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Assemblages of well-being and belonging in young adults’ life-historical narrations: experiences from education and the labour market
No full textThis article provides an empirical study of assemblages of well-being and belonging in the everyday lives of young adults. Using a discursive-narrative reading, I analyse how a sense of well-being and belonging emerge in the life assemblages of the research participants. The article is based on an ethnographically grounded longitudinal life-history study (2019 – ongoing) with six Finnish young adults. The analysis is based on the notion that all the interviewees seemed to have given up some education or work-related dreams they had in upper secondary school and that some of the assemblages they had previously viewed as suitable or desirable no longer seemed right. What emanated from the data were narrations about the search for a new situation in life in which the participants sensed well-being and belonging. The results of the data reading suggest that the overarching element of the assemblages is that they should enable the participants’ sense of well-being and belonging. This meant neither an individually governed success story nor a materialistically rich life for the participants but instead meant enabling a softer, more ‘my kind of’ everyday life that included important social relations and a suitable tempo and support at work.</p
Rhizobial benefits to an herbaceous invader depend on context and symbiotic strain
No full textBackground and aims: For invasive plant species that associate with mutualistic symbionts, partner quality can be critical to their invasion success. This might be particularly true for legumes that host nitrogen-fixing bacteria (rhizobia). Here, we examined the relative effectiveness of rhizobial strains on the invasive legume Lupinus polyphyllus.Methods: We isolated rhizobia from field populations of L. polyphyllus and conducted inoculation experiments in which we quantified plant growth in greenhouse and common-garden conditions.Results: Differences in nodulation and effectiveness in terms of increasing plant growth among rhizobial strains of the genus Bradyrhizobium were more pronounced in the greenhouse than in the common garden. All six rhizobial strains nodulated the host plant in greenhouse conditions, but one failed to nodulate in the common garden. Under greenhouse conditions, five rhizobial strains increased plant biomass by 66-110%, while one provided negligible benefits compared to control plants without rhizobia, suggesting that rhizobial identity might be critical to the invader's performance. However, the common-garden experiment revealed no differences in the effectiveness of rhizobial strains in terms of plant biomass, number of leaflets per leaf, height, root:shoot ratio, or survival. Moreover, the performance of rhizobia-inoculated plants in the common garden did not differ from plants without rhizobia, which may call into question the fitness benefits of rhizobia to field populations of this species.Conclusions: The discrepancies observed between the two environments highlight the importance of considering field-realistic growing conditions and multiple plant traits when assessing the potential growth benefits of symbiotic partners to host plants.</p
Nursing interventions in preventing pressure injuries in acute inpatient care: a cross-sectional national study
No full textBackgroundSeveral nursing interventions for pressure injury prevention have been identified, including risk and skin status assessment. The aim of this study was to explore prevention of pressure injuries in Finnish acute inpatient care. The data were collected on pressure injury risk and skin status assessments, repositioning, the use of support surfaces, preventive skin care, malnutrition risk assessment, and nutritional care.MethodsThis multicentre, cross-sectional study was conducted in 16 acute care hospitals, excluding psychiatric care. Adult patients from inpatient care were recruited on the annual international Stop Pressure Ulcers Day in 2018 and 2019. Enrolment covered 6,160 participants in 503 units. Descriptive statistics were used to describe pressure injuries, risk assessments, and preventive nursing interventions. Cross tabulation, Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were also used. Reporting follows the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines.ResultsIn all, 30% of the participants had their pressure injury risk assessed during the care, and for 19% within 8 h after admission. The same time limit in risk assessment was fulfilled for 16% of the participants with a pressure injury, and 22% of the participants using a wheelchair or being bedridden. A skin status assessment within 8 h after admission was conducted for 30% of all participants, and for 29% of the participants with a pre-existing pressure injury, and for 38% of the participants using a wheelchair or being bedridden. The risk of malnutrition was screened in 20% of the participants. Preventive interventions were targeted to participants with a pressure injury instead of patients with a high-pressure injury risk.ConclusionThis study adds evidence about pressure injury risk assessments and the implementation of preventive nursing interventions in Finnish acute care. Skin status and pressure injury risk assessments were irregularly conducted, and the outcome was not used by nurses to guide the implementation of preventive interventions. The results reveal the gaps in evidence-based nursing practice, which require further efforts to prevent pressure injuries. Improving the national focus on pressure injury prevention practice is critical for improving healthcare for our patients.</p
The politics of heritage education: an analysis of national curriculum guidelines in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden
No full textHeritage education is present in many educational institutions and their study programmes but not often directly addressed in national curriculum guidelines. The guideline documents of Estonia, Finland, and Sweden for compulsory basic education (children from 7 to 16 years old) are a case in point, and this article analyses how heritage is defined, in which contexts it appears, and what kind of effects it has in these educational policies. To accomplish this analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis is employed as a conceptual framework. It is argued that despite the claim made in the policies regarding heritage belonging to all, heritage is placed in opposition to history writing and associated with minority groups.Heritage education is present in many educational institutions and their study programmes but not often directly addressed in national curriculum guidelines. The guideline documents of Estonia, Finland, and Sweden for compulsory basic education (children from 7 to 16 years old) are a case in point, and this article analyses how heritage is defined, in which contexts it appears, and what kind of effects it has in these educational policies. To accomplish this analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis is employed as a conceptual framework. It is argued that despite the claim made in the policies regarding heritage belonging to all, heritage is placed in opposition to history writing and associated with minority groups.</p
Empowering Future Nurse Educators
No full textDigitalization sets competence requirements for both nursing and teaching, hence, nurse educators need to master the digitalization of both fields. The specific competences required of educators in digitalization have been established on European level (European Commission [EC], 2021; Redecker, 2017). Educators need to be professionally engaged to utilize digital resources. Furthermore, they need to be competent in providing teaching and learning through digital environments and using digital teaching and learning resources and be well acquainted with digital assessment methods as well (Saaranen et al., 2021). Educators seek to facilitate their digital learning to empower the learners in digital competence (Redecker, 2017). However, digitalization in nursing, is a complex issue which requires attention already during nursing education.</p
Introducing global peat-specific temperature and pH calibrations based on brGDGT bacterial lipids
No full textGlycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are membrane-spanning lipids from Bacteria and Archaea that are ubiquitous in a range of natural archives and especially abundant in peat. Previous work demonstrated that the distribution of bacterial branched GDGTs (brGDGTs) in mineral soils is correlated to environmental factors such as mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and soil pH. However, the influence of these parameters on brGDGT distributions in peat is largely unknown. Here we investigate the distribution of brGDGTs in 470 samples from 96 peatlands around the world with a broad mean annual air temperature (-8 to 27 degrees C) and pH (3-8) range and present the first peat-specific brGDGT-based temperature and pH calibrations. Our results demonstrate that the degree of cyclisation of brGDGTs in peat is positively correlated with pH, pH = 2.49 x CBTpeat + 8.07 (n = 51, R-2 = 0.58, RMSE = 0.8) and the degree of methylation of brGDGTs is positively correlated with MAAT, MAAT(peat) (degrees C) = 52.18 x MBT'(5me) - 23.05 (n = 96, R-2 = 0.76, RMSE = 4.7 degrees C). These peat-specific calibrations are distinct from the available mineral soil calibrations. In light of the error in the temperature calibration (similar to 4.7 degrees C), we urge caution in any application to reconstruct late Holocene climate variability, where the climatic signals are relatively small, and the duration of excursions could be brief. Instead, these proxies are well-suited to reconstruct large amplitude, longer-term shifts in climate such as deglacial transitions. Indeed, when applied to a peat deposit spanning the late glacial period (similar to 15.2 kyr), we demonstrate that MAAT(peat) yields absolute temperatures and relative temperature changes that are consistent with those from other proxies. In addition, the application of MAAT(peat) to fossil peat (i.e. lignites) has the potential to reconstruct terrestrial climate during the Cenozoic. We conclude that there is clear potential to use brGDGTs in peats and lignites to reconstruct past terrestrial climate. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd
Internet of Things for Crop Farming: A Review of Technologies and Applications
No full textClimate change, soil erosion, and degradation among others affect the growth and production of crops. Soil is suffering from intensive farming and unsustainable soil disturbance, leading to severe soil degradation. The Internet of Things (IoT) allows the monitoring of crucial environmental parameters such as soil nutrients, moisture, humidity, and temperature. A pre-understanding of these parameters allows agriculturists to use the optimum quantity of water and fertilizer for different types of soil. Soil fertility can be detected by using NPK sensors. The Internet of Things (IoT) brought a new face to the crop farming approach where conventional methods are automated and/or remotely controlled to improve crop farming. In this paper, a survey on IoT technologies for crop farming including sensors, communication, and network protocols in crop farming activities is considered. Additionally, applications of IoT technologies in soil management and monitoring, growth and yield estimation, and quality control mechanisms are presented.</p
Abnormal wiring of the structural connectome in adults with ADHD
No full textCurrent knowledge of white matter changes in large-scale brain networks in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is scarce. We collected diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data in 40 adults with ADHD and 36 neurotypical controls and used constrained spherical deconvolution-based tractography to reconstruct whole-brain structural connectivity networks. We used network-based statistic (NBS) and graph theoretical analysis to investigate differences in these networks between the ADHD and control groups, as well as associations between structural connectivity and ADHD symptoms assessed with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale or performance in the Conners Continuous Performance Test 2 (CPT-2). NBS revealed decreased connectivity in the ADHD group compared to the neurotypical controls in widespread unilateral networks, which included subcortical and corticocortical structures and encompassed dorsal and ventral attention networks and visual and somatomotor systems. Furthermore, hypoconnectivity in a predominantly left-frontal network was associated with higher amount of commission errors in CPT-2. Graph theoretical analysis did not reveal topological differences between the groups or associations between topological properties and ADHD symptoms or task performance. Our results suggest that abnormal structural wiring of the brain in adult ADHD is manifested as widespread intrahemispheric hypoconnectivity in networks previously associated with ADHD in functional neuroimaging studies.</p
End-of-Life Care and Use of Hospital Resources in Radiotherapy-Treated Cancer Patients with Brain Metastases: A Single-Institution Retrospective Study
No full textPurpose: The aim of this single-institution retrospective study of patients treated with radiotherapy for brain metastases (BM) was to evaluate the timing of the palliative care (PC) decision, the use of health care services, i.e., emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, and the implementation of radiotherapy at the end of life (EOL).Methods: Data on all cancer patients with BM treated in Finland at the Vaasa Central Hospital Radiotherapy Department between March 2011 and November 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The follow-up period lasted until November 2021. Altogether, 91 patients (54 men, mean age 67 years [range 23-91 years]) were analyzed. Data on timing of PC decision, visits to the PC outpatient unit, and ED and hospitalization periods were collected retrospectively from patients' records.Results: The median overall survival from diagnosis of BM was 3.7 months (range 1-62 months) and, after radiotherapy, 2 months (0-61 months). Thirty-two percent of the patients received radiotherapy in the last month of life. During the last 30 days of life, 44 patients (48%) visited the ED and 38 (42%) were hospitalized. Patients with an early PC decision (>30 days before death) had fewer hospitalizations (22% vs. 53%; p = 0.005) and died less often during the hospitalization period (9% vs. 27%; p = 0.047) at EOL. No significant difference was found in ED visits (41% vs. 53%; p = 0.28).Conclusion: For a large proportion of patients with BM, the prognosis is very poor. It is important to identify these patients and abstain from radiotherapy at EOL to reducing inappropriate health care utilization.</p
Prospects for γ-ray observations of the Perseus galaxy cluster with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
No full textGalaxy clusters are expected to be both dark matter (DM) reservoirs and storage rooms for the cosmic-ray protons (CRp) that accumulate along the cluster's formation history. Accordingly, they are excellent targets to search for signals of DM annihilation and decay at γ-ray energies and are predicted to be sources of large-scale γ-ray emission due to hadronic interactions in the intracluster medium (ICM). In this paper, we estimate the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to detect diffuse γ-ray emission from the Perseus galaxy cluster. We first perform a detailed spatial and spectral modelling of the expected signal for both the DM and the CRp components. For each case, we compute the expected CTA sensitivity accounting for the CTA instrument response functions. The CTA observing strategy of the Perseus cluster is also discussed. In the absence of a diffuse signal (non-detection), CTA should constrain the CRp to thermal energy ratio X500 within the characteristic radius R500 down to about X500 × 10-3, for a spatial CRp distribution that follows the thermal gas and a CRp spectral index αCRp = 2.3. Under the optimistic assumption of a pure hadronic origin of the Perseus radio mini-halo and depending on the assumed magnetic field profile, CTA should measure αCRp down to about ΔαCRp ≃ 0.1 and the CRp spatial distribution with 10% precision, respectively. Regarding DM, CTA should improve the current ground-based γ-ray DM limits from clusters observations on the velocity-averaged annihilation cross-section by a factor of up to ∼ 5, depending on the modelling of DM halo substructure. In the case of decay of DM particles, CTA will explore a new region of the parameter space, reaching models with τχ > 1027 s for DM masses above 1 TeV. These constraints will provide unprecedented sensitivity to the physics of both CRp acceleration and transport at cluster scale and to TeV DM particle models, especially in the decay scenario.</p