ādam’s rib, adding details somewhat equivalent to the Biblical Garden narrative. The second stage in the development of exegeses on the passage consolidates the normative concept described above. The rib becomes crooked – as do the women. The third discursive stage is characterized by expanding the normativized and consolidated concept. This is done by adding misogynous notions to earlier interpretations on the creation and parallelizing the creation of the first woman with that of wickedness and evil.
  • Esala, Emilia (2019)
    The use of expert evidence in international commercial arbitration has continued to gain traction and is, in practice, considered a fixture of the procedure. It is, thus, undoubted that the role of expert evidence is significant. This role is strengthened by the fact that without experts providing the tribunal with specialized knowledge on empirical rules at issue, the tribunal is not able to resolve complex factual issues that are beyond its expertise. This study examines the means available to assist the tribunal in resolving issues of conflicting expert evidence in international commercial arbitration. It builds upon the crucial fact that the role of experts is to assist, educate and advise the tribunal, and that they are only needed for deciding on matters that are beyond the knowledge and expertise of the tribunal. Before addressing the research questions, the study aims to introduce the reader to expert witnessing in international commercial arbitration by considering the definition and the objectives of it, and by discussing certain leading principles such as party autonomy and the ability to tailor the procedure. Further, the role of the expert, the influence of both common and civil law traditions as well as the appointment of experts are discussed in brief. The principal problem and main question that this thesis aims to resolve is the following: What are the means available that assist the tribunal in disputes where expert evidence given is contradictory? The said main question is approached through two separate research questions that separately, but also in a mutually supportive manner, aim at resolving the core question mentioned before. The said questions are discussed under separate chapters, namely, the first one considering the procedural means (Chapter 3), and the second one focusing on non-procedural measures and the credibility of the evidence (Chapter 4). This division is made for clarity reasons and despite certain, inevitable overlapping of these themes. The first question seeks to define the procedural measures available that may be of assistance for the tribunal as it resolves issues caused by conflicting expert evidence. These measures are discussed under three categories, to say, the available questioning techniques, different approaches that have their ground in cooperation of the experts, and other innovative means. The first category is focused on two main techniques, cross-examination and expert conferencing. The second one, in turn, discusses the use of pre-hearing expert meetings, joint reports, exchange of draft reports and the Sachs Protocol. Finally, the third category considers, for instance, the use of single joint experts and arbitrator consultants. The second research question, in turn, focuses on the role of credibility and the non-procedural means available to evaluate this. This chapter as well is divided into three main categories. The first one considers the use of legal psychology as an assisting approach, whereas the second one focuses on the individual communication skills of an expert, both written expression and oral skills. The third one, in turn, presents different models on credibility assessment and elaborates on the issues with the existing, mainly procedural, means. This thesis aims not only to present and evaluate the use of different techniques, but also the recent trends in international arbitral practice. The focus of the study is mostly on party-appointed experts as the core issues with conflicting expert evidence are typically related to them. Further, as in most international commercial arbitrations the parties have agreed upon applying the arbitration rules of a particular institute or some other set of rules, this study has its focus on institutional rather than ad hoc arbitration.
  • Isometsä, Sanni (2017)
    This Master’s thesis examines civil society participation in European development governance. Traditionally civil society has been described according to its relation to states and markets. The story becomes more puzzling when one moves outside the territory of nation states. Common for divergent theories of global civil society is that they cherish a great faith in citizen participation and its beneficial consequences in global governance. It has been claimed that over-optimism and lack of a critical perspective have obscured the meaning of the concept, and more empirical research is needed. At the same time, the discussion of global governance is based on an idea of coordination and collaboration of different actors; thus neglecting the existence of power. By absorbing a critical approach to global governance, this paper aims to provide a better understanding of civil society at the transnational level. Civil society was examined from the perspective of the actors themselves by studying the language they used. The primary data was based on the reactions of civil society actors during the European Commission’s consultation period regarding the new Consensus on Development. The data was collected directly from the Commission’s Your voice in Europe web page, which manages the open consultations. These reactions were analysed by using Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. A specific focus was placed on social roles and identities, which were named as images of civil society. The core idea was that the way one speaks also tells who one is. The analysis showed that at least three divergent images can be drawn upon the texts: a normative actor defending civic spaces, a governance image demanding stronger leadership from the EU and a professionalized expert using knowledge claims. These images are interconnected but also partly contrasting; thus blurring the conceptualization of global civil society. As the existing literature on European civil society indicated, none of the images form a clear resistance or counter-hegemony for the EU, and they more or less match the conceptualizations of a collaborator. The images differ in their subject positioning and how they justify their being. It can be concluded that self-criticism of civil society actors is needed, and civil society groups should more deeply evaluate their ways of argumentation and relations to states, intergovernmental organizations and the private sector. While establishing conflicting images, civil society is losing some of its transformative possibilities and maintaining existing power structures.
  • Kyllönen, Kaisa (2014)
    Congenital chylothorax is a rare disorder which may end up in stillbirth or neonatal death. Due to its rarity, no clear standards for optimal treatment have been established. Reports of long-term outcomes are scarce. This is a retrospective study of all cases of congenital chylothorax treated in Helsinki University Central Hospital 1999-9/2013. Information on the pregnancies and antenatal management, neonatal management an long term outcomes has been retreived from the patient records of Helsinki University Central Hospital. There were altogether 17 cases, no in-utero deaths and seven deaths in the neonatal period. 71 per cent of the patients underwent intrauterine thoracocentesis and there was one attempt of placing a thoraco-amnionic shunt. Factors such as fetal hydrops, early onset of congenital chylothorax, chromosomal and structural anomalies and prematurity seemed connected to higher mortality, as they have in earlier studies. In follow-up, three of seven patients have been diagnosed with asthma.
  • Karstunen, Emma (2017)
    Major extracardiac malformations are more common than previously 67 reported and found in 2/3 of cases with CDH and heart defect. Prenatal detection rates 68 for CDH and heart defects are low (49% and 41% respectively). The total prevalence of 69 UVH is 64 times higher and live birth prevalence 192 times higher than in general 70 population in Finland. The prognosis of CDH with major heart defects remains poor.
  • Raitahila, Iivo (2019)
    The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of physical devices, such as temperature sensors and lights, that are connected to the Internet. The devices are typically battery powered and are constrained by their low processing power, memory and low bitrate wireless communication links. The vast amount of IoT devices can cause heavy congestion in the Internet if congestion is not properly addressed. The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is an HTTP-like protocol for constrained devices built on top of UDP. CoAP includes a simple congestion control algorithm (DefaultCoAP). CoAP Simple Congestion Control/Advanced (CoCoA) is a more sophisticated alternative for DefaultCoAP. CoAP can also be run over TCP with TCP's congestion control mechanisms. The focus of this thesis is to study CoAP's congestion control. Shortcomings of DefaultCoAP and CoCoA are identified using empirical performance evaluations conducted in an emulated IoT environment. In a scenario with hundreds of clients and a large buffer in the bottleneck router, DefaultCoAP does not adapt to the long queuing delay. In a similar scenario where short-lived clients exchange only a small amount of messages, CoCoA clients are unable to sample a round-trip delay time. Both of these situations are severe enough to cause a congestion collapse, where most of the link bandwidth is wasted on unnecessary retransmissions. A new retransmission timeout and congestion control algorithm called Fast-Slow Retransmission Timeout (FASOR) is congestion safe in these two scenarios and is even able to outperform CoAP over TCP. FASOR with accurate round-trip delay samples is able to outperform basic FASOR in the challenging and realistic scenario with short-lived clients and an error-prone link.
  • Wang, Lei (2017)
    Nowadays many hosts have more than one network interface. For example, mobile smartphones are generally equipped with cellular network and WiFi network interfaces. If users can utilize all available network interfaces simultaneously, it allows a potential improvement in terms of network redundancy and performance. To use multiple network interfaces simultaneously, many multi- path communication networking protocols are proposed. At the transport layer, Multipath TCP (MPTCP) is a protocol for multipath communication, which in fact is an extension to regular TCP. MPTCP allows to spread the traffic onto several TCP subflows which take different network paths. Its advantage is the ability to balance the load, improve the connection resilience in case of path failure and maximize connection throughput. Congestion control and packet scheduling are two important components for MPTCP design. Congestion control is in charge of controlling induced network load, while packet scheduling is responsible for the distribution of data over multiple paths and improper scheduling decisions might introduce higher delay. Therefore, congestion control algorithms and packet schedulers are two components which greatly impact the performance of MPTCP. Four MPTCP congestion control algorithms, that is, Cubic congestion control algorithm, linked increases algorithm (LIA), opportunistic linked increase algorithm (OLIA) and wVegas algorithm, and two schedulers, that is, round robin (RR) scheduler and lowest RTT first (LowestRTT) scheduler, are deeply studied in the thesis. Furthermore, we design experiments to evaluate and compare the different MPTCP congestion control algorithms and packet schedulers. The experimental evaluation results show that Cubic congestion control algorithm could achieve highest aggregate throughput of all, but is less fair to competing flows than the others. OLIA can achieve similar aggregate throughput to LIA, but is more fair and responsive than LIA. OLIA is also more stable and responsive than LIA, while wVegas is unstable in terms of responsiveness to network changes. When compared with OLIA and LIA, wVegas behaves similar to OLIA but better than LIA in terms of fairness to competing TCP flows. As for two MPTCP schedulers, the results show that RR scheduler has a lower delay jitter than LowestRTT scheduler in rate limited traffic mode. Besides, LIA and OLIA have a lower delay jitter with LowestRTT scheduler than wVegas has.
  • Liu, Mengxia (2016)
    Conifers are used for forest plantations and as landscape trees. Norway spruce is the main softwood species in Finland and can occasionally be observed in urban areas. However, root rots of conifer trees caused by Heterobasidion annosum leads to huge economic losses not only in Finland but also in other European countries. Due to the availability of complete genome sequence for both host and pathogen, in this study using Norway spruce and its root rot pathogen (Heterobasidion annosum) as an experimental model, the host-pathogen interaction was investigated. Conifer trees have established a variety of defense mechanisms to repel microbial infections, including constitutive barriers, accumulation of antimicrobial chemicals, activation of signaling pathways and induction of defense-related compounds resulted from an intra-organismic response including cell death. In the conifer pathosystem, cell death associated necrotic browning reactions promote tissue colonization by necrotrophic pathogens such as Heterobasidion annosum. By contrast, in crop plants, cell death associated hypersensitive response (HR) is known to inhibit invasive growth of biotrophic pathogens. However, not much is known about the chemical and molecular characteristics of necrotic cell death responses observed in different developmental stages of conifers from seedlings to mature trees. In addition, the term reaction zone is often used to describe responses of tree tissues bordering the heartwood to pathogenic infections, but nothing is known on whether there are any similarities between the necrosis response and reaction zone. To investigate this, Norway spruce at different developmental stages (seedlings, young trees and mature trees) were challenged with Heterobasidion parviporum. Six major indicators were assayed: necrosis lesions, cell death, pH, reaction zone, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and expressions of defense-related genes (Per1, Per2, LAC, JAZ1, OPR, and STS2). Increased transcript levels of the following genes Per1, Per2, LAC and JAZ1 were documented in seedlings but higher expression of Per2 and LAC was recorded in mature trees. Results revealed that all infected tissues were strongly necrotic or had increased lesion size. This is accompanied by increasing pH units up to 6.0 similar to levels documented in the reaction zone. Furthermore, ROS-generating peroxidase activity increased in infected tissues compared to the control. All these changes were found to be similar to observations in the reaction zone of woody trees. However, cell death was only measured in seedling roots and the method needs to be optimized for woody tissues. Further tests are therefore required for the clarification of relationship between necrotic cell death in seedling plants and reaction zone responses in mature woody tissues.
  • Zhen, Zeng (2014)
    Rhizobia are agriculturally important bacteria that possess the ability to fix nitrogen for their host legumes, an attribute ascribed to the presence of symbiosis-related genes usually clustered on plasmids called symbiotic plasmids (pSyms). Many pSyms have been proven self-transmissible, capable of transferring themselves to other bacteria through conjugation, thereby propagating their symbiotic features. Rhizobium galegae symbiovar (sv.) officinalis has a pSym, on which typical conjugation genes have been revealed. A Type IV secretion system (T4SS) functioning as a conjugation system has also been computationally predicted on a chromid, another replicon in R. galegae sv. officinalis. In addition, the transfer of the pSym of R. galegae sv. officinalis to a non-nodulating mutant strain of R. galegae sv. orientalis has been previously observed under laboratory conditions. Therefore, this thesis was aimed at investigating the self-transmissibility of the pSym of R. galegae sv. officinalis and the necessity of the T4SS’ presence for the pSym transfer. Two derivatives of the R. galegae sv. officinalis were generated with one strain cured of its pSym by using Tn5-mob-sacB transposon and the other strain excised the T4SS from the chromid by Cre-lox site specific recombination system. Conjugation were then performed between these two derivatives as well as between the wild-type strain and the plasmid-cured derivative, followed by the host plant nodulation tests. The tests showed no formation of a single nodule in either pair, which was unexpectedly inconsistent with the previous experimental observation. No solid explanations could be proposed at this stage. It might be due to the low transfer frequency resulted from complex associations with subtle environmental signal molecules or recipient cell recognition that presumably disabled the transmissibility of the pSym.
  • Alvarez Garcia, Patricia (2013)
    Connections between organizational engagement and internal communication have gained much interest in recent years, due to existing evidence suggesting that employees who engage with their organization affect organization’s effectiveness and that, in turn, internal communication can influence organizational engagement. However, there is little evidence about such connection seen from an employee perspective and therefore, this study sought to explore linkages between employee organizational engagement and internal communication, on the basis of experiences of employees. This thesis draws on theoretical concepts such as knowledge workers, internal communication and organizational engagement as well as on an empirical research inspired by principles of grounded theory. The research analyzed twelve semi-structured interviews to employees working for a global knowledge-based organization; aiming at exploring the factors that had the potential to influence their engagement with the organizational; their key expectations towards internal communication and the implications that their overall experiences suggest for the practice of internal communication. Key findings indicated that organizational engagement can be influenced by organization-level internal communication and suggested that, while there cannot be a universal internal communication strategy to engage employees with their organization, the responsibility to engage and to achieve effective internal communication which supports engagement needs to be shared by all members of the organization, whereby employees’ accountability and empowerment is central. The findings also suggested a revision of the role of leaders and managers of the organization and the role of the function of internal communication. Overall, this study suggested that, in the relationship between organizational engagement and internal communication, seen from an employee perspective, both the organization and the employees could have significant gains.
  • Rukoro, Jeffrey (2020)
    This research had the fundamental aim of closely examining the identity negotiation of people who are of bi-racial heritage. Utilizing a combination of the positioning concept and discourse analysis, the objective was to get an in-depth view of how the bi-racial identity is negotiated and situated within four sub-identities or variants, and those four subidentities being referred to are the singular, border, protean and transcendent identities by Rocquemore. The questions used to guide the research goals were the following: How does the identity negotiation take place? What are the discursive resources and tools used to facilitate the negotiation? Are all four sub-identities engaged equally? What is the relationship between the four sub-identities? What role does the media play in the identity negotiation? Through purposive sampling, the text was selected to represent cases from America, Britain, and Finland. Four cases were selected of which two are American. One from Finland and the other from Britain. The cases feature three females and one male. The study mainly utilized discourse analysis techniques with a particular focus on critical discursive psychology, which all form part of the qualitative approach methodologies. The outcomes indicated that for all the cases studied, the identity was observed to be negotiated within the confines of the four sub-identities. However, the ordering, the positioning of the identities, and the discursive tools that were employed to negotiate the identities varied, and this variation was found to be connected to an assigned identity or a challenged asserted identity. As a result, certain negotiations caused stress or cognitive dissonance, and to avoid the stress or minimise the dissonance, various discursive resources were strategically employed to help negotiate or situate other identity variants. As the analysis continued six theoretical themes emerged, that were found to be supported by the discursive works. This six theoretical themes were, self-agency, distant other, cognitive dissonance, emotional repertoires, sense of belonging and altruism. An interconnectedness between the six themes was also noticed, due to the proximity of functionality within which some of them operated. The implication is that the identity, whether assigned or asserted is rather complex, and is not without psycho-social conflict, perhaps its stability is through its continuous negotiations and mobility.
  • Asikanius, Niina (2023)
    This thesis is an ethnographic exploration into co-production evaluation. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate outcomes of a knowledge co-production workshop in the context of Finnish urban planning using a co-production evaluation framework. For the context of the research, the status of allotment gardens in urban planning was studied. Central concepts also include participation and the status of knowledge in the urban planning context. I collected my research data by participating in the workshop process as a co-facilitator and co-producer in a garden workshop held in Pähkinärinne allotment plots in June 2022. I carried out the research using qualitative research methods, participatory observation. Field notes and the material and data the garden workshop produced are the main body of data. The results show that the workshop did produce a tangible outcome, a usable concept for the Pähkinärinne allotment gardens. When situated in the Finnish urban planning context, analysis shows that implementation may be difficult due to institutional and governance barriers. Intangible impacts were produced in the form of social learning. This entailed the identification of existing social networks in and outside of the allotment plots and their development through social capital. These effects fare better in the Finnish context through self-governance and self-organization. As a conclusion, it can be said that the knowledge co-production process was a successful process but in the Finnish urban planning context bottom-up initiatives can be difficult to implement due to institutional barriers and city-led planning and participation.