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Tänä päivänä kuluttajat kohtaavat ruokakaupassa valtavan valikoiman erilaisia tuotteita. Hyllyt ovat täynnä tuotteita, joissa perinteiset tuotekategorioiden rajat sekoittuvat. 2010-luvun alussa vallannut proteiinibuumi näyttää suurimmaksi osaksi laantuneen, mutta tästä huolimatta erilaiset proteiinivälipalat ovat yleistyneet. Tutkielmani tavoitteena on tarkastella sitä, millaisia kulttuurisia merkityksiä proteiinivälipaloihin liitetään. Kysymystä lähestytään tarkastelemalla, miten teknologisuus, luonnollisuus, terveellisyys ja nautinnollisuus jäsentyvät kuluttajien puheessa toisiinsa. Tutkimukseni teoreettinen viitekehys rakentuu sosiologisen ruokakulttuurin ja siinä esiintyvien vastinparien avulla. Tutkimusotteeni on laadullinen ja tutkimusmenetelmänä olen käyttänyt teemahaastattelua. Haastateltavia oli yhteensä 10, ja kaikki haastattelut kerättiin joulukuun 2019 aikana. Muodostin mahdollisimman monipuolisen haastattelujoukon pääkaupunkiseudun alueelta. Tutkimuksessani tarkastelin proteiinipatukan ja -jäätelön herättämää puhetta, ja haastattelut toimivat työkaluna kulttuurisen puheen synnylle. Toteutin analyysin teemoittelulla, jonka kautta esiin nousivat keskeisimmät teemat. Käytin analyysin tukena myös aiempaa tutkimuskirjallisuutta. Tutkimukseni tulosten perusteella puhe proteiinivälipalojen ympärillä esiintyi monimuotoisena. Vastinpareja koskevat melko selkeät kulttuuriset merkitykset hämärtyivät mentäessä yksittäisten tuotteiden tasolle. Haastateltavien näkemyksiin vaikutti se, mistä näkökulmasta proteiinivälipaloja tarkasteltiin ja mihin niitä vertasi. Nostin terveellisyyden yhdeksi pääkäsitteeksi, sillä sen kautta heijastettiin niin teknologisuutta, luonnollisuutta kuin nautintoakin. Terveellisyyteen liittyi kuitenkin paljon myös hämmennystä ja kyseenalaistamista. Samalla kun lisätty proteiini loi mielikuvaa terveellisyydestä, se oli syy tähän hämmentymiseen ja kyseenalaistamiseen. Haastateltavat kyseenalaistivat lisätyn proteiinin tarpeellisuuden terveyden kannalta ja epäilivät, että kuluttajia vain huijataan sen avulla.

Tuberculosis (TB) still ranks as one of the most dangerous infectious diseases around the world and it is accountable for over 1.5 million deaths every year. World Health Organization has estimated that one fourth of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The current treatment against TB has drawbacks and the only available vaccine against TB does not provide sufficient protection against the disease and therefore new treatments are much needed. There has also been a lack of good animal models, but the zebrafish (Danio rerio) have been recently found to be a good model to study especially granuloma formation, latency, and reactivation of TB. Their natural pathogen, Mycobacterium marinum causes similar infection in the fish than M. tuberculosis in humans. One characteristic of TB is the formation of granulomas, which are aggregates of immune cells that contain the bacteria. However, M. tuberculosis can escape the granuloma and in such a way spread in the host. The inflammasome is an innate immune system mechanism that activates the immunological response in an infection and has a role in the formation of granulomas. PYCARD is an adaptor protein that has a role in inflammasome activation, which makes it an interesting target when studying the immunological response against M. tuberculosis infection. In this study, granuloma formation in pycard-/- and pycard+/+ zebrafish were compared. The granulomas were studied for their size, location, structure and hypoxicity, and the number of granulomas in each fish was counted. Also, the number of free bacteria was assessed. No significant differences were found in any of these aspects between pycard-/- and pycard+/+ fish. Variation between individual fish was great in both groups.

Introduction: Stress can be found already in young children. It may be associated with, for example, family life situations, bullying or the daycare environment. The body secretes cortisol, a stress hormone, in response to stress. Abnormal corti- sol levels are associated with overweight and a preference for energy-dense foods high in sugar and fat. Studying the link between children’s stress and diet is important as the early childhood is an important period for the development of eat- ing habits as well as for the prevention of obesity and later chronic illnesses. Aims: The aim of this study is to investigate if hair cortisol concentration, a measure of long-term stress, is associated with the food patterns of three to six year old Finnish children. Other aims include determining the mean hair cortisol concen- tration in the sample and studying whether the concentration or food patterns differ by background factors. Materials and methods: The study is a part of the DAGIS study’s cross-sectional phase conducted in 66 daycare centers in Uusimaa and South Ostrobothnia in 2015–2016. The data consists of 864 three to six year old children, of whom 541 pro- vided the information needed to examine the main research question between hair cortisol and dietary intake. The data used in the study was collected through a food frequency questionnaire, food diaries, a guardian's background survey, child temperament survey, anthropometric measurements and hair samples. Food patterns were determined using prin- cipal component analysis. The hair cortisol content was measured from four centimeter hair samples using a chemiluminescence immunoassay. Correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance were used to study if food pat- tern scores, hair cortisol content and background variables were associated with each other, as well as to examine whether the food pattern scores or cortisol levels differed by background variables. High cortisol levels were used to ex- plain low scores for the Health-conscious food pattern in a logistic regression analysis. Results: The average hair cortisol concentration among participants was 41.7 pg / mg (95% CI: 35.5–47.9 pg / mg) ranging from 0.24 to 879.6 pg / mg. The food patterns Sweet and salty treats, Health-conscious and Sandwich snacking were dis- tinguished from the food consumption data. Differences in background variables were observed for both main variables. For example, the age of the child was inversely associated to the cortisol content of the hair (r = -0.16, p < 0.001) and the concentration was higher in boys than in girls (p < 0.001). The children of parents with high education degrees had higher scores from the Health-conscious pattern than the children of parents with not more than vocational school or high-school level education (p <0.001) or a bachelor's degree (p < 0.01). Hair cortisol content was negatively linked to the Health-conscious pattern score (r = -0,086, p < 0.05), and a high concentration increased the odds of a low Health-conscious pattern score (OR = 4.1 [95% CI: 1.9-9 0] p < 0.001). Hair cortisol content did not significantly correlate with the other two dietary patterns. Conclusions: This study supports the link between long-term stress and lower-quality diet, as it shows that elevated hair cortisol levels and less health-conscious diets are connected in children. The results are not generalizable outside the sample, but give reason to further investigate the relationship between long-term stress and the development of chil- dren’s eating habits and health.

Caraway (Carum carvi L.) is a spice, which belongs to Apiaceae-family. In 2019 25% of the worlds caraway crop was produced in Finland. 99% of it was exported. Caraway is an important cultivated plant in Finland, and broader knowledge of its crop formation is important. As a flowering plant, the sufficient gain of boron is especially vital for caraway. The aim of this study was to study the effect of foliar micronutrient fertilizers, and especially the effect of boron, to crop formation of caraway. The study was conducted as a field experiment in Lantmännen Agro experimental farm in Hauho. The experiment was carried out as a completely randomized block design, with four replicates. The experiment included seven different foliar fertilization treatments. The amount of embels, series and lateral shoots and crop potential were counted, seed and oil crop was determined from the samples, gathered from the plots, Seed samples were sent to oil analysis. In the study above normal crop were achieved with each foliar fertilization treatment, also the control. The soil of the plot was so nutrint-rich that lack of nutrients never existed. Only on statistically significant difference was obtained. It was between two foliar fertilizer treatments when counting the amount of series in an embel. The difference was propably an effect of another factor than the treatments, though. Foliar micronutrient fertilizatin might not be cost-effective farming procedure if soil is already nutrient-rich. Foliar fertilizers may be a good solution in certain situations to back up the nutrient deficit, but they are not a replacement for granular fertilizers.

Hoivakotien ravitsemushoidolla ylläpidetään ja edistetään ikäihmisten terveyttä. Hoitajien positiiviset asenteet ravitsemushoitoa kohtaan ovat yhtä tärkeitä kuin hyvät hoitokäytännöt, jotta saavutetaan hyvä ravitsemushoito. Myös asukkaiden asenteet ravitsemukseen vaikuttavat asukkaiden ravitsemushoidon toteutumiseen. Pro gradu-tutkielman tavoitteena oli tutkia hoivakotien henkilökunnan ja asukkaiden asenteita ravitsemushoitoa kohtaan. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin yksilöteemahaastatteluin. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin kahtatoista hoitajaa ja kymmentä asukasta. Haastateltavista valtaosa oli naisia. Haastatteluissa käytiin läpi teemoja, jotka liittyivät ravitsemushoitoon esimerkiksi ravitsemustilan arviointiin, ravitsemushoitosuunnitelmaan, ravinnontarpeen määrittämiseen, ruokailutilanteeseen, ruoankäytön seurantaan ja ruokaan. Tutkimuksessa hoitajien ja asukkaiden asenteet olivat positiivisia ravitsemushoitoa kohtaan. Hoitajista ravitsemushoidolla oli tärkeä merkitys asukkaille muun saadun hoidon ohella. Myös asukkaat suhtautuivat positiivisesti ravitsemushoitoon ja heistä ruokailuilla oli hyvin tärkeä merkitys muun saadun hoidon ohella. Hoitajat suhtautuivat positiivisesti asukkaiden ravitsemustilan arviointiin sekä ruokien, ja juomien käytön seurantaan. Valtaosa hoitajista osoitti positiivisia asenteita asukkaiden ravitsemushoitosuunnitelmaa ja sen toteutumista kohtaan. Puolet hoitajista asennoitui positiivisesti asukkaiden ravinnontarpeen määrittämiseen ja piti tärkeänä, että asukkaiden ravinnontarve määritettiin. Asukkaat ja hoitajat asennoituivat positiivisesti tai melko positiivisesti ruokailuun ja ruokaan. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että hoitajat ja asukkaat suhtautuivat positiivisesti hoivakodissa tapahtuvaa ravitsemushoitoa kohtaan. Hoitajien positiivinen asennoituminen ravitsemushoitoon ei aina näkynyt hoitajien hoitokäytännöissä.

Improving energy efficiency has been recognized as a major tool for reducing energy use and emissions. Energy efficiency is most often defined as the ratio of required energy input and resulting output. Accordingly, energy efficiency improves whether less energy input is needed to produce the same output. In the context of building’s energy efficiency, the usual indicator is a specific energy consumption or the so-called energy efficiency index (EEI) which is used to examine energy consumption proportional to building’s surface area or volume. This Master’s thesis was an assignment to HOK Elanto co-op. The aim of this thesis was to examine both the amount of the remaining energy-saving potential in HOK-Elanto retail stores and economic benefits that could be achieved by improving energy efficiency. Economic viability of energy efficiency measures was examined with the net present value method. In addition, the emission reductions achieved through these measures were calculated. Plenty of measures which reduce energy consumption have been recognized to exist in the retail trade sector. In this thesis energy efficiency measures examined were refrigeration system renewals, transition to lighting led-technology and optimization of ventilation. Renewing refrigeration systems is very timely due to F-gas regulation in which is stated that most of the current refrigerants must be replaced with those refrigerants that have smaller global warming potential. In addition to the above-mentioned measures, it was studied when the introduction of solar PV could be profitable in HOK-Elanto's store properties and how much economic benefits would be achieved. The results of this thesis show that there exists 28 GWh of annual energy saving potential which corresponds with annual savings of 2,4 million euros. The biggest savings are achieved through lighting technology changes. Also refrigeration system renewals yield significant energy savings but due to high investment costs, renewals are recommended to implement within the limits set by F-gas regulation as when there is actual need to renew the systems. Optimization of ventilation turned out to be an uncertain energy efficiency measure because the current ventilation units may not be able to operate at such low levels that energy savings could be achieved. Solar PV investments turned out to be unprofitable at this point in time due to relatively low energy prices and high investment costs. Whether only lighting and refrigeration systems are renewed in HOK-Elanto retail stores, energy efficiency level in Alepa and S-market chains will improve approximately by 20 % and in Prisma-chain by 28 %.

Aluminum (Al3+) toxicity is a major limiting factor in acidic soils when pH<5.5 and faba bean experiences yield decreases in these conditions. The multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) family plays a vital role in Al3+ tolerance across species. This study searched for an ortholog of MtMATE66, a gene involved in Al3+ resistance in barrel medic, in faba bean and quantified the ortholog’s relative expression in 4 faba bean genotypes (GPID_0022, GPID_0153, GPID_0178 and GPID_0191). pBLAST of MtMATE66 in the faba bean unpublished genome identified the ortholog jg20333.t1, with 88.6 % identity, e-value 0.0 and bit score 880. InterPro Scan and NCBI CDD conserved domain queries classified jg20333.t1 as a MATE in the DinF subfamily. MEME Suite identified the 50-amino acid citrate exuding motif characteristic to MATEs exuding citrate in Al3+ tolerance while a multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis clustered jg20333.t1 with Al3+ -tolerant citrate exuding MATEs. The SWISS Model 3D structure and DeepTMHMM predicted an α-helical, twelve-transmembrane protein topology. The plasma membrane was predicted as the subcellular localisation of jg20333.t1 by ProtComp, WoLFSPORT and YLoc, however SignalP identified no signal peptides. The molecular weight 54.57kDa, theoretical isoelectric point 8.60 and grand average of hydropathicity 0.67 of jg20333.t1 were calculated by ProtParam. EMBOSS Needle and GSDS aligned 13 exons. Four biological replicates of faba bean plants were set up for 3 different treatments: acidic of pH 3.81 (Ac), acidic of pH 3.81 plus Al3+ (Al) and neutral of pH 6.01 (N) in a greenhouse and root tip samples were collected 45 days after transplanting in peat media for RNA extraction. The relative expression of jg20333.t1 was determined by RT-qPCR of jg20333.t1 as target gene, Vfactin as reference gene and N as internal calibrator. The Cq values generated were analysed using the 2-ΔΔCq method and showed high relative fold change in both Ac and Al. The upregulation in Al confirmed the implication of jg20333.t1 in faba bean tolerance to Al3+. The upregulation in Ac suggests upstream regulation by STOP transcription factor. The four genotypes had no significant difference in fold change. Based on these results, it is concluded that jg20333.t1 is a faba bean MATE gene, VfMATE, implicated in Al3+ tolerance by citrate exudation.

Yritysten keskeisimpiä menestystekijöitä ovat johdon kyvykkyys rakentaa ja johtaa erityyppisiä liiketoimintaverkostoja. Verkostojen johtamisella luodaan ja toteutetaan strategia, tuotetaan yhteinen näkemys tavoitteista ja sitoutetaan ihmiset toimintaan. Yhteistyön kehittyminen on jatkuva prosessi. Tavoitteena oli selvittää horisontaalisen yritysverkoston johtamisen nykytila ja kehittämiskohteet. Tutkimusongelma, miten horisontaalista yritysverkostoa johdettiin, jakaantui tutkimuskysymyksiin: millaisia tavoitteita verkostolla oli, millä tavoin verkoston johtaminen ja päätöksenteko oli organisoitu, millaisia toimintatapoja verkostoyhteistyössä käytettiin sekä millä tavoin johtamiskeinot tukivat yrittäjien sitoutumista verkostoon ja keskinäisen luottamuksen rakentumista. Yritysverkoston tarkastelussa hyödynnettiin Håkansonin ja Johanssonin (1992) kehittämää ARA -mallia. Pienyritysten yhteistyön ja verkostoituminen analysointi pohjautui Varamäen (1997) kehittämän Kuutiomallin ja Vesalainen ym. (2004) laatimien liiketoiminnallisten ja organisaationaalisten sidosten ulottuvuuksiin. Horisontaalisen yritysverkoston tavoitteellista johtamista lähestyttiin Hyötyläisen ja Simonsin (1999) Yritysverkoston johtamiskolmion -mallilla. Verkoston johtamiskeinoja tarkasteltiin Rajalan ja Westerlundin (2009) määrittämillä vaikuttamisen, integroinnin, koordinoinnin ja ohjauksen ulottuvuuksilla. Toimeksiantajana oli Mikkelin kehitysyhtiö Miksei Oy, jonka toteuttamiin matkailun kehittämishankkeisiin verkoston yritykset ovat osallistuneet. Empiirisessä osassa tutkittiin Saimaa Gastronomy -verkostoa, mihin kuuluvat Tertin Kartano Mikkelistä, TeaHouse of Wehmais Juvalta, Sahanlahti Resort Puumalasta ja Hotelli Punkaharju Punkaharjulta. Verkoston tarkoituksena oli kehittää Järvi-Suomen elinvoimaisuutta, Saimaan alueen ruokakulttuuria ja -matkailua sekä yritysten liiketoimintaa. Laadullisen tutkimusotteen aineistonhankintamenetelminä käytettiin dokumenttiaineistoja ja neljän yrittäjän teemahaastatteluja. Dokumenttiaineistoille tehtiin sisällönanalyysi ja haastatteluaineistot luokiteltiin teemoittain. Tutkimuksessa sovellettiin deduktiivista tutkimusotetta. Yrittäjät olivat sitoutuneita verkoston tarkoitukseen, mutta tavoitteista ei ollut yhteistä näkemystä. Käynnistysvaiheessa olleen yhteistyörenkaan johtaminen pohjautui epävirallisiin henkilösuhteisiin ja keskinäiseen luottamukseen. Yrittäjät muodostivat johtoryhmän, jonka demokraattiseen päätöksentekoon oli menettelytapoja. Verkostoyhteistyö perustui eri kohteiden voimavarojen integrointiin. Toimintatapoja pidettiin avoimina, oikeudenmukaisina ja reiluina. Kehittämiskohteiksi esitetään verkoston vision, strategian, tavoitteiden ja mittareiden suunnittelua sekä niitä tukevien organisaatiorakenteiden ja toimijoiden roolien määritystä yhteistoiminnallisesti.

In this study the host range of cystoviruses was explored. Cystoviruses are bacteriophages belonging to the Cystoviridae family. They are enveloped, tri-segmented double-stranded RNA viruses which mainly infect plant pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae strains. Thus, they could potentially be used in phage therapy applications to treat bacterial infections. Before phage therapy can be implemented, the host range dynamics of the cystoviruses need to be understood to ensure that they do not affect the growth of harmless or beneficial bacteria. Cystoviruses have also been used as safe RNA virus models to study factors contributing to virus host range shifts and viral fitness. The first aim of this study was to analyse the host range of cystoviruses phi6, phiNN, phi8, phi12, phi13 and phi2954 by spot test assay. A reverse genetics method was used to detect whether the host range of cystoviruses expands, when the host entry step is bypassed. It was necessary to use derivatives of the potential host strains that contain a plasmid for T7 polymerase expression. As a control, such cell lines were also directly infected with the studied phages. Also, the ability of phages phi6 and phiNN to evolve to infect each other's isolation hosts was studied as well as the frequency and the fitness of the host range mutants was analysed by traditional plating assay. This study provides new information about the host ranges of the cystoviruses. All cystoviruses were shown to have a unique host range pattern with phi6 and phiNN having the widest host ranges. The reverse genetics method allowed cystoviruses phi6, phi8, phi13 and phi2954 to expand their host ranges but subsequent control experiments raised questions as to whether the plasmid containing T7 polymerase gene had a role in this. Both phi6 and phiNN evolved to infect each other´s isolation hosts but the frequency of these host range mutants was lower than has been reported for phi6 in previous studies. It was also demonstrated that the expansion of the host range often imposed fitness costs on the original host.

Edible insects, such as house crickets (Acheta domesticus) are environmentally friendly, nutritious and safe alternative to meat, when special details such as allergenic potential and antinutrients are considered. The goal of this Master’s thesis is to study the processing methods and parameters of house cricket in creating flour for food applications that is safe and of optimal quality. The thesis hopes to provide a reference for parameters used in house cricket drying and milling, with the equipment available. Furthermore, the goal is to study the optimal time to get below critical value in water content of 10 % and within critical values in water activity of 0,25-0,45 with an oven and a freeze-dryer. The samples within the critical safety values with minimal drying time are then milled with centrifugal mill with two different sieve-sizes and particle size distribution is measured and compared between oven-drying and freeze-drying, the two sieve-sizes and to reference flours. Particle size range of 45-150 μm was used as a goal. Optimal measured drying time at T=70 °C for oven-drying was 5 hours. For Freeze-drying at Tp=25 °C, Tc=-87 °C, p=1 mbar was 6 hours. Of the optimally dried samples, Oven-dried sample milled with 0,5 mm sieve size had the lowest mean and median particle size followed by Freeze-dried sample milled with 0,5 mm sieve size. The 5-hour Oven-dried sample milled with 0,5 mm sieve size was thus the closest to the optimal product, because it had the smallest particle size from all the samples with minimal drying time. Samples milled with 1 mm sieve size had coarser mean and median particle size similar to that of the reference samples obtained from the industry. Furthermore, it can be concluded that compared to reference flours, finer house cricket flour can be milled with 0,5 mm sieve size. On the other hand, 1 mm sieve size with the particular centrifugal mill used yields a flour with similar coarse particle size than those used in the industry today. However, Oven-dried samples caused smearing during milling and thus the relationship between drying method and smearing should be studied further. All of the milled samples showed narrower particle size distribution compared to the Reference samples, which indicates a more homogenous flour and thus is considered a desirable trait in this study, when the specific food application is not known. Furthermore, all samples including the Reference samples showed negative skeweness in terms of their particle size distribution.