Browsing by Title

The effect of dress on identity is widely acknowledged in the study of dress. Ethnic dress has also been considered to influence the ethnic identity of an individual. In previous studies ethnic dress has been regarded as a way to both stand out from the majority and to enhance the cohesion inside an ethnic group. The aim of my study is to explain how ethnic dress affects the ethnic identity of a Romany- and a Sami female. I aim to point out which life events are significant in growing to the culture of one´s ethnic dress. In addition to the influence of one's own ethnic community, I am interested in the role that society plays in making up an ethnic identity. The experiences of ethnic dress and the life stories of informants are at the center of my study. I gathered the data with life course interviews that were conducted in Spring 2012. I interviewed a Sami born in 1984 and a Romany born in 1975, which are both Finnish citizens. The correlation between ethnic identity and ethnic dress was discussed from different aspects, as a lifelong process. Those main aspects were the informants´ attitudes towards ethnic dress in different phases of life, the influence of family and ethnic community in growing into the culture of ethnic dress, communicating through ethnic dress and the majority of society’s attitude towards their ethnic dress. I also used these aspects as themes when analyzing the data and compared the results with each other. Both interviewees experienced that ethnic dress affected their ethnic identity. Their dresses communicated mostly to their own ethnic group, and they did not consider standing out from other people of society as a main motive to use ethnic dress. In both cases family and relatives were in a key position in learning the customs and manners of ethnic dress. In both of these ethnic groups dress culture is dynamic as it is affected by personal taste and fashion. The experience of ethnic identity and attitude towards ethnic dress varies widely amongst every individual. However, ethnic dress is a visible symbol of ethnicity with which differentiation between group members and non-group members is practiced.

Tavoitteet. Ruokahävikki on ajankohtainen ongelma, johon kaivataan ratkaisuja monella eri yhteiskunnan osa-alueella. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia kuluttajien ruokahävikkiä koskevaa julkista keskustelua ja selvittää, minkälaisia asenteita, tunteita ja ruokahävikkiin liittyviä toimintatapoja verkossa julkaistavissa Ylen artikkeleissa on. Aiempi tutkimustieto on osoittanut, että kuluttajien asenteilla ja toiminnalla on suora yhteys toisiinsa, eli suhtautuminen ruokahävikkiin yksilö- ja yhteisötasolla vaikuttaa siihen, paljonko ruokahävikkiä tuotetaan. Menetelmät. Tutkimus toteutettiin Ylen verkkosivuston uutisjulkaisujen pohjalta. Tutkimusaineistona oli kuusitoista artikkelia ja aineistoa analysoitiin teoriaohjaavalla sisällönanalyysillä. Aineiston pohjalta luotiin sekä ruokahävikkiä vähentävien toimintatapojen että asen-teita ja tunteita havainnollistava tyypittely. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että ruokahävikin vähentämiseen liittyviä tapoja artikkeleissa voitiin jakaa kolmeen osa-alueeseen: kotona, kaupassa ja sosiaalisissa ympäristöissä tapahtuviin toimintatapoihin. Artikkeleissa kuluttajat ja asiantuntijat jakoivat neuvoja ja ohjeita ruokahävikin vähentämiseen. Kuluttajille suunnatut neuvot olivat luonteeltaan arkisia, konkreettisia ja käytännönläheisiä. Kuluttajille suositeltiin esimerkiksi ruuan pakastamista, ruuan aistinvaraista tutkimista ja ’’punalaputettujen’’ tuotteiden ostamista. Tunteita ja asenteita artikkeleissa voitiin tutkimuksen aineiston perusteella jaotella negatiivisiin ja positiivisiin. Ruokahävikkiartikkeleihin oli haastateltu lähinnä positiivisen asenteen omaavia henkilöitä, minkä vuoksi negatiivisia asenteita ja tunteita oli vain vähän. Positiivinen uutisointi vähensi aiemman tutkimustiedon mukaan ruokahävikkiä, mikä selittää tutkimuksessa havainnoituja tuloksia.

This study examines the online learning and teaching materials of the craft from the point of view of the consumer education. The Nordic Council of Ministers published a strategy for consumer education in 2010. The strategy contain proposals of the objectives and content of the consumer education and it is based on the values of sustainable development. Consumer education is a multidisciplinary entity that aims at learning consumer competences. In today’s information society, the most important consumer competence is the ability to choose, evaluate and apply information from different sources. According to the strategy for consumer education the contents of the two integrative themes (sustainable consumption and media and technological literacy) and a one field (management and participation at home) of the strategy should be part of the craft education. The study analyzes which of these contents has already been taken into account and whether some aspect has been ignored. The online learning and teaching materials of the craft have been previously studied from the standpoint of sustainable development, but not purely from the point of view of consumer education. The material of this study was the learning and teaching materials of the consumer information pages (kuluttajatieto) of the Punomo.fi-website. Some of the material was left outside of the analysis, for example, due to duplication or because of merely photos and links. The final size of the material was 60 material pages. The analysis was done with theory-based content analysis. The theory and the analysis units consisted of the contents of the integrative themes and the selected field (management and participation at home) of the strategy for consumer education. Each individual material was analyzed separately with these contents. In addition to this the material was distributed to instructions, tasks and information. The material was also divided into either soft, hard or multi-materials according to the perspective. Three themes of sustainable consumption (resources reduction, recycling, and reuse of materials) were the most prominent themes in the material. These themes were became apparent in recycled materials instructions. Textile cleaning and care was also a prominent theme. Future thinking, systemic thinking and lifecycle thinking are somewhat handled in the material mainly in information pages and tasks. The cultural awareness theme was discussed somewhat in instructions and texts related to multiculturalism and local craftsmanship. In contrast, media and technology literacy skills did not appear much in the material.

Psychological scientist have been interested to evolve methods to collect valid and reliable data. In some cases people don´t understand themselves either the reasons for their specific behaviour or answer. Pupils have been said to be the window to a person's soul and data collected from them have been used in psychological study since 1960s. This Bachelor's thesis introduces the kinds of psychological phenomenons that have been discovered to be reflected by pupillary responses. Google Scholar database was used in this thesis and search words were: pupillometry, pupil response, pupil dilation, pupillary light reflex, emotion, arousal, attention, resource allocation, cognition, information processing, fluid intelligence, perception consolidation, autism, schizophrenia, putting. In total, pupil size was affected by physiological state, cognitive effort, perception consolidation, attentional resource allocation and processing emotionally arousing stimulus. Pupillometry is widely used across different disciplines that involve cognitive science. It suits particularly well in certain research questions, such as implicit processing and questions that involve processes not easily amenable to verbal report or simple behavioural responses or those liable to be affected by social desirability.

Alzheimer’s disease is often characterised by impaired awareness of one’s cognitive decline or other symptoms. It has been shown to be associated with psychiatric symptoms such as depression, apahty and restlessness. Impaired awareness is also associated with cognitive decline, disturbance in activities of daily living and caregiver burden. However, results remain somewhat conflicting as impaired awareness is indeed a multifaceted issue. Much is known about it, though the extent of research considering the association with impaired awareness and treatment outcomes in Alzheimer’s disease yet remains modest.