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This study explores Finnish chemical engineering students' peer and self-assessment perceptions. It is divided into two substudies. In Study I, we investigate students' perceptions of peer and self-assessment based on their responses to open questions and Likert-items adopted from existing literature. We identify six perception dimensions from these open responses: Learning and reflection, Motivation and participation, Self-efficacy, Exhaustion and workload, Cynicism, and Self-criticism. In Study II, we develop a new questionnaire for engineering students' peer and self-assessment perceptions, as pre-existing questionnaires fail to adequately capture these dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis is used to investigate how student perceptions form larger factors, and how they relate to theoretically connected pedagogical measures like study-related burnout, self-efficacy, and learning approaches. We find that negative perceptions correlate with study-related burnout and an unreflective approach to learning. Meanwhile, positive perceptions of self-efficacy and learning in peer and self-assessment are associated with the deep approach, underlining the importance of facilitating positive assessment experiences in students.

We explored chemical engineering students' approaches to learning, study-related burnout, and perceptions of peer and self-assessment in a challenging physical chemistry thermodynamics course. Cluster analysis revealed three learning profiles based on students' approaches to learning: students who scored high in both organised studying and the deep approach to learning, students who scored high in the unreflective approach to learning, and students who scored high in all three approaches. According to our findings, students who employed deep learning strategies and managed their time carefully experience the least study-related burnout. These students also felt more efficacious when participating in assessment and had fever negative experiences of both peer and self-assessment. Consequently, physical chemistry educators should adopt practices that facilitate a deeper approach to learning, including paying careful attention to course workload and utilising teaching methodologies that can foster the deep approach like peer and self-assessment.

The energy needed for the dewatering and drying of wet paper web represents around half of the energy consumption of papermaking processes. The present work examined whether the dewatering and drying of paper could be enhanced during a previous pulp drying process by pretreating the fibers with polyamide-epichlorohydrin (PAE). According to the hypothesis, the cured PAE restrains swelling and water absorption of water-wetted fibers by forming a fiber-bound, self-crosslinked polymer-network on the fiber surfaces. The hypothesis was tested by adding PAE to never-dried kraft pulp slurry followed by pulp thickening, drying, and final curing of the PAE-resin. After this, the PAE-treated fibers were dispersed in water, and their water retention values (WRV) and Shopper-Riegler values (○SR) were measured. The PAE pretreatments notably decreased the fibers´ WRV and ○SR, indicating improved water removal of paper web in the paper machine forming and drying section. Compared to chemical crosslinking pretreatments, which also can be used to decrease fibers WRV and ○SR-value, a notable advantage of PAE-pretreatment is milder required curing conditions of the PAE, which makes implementation of the method easier in practice. Due to decreased fiber-to-fiber bonding capability, the PAE-treated specialty fibers could take advantage especially as a bulking aid of paperboard, tissue, and absorbent materials.

This study aims at better understanding of the use of self-assessment to support high-achieving students in first-year university mathematics. The students, who had not previously self-assessed their skills and knowledge in mathematics, were given two self-assessment exercises during a calculus course: they assessed their prior knowledge and learning goals in the beginning of the course and the quality of their learning outcomes in the end. Their approaches to learning and perceptions of self-assessment were studied with questionnaires in the beginning and at the end of the course. The students felt that they were able to assess their performance and that self-assessment exercises helped them to learn. Their self-ratings agreed well with the teacher's grading. Self-assessment was implemented to support novice students to adopt a deep approach to learning, and the results showing a statistically significant decrease in unreflective approach give an encouraging signal.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic and fluctuating disease. Optimal management of AD and related comorbidities requires seamless coordination across multiple layers of the healthcare system. The objective of this survey was to explore patients’ experiences with current management of AD. Out of 251 responders to this anonymous survey, 76% reported to have moderate or severe AD. Sixty-nine percent with moderate and 45% with severe AD were followed up at primary care level only. Use of advanced systemic treatment options was rare, and the majority experienced itch (97%), dry skin, rash, negative impact on self-esteem and comorbidities despite ongoing treatment. Only 36% received a treatment plan, more often in secondary (78.3%) than primary care (25.0%). Forty-three percent did not know who was responsible for their follow-up and 54% felt no one was responsible. Treatment options were commonly not known or understood. The survey results demonstrate undertreatment, lack of a holistic approach for management of AD. A national pathway including clear referral criteria and timelines can streamline management of AD across multiple levels of the healthcare system.

This article addresses 824 Finnish vocational upper secondary level students' self-assessments related to their basic ICT skills and their views regarding the importance of ICT skills for their future career. A questionnaire was distributed to students representing seven vocational fields who were starting their studies leading to a vocational upper secondary qualification. The results show that in many claims students in the field of Information and Communication Technologies assess their skills as significantly higher than other students, while students focusing on Health and Welfare rated their personal skills as significantly lower. The results also show that students in the field of Information and Communication Technologies and Humanities and Arts clearly believe that they will need IT skills in their future careers. Compared to others, students in Technology and Service Industries were significantly less likely to think so. This study contributes to research concerning vocational students' ICT competence and will help in developing online courses requiring knowledge of the differences in the need for guidance experienced by students from different vocational fields.

IntroductionThe aim of our study is to explore the relationship between procrastination, time management skills and psychological flexibility and the changes in them during an Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT)-based course that included time management training. We also explored the effects of time management skills and psychological flexibility on procrastination. The study used an experimental design in an ACT-based well-being course that included time management training.MethodsThe participants were 109 students taking the course and 27 waiting list students. Analyses were conducted with Pearson correlation, mixed ANOVA and causal mediation analysis.Results and discussionOur results show that time management skills, psychological flexibility and procrastination were related to each other, and all changed during the course. In addition, change in both time management and psychological flexibility had an impact on the change in procrastination during the course. The results show that both time management and psychological flexibility influence the change in procrastination during an ACT-based course.

Abstract It is known that electricity consumption in many cold Northern countries depends greatly on prevailing outdoor temperatures especially during the winter season. On the other hand, recent research has demonstrated that solar wind driven energetic particle precipitation from space into the polar atmosphere can influence the stratospheric polar vortex and tropospheric weather patterns during winter. These changes are significant, e.g., in Northern Europe, especially in Finland. In this study we demonstrate that geomagnetic activity, as a proxy of energetic particle precipitation, significantly influences Finland’s average temperature and total wintertime electricity consumption in Finland. This influence is only seen when the prevailing equatorial stratospheric winds, so called QBO winds, are easterly. The results demonstrate a previously unrecognized societal influence of space weather, and imply that long-term energy consumption forecasts could potentially be improved by considering long-term space weather predictions.

In this article, graduated physics teachers' views about their teacher education program and professional needs are evaluated. With respect to teacher knowledge, Physical Knowledge for Teaching (PKT) framework consisting of six domains related to content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge was developed based on the framework of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. PKT was utilized in the design of a Likert scale instrument that aims to discover teachers' views concerning these six domains from two separate viewpoints: to what extent the domains were covered in their teacher education program concerning the domains, and how important is that theme for their profession. Results revealed that teachers see that the domains related to common content knowledge and structures of physics have been addressed adequately in their teacher education but characteristics of other domains, such as teaching methods, evaluation, and motivating learners, received less favorable evaluations. With respect to the importance of different domains for teacher profession, teachers valued the importance of every domain of teacher knowledge highly. These findings suggest that the greatest deficiencies in this physics teacher education program lie on addressing pedagogical content knowledge with its various sub-domains. Our PKT framework offers a promising base for evaluating physics teacher knowledge. We suggest that a framework for teacher knowledge should be explicitly introduced for pre-service teachers in their education so that they could evaluate their knowledge and professional needs better.

Wood-based paper fibers are inherently biodegradable. In contact with moist soil and in compost, papermaking fibers are readily broken down by soil microbes. Resistance to biodegradation is needed, as paper is used for special applications such as mulching in agriculture and forestry, the coating of construction materials, and for packing and wrapping under conditions where packaging materials may be exposed to contact with moist soil or other type microbial active contamination. A preceding study showed that paper chemical crosslinking with glyoxal, citric acid (CA), or methylated 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethylene urea (mDMDHEU) results in substantially improved paper wet strength and lower paper water absorbency. The present study examined the efficiency of chemical crosslinking treatments with CA and with mDMDHEU to decrease the biodegradation rate of laboratory paper sheets and a sack paper, both made of kraft fibers. The biodegradation was examined using a 48-h enzymatic degradation test and a 2-month soil burial test. The results indicate that chemical crosslinking is an effective non-biocidal method for making sulphate kraft paper more resistant to biodegradation. In some end-uses, improved resistance to biodegradation, along with improved paper wet performance, can enhance paper performance comparable to plastic films.

Abstract While a great deal of research has been conducted on implications of integrative policies targeted at migrants, later-life migrants and their relational and spatial negotiations and enactments of the policy-driven discourse of integration, and the dynamics under which it is interpreted remains understudied. Older migrants are presented as ‘special cases’ in the Finnish integration policy and are discussed mainly in relation to their social and health care needs. Integration is the model and aim for migrant settlements in Finland, however the aim to integrate possesses intrinsic value. Therefore, they need to make sense of what integration is for them in their everyday lives. This paper focuses on the interpretations and mundane enactments of ‘integration’ in a voluntary sector-organised meeting place for later-life Russian-speaking migrants in Finland. By comparing the views of different actors within the meeting place (steering group, organisers and attendees), the paper presents a nuanced understanding of the dynamics under which the later-life migrants negotiate their positions in the Finnish community of value, vis-à-vis the expectations of integration. The paper argues that ‘doing integration’ as a category of practice is an emergent feature in places where it is possible to negotiate integration as a lived experience. Drawing from participant observations, interviews, and applications and reports gathered in a meeting in the capital region of Finland, the paper foregrounds the lived and contested experiences of finding a sense of belonging in dialogue with the omnipresent discourse of integration. The paper concludes that the interpretations of the policy-driven discourse of integration are context-bound and negotiated in a set of relationships.

(1)The study aimed to measure the depth, volume, and surface area of the intact human orbit by applying an automated method of CT segmentation and to evaluate correlations among depth, volume, and surface area. Additionally, the relative increases in volume and surface area in proportion to the diagonal of the orbit were assessed. (2) CT data from 174 patients were analyzed. A ball-shaped mesh consisting of tetrahedral elements was inserted inside orbits until it encountered the bony boundaries. Orbital volume, area depth, and their correlations were measured. For the validation, an ICC was used. (3) The differences between genders were significant (p < 10−7) but there were no differences between sides. When comparing orbit from larger to smaller, a paired sample t-test indicated a significant difference in groups (p < 10−10). A simple linear model (Volume~1 + Gender + Depth + Gender:Depth) revealed that only depth had a significant effect on volume (p < 10−19). The ICCs were 1.0. (4) Orbital volume, depth, and surface area measurements based on an automated CT segmentation algorithm demonstrated high repeatability and reliability. Male orbits were always larger on average by 14%. There were no differences between the sides. The volume and surface area ratio did not differ between genders and was approximately 0.75.

Students' attitudes and approaches to problem solving are claimed to be related to their ways they learn physics and to their success in solving physics problems. In this study, the Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving (AAPS) survey was used to reveal Turkish introductory university students' attitudes and approaches to physics problem solving. The data were collected from 175 students, in the spring semester of 2015-2016 academic year, from an introductory physics course at a university in the Black See Region of Turkey. The analysis of the data was conducted by grouping the data by major, achievement level, and gender. They were no statistically significant differences between the averages of civil engineering and molecular biology majors, and between male and female students. However, we obtained a small sample correlation between students' attitudes and exam grades that suggests high achievers' attitudes and approaches to physics problems are more expert-like than the attitudes and approaches of low achievers. Implications for problem solving strategies and directions for further research are discussed.

The aim of this study was to examine pharmacy students' experiences of a small ACT-based intervention that was implemented as a 7-week course with weekly online modules. Students' well-being, experiences of stress, organised studying and psychological flexibility were measured with questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course. Students' experiences of how the course affected their studying were analysed from open-ended responses and a reflective journal. The results show that students' well-being and time and effort management increased during the course. Students experienced that the course affected their studying in various ways. This study showed that it is possible to foster students' well-being and study skills with an online intervention course. More research is needed to identify the long-lasting effects of these kind of interventions.

In this study, Finnish ninth graders' and their school guidance counselors' views concerning ninth graders' perceptions of gender-appropriateness of occupations were examined. Special interest was placed on evaluating if ninth graders bring out any gender stereotypical perceptions regarding science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) occupations. The data were gathered with the aid of an online survey (246 pupils) and semi-structured interviews (7 school guidance counselors). Ninth graders referred mostly to masculine physical dimension when justifying certain occupations being more suitable for men than for women. Respectively, they referred mostly to gender-typical interest when justifying certain occupations to be more suitable for women than for men. Boys presented more gender stereotypical perceptions of occupations than girls did. Boys also considered their own gender affecting their occupational preferences stronger than girls did. Guidance counselors reported ninth graders' perceptions of occupations being still very gender-stereotypic and influencing on academic and occupational choices. To address occupational gender segregation, it is necessary to develop novel methods and materials recognizing gender stereotypes and demonstrating up-to-date STEM career knowledge.

Students' poor well-being is a serious problem in higher education. In part, this problem is related to the problems in studying as poorer study skills are related to poorer well-being. Both students' study skills and their well-being should be enhanced in higher education, but effective ways to do this are needed. The aim of this study was to explore students' experiences of an ACT-based online, 8-week course on university students' well-being and studying. Data were collected in two ways: a) with qualitative data consisting of learning journals (n = 97) and with b) a pre- and post-questionnaire (n = 143) during the course. The students' scores on well-being, psychological flexibility, and time and effort management skills improved, and stress levels decreased during the course. Qualitative analyses showed that the students benefited from the course in many ways, both in terms of studying and well-being; their studying and time management skills had improved and they had learnt stress management skills and how to cope with their negative thoughts. We argue that supporting students' well-being, as well as their study skills with ACT-based course in higher education studies, can lead to more effective studying., Author(s): Nina Katajavuori [sup.1] , Kimmo Vehkalahti [sup.2] , Henna Asikainen [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7737.4, 0000 0004 0410 2071, Centre for University Teaching and Learning (HYPE), Faculty of Educational [...]

The present study combines two separate research traditions that have been found to explain the way students deal with their university study and other challenges: psychological flexibility and cognitive-attributional strategies. The aim of this study is to explore the interrelationships between students' psychological flexibility, cognitive-attributional strategies and academic emotions, and their relationship to study success. Further, the study compares students with low, middle and high scores on psychological flexibility. A total of 247 arts students participated in the study. The interrelationships between psychological flexibility, cognitive-attributional strategies, academic emotions, study success and study pace were analysed with correlational analyses and structural equation modelling. Comparisons of different score groups were analysed with one-way ANOVA and Tukeýs tests. The results showed that psychological flexibility, cognitive-attributional strategies and academic emotions are closely related to each other. Psychological flexibility was positively related to success expectations and positive emotions and negatively related to task avoidance and negative emotions.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic caused a decline in students’ well-being, but on the other hand, students’ experiences of online learning and studying vary widely. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between psychological flexibility and study-related burnout and to explore whether students with different levels of psychological flexibility have experienced burnout and online studying during COVID-19 differently.MethodsThe data was collected from first-year life-science students (N = 296) in spring 2021. The relationship between psychological flexibility and study-related burnout was explored with Pearson’s correlation and linear regression. Students’ open-ended responses about their experiences of online learning were analyzed with inductive content analysis and the categories were quantified. Three different groups (high, middle, and low) were made based on respondents’ psychological flexibility, and the differences in their study-related burnout were analysed with ANOVA and Tukey’s test, and differences in online learning experiences were analysed with a Chi-square test.ResultsThe results showed that there was a negative relationship between psychological flexibility and study-related burnout. In addition, experiences of study-related burnout and online studying differed statistically significantly between the different groups.DiscussionThe results show that psychological flexibility is an important factor in enhancing students’ well-being and learning during the pandemic.

The results of recent laboratory-scale studies regarding the joint effects of wet strengthening agent polyamide-amine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) and internal alkylketene dimer (AKD) sizing on Nordic bleached softwood pulp (NBSK) handsheets indicate that AKD internal sizing increases the wet strength of PAE wet strengthened handsheets. The boosting effect of the internal AKD sizing was long-lasting. At the molecular level the actual mechanism behind the effect is unclear. The present study examines if the enhanced effect of internal AKD sizing, which is potentially exploitable in practice, also occurs in paper made by VTT’s Suora pilot paper machine. The trials were done using a similar type of NBSK pulp and the same chemicals as in the laboratory-scale studies. The paper was formed at 400 m/min using a hybrid dewatering mode (Fourdrinier + gap). Just as in the laboratory-scale studies, the internal AKD sizing of PAE wet-strengthened NBSK paper resulted in a long-lasting increase of the paper wet strength. In accordance with the laboratory trials, internal AKD sizing had no noticeable effect on the dry tensile strength of the pilot-made paper. The only apparent difference to the earlier observations was an increase of dry tensile strength of the paper treated solely with PAE.

Procrastination is consistently viewed as problematic to academic success and students' general well-being. There are prevailing questions regarding the underlying and maintaining mechanisms of procrastination which are yet to be learnt. The aim of the present study was to combine different ways to explain procrastination and explore how students' time and effort management skills, psychological flexibility and academic self-efficacy are connected to procrastination as they have been commonly addressed separately in previous studies. The data were collected from 135 students who participated in a voluntary time management and well-being course in autumn 2019. The results showed that students' ability to organize their time and effort has the strongest association with procrastination out of the variables included in the study. Psychological flexibility also has a strong individual role in explaining procrastination along with time and effort management skills. Surprisingly, academic self-efficacy did not have a direct association with procrastination. Interestingly, our findings further suggest that time and effort management and psychological flexibility are closely related and appear to go hand in hand and, thus, both need to be considered when the aim is to reduce procrastination. The implications of the findings are further discussed.