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(2021)The thesis studies the European anti-trafficking framework, comprehending relevant EU and Council of Europe instruments, and the narrative of trafficking that it creates. The aim of the thesis is to identify the assumptions and the imagery of trafficking upon which the framework is formed as well as the exclusions and blind spots that these assumptions create. The thesis analyses the legal framework by adopting a critical feminist methodology. It studies assumptions concerning gender and migration in the trafficking narrative by first focusing on a linkage between trafficking and prostitution policies, then on a linkage between trafficking and migration and finally on connections between trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence. Assumptions of what trafficking is are produced through linkages, and sometimes lacks of linkages, between these frameworks. The thesis argues that trafficking is assumed to involve organized criminal groups trafficking migrant women to the sex industry and forced prostitution. Trafficking is combated as a form of organized crime, and legal instruments are based on this assumption. The anti-trafficking framework is also linked to migration policies as trafficking is understood as a form of irregular migration, contributing to a focus on transnational trafficking. In addition, the understanding of trafficking is marred by a debate on the nature and potential harmfulness of prostitution which has been among the most controversial issues of the anti-trafficking framework. The role of the sex industry and prostitution is thus at the focus in the debated narrative of trafficking. As the narrative of trafficking focuses on some experiences, it forgets others. Victims of trafficking taking place within romantic relationships are excluded from the narrative of trafficking, as the relational nature of trafficking remains invisible due to a focus on organized crime. Domestic trafficking victims often remain unidentified as well, as the anti-trafficking framework focuses on transnational trafficking. As the question of prostitution takes space in legal discourses around the anti-trafficking framework, other forms of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation remain unidentified and under-analyzed. A more inclusive narrative of trafficking would be beneficial for the identification of victims. In addition to being conceptualized as a question of migration and organized crime, trafficking should be understood in more relational terms, as a form of gender-based violence with connections to other such crimes. Trafficking should altogether be understood as a complex phenomenon that can take many forms and needs to be combated in multiple ways, as generalizing assumptions are too often counterproductive and based on political motives instead of empirical analysis.
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(2022)This master's thesis examines how the statutory minimum wage reform introduced in 2015 has affected the German labor market structure and what conclusions can be drawn from it with an eye to the future. The purpose is to understand how the labor market has reacted and adapted to significantly increased labor costs in the short term. Additionally, we must consider the potential long-term adverse effects in Germany and the EU since we are gradually transitioning into an era of higher minimum wages. The topic of this thesis is partly motivated by the upcoming European minimum wage directive, whose main objective is to provide adequate working and living conditions for all European workers in the near future. The subject is also topical because the minimum wage's role is even more emphasized during the economic recession. The structure of the thesis is a literature review, and the latest scientific literature has been used as an aid in the analysis and interpretation of observations. The goal is also to find out where further research should be directed. The examination of the minimum wage effects is divided between the short, medium, and long term. The primary focus has been on evaluating the key adjustment channels behind the observed employment elasticities and to what extent these mechanisms could be utilized in future minimum wage reforms. In other words, how to efficiently avoid the possible harmful effects of the minimum wage. In the case of Germany, the focus is on the adjustment mechanisms (e.g., the price pass-through effect, a degree of monopsony power, reductions in working hours) used by firms and the employment market dynamics that could explain the relatively small-scale observed unemployment effects in the short and medium term, such as the degree of compliance with the policy and the level of market competition. The putty-clay model is used for the longer-term evaluation, where possible adverse effects are examined from the viewpoint of automation and digitalization. Examining the long-term effects is essential, but unfortunately, it has not yet been extensively studied. Evidence suggests that the current minimum wage development may accelerate capital-labor substitution and reduce the demand for low-skilled workers in automatable jobs. Because this development is slow, future research should concentrate on distinguishing between short-and long-term effects more effectively. At present, the long-term employment effects are still ambiguous and theoretical but potentially quite substantial due to investments in physical capital and technological solutions. Consequently, minimum wage increases and related policy adjustments should be made considering the country's economic reality.
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(2013)The purpose of the present research paper is to study if and how cosmopolitanism, here understood as 'an orientation, a willingness to relate with the Other' (Hannertz 1996, 103 as cited by Chouliaraki 2008, 387), is present within Romanian print media, both in quality and tabloid newspapers. While the topic of cosmopolitan media discourse has been closely examined at the level of Western societies, this line of research seems to be poorly developed when it comes to Eastern European media cultures and their own understanding and use of those particular means that enable audiences to relate to distant suffering. Therefore, the present study should be viewed as a step further to reduce this research gap and reveal the most dominant trends in terms of cosmopolitanism in Romanian print media in the context of two major Europe wide broadcasted disasters: the earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011 and Hungary’s toxic red mud catastrophe that occurred in October 2010.
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(2016)This study is a master’s thesis which investigates the relationship between the Finnish native population and the Finnish immigrant population by using an experimental research method called the imitation game. The material has been gathered in two separate 'nationhood' imitation game events in Helsinki during 2015 with 28 participants in total. The central theoretical concept used for the analysis of the imitation game data is interactional expertise – a concept aimed to reveal how different social groups come to understand and recognize each other (Collins & Evans, 2013). By using an ethnomethodological perspective, interactional expertise has been further argued to include a group member’s ability to form an epistemic, experiential and categorical correspondence with a social group (Arminen & Simonen, 2015). The focus of this thesis is twofolded: a) by investigating how native Finns distinguish themselves from Finnish immigrants, it aims to shed light on the process of inclusion and exclusion between the native Finnish population and the Finnish immigrant population. It will also critically assess the notion of 'Finnish immigrants' as a social group by reviewing their ability to distinguish fellow Finnish immigrants from native Finns. And b) this is a methodological study which aims to assess and develop the analytical tools and typologies provided by previous imitation game research.
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(2014)The native speaker is a contentious linguistic concept, and since there has yet to be a consensus on its definition, the perspectives surrounding the concept are diverse and sometimes conflicting. This is nowhere more visible than in the debate on the native English speaker (NES). Countries such as the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand are unquestionably considered home to NESs; however, the population of some Caribbean countries also speaks English as their first language, and furthermore, today s ESL (English as a second language) countries contain an increasing number of people for whom English is a dominant language in their everyday life. The unfamiliarity of most laypeople with the complexity of the NES concept can thus lead to misconceptions of some speakers NES identity, as well as to linguistic discrimination. The main aim of this study, therefore, has been to explore native and non-native English speaker (NNES) identity constructs from both a personal perspective (self-ascribed identity) and a societal one (non-elective identity). These were subsequently compared and contrasted in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the most significant linguistic and social factors for different NES conceptualisations. Since previous research on the concept predominantly focused only on one perspective or definition of the NES, this study has taken a more complex approach, by utilising two distinct datasets and methods. The method used to explore self-ascribed NES/NNES identities was a formal interview, which explored the interviewees social and linguistic background as well as their views on the native speaker concept. The non-elective NES constructs were analysed through a survey, which contained audio samples of the interviewees spoken English. These samples were played to Finnish university students, who were then asked to classify individual speakers as NES or NNES, to rate their accent, vocabulary, grammar, confidence and intelligibility, and to guess the speakers origin. The significance of the speech factors and the perceived country/area of origin in predicting NES classification was first explored through comparative data charts, after which it was statistically analysed by using a binary logistic regression model in SPSS. Results revealed discrepancies between self-ascribed and non-elective NES identity, and several instances proved particularly significant: Firstly, in the case of an EFL (English as a foreign language) speaker who had never lived in an English-speaking country, the fact that she possessed an American accent contributed greatly to her being largely considered a NES. Secondly, a speaker whose mother tongue and dominant language was English, but who was from the Caribbean and thus possessed a foreign-sounding accent, was third lowest in being classified as a NES. Thirdly, speakers from ESL countries were lowest in NES classification despite personally identifying as NES. Considering that the statistical analysis indicated speakers accent and perceived origin to be the most significant predictors of NES classification, it can be concluded that a native English speaker is still being conceptualised primarily as someone who comes from a dominant English-speaking country and thus possesses a relevant accent. Persons from any lesser-known English-speaking countries and ESL countries therefore sound foreign , become excluded from this concept, and may find their NES identity challenged.
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(2021)Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large-scale eruptions of plasma entrained in a magnetic field. They occur in the solar corona, and from there they propagate into interplanetary space along with the solar wind. If a CME travels faster than the surrounding solar wind, a shock wave forms. Shocks driven by CMEs can act as powerful accelerators of charged particles. When charged particles like electrons are accelerated, they emit electromagnetic radiation, especially in the form of radio waves. Much of the radio emission from CMEs comes in the form of solar radio bursts. Traditionally solar radio bursts are classified into five types, called type I–V bursts, based on their characteristics and appearance in a dynamic spectrum. Of these five types of bursts, especially type II radio bursts are believed to be signatures of shock waves in the corona and interplanetary space. There are, however, also radio bursts associated with CMEs and shocks that do not fit the description of any of the five standard types of radio bursts. In this thesis three moving radio bursts associated with a CME that erupted on May 22, 2013 are identified and studied in detail. The characteristics of the bursts do not match those of the usual five types of solar radio bursts. The aim of the work is to ascertain the emission mechanism that causes the observed radio bursts, as well as locate the sites of electron acceleration that are the sources of the emission. The kinematics and the spectral features of the emission are studied in order to find answers to these questions. Analysis of the spectral features of the moving bursts showed that the bursts were emitted via plasma emission. Analysis of the kinematics revealed that the moving radio bursts originated unusually high up in the corona from the northern flank of the CME. The CME studied in this work was preceded by another one which erupted some hours earlier, and the disturbed coronal environment likely caused the radio emission to be emitted from an unusual height. It was found that the bursts likely originated from electrons accelerated at the shock driven by the CME.
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(2013)The current EU competition law enforcement regime was created by Regulation 1/2003 which entered into force on 1 May 2004. In essence, the system is based on a decentralised model where the European Commission and national competition authorities have parallel competences to apply EU competition provisions. National competition authorities and courts are obliged to apply Articles 101 and 102 TFEU whenever they apply national competition law to anti-competitive conduct which may affect trade between Member States. Regulation 1/2003 does not, however, preclude parallel proceedings being conducted by several competition authorities in connection with the same anti-competitive conduct. The lack of a ban on multiple proceedings is problematic in the light of the fundamental principle of ne bis in idem which precludes trying and punishing twice for the same criminal offence. This question has become all the more relevant upon the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty which conferred the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union a legally binding status. The ne bis in idem provision inscribed therein provides an EU-wide protection against double prosecution and punishment. Furthermore, ne bis in idem is also recognised as a general principle of EU law, and it is enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights which the Union shall accede to. The principle is intrinsically linked to the doctrine of res judicata and is an element of the right to a fair trial, providing proportionality and upholding legal certainty. It precludes not only an accumulation of sanctions, but also any repetition of proceedings in the same matter. The principle encompasses two elements, namely the notion of the ‘same offence’ (idem) and the aspect of ‘twice’ (bis). Although ne bis in idem traditionally applies only in criminal proceedings, the term ‘criminal’ is interpreted broadly and hence the principle also applies in the enforcement of competition law. The purpose of this study is to examine how the ne bis in idem principle should be interpreted in connection with parallel proceedings carried out in the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, and whether the current enforcement regime ensures sufficient compliance with the principle. Can the principle be interpreted as such that it actually precludes multiple investigations and sanctions in connection with the same anti-competitive conduct? These questions are explored from a traditional legal dogmatic approach. In addition to examining primary and secondary legislative tools, this study also refers to soft law instruments. Moreover, analysing court interpretations given to the ne bis in idem principle naturally forms an essential part of this study. Basically, there are three areas of law where the principle has been applied in the EU. First, the Court of Justice has interpreted the principle in competition law matters. Furthermore, the Court has also interpreted the rule in the area of freedom, security and justice where the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement provides the applicable provision. Finally, the European Court of Human Rights has interpreted the ne bis in idem rule in the legal framework of the Council of Europe. The case law analysis shows that the interpretation of the ne bis in idem principle in competition matters differs from the other lines of case law. The main difference is that the application of the principle in the area of competition law is subject to three cumulative conditions, namely identity of the facts, unity of offender and unity of the legal interest protected. By contrast, in other areas of law the only relevant criterion is the identity of facts which naturally comprises the unity of offender. One reason for this discrepancy is that the principle of ne bis in idem originates from criminal law, whereas competition infringements cannot always be directly compared to traditional crimes. Defining what constitutes a same competition infringement for which a second investigation and sanction is precluded is difficult due to the fact that anti-competitive conduct consists of a large number of separate acts committed over a long period of time, sometimes even in the territory of several states. The produced effects are essential when assessing the infringement. The doctrine of the three cumulative conditions as well as other principles for applying the ne bis in idem rule in the context of competition law have been developed by the CJEU roughly during the past four decades. Due to the developments in the field of EU competition policy as well as human and fundamental rights protection, there is room for the Court of Justice to critically re-evaluate its interpretation of the ne bis in idem principle in competition matters and make adjustments to match its view with the current state of affairs. The fundamental right of not being tried or punished twice for the same offence has to be observed also in the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.
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(2022)Following the development of effective vaccines against COVID-19, a global access gap has emerged, with wealthier countries receiving the vast majority of vaccines and therapeutics. The governments of several lower-income countries have since identified a major cause of this gap to be intellectual property arrangements governing the development of pharmaceutical products. In response, these countries submitted a proposal within the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council to waive specific elements of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in relation to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Since then, a small number of wealthy countries where most major vaccine producers are located have resisted calls to pass the Waiver, thus maintaining intellectual property restrictions and limiting access to vaccines. This thesis explores the discursive nature of the arguments put forward against the Waiver within the institutional context of the WTO TRIPS Council from October 2020 to December 2021. It applies the Critical Discourse Analysis approach to identify several discourses that characterise the nature of opposition to the TRIPS Waiver, to explain how these shape political outcomes and delimit courses of effective action and resistance. These discourses are interpreted through the theoretical lens of Achille Mbembe’s necropolitics, which posits that sovereign power is increasingly based on the ability to decide who is worthy of life and who can be subjected to death, with racism and neoliberal market logics being the twin technologies of necropolitical violence. The thesis relies on primary material sourced from hundreds of pages of meeting minutes from the TRIPS Council, where opponents to the Waiver lay out their arguments and discursively construct their opposition in ways that are consistent with the necropolitical reading of global politics and structural violence. This thesis analyses this primary material in conjunction with secondary material from the pharmaceutical industry, uncovering discursive parallels that unveil the neoliberal logics that fuel opposition to the TRIPS Waiver. This thesis concludes that opposition to the TRIPS Waiver is both a driver and a symptom of a planetary renewal of colonial relations, in which neoliberal discourses around health have served to keep lifesaving treatments out of reach to those who cannot afford them during a deadly pandemic. The implications of necropolitical discourses around healthcare access for both democracy and for the future of the pandemic are fatal.
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(2016)Since the late twentieth century, culture has entered the domain of urban development. This thesis studies a case study of the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) in Hong Kong, which is the most controversial urban project since the handover. This project has been planned for over 15 years and undergone several years of negotiations on its meaning of culture, district design, development approach and mode of participation. Specifically, the purpose of this study is: firstly, I study the planning process of the WKCD from 1998 to 2013; secondly, I analyse the major stakeholders’ roles and interests; thirdly, I discuss the negotiations on the symbolic, material, and political dimensions of culture in the case of the WKCD; fourthly, I compare the practices in the WKCD with the general practices in land policy, urban planning policy and cultural policy, and find out the unusual practices in the WKCD; fifthly, I discuss my findings and analyse the relationship between culture and urban development in culture-led urban development in the post-colonial context in Hong Kong. The theoretical framework is built on Sharon Zukin’s concept of culture (1995). Zukin suggests that, culture has three dimensions: symbolic meaning, material consequence, and political values. In order to understand the dynamics and negotiations of a culture-led urban development, I identify the key issues in planning process and relevant policy areas based on the three dimensions. The data was collected from primary sources including the documents from the Legislative Council, the government, private developers, the WKCDA and the newspapers. Documentary research and thematic analysis are adopted. Three themes are identified on the basis of the theoretical framework and the collected data. They are: (1) symbolic dimension: meaning of culture; (2) material dimension: production of space; (3) political dimension: power of vision. Key findings are presented as follows. The WKCD project was originally planned in a public-private partnership with a single package approach. The original district plan was featured by an iconic Canopy-shaped architecture. However, due to the different level of opportunity for participation and the improper public consultation, the project received widespread opposition and suspended in early 2006. Later the government re-started the project in a statutory-body development approach, and established the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) to implement the planning. It allowed more channels for public participation and finally the construction started in 2013. For the stakeholders’ interests, different stakeholders (the government, developers, the arts and culture sector, and the Legislative Council) all have specific interests. There were no clear-cut interests uniting the stakeholders. Some members formed alliance across sectors to defend their interests. Regarding the symbolic dimension of culture, different stakeholders negotiated the interpretation of culture to influence the planning. The negotiation on the material consequences are analysed through discussing the production of space: the district plan has changed from 'iconic plan' to 'a place for everyone', and the development approach has changed from public-private partnership approach to statutory-body development approach. The political dimension refers to power of vision; the government and developers legitimated their political and economic claims through controlling the way of participation. Through analysing the unusual practices in land policy, urban planning policy and cultural policy, I find two important issues to understand the relationship between culture and urban development in culture-led urban development in this case. Firstly, the provision of land subsidy aimed at privatisation of cultural facilities; secondly, planning of space and framing of culture are inextricably intertwined in culture-led urban development. It is unavoidable to frame the culture to shape the space, or through shaping the space, in culture-led urban development.
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(2016)The world is currently experiencing a notable shift in the pattern of migration. Immigrant receiving countries in different parts of the world have promoted integration policies to minimise the inequality. My purpose of this paper is to learn how immigrant entrepreneurship contributes to self-employment by the use of ethnicity and transnational connection. This text examines the role of ethnicity in the development and sustenance of the Nepalese entrepreneurship in the context of Finland, drawing from the first-hand data. I have found that the involvement of ethnic resources, co-ethnic employment, and transnational connection lead to a profitable return for the Nepalese ethnic entrepreneurship. Instead of conceptualising a general economic model of entrepreneurship, I argue that it should be understood holistically how these immigrant entrepreneurs construct such opportunities by depending on ethnicity and co-ethnic relationship. I conduct this study with a great interest in the context of Finland, with an effort to understand the function of the Nepalese caste system as it is one of the essential features of this entrepreneurship model. I combined certain statistical information from various Finnish and Nepalese official sources to illustrate my arguments. The study shows how the Nepalese immigrant/ethnic entrepreneurs and soon-to-be entrepreneurs’ tactics to seek opportunities attempts to encounter mainstream labour market exclusion.
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(2022)proSAAS är en neuropeptid som fungerar som prekursor för diverse andra peptider. Neuropeptider som exempelvis bigLEN och PEN har visat sig ha inverkan på matintag hos försöksdjur. proSAAS har även undersökts för dess neuroprotektiva egenskap i exempelvis Parkinsons sjukdom. Experiment har visat att proSAAS förhindrar bildningen av amyloida plack. Zebrafisk (Danio rerio) är ett försöksdjur som under de senaste årtiondena vuxit i popularitet på grund av sitt breda användningsområde, lätta underhåll och förvaring och likhet till det mänskliga genomet. Zebrafiskens hjärna har flera neurokemiska och anatomiska likheter med människohjärnan. Här har undersökningsmålet varit att undersöka huruvida skillnad förekommer mellan embryon med normal förekomst av proSAAS och genmodifierade embryon utan en fungerande gen för proSAAS. Embryon av olika genetiska varianter har dissekerats och deras hjärnor immunofärgats och undersökts med hjälp av mikroskop. Förekomst av cellkärnor och signalvägar för neuropeptiderna dopamin, orexin, gonadotropinutsöndrande hormon, galanin och neuropeptid Y har undersökts. I studien kunde man inte finna variation mellan de olika genotyperna gällande förekomsten av orexin, gonadotropinutsöndrande hormon, galanin och neuropeptid Y. Man kunde upptäcka mera tyrosin hydroxylas, ett enzym ämne som deltar i bildningen av dopaminerga celler, i vissa delar av diencephalon hos de embryon som saknar proSAAS. Variationen av mängden tyrosinhydroxylaspositiva cellerkärnor mellan embryon med normal proSAAS-produktion och genmodifierade embryon öppnar dörrar för nya forskningsområden. Intressanta områden för vidare studier är att se huruvida variation också förekommer hos vuxna individer samt om skillnad i rörelsemönster även förekommer. (234 ord)
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(2017)The theme of this thesis relates to the very topical question of the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, so called 4th AMLD. The Directive must be implemented in all of the Member States by June 2017, at the latest. The study introduces and discusses the new Directive. As a research question this study tries to find out what are some of the main key implications of the new Directive. What – if anything - will change? And how are the changes, legal and political, both theoretically and especially in the practical level. What are the pros and cons of the new Directive? This will be analyzed with the traditional business tool, SWOT -analysis. This is also something new the author brings as an input, to combine traditional business tool to analyze law and legal texts, in this case a Directive, and its pros and cons. In order to analyze the new legal situation and how it is different from the earlier Directives, both of the Directives, old and the new one, 3rd and 4th AML Directive are discussed and analyzed in parallel. A brief historical pathway from the earlier directives is also introduced, i.e. the 1st and the 2nd Directive. As a background material literature, articles and political discussion papers from the Commission, Council, Parliament and other relevant actors are used in order to understand the context and the political and legal development which has led to the new Directive. Few interesting earlier court cases are also introduced. The very issue has not been studied much and there is not any relevant thesis work for example of the 4th Directive, since it is so new. Therefore the study and discussion is of relevance. Of course, money laundering itself as a phenomena and ways to hinder illegal money traffic has been studied a lot, but the Directive and its legal and practical implications is something new this thesis tries to enlighten. Obviously, since the limited space of the thesis, the author has selected some of the most interesting and relevant aspects to study from the vast Directive, so not all possible legal or practical implications are studied. To conclude, the study reflects on the current situation and aims of the new Directive and its legal and practical implications, so it is so called a de lege lata analysis. The method is legal dogmatics. The study finds out that there might be some legal problem areas or challenges in the new 4th AML Directive, particular in terms of how it relates to the privacy laws in different member states. Also the fact that the new Directive has a so called “Risk based approach” as a very core of it, which in fact is not defined by any means or anywhere in the Directive, can create legal and practical problems in Member States, in the future. All in all, there seems to be both pros and cons in the new Directive, but the final results and outcomes, only time will tell. At the very end a short de lege ferenda discussion is introduced.
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(2022)In 1956 the Indian Relocation Act transformed the makeup of American cities. Initially meant to assimilate Native Americans into the mainstream population by providing them with an education that would facilitate their employment and further integration into the city proper, Relocation provided migrating Indians with fertile soil for cultivating a pan- Indian identity. Urban spaces became sites of resistance as Indians from all tribes came together in cities and tribal borders became blurred. Settler colonialism has influenced how American Indians are perceived by the mainstream population and how their histories are studied within academia. This thesis seeks to unravel the stereotype of the passive Native. By reframing contemporary Indian history, this study suggests that twentieth-century Native Americans have been active in producing both urban space as well as a new tribalism in the urban environment. Informed by Henri Lefebvre’s theory regarding the right to the city this thesis analyses the urban space from an Indigenous-oriented perspective while stretching Marxist theories to accommodate the lived realities of Indigenous peoples as well as the corporeality of American Indians under capitalism.
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(2019)Objectives: During The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns (LASERI) -longitudinal study, a large amount of psychological traits have been measured. A temperament or personality inventory has not been previously made with a Finnish data. The goals of this study are 1) to find the orthogonal factors, that best simplify the variance of the psychological traits measured in the LASERI-study, 2) to create a prototype of a personality inventory that measures these newfound factors using an inductive approach, 3) to study the properties of the created prototype as well as the connections between it and depression, and 4) to develop ways to improve the prototype. Methods: A large amount of factor analyses were made to the questions of eleven psychological inventories used on 2879 test subjects in the LASERI-study in the years 1997 – 2012. The factors present most often were chosen as the structure of the prototype. Occurrence rate and reliability were used to limit the amount of questions. The structure of the prototype was studied using explorative factor analysis, its reliability using Cronbach’s alpha and split-half method, the social variables using variance analysis, and the connections between the prototype and depression using logistic regression. Results and conclusions: The Nine Factor Inventory (9FI), the created prototype of a personality meter consists of nine factors that have good reliabilities and psychological interpretations. The structure is a fine way to simplify the variance of the psychological traits measured in the LASERI-study. The test subjects got different results from 9FI depending on their sex, age, and the point of the measurement. The amount of common variance between 9FI and experienced depression was 6,8 %. A plethora of ideas how to better create a personality meter or how to improve 9FI were made.
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(2021)This study examines the concept of Nordic added value in Nordic cultural cooperation through the case study of the Nordic Culture Fund. This study aims to understand how the Nordic culture fund implemented the concept and to identify regionalist logic utilised during this process. By doing so, this work aims to contribute to the scholarship on the Nordic added value, exploring its practical application within the cultural sector of Nordic cooperation. To achieve this goal, non-negative matrix factorisation topic modeling was used to analyse a collection of policy documents and web pages of the Nordic culture fund published between 2002 to 2023. This study found a shift in how the concept is operationalized, alongside its regionalist logic. Initially, the Fund emphasised internal Nordic collaboration, based on heritage identity to foster the sense of Nordic community and legitimise Nordic cultural cooperation. However, since the late 2010s, the focus shifted towards the global context, integrating neoliberal values to promote Nordic culture on the global stage. This extension of scale from the regional to global level illustrates a relational characteristic of Nordic added value. By mapping the aforementioned shifts of the concept, this study contributes to the holistic understanding of the Nordic added value.
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(2016)“The Nordic Model is dead” the Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho said in 1997. The Nordic identity which originated during the Cold War experienced an ontological crisis with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar world order. In the 1990’s discourses of Europeanisation emerged and the Nordic identity was by many deemed a Cold War construct. Since the middle of the 2000s Nordic cooperation gained a stronghold where it previously had not existed: within security cooperation. The overall re-emergence of Nordic cooperation took place in parallel with the growing Russian superpower ambitions. Since 2009 there have been more notable advances in Nordic security cooperation through the establishment of the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) and the signing of the Nordic Declaration of Solidarity. These advances are remarkable because security has previously been a non-issue in the construction of the Nordic identity. The inclusion of security and defence cooperation in the Nordic identity can be labelled paradigmatic. The theoretical approach is one of poststructuralist discourse analysis, which advocates a reality completely constructed in discourse and rejects any pre-existent identities. The premise is that the self is constructed in discourse through the articulation of a number of others. This Thesis is concerned with how Russia is constructed in Nordic security discourses and how it contributes to a Nordic identity. The primary sources consist of four reports published in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark respectively. The foreign, security and defence policy reports are either written or commissioned by the respective governments. Similar reports from before the Russian annexation are used to support the primary data and allows for a deeper understanding about how discourses about Russia have shifted. The study shows that Russia has replaced economic benefits as the primary incentive for Nordic cooperation. The focus of Nordic cooperation has shifted its focus from the global to the regional and the Baltic Sea Region is increasingly important. The discourses clearly reject the Cold War identity of the “Third Way” between the two poles of the bipolar system. Rather the Nordic identity is integrated in the Western security and value community. It is also notable that despite this, the Nordic countries’ views on Russia, the world and the near vicinity differ. History, geopolitics and membership in NATO and/or EU play a big role in shaping the respective national understanding of security. The differing understandings of security represent the biggest obstacle for Nordic security and defence cooperation. The Thesis also discusses the role of hybrid warfare, NATO and norms and values in the othering of Russia in Nordic identity construction.
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(2019)This thesis will aim to answer at least the following questions: How is the Sūrat al-Qāriʿa (Q 101) rendered in the Nordic translations of the Qurʾān? What are the similarities and differences between different translation? In what ways do the different translations relate to the source text? What aspects of the source text are prioritized by the translators? These questions are approached from the perspective of Translation Theory. The problem of equivalence is discussed in relation to the work of Eugene Nida in his Towards a Science of Translation (1964). I will argue that translating cannot be separated from hermeneutics, since "every translation is at the same time an interpretation" as Hans-Georg Gadamer has stated. The problem of hermeneutics and Translation Theory is discussed from the hermeneutical perspective of Hans-Georg Gadamer especially as developed in his monograph Truth and Method (1960). The Skopos Theory formulated by Katharina Reiß and Hans J. Vermeer will be discussed as a possible answer to these underlying problems. The method of research applied in this thesis will consist of various hermeneutical cycles of reading, interpretation, and re-reading. After analyzing the Sūrat al-Qāriʿa in Arabic, I will provide a comparative analysis of the translations juxtaposing the texts with each other and with the Arabic text. This section will discuss similarities and differences, the proximity between the original and the translation, some possible biblical intertextualities, and possible interpretative associations of the translations in their Nordic context. This thesis will point out many subtle similarities, differences and translational tendencies related to the translator's background that can illuminate, enrich and broaden our understanding of the Sūrat al-Qāriʿa and its reception in the Nordic countries, while also opening new perspectives on the complexities involved in translating ancient texts that are revered as sacred by many.
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(2018)Tutkin pro gradu -tutkielmassani käännetyn ja supisuomalaisen kaunokirjallisen proosan sanaluokka-n-grammien eli n sanaa pitkien sanaluokkaketjujen suhteellisten frekvenssien eroja. Tarkoituksenani on etsiä käännetylle suomelle tyypillisiä syntaktisia piirteitä ja katsoa, voiko löydösten perusteella sanoa jotakin aiemmin esitettyjen käännösuniversaalihypoteesien paikkansapitävyydestä. Metodini on jatkokehitetty Borinin ja Prützin (2001) artikkelissaan käyttämästä metodista. Aineistonani on kaksi korpusta, Käännössuomen korpus ja Englantilaisen ja amerikkalaisen kirjallisuuden klassikoita Kersti Juvan suomentamina, englanti–suomi-rinnakkaiskorpus, joista ensin mainittu sisältää supisuomalaista kaunokirjallista proosaa ja useista eri lähtökielistä suomennettua kaunokirjallista proosaa ja jälkimmäinen Kersti Juvan suomentamia romaaneja ja niiden lähtötekstit. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että tilanteissa, joissa lähtösysteemissä on vain yksi tapa ilmaista jokin tietty asia mutta kohdesysteemissä lähtösysteemin tavan lisäksi muita tapoja, lähtösysteemin tapa yliedustuu ja muut tavat aliedustuvat käännöksissä. Tämä on sekä interferenssiä eli lähtösysteemin vaikutusta kohdetekstiin että kohdekielen uniikkiainesten aliedustumista (Tirkkonen-Condit 2004). Näiden universaalien lisäksi myös konventionaalisuus-käännösuniversaalihypoteesi saa aineistosta tukea. Konventionaalisuus näkyy niin interjektioiden frekvensseissä kuin mahdollisesti sanajärjestyksessäkin. Tulevaisuudessa metodia voitaisiin kehittää käyttämällä sanaluokkakategorioiden sijasta dependenssisuhdekategorioita n-grammien tarkasteltavana ominaisuutena. Tutkimuksessa havaittujen ilmiöiden tunnistamisella voisi olla sovelluksia niin automaattisessa käännösevaluoinnissa, konekääntämisessä kuin kääntäjänkoulutuksessakin.
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(2021)Research on the interaction of the Amuric languages (referred to as “Nivkh” or “Ghilyak” when regarded as a single language) with the Tungusic languages was initiated by Grube (1892). His focus on loanwords has been the object of study until the present day. Recently, Janhunen (2010: 292, 296; 2016: 23) has suggested that contact between the two families already started between their ultimate ancestors: Pre-Proto-Amuric and Proto-Tungusic. This thesis investigates whether some of the lexical parallels proposed by earlier research belong to this period. As the thesis is written from the perspective of language contact, the parallels are regarded as the result of borrowing instead of inheritance. The distinction between these two modes of transmission formed the theoretical basis for the methodology that was employed. To prove ancient contact, it had to be shown that the Amuric and Tungusic languages inherited their shared lexemes from their respective ancestors and that these ancestors may have borrowed from each other. As the methodology relied on the literature on Amuric and Tungusic historical phonology, an overview of this topic is also included. First, fifty parallels were drawn from those listed in previous research. These could be reconstructed to Proto-Amuric and Proto-Tungusic using the Comparative Method and thus could have been inherited from them or an earlier ancestor in the case of Proto-Amuric. Additionally, they exhibited phonological similarities that could reasonably be expected from borrowing between Pre-Proto-Amuric and Proto-Tungusic. Afterwards, a direction of borrowing had to be established, the principal evidence of borrowing. For that purpose, nine criteria were developed. These criteria considered morphology, diachronic and synchronic phonology, extent of attestation, semantics and extra-linguistic factors. Finally, the data was separated into older and younger strata, since in the selection phase only the Proto-Amuric stage was considered, while the target was Pre-Proto-Amuric. These layers were classified on the basis of phonological developments. For most of the fifty parallels the direction of borrowing could be determined. In this stage of analysis, fifteen of them were ultimately dismissed as recent or doubtful. The remaining thirty-five were examined for properties that could have resulted from the sound changes that followed Pre-Proto-Amuric that were proposed in earlier research. Ultimately, it could only be proven that the absence of vowels in non-initial syllables was a property characteristic of ancient lexemes in the Amuric lineage. Consequently, although a substantially old stratum of Amuric-Tungusic parallels was found, further research is needed to show that any of them date to Pre-Proto-Amuric and Proto-Tungusic times.
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(2019)Tutkielman tarkoituksena on tarkastella John Locken teologiakäsitystä erityisesti episteemisten hyveiden näkökulmasta. Locke kirjoitti teologiasta tieteenalana yhden kappaleen teoksessa Of the Conduct of Understanding, jossa hän määrittelee teologian tieteenalaksi, jonka lähdeaineistona on kaikki inhimillinen tieto ja ilmoitus. Locke määrittelee teologian tehtäväksi episteemisten hyveiden – eli inhimillisen ymmärryksen oikean käytön – opettamisen. Aikaisemmassa aihetta koskevassa tutkimuksessa on todettu, että Lockelle tieto ei ole vain kokoelma irrallisia faktoja, vaan Lockelle tieto sisältää myös implisiittisesti tietoa myös ymmärryksen rajoista ja sen oikeasta käytöstä, minkä vain teologia kykenee ymmärtämään. Tutkielman päämääränä on tarkastella, miten teologia kykenee opettamaan episteemisiä hyveitä. Tutkielman toisina lähteinä toimivat Locken An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ja Reasonableness of Christianity. Tutkielman metodi on systemaattinen analyysi. Vaikka Lockelle teologia käyttää lähteenään kaikkea inhimillistä tietoa, tutkielman sivurajoitteitten vuoksi aihetta käsitellään rajatummasta näkökulmasta. Keskittymällä Locken uskonnolliseen epistemologiaan, tutkielmassa pyritään selvittämään, miten teologia näkyy tiedossa Jumalasta, moraalista ja ilmoituksesta sekä siihen liittyvistä uskonasioista. Locken uskonnollisen epistemologian päämääränä on selvittää uskon ja järjen välinen suhde, mikä oikein ymmärrettynä johtaa harmoniseen käsitykseen niiden välisestä työnjaosta. Rajatun näkökulman tarkoituksena on tarkastella inhimillisen tiedon rajoja sekä ymmärryksen oikeaa käyttöä uskonnollisen epistemologian alueella, minkä pohjalta tehdään yleinen tulkinta Locken teologiakäsityksestä. Tutkielma on jaettu kolmeen päälukuun. Ensimmäisessä pääluvussa tarkastellaan inhimillisen tiedon perusteita Locken filosofiassa valitun näkökulman kannalta. Toisessa pääluvussa syvennytään Locken uskonnolliseen epistemologiaan. Kolmannessa pääluvussa kahden edellisen luvun keskeisiä tuloksia käytetään Locken teologian sekä episteemisten hyveiden välisen suhteen tulkitsemisessa. Kolmannen pääluvun viimeisessä alaluvussa esitetään myös tulkinta Lockelaisesta teologian harjoittajasta, jossa teologian vaikutukset ovat konkreettisesti havaittavissa. Tutkielmassa päädytään lopputulokseen, jonka mukaan Lockelle teologia kykenee opettamaan episteemisiä hyveitä sen rajoittamattoman lähdeaineiston vuoksi. Koska ymmärryksen vääriin käyttöpahoihin liittyy liiallinen keskittyminen pelkkään yhteen inhimillisen tiedon muotoon, on seurauksena puutteellinen ymmärrys inhimillisestä ymmärryksestä itsestään. Koska teologia ei ole lähdeaineistonsa vuoksi samanlaisten rajoitteitten alainen, on sillä kyky opettaa episteemisiä hyveitä. Teologian tutkiminen ja opettaminen Locken filosofiassa tarkoittaa tutustumista sellaisiin asioihin, joista ihminen ei tiedä mitään. Tutustuminen kaikkeen inhimilliseen tietoon toimii harjoituksena ihmismielelle, jonka myötä ihminen oppii inhimillisen ymmärryksen oikeaa käyttöä.
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