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(2023)After 2013, the environmental protection department in China has significantly reduced on-road emission through the upgrade of emission standards, the improvement of fuel quality and economic tools. However, the specific effect of the control policies on emission and air quality is still difficult to quantify. This is mainly due to the data shortage on vehicle emission factors and vehicle activities. In this research, we developed the 2008-2018 on-road emissions inventory based on Emission Inventory Preparation Guide (GEI) and existing vehicle activity database. Our estimates suggest that CO and PM2.5 showed a relatively significant decrease, by 66.2% and 58.8%. However, the trend of NOx (5.8%) and NMVOC (-4.8%) was relatively stable. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Sichuan Basin (SCB) regions all showed a uniform trend especially in NOx. For Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the significant decline in NOx might be caused by earlier implementations in emission standard and fuel quality. In addition to this, we designed additional evaporation emission scenarios to verify the application of GEI in quantify emission impact on secondary pollutant (PM2.5 and O3). The results indicate that evaporation emission contributed to Maximum Daily Average 8-hour (MDA8) O3 concentration by about 3.5%, for Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. This value can reach up to 5.9%, 5.3% and 7.3%, but the impact on PM2.5is extremely limited. Our results indicate the feasibility of GEI in improving and lowering the technical barrier of on-road emission inventory establishment at the same time and its further application in quantifying on-road emission contribution to air quality. Besides that, it shows a strong potential in on-road policy environmental assessment and short-term air quality assessment.
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(2016)This analysis introduces a comparison between the Scandinavian sales laws, especially in the light of damages, in order to reach a conclusion on how closely related Scandinavian sales laws are. The rationale is the further aim to be able to discuss the criticism regarding the Scandinavian countries' restriction in accordance with Article 94 of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and if said criticism is justified or not in the light of damages, and if so, on which grounds. The restriction in question can be made when the legal systems are closely related and by virtue of it, sales between the legal systems in question – in this case the Scandinavian countries – will be regulated by national legislation and not by the CISG. To reach an in-depth conclusion as to how closely related the Scandinavian sales laws are, I studied the development of the Scandinavian cooperation within the field of sales law from a historical viewpoint in pursuance of examining how the Scandinavian sales laws have developed, and also why such development has happened as well as what the development has led to. By doing so, I strived to reach a conclu-sion if the Scandinavian sales laws – from a more wide-ranging perspective – are closely related, even after the renewal of the Scandinavian Sale of Goods Acts, and whether it is therefore still defensible to retain the restriction regarding inter-Scandinavian sales. Since the Scandinavian countries' current sales laws to a great extent have been influenced by the CISG there are a lot of similarities. The parties may freely choose which one of the mentioned regulations they wish to apply on their contractual relationship. In case such a choice has not been made, the CISG will automatically be applied to international sales, and the Scandinavian sales laws on national sales within Scandinavian countries as well as on inter-Scandinavian sales, due to the restriction made in accordance with Article 94. Despite the similarities between the Scandinavian sales laws and the CISG, there are divergences which from either a seller's or a buyer's point of view can be of significance. One of the main dissimilarities is that the CISG does not make a difference between indirect and direct losses; the liability is the same in both cases. This is, however, not the case in the Scandinavian sales laws (except Denmark's), according to which the liability differs depending on the basis of the liability. Hence, in order to get more depth to the discussion of the restriction's criticism an analysis of the differences between the Scandinavian sales laws in relation to the CISG was also concluded.
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(2023)Self-Sovereign Identity is a new concept of managaging digital identities in the digital services. The purpose of the Self-Sovereign Identity is to place the user in the center and move towards decentralized model of identity management. Verifiable Credentials, Verifiable Presentations, Identity Wallets and Decentralized Identifiers are part of the Self-Sovereign Identity model. They have also been recently included in the OpenID Connect specifications to be used with the widely used authentication layer built on OAuth 2.0. The OpenID Connect authentication can now be leveraged with the Decetralized Identifiers (DIDs) and the public keys contained in DID Documents. This work assessed the feasibility of integrating the Verifiable Credentials, Verifiable Presentations and Decentralized Identifiers with OpenID Connect in the context of two use cases. The first use case is to integrate the Verifiable Credentials and Presentations into an OpenID Connect server and utilise Single Sign-On in federated environment. The second use case is to ignore the OpenID Provider and enable the Relying Party to authenticate directly with the Identity Wallet. Custom software components, the Relying Party, the Identity Wallet and the Verifiable Credential Issuer were built to support the assessments. Two new authorization flows were designed for the two use cases. The Federated Verifiable Presentation Flow describes the protocol of Relying Party authenticating with OpenID Provider which receives the user information from the Wallet. The flow does not require any changes for any Relying Party using the same OpenID Provider to authenticate and utilise Single Sign-On. The Verifiable Presentation Flow enables the Relying Party to authenticate directly with the Wallet. However, this flow requires multiple changes to Relying Party and benefits of federated environment are not available, e.g., the Single Sign-On. Both of the flows are useful for their own specific use cases. The new flows are utilising the new segments of the Self-Sovereign Identity and are promising steps towards self-sovereignty.
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(2020)Tutkielmassani selvitän haastatteluaineistoon tukeutuen, miksi naispuolisia jazzmuusikoita on Suomessa niin vähän. Käytän apuna tutkimuskirjallisuutta niin jazztutkimuksesta, feministisestä tutkimuksesta kuin musiikin naistutkimuksesta sekä lisäksi viestinnän ja psykologian tutkimusta vallan ja motivaation osalta. Pääasiallisina teorioina käytän motivaatioteoriaa ja valtateoriaa ja metodina haastattelututkimusta. Koska haastatteluaineistosta oli tunnistettavissa selkeitä teemoja, hyödynsin aineistoa käsittelevässä luvussa temaattista analyysiä. Aineistoni koostuu kuuden suomalaisen naispuolisen jazzmuusikon haastattelusta, joissa he pohtivat syitä naisten marginaalisuudelle jazzmusiikin kentällä. Haastateltavani ovat noin 30–60-vuotiaita naiseksi identifioituvia jazzmuusikkoja, jotka kaikki soittavat eri soittimia. He esiintyvät tutkielmassa anonyymeinä. Aineistosta tunnistamani viisi selkeätä teemaa – roolimallien puute, koulutus, intohimo, jamikulttuuri ja äitiys – antavat perspektiiviä siihen, mihin asioihin jazzmusiikin kentällä tulisi puuttua, jotta siitä saataisiin yhdenvertaisempi. Naispuolisten roolimallien puute jazzmusiikin kuvastossa voi vaikuttaa tyttöjen instrumentin ja musiikkityylin valintaan. Koulutuksessa voitaisiin tukea tyttöjä enemmän ja kannustaa kaikkia sukupuolia kaikkien soitinten pariin ennakkoluulottomasti ja tarjoamalla jo peruskoulussa musiikkityylejä laajasti. Intohimo jazzmusiikkia kohtaan nähdään ehdottomana niin naisten kuin miestenkin osalta, jotta alalla pärjää. Jamikulttuuria toivotaan enemmän jo ammatilliseen koulutukseen, jossa kaikki pääsisivät matalalla kynnyksellä harjoittelemaan sitä. Jamitilanteissa naisten katsotaan jäävän arkuudessaan miesten jalkoihin. Äitiys koetaan haasteena yhdistää muusikon ammattiin ja sen arvellaan olevan yksi nivelvaihe, jossa naispuoliset muusikot saattavat lopettaa uransa. Vallalla ja motivaatiolla on monessa esiinnousseessa teemassa keskeinen rooli. Niillä voi nähdä olevan myös yhtäläisiä pyrkimyksiä. Esimerkiksi musiikinopettajilla on yhtäältä valtaa siinä, mitä musiikkia he tunneilla oppilaille esittelevät ja toisaalta he voivat toimia myös monille oppilaille motivaation herättäjänä musiikkia kohtaan. Sama rooli voi olla medialla: se toimii portinvartijan roolissa, mutta voi myös parhaassa tapauksessa tarjota nuorelle musiikinharrastajalle uusia esikuvia. Vanhemmat voivat puolestaan yhdistää toiminnassaan valtaa ja motivaatiota sillä, että vaativat lasta harjoittelemaan hänen omaa halukkuuttaan kuuntelematta. Haastateltavat itse olivat motivoituneet sekä sisäisesti että ulkoisesti. Tällaisia motivoivia tekijöitä ovat oma kehittyminen soittajana, halu soittaa, itsensä haastaminen pelottaviinkin tilanteisiin, intohimo instrumenttia ja musiikkityyliä kohtaan sekä yleisön tai kollegoiden kehut ja kannustukset. Tutkielmassa on havaittavissa selkeästi naisia marginalisoivia teemoja sekä syitä, joiden takia he marginaalisuudestaan huolimatta toimivat jazzin kentällä edelleen. Näin ollen tutkimuksen tulokset vahvistavat käsitystä naispuolisten jazzmuusikoiden marginaalisesta asemasta. Se osoittaa myös sukupuolittuneiden asenteiden ja käytänteiden vaikutuksen naispuolisten muusikoiden kokemassa arjessa. Tutkielma pyrkii purkamaan asenteita ja sukupuolittuneita käytänteitä. Sen tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää musiikin nais- ja jazztutkimuksen alalla selvittämään syitä sukupuolen eriarvoisuuteen, ja esimerkiksi siinä, miten eriasteisten musiikkioppilaitosten tai koulujen musiikinopetuksessa voitaisiin kiinnittää huomiota vallalla oleviin näkemyksiin sukupuolinormeista ja kyseenalaistaa niitä.
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(2018)At the end of the inflationary epoch, about 10^(−12) seconds after the Big Bang singularity, the universe was filled with plasma consisting of quarks and gluons. At some stage the cooling of the universe could have led to the occurrence of first-order cosmological phase transitions that proceed by nucleation and expansion of bubbles all over the primordial plasma. Cosmological turbulence is generated as a consequence of bubble collisions and acts as a source of primordial gravitational waves. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of cosmological turbulence as well as the corresponding gravitational wave production, and compile some of the results obtained to this day. We also touch on the onset of cosmological turbulence by analysing shock formation. In the one-dimensional case considering only right-moving waves, the result is Burgers’ equation. The development of a power spectrum with random initial conditions under Burgers’ equation is calculated numerically using the Euler method with sufficiently low step sizes. Both in the viscid and inviscid cases, the result is the presence of a −8/3 power law in the inertial range at the time of shock formation.
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(2020)Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Aim of the Study: Firstly, the purpose of this study is to examine how teachers are supporting students and what kind of obstacles they face. Secondly, the purpose was to examine teachers experiences of support and it`s significance for society. This study is important and current. Resent studies have shown that supporting students in their studies has influence for student`s advancements of studies and prevents discontinuing studies. Also, the new legislation obligates teachers to plan for students an individual way to continue studies and support student s in many ways, even if, in the same time the financial support of vocational education has changed and decreased. Methods: This study was conducted using qualitative methods and it was based on the theme interviews of seven vocational teachers. One of them was working as a special vocational teacher. The theme interviews were analysed by using a qualitative analytic technique as the inductive content analysis method. Results and Conclusions: Firstly, teachers were supporting students in many ways. In this study teachers were supporting students in life management, learning and in difficult life situations. In the most severe cases, such as mental health issues and substance misuse issues, students did need occupational help from social and health services. Secondly, vocational teachers were also facing obstacles in supporting students. These obstacles that they were facing included lack of resources like time. Teachers considered importance in supporting students in equal ways, but they were facing obstacles to do so because of the large amount of support that was needed. Thirdly, there were also some vocational teachers who did not consider supporting students to be part of their work, only in the learning issues. On the other hand, some of the teachers considered the support of students have more wider consequences in the society: preventing discontinuing studies and social exclusion and it`s economical influence. From the point of view of social policy and preventing social exclusion, teacher`s role and how they will be educated, have importance in how students will be supported also in other things than just their learning issues. Also, the teacher education has an important role. It would be important to include in the teaching plans the issues considering the supporting students in different ways, not only about difficulties in learning. Vocational teacher needs competence to work in different kinds of networks also with student welfare services and with guardians. Vocational teachers need knowledge about social services and capability to guide students in these services. It demands the courage from teachers to meet students comprehensively. It is needed to develop the forms of vocational teaching and to do individual plans for the students and it is needed to provide more time for graduate for those who need it. Vocational education should have more resources to support students in many ways and possibilities to co-operate with all teachers, vocational counselors, vocational special teachers and with the whole student welfare services. These are the most important ways to prevent students to discontinue studies and to prevent social exclusion.
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(2020)Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan haastattelupuheesta ilmeneviä kielitaitoon ja kulttuuritaustaan liittyviä kategorioita monikielisessä asiantuntijatyössä. Tarkastelun kohteena on, millaisia luokittelevia ilmauksia työyhteisön jäsenet käyttävät itsestään ja toisistaan ja millaisia suhteita eri kategorioiden välillä on. Tavoitteena on valottaa, millaisina ilmiöinä monikielisyys ja kielenoppiminen näyttäytyvät työyhteisön arjessa ja miten kielitaitoa määritellään suhteessa monikieliseen asiantuntijatyöhön. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen tapaustutkimus. Sen aineisto koostuu kymmenestä puolistrukturoidusta teemahaastattelusta, joissa on haastateltu saman työyhteisön jäseniä. Kyseisessä työyhteisössä käytetään suomea ja venäjää vahvasti rinnakkain ja toisinaan myös englantia. Työyhteisöä on haastateltu Suomen kielen tilanteinen oppiminen -tutkimushankkeen yhteydessä. Tutkimusmetodina on kategoria-analyysi, ja teoriatausta pohjautuu kategoria-analyyttisen tutkimuksen lisäksi tilanteiseen oppimisnäkemykseen ja muuhun suomi toisena kielenä -tutkimukseen. Tutkimushaastatteluissa työyhteisön jäsenet käyttävät paljon erilaisia kieleen ja kulttuuritaustaan liittyviä kategorisia ilmauksia itsestään, toisistaan ja koko työyhteisöstään. Kategorisia ilmauksia käytetään jossain määrin eri tavoin kuvaamaan itseä kuin toisia, ja vaikka suurimmilta osin työyhteisön jäsenet käyttävät toisistaan samankaltaisia kategorisia ilmauksia, osa kategorioista kyseenalaistetaan problemaattisina. Kategorisin ilmauksin työyhteisön jäsenet kuvailevat eroja työyhteisön jäsenten toiminnassa, sosiaalisissa suhteissa ja kielitaidossa yleisellä tasolla. Kategoriset ilmaukset heijastelevat sekä työyhteisön sosiaalista jäsentyneisyyttä että laajempia yhteiskunnallisia diskursseja. Tutkimuksen keskeinen havainto on, että haastateltavien käsitykset kielenoppimisesta ja monikielisyydestä ovat melko ristiriitaisia ja haastatellut monikielisen työyhteisön jäsenet pitivät kielitaitovaatimuksia melko korkeina monikielisessä työyhteisössä. Kielenoppiminen koetaan mahdolliseksi, mutta vaikeaksi työympäristössä. Työyhteisön jäsenten monikielisyyteen suhtautumiseen vaikuttaa yksilön kielitaito ja kieliorientoituneisuus, eli kuinka mielellään käyttää eri kieliä. Yksilöiden erilaiset kielitaitoprofiilit vaikuttavat merkittävästi työyhteisön sisäiseen kommunikaatioon ja aiheuttavat sen, että eri kielien välillä täytyy osata luovia joustavasti erilaisissa vuorovaikutustilanteissa. Huomionarvoista on se, että kielitaito vaikuttaa haastateltavien mukaan olennaisesti siihen, kenen kanssa on vuorovaikutuksessa työpäivän aikana, mistä syystä kokemukset työpaikan kielimaisemasta ja kielitaitovaatimuksista vaihtelevat yksilötasolla huomattavasti.
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(2020)Itäisen kumppanuuden ohjelma käynnistyi Georgian sodan vauhdittamana toukokuussa 2009. Kansainvälinen talouskriisi, energiakonfliktien uhka ja Georgian sota osoittivat, ettei EU voinut suhtautua itäisiin naapurivaltioihinsa välinpitämättömästi. Yleinen konsensus EU:ssa olikin, että jotain maiden kestäväksi vakauttamiseksi oli tehtävä. Itäisen kumppanuuden ohjelma nosti Itä-Euroopan ja Kaukasian maat naapuruuspolitiikan kirjavasta joukosta omaksi ryhmäkseen ja tarjosi niille syvempää yhteistyötä. Ohjelmalla EU vahvisti suhteitaan itäisiin naapureihinsa ja Etelä-Kaukasuksen maihin ja kiinnitti nyt entistä enemmän huomiota näiden maiden poliittiseen ja taloudelliseen tukemiseen. Vastakkainasettelua Venäjän kanssa oli vaikea välttää, kun unioni pyrki kasvattamaan omaa vaikutusvaltaansa ja solmimaan vapaakauppasopimuksia EU:n ja Venäjän jaetussa naapurustossa. Kumppanuusaloite otettiin Venäjällä vastaan huolestunein mielin, esimerkiksi siksi, että Venäjän tavoite oli hankkia ja säilyttää hallitseva asema entisen Neuvostoliiton alueen energiataloudessa ja kumppanuusaloite pyrki vetämään kohdemaita lähelle EU:n omia energiajärjestelyjä. EU:n kasvanut intressi itänaapurien alueella lisäsi jo ennestään Georgian sodan myötä kiristyneitä jännitteitä EU:n ja Venäjän välillä. Tutkielma käsittelee EU:n itäisen kumppanuuden ohjelmaa Suomen näkökulmasta vuosien 2008-2015 aikana. Julkisten viranomaislähteiden kautta tutkielmassa tarkastellaan, miten Suomi asemoi itseään ja omaa kantaansa suhteessa itäiseen kumppanuuteen. Tutkimusaihetta lähestytään EU:n ja Venäjän kiristyneiden ulkosuhteiden kautta. Kiinnostuneita ollaan siitä, miten Suomi asemoi itseään kannoissaan itäiseen kumppanuuteen ja millaisia merkityksiä ja kuvauksia Suomen toimijuudelle on annettu kiperässä maailmanpoliittisessa tilanteessa? Vuoden 2011 arabikevään aiheuttamat epävakaudet EU:n eteläisessä naapurustossa saivat EU:n kiinnittämään enemmän huomiota sen kumppanuuspolitiikkaan mukaan lukien itäiseen kumppanuuteen. EU:n kasvanut intressi heijastui myös ulkoministeriön raportointiaktiivisuuden lisääntymisenä vuoden 2012 jälkeen. Raportointiaktiivisuus kasvoi vuoden 2012 jälkeen niin, että eduskunnalle ryhdyttiin tästä eteenpäin raportoimaan tiiviisti itäisen kumppanuuden kehityskuluista. Ulkoministeriön E-kirjeissä esitetyissä kannoissa tarkasteluajanjaksolla korostuu taloudellisen integraation syventäminen, ratkaisukeskeisyyden korostaminen sekä realististen tavoitteiden peräänkuuluttaminen. Suomi mukaili kannoissaan EU:n kantaa itäiseen kumppanuuteen ja asettui tukemaan kumppanuuden tavoitteita EU-jäsenmaana ja EU:n sisältä. Lisäksi Suomen kannoissa korostui EU-jäsenyyden viitekehyksen lisäksi kansallisen ulkopolitiikan toimijuuden korostuminen.
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(2022)Context: Factors that affect software team performance are a highly studied subject. One of the reasons for this is the subject’s meaningfulness to companies and software teams since anyone interested in improving team performance wants to know which factors affect positively on the team performance. What motivated us to do this thesis on this subject was our interest in both software teams and social sciences. Objective: This thesis’s aim was to better understand how the factors selected in our unofficial interviews will affect the software team performance and how big this affect is. These selected factors are psychological safety, team leader’s behaviour and team’s gender diversity. Method: We conducted a literature review with a keyword search. When we needed to specify the search by a factor we used factor-related words and if needed limit the subject area to computer science. All in all 23 reference papers were selected in the search. Results: Our analysis shows that all of our factors have a positive impact on the performance of the team, though how big this impact is depended on the factor. Psychological safety seems to have the biggest impact while the behaviour of team leader has a decent impact, not huge but not minuscule, lastly the gender diversity of the team has only a very small impact. Conclusions: Ultimately we have concluded that all three chosen factors have a positive effect on software team performance. Though from these three factors, psychological safety and team leader’s behaviour have the most significant impact on software team performance. So for software team leaders, it’s important to pay attention to these two factors, especially since they are even linked to each other.
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(2019)Gambling is not a new societal phenomenon. Because of the special nature of the industry, it was excluded from the application of the Treaty rules. Since gambling services are increasingly consumed online, Member States have struggled with protecting consumers from the harmful effects of gambling, especially when gambling legislation is not harmonized in the Internal Market of the EU. While gambling services have been excluded from the Treaty, recent case law has considered online gambling to be subject to the Treaty. Consequently, legislators have strived to settle other ways to channelize the gambling consumption to safe and controlled gambling platforms. Since advertising aims to stimulate the consumption of a good or service, legislators consider it as a suitable steering tool, especially when the Treaty prohibit restrictions to the free movement of goods and services, unless restrictions are made for consumer protection or fraud prevention purposes. Most Member States therefore moderate gambling advertisement. Because the industry is not harmonized, gambling legislation varies among Member States. Even if the industry is not regulated by sector specific revaluation, it is subject to secondary legislation. Consequently, Member States gambling legislation is insufficient and therefore often leaves room for interpretation. Gambling services have always been extensively advertised world-wide and is often perceived as aggressive. Since the effect of gambling advertisement has not been established, it is questionable if it is suitable for channelization. By analyzing current gambling legislation of Member States, the study strives to establish an understanding of how gambling advertising is used in the Internal Market and to determine if advertising is an appropriate tool for gambling channelization. It also strives to establish if gambling advertisement in fact falls under the category aggressive marketing practices. This is a legal dogmatic study, which also include some comparative elements. The study is also influenced by the subjective view of the author. Main findings of the study are that gambling legislation varies among Member States and therefore it is challenging of Member States to ensure a high level of consumer protection when it comes to gambling services provided in the Internal Market. Because the effect of excessive gambling advertisement has not been established, the study suggests three alternative means of channelization. First suggestion is to harmonize the gambling industry by introducing sector specific minimum legislation, which would minimize the need for channelization. The second suggestion, is to implement geo-blocking mechanisms, to prevent consumers from entering unauthorized providers services. Even if the Treaty rules prohibit restrictions to the free movement of goods and services in the Internal Market, such measures can be considered appropriate on the grounds of consumer protection. Especially when gambling services currently are excluded from the Service Directive and therefore also the geo-blocking directive. The final suggestion, is to introduce stronger sanctioning power for supervisory bodies and to increase cross-border enforcement of law. Such incentive is also in line with current legislative incentives. However, it would be most suitable as a complement to another restrictive measure, e.g. geo-blocking. Increased supervision and enforcement, would also be recommended since the supervision of the industry currently is quite fragmented. Especially supervision of gambling advertisements is preferable, e.g. by implementing pre- and post evaluations of gambling advertisements. Because of the excessive nature of gambling advertisements and the fact that its effects have not been established, it is recommended that other ways to steer the gambling consumption to controlled platforms, are established. The study recommends the use of either harmonization of law or the use of geo-blocking mechanisms, whereas increased supervision and stronger enforcement of law can function as a suitable complement. Further research in the area of gambling advertising regulation is recommended.
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(2016)Cobalamin (vitamin B12) occurs naturally in some animal-derived foods and is produced exclusively by microorganisms. An optimised protocol was used for extraction of cobalamin from cheese matrixes. No pseudocobalamin was detected in any of the examined samples. Cobalamin levels (mg/100g FW) detected in commercial emmental cheeses of three ripening stages did not alter significantly (P>0.05). Similar results were observed during the ripening of experimental semi-hard cheeses with or without propionibacteria. Existence of propionibacteria as adjunct culture in experimental cheeses did not alter significantly contribution on cobalamin levels of the cheese (P>0.05). The findings indicate that in the studied cheese matrixes the presence of propionibacteria did not affect the amount of cobalamin. The conditions to which propionibacteria are subjected during cheese manufacture and ripening and the presence of adenosyl-cobalamin in milk may be factors that repress cobalamin synthesis in Swiss- type cheeses. To date, the only known food grade microorganism that can produce cobalamin is Propionibacterium freudenreichii. This microorganism can also produce small amounts of pseudocobalamin, a compound structurally similar to cobalamin. BluB/CobT2 fusion gene is the factor that differentiates the two compounds upon their biosynthesis, by synthesizing and binding 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMBI) to the final molecule of cobalamin. In the present study, attempts to inactivate this gene were performed in order to investigate the existence of an alternative enzyme, capable of activating adenine for attachment as a lower ligand in pseudocobalamin, instead of DMBI. An electroporation protocol was implemented in order to transform plasmids containing bluB or cobT2 fragments and gene encoding erythromycin resistance in propionibacteria. Following transformation plasmid carrying bacteria were selected by cultivation in medium containing erythromycin. Homologous recombination of the bacterial genome and the non-replicative plasmid was expected to occur, leading to insertional mutagenesis. Colonies appeared after 7 and 11 days and were identified as propionibacteria but the disruption of bluB/cobT2 gene could not be verified. Inefficient transformation protocol, satellite colonies, low transformation efficiency, or choice essentiality of the bluB/cobT2 are among the possible explanations for the outcome of the experiment. Electroporation conditions should be optimized towards a more efficient P. freudenreichii transformation.
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(2020)This thesis will present the concept of arbitrage and some applications of arbitrage pricing. Arbitrage opportunity means that there is a possibility to make money without any initial investment and without a risk of losing money. To start, some definitions are introduced in the fields of measure theory, probability theory and mathematical finance. Then the guidelines of market models considered throughout the thesis will be defined. The mathematical definition of arbitrage and arbitrage pricing are introduced first in simple setting of one period market model and then in multi-period market model. As a main result of this thesis are introduced and proven The fundamental theorems of arbitrage pricing. The first fundamental theorem of arbitrage pricing shows that a market is arbitrage free if and only if there exists at least one risk neutral probability measure equivalent to original probability measure such that the discounted prices are martingales with respect to this risk neutral measure. This will be proven for multi-period market model. The second fundamental theorem of arbitrage pricing shows that the completeness of a market model is equivalent to existence of unique risk-neutral probability measure. This will be proven for one period market model. Finally, I look into some investing and hedging strategies replicating payoffs and portfolio insurance. Some examples of commonly used options strategies will be introduced such as butterfly spread and iron condor.
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(2023)Sähkö on nopeimmin kasvava lopullinen energiamuoto, ja sen kysynnän odotetaan kasvavan nopeasti tulevina vuosikymmeninä. Markkinoille tarvitaan läpinäkyvämpää ja tarkempaa päästölaskentaa, vihreän siirtymän ja kansallisten hiilidioksidipäästötavoitteiden nopeammaksi saavuttamiseksi. Monet organisaatiot kehittävät parhaillaan strategioita tuntitason hiilineutraaliuuteen, sillä monien yksityisten uusiutuvan energian hankintojen kunnianhimo ylittää olemassa olevan sääntelyn tavoitteet. Yritysten kestävyysjohtamisen korkeat standardit ohjaavat siirtymistä kohti uusiutuvan energian ajallista täsmäytystä tai "24/7-täsmäytystä", mikä voisi myös lisätä uskottavuutta hiilineutraaliusväitteisiin sekä vähentää päästöoikeuksien kaksinkertaista laskemista ja viherpesua. Toistaiseksi sähkön alkuperää on seurattu markkinapohjaisilla vihreillä sertifikaateilla; Euroopassa Guarantees of Origin, jotka mahdollistavat sähkön vuosittaisen tai kuukausittaisen kulutuksen yhdistämisen uusiutuvaan energiaan. Vihreän sähkön osuuden kasvaessa sähköntuotannossa, sähköntuotanto kuitenkin siirtyy aiempaa ajoittaisemmaksi ja vaihtelevammaksi. Kaikilla uusiutuvan energian teknologioilla on omanlaisensa tuotantoprofiilit sekä kausittaiset ja päivänsisäiset vaihtelut. Täten vihreän sähkön kulutus ei aina vastaa sen tuntikohtaista saatavuutta. Lisäksi nykyiset vihreät sertifikaattijärjestelmät eivät heijasta riittävästi uusiutuvan energian oikea-aikaista saatavuutta eivätkä näin ollen edistä investointeja, jotka voisivat tarjota järjestelmän joustavuutta ja vihreän energian ympärivuorokautista saatavuutta. Tämän ongelman ratkaisemiseksi on parhaillaan kehitteillä pilottiversioita vihreän sähkön sertifikaattijärjestelmästä, joka mahdollistaisi sähkön tuotannon ja kulutuksen tuntikohtaisen täsmäytyksen, sillä siirtyminen kohti vihreän energian 24/7-täsmäytystä herättää yhä enemmän kiinnostusta. Ennen uusien instrumenttien ottamista mukaan markkinoille on kuitenkin välttämätöntä selvittää niiden mahdolliset markkinavaikutukset. Tässä tutkielmassa esittelemme tuntisertifikaattimarkkinoiden taloustieteellisen mallin ja vertaamme 24/7-täsmäytyksen volyymi- ja hintavaikutuksia vihreän sähkön sertifikaateilla perinteisiin sertifikaattimarkkinoihin, joissa sähkönkulutusta täsmäytetään uusiutuvan energian kanssa vuosittain. Analysoimme myös, kuinka kuluttajan hyöty tuntikohtaisista vihreistä sertifikaateista vaihtelee eri ajankohtien välillä, kun uusiutuvan energian saatavuus vaihtelee. Havaitsemme, että kuluttajien hyöty tuntikohtaisten sertifikaattien hankinnasta laskee uusiutuvan energian tuotannon kasvaessa. Näin ollen kuluttajan hyöty sertifikaateista on suurin silloin, kun myös korkeapäästöisen energian osuus on korkea. Tuntikohtaiset vihreät sertifikaatit voisivat siis tarjota eniten hyötyä sekä kuluttajille että tuottajille niinä tunteina, jolloin uusiutuvaa energiaa on tarjolla vähemmän. Havaitsemme myös, että tuntikohtainen täsmäytys voisi joko lisätä tai vähentää kuluttajan uusiutuvan energian hankintakustannuksia ja tuottajan tuloja yksittäisten tuntien sisällä verrattuna vuosittaiseen tai kuukausittaiseen täsmäyttämiseen. Näin ollen tuntikohtainen sertifiointi voisi tarjota lisähyötyä teknologioille, joita tarvitaan täydelliseen järjestelmän laajuiseen hiilidioksidipäästöjen nollaamiseen, kuten energian varastointiratkaisuille. Näin ollen tuntikohtaisen sertifikaattijärjestelmän kehittämisessä tulisi keskittyä tämän vaikutuksen korostamiseen, mikä voisi edelleen kannustaa investointeja sähkömarkkinajärjestelmän joustavuuteen. Tarvitaan kuitenkin lisätutkimusta mahdollisten vaikutusten selvittämiseksi erityisesti sähkömarkkina-alueilla, joissa uusiutuvan energian osuus on jo korkea. Lisäksi täytyy vielä selvittää, onko tällaiselle järjestelmälle kysyntää yksityissektorilla ja johtaisiko tuntikohtainen täsmäytys yhteiskunnan kannalta optimaalisesti korkeampiin päästövähennyksiin kuin perinteiset sertifikaattijärjestelmät.
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(2020)This study analyses the effects of carbon subsidy schemes on the optimal forest management in forest sites of different productivity. Forest stand level analysis shows the changes in the optimal stand management due to carbon subsidies. Market level analysis evaluates the market level implications of mutual and unilateral carbon subsidy policies and their effects outside the policy area. In the first chapter, we study the effects of carbon subsidies on a forest stand level. The results show that carbon subsidies lengthen the optimal rotation period, increase the annual timber output and increase the amount of CO2 sequestered in the forest stand. A sufficiently high carbon price leads to forest conservation. All the effects are stronger in the forest of poor productivity. The market level analysis presents an age-class structured model with an endogenous timber price and alternative land use. The numerical examples show that, in addition to the effects shown in the stand-level analysis, carbon subsidies encourage afforestation. An increase in the annual timber output may lead to a lower stumpage price. Unilateral policies may lead to an increase in timber output inside the policy, which decreases the timber price and result in deforestation outside the policy. As a sufficiently high carbon price leads to forest conservation, timber price increases and results in afforestation and decrease carbon emissions outside the policy. The results are in contradiction with the common hypothesis that increasing carbon sequestration in forests by unilateral policy would inevitably lead to an increase in carbon emissions outside the policy area.
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(2022)Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) is an integral part of ecosystems across the northern boreal regions, and reindeer husbandry is an important socio-cultural factor, especially for indigenous people. Currently, reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia is confronted with deterioration of pasture areas, and the decreasing of reindeer number has often been offered as a solution. However, in most reindeer herding districts, forestry has also strongly decreased the sustainable production capacity of winter pastures and therefore has had a significant role in pasture deterioration in addition to high reindeer numbers. The interaction between forestry and reindeer husbandry has often been studied qualitatively, ecologically, or with simple bio-economic models from the perspective of forestry. In this thesis, I use a detailed interdisciplinary ecological-economical model to study how the rotation forestry affects the economics of reindeer husbandry. The research questions are 1) how does the length of forest rotation period and 2) the management practices such as soil scarification and leaving of harvesting residues affect the economically optimal reindeer husbandry. I expand a novel ecological-economical reindeer husbandry optimization model to include the effects of forestry on the ground and arboreal lichen with an assumption of normal forest structure. The effects of forestry on the ground and arboreal lichen are based on previous literature. Modern dynamic optimization algorithms are used to solve the model for the optimal number of reindeer, annual net revenues, lichen biomass on pastures, and the level of supplementary feeding under different forest rotation lengths and management scenarios with zero and positive interest rates. The results show that the length of forest rotation period affects the economically optimal solution. When pasture rotation is used, shortening the forest rotation length decreases the optimal number of reindeer, annual income, and the lichen biomass in pastures, but increases the amount of supplementary feed given. When pasture rotation is not used, shortening the forest rotation length decreases the number of reindeer, annual net revenues, and supplementary feeding, but increases the lichen biomass. Soil scarification and harvesting residues lower the annual net revenues of reindeer husbandry by 1-15% depending on the forest rotation length and pasture rotation. The longer is the forest rotation length, the less the annual net revenues are affected by the forest management practices. Higher interest levels lead to higher reindeer numbers and a higher level of supplementary feeding, but also to lower lichen biomass and annual net revenues from reindeer husbandry. The results of this thesis support the earlier findings of negative effects of rotation forestry and short rotation lengths on reindeer husbandry, and estimations that reindeer husbandry is more resilient if pasture rotation is used. As the economical sensibility of rotation forestry in Lapland has currently been questioned, even-aged forestry could offer a solution with the best management scenarios for both parties. The results of this thesis support infinitely long forest rotation length without soil scarification. This thesis also highlights the need for interdisciplinary co-design of ecological studies to ensure that they are suitable for creating complex interdisciplinary optimization models.
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(2017)The present thesis is a philological study that describes Russian-English-Russian lexicographical works of the period between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century and concentrates on the most noteworthy English-Russian dictionaries. The aim of the thesis is to pay the intellectual debt to the compilers of English-Russian dictionaries of the period from the sixteenth to the end of the nineteenth century, whose works can be considered as inalienable parts of the evolution of the English-Russian lexicography. In total, eleven English-Russian and one Russian-English dictionaries are studied and described. The description of the dictionaries includes the information on the author(s), place and time of publishing, macro- and microstructures of the dictionaries, improvements and novelty as compared to their predecessors. The description of these dictionaries, their structural analysis and the research based on the related works on Russian bilingual lexicography allow to depict the gradual four centuries long process of English-Russian lexicography development. Throughout the evolution of the English-Russian lexicography, it is possible to see how the organization and presentation of word lists have become more uniform, and the amount of information provided for the user grew. A separate chapter is devoted to A. Alexandrow’s Complete English-Russian Dictionary (1891) that has been studied relatively little. Apart from depiction of the dictionary’s macro- and microstructures, transliteration patterns are illustrated, obsolete and archaic words, and lexemes that do not have a separate entry in the Oxford English Dictionary are demonstrated. The presence of these words has been verified against the dictionaries that are mentioned in the preface of Complete English-Russian Dictionary, namely Reiff’s New Parallel Dictionaries of the Russian, French, German and English Languages, Webster’s Complete Dictionary of the English Language and Nuttall’s Standard Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language. Additionally, Grammatin and Parenogo’s New Dictionary English and Russian and Banks’s Dictionary of the English and Russian Languages have been examined as the possible sources of these lexemes. The comparative analysis of these lexemes shows that despite their absence from the Oxford English Dictionary almost all words can be met in one or several well-known nineteenth century dictionaries. This paper illustrates the gradual evolution of the English-Russian lexicography and shows that despite their absence from the Oxford English Dictionary almost all words can be met in one or several dictionaries analysed.
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(2021)The aim of this research is to examine the impact of population aging on income inequality in Finland over the time period from 1991 to 2016. The research question is relevant since population aging is a part of reality around the world because of the declining trend in the rate of birth in addition to greater longevity. These vast demographic and socio-economic changes stress the well-being of nations. This study offers some important insights into the discussion of income inequality in Finland as no similar study has been conducted before. Understanding the link between aging and income inequality will help us to direct our attention to where policy decisions might need to be directed if inequality is seen to grow adversely. This study will be carried out by both a decomposition analysis and a shift-share analysis. These methods are commonly used for examining the contribution to inequality of particular characteristics, as they manage to gauge the relative importance of different determinants in overall inequality. These methods will be applied to the traditional inequality measures belonging to the family of generalized entropy (GE), such as the mean logarithmic deviation, Theil’s index, and the half-squared coefficient of variation. The use of multiple different measures in inequality research is recommendable, for they provide information about the distribution from different perspectives, and clarify where in the distribution the change has taken place. In order to study the impact of population aging on income inequality, the population was partitioned into five different age cohorts; 0-39, 40-60, 61-65, 66-70, and 71+, and one- or two-person households were examined in this research. Data for this study was received from the Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS). Income inequality was investigated by disposable household income, which was equivalized by the square root scale. The decomposition analysis allows us to answer the question of how much of total inequality is attributable to variability in the first subgroup, in the second, etc., and how much to between subgroups. To complement the results from the decomposition analysis, by the shift-share analysis we are able to simulate such a Finland which would have not aged at all since both 1991 and 2000 while other factors remain unchanged at the 2016 level. The results of the decomposition analysis led us to a clear conclusion that variations within groups are much more significant in the formation of total inequality than the variations between groups. In the light of the shift-share analysis, interestingly, the aged Finland is less unequal than the Finland, which would use the population shares of 1991 and 2000. Hence such a study of aging, which only examines changes in population shares ceteris paribus, shows that aging has slowed down the rise of inequality in Finland. This is because the age structure of the years 1991 and 2000 put the most weight on people in most unequal, or second most unequal age group in proportion to other age groups than the population distribution of the year 2016.
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(2012)In this paper we define and study the Julia set and the Fatou set of an arbitrary polynomial f, which is defined on the closed complex plane and whose degree is at least two. We are especially interested in the structure of these sets and in approximating the size of the Julia set. First, we define the Julia and Fatou sets by using the concepts of normal families and equicontinuity. Then we move on to proving many of the essential facts concerning these sets, laying foundations for the main theorems of this paper presented in the fifth chapter. By the end of this chapter we achieve quite a good understanding of the basic structure of the Julia set and the Fatou set of an arbitrary polynomial f. In the fourth chapter we introduce the Hausdorff measure and dimension along with some theorems regarding them. In this chapter we also say more about fractals and self-similar sets, for example the Cantor set and the Koch curve. The main goal of this chapter is to prove a well-known result which allows to easily determine the Hausdorff dimension of any self-similar set that fulfils certain conditions. We end this chapter by calculating the Hausdorff dimension of the one-third Cantor set and the Koch-curve by using the result described earlier and notice, that their Hausdorff dimension is not integer-valued. In the fifth chapter we study the structure of the Julia set further, concentrating on its connectedness, and introduce the Mandelbrot set. In this chapter we also prove the three main theorems of this paper. First we show a sufficient condition for the Julia set of a polynomial to be totally disconnected. This result, with some theorems proven in the third chapter, shows that in this case the Julia set is a Cantor-like set. The second result shows when the Julia set of a quadratic polynomial of the form f(z) = z^2 + c is a Jordan curve. The third and final result shows that given an arbitrary polynomial f, there exists a lower bound for the Hausdorff dimension of the Julia set of the polynomial f, which depends on the polynomial f. This is the most important result of this paper.
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(2020)The purpose of this thesis is to act as a guide for the 2017 article A study guide for the l^2 decoupling theorem by J. Bourgain and C. Demeter. However, this thesis is self-sufficient. The aim has been to give a detailed presentation and handle the weight exponent E especially carefully in the arguments. We begin by presenting the decoupling inequality of the l^2 decoupling theorem and the associated Fourier transform -like operator. The theorem concerns finding a satisfactory upper bound for the decoupling constant related to the inequality. We also list some general results that a graduate student might not be very familiar with; among them are a few consequences of Hölder's inequality. We move on to study the properties of the weight functions that we use in the L^p-norms in the decoupling. We present two operator lemmas to which we can reduce many of our arguments. The other lemma gives us the opportunity to use certain Schwartz functions in our proofs. We then move on to prove the l^2 decoupling theorem in the lower range 2<= p <= (2n)/(n-1). This includes the definition of multilinear decoupling constants and an iterative process.
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