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  • Lilja, Johanna (2016)
    Alcohol use during pregnancy might have serious consequences. Alcohol causes variable amount of damages to the growing fetus. The ones that are most damaged can be deeply handicapped, milder exposure might cause different kinds of cognitive problems. The whole spectrum caused by alcohol use during pregnancy is called FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder). The purpose of this study is to describe the process of diagnosing individuals who are exposed to alcohol in uterus, their rehabilitation and upcoming challenges. The aim was also to determine what happens if the diagnosis is not right or if the individual doesn't get diagnosed at all. The research was made as a literature review. Data was collected manually by using several different databases. After screening and processing the material 9 articles and 11 books were included to the research. The method of analysis in use was inductive content analysis. The endeavour was to describe all the changes, conditions, functions and evolution that involve to this phenomenon. The research indicated that making a diagnosis under the FASD-umbrella was challenging. Various methods of diagnosing, certification of alcohol use during pregnancy and individualised symptoms complicated the process. Often a more socially acceptable diagnose ADHD was given instead of FAS. It increased the possibility of secondary symptoms to appear. When diagnosis FAS was given, the course of life often became challenging. Actions by child welfare, rehabilitation and support measures dominated persons life even in adulthood. Early diagnosis and custody appeared to be most relevant factors in improving the quality of life for individuals exposed to alcohol in uterus.
  • Pavlyshche, Tereza (2019)
    Fashion blogs are invention of the new millennia. Starting with something as simple as commenting on the outfit or a fashion event using this online medium, modern bloggers transformed it now into a successful business venture and a massive network for sharing ideas, tips and personal struggles with their followers. Thus, nowadays, a successful fashion blogger can be anything from a minor celebrity in the blogosphere, to a major international influencer in the fashion industry. Being personally fascinated by the way modern fashion bloggers run their blogs and manage to create a personal brand, I have decided to focus my research on creation of an online identity fashion bloggers go through whilst managing their personal blogs. Intentionally, or unintentionally personal fashion bloggers develop a certain type of writing and content creation that allows them to connect to many people. Fashion bloggers try to produce an idea that will guarantee them professional success. However, their personal background partially already set them up to be more connected to a certain group of people rather than the other. It is visible in their looks, ethnicity, lifestyle, personal interests and in opinions what type of people would be the majority of their followers. As a results, the network of followers that will be build by the blogger will determine what type of content she will be producing to attract even more readers. This is what will be discussed in this thesis: how fashion bloggers behave and what they primarily focus on in their blogs to keep up the online persona they are constructing.
  • Nordman, Jenna (2020)
    This thesis examines actual and potential human rights impacts of fashion industry. The main approach on subject is from the viewpoint of business and human rights, but corporate social responsibility and sustainability are utilised and discussed as well. Fashion industry in the thesis is defined in an encompassing manner, including productions, marketing and retailing of clothes, footwear, accessories, and cosmetics. Fashion industry is the second largest sector of industry in the world. Many different areas of human rights, recognised in international human rights instruments, are impacted directly and indirectly through actions and functions of fashion industry. ‘Race to the bottom’ and fast fashion phenomenon have pushed down the prices and quality of fashion merchandise during the past decades. Fashion industry is labour-intensive and low prices are often the result of poor working conditions and remunerations that are significantly below living wages. Child labour, forced labour, dangerous working conditions and lack of unionisation are common and result to widespread egregious human rights violations in the manufacturing and production of the raw materials in fashion industry. Industry’s use of natural resources is often reckless and wasteful, and overproduction has resulted to discarding and destroying large quantities of unsold merchandise. More direct human rights impacts, relating to fashion industry and environment, can occur through use and disposal of chemicals and dyes in the manufacturing processes that can have an affect on the living standards and health of the surrounding communities. Different forms of discrimination have been commonly manifested within the industry. There have been numerous lawsuits on discrimination and harassment in workplaces in fashion industry. Statistics, as well as researches based on interviews, show diversity to be realised poorly in the fashion business. Portraying harmful and offensive stereotypes in marketing practices and advertisement reflects problems of discrimination that are deep rooted in the company cultures of the industry and portrays lack of awareness on the issue. Right to property is often infringed in the fashion industry, since copying designs is a common custom. Most well-known cases are between major fashion labels, but in this work, the focus is on rights of small designers and on cultural property of distinct culturally unified groups of people. Taking intellectual property without permission from independent designer can potentially infringe their right to property as well standard of living and using cultural property of a distinct community can be an offensive on the group’s dignity, beliefs and traditions as well as infringement on their economic rights. In this thesis these issues are approached with a somewhat holistic manner. The main tool is the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and a loose template of human rights impact assessment, based on the principles, but issues are processed from multiple focus points. There are currently various voluntary models for responsible business practices as well as national laws and different initiatives on corporate social responsibility, business and human right and sustainable business conduct. This fragmentation makes it essential to approach the issue with an all-inclusive method.
  • Kiiski, Essi (2022)
    Tutkielmassa perehdytään Helsingin kaupungin OmaStadiin eli osallistuvan budjetoinnin projektiin vuonna 2021 ja siinä yhteiskehittämisvaiheen työpajoissa eli raksoissa tapahtuneeseen fasilitointiin. Työ vastaa tutkimuskysymykseen: Minkälainen rooli fasilitoinnilla oli OmaStadin alue- ja teemaraksoissa? OmaStadin lähtökohdissa mainitaan puntaroivan kansalaiskeskustelun eli deliberaation vahvistaminen, ja fasilitoinnilla on todettu olevan kiinteä yhteys deliberaation periaatteiden toteutumiseen. Aiheena fasilitointia ei ole juurikaan tutkittu tai teorisoitu, ja tämän työn tavoite on tuottaa lisätietoa OmaStadin fasilitoinnin tavoista ja siihen liittyvistä haasteista. OmaStadissa järjestettiin kaksi työpajakierrosta. Ensimmäisten eli alueraksojen tavoite oli saada avattua mahdollisimman monta kriteerit täyttävää ehdotusta OmaStadin nettisivuille. Toisten työpajojen eli teemaraksojen tavoitteena oli muokata ehdotuksista sellaisia, että niille voitiin laskea kustannusarviot. Näissä raksoissa kaupungin asiantuntijat tarjosivat osaamistaan liittyen ehdotusten käytännöntoteutukseen ja kustannuspuoleen. Työn aineisto koostuu työpajojen havainnoinnista sekä täydentävistä puolistrukturoiduista teemahaastatteluista. Aineiston analyysi perustuu määrälliseen sisällönerittelyyn sekä laadulliseen sisällönanalyysiin. Fasilitoinnissa voidaan havaita selkeä kehityskaari ja aktiivisuuden tason nousu työpajojen edetessä. Analyysi osoittaa, että kaupunkilaisten kokemukset raksoissa vaihtelivat kuitenkin suuresti fasilitoinnin osalta niin määrällisesti kuin laadullisesti. Ehdotusten suuri määrä oli fasilitoinnin kannalta haasteellista, sillä resurssit eivät mahdollistaneet fasilitoijan kokoaikaista osallistumista kaikkiin ryhmiin, ja tästä johtuva pirstaloituneisuus tuotti osallistujien välistä eriarvoisuutta. Raksat toimivat kaupunkilaisten omaehtoisen toiminnan areenoina, ja fasilitoijien tehtävä näyttäytyi tämän mahdollistajana sen sijaan, että olisi vaikutettu siihen millä tavoin kehittämistä tehtiin tai keskustelua käytiin. Fasilitoinnin roolissa korostui keskustelun johtamisen sijaan siihen mukautuminen. Työpajat mobilisoivat kansalaisia ajamaan omaan asiantuntijuuteensa tai kiinnostukseensa pohjautuvaa ehdotusta eteenpäin kohti äänestystä sen sijaan, että kyseessä olisi ollut deliberatiivista demokratiaa vahvistanut tilaisuus.
  • Paavilainen, Topi (2018)
    Minimum-cost minimum path cover is a graph-theoretic problem with an application in gene sequencing problems in bioinformatics. This thesis studies decomposing graphs as a preprocessing step for solving the minimum-cost minimum path cover problem. By decomposing graphs, we mean splitting graphs into smaller pieces. When the graph is split along the maximum anti-chains of the graph, the solution for the minimum-cost minimum path cover problem can be computed independently in the small pieces. In the end all the partial solutions are joined together to form the solution for the original graph. As a part of our decomposition pipeline, we will introduce a novel way to solve the unweighted minimum path cover problem and with that algorithm, we will also obtain a new time/space tradeoff for reachability queries in directed acyclic graphs. This thesis also includes an experimental section, where an example implementation of the decomposition is tested on randomly generated graphs. On the test graphs we do not really get a speedup with the decomposition compared to solving the same instances without the decomposition. However, from the experiments we get some insight on the parameters that affect the decomposition's performance and how the implementation could be improved.
  • Simula, Maria (2022)
    Companies are facing increasing pressure to communicate more transparently of their social and environmental impacts. People expect companies to improve the social and environmental wellbeing of the societies they operate in. This way companies can gain acceptance and legitimacy, which is important for their survival. Because of the normative pressure, companies have started to incorporate corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication into their communication strategies. The thesis will study what kind of CSR communication are fast fashion brands doing on Instagram and what kind of sustainability themes are the brands bringing up. The chosen brands are H&M, The North Face, Timberland, C&A, and Vans, who are the forerunners of transparent CSR communication on their websites. Thus, it will be interesting to study the level of their CSR communication on social media. The time frame of the study is one month, and the method of the research is qualitative content analysis. The data will be analysed with the help of the concept of CSR. While CSR is a highly researched topic, the CSR communication on social media has not been studied extensively. Brands’ CSR communication can be considered controversial, since the demand for more transparent communication is increasing but brands that bring up their CSR activity get easily criticized. The results of the study show that fast fashion brands are not doing CSR communication extensively on Instagram. The sustainability themes of the five fast fashion brands’ CSR communication on Instagram are 1. Reuse, Repair, and Recycling, 2. Sustainable Materials, and 3. Equality. Brands are eager to share sustainability issues but not linking it to their own operation, and thus it is not considered CSR communication.
  • Åkerblom, Rasmus (2022)
    Avhandlingen är en rätts- och tvärvetenskaplig granskning av begreppet fast fornlämning enligt lagen om fornminnen (295/1963) 2 §. Skyddet av fasta fornlämningar som företeelse har förutom en förankring miljörätten även i kulturella rättigheter. Samtidigt har de fasta fornlämningar en fast anknytning hur dessa unika företeelser och deras värden samt information kan på ett hållbart sätt komma att bevaras för framtiden och hur och under vilka förutsättningar arkeologisk forskning kan bedrivas. För att förankra avhandlingen i styrningen av det bredare kulturmiljöfältet i vår samtid presenteras den del av det system som utgörs av statens internationella åtagande, unionsrätten, grundrättsfrågeställningarna och markanvändningens styrning. Då den rättsliga doktrinen som berör ämnet är begränsat, får offentligtryck, förvaltningsmaterial och arkeologisk forskning inom frågor relaterade till fornminnesförvaltningen betydelse för avhandlingens utformning. Arbetet avgränsas tidsmässigt i först hand till den rätts- och förvaltningshistoriska utveckling till tiden efter 1600-talet då skyddsintresset etableras från statsmaktens sida. Lagen om fornminnes lagförberedningsarbete under åren 1947-1962, rättskipningen och förvaltningspraxisen från 1960- till 2020-talet bildar den helhet som binder den rättshistoriska utvecklingen till begreppets nuvarande innehåll. Lagen om fornminne behandlas i arbetet till den del den berör fasta fornlämningar, medan andra närliggande begrepp behandlas endast som stöd i situationer där gränsgången mellan de olika fenomenen är relevant. Då fasta fornlämningar enligt lagrummets definition omfattar öppna definitioner på ett ålderdomligt lagtekniskt språk som inbegriper så gott som alla spår av olika mänsklig verksamhet för ett omfattande tidsrum, ställer den en avsevärd press för en enhetlig tolkning för att ge en rättssäker utgång. Systematiseringen av lagrummet ger oss dock möjligheten att se fast fornlämningar som bygger på tre kriterier, ålders-, bruks- och övergivenhetsrekvisitet. I avhandlingen föreslås att ett förtydligande av lagrummet var möjligt om en avskiljning sker när det gäller skyddet av fasta naturföremål, till vilka det kan anknytas historiska minnen. Då skulle det bli klarare att grundförutsättningen för att någon företeelse ska kunna ses som fast fornlämning är att det finns bevarade spår av mänsklig verksamhet på platsen. Samtidigt föreslås att en fast åldersgräns intas tillsamman med ett förfarande som möjliggör även skyddet av betydelsefulla yngre lämningar för att ta fast på eventuella förändrare värderingar inom samhället och samtidigt öka betydelsen av och inflytandet hos allmänheten inom rättsområdet.
  • Kilpinen, Arttu (2022)
    The objective of the shortest common superstring problem is to find a string of minimum length that contains all keywords in the given input as substrings. Shortest common superstrings have many applications in the fields of data compression and bioinformatics. For example, a common superstring can be seen as a compressed form of the keywords it is generated from. Since the shortest common superstring problem is NP-hard, we focus on the approximation algorithms that implement a so-called greed heuristic. It turns out that the actual shortest common superstring is not always needed. Instead, it is often enough to find an approximate solution of sufficient quality. We provide an implementation of the Ukkonen's linear time algorithm for the greedy heuristic. The practical performance of this implementation is measured by comparing it to another implementation of the same heuristic. We also hypothesize that shortest common superstrings can be potentially used to improve the compression ratio of the Relative Lempel-Ziv data compression algorithm. This hypothesis is examined and shown to be valid.
  • Takala, Saara (2024)
    Ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves in the Pc4-Pc5, 2 – 25 mHz range have been observed to accelerate trapped 1 – 10 MeV electrons in the Earth’s radiation belts. This acceleration can lead to particle losses and injections that occur on timescales comparable to the particle drift periods. Current models rely on diffusion equations written in terms of Fokker-Planck equations and are not suitable for describing fast temporal variations in the distribution function. This thesis is a study of fast transport of equatorially trapped electrons in the radiation belts. We look at solutions for the time evolution of the linear part of the perturbed distribution function using both analytical and numerical methods. Based on this work we build a simple model of fast transport in the radiation belts using a spectral PDE framework called Dedalus. The resulting program is a computationally inexpensive, simple approach to modelling drift-periodic signatures on fast timescales. In this study we investigate the behavior of the distribution function in three systems: a simple system without a wave term, and systems with a single non-resonant and resonant ULF wave. The wave solutions are evaluated with magnetic field perturbations of different magnitudes. The Earth’s magnetic field is modelled with the Mead field. The numerical solution of the perturbed differential equation is studied for relativistic equatorially trapped electrons. Phase-mixing is found to happen regardless of field fluctuations or resonance. The non-resonant wave solution shows time-delayed, spatially localized structures in the equatorial plane forming in the presence of large magnetic field fluctuations. These transients are also seen in the analytical solution and provide a new theoretical explanation for the ubiquitous observation of drift echoes in the inner and outer radiation belts of the Earth (Li et al., 2024).
  • Äijö, Anni (2015)
    Automaattinen tietojenvaihto on yksi tehokkaimmista keinoista veronkierron torjuntaan. Termillä tarkoitetaan tiettyjen, esimerkiksi sopimuksessa tai direktiivissä yksilöityjen tietojen vuosittaista, massaluonteista ja ilman erillistä pyyntöä tai ilmoitusta tapahtuvaa vaihtamista valtioiden toimivaltaisten viranomaisten välillä. Ensimmäinen maailmanlaajuinen askel kohti yksityisten toimijoiden entistä suurempaa osallistamista veronkierron torjunnassa nähtiin vuonna 2010, kun Yhdysvallat sääti Foreign Account Tax Compliance Actin (FATCA). Kyseiset normit velvoittavat ulkomaisia finanssilaitoksia sillä uhalla, että velvoitteiden laiminlyönnistä seuraa 30 %:n ennakonpidätys kaikista yhdysvaltalaislähtöisistä, finanssilaitokselle kohdistuvista maksuista. Useiden valtioiden tietosuojalainsäädännöstä johtuvien ongelmien vuoksi FATCA:sta kehitettiin sittemmin kaksi erillistä valtiosopimusmallia. Suomi allekirjoitti tällaisen FATCA-sopimuksen yhdessä Yhdysvaltojen kanssa 5.3.2014. Sopimus astui Suomessa lakina voimaan 2.3.2015. FATCA-sopimus velvoittaa Suomea muuttamaan kansallista lainsäädäntöään niin, että se mahdollistaa FATCA-velvoitteiden noudattamisen suomalaisten finanssilaitosten osalta. Tällaisten ns. raportoivien finanssilaitosten tulee tutkia ja tunnistaa asiakaskunnastaan ne tilinhaltijat, jotka ovat Yhdysvaltojen kansalaisia, maahan rekisteröityjä yhtiöitä tai yhdysvaltalaisomisteisia ulkomaisia yrityksiä. Finanssilaitosten tulee raportoida tietyn kynnysarvon ylittävät yhdysvaltalaisomisteiset tilit Verohallinnolle, joka lähettää tiedot edelleen Yhdysvaltoihin. Lisäksi raportoivien finanssilaitosten tulee rekisteröityä Internal Revenue Servicen (IRS) ylläpitämälle verkkosivulle erityisen GIIN-tunnuksen (Global Intermediary Identification Number) saamiseksi. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että käytännössä velvoitteista yksikään ei ole finanssilaitoksille täysin uusi GIIN-rekisteröitymistä lukuun ottamatta. Laki rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen estämisestä ja selvittämisestä sekä lukuisat finanssisektorin erityislait velvoittavat finanssilaitoksia jo nyt tunnistamaan ja tuntemaan asiakkaansa sekä näiden tosiasialliset edunsaajat. Tuntemisvelvoite on niin vahva, että pankeilla ja muilla finanssialan toimijoilla on oikeus kieltäytyä asiakassuhteen perustamisesta tai liiketoimen suorittamisesta, ellei se saa pyytämiään tietoja asiakkaalta. Finanssilaitokset ovat myös jo aiemmin joutuneet raportoimaan Verohallinnolle tietoja asiakkaidensa sijoituksista ja näille maksetuista tietyn tulolajin suorituksista verotusmenettelylain nojalla. Tutkimuksessa kävi ilmi, että sopimuksen implementointiin Suomessa liittyy useita ongelmakohtia. Ensinnäkin Yhdysvaltojen ekspansiivinen ote kansalaistensa veronkierron torjuntaan aiheuttaa ongelmia Suomen kansallisen suvereniteetin kannalta. Valtiosopimuksen teksti perustuu yhdysvaltalaiseen oikeusperinteeseen ja sisältää viittauksia Yhdysvaltojen lainsäädäntöön, ja se voi olla tämän vuoksi vaikeaselkoinen suomalaiseen oikeuskieleen tottuneille toimijoille. Sopimus on myös Suomen näkökulmasta paikoitellen ristiriidassa Suomen ja Yhdysvaltojen verosopimuksen kanssa. Lisäksi etenkin verovelvollisten, mutta myös finanssilaitosten on mahdollista kiertää FATCA-raportointia esimerkiksi sijoituksia hajauttamalla. Tutkimuksessa esiteltiin lyhyesti myös muut automaattisen tietojenvaihdon mallit (OECD:n Common Reporting Standard, Rubik-sopimukset ja EU:n uudistettu virka-apudirektiivi) ja verrattiin näiden kattavuutta ja muita ominaisuuksia FATCA:n vastaaviin. Erilaiset päällekkäiset tietojenvaihtomallit ovat kuitenkin omiaan aiheuttamaan epävarmuutta ja ylimääräistä työtä alan toimijoille, joten yhden globaalin tietojenvaihtomallin koostaminen eri vaihtoehdoista voisi olla suositeltavaa. De lege frernda olisi myös syytä pohtia, onko pelotevaikutus oikea kannustin, jotta yksityiset tahot saadaan mukaan tukemaan valtioiden tämän suuntaisia pyrkimyksiä.
  • González Rodrí­guez, Ignacio (2016)
    The aim of this thesis was to study the accumulation and depletion of inorganic soil phosphorus (P) in a long term (37 yrs) field experiment in Southern Finland. The soil has a loamy texture and a high pH (7.4) due to heavy liming before the onset of the experiment. The field contains three treatments with different rates of P fertilization 0, 32 and 67 Kg ha-1 a-1 (abbreviated as P0, P1 and P2K) and it has been cultivated with a rotation of barley, oats, spring wheat and rye grass. The grain and straw have been collected every year and analysed for yield and mineral element composition. Soil samples were also collected from the plough layer at the beginning of the experiment in 1978, and also in the years 1995, 2005 and 2015, including also subsoil samples (25-50 cm). The changes in soil inorganic P along the years were studied with the Chang and Jackson fractionation The highest rate of P fertilization (P2K) increased the P concentration extracted with NH4Cl, NH4F, NaOH and H2SO4. These extractions are assumed to dissolve, easily available P, P sorbed by aluminium and iron oxides and calcium phosphates, respectively. On the other hand, the continuous P depletion (P0 treatment) decreased the NH4Cl-P and NH4F-P pools, while the NaOH-P and H2SO4-P pools remained stable. None of the P pools changed significantly at the lower rate of P fertilization (P1). The results indicate that the iron and aluminium oxides have a similar capacity for P sorption. However, P sorbed by iron oxides appears to remain non-available. Moreover, this study shows that in heavily limed soils the formation of secondary calcium phosphate compounds can be an important sink of the applied P. After 37 years, the P2K and P1K treatment increased the inorganic P reserves of the soil by 732 Kg P ha-1and 32 Kg P ha -1, respectively, while the P0 treatment depleted -459 Kg P ha -1. The recovery rates of P in the plough layer (i.e share of the P balance that is accumulated or depleted in the soil) were 79%, 30% and 56% for the P0, P1 and P2K treatments, respectively. An estimation of the P movement between adjacent plots was included in the calculation. These low recovery rates indicate that a significant proportion of the applied P is lost either in surface runoff or leached below the plough layer. However, the Chang and Jackson analysis of the subsoil samples did not reveal any significant changes in any of the P fractions. The lack of P accumulation might be attributed to the use of an invalid sampling strategy, to the loss of P to deeper layers through preferential flow and to the possibility that some P has been lost through surface runoff. The highest rate of P fertilization (P2K) resulted in a decrease of the P buffer capacity of the soil (BC) and increased the EPC0 (i.e. P concentration in solution at which no net P sorption or desorption occurs) as derived from the sorption isotherms. The resulting low BC and high EPC0 (1.30 mg L-1) are in agreement with measurements made in other heavily fertilized soils in Finland. The lower fertilization rate (P1 treatment) did not have an observable effect on the BC or the EPC0 (0.33 mg L-1). The depletion of soil P in the P0 treatment caused a decrease on the EPC0 (0.12 mg L-1) but only a slight increase on the BC. The degree of P saturation (DPS) of the plough layer was calculated as the ratio between the sum of P extracted with NH4Cl, NH4F and NaOH and the P sorption capacity of the soil (PSC; i.e. sum of extractable iron and aluminium multiplied by a 0.5 index (α)). Despite the large P applications during 37 years, the DPS reached only 20% for the topsoil of the P2K treatment, which can be attributed to the high PSC of the soil. The 0.5 α value is an operationally defined parameter, widely used in international publications, which is supposed to represent the proportion of short-range ordered Fe and Al oxides that contribute to the PSC of the soil. Due to the young age of Finnish soils and their usually high organic matter content, a low crystallinity of the oxides is expected, which could result in a higher α value. To prove this hypothesis, a long term incubation was done as a replicate of other published experiments (250 days, soil solution 1:50, P concentration 155 mg P L-1). Since the incubation includes only 4 samples from a single field, they cannot be extrapolated to other Finnish soils. However, the results (α =0.3) might be indicative of a low reactivity of the Al and Fe oxides in our soil. Iron and aluminium oxides are responsible for the accumulation in the soil of large amount of the applied P. However, the P recovery rates in field experiments are usually far for complete. To quantitatively assess the losses of P from the plough layer, a more congruent sampling strategy in the soil profile is needed, together with the analysis of P surface runoff and leaching water
  • Roiha, Miika (2021)
    Lannerangan välilevypullistuma tyypillisesti aiheuttaa alaselkäkipua, joka säteilee toiseen alaraajaan. Koska pääsääntöisesti vaiva paranee 6-8 viikossa riippumatta annetusta hoidosta, ensisijainen hoitolinja on oireenmukainen, jos potilaalla ei ole hälyttäviä oireita. Kirurginen hoito lievittää oireita nopeasti, mutta muutaman vuoden seuranta-ajan jälkeen lopputulema on sama hoitomuodosta riippumatta. Aiempi tutkimus ei ole kuvannut nuorien potilaiden pitkäaikaisennustetta, vaikkakin juuri näiden potilaiden kannalta sillä on huomattava merkitys, koska näillä potilailla on työelämä vielä pitkälti edessä. Tutkimusaineisto käsitti Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiirin Neurokirurgian klinikassa vuosina 1990-2005 leikatut 18-40-vuotiaat potilaat (616 potilasta). Potilasasiakirjoista kerättiin tiedot potilaiden leikkausta edeltäneestä tilanteesta ja mahdollisista uusista lannerangan leikkauksista seuranta-aikana. Potilaille lähetettiin kaksi kyselyä, joista ensimmäisessä tiedusteltiin elämänaikaisten lannerangan leikkausten määrää, tupakointia leikkausta edeltävästi ja nykyään, ja työelämätilannetta nykyään. Toisena kyselynä käytettiin Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) -kyselyä, joka mittaa alaselkäkivun aiheuttamaa haittaa. Potilaista 95%:lla oirekuva helpottui leikkauksen jälkeen jälkitarkastukseen mennessä. Alle 30 vuorokaudessa uusintaleikkaukseen joutui 4% potilasta. Nämä aikaisen vaiheen uusintaleikkauksen pois lukien, 172 potilasta (28%) joutui seuranta-aikana uuteen lannerangan leikkaukseen. Suurin riskitekijä uudelle leikkaukselle oli aiempi lannerangan leikkaus (46% vs. 25%, p < 0.001). Potilaista 367 vastasi kyselyihin. ODI-tulosten keskiarvo oli 8.9, mikä on verrattavissa normaaliväestöön. Suurempi määrä elämänaikaisia lanneranganleikkauksia korreloi heikompaan ODI-tulokseen (p < 0.001). Potilaista 87% raportoi olevansa työelämässä, kun taas 4% kertoi olevansa työkyvyttömyyseläkkeellä. Nämä luvut ovat verrattavissa suomalaiseen normaaliväestöön. Odotetusti leikkauksen jälkeinen toipuminen oli erinomaista. Vaikka osa potilaista joutui uuteen leikkaukseen seuranta-aikana, pitkällä aikavälillä potilaiden alaselkäkipujen aiheuttama haitta ja työllisyystilanne olivat verrattavissa normaaliväestöön. Täten nuoren aikuisena leikattujen potilaiden pitkänaikavälin ennuste on suotuisa.
  • Paananen, Hanna (2018)
    Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan lehtikirjoittelua, joka käsittelee suuren suomalaisen musiikkikonsernin, Musiikki-Fazerin, myyntiä yhdysvaltalaiselle Time-Warnerille lokakuussa 1993. Myyntiä koskevasta lehtikirjoittelusta eritellään siinä esiintyviä suomalaisuuteen, kansalliseen identiteettiin ja musiikin omistamiseen liittyviä representaatioita. Analyysissa tarkastellaan niitä puhetapoja tai diskursseja, joita lehtikirjoittelussa käytetään esimerkiksi musiikin suomalaisuudesta, kansallisesta identiteetistä tai toiseudesta. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan musiikin ja yrityksen omistamisen välisen problematiikan representaatioita lehtikirjoittelussa. Tutkimuksessa pyritään mahdollisimman kattavasti esittämään sekä se, kuinka suomalaisuutta, musiikkia ja näiden kahden yhteyttä rakennetaan, toistetaan ja vahvistetaan analysoiduissa teksteissä että se, kuinka musiikin ja Fazerin omistamiseen liittyvä problematiikka näyttäytyy kauppaa koskevassa lehtikirjoittelussa. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostuu Musiikki-Fazerin myyntiä koskevista lehtiartikkeleista, jotka on kerätty vuosien 1993 ja 1994 sanoma- ja aikakauslehdistä sekä musiikki- ja kirjastoalan ammattijulkaisuista. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään kriittistä diskurssianalyysia yhdistettynä kansallista identiteettiä ja omistamista koskevaan monipuoliseen teoriapohjaan. Diskurssianalyysia sovelletaan tiukan systemaattisen metodin sijaan ennemminkin rajaavana kehyksenä: lähestymistavan avulla pyritään tunnistamaan aineistosta nousevia tai nousematta jääviä puhetapoja ja aiheita sekä pohtimaan niiden taustalla vaikuttavia sosiaalisia ja kulttuurisia tekijöitä. Lehtikirjoittelun valossa Musiikki-Fazer näyttäytyy laajasti osana suomalaista identiteettiä: suomalaisuutta ja ajatusta kansallisesta identiteetistä rakennetaan tutkimusaineistossa perinteisiksi miellettyjen attribuuttien keinoin. Fazer nähdään yhtäältä suurena ja tärkeänä suomalaisena identiteettisymbolina, mutta toisaalta pienenä maailman markkinoiden mittakaavassa. Jaottelut sekä pienen ja suuren kansakunnan että ”meidän” ja ”muiden” välillä esiintyvät aineistossa toistuvasti. Lisäksi aineistosta on eriteltävissä omaisuuden ja omistamisen teema: Fazer ja sen kustannuskatalogi näyttäytyvät lehtikirjoittelun valossa kansallisena omaisuutena. Myös yrityksen omistamisen ja tekijänoikeuksien omistamisen välinen problematiikka toistuu aineistossa, mikä ilmenee muun muassa puheina taiteen itseisarvosta ja sen muuttumisesta kauppatavaraksi.
  • Asikainen, Tuomas (2016)
    Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have increased tremendously in the past twenty years, and these investments have grown especially in developing economies. FDI has become an efficient mechanism to increase economic development in poor countries. This thesis opens up the decision-making process of developed countries related to FDI decisions. The main focus is to concentrate on FDI in developing countries, and how they try to find relevant policies in order to attract more FDI flows. Some relevant empirical findings between China and Sub-Saharan Africa are shown to support the benchmark model. The model does not go through every possible aspect of FDI but shows how different southern technology frontiers and risks in production might affect the final FDI flows in developing countries. The benchmark model is a North-South model where the North and South are the developed and developing country, respectively. The main feature of this model is that a northern firm might opt out of doing FDI, if the technology frontier in a southern industry is too low for a northern firm with a relatively high technology. This situation might cause a risk of FDI quality failure, where the production chain in the South fails to complete successfully. This kind of failure is possible, if the skills or knowledge of the southern workers is not high enough. The benchmark model is later extended with the innovative and imitative South in this thesis, and lastly technology-neutral risks are introduced and added to the benchmark model. The benchmark model shows that only firms with intermediate technology levels in the North move production to the South or become multinationals. Additionally, more multinational production increases the technology frontier in the South and eventually decreases the risk of FDI quality failure. This development leads to more FDI flows and widens the technology spectrum of the multinational firms. The aim of governments in developing countries is to increase their technology frontiers in different industries. This thesis goes through many important policy parameters which can improve the technology frontier in the South and eventually lead to more multinational production.
  • Helminen, Vilja (2018)
    Objective. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between fear and anxiety, and political attitudes. It has been suggested that individual differences in political ideology stem from differences in threat sensitivity and that conservative political ideology acts as a defence mechanism against psychological threats. There is tentative evidence from previous studies that from different threat reactions fear specifically but not anxiety influences political attitudes. It is also unclear whether threat is connected to political ideology more broadly or just attitudes concerning some political matters. In this study I assess whether anxiety disorder symptoms that reflect differences is fearfulness and anxiety predict different political attitudes. Methods. The sample of this study consisted of 5,819 people born in Great Britain in 1958. Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, phobia, and panic were assessed at the age of 44, and opinions about political issues six years later. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess how political opinions were structured into different attitude dimensions, and seven broader political attitudes were formed based on this. Finally, a path model was used to assess whether anxiety disorder symptoms predicted political attitudes. Results and discussion. The anxiety disorder symptoms predicted attitudes towards economic inequality and preservation of the environment. More specifically, those with more generalized anxiety disorder symptoms were more concerned about environmental issues and those with more phobic symptoms were more concerned about economic inequality. This difference between generalized anxiety disorder and phobias might be explained by the fact that the former is connected with anxiousness whereas the latter reflects fearfulness. The results support the notion that fear and anxiety are differently connected to political attitudes. They also call into question threat reactions’ connection with political ideology more broadly.
  • Tamminen, Juuda (2021)
    This master’s thesis is an ethnographic study about everyday urban encounters and social interaction. It explores how residents in the suburban housing estate of Kontula in East Helsinki negotiate social and cultural difference in their everyday lives. The study focuses on the semi-public spaces of the local shopping centre and examines residents’ capacity to live with difference. The study contributes to a multi-vocal and historically informed understanding of the processes that shape the social landscapes of a socially mixed and multi-ethnic neighbourhood. The study is based on fieldwork carried out in two phases between August 2019 and February 2020. The study applies anthropological methods of participant observation and qualitative interviews. The eleven research participants are adults between the ages of 30 and 71 who live in the neighbourhood and have extensive personal experience of the shopping centre. Although the interviews were a crucial aspect of the meaning-making process, the study relies primarily on participant observation in constructing an interpretation and analysis of social interaction at an intimate scale. In order to contextualise everyday encounters at the shopping centre, this thesis assesses how Kontula, as a stigmatised territory in the urban margins, encapsulates a complex interplay between moral claims of a “good” and “bad” neighbourhood. While some residents confirm negative stereotypes about the shopping centre and bring attention to local social problems and issues of unsafety, others downplay these problems and instead emphasise how tolerant and sociable the shopping centre is. Observations of stigmatised territories reveal how the participation of marginalised individuals and ethnic minorities at the shopping centre challenges the processes and discourses that constitute them as objects of fear and nuisance. The concepts of conviviality and cosmopolitan canopies are used to analyse local social interactions. The analysis suggests that the capacity to live with difference is enabled by ordinary meeting places, such as pubs and cafés, where residents come into regular social contact and engage with diverse individuals and groups. While the maintenance of ethnic boundaries remains salient in the way residents negotiate the social landscapes, these ordinary spaces of encounter situationally reconfigure categories of “us” and “them” and thus expand local meanings of who belongs. The analysis concludes that the contested meanings of belonging and the everyday negotiation of difference are attributes of an open multi-ethnic society coming to terms with difference and change. The analysis suggests that an equal right to participate and interact in shared urban spaces, rather than community consensus, is the hallmark of a society’s capacity to live with difference.
  • Lundahl, Outi (2020)
    Moral panics are instances of public anxiety in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society. Extant literature on moral panics has then tended to focus on individual deviants. In contrast, this study focuses on a moral panic where the morally objectionable actor is an entire industry which is portrayed as having intentionally manufactured the societal problem for their own personal gain. Thus, this study investigates how does the media create a moral panic around an industry? The context of this study is social media addiction. In order to answer this research question, a longitudinal, mixed methods media analysis of British newspapers in 2015–2019 is conducted. The constructivist media frame analysis then shows that while previously social media addiction was seen as an individual disorder, media then framed social media addiction as a manufactured epidemic. Thus, the study shows that a moral panic around social media addiction was created and that there were increased calls for regulation of the industry. However, it also that as these calls were seen as being responded to by the government, the moral panic dissipated. In addition, an automated text mining analysis also shows that, contrary to extant literature, the media framing does not rely on increasingly emotional rhetoric. The study then firstly contributes to extant literature on moral panics by showing how an industry, instead of groups of individuals, can become seen as the “folk devil”. This happens through powerful metaphors which are formed around social media companies. This can have considerable implications for the industry as even if this particular moral panic around social media addiction may remain short-lived, it may prove to be only one wave in the so-called spiral of signification, in other words, the increasing anxiety towards the social media industry. Secondly, the study also contributes to the understanding of emotions in a moral panic by showing that moral panics do not necessitate increased emotional rhetoric in the media framing. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the recent public policy measures in the UK.
  • Nyman, Eva (2023)
    This study centres on co-operation between democracy activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It seeks to understand when and how this has developed from occasional connections to more regular and institutionalized collaboration and what has driven this change. It also aims to understand the motivations of activists to work with partners in the other location. Finally, it looks at this co-operation during the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) Movement in Hong Kong in 2019 and beyond, using the concept of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and the boomerang pattern as a theoretical framework. This study builds on previous research, news articles, publicly available statistics, statements by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) (n=47), and 17 interviews with activists and academics. The interviews seek to explain how activist connections have developed over time, what the collaboration has looked like during the Anti-ELAB Movement, and what the motivations have been. The MAC statements have been used to track the Taiwanese authorities’ official reactions to pro-democracy protests or work in Hong Kong. The analysis of the interviews and the statements have sought out thematic patterns or codes that have been used both quantitatively and qualitatively. Democracy activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan began paying more attention to one another during two major social movements in 2012, both relating to China. The co-operation has since intensified during further social movements, and activists on both sides have formed political parties and run for office. During the Anti-ELAB Movement, top politicians and institutions in Taiwan spoke out in support of Hong Kong’s activists, taking the relationship one step further. This study finds that democracy activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan feel they have a lot in common. Key commonalities include a shared opponent in China and an increasing tendency to identify as Hongkongers and Taiwanese, rather than as Chinese. Using the boomerang pattern, this study shows how pro-democracy activists and politicians experience a blockage in Hong Kong. Taiwanese democracy activists have better access to their authorities. They have co-operated with their counterparts in Hong Kong to raise awareness of the Anti-ELAB Movement in Taiwan and to push the Taiwanese authorities to assist Hong Kong protesters and put pressure on Hong Kong’s government. The Taiwanese authorities have offered some assistance to Hong Kong protesters arriving in the country and the MAC has been a vocal critic of the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party. While the Hong Kong-Taiwan TANs have been partially successful in their efforts in Taiwan, they have been unsuccessful in Hong Kong.
  • Keränen, Henri (2019)
    Interest rates on safe assets have trended downwards for decades. During the Great Recession many developed nations faced a liquidity trap situation as nominal interest approached the zero lower bound which obstructs the stabilization capabilities of conventional monetary policy. At the same time many economies faced sluggish recoveries from the recession. These phenomena help motivate a theoretical model in which a liquidity trap emerges as a result of a drop in the interest rate of safe assets. A simple two-period overlapping generations model is built in which young households earn income and need to save it in order to finance old-age consumption. It is assumed that there are two types of young households with different risk preferences. Risk neutral households invest in the risky asset and are able to borrow from infinitely risk averse households by supplying safe assets to them. The issuance of these safe assets is constrained by two distinct factors. Firstly, there is a financial friction in the sense that safe assets need to be backed up by collateral which ensures repayment. Secondly, the supply of safe assets is limited by the value that the lenders assign to this collateral. In the model, infinitely risk averse households fear that the collateral might drop in value. This has the effect of lowering the supply of safe assets. When fears about the future increase this has an immediate adverse effect in the present. Fears about the future drive down the safe interest rate and after a large enough rise in fears a safety trap emerges as the zero lower bound on nominal rates is met. Safety trap is a form of a liquidity trap which is caused by a decrease in the supply of safe assets. The safety trap environment features unemployment and deflation. The model economy is simulated under different scenarios in order to illustrate the mechanisms at work. In addition to this, the issuance of safe government debt and the raising of the inflation target are considered as cures for the safety trap. A rise of government debt to GDP level helps to mitigate the safety trap by increasing the supply of safe assets while a rise in the inflation target of the central bank allows the economy to reach lower real interest rates with positive nominal interest rates than before.
  • Hossain, Sheikh (2016)
    Freedom of establishment granted to nationals of Member States which is enshrined in the Article 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of the fundamental freedoms granted by the Treaty that extends to companies by virtue of Article 54 of TFEU. In the absence of company law harmonisation, the increased corporate mobility may lead to a competition between legal orders which in turn can produce laxer law in the Community and this fear is known as fear of Delaware effect in the European Union. Since company law is not harmonised in the EU, there are differences among national conflicts of laws rules of the Member States and many Member States felt justified to use the real seat doctrine as a defensive mechanism for negating the European Delaware. However, the judgment in Centros changed this situation and established legal forum shopping as a good practice. Subsequently the judgment in Überseering reaffirmed the principle of mutual recognition in the EU. Therefore these two judgments established the market for company incorporations and as a result it was feared that, a European Delaware is going to emerge. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether this fear is justifiable. For this purpose the traditional way of conducting legal research; looking for sources and by reading and evaluating them, using them with critical thinking and judgments, was used as a method in this paper. The paper found that, although after the judgments in Centros, Überseering and Inspire Art it was feared that a European Delaware is going to emerge; this fear was unreasonable. It is particularly because the regulatory competition not only needs the establishment of a market for company incorporations but also needs the willingness of the Member States and the companies to compete. The judgments in Centros and Überseering only established a partial market for company incorporation because a market for company incorporation needs both the ability to forum shop and the ability to reincorporate a company in another Member State. This paper also looked into the incentives for competition from the Member State’s and company’s perspective. Eventually, market for company incorporations was established after the judgment in Polbud which allowed cross-border conversion of companies; making regulatory competition possible in the EU. As a result, this paper proposed company law harmonisation as possible solution to the problem. It is high time the Commission took the initiative to make Community company law uniform so that a European Delaware does not emerge.