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It is widely seen that fragile states and prolonged crises cause poverty, violence and also migration as a strategy for survival. However, international interventions by development cooperation and by crisis management missions have been ineffective to provide security and possibilities for sustainable development. The comprehensive crisis management, too, has remained ineffective to respond such challenges. The purpose of this Master's thesis is to contribute for the discussion of developing comprehensive crisis management to make it more efficient in creating sustainable development and peace in crisis areas. For this reason, this qualitative study wanted to clarify the perceptions of Finnish foreign and security policy expert politicians on crisis management in its entirety. In particular, aspects of civilian crisis management and development cooperation were examined as part of comprehensive crisis management and security framework. Empirical research was conducted in the Finnish Parliament and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs between August 2017 and January 2018. 22 MPs were interviewed for the study. The theme analysis was used to identify critical ideas in the interview material. Besides, the study utilized hermeneutic phenomenology. The method of observation was the long-term experience of the investigator in civilian crisis management operations, as well as the membership of the foreign affairs committee in 2015 - 2017. According to the nuanced results, security thinking has become pervasive. Finnish crisis management is based on the experience and expertise of the long history of Finnish peacekeeping and core competencies. Civilian crisis management requires a more prominent role in a comprehensive crisis management approach, which should also be taken into account in financing decisions. The results also showed that the promotion of human security is an essential element of development cooperation and civilian crisis management. An important policy is to focus on the most vulnerable people. Education, access to health services and gender equality were highlighted as ways to achieve sustainable development in crisis areas. Regionally the focus should be in Africa. The synergies between the various instruments of comprehensive crisis management should be better exploited. The results can be useful for those responsible for the Finnish crisis management in the development of a comprehensive crisis management.

We will review techniques of perturbative thermal quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in the imaginary-time formalism (ITF). The Infrared (IR)-problems arising from the perturbative treatment of equilibrium thermodynamics of QCD and their phenomenological causes will be investigated in detail. We will also discuss the construction of two effective field theory (EFT) frameworks most often used in modern high precision calculations to overcome these. The EFTs are the dimensionally reduced theories EQCD and MQCD and Hard thermal loop effective theory (HTL). EQCD is three-dimensional Euclidean Yang-Mills theory coupled to an adjoint scalar field and MQCD is three-dimensional Euclidean pure Yang-Mills theory. The effective parameters in these theories are determined through matching calculations. HTL is based on resummation of hard thermal loops and uses effective propagators and vertex functions. We will also discuss the determination of the pressure of QCD perturbatively. In general, this thesis details calculations and the methodology.

Nowadays, with the influence of global economy large corporations use global software development to utilise advantages of geographically decentralised organisations and global outsourced software development. Through distributed organisations the work can be done around the clock. Global software development is impacted by three distance dimensions: time distance, geographical distance, and socio-cultural distance, which all bring some challenges. At the same time agile way of working has become more and more popular method in software development. As agile practises are created for co-located teams there is a demand for having working online solutions for communication and collaboration in distributed teams. Corporations use scaled agile way of working to support software develop-ment of large initiatives and projects. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is the most popular among the scaled agile methods. This thesis was conducted as a case study in a multinational corporation. Objective of the case study was to research effectiveness of scaled agile methodology SAFe on communication and collaboration in teams and agile release trains. The case study included two parts: a web-survey and interviews. The results of the analyses of the case study support findings from the literature in the field. The results indicate the importance of communication and collaboration in agile practices and the significance of the online tools that support it.

This paper studies post-conflict peacebuilding in relation to non-state armed groups, notably insurgencies. Peacebuilding in general refers to long-term policies that have as their end-goal a just and self-sustaining peace. The view taken of peacebuilding here is state-centered: strengthening a legitimate and accountable state is the best way to protect individuals. The focus is on outside intervention. Also, security is a key concept. The framework advances by 1.) analysing the nature of the problem and the main security threats to peace posed by non-state armed groups, and 2.) examines the current policy-options to these problems, and sees what is effective and what is problematic. The assumption is that there is a common model of peacebuilding, that is not necessarily effective. This is referred to as 'rule-of-thumb peacebuilding. This paper uses literature review as its methods. A number of different types of sources were chosen: theoretical literature on conflicts and peacebuilding including statistical and qualitative research, articles by authoritative experts on each subject, policy handbooks by experts, lessons learned reports, as well as commissioned evaluations. Non-state armed groups are analyzed through their means (capacity) and end-goals. Gangs, organized crime, paramilitary groups, private military companies and insurgencies are examined. While all of these contest the monopoly of violence of the state, only insurgencies pose an existential threat both with respect to its means and end-goals. Yet one of the central findings is that non-state armed groups today have converging interests, and thanks to globalization new weaker but more resilient forms of insurgency emerge relatively easily. These groups can have an interest in the continuation of conflict. Of the different policy-option, I analyze DDR, conflict resolution methods, monitoring, arms control measures, sanctions, counterinsurgency and the pros and cons of interventions in general. Generally, policies could be differentiated between ones that focused on the existing armed group, and ones that focus on changing the environment that enabled them to come about. Key problems found with the commonly applied methods of peacebuilding, or 'rule-of-thumb' peacebuilding, were related to power-sharing arrangements and elections, as well as the attention given to short-term results. Additionally, a longer presence of outside monitoring of the peace process would seem to enhance the sustainability of post-conflict peace. Finally, interventions themselves can also be problematic: they can spread corruption and weaken the connection between the government and the people.

Genetic variation is vital for both contemporary and long-term wellbeing of populations. Whereas heterozygosity (Ho) and allelic richness (A) are commonly used to measure the level of genetic diversity in a population, effective population size (Ne) describes the speed of loss of genetic variation. Various effective population sizes are proposed as standards for safe retention of genetic variation in a Minimum Viable Population (MVP). Since the 1940s, several types of effective population size estimators have been developed. Earlier estimators relied on demographic parameters, whereas genetic estimators are based on the analysis of either one or two genetic samples from a population. All Ne estimators have their unique sensitivities and limiting assumptions, which complicate the choice of estimator, comparison of results of different studies and the assessment of the reliability of the results. Ne estimators have recently been used e.g. in the monitoring of many aquatic populations, but their reliability and comparability has not often been tested with extensive ecological and genetic data, and it is not well established how much added value they bring to the conservation of easily observable species. I tested this with an extensive dataset on the Siberian jays (Perisoreus infaustus) living in Suupohja, Finland (62°22'N, 21°30'E). The Suupohja Siberian jays form one of the few isolates of Siberian jays in Southern Finland. I utilised three demographic and three genetic Ne estimators to estimate the Ne and the Ne/N ratio in the Suupohja Siberian jays, and compared the findings to the Ho and A estimates calculated with the same data, and to various suggested MVP standards. The results showed that the ratio of effective and census population sizes (Ne/N) is close to 0.6 in the Suupohja Siberian jays. Uneven survival of offspring and population size fluctuations are the main factors in the formation of this ratio. The average genetic Ne estimate would, then, suggest a census population size of 44 % higher than the average N in the Suupohja study area. This result is probably connected to the high proportion of breeding immigrants in the data, which would cause the Ne estimates to reflect a larger genetic neighbourhood than the study area. The genetic Ne estimates also suggest that the Suupohja Siberian jays might not be able to maintain their genetic diversity in the long term if gene flow would cease due to further isolation, especially if isolation would also cause a faster demographic decline. Conservation attempts should aim at ensuring gene flow to the remaining Siberian jay isolates in Southern Finland, in order to protect them from increasing genetic uniformity and inbreeding. It is possible that while the average dispersal distances in the Siberian jay are short, occasional long-distance dispersal events have an important role in the pretention of genetic structuring in a Siberian jay population. Ne estimation based on demographic data was laborious in the case of the Suupohja Siberian jays, whereas the genetic Ne estimates showed large variation depending on year and estimation method used. Reliable estimation of Ne with genetic methods would have required information on the large-scale genetic structure of the population. In any case, Ne estimates gave a clearer picture on the genetic viability of the Suupohja Siberian jays than the Ho and A estimates, which did not indicate any decrease of genetic diversity during the study period.

The main purpose of this master's thesis is to present experiences of test automation in an industrial case, and to make recommendations of the best practices for the case. The recommendations are based on successful test automation stories found from the existing literature. The main issues that are hindering test automation seem to be similar in the case example and in the literature. The cost of implementation and maintenance combined with unrealistic expectations are perceived in almost every project. However, in the most successful projects, they have put a lot of effort to plan and implement maintainable sets of automatic tests. In conclusion, the evidence from the literature shows that successful test automation needs investments - especially in the beginning of the project. A few specific best practices are adapted to the case project, and presented in the form that they could be applied.

Objectives. The world population aged over 60 years is estimated to increase to 1.4 billion by 2030. This increasing trend evidences the current need for promoting healthy ways of living and aging. Previous research has studied music as a protective factor for several aspects in aging-associated neurological illnesses. This thesis aims at researching if healthy amateur choir singers and controls across age in adulthood differ in self-reported cognitive functions, social support and quality of life. It is hypothesized that amateur choir singers will report higher values of the three aspects mentioned above. Methods. Participants (N=93) were recruited from two general population groups, amateur choir singers (N = 54) and controls (N = 46), from 3 age groups split as follows: young adults: 20–39 years (N=34, mean = 29.79, SD = 5.65); middle-aged adults: 40–59 years (N=32, mean = 50.31, SD = 6.47); and older adults: 60–90 years (N=27, mean = 69.37, SD = 7.62). Outcome measures were questionnaires on quality of life (WHO-QOL-BREF), social support (Social Provisions Scale, SPS), cognitive functioning (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, CFQ; Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire, PRMQ). Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS. Results and conclusions. The variable “total years of education” was included as a covariate when comparing the age groups, due to significant difference in the demographic pre-analysis. When studying the effects of amateur choir singing (choir vs controls), none of the results were significant. In comparing the three age groups (young, middle-aged, old), significant group differences were found in all the domains of theCFQ (cognitive failures) questionnaire except for Names, with young adults scoring higher (indicating more cognitive failures) than the middle-aged and older adults. A significant singing x age interaction was observed in all CFQ domains (except Names) as well as in the Reliable alliance subdomain of the SPS, with choir singers showing a more positive trend (less cognitive failures, more social support) across the age groups compared to the control group. These findings suggest a possible protective effect of amateur choir singing on subjective cognitive and social functioning in aging, which should be further studied.

In Finland, the spent nuclear fuel will be deposited at a depth of 400 m in the granitic bedrock. The disposal is based on KBS-3 concept, which relies on the multi-barrier principle, where different successive barriers prevent the migration of radionuclides to biosphere. The spent nuclear fuel is placed in the disposal tunnels in copper-iron canisters, which are surrounded by bentonite clay to insulate them from the groundwater flow and protect from the movements of the bedrock. Bentonite clay consists mainly of montmorillonite, which like the other aluminosilicates are known to retain radionuclides thus, contributing to the retention or immobilization of them. Besides the contribution to the multi-barrier system, the bentonite buffer is assumed to be a potential source of colloids due to the erosion of bentonite in certain conditions. Colloids in the context of radionuclide migration are nanoparticles in the size range from 1 to 1000 nm that remain suspended in water. The montmorillonite colloids could potentially act as carriers for otherwise immobile radionuclides like transuranium elements in the case of canister failure. Especially, 241Am is an important radionuclide regarding the long-term safety of the final disposal as after a few hundred years 241Am and its mother 241Pu contribute most to the radiotoxicity of the spent nuclear fuel. The relevance of the colloids to the long-term performance is depending on several factors like colloid stability, mobility and their interaction with radionuclides. The colloid stability is depending on the groundwater conditions like ionic strength and pH. In low salinity groundwaters, the montmorillonite colloids have been shown to be stable. On the other hand, the collective processes of the rock matrix, bentonite colloids and radionuclides have to be investigated to assess the long-term performance of the multi-barrier system. It requires the combination of the different scale experiments from the simple laboratory experiments to large, natural scale in-situ experiments to understand the complex processes affecting the colloid-facilitated radionuclide migration. The large-scale laboratory experiments conducted with granite blocks offer an intermediate between the two extremes having a more natural system than the former and a better controllability than the latter. In this study, the radionuclide migration was studied in different scale laboratory experiments. The colloid-facilitated transport of Eu was studied with a block-scale experiment using a granite block with a natural water conducting fracture. The suitability of the block was assessed by conducting several experiments using different non-sorbing and sorbing tracer and montmorillonite colloids separated from synthetic Ni-labeled montmorillonite and Nanocor PGN Montmorillonite (98 %). Laser-induced breakdown detection (LIBD), photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) and ICP-/MP-OES were utilized in colloid detection. Supportive batch experiments were conducted to study the colloid stability in different ground waters and the interaction between the granite, different montmorillonite colloids and Eu, an analog to Am. Good reproducibility was obtained with non-sorbing tracers. The breakthrough of the radioactive 3H, 36Cl and fluoresceine and Amino-G dyes showed similar behavior. On the other hand, no breakthrough of montmorillonite colloids or 152Eu occurred. Based on the literature review, the low flow rates used could be the reason for this. Low flow rate (50 μl/min) could affect the colloid mobility strongly which could explain that Eu retained in the fracture. More experiments with higher flow velocities would be required. Different montmorillonite materials showed similar but not exact the same sorption behavior of Eu. The fraction of Eu attached to colloids decreased during the experiments and correspondingly the fraction attached to the granite increased. At the same time, colloids remained stable during the expertiments. This indicates that desorption of Eu from the colloids is taking place in the presence of granite. Also, the effect of different water composition on the stability of colloids was clearly seen on the preparation of colloid suspensions in different water simulants. Even a small increase in the ionic strength of the solution made the especially Ni-montmorillonite colloids instable.

SH3 domains are relatively short and most common of modular protein binding domain in eukaryotes. They are present in proteins that play critical role in various cell signaling and regulatory pathway. Human genome encoded 296 types of SH3 domains have been successfully displayed in phagemid using classical PelB signal sequence and used for finding novel binding partners. However, given its shorter length and tendency to fold rapidly it is useful to understand if signal sequence that directs SH3 translocation through Co translational pathway is much more efficient in displaying these domains than the one that translocate protein post translationally. For the study, PelB signal sequence of phagemid displayed human SH3 library was replaced with DsbA signal sequence using round the horn PCR method (Site directed mutagenesis) and verified with agarose gel electrophoresis. Subsequently, infective phages were prepared. The infective titer of newly generated DsbAss based library was found to be higher than that of PelBss based library. Both libraries normalized at 1 x1012cfu/ml were panned against known protein targets MC159(Molluscum contagiosum 159), NCF2(Neutrophil cytosolic factor 2) and NS1(Nonstructural protein 1). Enrichment with DsbAss library was moderately higher for each antigen. However sequencing results showed that results for proteins panned with PelBss library were congruent with previous finding whereas DsbAss library selected some potential weak binders and nonspecific ones along with strong binders. Panning results of DsbAss with NCF2 was striking as all clones selected were NCF1 SH3 domains. Although further functional study was not performed. Based on the study, we concluded that both libraries have its own advantage. PelBss based library can be used for finding strong binders while DsbAss based library can be used for studying weaker interaction and functional role of NCF2-NCF1 SH3 domain interaction is still an open question.

Immunodeficiency in neonatal piglet is one of the major causes of pre-weaning mortality. Colostrum supply cytokines to newborn piglets, which play an important role in formation of their immune mechanism. This study aims to identify the relationship between sow’s blood and colostrum cytokines, and effect of resin acid-enriched composition (RAC) in sow’s blood and colostrum cytokines concentration. RAC is a plant extract of coniferous tree, and it is composed of resin acids and fatty acids which exert immunomodulatory function. Two experiments were conducted in two different farms where RAC was supplemented in the diet of late gestation sows, starting from one week before of expected farrowing date till farrowing. Multiplex immunoassay was used to determine the interferon alpha (IFN-α), interferon gamma (IFN-ɣ), interleukin 1 (IL-1), interleukin 10 (IL-10), interleukin 4 (IL-4), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 12p40 (IL-12p40) cytokines concentration in blood and colostrum of sow collected within 2 hours of the birth of first piglets. There were significant (p < 0.05) positive correlations between sow’s blood and colostrum cytokines concentration. RAC-fed sows had significantly (p < 0.05) higher level of IL-1 and showed positive tendency (p = 0.1) to increase TNF-α cytokine level in blood. Colostrum level of IFN- ɣ, IL-1 and IL-12p40 had also positive tendency (p = 0.1) to rise in RAC supplemented sow. On this basis, it is proposed that application of RAC in late gestation sow diet enhance the cytokine production in sow’s blood, and blood cytokines levels are positively correlated with colostrum cytokines.