Browsing by Subject "Finland"

Background: The population-based Finnish Cancer Registry (FCR) is an important resource for research and healthcare politics in Finland. The aim of this study was to validate the accuracy of the colorectal cancer (CRC) data within the FCR. Material and Methods: FCR data is based on independent cancer report forms (CRFs) from both clinicians and pathologists. Data from patients diagnosed with CRC during a randomized, population-based CRC screening program between 2004 and 2012 were extracted from the FCR and compared to data extracted from the original clinical patient records of these individuals by two gastrointestinal surgeons. The study focused on tumour characteristics and primary treatment. Accuracy was measured by calculating Cohen´s kappa coefficient (k), which considers the possibility of agreement by chance. Results: Altogether, 1475 patients were studied. k was 0.74 for stage, 0.87 for tumour location (right/left), 0.78 for a more detailed location, 0.72 for tumour histology, 0.46 for surgical removal of the primary tumour, and 0.43 for chemotherapy. Among those who underwent surgery, the radicality of surgical treatment had a k of 0.24. In total, 173 (12%) patients were lacking a CRF from a clinician. Conclusion: The FCR data had good accuracy regarding tumour characteristics, but poor accuracy in treatment information. The main reason for this suboptimal accuracy was missing CRFs from treating clinicians. Awareness of these findings is crucial when research and decision making is based on FCR data. Measures have since been taken to improve the completeness of FCR recording.

Akuutti haimatulehdus on tavallinen sairaus kirurgian päivystyksessä akuutti vatsa -potilailla. Haimatulehduksen etiologian määrittämisellä on tärkeä rooli toisaalta mahdollisesti tarvittavien hoitotoimenpiteiden valitsemisessa, mutta ennen kaikkea uusiutumisen estossa. Yleisimmät etiologiset tekijät akuutin pankreatiitin taustalla ovat alkoholin liiallinen käyttö sekä sappikivitauti. Harvinaisempia aiheuttajia ovat haiman tai haimatiehyen mekaaninen ärsytys toimenpiteen seurauksena, hypertriglyseridemia, autoimmuunitulehdus sekä tietyt lääkeaineet. Osassa tapauksista aiheuttajaa ei löydetä ja nämä jäävät ns. idiopaattisiksi. Teimme retrospektiivisen katsauksen Helsingin Yliopistolliseen sairaalaan kuuluvassa Meilahden sairaalassa vuosina 2016-2018 hoidetuista akuuttiin pankreatiittiin sairastuneista potilaista. Tarkoituksenamme oli selvittää akuutin haimatulehduksen tämänhetkinen ilmaantuvuus sekä mahdolliset muutokset haimatulehdusten etiologiajakaumassa. Lisäksi arvioimme tarkasteltavina olleiden suureiden mahdollista osuutta altistavina tekijöinä akuuttiin haimatulehdukseen sairastumiselle. Arvioitavia suureita olivat potilaiden ikä, sukupuoli, tupakointihistoria, alkoholinkäyttö, BMI sekä veren hyytymistä estävän lääkityksen käyttö. Tarkistimme myös potilaiden elossaolotiedot sekä selvitimme ilmenneet haimasyöpätapaukset akuuttiin pankreatiittiin sairastaneilla potilailla. Akuutin pankreatiitin insidenssi oli matalampi kuin aiemmissa suomalaisissa tutkimuksissa. Alkoholipankreatiittien osuus oli vähentynyt, mutta oli edelleen korkeampi kuin muissa Pohjoismaissa. Sappipankreatiittien osuus oli noussut. Idiopaattisiksi jääneissä ja alkoholin aiheuttamissa tapauksissa tupakointi esittäytyi merkittävänä riskitekijänä. Idiopaattisissa tapauksissa myös antikoagulanttien käyttö oli mahdollinen haimatulehduksen riskitekijä. Obesiteetti vaikutti olevan merkittävä riskitekijä sekä idiopaattiselle että sappikivitaudin aiheuttamalle pankreatiitille.

From an ecological perspective, school can be seen as a protective factor for students with adverse home conditions. Although previous theory and research show that the school has potential for supporting students with adverse home conditions, research shows that there are challenges in how this works in practice. The aim of this research is to examine what methods school staff use to identify students with adverse home conditions, find out how school staff experience their role when meeting these students and how the multi-professional collaboration is implemented in schools when supporting students with adverse home conditions. This is a qualitative research. Semi-structured interview was used as a method. 1 principal, 1 special class teacher, 4 class teachers and 1 school counselor shared their experiences. The informants worked in Swedish-language schools in Southern Finland. Data from the interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis. Being observant was perceived as a prerequisite for identifying students with adverse home conditions. According to the informants, it is easier to identify these students when students show changes in behavior, they become anxious and are acting out. It is more difficult to identify adverse home conditions in students who are quiet, calm, and independent. Respectful approach was experienced as important with both students and parents of students with adverse home conditions. Creating trust in students and parents was perceived as a prerequisite for successful collaboration and something the school should put effort into. There was a lot of local variation regarding how the informants experienced the multi-professional collaboration. The results of this study emphasize that the role of the teacher is significant for a student with adverse home conditions. The results of the study also show that a good contact with the home, which is based on mutual respect and trust, is significant when it comes to supporting students with adverse home conditions.

The increasing recognition of eco-friendly packaging in the packaging industry makes paperboard one of the most promising green packaging materials. The global demand for paperboard has increased rapidly in the past two decades. The purposes of the study are: firstly, to provide an overview of the consumption, production, imports and exports of paperboard products in different regions worldwide between 1992 and 2010. Secondly, as the Finnish paperboard industry has been highly export-oriented, the study also aims to provide quantitative analysis of the main determinants influencing the demand for Finnish paperboard exports in its main destinations-Germany and Russia by applying economic models from the first quarter of 1995 to the third quarter of 2011. Finally, trends projection for the future development of Finnish paperboard is presented based on results of analysis. The research is both descriptive and explanatory based on secondary data collected from various databases. The regional analysis of paperboard market from 1992 to 2010 revealed that North America and Western Europe’s paperboard production exceeded the consumption, where Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America’s consumption exceeded the production. The consumption and production growth was extremely fast in Asia and it has been the largest consumer and producer of paperboard products since 2000s. Western Europe has been the largest exporter and importer throughout the years. The empirical modeling of Finnish paperboard export demand showed that the export demand for Finnish paperboard in Germany was highly affected by the total paperboard imports of Germany and its GDP. It also has high sensitivity to the income changes of Germany in long term, but the price effect was not significant. The export demand for Finnish paperboard in Russia has low income elasticity and the price effect was statistically significant. Oil price has also significant influence on Finnish paperboard export demand to Russia. According to the linear trends projection for Finnish paperboard market to 2020, the consumption and imports will grow very slowly or even stagnate, but the production and exports will continuously increase at a faster pace.

Since begging East European Roma became a common view in the streets of larger Nordic cities, vivid discussions about their presence and activities have been carried out in the mass media. This thesis examines the public debates in Finland and Norway through a discursive analysis and comparison of press content from the two countries. The aim of the study is firstly to identify the prominent discourses which construct certain images of the beggars, as well as the elements and internal logics that these discourses are constructed around. But in addition to scrutinizing representations of the Roma, also an opposite perspective is applied. In accordance with the theoretical concept of ‘othering’, debates about ‘them’ are assumed to simultaneously reveal something significant about ‘us’. The second research question is thus what kind of images of the ideal Finnish and Norwegian societies are reflected in the data, and which societal values are salient in these images. The analysis comprises 79 texts printed in the main Finnish and Norwegian quality newspapers; Helsingin Sanomat and Aftenposten. The data consists of news articles, editorials, columns and letters to the editor from a three-month period in the summer of 2010. The analysis was carried out within the theoretical and methodological framework of critical discourse analysis as outlined by Norman Fairclough. A customized nine-step coding scheme was developed in order to reach the most central dimensions of the texts. Seven main discourses were identified; the Deprivation-solidarity, Human rights, Order, Crime, Space and majority reactions, Authority control, and Authority critique discourse. These were grouped into two competing normative stances on what an ideal society looks like; the exclusionary and the inclusionary stance. While the exclusionary stance places the begging Roma within a frame of crime, illegitimate use of public space and threat to the social order, the other advocates an attitude of solidarity and humanitarian values. The analysis points to a dominance of the former, although it is challenged by the latter. The Roma are 'individualized' by quoting and/or presenting them by name in a fair part of the Finnish news articles. In Norway, the opposite is true; there the beggars are dominantly presented as anonymous and passive. Overall, the begging Roma are subjected to a double bind as they are faced with simultaneous expectations of activity and passivity. Theories relating to moral panics and ‘the good enemy’ provide for a deepened understanding of the intensity of the debates. Helsingin Sanomat, Aftenposten, Norman Fairclough

Market reforms in the European Union (EU) are cramped between two connected, albeit divergent forces. First, policies are contested in the multilateral EU-sphere, and later refined and adjusted in heterogeneous national implementations. Neste, an industrial company, gained a monopolistic market position to a certain renewable diesel fuel in the aftermath of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive 2 (RED II) implementation in Finland. This research aims to find out what led to this outcome. For the examination of these phenomena, this paper draws on the literature of market organization, policy implementation, and evolutionary economics, which offer us insights into market reforming in an era of marketization and climate change adaption. Also, in the course of the research text, the politically contentious nature of biofuels is unwrapped. This research aims at extending the understanding of unintended consequences of multiscalar sustainable regulations. This thesis applies an outcome explaining variant of a causal method called process tracing, which seeks to answer the question “what led to the outcome Y”. Through relevant causal process observations, this research is built into a context-specific and multifactor study. The data used here consists of secondary sources, including parliamentary reports, and the results of a stakeholder hearing that was organized around the directive implementation in Finland in 2018. Throughout the research, relevant counterfactual conditional questions are presented in light of the causal process. Asking these if-questions highlights the deliberative and political nature of the instalment of the RED II. The analysis shows that Finland’s commitment to the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement goals through the RED II is the likeliest cause for the resulting monopoly. However, we cannot fully exclude the 
Finnish parliament’s implicit motivation for monopoly-creation, but it is unlikely. The research also considers Neste’s successful entrepreneurial innovation activity as a contributing, although not an explaining factor. The study concludes that the outcome in question was an unintended, but not inevitable consequence of a sustainability directive implementation.

Rätten till personlig integritet är tryggad i grundlagen och psykisk integritet är en del av denna. Rätten skyddas i strafflagen genom bland annat misshandelsdeliktet, och psykisk misshandel är enligt strafflagen straffbar på samma sätt som fysisk misshandel. Ändå finns det mycket få åtal och domar som gäller just psykisk misshandel, trots att psykiskt våld bland barn är så vanligt att ungefär var sjätte elev som gick i årskurserna 4 och 5, och fler än var fjärde av dem som gick i årskurserna 8 och 9 under år 2019 upplevt att de utsatts för psykiskt våld under det föregående året. I avhandlingen går jag igenom hur psykiskt våld regleras i Finland och hur barns speciella ställning beaktas i detta samband, vilka problemen med regleringen är med beaktande av internationella krav och hur dessa problem kunde lösas. För att svara på dessa frågor har jag gått igenom gällande finsk lagstiftning, rättspraxis, åtalseftergifter och utfört intervjuer för att få reda på huruvida misshandelsdeliktet gällande psykisk misshandel de facto kan tillämpas. Psykiskt våld ingår i flera olika delikt i strafflagen, som exempelvis olaga förföljelse och ärekränkning. För att det ska vara frågan om misshandel enligt strafflagen krävs, förutom en bevisad gärning, kausalitet mellan gärningen och den orsakade följden. Vid psykisk misshandel är kausaliteten betydligt svårare att fastställa än vid fysisk misshandel och trots att det finns fall där någon dömts för psykisk misshandel kan dessa ses som undantagsfall. De internationella krav som ställs på straffbarheten av psykisk misshandel härstammar från Istanbulkonventionen. Det är också denna som slutligen påverkar straffbarheten vid fall där våldet begås mot barn, trots att barns speciella ställning beaktats också i FN:s barnkonvention och i barnskyddslagen. Då strafflagen inte uttryckligen straffbelägger psykisk misshandel, och då misshandelsdeliktet om ickefysiskt våld är så pass svårt att tillämpa kan det konstateras att den gällande finska regleringen inte för tillfället uppfyller alla internationella krav gällande kriminaliserandet av psykisk misshandel. Problemet kunde delvis lösas genom metoder som inte kräver nya kriminaliseringar, men för att täcka alla slags våld borde ett nytt delikt införas i strafflagen. För att vara lättare att tillämpa än det nuvarande deliktet kunde ett alternativ vara att bygga upp det nya deliktet som ett abstrakt faredelikt.

One-fifth of Finland’s total greenhouse gas emissions and two-fifths of the Effort Sharing sector’s emissions come from domestic transportation. Of the domestic transportation emissions, 94% comes from road traffic. The target for Finland is to reduce 39% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the Effort Sharing sector by 2030, and Finland is committed to halving its emissions from traffic by the year 2030 compared to the 2005 level. The electrification of the vehicle fleet is one of the instruments set to achieve the emission reduction targets of the transportation sector. An ambitious goal of 700 000 electric vehicles, of which a significant part is battery electric vehicles, is suggested for 2030. The study explores the most significant attributes and the factors that affect the likelihood of adopting electric vehicles in Finland. The choice experiment data was collected by a survey questionnaire. The data comprises 409 respondents and represents the Finnish driving license holders well regarding age, gender, and living county. The data was analysed with econometric models using Nlogit and SPSS software. The results show that the most important attributes in vehicle purchase choice are purchase price, driving range, and charging time. Driving costs and CO2 emissions from driving were not statistically significant in this study. Plug-in hybrids were chosen more frequently than battery electric vehicles. The study finds many socio-demographic characteristics, and vehicle and driving-related factors that affect vehicle purchase choice. These simultaneously statistically significant characteristics for the vehicle purchase choice for battery electric vehicle are living county Uusimaa, university degree, gender woman, age less than 50 years, and driving less than 50 km per day. The variables found to increase the probability to choose a plug-in hybrid vehicle are residence in Northern or Eastern Finland, university degree, gender woman, row or semi-detached house, and the possibility to charge an electric vehicle at home. The study identifies the respondents who never chose an electric vehicle in the choice tasks and reveals a wide set of attitudes towards electric vehicles. The study reveals respondents' overall lack of information on electric vehicle and traffic emissions, and instruments for emission reductions.

Phytoplasmas are plant pathogenic phloem colonizing bacteria-like organisms. They can cause severe growth disorders in plants and thus weaken the productivity of crop plants or even kill them. Phytoplasmas have not caused any epidemics on crop plants in Finland and thus they have been little studied. The aim of this study was to find out if plants that have phytoplasma-like symptoms are actually infected by phytoplasmas. Plants with growth disorders were collected and their DNA was extracted. Phytoplasmal DNA was multiplied from the samples using PCR with phytoplasma-specific primers P1 and P7. The products were sequenced and compared with sequences available from databases. Phylogenetic trees were constructed to show the kinship between the phytoplasmas. In this thesis X-disease phytoplasmas were found from dandelion (Taraxacum spp. Weber), scentless mayweed (Tripleurospermun inodorum Schultz Bip.), creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense L.), alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum L.) and blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.). Aster yellows phytoplasma was found from one red clover (Trifolium pratense L.). Data on phytoplasmas has not been published in other Nordic countries. In Lithuania phytoplasmas have been detected in several plant species such as raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.), apple (Malus sp. Mill.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), oat (Avena sativa L.) and several other grasses that also grow in Finland. The climate change can increase the amount of vector insects in Finland, which will most likely help phytoplasmas spread more efficiently and cause diseases also on crop plants. The import of plants from other countries may enable the spread of new vector and phytoplasma species in Finland.

I min studie granskar jag kvinnosaksaktivisten Lucina Hagmans böcker och föredrag på ämnet samuppfostran under perioden 1887–1901 och sätter dem i deras idéhistoriska kontext. Hagman kämpade för att flickor skulle få en likadan utbildning som pojkar, samt att barnen skulle uppfostras likadant oavsett kön såväl i skolan som i hemmet. Jag använder mig av diskursanalys för att granska de sociala och politiska sammanhangen kring texterna och placera dem i deras samhälleliga kontext. Kring sekelskiftet fick finländska kvinnor nya rättigheter och diskussionen om deras position i samhället gick varm. Hagman menar, likt många av sina samtida gelikar, att kvinnor och män är olika varandra, men ändå så pass lika att de skulle tjänas av att uppfostras och utbildas på lika villkor. Hon argumenterar för att det är i samhällets intresse att göra detta, främst för att kvinnor blir bättre mödrar om de själva blivit uppfostrade enligt hennes ideal. Hagman säger även att kvinnorna är ansvariga för samhällets moral, en vanlig uppfattning under denna tid. Den stränga, absoluta moralen som krävdes av kvinnorna borde även krävas av männen. kvinnorna bör även utöka hemmets sfär till att omfatta hela samhället. Hon lutar sig tillbaka på dåtida borgerliga ideal om hemmet och modern som sedlighetens hjärta, och argumenterar för att männens våldsamma värld bör förpassas till historien och ersättas av en pacifistisk uppfostran till kärlek som bör utföras av kvinnor. Tidsperioden under vilken Hagman författade de texter jag analyserar i denna avhandling var en tid av betydande kulturella, sociala och politiska omvälvningar, och Hagman stod själv med foten i ett flertal olika idéer och rörelser. Hon inspireras av nationalistiska, borgerliga ideal, men även av liberala och universalistiska värden. Även om hon sällan hänvisar till sina källor har jag med hjälp av diskursanalys kunnat ringa in de samtida idéströmningarna hon påverkats av.