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(2023)One of the most prolific and effective weapons employed by the Kremlin today is its powerful and far-reaching propaganda machine. It is well known that the propaganda continuing to emanate from Moscow has been remarkably successful at keeping support high for a war effort that continues to come at a tremendous cost. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the ideological foundations that lie at the heart of this propagandist narrative, and to explore their origins. I argue that this modern propaganda actually has its roots in Slavophile and Eurasianist writings from the 19th-20th Century, and most significantly from two writers, Ivan Ilyin and Lev Gumilev. The theories of these two prominent Russian thinkers largely serve as the ideological backing Russia requires to legitimize its invasion of Ukraine within its own borders. This thesis will employ discourse analysis, analyzing everything from speeches to Russian National Security Strategies, and going as far back as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprecedented 2007 speech before the Munich Security Conference. My aim is to demonstrate how the Kremlin’s propaganda machine selectively employs and weaponizes this antiquated rhetoric to justify Russian strategic aggression. The hope is that this thesis provides a better understanding of the propaganda that Russians are subjected to on a daily basis. A more thorough understanding of others can be obtained through a better understanding of the current cultural and political environment that people find themselves immersed in. Hopefully, this knowledge will one day improve people’s tolerance and assist in the process of finding diplomatic solutions and other viable alternatives to war.
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(2019)The War on Terror has been waged for almost two whole decades now. President Barack Obama pledged to end the “boundless Global War on Terror” during his tenure but there are still US troops present in Middle East and North Africa. Despite the rhetoric on ending the war, the war got even more violent in terms of air strikes and the military budget kept on rising from that of president Bush under Obama’s first term as president. Since these circumstances suggest that there was no considerable change to be perceived in the outcome of the war from Bush to Obama, there seems to exist a process of political meaning-making through which the meanings attached to the US engagement in the Middle East are altered. Thus, this study aims at analysing the underlying fantasmatic logics through which the War on Terror was legitimized to the public during Obama’s presidency. This study contributes to the study of international relations through Lacanian-Žižekian framework, which has only recently been introduced to the study of international politics. The theoretical and methodological background of this thesis is rooted in Lacanian psychoanalysis, discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe and Lacanian-Žižekian theorizations on ideological fantasies. By adapting the logics approach of discourse theory as a qualitative method, this thesis analyses 105 speeches on terrorism that Barack Obama delivered in 2009–2016. The analysis is focused at analysing discursive articulations, nodal points and master signifiers that partake in structuring the fantasies regarding War on Terror. In this thesis I will argue that it is through the fantasmatic logics that the ideological grip of Obama’s War on Terror becomes intelligible: By structuring the fantasmatic objects of desire at least on three levels, Obama succeeds at granting the illusion that the unachievable and impossible enjoyment – that the subjects of War on Terror desire – is achievable. However, Obama organizes the fantasy in a way that keeps the realization of the ultimate fantasy of lasting peace, safety, prosperity and security always at a distance. The desire is sustained by articulating enemies, such as al Qaeda, Taliban, Osama bin Laden, Assad’s regime and ISIL, as inferior objects of desire that are “forgotten” and replaced by one another in the signifying chain of enmity. In addition to this “forgetting” of inferior objects of desire, there exists a process of “reminding” or “remembering” that sustains the desire of War on Terror’s subjects. I then argue that some of these objects of desire are used to remind the subjects of what the possible enjoyment would feel like when it is finally achieved. These enemies are also articulated as “the constitutive othesr” that prevent the subjects of War on Terror to realize their fantasy of lasting peace. The results show that the signifier “terrorists” functions as a subtle epithet through which various and differential groups can be articulated as enemies.
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(2020)One of the main contestations during the South China Sea dispute was the legal status and possible implications of the ‘historic rights’, which were upheld by the Chinese government and since the 1990s discussed massively by Chinese scholars during the intensification of the disputes in the South China Sea. Nevertheless, there is criticism against this argument, the most popular of which is, that the historic rights discourse differs from, and is incompatible with the rules stipulated in the UNCLOS, of which China is a party. However, my argument is, that a treaty-based analysis is incomplete and somewhat misplaced if we are to comprehensively understand the argument of ‘historic rights’ proposed by China. ‘Historic rights’ discourse, from a Chinese perspective, is based on completely different traditions and understandings of the maritime order. This thesis reveals that China has its unique perception of maritime sovereignty and maritime rights. More importantly, this perception is still present in China’s imagination of the world order. This perception, even sometimes undefined and ambiguous, however makes the ‘historic rights’ arguments possible and understandable, at least in the eyes of the Chinese government and the majority of Chinese scholars. This thesis revisits the proposals and legitimacy proposed by the Chinese government and scholars in terms of the evolution of their expression and argumentative structures concerning Chinese ‘historic rights’ in the South China Sea. From the Chinese perspective, ‘historic rights’ offers another possible way of argumentations and legal surface, that weakens the cognition of the existing status quo in the South China Sea, while at the same time providing a peaceful way of challenging the unequal order and recovering China’s historical interests that had been taken advantage of when China was too weak to assert its legitimate rights in the past. On this premise, overly depending on judiciary resolution like the arbitration process and the legal rules in the UNCLOS will lead to a neglect of this peculiar Chinese perception and its possible political implications.
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(2019)The contemporary crisis between Russia and the EU, reflects, among other things, in the identity construction in both European and Russian domestic discourses. In view of the current conflict between Russia and Europe, it is crucial to comprehend how both actors perceive each other and the reality(ies) of the current status of their bilateral relations. According to the post-structuralists, foreign policies are dependent on the representations of “us” and “them”, articulated in national discourses. Such constructs are often represented through mass media, and given the growing adaptation of IT technologies, social media specifically become a suitable platform for the distribution of the images of “us” and “them” for both domestic and foreign audiences. The study seeks to identify which images of the EU are framed by Russian officials in social media and whether such frames correlate with some aspects of Russian domestic and foreign agendas. The thesis focuses on the images of the EU framed by Russian officials in the period between March 2019 and December 2019, a drastic period of EU-Russia relations, triggered by the Ukrainian crisis. Social media posts of 10 Russian officials on matters related to the EU are examined with post-structuralist discourse approach. The adopted methodology allows to explore, identify and explain images of the EU framed by Russian officials in online dimension. In addition, the method sheds light not only on the way Russian officials perceive the EU but also on the way they construct Russia itself, as a political, social and values antithesis of Europe, through the framing of the EU. The identified images, framed by Russian officials, constitute mainly negative framing of the EU, albeit seldom neutral and positive framings appear as well. The analysis determines the central aspects of the EU’s domestic and foreign policies, reflected by the officials. Besides, the results of the study demonstrate how Russian officials implicitly perceive the political and social situation in Russia as well as Russia’s foreign policy status, by comparing these aspects with Europe. The framing, which Russian officials discursively construct in social media, exhibits a comprehensive political and normative split between Russia and the EU. This process had been gradually evolving until 2014, and then sharply accelerated. At this point, the current situation appears to be the lowest point for bilateral relations between Moscow and Brussels. Even though Russian officials regularly appeal to Moscow’s determination to cooperate with the EU and the West in general, such a peacekeeping message had no considerable effect on EU-Russia relations.
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(2019)Co-infection, a state in which the host is infected with more than one micro- or macroparasite at a time, is the norm in the wild because of a wide range of interacting organisms and parasites. Bank vole is a reservoir host of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), a pathogen causing Nephropathia Endemica, an endemic disease in Finland. The helper T cell (Th)1/Th2 polarization theory, which is established in the laboratory, but less-studied in the wild, suggests that there is a trade-off between Th1 response against microparasites and Th2 response against macroparasites. I studied whether helminth or hantavirus infection, individually and synergistically, have effect on the immune responses of wild bank voles and whether there is a trade-off between Th1 and Th2 responses. My hypothesis was that helminth infection would reduce the bank voles’ ability to mount an effective immune response against viral infections and make them more susceptible to chronic Puumala virus infection. I measured mRNA levels of transcription factors Tbet (Th1 response) and Gata3 (Th2 response) in the splenocytes of wild-caught bank voles after stimulating the cells with different immune stimulants. I also measured the constitutive levels of Tbet and Gata3 in bank voles’ spleens. The splenocytes of PUUV-infected bank voles were less responsive to stimulations than those of PUUV-negative ones. The reduced ability of splenocytes from PUUV-infected voles to respond to stimulation can be because of the virus itself affecting the T cell function or alternatively due to an inherent defect in immune cells making them more susceptible to PUUV infection. The constitutive expression of Gata3 in spleen correlated positively with gastrointestinal nematode load in PUUV-infected voles but not in PUUV-negative voles. This can be because of mounting an immune response against helminths reduces the bank voles’ ability to resist the viral infection in accordance with the trade-off between Th1 and Th2 responses or as previous studies have shown, Gata3 can act as a marker of infection tolerance in bank voles. Because of a small sample size and a heterologous group of studied bank voles, more research is needed on co-infection immunology in bank voles and other wild animals.
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(2023)Metastatic prostate cancer is often fatal disease stage. Mechanism causing prostate cancer remains unknown, but possible mechanism relies on hormones. Testosterone may activate spontaneous cell division of oncogenes. Prostate cancer cells require androgen cell stimulation of AR to grow in early stages of prostate cancer, approximately 80-90% of prostate cancer cases are androgen dependent. 3bHSD1, encoded by HSD3B1, catalyzes the conversion of dehydroepiandrosterone to androstenedione and further to T and DHT. SNP (1245A to C) in HSD3B1 changes asparagine to threonine in position 367 resulting the enzyme accumulation and increased function. With androgen deprivation therapy castrate levels of testosterone are often achieved and it induces positive response in most PCa patients, but the polymorphism of 1245C is related with lower survival rate and higher probability for PCa to develop into CRPC. The aim of this study was to find out the effect of SNP in 3bHSD1 to androgen levels in patients treated with ADT. 32 patients were first genotyped based on SNP in the HSD3B1 gene (rs1047303) with 96.9 % success rate. 21 patients represented genotype AA, 9 AC and 1 patient CC. Other mutation in rs6203 was also detected. Genotyping was done by isolating DNA from blood samples and preparing it further for Sanger sequencing. Steroid analysis was performed by using LC/MS, using liquid-liquid extraction as sample preparation method. Altogether 21 steroids were analyzed from serum samples. Samples were taken every 3 months, during 33 months period for longest. The concentrations of T and DHT were reduced in AA genotype group after ADT as was expected to happen in all of the groups. In fact, the only significant changes were seen in AA genotype with for example the concentrations of previously mentioned T, DHEA and also A4. The changes in measured androgen levels cannot be generalized to concern especially the CC genotype, as there was only one patient homozygote with the mutation. Even though these results gave promising data of possible androgen synthesis pathways, a similar study must be rerun with larger patient data to be sure of the characteristics of different genotypes. Also, the effect of SNP in rs6203 remains still unknown.
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(2017)In recent decades, rapid urbanization together with industrialization has led to an increase in anthropogenic emissions, resulting in high air pollution concentrations and poor air quality particularly in developing countries, such as in China. Due to both the enhanced environmental and severe public health risks poor air quality is causing and the climate impacts of aerosols, it is of great interest to study and understand aerosol particles and their impact on our surroundings. Aerosols affect the radiative properties of the atmosphere and the surface energy balance. The impact of aerosols on the surface radiative fluxes of the urban surface energy balance is widely known, but the impact on the turbulent energy fluxes, which are important components in the energy balance, has until now remained unclear. To extend the knowledge of aerosol impacts on all the energy balance components, a simple urban land surface model (SUEWS) during the period of 2006-2009 is used, together with aerosol data, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), received from an AERONET station located in Beijing. With the use of commonly measured meteorological variables together with parameters defined for the study area of 1 km radius around a meteorological tower, the components of the urban surface energy balance are simulated by the model. For further data analysis, the data are divided into thermal seasons and pollutant categories according to the available AOD-data. Extreme polluted conditions are achieved during 24 % for the time of available AOD-data, additionally showing relatively less situations with poor air quality (8 %) in winter compared to 27 % observed in summer. The aim of this study is to analyse how much aerosol particles can modify the different surface energy balance components, particularly focusing on the turbulent fluxes. The model is evaluated against observed turbulent fluxes in the same tower, showing an overestimation of the sensible heat flux and an underestimation and a better model performance of the latent heat flux. Still, the diurnal behaviour of the fluxes is shown to be well reproduced by the model. The behaviour of the modelled components is further investigated, showing a clear monthly variation for almost all the fluxes contributing to the surface energy balance. The behaviour of the total energy balance is in general controlled by the wet (occurring from May to October) and dry periods, distinguishing the climate in Beijing. The sensible heat flux is the dominant flux in March, accounting for 59 % of the available energy, whereas during the wet periods, higher portion of the available energy is consumed by the turbulent latent heat flux (61 % in August). Adding the effect of aerosols, the results clearly show how the net radiative flux is decreased in poor air quality conditions, giving differences of 138 W/m2 in the median flux due to aerosol loading in the atmosphere. The main finding of this study is that aerosols also influence the turbulent fluxes, with largest aerosol impact on the sensible heat flux occurring during thermal spring (66 W/m2 difference between clean and polluted air conditions). Likewise, in summer, when the latent heat flux is the largest contributor for consuming the available energy, the influence of aerosols is most visible (25 W/m2 difference). This study highlights the importance of maintaining measurements of aerosol concentrations and characteristics of the pollutants over urban areas due to their influence not only on the radiative fluxes, but all the components of the surface energy balance, which can further alter the water circulation and give rise to other environmental risks. These findings can therefore be used in urban planning and issues related to water management and air pollution regulations.
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(2024)This thesis studies gas-rich galaxy mergers at redshifts of z ∼ 1-2 using numerical simulations, with a particular focus on the effect of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In total, 16 galaxy mergers at redshifts z = 1 and z = 2 were modeled using the simulation codes KETJU and GADGET-3. The simulations were performed on the supercomputer Mahti located at the Finnish IT Centre for Science (CSC). AGN feedback can be described as the radiative and mechanical energy released through accretion, which act to heat and disperse the remaining gaseous material surrounding the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). The feedback mechanisms include, for example, photoionization heating due to high-energy photons and winds and jets driven by the AGN. Numerically, AGN feedback was implemented using two models in this thesis: thermal and kinetic AGN feedback, in which the gas particles are either heated or ‘kicked’, respectively. In addition to AGN feedback, the simulations included metal-dependent gas cooling, stochastic star formation, and stellar feedback. The simulated progenitor galaxies were gas-rich spirals consistent with observed galaxies at redshifts z = 1 and z = 2. The virial masses of the progenitors were set to correspond to typical massive galaxies at their redshifts using the Press-Schechter mass function, while the initial masses for the central SMBHs were set using observed MBH-M⋆ and MBH-σ⋆ relations. The gas fractions and metal abundances of the progenitors were calibrated using observational data at their respective redshifts. The KETJU and GADGET-3 simulations produced very similar results for the overall evolution of a given merger configuration. Consistent with earlier studies, the kinetic feedback was observed to be significantly more effective at removing gas from the galaxies than the thermal feedback. The combined effect of AGN and stellar feedback was observed to strongly suppress star formation, with the star formation of one merger being almost completely shut down. The thermal and kinetic feedback models caused noticeable differences in the orbital evolution of the SMBH binaries. Merger timescales were significantly longer for the SMBHs in the KETJU simulations with kinetic feedback. In general, the merger timescales increased with decreasing initial eccentricity for the SMBH binary. The merger remnants were compared to observed MBH-σ⋆, R1/2-M⋆, fgas-M⋆, and mass-metallicity relations. Overall, the remnants were reasonably consistent with the observed relations. Hence, we can conclude that AGN feedback plays a crucial role in galaxy evolution and that both the thermal and kinetic feedback models are able to produce realistic high-redshift galaxies.
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(2016)This thesis is about the impact of consociational power-sharing in the democratization of Kosovo. Consociational democracy as a model aims to bridge the ethnic divide under a democratic system of government. In post-conflict cases power-sharing is arranged though institutionalized representation quotas for minorities. Consociational democracy as a model of governance has been mostly successful in already well established democracies. Power-sharing in Kosovo was applied with a top-down approach by international actors as a form of conflict resolution and inter-ethnic reconciliation at the elite/leadership level. Such an approach has, to some extent, ignored the lack of democratic tradition characterized with a socialist/communist past under Yugoslavia, in addition to ignoring the severe lack of trust and inter-ethnic communication at the grassroots level between the majority Albanians and minority Serbs. Following the theory of historical institutionalism the finding is that lack of democratization in Kosovo is path dependent and thus 'history matters' in the process of institutional building. Under the conditions of no statehood, the international actors have held executive competences as being the supreme authority, while lacking democratic legitimacy and accountability. Thus, at the time of constitutional design, decision-makers found themselves at the crossroads, or 'critical junctures', knowing that given the nature of the conflict, the path taken might be irreversible. Additionally, upon deciding consociational power-sharing, it was carried out without possessing adequate socio-demographic data and uncertainty of a final status for Kosovo. Therefore, the approach can be considered experimental. In sum, given the aforementioned nature of consociational power-sharing combined with a number of factors, such as path-dependency, a complex system of governance, uncertainly of the final status and lack of inter-ethnic reconciliation at the grassroots level, the conclusion is that this approach has not had any significant impact on the democratization of Kosovo. According to numerous reports, Kosovo’s democracy in general faces many problems – thus, against other goals democracy remained a second priority.
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(2023)Global warming is rapidly reducing the Arctic sea ice cover. Along with its major impacts in the Arctic, the sea ice loss is known to affect the climate in remote continental areas. In this thesis, the remote effects are studied by analysing data from experiments carried out using the ECHAM6 atmospheric general circulation model forced with simple sea ice concentration and sea surface temperature configurations. The European and Asian midlatitude winter responses of surface air temperature are investigated, together with anomalies of variables potentially affecting them: sea level pressure, thermal advection, adiabatic and diabatic heating and surface energy fluxes. Arctic sea ice loss was found to have contributed weakly to the European warming from the 1980s to the 2010s. With sea ice and sea surface temperature conditions projected for 2071–2100, the warming response was about 1 °C relative to the 1979–2008 climatology, despite a negative North Atlantic Oscillation phase response. In Asia, the model simulates slight cooling of about 0.5 °C east of the Urals in the past and in the eastern parts of the continent in the future. However, the cooling responses are overwhelmed by the warming effect of global forcings. The effects of internal variability are large, and the role of the thermodynamic processes and surface energy fluxes in the link between the Arctic and Eurasia is not very clear. However, the temperature responses are mostly consistent with previous research, even though the model does not capture the observed past changes well.
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(2012)Climate change has been found to be one of the most serious challenges humankind has to face in the future. The link between climate change and forests is based on trees’ ability to use carbon dioxide as a raw material for growth. The growing stock sequesters carbon dioxide from the air to itself and ultimately as the forest is harvested the carbon stored is released and it moves from carbon pool of forests to another carbon pool. As the concept of emissions’ trading is applied to the investigation, a price for sequestered and released carbon can be determined. With the market price for carbon dioxide known, a net present value for the revenues and costs during the forest’s rotation period can be calculated. Using wood for different purposes, however, can result in various climatic benefits. These climatic benefits are described in this study by carbon displacement factors which can be used in determining how much the costs of releasing carbon from forests can be deducted. This study investigates the significance of forest management in a stand level from the climate change mitigation point of view in three Norway spruce (Picea abies, L.) and three Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris, L.) stands as the previous carbon accounting aspects are taken into consideration. Stand Management Assistant (SMA) software is used in the optimization and simulation calculations. The SMA software is used for calculating the carbon accounting net present values and average carbon storages during the rotation periods of the stands included in the study with different intensities of bioenergy biomass harvesting. This way the level of biomass harvesting for bioenergy that returns with the highest net present value for carbon accounting and/or the highest average carbon storage can be calculated. The calculations are made with two interest rates, two carbon dioxide prices and with climatic benefits from bioenergy or with climatic benefits from bioenergy and forest products included. According to the results it can be stated that the intensification of forest biomass recovery for bioenergy production does not always result in the optimal climate change mitigation. The use of Norway spruce is considered of being the most potential forest-based bioenergy source in Finland. As the climatic benefits from bioenergy use were only taken into consideration, the intensification of recovery of Norway spruce biomass for bioenergy seemed to be most profitable. If, however, the climatic benefits from forest products are included in the investigation as well, the bioenergy use of Norway spruce is no longer optimal for the climate change mitigation. The climatic benefits from Norway spruce material use exceed the benefits from bioenergy use. This means that biomass recovery for bioenergy production does not necessarily result in optimal climate change mitigation.
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(2015)Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (GG) is one of the most studied probiotics worldwide and it has proved to confer health benefits to human. However, the exact mechanism of its probiotic action is still not fully understood. Some proteins secreted by probiotics, such as p75 (Msp1) and p40 (Msp2) in GG, are reported to play an important role in gut epithelial homeostasis. The aim of this work was to develop a static biofilm plate model for analyzing exoproteomes (all secreted proteins) produced by L. rhamnosus GG biofilms. First, different culture volumes (7 mL and 10 mL), incubation times and protein precipitation methods were tested to optimize conditions in order to maximize the protein yield. Next, the impact of different sugars on the exoproteome composition of the GG cells during planktonic and biofilm mode of growth was explored. Finally, the planktonic and biofilm exoproteins were subjected to antigen profiling and protein identification. The 6-well Polystyrene Microtiter plate was used as the static biofilm model for inducing the biofilm formation of GG. Biofilms were formed for 24 h and 48 h and the protein secretion from each time point was assessed by precipitating the supernatant proteins using 10% trichloroacetic acid (TCA)/acetone or 2-D Clean Up kit (GE Healthcare). The purified proteins were subjected to one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (1-DE) and the proteins were visualized using Coomassie blue staining. 1-DE immunoblotting using antibodies raised against whole GG cells was used to analyze antigens produced by the GG biofilms under the optimized biofilm formation conditions. The antigens produced by the GG biofilm cells were compared to those produced by the GG cells during planktonic growth (from over- night cultures) and the cross-reacting proteins were visualized using an IR800-conjugated secondary antibody. The immunoblots were scanned using an Odyssey Infrared Imaging System (Licor). In addition, the impact of two different carbohydrate sources on the antigen profiles was also explored. Finally, in-liquid tryptic digestion coupled with Liquid Chromatography- tandem Mass Spectrometry analysis (LC-MS/MS) was used to identify and compare exoproteomes produced by the biofilm cells cultured in the presence of the tested carbohydrates. The results showed that the commercial 2-D Clean Up kit is better than 10% TCA protein precipitation/acetone washing, because it produced clear protein patterns with less background. However, the TCA/acetone–protocol resulted in detection of higher number of proteins in 1-DE gels. Comparative immunoblot analyses of the planktonic and biofilm exoproteins at 24 h and 48 h time points revealed a clear difference in antigen profiles between the two modes of growth. In addition, the utilized carbon source was found to have a great impact on the antigen abundances and/or export. Using LC-MS/MS, 36 exoproteins were identified from the GG biofilm cultures (identification score ≥ 40, p < 0.05). Most of the identified proteins were associated with cell wall/membrane biogenesis, peptide and sugar transporters and transcription.
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(2021)The supervisory expectations directed towards banks and other financial institutions to integrate, identify and manage climate-related risks has increased substantially during the past decade. The transition towards a de-carbonized economy creates risks and opportunities for financial institutions. The European Central Bank (ECB) has identified climate-related risks as one of the key drivers in the euro area requiring a forward-looking approach to be taken into consideration while dealing with these risks. One of the main ongoing tasks in the area is the identification and classification of environmentally sustainable activities. The objective of this Master’s thesis is to examine the effect that the reported greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the implementation of an emission reduction strategy have on corporate repayment capacity, calculated through external credit ratings. Previous literature has found a relationship between companies’ creditworthiness and environmental factors, but the results vary depending on the applied variables. The typical approach used in prior studies is the application of aggregated values of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors or limiting the analysis to specific industries or countries. The theoretical framework for this thesis rests mainly on previous academic research on the topic and publications by supervisory bodies. The data comprises 593 corporations from 37 countries operating in different industries over the years 2015-2019. The value of the probability of default (PD) is deployed as a measure of corporate repayment capacity. The climate-related variables and financial ratios were provided by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Standard and Poor’s (S&P). The relationship between corporate repayment capacity and the climate-related variables was analysed using a panel data multivariate regression model, specifically the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. The results of this study indicate that emission intensity levels contribute statistically in a negative and significant way to corporate credit ratings, implying that higher levels of emissions lead to a higher PD. On the other hand, having an emission reduction target contributes positively and significantly to corporate repayment capacity, indicating that having this target leads to a lower PD. The analysed climate-related variables were statistically more significant in industries considered to consist of high emitting companies, as opposed to low emitting ones.
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(2023)This thesis aims to identify and measure labor demand and supply shocks caused by COVID-19 in Finland in 2020 and aims to replicate results from an earlier study by Brinca et al. in 2021. The method utilized is a model estimation on a Bayesian structural vector autoregression framework on quarterly data of hours worked and real wages by work sector. In order to capture the labor market dynamics in Finland within the framework, a literature review is conducted and the theory and methods are then outlined. Informative priors and literature-based parameters are established for the model, and analysis software computation is then used to and estimate the model. The model estimations show that most sectors suffered large negative supply and demand shocks in the first quarter of 2020, with significant heterogeneity between sectoral shock response. It is assessed that sectors with greater possibilities of remote work are less affected by the shocks than sectors of high-contact work. Labor supply shocks account for over 80% of the total shock effects. In the second quarter of 2020, most sectors, in turn, experienced large positive supply and demand shocks that affected the sectors with significant heterogeneity once more, with the previous quarter’s most affected sectors again experiencing the largest shocks. Labor supply shocks again accounted for around 80% of the total shock effects. The results in this thesis share a trend with the earlier study in sector heterogeneity and the shocks’ total impacts, but find an increased share in the effect of labor supply shocks on the total impact of the COVID-19 shocks.
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(2019)Background: Despite the well-established link between diabetes and dementia risk, the impact of prediabetes and diabetes on the prodromal dementia phase remains controversial. In this study, we investigated whether prediabetes and diabetes increase the risk of cognitive impairment–no dementia (CIND) and accelerate its progression to dementia, as well as the possible underlying mechanisms. Methods: In the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care-Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), one cohort of cognitively-intact individuals (n=1,837) and one cohort of individuals with CIND (n=671) aged ≥60 years were followed for up to 15 years. At baseline and each follow-up (every 3 or 6 years), a neuropsychological test battery was administered, and the domains of episodic memory, processing speed, executive function, visuospatial abilities, and language were derived. CIND was defined as having no dementia and cognitive performance ≤1.5 SDs below age group-specific means in at least one cognitive domain. Dementia was diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria. Diabetes (controlled and poorly-controlled) was diagnosed by physicians through medical assessment, clinical records, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) ≥6.5%. Prediabetes was identified as HbA1c 5.7-6.4% in diabetes-free participants. Clinicians diagnosed heart disease and collected blood samples used to measure C-reactive protein (CRP). Data were analyzed with Cox regression models adjusted for possible confounders. Results: At baseline, in the cognitively-intact cohort, 133 (7%) participants had diabetes and 615 (34%) had prediabetes. During follow-up (mean 9.2 ± 3.0 years [range=2.2-15.5 years]), 544 (30%) individuals in the cognitively-intact cohort developed CIND. Poorly-controlled diabetes (HbA1c ≥7.5%) was associated with 2-times higher risk of CIND (HR 2.0, 95% CI:1.11-3.48) than diabetes-free participants. In the CIND cohort, 84 (13%) had diabetes and 238 (36%) prediabetes. During follow-up (mean 7.7 ± 4.0 years [range=0.2-15.2 years]), 132 (20%) individuals progressed to dementia. Poorly-controlled diabetes was associated with 3-times higher risk of dementia progression (HR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.29-8.33). Furthermore, comorbid heart disease and diabetes was associated with 2.5-times higher risk of progression to dementia (HR 2.5, 95% CI: 1.17-5.47), particularly if the diabetes was poorly-controlled (HR 5.8, 95% CI: 1.72-19.3). Similarly, having elevated CRP levels and diabetes was associated with increased risk of progression to dementia (HR 4.1, 95% CI: 1.15-14.2), especially in participants with poorly-controlled diabetes (HR 13.6, 95% CI: 1.89-98). No associations between prediabetes and CIND were detected in either cohort. Conclusions: Diabetes, especially if poorly-controlled, increases the risk of cognitive impairment and accelerates its progression to dementia. The diabetes-associated progression from CIND to dementia is further exacerbated by the presence of heart disease and elevated levels of systemic inflammation.
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(2016)Background: Real-life data on the role of emergency medical services (EMS) in acute heart failure (AHF) are scarce. Our aim was to describe prehospital treatment of AHF and to compare patients using EMS with self-presented, non-EMS patients. Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from three university hospitals in Helsinki metropolitan area between July 1 2012 and July 31 2013. According to the use of EMS, patients were divided into EMS and non-EMS groups. Results: The study included 873 AHF patients. One hundred were (11.5%) EMS and 773 (88.5%) non-EMS. EMS patients tended to have more comorbidities. Initial heart rate (HR) and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) differed between EMS and non-EMS patients; mean HR 89.2 (SD 22.5) vs. 83.7 (21.5) /min (p=0.02) and SpO2 90.3 (8.6) vs. 92.9 (6.6)% (p=0.01). However, on presentation to ED EMS patients' vital signs were similar to non-EMS patients'. On presentation to ED 46.0% were normotensive and 68.2% "warm and wet". Thirty-four percentage of EMS patients received prehospital medication. In-hospital mortality was 6.0% and 7.1% (p=0.84) and length of stay (LOS) 7.7 (7.0) and 8.5 (7.9) days (p= 0.36) in EMS and non-EMS groups. Conclusion: The use of EMS and administration of prehospital medication was low. EMS patients had initially worse HR and SpO2 than non-EMS patients. However, EMS patients' signs improved and were similar on presentation to ED. There was no difference in in-hospital mortality and LOS. This underscores the need for equal attention to any AHF patient independent of the arrival mode.
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(2006)The objective of this thesis is to find out how dominant firms in a liberalised electricity market will react when they face an increase in the level of costs due to emissions trading, and how this will effect the price of electricity. The Nordic electricity market is chosen as the setting in which to examine the question, since recent studies on the subject suggest that interaction between electricity markets and emissions trading is very much dependent on conditions specific to each market area. There is reason to believe that imperfect competition prevails in the Nordic market, thus the issue is approached through the theory of oligopolistic competition. The generation capacity available at the market, marginal cost of electricity production and seasonal levels of demand form the data based on which the dominant firms are modelled using the Cournot model of competition. The calculations are made for two levels of demand, high and low, and with several values of demand elasticity. The producers are first modelled under no carbon costs and then by adding the cost of carbon dioxide at 20€/t to those technologies subject to carbon regulation. In all cases the situation under perfect competition is determined as a comparison point for the results of the Cournot game. The results imply that the potential for market power does exist on the Nordic market, but the possibility for exercising market power depends on the demand level. In season of high demand the dominant firms may raise the price significantly above competitive levels, and the situation is aggravated when the cost of carbon dioixide is accounted for. Under low demand leves there is no difference between perfect and imperfect competition. The results are highly dependent on the price elasticity of demand.
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THE IMPACT OF ENDO-XYLANASES TO THE BAKING FUNCTIONALITY WHEN USING NEWLY HARVESTED WHOLEGRAIN RYE (2022)Bakeries suffer from yearly quality problems in texture of rye bread during the first two to three months after harvest when using newly harvested rye. A cave on the top of the bread below the crust is a typical defect and so are the large holes just under the crust. Previous studies indicate that the endo-xylanase activity decreases over time in the appropriate storage conditions after harvesting. The aim of this Master’s thesis was to understand the impact of the possible difference in the endo-xylanase activity in the newly harvested rye compared to 10 weeks stored rye, on the bread texture properties. The growing conditions were exceptionally dry and hot for the grain samples in this study that might have affected the results. There were six different rye samples from four different locations in Lithuania, Estonia and Finland. The hypothesis in this study was that the decrease in the endo-xylanase activity during the first months after harvest has an impact on the rye baking functionality. The endo-xylanases in a newly harvested rye flour hydrolyze the arabinoxylans in the rye doughs more efficiently compared to the rye which is stored for 10 weeks causing the breakdown of rye bread structure. The xylanase activity, α-amylase activity, fiber content and ash content of the flour samples were analyzed. Furthermore, the texture and specific volume of the bread samples were analyzed. As expected, the xylanase activity decreased over time in the storage according to the swelling number results. There was a decrease in the endo-xylanase activity, but the decrease was not significant. Despite of the decrease in the xylanase activity over time, the sensory evaluation results did not show any significant differences in the texture of the breads baked with the fresh flour samples compared to 10 weeks stored flour samples. The crumb hardness as well as the chewiness of the breads correlated negatively with the swelling curve and endo-xylanase activity results. The breads baked with the 10 weeks stored flour samples were harder compared to the ones baked with fresh flours. There was a positive correlation between the specific volume and the swelling number results as well as between the specific volume and the endo-xylanase activity results. These results confirm that the xylanase activity decreases over time in the stored grains and the decrease in the xylanase activity results in an increase in crumb hardness and decrease in specific volume of the breads.
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(2018)The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and reveal the impact of epistemic communities on the formation of international space policy in the United States and Soviet Union following the end of the Apollo era in 1969. It argues that despite the dominant narrative of Cold War space history asserting that the space race and the developments that followed were based upon competitive/realist thinking, there were numerous actors in both countries operating transnationally to transform space policy to embrace cooperation. Furthermore, this cooperation had always been a part of space history, however, various turning points in the structure of the Cold War allowed cooperation to flourish in the 1970s and 1990s, but also attempted to prevent it in the 1980s. The thesis then analyzes the effects of the Soviet collapse on this process of shaping international manned spaceflight policy and its effects on the creation of the International Space Station and use of spaceflight as a means of accomplishing foreign policy goals of the United States in the post-Cold War era. This thesis primarily employs Anthony Giddens’s theory of structuration to describe the process by which agents transformed international space policy from 1972-1992. This theory argues that agents, be they individuals or groups, can enact change to a system or structure by their ability to “act otherwise” meaning “being able to intervene in the world, or to refrain from such intervention, with the effect of influencing a specific process or state of affairs.” This thesis identifies these actors as epistemic communities as described by Peter M. Haas, who defines them as are those which focus on collaboration between groups of scientists or technicians based on a scientific context and can result in the acquiescence of national decision-makers to epistemic communities in the cooperative policy process. Therefore, the primary body of research materials comes from personal correspondence, formal agreements and memoirs generated by the engineers, administrators and other agents involved in the space policy advisement process. The thesis concludes that the historical development of manned spaceflight during the Cold War was not exclusively characterized by competition, but rather cooperation had been an essential component from the beginning. However, while competition and gaining supremacy in space was the dominant approach taken by the United States and Soviet Union, scientists, engineers and actors constituting an epistemic community took it largely upon themselves to allow cooperative projects in manned spaceflight to take place. This process often ran counter to the expressed foreign policy goals of national leaders, but ultimately succeeded thanks to continuous persuasion from the bottom up. This incremental shift towards cooperation finally overcame competition once the Soviet Union collapsed and the physical manifestations of cooperation throughout, in the form of the Mir and Freedom space stations, became the basis on which post-Cold War manned spaceflight was built.
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(2020)The European spruce bark beetle Ips typographus (L.) is a severe pest of the Norway spruce Picea abies (Karst.). The species usually attacks weakened trees, but in a consequence of a strong abiotic disturbance event, population may increase sufficiently to threaten even healthy trees. In addition to available trees for feeding and reproduction, temperature is the most important factor limiting the damage of the pest. Limiting potential of the pest’s enemies is potentially important but poorly known. There are several predator and parasite species limiting the success of I. typographus. These species are commonly known as natural enemies or natural enemy complex. Occurrences of these species are investigated in this study. Regardless of intensive studies about natural enemies, there are still remarkable gaps in knowledge. While natural enemies could theoretically be used to control pest populations, practical applications in forestry are in a very limited use. Mechanical methods, mainly sanitation and salvation loggings, are instead used to prevent outbreaks from escalating. These management practices prevent outbreak from spreading, although damage caused by loggings may also harm trees and expose these to pathogens. Possibility of using natural enemies as a part of pest control in forestry is considered in this study. Field study was conducted in SE Finland. I. typographus and natural enemy complex were sampled in 2018 by means of trapping logs settled with fixed number of I. typographus individuals. This was conducted in three different stand classes representing different gradation phases in forests to find differences between regulating potential of enemies. Stand classes were chosen based on the visible symptoms of bark beetle infestation and disturbance history. Classes were healthy (no attack), early outbreak (first symptoms and increased pest population) and declined outbreak (earlier outbreak, pest already declined near endemic level). Trapping logs with settled I. typographus were allocated to these classes, and insects emerging from trapping logs were later collected for sampling in sealed funnel traps. I. typographus population level was simultaneously monitored using pheromone traps. Differences between insect occurrences in different stand classes were statistically analysed by Kruskal-Wallis test with 0.05-level of significance for each identified enemy species and families. Spearman correlation was also used to detect any possible relations between different enemy species. Predators emerging from the logs were identified to six coleopteran families. Species were Thanasimus formicarius (Cleridae), Plegaderus vulneratus (Histeridae), Epuraea spp. (Nitidulidae), Rhizophagus spp. (Monotomidae) and from Staphylinidae Quedius plagiatus, Nudobius lentus, Phloeonomus spp., Leptusa spp. and Placusa spp. Family Elateridae was inspected as a single tested group. Predatory flies and parasitic wasps also emerged from the logs, although these were excluded from the current study. Three species had significant preference to certain outbreak classes. P. vulneratus proved most promising regulator in this study. It reproduced rapidly already during the first year of infestation. T. formicarius had significant preference for stand class, but failed to occur in sufficient numbers during the first year of infestation to have impact on the I. typographus population. Staphylids Phloeonomus spp. were very common at all stand classes but preferred healthy class. For both P. vulneratus and Phloeonomus spp. preferences for stand classes were significant, but the regulation effectiveness of these species is relatively unknown. Results suggested that limited resources in the healthy class, similar to managed forests forces both bark beetles and predators into same space, potentially increasing mortality. This result was observed by increased total numbers of beetles in the trapping logs of healthy class in comparison to outbreak classes, while simultaneously prey-predator ratio was also lower. This means that in addition to removing resources, sanitation loggings could also have increasing effect on enemy induced mortality. Small amount of deadwood potentially sustains higher endemic population of enemies, potentially increasing stands resistance to further insect induced disturbances. While some enemies were more common at the declined outbreak class, this claim was not supported by this study.
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