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(2015)Recently, a new muscular disorder has been reported in chicken M. pectoralis major called Wooden Breast that might be linked to intensive growth selection. The purpose of this study was to find the influence of Wooden Breast condition on protein composition of the breast muscle with special emphasis on myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic protein fractions. For fulfilling the aims of the study, a total number of 34 pectoralis major muscles from both Wooden Breast and normal chickens (Ross 508, Aviagen Ltd, Scotland) were used to evaluate protein composition, protein profile of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins and their changes, by doing one-dimensional SDS-PAGE analysis. M. Pectoralis major defected by Wooden Breast demonstrated significant decline in sarcoplasmic (P?0.001) and myofibrillar (P?0.05) protein content, in comparison with normal breast muscles. Furthermore, gel electrophoresis indicated significant changes in the intensity of 18 sarcoplasmic protein bands and 7 myofibrillar protein bands. Majority of affected sarcoplasmic proteins were glycolytic enzymes. Moreover, impacted myofibrillar proteins play a role in muscle fibre integrity (e.g. desmin) or calcium signalling. Results of the present study also revealed desmin overexpression with coexistence of a desmin fragment in Wooden Breast which was confirmed by Western-blot technique. In conclusion, the findings of this study indicated defected chicken breast with Wooden Breast contained less protein and the composition differed compared to normal chicken breast muscle, which proves the influence of Wooden Breast condition on protein characteristics of chicken breast muscle. Further studies are needed to interpret the protein changes in the Wooden Breast and the possible role of these changes on metabolic and structural status of the muscle.
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(2017)Neuropathic pain is pain caused by injury or damage to the nervous system. This adverse condition affects millions of people in all parts of the world, and no known cure has been developed. Existing treatments are mainly anti-depressants or opioids that alleviate symptoms instead of repairing damaged neurons. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and artemin, belonging to GDNF family ligands, have been shown to restore damaged neurons. However due to the poor pharmaceutical properties of these proteins, such as difficult administration and expensive production, their transition to clinics is complicated. That is why we have been developing small molecule GFL-mimetics as an alternative. One of these mimetics is a compound named BT44. Characterization of BT44 began with in vitro experiments, where we tested the compound’s ability to activate luciferase reporter gene in cells expressing GDNF (GFRalpha1 and RET) and artemin (GFRalpha3 and RET) receptors, as well as ability to induce RET phosphorylation and activate intracellular MAPK/ERK and Pi3-K/Akt pathways. Furthermore, we tested stimulation of neurite outgrowth by the compound from cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons. In a similar manner to GDNF and artemin, BT44 was shown to activate GFRalpha1/RET and GFRalpha3/RET receptors and induce RET phosphorylation and intracellular signaling, in addition to stimulating neurite outgrowth from cultured DRG neurons. Because of the promising in vitro results, we moved on to in vivo testing in rat spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model of neuropathic pain. Similarly to artemin, BT44 was able to alleviate mechanical nociception and cold allodynia in SNL rats. In addition, we found that BT44 normalized to a certain degree nociception-related markers influenced by SNL in the tissues of experimental animals, which emulates previously published results for artemin. To summarize, our results indicate that BT44 is effective in neuronal restoration and pain alleviation, suggesting it for further development as innovative neuropathic pain treatment.
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(2021)To determine the role of metalloprotease EGY1 and hormone signalling pathways in PSII repair cycle, a mutant named white because of early senescence was identified having 4bp deletion in EGY1. To further characterize the growth responses in white mutant, two suppressors (white suppressor 1 and white suppressor 2), mutated in STAY GREEN1 (SGR1) which prevents chlorophyll degradation, restored the normal white phenotype was identified upon suppressor mutant screens. This study investigated the effect of chloroplast translation inhibitors (lincomycin/chloramphenicol) and MV (methyl viologen) on photosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana single and double white mutants. Furthermore, a second goal was to verify the correct identification of the mutations in white suppressor 1 and white suppressor 2. Western blotting and pulse amplitude modulated fluorimeter (PAM) was used to quantify the D1 protein (reaction core of PSII) levels and photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) respectively. Immunoblotting revealed a pronounced decrease in D1 levels for both white and egy1. PAM results showed a high tolerance of white mutant towards lincomycin/chloramphenicol. The white suppressors complemented the lincomycin/chloramphenicol tolerance of white mutant. The white mutant was highly MV sensitive. This MV response was altered in white double mutants (white ein2-1, white sr1-4D and white rcd1-4), suggesting that hormone signalling was involved in the response to MV. The decreased abundance of D1 in the white mutant suggests a role for EGY1 in PSII assembly and D1 turnover under light stress. In all assays (immunoblotting and PAM), the white mutant and egy1-2 gave the same results, this confirms the correct identification of the white mutant as a new egy1 allele. The successful restoration of lincomycin /chloramphenicol tolerance by white suppressors (S1 and S2), implicates that chlorophyll breakdown impacts on correct photosynthesis function. The suppressors S1 and S2 were transformed with wildtype SGR1, which restored the white mutant phenotype. Thus, the suppressor phenotype was caused by mutations in SGR1.
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(2022)The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic currently poses a challenge to the healthcare system and global public health. The upsurge of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, the uneven vaccine distribution worldwide, and the documented reinfections raise a concern about the protective immunity of COVID-19 recoverees. In this context, reliable methods for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies are needed. Considering the methodological complexity and limitations of traditional virus neutralization tests, surrogate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (sELISA) constitute a promising alternative allowing high-throughput testing. However, there is still a need of assessing the specificity and sensibility of these assays so that they can be clinically applied. In this thesis, two goals were pursued; the detection of neutralizing antibodies in COVID-19 recoverees plasma samples using an in-house microneutralization assay and the comparison of these results with those obtained with two sELISA; SARS-CoV-NeutraLISA surrogate neutralization (Euroimmun) and cPass SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit (GenScript). The SARS-CoV-2 microneutralization assay was performed with VERO E6 cells and the Fin-1 strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The plasma samples were provided by the Helsinki University Hospital and were previously screened with commercial IgG-ELISA targeting the anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike subunit 1 (Euroimmun) and nucleocapsid (Abbott) proteins. A total of 111 samples were tested, 74% of them presented a detectable NAb titer with at least two of the methods. The neutralizing antibody titer obtained with the microneutralization assays resulted in an overall proportion of positives lower than expected. Therefore, the in-house microneutralization assay needs further optimization or a different neutralization assay should be selected instead for future analysis. The combined data from the three tests was used to determine the sensitivity (99%, 83%, 81%) and specificity (72%, 100%, 100%) of cPass, Neutralisa and microneutralization assays respectively. This data suggests the use of cPass (GenScript) in primary screenings, in combination to Neutralisa (Euroimmun) to confirm secondary tests.
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(2021)As the number of vegetarians and flexitarians is increasing, the demand for meat alternatives is following the same trend. Faba bean is a promising crop for environmental, health, and social reasons. From its seeds, several products can be produced, such as flour, protein concentrate, and protein isolate. These materials can be further processed for the development of texturized vegetable proteins. In this context, high moisture extrusion (HME) is an innovative technology, which requires more water, but milder temperatures than the more studied low moisture extrusion. The present thesis aimed at covering the current knowledge gap on this technology, by focusing on the flavor aspect of faba bean-based meat alternatives. The volatile profile of faba bean flour, protein concentrate, protein isolate, and mixtures was studied before and after high moisture extrusion by means of HS-SPME-GC-MS. Comparisons were made between raw materials (flour, protein concentrate, protein isolate, mixtures) and extrudates. The effect of the origin (Canadian and Finnish) of the protein concentrate was also investigated. Materials were also characterized for the following aspects: moisture, ash, protein, lipids, lipid-degrading enzymes (lipase and lipoxygenase), free amino acids, and free mono-, di-, and oligosaccharides. Several classes of volatile compounds were observed in both raw materials and extrudates, namely organic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, alkanes, alkenes, aromatic compounds, furans, esters, ketones, nitro compounds, and terpenes. Many compounds were characteristic of only one material, demonstrating that the formation of certain volatiles was product dependent. However, some other compounds were found in all materials, such as 1-hexanol, hexanal, and 2-pentylfuran. Literature addresses these compounds as responsible for the beany flavor. HME caused the inactivation of lipase and lipoxygenase but did not prevent the formation of lipid oxidation products. Products from Maillard reaction were not found in the extrudates. After HME, 1-hexanol levels decreased, whereas the abundance of 2-pentylfuran significantly increased. The behavior of hexanal after HME was less stable and predictable than the two beforementioned compounds. Not only these novel findings could have application in product development, but they also laid the basis for further research aimed at improving the flavor of faba bean.
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(2022)Inflorescence meristem development in plants generally falls into two types: one is the indeterminate type when the main axis keep growing and new flowers are initiated on its flank; while the other is the determinate type when the main axis terminates as a flower and growth continues sympodially. The Asteraceae plant family harbors a unique type of inflorescence, called the flower head. It combines up to hundreds of individual florets into a single structure, but its infloresecence meristem has a determinate fate and can only produce a certain number of florets before getting consumed. The genetic regulation of such determinacy has been recently brought into attention in Gerbera hybrida, a model system used for studying inflorescence and flower development in Asteraceae. So far, several genetic regulators have been identified regulating the determinacy of inflorescence meristem in Gerbera. This thesis aims to characterize new Gerbera transgenic lines to study the function of the Gerbera homolog of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (GhTFL1). In Arabidopsis and other species, TFL1 is known to counteract with the flower meristem identity genes and maintain the indeterminacy of the inflorescence meristem. Previous results by overexpressing GhTFL1 under constitutive 35S promoter in Gerbera convert the determinate fate of inflorescence meristem into indeterminate. To better study the GhTFL1 function, an inducible overexpression system pOpON2-pOp6/LhGR-N was introduced, and the transgenic lines have been made for GhTFL1. In this this thesis, in total of 19 candidate lines were screened with GUS staining assay and RT-PCR. Two promising lines (TR4 and TR7) with strongest responses in GUS staining and high expression of the target gene were identified. Further treatment of dexamethasone was conducted in these two lines to the growing rosette; however, no clear phenotypes was observed in these lines. The treatment results suggested that further optimization should be made, in particular, the timing of treatment shall be the determining factor for a successful treatment.
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(2021)Semliki Forest virus (SFV) is an enveloped virus with positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome that encodes nine proteins, of which four non-structural proteins, nsP1-4, form the replication/transcription complex (RTC) along with several host proteins, which play an important role in the replication of the virus. To establish the interactome of SFV RTC, a promiscuous biotin ligase capable of biotinylating proximal endogenous proteins in the presence of exogenous biotin was genetically fused to nsP3. After establishing the stability, kinetics and functionality of this virus, BHK-21 cells were infected with this mutant SFV at multiplicity of infection of 50 plaque forming units per cell. At an early time point of 2.5 hours post infection, 50 μM biotin was added to medium for 15 minutes. Cells were lysed, and biotinylated proteins were enriched with streptavidin beads, and analyzed through tandem mass-spectrometry. We were able to identify several key host protein interactions, some of which were already established before, but also a several new ones. Many of the host proteins detected were involved with the formation of stress granules, including G3BP’s, or contained a SH3-binding domain (SRC homology 3) like CD2AP, SH3KBP1 and BIN1, and some of them also had RNA binding motifs. In future, we wish to study the role of these identified host proteins in the replication of SFV through gene silencing as well as their co-localization with the RTC and nsP3 with the help of Immunofluorescence.
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(2014)Forest biomass is considered as one of the most important alternative energy sources across the globe. Growing attention has been given to the studies concerning biomass and related bioenergy and biofuel, and their potential for future development. This study takes higher education as unique aspect, focusing on the awareness of Chinese university students of Forest Based Bioenergy (FBB) development and how education background / awareness may influence the FBB development in China. Since FBB is relatively a new concept in China, its development and further utilization are believed to largely relay on the matters of education, social trend and awareness. Students in higher education are considered as a special group: they may be educated related to FBB and will become the future consumers and even decision-makers. This make awareness, attitude and opinions about FBB from the students` point of view significant. A literature review was made for the background study and quantitative research, plus surveys and interviews were conducted as data collection methods. Objectives of the thesis are to study the awareness of and attitudes towards FBB among Chinese university students and if those opinions were influenced by their studies. Results indicate that education strongly affects students´ attitudes. FBB development is seen as a positive signal and students are likely to support FBB development. FBB is believed as a new trend of renewable energy development. However, FBB in China will not see a rapid booming in the near future and it has only limited impact towards the traditional fossil fuel domination, but due to its characteristics, governmental recognition and growing awareness, it certainly shall be seen as strong supporter of China´s sustainable development. It also has to be holistically utilized considering environmental, social and economic aspects, to reach its full potential and to support China´s target of sustainable energy development.
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(2018)The literature review dealt with the chemical and physical properties of chitin polymer and its degradation product glucosamine. Particular emphasis was given to studies on the analytical methods of determination of chitin from various products including gravimetrical, spectrophotometric and chromatographic methods. The aim of this study was to optimize an analytical method to determine insect chitin and to apply the method to quantify chitin in whole insects and their soluble protein fractions. Two species of insects were selected: mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) and cricket (Acheta domesticus). Whole insects and their protein fractions were treated with alkaline to remove protein. Chitin in de-proteined insect material was then hydrolysed into glucosamine using 6M HCl. Glucosamine from the hydrolysate was determined using chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods, where chromatographic method was optimized and validated. UPLC-FLR method was specific for glucosamine and the UPLC system could separate two target peaks (glucosamine isomers: α and β). Glucosamine content was calculated using a calibration curve which showed excellent linearity in range 0.0033~24.0 ng/inj. with the determination coefficient more than 0.999 during the study period. The instrumental limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.00095 ng/inj. (2 µL) and 0.0033 ng/inj. (7 µL), indicating a satisfied sensitivity. Recovery of glucosamine spiked to sample matrix (de-proteined cricket flour) following chitin hydrolysis was not satisfactory (~75%) using HPLC-FLR method, which indicated that spectrophotometric method gave chitin amount closer to the true value due to a higher recovery (>90%). Major findings on chitin amount was ~5% on dry matter basis in both mealworm and cricket. A small percentage of chitin was found in insect protein fractions extracted by 0.1M NaCl.
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(2010)The literature review elucidates the mechanism of oxidation in proteins and amino acids and gives an overview of the detection and analysis of protein oxidation products as well as information about ?-lactoglobulin and studies carried out on modifications of this protein under certain conditions. The experimental research included the fractionation of the tryptic peptides of ?-lactoglobulin using preparative-HPLC-MS and monitoring the oxidation process of these peptides via reverse phase-HPLC-UV. Peptides chosen to be oxidized were selected with respect to their amino acid content which were susceptible to oxidation and fractionated according to their m/z values. These peptides were: IPAVFK (m/z 674), ALPMHIR (m/z 838), LIVTQTMK (m/z 934) and VLVLDTDYK (m/z 1066). Even though it was not possible to solely isolate the target peptides due to co-elution of various fractions, the percentages of target peptides in the samples were satisfactory to carry out the oxidation procedure. IPAVFK and VLVLDTDYK fractions were found to yield the oxidation products reviewed in literature, however, unoxidized peptides were still present in high amounts after 21 days of oxidation. The UV data at 260 and 280 nm enabled to monitor both the main peptides and the oxidation products due to the absorbance of aromatic side-chains these peptides possess. ALPMHIR and LIVTQTMK fractions were oxidatively consumed rapidly and oxidation products of these peptides were observed even on day 0. High rates of depletion of these peptides were acredited to the presence of His (H) and sulfur-containing side-chains of Met (M). In conclusion, selected peptides hold the potential to be utilized as marker peptides in ?-lactoglobulin oxidation.
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(2024)As the impacts of climate change have become more tangible and severe, it has become clear that changing the approach to resource consumption is crucial. The housing and construction sector has a major role to play in the fight against climate change, as it accounts for around 50% of all material consumption, and the construction sector is also responsible for over 35% of the EU's waste generation. The circular economy (CE) is commonly viewed as a substitute for the traditional linear economic model and therefore it is widely seen as one of the possible solutions for decarbonizing the housing and construction sector and, at the same time, as one of the solutions for tackling climate change. This thesis focuses on exploring the sustainability and circular economy activities of stakeholders in the Finnish housing and construction sector. A particular focus is on the circular economy actions, which will be analyzed with the ReSOLVE framework. Also, the suitability of the framework for mapping circular economy actions in the housing and construction sector will be explored. The thesis thus aims to answer the following research questions: how sustainability and the circularity are visible in the activities of stakeholders in the Finnish housing and buildings sector, and how suitable the ReSOLVE framework is for assessing circularity in this sector. The qualitative research data consists of fourteen stakeholder interviews, which were also complemented by background documents provided by the stakeholders. By utilizing content analysis and the ReSOLVE framework, it was found that the self-designated sustainability activities of the stakeholders were mostly either knowledge generation, dissemination or influencing activities, but the ReSOLVE framework also revealed a wide range of circularity activities already present in the stakeholders’ actions. The framework also worked as a tool to bring forward different aspects of circularity that would not necessarily have been discovered with other more traditional CE frameworks. The qualitative results suggest that within the stakeholder group there are different ways of implementing the circular economy across the different CE dimensions, and that the circular economy is therefore not a one-dimensional activity that is either implemented by an actor or not. The results also support previous literature that a holistic and systemic approach is needed to achieve sustainability transition in the construction and housing sector.
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(2022)This Master’s thesis compares different nature and recreation associations in terms of their activity to organize species observation activities and collect species data. The aim is to fill gaps in knowledge concerning on which volunteer groups are actively producing data, and if some of them could be included stronger in biodiversity monitoring and evaluation work. Further, the thesis evaluates how important the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (FinBIF) is for different nature and recreation associations as a data sharing channel. The main study material was collected by a qualitative questionnaire that was sent to variety of different nature and recreation associations. As a result, species enthusiast associations, hunting associations and nature conservation associations were shown to be the most active in organizing species observation, that is in accordance with earlier studies such as Santaoja (2013). From other studied groups the Scouts surprisingly showed relatively high interest toward species observation, but they were not active in data sharing. Evaluating associations willingness to use the FinBIF’s services and devises for observation data sharing, revealed, that the FinBIF’s channel was not popular among the studied associations, keeping in mind that the study did not examine FinBIF’s popularity among individual volunteers. In the light of the results, the FinBIF services and the concept of citizen science should be more actively promoted toward nature and recreation associations, especially to the Scouts who would be potential group to co-operate with in biodiversity monitoring and evaluation work.
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(2019)Abstract Strategic development in the forest sector has been slow and not until the 21st century stake-holder focus came as a part of the strategic development. New innovations are now having important role while renewing forest sector into bioeconomy. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)has traditionally been as a target for development in forest sector because of the high usage of natural resources, but from the 1990s it has gained more attention inspired by the global megatrends and now CSR can be seen as the base of the consept of bioeconomy. The study explored the citizen’s perception towards forest sector innovation efforts from the year 2000 and within the next 20 years. The results were drawn from an analysis of two data sets. Data one consisted of multivariate survey data based on 218 valid responses where current state of forest industry innovative-ness was disclosed by using 13 bioeconomy products and services. Data two consisted of qualitative managerial interviews where forest industry professionals’ opinions of forest in-dustry contributions to sustainable innovations through the lens of three-dimensional innova-tion model/pyramid. Additionally, the aim was to get some reflections from survey results. Concluding the results of this study, the public opinion of forest sector innovations seemed to focus on constructions related innovation efforts and biofuels. In addition, results showed that perceptions of material substitution with wood and reducing environmental impacts of industry were improved since year 2000. The image of future innovation targets of forest sector was quite wide and most heavily it was pointed towards wood building systems, con-struction materials, brand development and material substitution with wood. Statistically sig-nificant differences found between the “past” and “future” innovativeness inquire strengthen-ing of both industry R & D and functioning of innovation systems.
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(2016)Tutkielman tekemisessä oli kolme tavoitetta: 1) selventää cleantechin määritelmää ja tilastointia, 2) hahmottaa Suomen cleantech-toimialan rakennetta ja nykytilaa ja 3) määritellä kasvun esteitä ja parannuskeinoja. Tutkielma tehtiin osana Suomen ilmastopaneelin cleantech-hanketta, jossa selvitetään Suomen cleantech-alan kokonaistaloudellisia vaikutuksia. Osana tutkielmaa haastateltiin kymmentä cleantech-alan asiantuntijaa eri organisaatioista. Cleantechin määritelmä on sen syntyajoista asti ollut hyvin epäselvä. Hieman erilaisia määritelmiä on valtavasti eikä asiasta ole syntynyt tarkkaa konsensusta. Tiettyjä yhtäläisyyksiä on kuitenkin havaittavissa. Cleantech on vaihtoehtojaan tehokkaampaa ja siten säästää luonnonvaroja ja aiheuttaa vähemmän päästöjä. Cleantech ei itsessään ole oma sektori vaan se levittäytyy perinteisten sektorien läpi. Cleantech-termi tunnistetaan maailmalla hyvin, mutta sen epäselvyys vähentää termin käyttöä. Suomen cleantech-ala on jatkanut vahvaa kasvuaan taantumasta huolimatta. Metalliteollisuus on pysynyt selvästi tärkeimpänä alana ja varsinkin viennissä sen osuus on erittäin merkittävä. Teollisuustoimialat ovat kuitenkin kärsineet heikosta kilpailukyvystä ja globaalin kysynnän heikkenemisestä. Teollisuuden notkahdusta ovat kuitenkin paikanneet palvelut ja rakentaminen. Suomen cleantech-alan yrityskenttä poikkeaa selvästi muista yrityksistä. Cleantech-yritykset ovat keskimäärin isompia ja selvästi suurempi osa yrityksistä toimii teollisuudessa. Huolestuttavaa on, että kasvun kannalta tärkeällä pk-sektorilla on ollut ongelmia kannattavuudessa. Uusimmat barometrit tosin luovat kuvan käänteestä parempaan. Cleantechin kasvua ylläpitää taustalla vaikuttavat megatrendit kuten ilmastonmuutos, väestönkasvu ja ympäristötietoisuuden nousu. Tärkeimpänä ajurina on kuitenkin yhä regulaatio, joka luo markkinat ja kysyntää cleantech-tuotteille. Tulevaisuudessa tärkeitä aloja ovat esimerkiksi veden- ja ilmanlaadun ongelmiin keskittyvät teknologiat, datan käsittely ja hallinta sekä energiatehokkuus. Heikot kotimarkkinat ovat merkittävä este cleantech-toiminnalle. Tärkeitä kotimaan referenssejä hankaloittaa kotimarkkinoiden pienuus ja tämänhetkinen heikko taloustilanne. Rahoitus on esteenä lähinnä pienillä yrityksillä ja varsinkin viennin edistämiseen tarvitaan lisäresursseja. Julkisilla hankinnoilla on merkittävää potentiaalia cleantech-toimijoille, mutta tähän asti kokemuksia on vähän. Hankinnoissa on keskitytty hinnan tarkasteluun muiden osatekijöiden kustannuksella.
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(2010)Agriculture’s contribution to climate change is controversial as it is a significant source of greenhouse gases but also a sink of carbon. Hence its economic and technological potential to mitigate climate change have been argued to be noteworthy. However, social profitability of emission mitigation is a result from factors among emission reductions such as surface water quality impact or profit from production. Consequently, to value comprehensive results of agricultural climate emission mitigation practices, these co-effects to environment and economics should be taken into account. The objective of this thesis was to develop an integrated economic and ecological model to analyse the social welfare of crop cultivation in Finland on distinctive cultivation technologies, conventional tillage and conservation tillage (no-till). Further, we ask whether it would be privately or socially profitable to allocate some of barley cultivation for alternative land use, such as green set-aside or afforestation, when production costs, GHG’s and water quality impacts are taken into account. In the theoretical framework we depict the optimal input use and land allocation choices in terms of environmental impacts and profit from production and derive the optimal tax and payment policies for climate and water quality friendly land allocation. The empirical application of the model uses Finnish data about production cost and profit structure and environmental impacts. According to our results, given emission mitigation practices are not self-evidently beneficial for farmers or society. On the contrary, in some cases alternative land allocation could even reduce social welfare, profiting conventional crop cultivation. This is the case regarding mineral soils such as clay and silt soils. On organic agricultural soils, climate mitigation practices, in this case afforestation and green fallow give more promising results, decreasing climate emissions and nutrient runoff to water systems. No-till technology does not seem to profit climate mitigation although it does decrease other environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the data behind climate emission mitigation practices impact to production and climate is limited and partly contradictory. More specific experiment studies on interaction of emission mitigation practices and environment would be needed. Further study would be important. Particularly area specific production and environmental factors and also food security and safety and socio-economic impacts should be taken into account.
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(2021)Climate change and the biodiversity loss have created a need to change forest management in commercial forests. Carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation can be promoted in commercial forests through various measures, and this thesis examines what factors affect non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners’ willingness to adopt such forest management practices. Additionally, the aim was to examine whether these factors vary among different measures. A systematic literature review was conducted to summarize previous research on the subject and to serve as reference for an empirical analysis. In the empirical part of the study, survey data of 405 Finnish NIPF owners was utilized to establish binary logistic regression models for forest owners’ willingness to adopt 13 distinct forest management practices. In the empirical analysis statistically significant factors varied among assessed forest management practices, although some patterns were recognized. The most striking consistencies were found concerning older forest owners reluctance towards deadwood in general, and positive effect of environmental motivation in willingness to adopt variety of measures, as long as they do not conflict with biodiversity. Overall, the results imply that the diversity of NIPF owners concerns also their stances on various forest management practices, and they are not indifferent in terms of what forest management practices they are willing to adopt. Thus, when designing and implementing policies and advisory services aiming to promote carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, or biodiversity protection in commercial forests, policy makers should take into account forest owners’ heterogenous preferences regarding different forest management practices.
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(2023)Discussion around climate crisis and companies’ role in its mitigation has been accelerating especially in the past few years. Companies are in a crucial role if the targets set in the Paris Agreement are wished to be fulfilled. Companies have also noted the importance of the topic. Corporate environmental responsibility and sustainability themes have gotten a firm foothold in corporate world and companies can control them by utilizing different corporate governance mechanisms. This thesis aims to examine the importance of corporate governance and sustainability management in companies. Purpose is to study whether there is a link between the level of companies’ climate maturity and different corporate governance mechanisms that are used to manage companies’ sustainability. In addition, this thesis examines if there are differences in the results depending on size, industry, or country where companies are headquartered. Scope of this thesis is corporate environmental responsibility and climate sustainability in the context of greenhouse gas emissions. Companies are divided into two groups based on their climate maturity which is determined by whether they have set science-based emission reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Analysis is conducted with statistical analysis, logistic regression and is carried out with Stata. Data is originally from a corporate study and consists of 46 medium and large-sized Nordic companies from various industries. Sustainability criteria in management’s incentive plans and in companies’ investment decisions had a positive and significant link to companies’ climate maturity. Chief Sustainability Officer and board-level sustainability committee were insignificant in the model. Larger companies were more connected to climate maturity most likely because they have more resources to develop their sustainability and corporate environmental responsibility. In addition, larger companies are often obligated to disclose their sustainability performance and face pressure from the public to decrease their negative effects which can encourage them to set more advanced targets. It seems that the most effective measures are mechanisms with concrete criteria, compared to the more symbolic measures with no direct effect. Companies should focus on creating actions with impactful measures that create change in their organizations whereas policy makers should aim to create regulation directing companies towards these measures. Scientific research can help by providing knowledge of the most impactful corporate governance mechanisms. Sample size was relatively small, which prevents from making highly generalized conclusions. With a larger dataset, companies’ maturity could have been determined on a wider scale, different analysis methods could have been used and sustainability could have been considered in a more comprehensive perspective.
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(2017)The incomplete global coverage of current emissions trading schemes has raised concerns about free-riding and carbon leakage. EU ETS, the first and currently the biggest carbon market, is at the fore of such fears. Carbon-based import tariffs have thereby been proposed to compensate domestic industries for the cost disadvantage against their rivals in non-regulating countries. This thesis uses an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model to assess the impacts of a hypothetical EU carbon tariff on the Finnish economy. The carbon content of imported goods is first estimated with an environmentally extended input-output analysis, and the tariff is levied according to the anticipated price of EU emission allowances. To examine the sensitivity of the results, five additional scenarios are then constructed by altering the key simulation parameters. The tariff is imposed on the most energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries in 2016 and simulated until 2030. The results suggest that carbon tariffs are detrimental to the Finnish economy. The negative outcome is determined by high material intensity and a growing dependence on imported materials throughout the industry sector. As a result, the tariff-induced increase in import prices adds up to a notable growth in total production costs. Moreover, the negative impact is most pronounced within the export-oriented heavy manufacturing sector that the tariff was designed to shelter in the first place. The few sectors that gain from the tariff were not directly subject to it, but utilize the secondary impacts as the economy adapts to the shock. The findings imply that due to the deeper integration of global value chains, the appeal of protective tariffs, even if environmentally motivated, can be harmfully over-simplistic.
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(2024)Climate change is challenging farmers around the world, undermining food security and livelihoods. Smallholder farmers are encountering changing environmental conditions and extreme weather events as a significant negative impact on their livelihoods and food security when the resources needed to adapt are not sufficiently available. Previous studies show that the impacts of climate change are currently most noticeable in the developing countries of the Global South, where local agriculture and smallholder farming still remain an important part of people's livelihoods and local food security. This study focused on the experiences and outcomes of the Building Resilience -tool I (BR-I) for smallholder farmers in 5 different African countries between 2021 and 2022. Through the tool, farmers assessed the impacts of climate change on their livelihoods and their own capacities and needs to adapt to the challenges caused by climate change. The data used in this study consisted of reports filled in when using the tool collecting farmers' responses, and separate feedback on their experiences of using the tool. The results showed that climate change reduced the predictability of environmental conditions and increased the irregularity of the growing seasons. Drought, floods, and storms were the main threats to crops, often leading to yield losses or poor crop quality. Other losses included livelihood-related losses of material assets, for example during floods and storms. Indirect negative impacts of climate change included loss of farmers' livelihoods, increased poverty and reduced local food security and weaker nutritional quality of food. To adapt to climate change impacts, farmers often used more sustainable and higher quality crop varieties and, for example, built more efficient irrigation systems. However, the results showed that to adapt to climate change, farmers need more material and financial resources and research-based knowledge to improve their livelihood activities.
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(2021)The growing demand for crop products caused by population growth and climate change encourages plant scientists to investigate sustainable strategies to tackle such problems. Translating the knowledge of plant molecular mechanisms into applicable practices in the field would help in improving the plants' efficiency and productivity. The size of a plant's shoot apical meristem (SAM) is an important factor in biomass production and crop productivity. Besides, understanding the molecular regulation of the shoot apical meristem would help to know more about the 3D growth innovations of different plant families across the kingdom. This thesis aimed to study the regulation mechanisms of the meristem activity in Gerbera, the model organism of the Asteraceae family that has an informative phylogenetic position to understand evolutionary events. The inflorescence of Gerbera is highly resembling clv3 mutants in Arabidopsis. CLV3 peptide is involved in maintaining the meristem activity, these differences between the two species suggested an evolutionary modification for this pathway. GhCLV3-GhWUS signaling components in Gerbera hybrida were identified following bioinformatics approaches. Then sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analyses between Gerbera sequences and other species were performed. The coding sequence of GhCLV1 was cloned to expression vectors. The expression pattern analysis of the receptors was performed by RT-PCR and RNA-seq data. The results suggest that GhCLV1 is an important factor in maintaining the enlarged inflorescence meristem in Gerbera. Also, all the other receptors were expressed at different levels suggesting their contribution in the GhCLV3-GhWUS pathway and inflorescence termination.
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