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The aim of the study. The importance of emotional intelligence in the 21st century has grown considerably, when it comes to the world of work, and has created an emergence of research literature around the topic in the past decades. Especially, when talking about leadership, there is an increasing emphasis on emotional, communication and interpersonal skills that are needed for leaders to navigate in the ever-changing work environment and to tackle different, multidimensional challenges. The current world situation and changes in it has also placed new demands on both employees and managers as well as probably permanently altered the way we do work and have understood it previously. Today, leadership ability is often studied through competences, as they provide an easily understandable and measurable approach to a demanding and complex subject. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which emotional intelligence and its different scales are associated with leadership competences and differentiate the most relevant applications these findings have in real life. The impact of gender and job level was also examined. Methods. The data consisted of 482 individuals who took part in competence assessments, as part of recruitment processes, conducted by a private talent management consultancy between 2020 and 2023. Their emotional intelligence was assessed by the EIP3 questionnaire, which measures the overall emotional intelligence and additionally, the 16 subscales of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the respondents also completed the PAPI3+ questionnaire, which was used to assess their ability in three different leadership competences: ’Coaching and developing’, ’Motivating and engaging’, and ’Resilience’. The relationship between emotional intelligence, gender and job level, and the three leadership competences was examined using regression models. Results. The results of the study showed a statistically significant association between emotional intelligence and leadership competence. When looking at each of the three leadership competences, statistically significant associations were found across a number of different emotional intelligence subscales, indicating that emotional intelligence is indeed an important key factor underlying leadership ability. Conclusions. The findings in this study highlights emotional intelligence as a crucial factor when predicting leadership performance and competence. Future research efforts should focus on understanding this connection in more depth and studying the effect of emotional intelligence on other leadership competences as well.

The aim of this study was to examine the leaf endophytic bacteria in Plantago lanceolata. The first aim was to get a comprehensive picture of the bacterial diversity, by screening for the different bacterial genera inside the leaves. Furthermore, I aimed to examine the effect of soil and maternal genotype on the endophytic community within P. lanceolata leaves and search for clues of vertical inheritance of endophytes from parent to offspring via seeds. I studied the endophytic bacteria by extracting DNA from the plant leaves and by trying to amplify any bacterial DNA present to get a view of the bacterial diversity in the leaves. My aim was to compare the bacterial community of the mother plants to that of their offspring and also to compare the bacterial communities of plants grown in different soil conditions. Furthermore, I tried to study how the soil conditions affect the growth of P. lanceolata seedlings. I collected seeds and leaf samples of P. lanceolata from Åland, Southwestern Finland, from a population that is part of the ongoing long-term metapopulation research started in Åland in the early 90’s. I marked 21 plant individuals (hereafter referred to as the “mother plants”) in the field in June, when collecting the first leaf samples. In August I collected all seeds from the same plant individuals and a second set of leaf samples. I also collected soil samples from the same location. With the seeds collected from the wild population I executed a growth experiment in Viikki, Helsinki. I grew one set of seeds in twice autoclaved sand (hereafter referred to as the “sterile soil”) and another set in twice autoclaved sand mixed with soil collected from the Åland population (hereafter referred to as the “environmental soil”). I surface sterilized all seeds and then sowed each in their own growth pot and placed them in a growth chamber. During the experiment I took measurements of the leaves. At end of the growth experiment, I took samples of the leaves and surface sterilized them to exclude any epiphytic microorganisms from the analysis. I also surface sterilized the leaf samples taken from the mother plants. I then extracted DNA from the leaf samples and run PCR to amplify certain regions of the bacterial 16S rDNA gene, that is widely used in bacterial taxonomy. The obtained DNA reads where then clustered into Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and assigned taxonomy using SILVA reference database. Mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic organisms also harbour 16S rDNA regions, so the challenge of studies looking at endophytic bacteria is to exclude the 16S regions of mitochondria and chloroplasts. This proved to be a problem in my study also. More than 86% of all DNA reads obtained turned out to be from P. lanceolata mitochondria and more than 12% from P. lanceolata chloroplasts. Only a bit more than 1% of the reads were eubacterial. This effectively hindered reliable analysis of the endophyte community. I nevertheless analysed the observed eubacterial diversity although the results must be taken as only preliminary and with utmost caution. The eubacterial reads clustered into 218 OTUs, representing 71 different bacterial genera. Six most common genera constituted over 83% of eubacterial reads. Most of these bacteria, most notably Shewanella, Ralstonia and Halomonas, could be identified as being clearly contaminants and not real endophytes. For the 65 less common bacterial genera I performed community analysis using Bray-Curtis Dissimilarity index and Analysis of Similarities (ANOSIM). The results showed that there was a significant difference between the different soil treatments (P = 0.014, R = 0.3787) and also between the two growth chambers (P = 0.011, R = 0.5493). I found no effect of maternal genotype on the bacterial community. Therefore, I observed no sign of vertical inheritance of endophytes. The growth experiment results showed that germination percentage was significantly lower in the environmental soil than in the sterile soil for all genotypes (F = 10.78, P = 0.0012). However, seedling in the environmental soil grew bigger than the seedlings in the sterile soil (F = 10.91, P < 0.0001). For future studies on similar topics, validating molecular methods before large scale sequencing could yield more reliable results. Size fractionating the DNA products of the first PCR round could exclude most mitochondrial sequences and hence allow better analysis of endophytes. This would enable studying interesting questions on coevolution and ecology of host-endophyte interactions. Although I did find some differences in the bacterial communities of different treatments, these results must be considered with caution and as only preliminary.

Terveydenhuoltojärjestelmien kuormittuneisuus ja kustannukset ovat nousseet jatkuvasti vuosien ajan niin maailmalla kuin Suomessakin, mikä on nostanut esiin vaatimuksia toiminnan tehostamisesta. Erityisen selvästi tämä kehitys on näkynyt akuuttia sairaanhoitoa tarjoavilla päivystyspoliklinikoilla, jotka ovat ruuhkautuneet potilaista. Koska päivystyspoliklinikat eivät voi asettaa jonoja hoitoonpääsyyn eivätkä sulkea oviaan ylikuormittuessaan, niiden täytyy aktiivisesti etsiä keinoja tehostaa ja kehittää toimintaansa. Suomessa terveydenhuollon kiristyvässä rahoitustilanteessa tämä tehostaminen on täytynyt tehdä olemassa olevia resursseja hyödyntäen. Keinoja on haettu lean-ajattelun soveltamisesta sekä uusista kokeilevan kehittämisen metodeista. HYKS Akuutin Meilahden sairaalan päivystyspoliklinikalla toteutettiin vuoden 2015 aikana kokeilevan kehittämisen projekti yhdessä konsulttitoimisto Reaktor Innovations Oy:n kanssa, jonka tarkoituksena oli lyhentää päivystyspoliklinikan kokonaisläpimenoaikaa (EDLOS) kohti asetettua tavoitetta (90%:lla potilaista EDLOS alle 4h). Tämän projektin aikana haettiin koko päivystyksen henkilökunnalle avoimilla säännöllisillä kokoontumisilla lean-ajatteluun pohjautuvia kokeiluideoita, joilla EDLOS olisi saatu lyhenemään ilman ylimääräisiä resurssipanostuksia. Lopulta kaksi kokeilua nousi ylitse muiden: kirjaamiskokeilu ja kirurgi aulassa -kokeilu. Ensin mainitussa kaksi erillistä potilaiden sisäänkirjaamisvaihetta yhdistettiin yhdeksi ja jälkimmäisessä allokoitiin yhden kirurgin työpanos saapuvien potilaiden pika-arviointiin. Nämä kokeilut toteutettiin 12 arkivuorokauden jaksolla syyskuussa 2015. Kokeiluiden toimivuuden mittareina käytettiin EDLOS:n lisäksi aikaa potilaan saapumisesta ensiarvion tekemiseen sekä aikaa saapumisesta ensimmäiseen lääkärikontaktiin. Vertailuajankohtana käytettiin vastaavia aikamääreitä puoli vuotta ja vuosi ennen kokeiluajankohtaa. Kokeilujen tuloksena EDLOS lyheni puolen vuoden vertailukohtaan nähden 1,45h (-16%). Vastaava lyhentymä ajassa ensiarvioon oli -48% ja lääkärin tapaamiseen -35%. Kokeilujen tuloksia voidaan pitää erittäin hyvinä ja niiden perusteella kokeilevaa kehittämistä on suositeltavaa jatkaa päivystystoiminnan sekä mahdollisesti myöhemmin myös muiden terveydenhuollon osa-alueiden kehittämisessä. Tutkimusprojektin aikana tehdyistä havainnoista rakennettiin ajan suhteen kolmiportainen muutosstrategiamalli terveydenhuollon jatkuvaa kehitystä ajatellen. Siinä lyhyen aikahorisontin tärkeimpänä prioriteettina nähtiin henkilökunnan sisäisen kommunikaation ja vaikuttamismahdollisuuksien lisääminen, keskipitkän horisontin kärkihankkeena terveydenhuollon sähköisten ratkaisujen hankintakanavien monipuolistaminen ja avoimiin kehitysympäristöihin panostaminen IT-kehityksen ketteryyden lisäämiseksi ja pitkän horisontin päätavoitteena terveydenhuollon henkilöstön koulutuksen monipuolistaminen potilasvirta- ja prosessiajattelun lisäämiseksi kautta järjestelmän.

Objectives. This research addressed the problems and prospects of Lean Six Sigma (LSS), one of the world's most popular organizational development methods at present. The study enriched this method by suggesting a more sustainable way of organizational development. The previous research on LSS mainly focused on the technical tools in utilizing the production process. Drawing on the theory of Expansive Learning, this research evaluated the learning process of LSS by focusing on the practitioners. The purpose of the research was twofold. First, it analyzed the contradictions of LSS project activity in the research site. It was expected to uncover the problems that jeopardized the learning process of the practitioners. Second, it discussed the zone of proximal development (ZPD) of LSS project activity for the research site, with the purpose of shedding light on the possibilities of future development and learning. Methods. The research site was an international aircraft manufacturer in China. Eleven LSS practitioners were interviewed, including eight Green Belts, one Black Belt, one Master Black Belt and one Green Belt team member. The data were analyzed by adopting three methods: the analysis of conceptions, the Analysis of discursive manifestations of contradictions, and the analysis of action-activity transformation in expansive learning. The ZPD was sketched from two dimensions: the first one by analyzing the action-activity transformation of the practitioners; the second one by evaluating the conception of "what have expanded" in the practitioners due to the project experiences. Results and conclusions. The analysis uncovered eight contradictions in LSS project activity system. Five were scattered in the project activity itself between or within varied elements of activity. Three were between the project activity, the department-based work activity and the LSS training activity. One case in which the GB's trials in breaking the constraints in his own project resulted in collective expansive learning efforts cross projects was analyzed as the representation of action-activity transformation. In addition, some practitioners had re-conceptualized their work motivation through the project experience, seeing Lean Six Sigma as a conceptual tool for understanding strategic work planning and gaining long-term work motivation. In conclusion, two dimensions of the ZPD were suggested: first, an integrated top-down and bottom-up approaches for organizational transformation; second, transcending from LSS as the "concrete tool in individual skill appropriation" to the "conceptual tool in collective work reconceptualization". The organizations adopting the LSS method can reflect on this thesis to improve their LSS practices by paying attention to the "critical transition agent" for cross-functional processes' interaction, the employees' learning initiatives and work motivation.

Aims Studies on the efficacy of NF training of ADHD patients have given ambiguous results because most randomly controlled trials (RCTs) have sought to establish its effect in the entire ADD/ADHD-population, treating it as a uniform group. This study addresses whether those who do and do not learn to self-regulate based on NF training differ in terms of ADHD related outcomes and whether the two groups could be identified in advance. Secondly, the study asks whether ’learning’ to succeed in NF training exercises is a sufficient or necessary condition for the effects of NF training on ADHD symptoms. Methods By studying existing data from 23 patients with ages between 25 and 57 and who were trained in the CENT project, the learners and non-learners were first identified by a regression model. The two groups were subsequently compared in terms of several background variables as well as behavioral and self-reported ADHD related outcomes. Moreover, the learning processes in the two groups were analysed by using continuous time structural equations modeling (CTSEM). Results One of the most important predictors of NF learning appeared to be low score in the dissociative experiences scale (DES) and high score in the behavioral inhibition scale (BIS). At the same time, NF learning was enhanced by elevated scores on the generalised anxiety disorder scale (GAD). However, the behavioral effects were mixed among the ‘learners’ and ‘non-learners’, with some positive and some negative effects visible in both groups. Conclusions The study concludes that patients’ ability to learn to self-regulate according to NF data does not appear to be a necessary nor sufficient condition for positive ADHD-related outcomes. This supports the conclusion that the effects of NF training are not solely based on operant conditioning but that the learning processes involved in NF training are more complex. The study suggests that more research should be done regarding the specific role of DES, with possible reference to different neurological mechanisms associated with different classes of symptoms (e.g. inattention and hyperactivity), and possibly explaining the mixed results of RCTs.

This thesis addresses score-based learning of Bayesian networks from data using a few fast heuristics. The algorithmic implementation of the heuristics is able to learn size 30-40 networks in seconds and size 1000-2000 networks in hours. Two algorithms, which are devised by Scanagatta et al. and dubbed Independence Selection and Acyclic Selection OBS have the capacity of learning very large Bayesian networks without the liabilities of the traditional heuristics that require maximum in-degree or ordering constraints. The two algorithms are respectively called Insightful Searching and Acyclic Selection Obeying Boolean-matrix Sanctioning (acronym ASOBS) in this thesis. This thesis also serves as an expansion of the work of Scanagatta et al. by revealing a computationally simple ordering strategy called Randomised Pairing Greedy Weight (acronym RPGw) that works well as an adjunct along with ASOBS with corresponding experiment results, which show that ASOBS was able to score higher and faster with the help of RPGw. Insightful Searching, ASOBS, and RPGw together form a system that learns Bayesian networks from data very fast.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and offer new perspectives on the concurrent emergence of embodied affects and politics in the care and conservation of birds in an urban environment. It is based on expanding research focused on affective-political multispecies entanglements, and reconsiderations of urban as lively. This work pursues to highlight the complex relationships through which people ‘learn to be affected’ by and with birds, in a contemporary Finnish city. The thesis is based on ethnographic research carried out periodically in Helsinki during 2021 and 2022. It draws from the experiences of and embodied learning with 15 people who actively observe birds, through semi-structured interviews; participatory observation during bird walks and guided bird excursions in parks and conservation areas; as well as written stories of bird encounters. As a multispecies ethnography, the birds are also active participants in the research. The work focuses on the multiplicity of observations and identifications between people and birds in the city, as well as the concurrently emerging care and conservation. These occur both in relation to the decline of bird populations and to the hunger and pain of individual birds. The contextually normative expert knowledge - emphasising the natural scientific paradigm, especially the identification of populations and species - both guides and conflicts with the complex human-bird relationships. The embodied-affective intensities related to identifying birds appear central, but often come out more subtly in ornithologically oriented observation practices and discourses. In human-bird relations, especially with "urban birds”, where mutual reciprocity and intimate care are more clearly in focus, expert natural scientific knowledge also guides thinking. However, these negotiations are often accompanied by uncertainties and conflicts, as people try to evaluate ways to approach "wild" creatures, who also appear as individual, social and deeply intertwined with human life. The care and conservation of birds emerges in negotiations of wildness, intimacy, multispecies communication, trust, expertise and differentiation which are infused with power relations. Simultaneously, understandings of the possibilities of socio-ecological diversity in the city are formed in unexpected encounters with beings that do not stay solely in ‘animal places’.

Tavoite: CLIL, sisältöpainotteinen kieltenopetus, on yleistynyt Suomessa 1980-luvulta lähtien. Sillä viitataan opetusmuotoon, jossa sisältöjä opiskellaan vieraalla kielellä. Vieras kieli on sekä oppimisen kohde että väline. CLIL voidaan toteuttaa joko pelkkänä sisällönopetuksena tai siten, että oppilaat osallistuvat myös formaaliin kielenopetukseen. Oppimistulokset ovat olleet rohkaisevia niin kielen- kuin sisällönoppimisen osalta. Vieraan kielen rakenteiden ja kieliopin hallinnan on kuitenkin todettu olevan CLIL-oppilailla heikompaa kuin perinteisesti kieltä opiskelleilla oppilailla. Aiemmista tutkimuksista monet on tehty ympäristöissä, joissa CLIL-oppilaat eivät osallistu lainkaan formaaliin kohdekielen opetukseen. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii selvittämään, onko oppilasryhmien kieliopin hallinnassa eroja sellaisessa ympäristössä, jossa CLIL-oppilaat ovat osallistuneet alusta lähtien myös formaaliin kielenopetukseen, sillä tutkimusten mukaan tämä tukee kielen rakenteiden omaksumista. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus on analysoida, kuvailla ja tulkita mitä eroja on CLIL-oppilaiden ja perinteisesti kieltä opiskelleiden oppilaiden englannin kieliopin hallinnassa. Tutkimuskohteena ovat sekä implisiittinen kielitaito että tuottamistaidot kirjoitetussa kielessä. Tutkimuksen perimmäisenä tavoitteena on lisätä tietoa vieraan kielen oppimisen luonteesta ja haasteista CLIL-kontekstissa sekä CLIL-opetuksen kehitystarpeista. Tutkimusmenetelmät: Tutkimuksen vastaajina oli yhteensä 30 alakoulun oppilasta, joista 14 kävi kaksikielistä (CLIL) viidettä luokkaa ja 16 suomenkielistä kuudetta luokkaa. Kyseessä oli tapaustutkimus. Aineisto kerättiin keväällä 2013 kahdeksansivuisen kielikokeen avulla. Kielikokeen neljä osiota mittasivat implisiittistä kielitaitoa, rakenteiden hallintaa sekä kirjallisia tuottamistaitoja. Aineisto analysoitiin tilastollisin menetelmin SPSS-ohjelman avulla. Lisäksi oppilaiden tuottamat virheet käännöstehtävässä ja luovissa kirjoitelmissa analysoitiin kuvailevan virheanalyysin menetelmällä. Tulokset: Tulokset osoittivat, että CLIL-oppilaiden implisiittinen kielitaito ja kirjalliset tuottamistaidot englannin kielessä olivat kokonaisuudessaan paremmat kuin suomenkielisen luokan oppilailla. CLIL-oppilailla oli parempi implisiittinen kieliopin hallinta ja englannin rakenteiden tuntemus, ja he tuottivat virheettömämpää ja idiomaattisempaa tekstiä niin käännöstehtävässä kuin luovassa kirjoitelmassa. Virheanalyysi osoitti, että suomenkielisen luokan oppilailla oli taipumus käyttää CLIL-oppilaita yleisemmin puutteellisia (omissions) tai virheellisiä rakenteita (false concepts hypothesized), virheellisiä yleistyksiä (overgeneralizations) ja suomen kielen sanajärjestystä (transfer from L1). Molemmat ryhmät tekivät yleisesti prosessointiongelmista (processing problems) johtuvia virheitä, mutta CLIL-oppilailla nämä juontuivat selvemmin sanojen ääntämisasusta, minkä voi tulkita osoitukseksi suuremmasta suullisesta altistuksesta kohdekielelle. Aineisto osoitti myöskin, että CLIL-oppilaat olivat englannin taitotasoltaan suomenkielisten luokkien oppilaita homogeenisempi ryhmä. Tämä voi johtua paitsi toimivasta CLIL-opetuksesta, suuremmasta päivittäisestä altistuksesta kohdekielelle, kuin myös soveltuvuuskokeesta, jonka perusteella CLIL-oppilaat valikoidaan kaksikielisille luokille. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkimustulokset osoittivat, että kohdekielen oppimistulokset ovat lupaavia sellaisessa CLIL-opetuksessa, jossa yhdistetään sisällönopetusta ja formaalia kohdekielen opetusta.

Planning and decision making are active areas of research in cognitive neuroscience that strive to explain how the brain makes decisions in complex scenarios. Research in this field has traditionally been restricted to simplistic experiments such as two-alternative forced choice situations, and has relatively recently broken into more naturalistic settings with the help of computational modeling and games. Importantly, these computational models aim to be interpretable, meaning that they are crafted in a way that what each parameter means has a clear meaning, perhaps in contrast to massive neural networks. However, the latter may better capture more complex behaviors that the hand-crafted model could miss, so it may be desirable to use a neural network as a guide or ``oracle'' to study and improve the parameters to include in the interpretable model. In this thesis, we present GPT-4IAR, a transformer neural network architecture for modeling and predicting human behavior in the board game four-in-a-row (4IAR). Building upon previous studies that use fully connected neural networks to improve models around 4IAR, and the excellent capabilities of the GPT architecture in tasks where data is sequential, we train a transformer on millions of games of 4IAR to study biases that arise in human decision making. Experiments show that conditioning action predictions on longer histories of previous moves leads to improved accuracy over prior state-of-the-art models, hinting at longer-term strategic biases in human gameplay. Reaction time prediction is also explored, showing promise in capturing meaningful gameplay statistics beyond raw actions.

Machine learning is by no means a novel field, but a recent boom in interest has led to a rapid increase in funding for related research. Because of this, many pure-mathematicians may find themselves trying to transition to this currently lucrative area of research. Thus, there is some demand for literature which helps ease this transition for mathematicians with a geometry or topology background. In this thesis we provide an introduction to contemporary machine learning research for a geometrically or topologically inclined individual. We do so by tracing the study of manifolds from their inception to modern machine learning. The thesis begins with a brief history of manifolds to motivate the examination of a proof of the Whitney embedding theorem. The theorem is then proved in detail, following texts from Adachi and Mukherjee on differential geometry. Later, a brief introduction to manifold learning introduces the reader to the manifold hypothesis and connects the classical study with its machine learning counterpart. Then, we provide a canonical introduction to neural networks after which we share rigorous mathematical definitions. Finally, we introduce the necessary preliminaries and subsequently prove the universal approximation theorem with injective neural networks. While we consider the Whitney embedding theorem as having applications in machine learning research, the universal approximation theorem with injective neural networks has clearer uses beyond mathematics. The studies of inverse problems and compressed sensing are two areas for which injectivity is a necessary condition for the well-posedness of common questions. Both fields have many deep applications to scientific and medical imaging. Injectivity is also a prerequisite for a function to preserve the topological properties of its domain.