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Fragaria x ananassa is a widely appreciated berry with its production growing all around the world. Thus, there will be a huge demand for strawberry breeding in the future especially since the climate change is casting an extra shadow upon the growing conditions which is also why there is a need for better understanding of different cultivar types. There are everbearing and seasonally flowering cultivars of both Fragaria x ananassa and Fragaria vesca. The seasonally flowering types such as ʻHapilʼ flower once during the growing season whereas everbearing types such as ʻCalypsoʼ flower for a longer period. The gene behind the change in the flowering habit has been tracked to the photoperiodic pathway of F. vesca although the gene behind the trait in F x ananassa remains unknown. The aim of this project was to compare flowering and vegetative responses of in vitro propagated everbearing F x ananassa cultivar ʻCalypsoʼ and seasonally flowering ʻHapilʼ in long and short day photoperiodic conditions in order to find out differences between everbearing and seasonally flowering cultivars. This was done by collecting data from phenotype observations linked to the vegetative and generative stages of the development of strawberries. The phenotype data was then combined with gene expression data of FaSOC1, FaTFL1, FaGA20ox4 and FaAP1 which are genes known to work on the photoperiodic pathway that regulates the switch between the vegetative and generative development of both F x ananassa and F. vesca. In addition, the expression of an everbearing phenotype associated gene FaFT2 was analysed. This study was a part of a larger project aimed to find out the genetic basis for the everbearing habit of F x ananassa. Part of the ʻCalypsoʼ plants were induced to flower already during the acclimatization period and the rest at the very beginning of the treatment period which then caused differential flowering times between the ʻCalypsoʼ groups. Short day grown ʻHapilʼ was induced to flower between weeks three and six whereas long day grown ʻHapilsʼ remained vegetative. Phenotypic observations were also backed up by the expression of FaTFL1 and FaAP1. Instead the FaSOC1 expression was repressed in short day conditions more than in the long days regardless of the cultivar type. ‘Calypsos’ were capable of producing runners regardless of photoperiod or flower induction. Consequently the runner production seemed to be regulated by factors outside of the photoperiodic pathway. However, the expression of runnering associated FaGA20ox4 was low and variable due to the sampling strategy. Interestingly most of the axillary meristems of short day grown ‘Hapils’ remained dormant for an unknown reason. Expression of FaFT2 was low on the apical meristems and further support for the role of the gene in everbearing phenotype was not found.

Microalgae are promising raw materials for food- and biotechnology because they contain a lot of proteins, unsaturated fatty acids, pigments, vitamins and minerals. There are few studies on vitamin B in microalgae and some of them are based on partly inaccurate methods. Microalgae in general, analytical methods regarding their analysis and how they use vitamins were discussed in the literature part of this thesis. The structures, chemical properties and occurrence in foods as well as commonly used analytical methods of the vitamins in question were presented. The aim of the experimental part of this thesis was to analyse commercially marketed microalgae supplements (Chlorella sp. and Arthrospira sp. (spirulina)) and laboratory-grown microalga (Euglena gracilis) as potential sources of folate, niacin, vitamin B2 and B12. Contents of vitamin B12, B2 and niacin were analysed using UHPLC method separately validated for each vitamin. The total folate content was analysed microbiologically and folate vitamers by using UHPLC. The vitamin B12 was analysed microbiologically and the active forms of vitamin B12 were confirmed using LC-MS. Acid hydrolysis was used in analysing niacin content. The total folate content in chlorella supplements was of the same order when analysed microbiologically or with UHPLC. Instead, in spirulina supplements the microbiologically analysed total folate content was higher than the total folate content based on the sum of folate vitamers analysed with UHPLC. At most, the total folate content of E. gracilis -sample was 3-fold higher than in commercial microalgae supplements. Especially in spirulina supplements, the vitamin B12 contents were clearly higher when analysed microbiologically than they were when analysed with UHPLC. The difference was most likely due to pseudocobalamin that resembled vitamin B12. On average E. gracilis -samples had higher vitamin B2 content than the commercial supplements. E. gracilis -samples and chlorella supplements contained more niacin than spirulina supplements. According to this thesis, commercially marketed microalgae supplements contained different amounts of vitamin B. Chlorella sp. was proved to be a great source of folate, vitamin B12 and niacin and moderate source of B2. The majority of vitamin B12 in Arthrospira sp. (spirulina) was pseudocobalamin. Despite that, spirulina supplements proved to be a moderate source of vitamin B12. On average, E. gracilis had the highest vitamin B content and it would potentially be an excellent source of vitamin B – if it was accepted for food use.

The literature review described the importance of folate enhancement to human health especially to coeliac patients with an introduction to folate analysis, pseudocereals and possible fortification methods. The aim of this study was to study the natural folate enhancement methods in pseudocereal matrix. Pseudocereal materials consisted of buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa, each of which was subjected to three different treatments: germination, fermentation and combined treatment. Total folate determination was based on an official microbiological assay method (Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469). Germination of pseudocereals lasted for 4–5 days. Fermentation was conducted using either baking yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae ALKO743 or LAB Streptococcus thermophilus ABM5097. All germinated whole grain pseudocereals indeed showed a significant increase in total folate content. Specifically, the increase was 5.4-fold in buckwheat, 5-fold in amaranth and 2.6-fold in quinoa. Fermentation of native pseudocereals also enhanced total folate level. As for the combined treatment, the total folate level of germinated seeds did not further significantly increase or decrease in later fermentation period. Although more studies are needed for processing real pseudocereal foods, our study showed great potential of folate enhancement using germination or fermentation.

Legumes are a good source of protein, and they have recently grown in popularity as a substitute for meat due to their lower environmental impact. Reducing meat consumption and replacing it with plant-based foods, such as legumes, is also known to be beneficial for health. Nevertheless, legume consumption in Finland is relatively low, and they are not yet a part of the typical diet for adults or children. Food education and role modeling play an important role in encouraging children towards healthy and sustainable food choices. This thesis investigated whether different food education methods can increase the acceptability of legumes in early childhood education. The thesis is part of the "Food Step" research project, and the data was collected from intervention daycares. The study surveyed early childhood education professionals' attitudes towards legumes using questionnaires. The questionnaires aimed to determine the acceptability of legumes before the intervention and how the food education materials used during the intervention affected it. Among early childhood educators, the use of legumes and related attitudes varied greatly. Most respondents reported using legumes in both the baseline and follow-up surveys, but they showed varying prejudices towards their nutritional properties, structure, and taste. Only attitudes towards the nutritional content of legumes changed significantly between the time points. In summary, the study did not observe significant positive changes in adult attitudes towards legumes. Food behavior begins to form in early childhood, and these patterns are known to be relatively stable. Food behavior-related patterns are learned, for example, in early childhood education. Therefore, it would be important to consider in the future how the attitudes of adults working in early childhood education could be positively changed for them to be better role models.

Tiivistelmä/Referat – Abstract Maailman ympäristölliset ja sosiaaliset huolenaiheet sekä sidosryhmien paine vaatii foodservice-toimijoilta toimia eri vastuullisuuden kysymyksiin. Vastuullisuuden ilmiötä tulee lähestyä toimialasidonnaisesti. Vastuullisuutta elintarvikealalla ehdotetaan tutkittavaksi seitsemän eri ulottuvuuden näkökulmasta: ravitsemuksen, eläinten hyvinvoinnin, elintarviketurvallisuuden, paikallisuuden, ympäristön, työolojen ja talouden näkökulmasta. Vastuullisuuden käsite on monitulkintainen ja käytänteitä sen alla on otettu käyttöön myös foodservice-markkinassa laajasti. Vastuullisuuskäytännöt ovat rajattu tässä tutkimuksissa vastuullisiin ruokahankintoihin. Tutkimuksen tavoite oli selvittää vastuullisten ruokahankintojen käsitysten ja eri vastuullisina pidettyjen tuotteiden ominaisuuksien painopisteitä. Tavoitetta tukevasti selvitettiin myös foodservice-toimijoiden käsityksiä heidän vaikutusmahdollisuuksistaan ja vastuullisten hankintojen toteutusmahdollisuuksista käyttäen Kesproa hankintakanavana. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osuus oli verkkokyselynä toteutettu kysely (n=12) liittyen foodservice-alan toimijoiden käsityksiin vastuullisista ruokahankinnoista. Verkkokyselyn kohderyhmä oli Kespron asiakaskuntaan kuuluvia foodservice-toimijoita. Tutkielma toteutettiin toimeksiantona Kesprolle, joka on johtava valtakunnallinen foodservice-alan tukkutoimija ja kumppani. Kespro toimi osin tai kokonaan tutkimuksen otoksen ruoanhankintakanavana. Ruoan toimitusketjun vastuullisuusriskin hallintaan sovellettiin agenttiteoriaa (agency theory), jonka keskiössä on toimittavan agentin ja ostavan päämiehen välinen suhde sekä päämiehen agentille delegoima tehtävä, joka tutkimuksen tapauksessa on vastuullisten hankintojen mahdollistaminen. Agenttiteorian mukaan päämies pyrkii hallitsemaan teorialle tyypillisiä ongelmia, kuten tavoiteristiriitaa, eriäviä asenteita riskiä kohtaan sekä mahdollista epäsymmetrisesti jakautunutta informaatiota. Toimitusketjun kontekstissa ominaista on samanaikaiset agentti- ja päämiesroolit sekä rooli toteuttaa ja välittää delegoitu tehtävä. Esimerkiksi ravintola on päämies suhteessa Kesproon, mutta agentti suhteessa kuluttajaan. Toinen tavoite oli käsitteellistää agentin ja päämiehen välisitä suhdetta tilanteessa, jossa agentti on asiakastaan suurempi ja omaa enemmän neuvotteluvaltaa ketjussa, mutta haluaa tukea päämiestään (yksittäinen foodservice-toimija) esimerkiksi vastuullisissa hankinnoissa. Empiirisessä osassa selvitettiin myös foodservice-toimijoiden kokemuksia agenttiteorian oletuksista sekä kommunikaatiosuhteen ja agenttiteorian ehdottamien hallintakeinojen toimivuudesta vastuullisuusriskin minimoinnissa suhteessa heidän agenttiinsa Kesproon. Seitsemästä vastuullisuuden ulottuvuudesta tuoteturvallisuuden korostuminen näyttää olevan foodservice-alan erityispiirre. Lisäksi ravitsemus arvostettiin korkealle. Nämä kaksi, paikallisuuden lisäksi, katsottiin voitavan myös toteuttaa parhaiten. Elintarviketurvallisuus ja ravitsemus korostuivat myös vaikutusmahdollisuuksissa. Merkityksissä kolmas oli eläinten hyvinvointi, mutta eläinten hyvinvointiin katsottiin voitavan vaikuttaa heikoiten hyödyntäen Kesproa hankintalähteenä. Eri vastuullisuuden ominaisuuksista korostuivat etenkin kotimaiset tuotteet, paikallisuus sekä lähituotteet. Sen sijaan ympäristö ei ulottuvuutena korostunut käsityksissä. ”Asiakaslähtöinen agentti”, jota ei ole käsitteellistetty aiemmin agenttiteorian kirjallisuudessa, mahdollistaa valvonta- tai yhteistyöperusteisen hallintastrategian päämiehelleen, eli asettaa toimintansa alttiiksi seurannalle ja avaa kanavia kommunikaatiolle. Toimitusketjussa se pyrkii käyttämään omaa asemaansa päämiehensä eduksi ja vaikutusmahdollisuuksia parantavasti mahdollistaessaan ja välittäessään tämän tavoitteet ruokahankintojen vastuullisuudesta. Päämies-agenttisuhteen hallintakeinoista vastuullisuusriskin minimoiseksi toimivimmiksi koettiin kattavat vastuullisuuteen liittyvät oman toiminnan sertifikaatit ja kriteerit sekä ketjussa välitettävät sertifikaatit ja kriteerit. Foodservice-päämiehet arvioivat hallintakeinojen joukosta yhteistyöperusteiseen hallintaan liittyvän kahdenvälisen kommunikaatiosuhteen toimivan heikoiten.

Wooden furniture industry is a traditional low-technology based and labor intensive industry (Kaplinsky & Readman, 2000), which is highly recommended for global outsourcing. Besides, the raising of “China plus one” manufacturing strategy made Southeast Asian countries became new investment destinations. In case of Vietnam, the largest exporter of wood products in Southeast Asian, wooden furniture industry is highly export-oriented with a fast growing rate especially since 2008 (MARD, 2012). While the global economic crisis in 2008 has a vital impact on the national economy, it is reported that the foreign subsidiaries in furniture industry in Vietnam have outstripped their local competitors (VNS, 2013). Despite the importance of foreign subsidiaries in Vietnam, there is lack of study regarding their competitive advantage and strategy. Investigating on how foreign subsidiaries respond to the external challenges is essential to support strategic knowledge on managing industry? Under the influence of market turbulence. This empirical study used qualitative data from interviews with eight managers of foreign furniture processing subsidiaries in Vietnam. Results indicated that under the influences of global downturn, managers have become more proactive and flexible in their strategic planning when facing with chaotic turbulence, which brings both opportunities and challenges. The study pointed out that the negative impact of global recession was passed through in later time in low-cost manufacturing countries and business risks could be minimized especially in companies with a strong pool of intangible resources (reputation, technology, innovation capability). Despite its complexity, recession was not completely seen a threat, yet the managers perceived it as external turbulence from which organizations can benefit but only if they choose the right strategic orientation.

Growing exploitation of natural capital has raised a concern towards Earth’s capability to provide equal benefits for all in the future. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals addressed this issue and set the framework for private and public operators to implement and develop more sustainable solutions. Circular economy and bioeconomy have been presented as models to foster the economy along with sustainability transitions. However, the models have been criticized for taking overall sustainability for granted. As a result, the merged concept, circular bioeconomy, has been introduced to address such sustainability gap. The circular bioeconomy concept implies a more efficient resource management of bio-based renewable resources by combining the concept of circular economy and bioeconomy in strategic management level. These new concept demands both new technological innovations and new business model innovation. This study explores similar and dissimilar patterns in the way Finnish SME propose, create and deliver value through circular bioeconomy business models. The study examines the relation of new concept to sustainability as well. The study was based on qualitative research, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight company managers or owners. The data were categorized into business model components and sustainable business model archetypes. The results revealed that sustainability-oriented business model archetypes vary across the examined companies. Dominant ideas are substituting fossil-based materials and energy with bio-based one, and practices enabled by new technology such as production eco-efficiency. More radical principles were missing, for instance prolonging the material cycle before incineration or solutions to reduce consumer consumption. While environmental value was well covered in the business models of companies, contribution to social value was taken for granted as a narrow outcome of economic and environmental values. As this study concerned the micro level perspective, for further studies would be beneficial to examine the meso and macro level transformation to get a more holistic view on business environment, where companies with circular bio-product innovations operate to reveal implementation barriers for the circular bioeconomy.

Increasing fossil fuel prices, concerns about domestic energy security and demand for environmentally friendly, low carbon energy sources are renewing interest in using wood for energy. State and federal government have responded to increased interest with legislation that promotes renewable energy. Logging residues important role as an energy feedstock and environmental component has been a central topic of discussion for the growing forest energy sector in the United States. Over the last five years, I have studied forest harvest residues in the southern United States and abroad. My principle research focus has been the rapid inventory of residues, determination of their stocking and the identification of factors influencing that stocking. This composite report provides a detailed account of three studies based on five years of data in North Carolina, Georgia and southern Sweden. Provided in the report is an adapted method to inventory scattered and piled forest harvest residues, the relationship of harvest residues and harvest systems and a wood energy recovery rate for low end biomass within intensively managed loblolly pine forests. The goal of providing these studies is to contribute useful observations to the ongoing discussion about forest harvest residues and to provide a sampling framework others can employ to do similar studies.

We analyse the forest reference level (FRL) projection in Finland. FRLs are included in the European Unions’ new land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) regulation (EU 2018/841) that is part of the actions towards the Paris Agreement’s climate mitigation targets. The regulation defines the accounting rules for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within the sector. We build on the LULUCF regulation, the provided guidance documents on the FRL projection, national forestry accounting plans and the existing studies concerning the FRL projections. Business-as-usual reference levels were used for the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period. The parties of the Kyoto Protocol had an incentive to report high harvest levels (Frieden et al. 2012). Thus, the reference levels overestimated the harvests by including in assumptions about future policies. Some of the assumptions did not materialize and this led to windfall carbon credits (Grassi et al. 2018, Krug 2018). Such overestimation has happened, for example, in Finland. In this thesis we analyse, whether the new forest reference levels are able to avoid problems that occurred during the Kyoto Protocol. The LULUCF regulation is set for the compliance period (CP) of 2021-2030. The forest reference level is a baseline projection for the forest carbon sink, defined by the historical forest management practices of the reference period (2000-2009). Age-related dynamics of the forest can be taken into account but any anticipated policy changes need to be excluded from the projection. The FRL indirectly defines the level of harvests that are not considered as emissions. The excess carbon sink can be traded to other Member States or be used to compensate the effort sharing sector’s emissions. One of the suggested principles to project historical forest management is to utilize the intensity of management (Grassi and Pilli 2017, Grassi et al. 2018), which is calculated by dividing the reference period’s harvest by the amount of biomass that was available for the wood supply during the same period. The future harvest level is computed by keeping the intensity of management constant. This principle is used in Finland and in several other EU member states. To analyse the suggested principle, we utilize a partial equilibrium model for forestry and agriculture (Mitra and Wan 1985, 1986, Salo and Tahvonen 2004). Using this model, we are able to compute a FRL in a case where policy shock has increased harvest levels after the reference period. This resembles the situation in Finland. Our numerical results show that the choices on the biomass available for wood supply, interest rate and the starting year of the projection can have significant impacts on the FRL computation. By these choices, a member state is able to overestimate the harvest possibilities. Thus, the EU fails to set a regulation that fully excludes national incentives in specifying the FRL. The setting of the Finnish FRL includes a tendency of minimizing the restrictions on the future harvest levels. This outcome follows by choosing high interest rate, early starting year for the projection and a loose definition for the biomass available for wood supply.

There is a growing demand for new, environmentally sustainable, clean label food additives driven by consumers’ desire for healthier and sensorially appealing food products. The aim of this thesis is to study a novel, “clean label” food additive called fibrillated microcrystalline cellulose (fMCC) in the formation of emulsions, elucidate its stabilization mechanism, as well as emulsion storage stability at room temperature over time. To this aim, oil-in-water emulsions with fMCC and vegetable oil were formed via mechanical treatment. It was found that the oil droplets anchor on the surface of the fibrils attached to the microcrystalline cellulose. After homogenization fMCC formed large, entangled aggregates that were located in the continuous phase of the emulsion. This increased the viscosity of the emulsion, which contributed to the stability of the system. During storage, further aggregation was observed. High oil content emulsions exhibit some coalescence, while oil droplets in low oil content emulsions remained unchanged. In this thesis, it was shown that fMCC can be used as a suitable and environmentally sustainable ingredient for emulsion formation and stabilization, with the added benefit of increasing the fiber content of many processed foods and thus increasing their nutritional value.