European-wide conservation versus local well-being: the reception of the Natura 2000 Reserve Network in Karvia, SW-Finland

I describe grassroots resistance that evolved in the rural municipality of Karvia in SW-Finland in response to the introduction and development of the EU-wide protected areas system known as Natura 2000 Reserve Network. I have two main aims in this paper. First, I explore the local forest economy, looking at how it works and how it is structured. This I do by focusing on the multilevel well-being of key actors and by exploring the motives lying behind the behaviours and decisions of people working within the forest economy, particularly forest owners. Second, I identify and describe the principles that can help uncover the conflicts and contradictions between forest economy and conservation planning and create a framework for innovative solutions to such contradictions on the local level.     

Gas-liquid mass transfer in bubble columns with a T-junction nozzle for gas dispersion

Bubble break-up, gas holdup, and the gas-liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient are studied in a bubble column reactor with simultaneous injection of a gas and liquid through a T-junction nozzle. The theoretical dependence of bubble break-up and the volumetric mass transfer coefficient on liquid velocity in the nozzle is developed on the basis of isotropic turbulence theory. It is shown that correlations which are developed based on liquid jet kinetic power per nozzle volume explain average gas holdup and the volumetric mass transfer coefficient within an error of 15% for all gas and liquid flow rates and nozzle diameters used. Experiments with a larger scale column, height 4.64 m and diameter 0.98 m, show a transition from homogeneous to heterogeneous flow at a certain liquid flow rate through the nozzle. Liquid composition was found to have a significant effect on gas-liquid mass transfer. A phenol concentration of 10–30 mg/l in water increases the volumetric mass transfer coefficient of oxygen by 100%. This phenomenon may have significance in the chemical oxidation of wastewater.     

Traumatic inferior vena caval injuries

Twenty-three cases of inferior vena caval injury (1.4% of all operatively managed abdominal injuries) are reviewed. The caval injury presented as free haemorrhage in 15 cases and as a retroperitoneal haematoma in eight. The site of vena caval injury was at or above the level of the renal veins in 14 cases (61%). Successful lateral suture repair was achieved in 18 cases (78%). The overall mortality rate was 39%. Factors positively associated with survival were stab wound, presentation as retroperitoneal haematoma, infrarenal injury, low Abdominal Trauma Index score and small peroperative blood loss. Concomitant injury to the abdominal aorta, liver or kidney worsened the prognosis. The crucial factor in management of inferior vena caval injuries is rapid and effective control of bleeding, whether from the caval or associated injuries.     

The equality problem for Parikh simple algebraic power series

A power series r with noncommuting variables is called Parikh simple if no two words in the support of r are commutatively equivalent. We show that equality is decidable for Parikh simple algebraic power series having their coefficients in a computable field.     

Nuclei in Cooperation

We analyze and discuss two distinct resonance phenomena at high nuclear polarizations, which give independent experimental information about the exchange couplings, direct or indirect, between the nuclear spins in solids. In cases of more than one isotope with a nuclear spin, there is an isotopic-interference effect, sometimes referred to as a suppression-enhancement effect. Even in cases with just one spin species, one may observe harmonic lines of the ordinary Larmor resonance. By analyzing the shifts and intensities of the resonance lines as functions of the nuclear polarization, one can find the sign and magnitude of the exchange couplings. The focus of this paper is in experiments on nuclear magnetic ordering in pure metals. We present studies on copper, silver, rhodium, thallium, and gold, and discuss shortly our ongoing work on lithium. PACS numbers: 76.60.-k, 76.60.Jx, 75.30.Et, 75.10.Jm.     

Variants of renin-angiotensin system genes and echocardiographic left ventricular mass

AIMS: Variants of renin-angiotensin system genes are shown to be associated with cardiovascular pathology. The association between renin-angiotensin system genes and left ventricular mass was investigated in a population-based case-control study. METHODS AND RESULTS: The association between echocardiographic left ventricular mass and both insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene and the methionine-threonine variant at position 235 of the angiotensinogen gene was studied in a random cohort of 430 hypertensive and 426 control subjects. No differences in the adjusted left ventricular mass values between the different genotypes were seen among either the hypertensive or the control subjects, whether men or women, or in the subgroups of normotensive or physically active subjects. Gene variation had no statistically significant synergistic effect on left ventricular mass values. In control women, the deletion allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene was associated with an increased risk of left ventricular hypertrophy. However, this finding was based on a small number of women with left ventricular hypertrophy and should be interpreted with caution. CONCLUSION: Variations in renin-angiotensin system genes had no major effect on left ventricular mass in this middle-aged population-based cohort of hypertensives and control subjects.     

Significance of tissue anisotropy in optical tomography of the infant brain

We study the effect of tissue anisotropy in optical tomography of neonates. A Monte Carlo method capable of modeling photon migration in an arbitrary 3D tissue model with spatially varying optical properties and tissue anisotropy is used for simulating measurements of neonates. Anatomical and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging of neonates are used for creating the anatomical models. We find that tissue anisotropy affects the measured signal and the pattern of sensitivity in optical measurements.     

Probabilistic models of motorcyclists' injury severities in single- and multi-vehicle crashes

Motorcycle fatalities have more than doubled in the United States since 1997--highlighting the need to better understand the many interrelated factors that determine motorcyclists' crash-injury severities. In this paper, using a detailed crash database from the state of Indiana, we estimate probabilistic models of motorcyclists' injury severities in single- and multi-vehicle crashes. Nested logit (estimated with full information maximum likelihood) and standard multinomial logit model results show a wide-range of factors significantly influence injury-severity probabilities. Key findings show that increasing motorcyclist age is associated with more severe injuries and that collision type, roadway characteristics, alcohol consumption, helmet use, unsafe speed and other variables play significant roles in crash-injury outcomes.