121 research outputs found
Hemiselluloosalla ristisilloitettu nanoselluloosa immobilisaatiomatriisina fotosynteettisille kiinteän tilan solutehtaille
No full textPhotosynthetic microorganisms can be utilized to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals. These photosynthetic cell factories constitute a promising alternative to non-renewable fossil resources. However, technical challenges associated with suspension cultures, most prominently the light-to-product ratio coupled with high water and energy consumption, limits the realization of their theoretical potential. Immobilization i.e. binding the cells within a gel-like matrix is an interesting new technique that could be used to overcome these difficulties.
It is vital that the matrix material used to immobilize the photosynthetic cells has sufficient wet mechanical properties to endure the submerged production conditions in addition to expressing biological compatibility with the cells. Recently, TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TCNFs) cross-linked with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has been reported as a superior alternative matrix material to the traditional alginate-based solutions. The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to investigate mixed-linkage glucan (MLG) as a natural polysaccharide-based alternative to the synthetic PVA with limited biodegradability. MLGs are hemicelluloses found as structural cross-linkers in the cell walls of grassy plants and they have been previously shown to create strong hydrogels with TCNF even with small concentrations.
Rheological measurements and photosynthetic activity monitoring were used to study the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of MLG cross-linked TCNF (TCNF-MLGs). Three MLGs with different molecular weights were used in the experiments. All MLGs were shown to cross-link TCNF, and mechanical performance similar to PVA was obtained especially with the low molecular size MLG. TCNF-MLG expressed less variation in the matrix performance with and without the entrapped cyanobacterial cells than TCNF-PVA. The TCNF-MLG matrices were additionally shown to retain cell viability for up to 47 days. Overall, the results demonstrate that all-polysaccharidic matrices are feasible for microalgae immobilization in novel photosynthetic cell factories.Fotosynteettisillä mikro-organismeilla voidaan tuottaa kestäviä polttoaineita ja kemikaaleja. Nämä ns. fotosynteettiset solutehtaat ovat lupaava vaihtoehto uusiutumattomille fossiilisille raaka-aineille, mutta vesisuspensiosysteemeihin liittyvät tekniset haasteet, kuten valon muuntosuhde lopputuotteiksi sekä korkea veden- ja energiankulutus, rajoittavat niiden teoreettista potentiaalia. Immobilisaatio, jossa solut kiinnitetään geelimäiseen matriisimateriaaliin, on kiinnostava uudehko teknologia, joka voisi ratkaista kyseiset ongelmat.
Immobilisaatiossa käytetyn matriisimateriaalin tulee olla sekä biologisesti yhteensopiva solujen kanssa, että mekaanisesti tarpeeksi kestävä, jotta se ei hajoa nestemäisissä olosuhteissa. Polyvinyylialkoholilla (PVA) ristisilloitettujen TEMPO-hapetettujen selluloosananokuitujen (TCNF) on raportoitu soveltuvan solujen kiinnittämisen, ja ne ovat ominaisuuksiltaan merkittävästi parempia verrattuna perinteisiin alginaattimatriiseihin. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on tutkia mixed-linkage glukaania (MLG) luonnonmukaisena ja paremmin biohajoavana vaihtoehtona PVA:lle TCNF:n ristisilloittajana. MLG on hemiselluloosa, joka esiintyy luonnossa ruohomaisten kasvien soluseinissä rakenteellisena, selluloosaa tukevana polymeerinä, ja sen on havaittu muodostavan vahvoja geelejä TCNF:n kanssa hyvin pienilläkin pitoisuuksilla.
MLG:llä ristisilloitettujen TCNF-hydrogeelien mekaanisia ominaisuuksia ja bioyhteensopivuutta tutkittiin reologisin menetelmin ja monitoroimalla solujen fotosynteettistä aktiivisuutta matriisissa. Kokeissa käytettiin kolmen eri polymeerikoon MLG:tä, joiden kaikkien havaittiin ristisilloittavan TCNF:ää, ja etenkin pienen polymeerikoon MLG antoi PVA:han vertailtavia tuloksia. TCNF-MLG matriisin mekaaniset ominaisuudet heikkenivät solujen läsnäolon vaikutuksesta jopa vähemmän kuin TCNF-PVA:n ominaisuudet. TCNF-MLG matriisien havaittiin lisäksi tukevan solujen elinkykyisyyttä jopa 47 päivää. Kaiken kaikkiaan tulokset osoittavat, että täysin polysakkarideista koostuvia matriisimateriaaleja hyödyntävät fotosynteettiset immobilisoidut solutehtaat ovat toteuttamiskelposia
Performing the author/mother/merchant/wife: moving subject positions in Minna Canth's autobiography
No full textReading autobiography as a performative act enables for the analysis of processes involved in constructing the self. It provides a space for analysing the ways in which gender, nationality, and other social locations of the subject are negotiated. In this article, I read the famous Finnish nineteenth-century playwright and author Minna Canth’s concise autobiography, focusing on various locations of the autobiographical subject in this rather laconic matter-of-fact text. My reading follows current trends in feminist autobiographical theorising as well as feminist politics of reading. I strive to deconstruct the interpretation of autobiographies as dichotomously fixed texts. I suggest a more flexible reading that would take the ambiguities of the genre seriously, such as describing both the public and the private life of the author, constructing the subject of the narrative, both relational and autonomous, in addition to varying stylistically between mere factuality and decorative description. Such a reading takes into account the shifts of the subject positions as well as the styles of narration moving between feminine and masculine, rational and emotional, chronologically organised progress of the plot and a more vague way of organising the narrative according to the inner logic or the unconscious. In analysing the variations of narration, inspired by the theoretical and methodological discussion on intersectionality, I conceptualize autobiography as a site for negotiating and performing various subject positions, thus striving for a non-essential reading of autobiographies.peerReviewe
Correction to: Hidden Present, Visible Absent in the City of Dreams: Assembling the Collective Imagination
No full textThe original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The name of “Tuuli Pern” is now corrected in the author group of this article. The original article has been corrected.</p
Essays on China's Integration into the Global Economy and Financial Markets
No full textThe author has not given permission for Aaltodoc -publishing.This PhD thesis consists of three essays, studying the Chinese economy from the viewpoints of development, financial, and international economics. The first essay focuses on China's onshore bond market and the drivers of non-resident net portfolio flows into Chinese debt securities. It studies China's bond market development by reviewing the main characteristics of the onshore market and important liberalization steps. It also describes recent trends in debt portfolio investment flows into China by non-resident investors. A theoretical model for push and pull factors is derived, functioning as a starting point for the empirical analysis on the drivers of bond flows into China. Both static and time-varying models are estimated to help explain the importance of various push and pull factors in the Chinese bond market context. The findings point to China's continued bond market deepening and integration with the rest of the world.
The second essay studies countries' economic dependence on China. As China will continue to integrate more deeply into the global economy and financial markets over the coming years, measuring and identifying other countries' economic exposure to developments in China is becoming increasingly relevant. The essay builds a tool to measure and compare countries' exposure to the Chinese economy through trade channels, using principal component analysis. The resultant China Trade Exposure Index ranks countries based on their economic dependence on trade with China. The essay further shows that the China Exposure Index is significant in explaining countries' cyclical economic growth co-movement with China, with a higher ranking implying a stronger real GDP growth correlation.
The third essay studies the characteristics of the bilateral economic relationship between China and Latin America since the beginning of the millennium, covering such aspects as trade of goods, direct investment, and lending. The relationship is uneven, both in terms of its economic importance and the composition of trade and investment, with China seemingly in a more dominant position. The essay analyses China's and Latin American countries' trade intensities, complementarities, comparative advantages, and competition dynamics, revealing that the Latin American economies cannot be considered alike. The countries' existing and potential ties with China are varied due to the nations' individual characteristics. Therefore, a collective regional approach to doing business with China may not be the optimal way forward, yet there are opportunities to strengthen the individual bilateral relationships further in a way that would result in mutual benefits
Expected user needs towards the post-Covid office: better support of social interactions and concentration
No full textBackground and aim – While remote working is not a new phenomenon, Covid-19 has forced many office workers to work from home for long consecutive periods. Recent research shows that while most of them say they can work productively from home, many feel less connected to their colleagues. This study explores how these experiences may influence employees’ needs towards the office workplace.Methods – Cross-sectional data were used from an online survey among four Dutch public sector organisations conducted between November 2020 and February 2021. These data include perceptions of 567 office workers regarding their workplace, both at home and at the office, and their motivations for working at the office.Results – The survey data show that the main reason to (want to) work at the office has shifted from meeting expectations to the need for informal social interaction. On the other hand, many still need the office for doing concentration work. Although the home workplace feels more comfortable, ultimately it is not rated better than the office workplace. The respondents indicate several shortcomings of their current office regarding support of socializing, belongingness, and privacy. Originality – While in the media different assumptions have been made about consequences of Covid-19 for future office use, few empirical studies have been conducted to substantiate these expectations.Practical implications – This study shows that Covid-19 has increased the need for in-person interaction at the office without decreasing the need for silence, and indicates how offices could better support socializing balanced with concentration work. Type of paper – Short research paper.Design Conceptualization and Communicatio
Interior design features predicting satisfaction with office workspace privacy and noise
No full textBackground and aim - Lack of privacy is a prominent issue in contemporary offices. This study aimed to identify interior design features that jointly influence satisfaction with privacy and noise in the office workspace, and estimate their predictive power. This knowledge can inform strategic workplace design. Methods - Eight design features were defined that were expected to influence visual, acoustic and physical privacy, noise from other people and acoustic quality, and which would be easy to report for users. Data were collected through an online survey among office workers in the Dutch public sector (N = 323). The joint impact of design features on the experienced privacy and noise was calculated through ordinal regression analysis. Results - The data indicate that small, relatively isolated rooms predict privacy and noise satisfaction better than privacy screens, soft flooring, and visibility control. Workspace soundproofing increases satisfaction with sound privacy and acoustics, but it does not reduce noise annoyance. Originality - This study operationalizes architectural privacy along several dimensions and from a user perspective, and hierarchically relates them to specific workspace satisfaction outcomes, generating actionable insights for workplace designers. Practical and social implications - The study can serve as a source for evidence-based workplace design and management that aims to balance user needs for privacy and quiet against their need for social interaction. Currently, this balance is especially important because hybrid working may increase the need for informal interaction at the office while there still is a need for privacy and quiet spaces. Type of paper - Research paper (full)
The value of FM for a healthy urban environment; application of the FM Value Map to Urban FM
Get PDFBackground and aim - Facility management is the art of facilitating the core process of a company, providing an inspiring and healthy environment for both employees and clients. When the perspective would be broadened from healthy buildings to healthy cities, what value could be added by an “Urban FM” approach, facilitating living in a city, striving to offer a healthy and inspiring urban environment? In 2010 the FM Value Map was introduced, offering a conceptual framework that can be used in general, to provide a better understanding of the value and contributions of FM to a business and its surroundings. The aim of this paper is to discuss if the FM Value Map can also be used as a conceptual framework to understand and explain how Urban FM can contribute to a healthy and inspiring urban environment. Methods - The FM Value Map was applied to the Molukkenpark, an urban park in a Groningen neighbourhood. To fill in the model, desk research was combined with the findings from interviews and attentive observations of phenomena related to facility management and management of the urban environment. Results - Insight into the applicability of the FM Value Map from an Urban FM perspective. Originality - This is the first time that the FM Value Map is tested concerning Urban FM. Practical or social implications - The results are relevant for the development of the (Urban) FM profession and the curricula of education in the fields of FM and the built environment. Type of paper - Research paper (short)
Proceedings of the 22nd EuroFM Research Symposium
No full textThe conference theme, 'Shaping the Next Generation of FM,' emphasizes the need for Facility Management (FM) to adapt to transformations in education, research, industry, and the broader FM community. These transformations encompass innovations and developments in FM, leadership and management practices, and sustainable FM. Aligned with this theme, the papers included in the proceedings focus on the topics of digitalization, circularity, and learning spaces.Real Estate Managemen
Plant trait‐environment relationships in tundra are consistent across spatial scales
No full textPatterns and processes shaping ecosystems vary across spatiotemporal scales. As plant functional traits reflect ecosystem properties, investigating their relationships with environment provides an important tool to understand and predict ecosystem structure and functioning. This is particularly important in the tundra where a changing climate may trigger severe alterations in plant communities as both summer and winter conditions are changing. Here, we investigate the relationships between key environmental drivers including summer temperature, snow persistence, topographic position and soil pH, and species height, specific leaf area (SLA) and seed mass as plant traits. The study is carried out at three spatial extents in the arctic–alpine region of Fennoscandia, modelling the trait-environment relationships at each scale to investigate whether the relationships are scale dependent. Our results show that summer temperature and snow persistence are the most important variables explaining community trait composition. Temperature is important especially to vegetation height, which increased towards higher temperatures, whereas seed mass and SLA are related to snow persistence. Seed mass decreased towards longer snow persistence, while SLA responded in scale-dependent ways. Topographic position and soil pH affect community trait composition moderately. Overall, our study demonstrates that trait-environment relationships in the tundra are largely consistent across spatial scales. Our findings highlight the ecological relevance of snow for all three functional traits regardless of scale, showing that snow information could be particularly important to better understand large-scale trends in plant community composition and ecosystem functioning as seasonal snow cover is shrinking globally.peerReviewe
The Flexible Workplace: An exploration into the value of co-working spaces as an accommodation strategy for corporations
No full textThe highly competitive and dynamic business environment of today has resulted in an increasing pressure for efficiency of the main resources. As corporations seek to quickly respond and adapt to the changes in the environment, strategic decisions about the workplace become fundamental as it entails the two most expensive resources of any organization: human capital and real estate. Within the wide range of flexible workplace options now available in the market, co-working is of particular interest due to its exponential growth in the last years; as this trend continues to grow and companies start considering it as part of their accommodation strategy, understanding the value of co-working in corporate real estate becomes essential. The aim of this research is to understand how co-working as a real estate strategy can contribute to the performance of a corporation, while meeting the flexibility demands of the organization and its knowledge workers. By means of a qualitative methodology, the research involves five case studies of front-runner organizations, and semi-structured interviews with co-working providers and workplace experts. The study results in the identification of six strategies that organizations, in different stages of maturity, can pursue to incorporate co-working as part of their real estate portfolio. The strategies include temporary space solutions, such as Swing Space or for Temporary Projects and Staff, and complementary space solutions, such as Core and Flex, Expansion Space, Testing Market and Touchdown Space alternatives, that corporations can implement, according to their requirements, to drive business performance.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environmen
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