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With escalating environmental concerns and unsustainable pressures on global resources, exploring alternative protein sources is imperative. Consumer acceptance of plant-based substitutes varies, influenced by taste, health awareness, environmental considerations, and cultural dynamics. This thesis explored Finnish consumers' perceptions of "MyShroom," an ingredient derived from the mycelium of Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), aiming to offer a considerable option. Four focus groups targeting neophilic demographics discussed its potential as a sustainable, nutritious and tasty product. The study aimed to inform MyShroom’s market introduction and product refinement, highlighting consumer expectations regarding naturalness, processing, and sustainability. A qualitative, inductive thematic approach was used due to the absence of existing mycelium-based products in the market. Focus groups were organized based on dietary preferences, capturing perspectives from plant-based eaters to omnivores. Data collection took place in January 2024, with sessions conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using ATLAS.ti software. The data revealed that there close to none awareness around the term “mycelium”, “fungal network” was more known. Participants' perceptions of MyShroom were divided into two main associations: mushrooms and meat substitutes. When perceived as mushrooms, mycelium ingredient was seen as natural and wholesome. When viewed as a meat substitute, it was seen as processed. It was perceived as rather natural, less natural than mushrooms but more natural than other meat substitutes. This dual perception influences consumer acceptance and market positioning. While omnivores might see it as a supplementary ingredient, flexitarians and vegetarians are likely to embrace it as a primary meat substitute. Ensuring that MyShroom meets taste expectations is crucial for its acceptance, clear communication and education about mycelium's benefits and production process are essential for successful market integration. Further studies targeting a broader consumer base including sensory evaluations would provide more comprehensive insights into market reception.

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli kehittää maatilojen sukupolvenvaihdosneuvontaa ja siihen läheisesti liittyvää Likwi- laskelmaa ProAgria Hämeen alueella. Myös alueen sukupolvenvaihdostilojen ominaispiirteistä ja niiden investoinneista oltiin kiinnostuneita. Tutkielman teoriaosiossa tarkasteltiin ensiksi maatilan sukupolvenvaihdoksiin liittyviä lakeja, säädöksiä, avustuksia sekä toteuttamistapoja. Tämän jälkeen tarkasteltiin sukupolvenvaihdosta investointina, erityisesti sukupolvenvaihdoskauppaa. Lisäksi lueteltiin lyhyesti investointeihin liittyvät riskit. Lopuksi teoriaosiossa käsiteltiin neuvonnan roolia ja sen tarjoamia palveluita sukupolvenvaihdoksen tukena. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin viljelijöille kesäkuussa 2011 lähetettyjä kyselylomakkeita. Lomake lähetettiin kaikille ProAgria Hämeen toimialueella nuoren viljelijän aloitustukea vuosien 2003 – 2007 välisenä aikana hakeneille viljelijöille. Aloitustukea hakeneita tiloja oli ajanjaksolla yhteensä 436, joista kyselyyn vastasi yhteensä 77. Vastausprosentti oli siten 17,6 %. Todellisuudessa vastausprosentti on korkeampi, koska kaikki tilat eivät olleet tehneet sukupolvenvaihdosta. Todellinen vastausprosentti vaihtelee luultavasti 20 – 40 %:n välillä. Tutkimustulosten mukaan sukupolvenvaihdosneuvonta oli asiantuntevaa ja vastasi asiakkaiden tarpeita ProAgria Hämeen alueella. Neuvoja valittiin yleisimmin, koska hänet tunnettiin entuudestaan ja tiedettiin luotettavaksi. Parasta neuvonnassa viljelijöiden mielestä oli neuvojan ammattitaito ja suurimpana heikkoutena liika kaavamaisuus. Likwi- laskelma oli viljelijöiden mielestä kohtalaisen hyvä apuväline päätöksiä tehtäessä. Sen käyttö kuitenkin väheni sitä mukaa kun sukupolven-vaihdoksesta kuluu aikaa. Viljelijät kokivat laskelman vain välttämättömäksi tarvittavien tukien ja avustusten saamiseksi. Eniten kehittämistä viljelijöiden mielestä laskelmassa oli luotettavuudessa, käyttökelpoisuudessa ja päivitettävyydessä. Sukupolvenvaihdoskaupoissa tilojen keskimääräinen kauppahinta oli ProAgria Hämeen alueella 178 000 €. Yleisin tapa toteuttaa kauppa oli yhdellä kertaa yhdelle jatkajalle lahjanluontoisella kaupalla. Lähes kaikki nuoret viljelijät myös investoivat tiloillaan sukupolvenvaihdoksen jälkeisinä vuosina. Merkittävimmät investointikohteet olivat koneet ja kalusto sekä tuotantorakennukset. Uusi traktori oli yleisin yksittäinen investointikohde tiloilla. Investointihalukkuus säilyi sukupolven-vaihdoksen jälkeen, koska lähes kaikki aloittaneet viljelijät suunnittelevat tekevänsä lisää investointeja lähivuosien aikana. Myös lähes 50 % sukupolvenvaihdoksen tehneistä oli kiinnostunut itsensä kouluttamisesta jatkossa.

Lantibiotics are a subgroup of bacteriocins, produced by Gram-positive bacteria to inhibit the growth of closely related strains. They are used as food preservatives e.g. nisin, and some are in clinical trials, e.g. duramycin A and microbisporicin. Cinnamycin is a 19 amino acid lantibiotic that inhibits the growth of Gram-positive rods. Recent work suggests that cyanobacteria might be able to make variants of cinnamycin. Here I determined the product of a cinnamycin biosynthetic pathway present in the genomes of a benthic cyanobacteria. The genome mining analysis demonstrated that three cyanobacterial strains and seven actinobacterial strains contained the genes responsible for the production of cinnamycin. Cinnamycin variants were detected from cyanobacteria Oscillatoria sp. PCC 10802 and actinobacteria Streptomyces roseoverticillatus DSM 40845, respectively. Oscillatoria sp. PCC 10802 produced a cinnamycin variant named oscillamycin, with mass of 1966.86 Da. Stable nitrogen (15N) and sulphur (34S) isotope labeling of the cyanobacterium indicated that the oscillamycin contains 3 sulfur atoms and 23 nitrogen atoms. However, the mass of oscillamycin was 16 units bigger than the bioinformatic predictions. LC-MS analysis suggested that the oscillamycin contains a hydroxyl-proline in addition to hydroxyl aspartic acid. The oscillamycin gene cluster was cloned and successfully expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. Small amounts of oscillamycin (0.25 µg) were purified from Oscillatoria sp. PCC 10802 and showed tentative antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis HAMBI 251. This study demonstrated that cyanobacteria and actinobacteria share a lantibiotic gene cluster and that the lantibiotic produced differed in just four amino acids. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that the cinnamycin gene cluster was transferred from actinobacteria to cyanobacteria by an ancient horizontal gene transfer event. This study expands the chemical diversity of cinnamycin variants. This is the first report of a lantibiotic from cyanobacteria suggesting that cyanobacteria might be a novel source of antibiotics, which could be useful in addressing the antibiotic resistance issue.

Many dairy farms harvest three silage crops during summer. Extended growing season and a need to lower the costs of silage are the driving force for three harvests. In Finland the most common forage grass species in silage production are timothy (Phleum pratense L.) and meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.), cultivated as a mixture. When harvesting three times, the importance of a correct timing of defoliation is essential. The demand of high quality yield makes it even more important. In this master’s thesis, the effects of early and late defoliation rhythm for the growth, devel-opment and quality of timothy, meadow fescue and timothy-meadow fescue mixture were examined. Field trials were conducted in the experiment station of Natural Resources Insti-tute Finland (Luke) in Maaninka during the growing periods of 2015 and 2016. Timothy variety Nuutti and meadow fescue variety Valtteri were used in the experiment. Both vari-eties are suitable for cultivation throughout Finland. Weather conditions varied between the years during the experiment, which affected the dry matter production and the timing of optimal harvest. In year 2016, the beginning of summer had a low rainfall, and the drought affected dry matter yield production. It was notable that in both years the later defoliation rhythm produced greater dry matter yield. Otherwise, tim-ing of harvest had a greater impact for crop and growing parameters than harvesting rhythm. For the first and the second harvest, digestibility determined the right harvesting time. In the third harvest, digestibility was high until the later harvesting times. During the experi-ment, it was also noticed that delaying the harvest did not produce higher dry matter yield. Timothy produced the best dry matter yield, as meadow fescue had better regrowth and dry matter digestibility. Timothy-Meadow fescue mixture’s dry matter yield was as high as timothy’s, however, dry matter digestibility remained higher longer than in timothy.

In this research it was studied whether non-industrial private forest owners are interested in using timber sales contracts which pricing is based on the nominal stumpage price indices published by the Finnish Forest Research Institute. In addition, it was studied, whether forest owners’ background and objectives of ownership affect the forest owners’ attitudes towards this type of timber sales contracts. Six different models of timber sales contracts were created for the research purposes. The Data consists of 16 non-industrial private forest owners from southern Finland who were interviewed with a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire. Theoretical sampling was used to select different forest owners with respect to their age, profession, gender, domicile and amount of forestland owned. The results suggest that forest owners can be classified into three groups with respect to their interest in a certain contract model. The groups are: risk takers, active sellers and investors. Risk takers were interested in the contract models which allow them to speculate with the future developments of the prices. Risk takers were typically absentee owners owning relatively small-sized forest holdings. Their dependency on forestry income was typically relatively small. Active sellers typically owned large forest holdings and were usually more dependent on timber sales income known with certainty. They were also familiar with the timber selling process which partly explains why they were usually less interested in the models. Investors were typically only interested in the contract models that allowed them to avoid or minimize risk related to the timing of timber sales. Even though timber buyers nowadays offer various types of contracts, it would benefit the timber markets as a whole if there were more flexible nad transparent ways to tailor timber sales contracts for the different types of forest owners. This would have impact especially to absentee owners owning small-sized forest holdings, who either are uncertain on the timing of the sale or appreciate opportunities to speculate with the stumpage price developments. Standardizing the pricing methods of the contracts would enhance the transparency of the pricing of the contracts and increase trust in the whole selling process.

Kahvi on laadullisilta ominaisuuksiltaan hyvin herkkä elintarvike. Kahvin väri- ja kosteuspitoisuus ovat tärkeitä parametreja paahdetun kahvin prosessoinnin ja aistinvaraisen laadun kannalta. NIR-teknologia (engl. near infrared technology) on analysointimenetelmä, joka perustuu infrapunasäteilyyn. NIR-laite lähettää näytteeseen lähi-infrapunasäteilyä, jolloin yhdisteiden kemialliset sidokset absorboivat sitä ja tuottavat värähtelyenergiaa. Tämä absorptio voidaan nähdä näytteelle ominaisesta spektristä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kalibroida NIR-laite mittaamaan paahdetusta kahvista väriä, kosteuspitoisuutta ja tiheyttä. Lisäksi tutkittiin kahvin jauhatuksen vaikutusta sen väriin NIR-laitteella ja referenssimenetelmällä. Tässä tutkimuksessa referenssimenetelmänä värin määrityksessä toimi Hunterlab D25LT -värimittari. Kosteuspitoisuuden referenssimenetelmänä oli kuiva-ainepitoisuuden määritys uunissa kuivatuista näytteistä. Tiheyden referenssimenetelmänä toimi mittaukset JEL STAV 2003 Stampfvolumeter -mittarilla, joka antaa hyvän kuvan kahvin tilavuudesta, kun se pakataan vakuumipakkaukseen. Tutkimuksessa käytetty materiaali saatiin paahtimolta. Näytteiden määrä värikalibraatiossa oli 278 kpl, kosteuspitoisuuskalibraatiossa 199 kpl ja tiheyskalibraatiossa 64 kpl. Kalibraatioita arvioitiin vertaamalla referenssituloksia kalibraation ennustettuihin arvoihin. Värikalibraatio saavutti ennustearvon R2 = 0,99, joka on NIR-kalibraatiolla erinomainen. Kosteuspitoisuudelle ennustearvoksi saatiin R2 = 0,91, joka on myös hyväksyttävä, koska kalibraatiossa oli matalat virhearvot. Tiheydelle ennustearvoksi saatiin R2= 0,89, mutta suuret virhearvot lisäsivät kalibraation epäluotettavuutta. Tutkittaessa jauhatuksen vaikutusta väriin havaittiin tilastollisin menetelmin, että mittausmenetelmien keskihajontojen ja keskivirheiden erot olivat hyvin pieniä. t-testipareista havaittiin, että jauhatuksella ei ollut tilastollisesti merkitsevää vaikutusta tuloksiin. 1-jauhatuksen näytteet olivat kuitenkin väriltään vaaleampia, mikä oli yksi alkuhypoteeseista. NIR-mittaustapaa voidaan käyttää tulevaisuudessa mittaamaan paahdetun kahvin väriä ja kosteuspitoisuutta. Tiheyskalibraatio tarvitsisi enemmän referenssimittauksia ollakseen luotettava.

Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plant growth and crop production. However, excessive nitrogen fertilizer application may lead to nitrate leaching from soils to surface and ground waters. Nitrogen is a major cause of eutrophication of freshwater and marine ecosystems, including the Baltic Sea, and agriculture is a major source of nitrogen leaching to waterways in general. Because agriculture is a non-point source of diffuse pollution, measuring and monitoring the emissions is difficult and costly. This affects the design and implementation of non-point pollution policies. However, because reducing non-point pollution emissions has so far been limited, policies that counter non-point pollution emissions could reduce surface water pollution and improve water quality. The aim of this study was to examine various nitrogen leaching reducing policy instruments and their effects on farmer profits, social welfare, fertilizer use, land use, and to explore the willingness of farmers to accept different instruments. A theoretical heterogeneous land quality class framework was used to construct and develop an empirical parametric two crop bio-economic model in order to assess the impact and effectiveness of selected policy instruments. Heterogeneity in the model was incorporated by different maximum potential yields with respect to the different land quality classes. Three policy instruments were examined: fertiliser standard, fertiliser tax and emission charge. In addition, the redistribution of the collected fertiliser tax revenue by rebates was also explored and discussed. The results showed that differentiated policy instruments induced the highest social welfare. However, due to the nature of non-point pollution, differentiated policy instruments cannot be utilised and therefore uniform instruments have to be considered. An uniform fertilizer standard input provided the highest farmer profits. However, when tax rebates were introduced in to the policy instrument mix, private profits were the largest under a lump-sum rebate and rebates that were proportionally awarded according to fertilizer use. These higher profits changed instrument preference and acceptability among the producer. The uniform input tax and lump-sum rebate scheme stood out from the other tax rebate schemes, as it effectively reduced nitrogen fertilizer use (and therefore nitrogen runoff), and the lump-sum rebate compensated the farmer for the deemed stringent input tax. The model results indicated that a uniform input tax and lump-sum rebate scheme could be a potential policy instrument to reduce nitrogen leaching. However, further studies should be carried out on the willingness of producers to accept an input tax and rebate scheme.

The average global surface temperature has risen 1.1 degrees from pre-industrial times, mainly due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a strong and ozone-depleting greenhouse gas. It has 265 times stronger Global Warming Potential than carbon dioxide (CO2) and an atmospheric lifetime of 120 years. Over half of the global N2O emissions originate from agriculture, mainly from cultivated soils. In soils, facultative microbial-driven denitrification and chemoautotrophy- or heterotrophy-driven nitrification are the dominant N2O -producing processes. These processes are driven by soil properties and environmental variables. In northern agricultural soils, over half of the annual N2O emissions are estimated to be produced outside the growing season, mostly during soil freeze-thaw cycles (FTCs). However, due to lack of seasonal measurements the emissions outside growing season are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate how soil FTCs affect N2O emission dynamics from Finnish grassland soils, and whether different soil types (fine sand, peat soil, clay loam) affect N2O emissions and nitrogen dynamics during soil freezing and thawing. The study was conducted as a laboratory incubation experiment using a newly built automated measuring system. N2O emissions from undisturbed soil samples were measured continuously for 21 days, which included total of 7 freeze-thaw cycles from -5°c to +5°C. N2O production or consumption was calculated for each freeze-thaw cycle, and soil mineral nitrogen (min N), C:N ratio, C%, N%, and pH(H2O) were determined during each cycle from separate undisturbed soil samples. Also, net ammonification, net nitrification and total net mineralisation rates were calculated from the min N concentrations for each FTC. Each soil type emitted N2O during the thawing of the soil, while frozen soils appeared to act as a small N2O sink. Contradictory to other studies, steady N2O production was seen throughout the seven FTCs and there was no significant increase or decrease in N2O emissions as the FTCs proceeded. Peat soils produced 4-10 times more N2O than fine sand and clay loam, respectively. Peat soil was also the largest sink of N2O during freezing. N2O emissions did not correlate with soil chemical properties, with few exceptions during soil thawing: C:N ratio (positive correlation) and pH (negative correlation). This is probably due to the episodic nature of N2O, and the complex and overlapping processes driving N2O production and consumption. FTCs increased NH4+ concentration especially in fine sand and peat soil while NO3- concentration decreased in all soils except in clay soil. Based on these results, denitrification was suggested as the main N2O producing process in peat soil and in fine sand. High NH4+ and low NO3- concentration in peat soil and fine sand indicate fast mineralisation and rapid denitrification during thawing or low nitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction (DNRA) activities, both of which may also have limited N2O emissions. This study shows that organic grassland soils have a high potential to both produce and consume N2O compared to other soil types during FTCs. The capacity to produce N2O during consequent FTCs indicates that these soils have a persistent and long-lasting capacity to produce N2O in freeze-thaw conditions. The N2O emission dynamics most likely reflect rapid changes in soil nitrogen turnover processes, which calls for further studies and method development to link the gross N turnover rates to N2O production and consumption during soil freezing and thawing.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is one of the most studied human malignancies. It is caused by an autonomously active tyrosine kinase BCR-ABL, which is a result from a translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 in the hematopoietic stem cell. As an outcome, a Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome is formed. BCR-ABL causes disturbed cell proliferation among other things. Although targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy has been developed in the beginning of the millenium and the survival rate has increased significantly, it is still not known why some patients benefit more from the treatment than others. Furthermore, the therapy is not considered to be curative. Before the era of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the first-line treatment for CML was interferon-? (IFN-?). However, only a small proportion of patients benefitted from the treatment. Of these patients, a few were able to discontinue the treatment without renewal of the disease. The mechanism of IFN-? is not completely understood, but it is believed that differences in the immune system can be one of the reasons why some patients have better therapy response. Kreutzman, Rohon et al. have recently discovered that patients who have been able to stop IFN-? treatment have an increased number of NK- and T-cells. They also have a unique clonal T-cell population and more cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells and less CD4+ T-cells. The aim of this master’s thesis was to study the function of T- and NK-cells in IFN-? treated patients. Although it was shown earlier that IFN-? treated patients have increased NK-cell count, the function of these cells was unknown. Therefore, we have now investigated the killing potential of patients’ NK-cells, their activation status and cell surface antigen expression. In addition, we have also studied the activation status of patients’ T-cells and their cytotoxic properties. We observed that NK-cells from patients treated with IFN-? are unable to kill leukemic cells (K562) than NK-cells from healthy controls. In addition, patients on IFN-? treatment have more active T-cells and their NK-cells have an undifferentiated immunoregulatory phenotype. Patients that have been able to stop the treatment have anergic T-and NK-cells. As a conclusion our results suggest that IFN-? therapy induces increased NK-cell count, NK-cell immunoregulatory functions and more active T-cells. After stopping IFN-? therapy, NK- and T-cells from CML patients restore anergy typical for CML.

Kalatalous tuottaa elinkeinoa ja ravitsemusta merkittävälle osalle maailman väestöstä. Sen suuri mittasuhde tuo myös suuret kestävyyden haasteet. Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää kuluttajan käsityksiä kalatuotteiden kestävyydestä. Tutkielmassa erityisesti kiinnitetään huomiota käsitysten ja asenteiden vaikutuksesta kuluttajakäyttäytymiseen. Tämän lisäksi tutkielmassa haluttiin selvittää, miten kuluttaja muodostaa käsityksensä kalatuotteen kestävyydestä. Tutkielman lähestymistapa oli kvalitatiivinen, eli laadullinen tutkimus. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin teemahaastattelua. Haastatteluilla pyrittiin selvittämään mitä arvoja ja asenteita haastateltavat liittävät kestävään kalatuotteeseen. Tämän lisäksi haastatteluilla selvitettiin kalatuotteen kestävyyden vaikutusta omaan käyttäytymiseen ja haastateltavan tiedon määrää kalatuotteiden kestävyydestä. Tutkielmassa haastateltiin kahdeksaa henkilöä, joista puolet olivat naisia ja puolet miehiä. Teemahaastattelurunko muodostui aikaisemman kirjallisuuden pohjalta. Tutkielman teoreettinen osuus rakentui kestävästä kuluttajakäyttäytymisestä, kestävän elintarvikkeen valintaan liittyvästä kirjallisuudesta. Tutkielman tulosten perusteella kotimaisuus tai lähellä tuotettu kala nousi kestävyyden kannalta tärkeimmäksi tuotteen ominaisuudeksi. Kestävyyden sosiaalinen tai taloudellinen ulottuvuus kalatuotteissa koettiin vaikeasti ymmärrettäviksi. Kuitenkin reilu korvaus tuottajalle koettiin tärkeänä kestävyyden kannalta. Kalatuotteiden kestävyysviestintä koettiin heikoksi ja ympäristömerkkien vaikutus ostokäyttäytymiseen oli vaihtelevaa. Skeptisyys ympäristömerkkejä kohtaan nousi tutkielmassa yllättävästi esille. Kalatuotteen osto koettiin usein rutiininomaiseksi, joka vähensi tuotteen kestävyyden arviointia. Tutkielman perusteella kestävyyden viestintää tulisi kalatuotteiden kohdalla parantaa, jotta kuluttaja käsittäisi kykynsä arvioida kalatuotteen kestävyyttä paremmin.