Browsing by Title
Now showing items 29588-29607 of 32623
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(2017)Unit labor costs have been a widely discussed topic in Finland as well as all around the world. Technically unit labor costs are calculated by a simple ratio of labor costs and output. There is a large divergency of opinion about how consistent measurement unit labor costs are for competitiveness of an economy or an industry, for example. There is no unambiguous answer how to measure cost competitiveness of a country or an industry and one should keep in mind what the unit labor costs do not measure. Also, it is two different cases to observe nominal or real unit labor costs. In the former denominator is in units of measurements, like meters or units, and in the latter is deflated by current prices. Also there is a difference in observation of development within the firms versus on the aggregate level. In the thesis the unit labor costs of Finnish industrial production are calculated from the firm specific micro data. Also, the part of the structural change and development within firms by decompositions is estimated based on microdata. Furthermore, markup of the firms is estimated by comparing price development to marginal costs of the firms, to this end there are estimated an industry specific production function, by using some micro econometric methods like fixed effects – regression. According to the results obtained the unit labor costs have increased by about two per cents in annual growth rates between 2007 and 2016. There has been lot of fluctuation in the development, especially in the beginning of the observation period. The unit labor costs increased a lot because of drop of the production caused by recession. During the following two years they decreased a little bit. After that the development has been steadier. The decomposition into the structural and within firms effect tells that the major part of the fluctuation were driven by the changes within the firms, when the structural effect was the driver of the moderate but steady increase and being actually more remarkable explainer of the annual growth rates. The markup within industrial firms decreased a little bit during the observation period. Although, should be pointed out that there is some uncertainty in production function estimates and firm specific prices and consequently markup estimates are suggestive.
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(2024)Tolerance is the pillar that ensures the safety and stability of a nation, especially for a populous and multicultural one such as Indonesia. Societal characteristics, such as diversity, may play a significant role in shaping people’s attitudes. Diversity may improve intergroup relations by encouraging positive interaction between members of different groups. On the other hand, it may have a negative influence by aggravating social tension. This thesis aims to examine how intergroup contact and diversity associate with religious tolerance in Indonesia. Due to the hierarchical nature of the problem, multilevel regression analysis was utilized for this study. This thesis also aims to investigate if the application of multilevel regression can provide any additional value to the analysis. Classical single-level linear regression was also employed as a comparison for the multilevel model and to complement the analysis. This thesis utilized a combination of national survey data and official data from government bodies. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) calculated from the model revealed that around 23% of the variation in tolerance score was due to the grouping structure in the data, which can be considered to be quite high. Religious diversity was found to be statistically significant and was able to explain a substantial amount of the variation in province level. Intergroup interaction was also found to be positively and significantly associated with tolerance score. The multilevel model was also found to correct the underestimation of standard error in single-level regression due to treating a group-level predictor as an individual-level predictor. Thus, the application of multilevel analysis provided additional value to the analysis by revealing province-level inequalities in the data and minimizing the risk of spurious significant results.
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(2014)Tutkielmassa käsitellään 2D-pelien toteutuksissa käytettävistä pelimoottoreista Unity, XNA ja MonoGame. Tutkielman menetelminä ovat kirjallisuustutkimus sekä esimerkkisovellusten avulla tehty vertailu ja pohdinta. Tietokonepeleihin tutustutaan esittelemällä pelien tyylilajeja esimerkkipelien avulla. Pelimoottoreita ja niissä käytettäviä ohjelmointikieliä tarkastellaan yleisimpien ominaisuuksien osalta. Unity käsitellään omana lukunaan ja XNA sekä MonoGame käydään läpi omana lukunaan. Lopuksi esitellään Unityllä sekä MonoGamella toteutettu esimerkkipeli. Toteutusten sekä tutkielman teorian avulla pohditaan ja vertaillaan Unityn ja MonoGamen ratkaisuja 2D-pelien totetutuksessa. 2D-pelien tyypillisistä ominaisuuksista tarkempaan tarkasteluun valitaan peliikkunoiden välinen navigointi, pelilaudan kooostaminen sekä tekstuurien ja animaatioiden toteutus.
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(2023)Goals: According to Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis, maternal prenatal factors are associated with offsprings’ health and susceptibility for non-communicable disease. In previous studies, maternal cortisol and sleep difficulty have been separately associated with multiple negative outcomes for the offspring. However, little is known about the association of maternal sleep difficulty and cortisol during pregnancy. The goal of this thesis is to examine the association of sleep difficulty and maternal diurnal cortisol during early pregnancy. Methods: The study sample (N=310) comes from the prospective pregnancy cohort study “The InTraUterine sampling in early pregnancy” (ITU). Sleep difficulty was assessed with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at early pregnancy on average 18.20 (sd=1.73) weeks gestation (between 12.43–21.86 weeks gestation). Salivary cortisol was measured seven times a day for one day: upon waking, 15 minutes after awakening, 30 minutes after awakening, at 10 a. m., at noon, at 17 p. m., and at bedtime. Salivary cortisol samples were collected between gestation weeks 12–20, on average at 18.88 weeks’ gestation (sd=1.48). General linear model and mixed design analysis of variance were used to study the association of sleep difficulty and diurnal salivary cortisol. Anxiety and depression symptoms, maternal age and education were included as covariates in general linear model analyses. Results: The total number of different kinds of sleep difficulties was not associated with salivary cortisol upon waking or at bedtime or cortisol awakening response, mean diurnal cortisol concentration, diurnal cortisol slope or diurnal cortisol change. Some specific types of sleep difficulties were associated with diurnal cortisol. Namely, greater sleep latency was associated with higher awakening cortisol and higher mean cortisol concentration. Daytime dysfunction was associated with lower awakening cortisol level and sleep disturbance (physical symptoms, that disturb sleep) was associated with flatter diurnal cortisol slope. Conclusions: Even though the total number of different kinds of sleep difficulties was not associated with diurnal cortisol, the results of this thesis suggest a possible association between specific type of maternal sleep difficulties and diurnal cortisol during early pregnancy. Longitudinal study protocols are needed to identify the possible causal mechanism between possible associations of specific sleep difficulties with cortisol during pregnancy. To examine biological fetal programming mechanisms, follow up on offspring birth weight, cognitive development and mental health should be included in these studies.
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(2017)Genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of genomic loci associated with a wide range of human conditions and quantitative traits, such as cholesterol level and diabetes. However, most of these studies have focused on analysing single traits, even the studies involving multiple related traits. Growing evidence for pleiotropy, where the same genetic locus is associated with multiple traits, supports the idea that multivariate methods could provide a remarkable boost in statistical power compared to univariate methods. In this thesis the main research question is to compare the multivariate Wald test to the corresponding univariate test, and to see when multivariate testing is more useful. My second research question is to compare the multivariate Wald test and another multivariate method called Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), and to see if they yield the same result. To examine these topics I performed a simulation study in which I simulated data set with 1,000 genotypes and 1,000 individuals. In addition I simulated bivariate phenotypes that were differently correlated with each other, and the genotypes. I performed the univariate Wald test for each trait against each genotype, and the multivariate Wald test for each trait pair against each genotype. I also performed the corresponding CCA to compare those results with the Wald test. In addition to the simulation study I performed the similar analyses for real data from The National FINRISK Study. I used three different blood lipid measurements, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides as example traits, and 157 genomic loci previously known to associate with blood lipid levels. These blood lipid levels were appropriate example traits for this study because they are correlated differently with each other, and they are differently associated with the 157 genomic loci used here. Therefore I found many different combinations of correlation between traits, and directions of genetic effects for different traits. Based on my simulation studies I can say that the multivariate testing is never much worse in terms of power to detect associations than the corresponding univariate tests, and in some cases it is much more powerful. Thus there is no reason not to do the multivariate analysis first in case of studying multiple related traits. Multivariate testing is more powerful in cases where the correlation between the traits is large and the genetic effects for the traits show opposite directions compared to the trait correlation. The least effective multivariate testing is compared to univariate testing when the correlation between the traits is small, and the directions of genetic effects is consistent with the trait correlation. Based on my results multivariate Wald test and CCA yield the same results, with some minor approximation differencies in small sample sizes.
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(2016)Tarkastelen tutkielmassani Helsingissä sijaitsevaa, vuonna 1991 Unescon maailmanperintöluetteloon liitettyä Suomenlinnaa ja siihen liittyvää arvopuhetta. Tutkielmani primääriaineisto on kerätty haastattelemalla yhtätoista Suomenlinnassa työskentelevää ja/tai asuvaa henkilöä syksyllä 2015. Tämän lisäksi olen hyödyntänyt tutkielman sekundääriaineistoina useita maailmanperintöön liittyviä dokumentteja, joista keskeisin on Suomenlinnan kestävän matkailun strategia. Tarkastelen työssäni kulttuuriperintöteoreettisen keskustelun valossa niitä ulottuvuuksia, joihin maailmanperintöön liittyvät arvot kytketään. Tutkielman analyysimenetelmiä ovat kategoria-analyysi ja retorinen analyysi. Haastatteluaineiston valossa maailmanperintöarvojen merkitys käsitetään eri tavoin ja usein myös eri tavoin kontekstista riippuen. Silloin kun säilyttäminen tai tallentaminen nähdään maailmanperinnön ensisijaisena arvona, liittyy puheeseen myös käsitys tulevista sukupolvista tallentamisen moraalisena velvoittajana. Toisaalta maailmanperintöarvot käsitetään aineistossa toisinaan myös asiantuntija-arvioksi paikan merkittävyydestä, yhteisön ja sen historian symboliksi tai kaupallista potentiaalia lisääväksi arvoksi. Maailmanperintöön liitettyjen arvojen moninaisuus korostaa käsitteen avaamisen tärkeyttä. Pääsääntöisesti haastateltavat mielsivät arvot abstraktimmin kuin sekundäärilähteenä toiminut strategiateksti, mikä vahvistaa osaltaan aiempien tutkimusten tuloksia, joissa on havaittu kulttuuriperintöammattilaisten korostavan materiaalisia arvoja useammin kuin muiden vastaajien. Tutkielmani osoittaa, että maailmanperintöarvoihin yhdistetään usein sopivana pidettyyn toimintaan liittyviä arvotuksia. Hyödynnän analyysissä subjekti- ja objektisidonnaisen autenttisuuden käsitteitä, joiden avulla erottelen maailmanperintöarvoihin kytkeytyviä käsityksiä sopivista toiminnoista. Oman aihekokonaisuutensa muodostaa Suomenlinnassa järjestetty kekritapahtuma ja opastustuotteisiin heijastuva kulutuskulttuurin murros. Käsittelen analyysissäni viimein myös eri kävijäkategorioihin liitettyjä toimintoja sekä maailmanperinnön yhteyttä talouspuheeseen. Tutkielmani perusteella maailmanperintöön liittyy paikallisella tasolla hyvin erilaisia arvoja, jotka kytkeytyvät esimerkiksi erilaisiin taloudellisiin ja identiteettipoliittisiin päämääriin. Arvopuhe konkretisoituu hyvin monenlaisten toimintojen kohdalla, ja siksi esimerkiksi oppaiden tai kävijäsegmenttien tarkempi erottelu voisi olla hedelmällinen aihe jatkotutkimukselle. Maailmanperinnön monet arvot voisivat myös pohjustaa soveltavaa, kohteen kehittämiseen pyrkivää tutkimusta ja lähestyä kulttuuriperintöön liittyviä merkityksiä esimerkiksi etnografian keinoin.
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(2020)Pro gradussani selvitän arkistotutkimuksen ja diskurssianalyysin avulla, millä tavoin rakentamisen ja julkisten palvelujen esteettömyyttä koskeva keskustelu suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa on muuttunut 1970-luvulta 2010-luvulle ja kuinka yleiset yhteiskunnalliset muutokset ja taloudellinen tilanne ovat vaikuttaneet asenteisiin esteettömyyttä ja sitä määrittävää normistoa kohtaan. Tutkimusta ohjaava ydinkysymys on, millaista suomalainen esteettömyyspolitiikka on ollut. Käytännön esteettömyys ja saavutettavuus, erityispalvelut ja asenteet ovat kehittyneet yleisten yhteiskunnallisten ja taloudellisten vaiheiden ehdoilla ja osittain niistä riippumatta. Normit ovat omalta osaltaan ohjanneet kaikkea kehitystä. Keskustelussa on vuosikymmenten aikana kilpistynyt vastakkainasettelu toisaalta esteettömyyttä turvaavien normien ja toisaalta eri yhteiskunnan aloilla ajettujen norminpurkutalkoiden välillä. Leimallista esteettömyyskeskustelulle ovat olleet myös uusliberalistisesta hyvinvointivaltion kritiikistä tutut käsitekaappaukset, jotka ovat yleistyneet varsinkin uuden julkishallinnon (NPM) myötä 1990-luvulta alkaen. Merkkejä käsitekaappauksista tosin löytyy tutkimusaineistossa jo 1970-luvulta. Ajanjaksolla voi havaita esteettömyyden politiikkaakin määrittäneen hyvinvointivaltion ja universalismin ihanteen nousun ja laskun. Huomionarvoista on se, kuka keskustelussa on puhunut, kenen puolesta ja mitkä tahot käyttävät todellista valtaa. Esimerkiksi 2010-luvulla rakennusyhtiöillä oli paljon näkyvyyttä, ne ottivat esteettömyyskeskustelussa asiantuntija-aseman, ja niiden teesejä toistivat norminpurkutalkoita ajavat poliitikot. Vammaisjärjestöt ja tutkimuksiin perustuva esteettömyysasiantuntemus on usein jäänyt sivuun, vaikka ihmisoikeusnäkökulma on viime vuosina voimistunut osin normien ansiosta. Vuonna 2016 ratifioitu YK:n vammaisten oikeuksien sopimus sitoo Suomea, jolloin siihen on voinut myös tukeutua keskustelussa. Aineiston pohjalta voidaan todeta, normien merkitys esteettömyyden kehittämisessä on ollut keskeinen koko tarkastelujakson ajan. Lainsäädännössä ovat vahvistuneet rakennusmääräysten ja subjektiivisten oikeuksien lisäksi kansalaisten vaikutusmahdollisuudet ja esim. vammais- ja vanhusjärjestöjen asema kunnallistasolla. Normien avulla kasvanut esteettömien asuntojen, asuinalueiden ja liikkumismahdollisuuksien tarjonta ovat parantaneet valinnanvapautta mm. asuinpaikan suhteen. Normien voi katsoa sekä ohjaavan että heijastavan yhteiskunnan asenteita. Asenteissa näkyvä muutos 1970-luvulta on hyvin huomattava, mutta ei itsestään syntynyt. Pohdin myös ideologioiden ja yhteiskunnallisten olosuhteiden vaikutusta, mutta niistä on vaikeampi tehdä johtopäätöstä.
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(2013)The purpose of this thesis is to study the asymmetric simple exclusion process, its asymptotics and some connections to other stochastic models. The text begins by giving some results on random matrix theory, such as the distribution function of the largest eigenvalue of a given random matrix. This is followed by a short section on the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process, which is a stochastic model of fermionic particles jumping only in one direction on a one-dimensional lattice. The probability that a given particle has jumped m times is then shown to be equal to the distribution of the largest eigenvalue of a specific type of a random matrix analyzed earlier. As this hints at some kind of universality, the particle model is then generalized to the asymmetric simple exclusion process, in which the particles can jump left or right. It turns out this model does not have the simple determinantal structure the earlier models had. The asymptotics of the model will then be analyzed, and it turns out there is a large universality class that encompasses all the models analyzed in the text. The reader is expected to be familiar with basic measure theory and complex analysis.
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(2018)I arbetet undersöker vi ett nytt och relativt outforskat område inom den matematiska analysen kallat universalitet. Idén är att utgående från ett enda element och med hjälp av någon divergerande eller "kaotisk" process approximera en hel klass med element. Mer formellt kan processen ses som en familj av kontinuerliga avbildningar från ett rum X till ett rum Y. Om det existerar ett sådant element i X att familjen avbildar detta till en tät mängd i Y kallas detta element för ett universellt element och familjen för en universell familj. I arbetet definierar och undersöker vi universalitetens egenskaper, olika exempel på universalitet, samt en förenklad version av universalitet kallad hypercyklicitet och det till universalitet nära förknippade fenomenet topologisk transitivitet. Till slut visar vi även hur teorin via den topologiska transitiviteten även är kopplad till de dynamiska systemens kaosteori.
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Universitetsstuderandes upplevda självförmåga gällande studier i svenska vid Helsingfors universitet (2024)Denna avhandling handlar om universitetsstuderandes upplevda självförmåga gällande studier i svenska på Helsingfors universitet. Tidigare forskning har visat att både kunskaperna i och motivationen för svenskstudier på alla utbildningsnivåer har sjunkit. På grund av detta undersöker avhandlingen hurdana upplevelser av självförmåga universitetsstuderande har i förhållande till sina svenskstudier på universitet. Syftet med avhandlingen är att ta reda på hur universitetsstuderande upplever sin självförmåga till studier i svenska samt om dessa upplevelser har ett samband med studerandenas intresse för svenskstudier och den arbetsinsats de är beredda att lägga ner på studierna. Dessutom undersöker jag om studerandenas kön, utbildningsområde och eventuell avlagt studentexamensprov i svenska som andra inhemska språk har en inverkan på dessa faktorer. Ämnet har inte studerats i Finland tidigare i en kontext av svenskundervisning på högskolenivå. Materialet består av 132 enkätsvar som har samlats in hösten 2023 och våren 2024. Deltagarna är universitetsstuderande vid Helsingfors universitet som höll på att genomföra en kurs i svenska på hösten 2023 eller våren 2024. Materialet har analyserats statistiskt med programmet SPSS. Analysmetoderna som har använts är explorativ faktoranalys, reliabilitetstest och test på normalfördelningen. Dessutom har Spearmans korrelationstest använts för att undersöka faktorernas korrelation samt t-tester för att undersöka skillnader mellan tre olika grupper. Forskningsresultaten visar att universitetsstuderandena upplever sin självförmåga gällande studier i svenska relativt neutralt eller tämligen positivt och att den arbetsinsats de är beredda att lägga ner på studier i svenska är förhållandevis liten. Upplevd självförmåga och arbetsinsats för studier i svenska visade en positiv men måttlig korrelation med varandra. Hur intressant studerandena tyckte kursen i svenska hade varit hade en positiv och måttlig korrelation med upplevd självförmåga och en stark positiv korrelation med arbetsinsats för studier i svenska. Hur mycket arbete studerandena lagt ner på kursen hade en statistiskt signifikant korrelation endast med arbetsinsatsen för kursen. Måttliga skillnader fanns mellan manliga och kvinnliga studerande gällande arbetsinsatsen för studier i svenska och vad gäller den upplevda självförmågan fanns en signifikant skillnad mellan studerande som avlagt studentexamensprovet i svenska som andra inhemska språk och studerande som inte avlagt provet. Resultaten pekar på att kvinnor är beredda att lägga ner mer arbete på sina svenskstudier och studerande som tidigare avlagt studentprovet i svenska upplever en högre grad av självförmåga.
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(2021)Study-related burnout is a growing problem among university students. Study-related burnout is defined by exhaustion related to studying, a cynical attitude towards studying and feelings of inadequacy. Burnout can be caused by an overtaxing workload and by a lack of personal, social, or material resources. Stress is a natural part of life, but chronic stress can lead to illness and burnout. Students experience stress in their studies and interventions aiming to reduce stress and prevent burnout are therefore necessary. Psychological flexibility increases wellbeing and prevents burnout and is also related to enhanced learning. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is focused on improving psychological flexibility. Good study skills can also prevent burnout. The aim of this study was to examine university students’ experiences of an online ACT-based intervention that aims to increase psychological flexibility and enhance wellbeing and learning. The aim was also to compare the experiences of two groups of students based on their change in study-related burnout during the course. The participants wrote reflective diaries that were qualitatively analyzed using inductive category development and categories that describe students’ experiences of the intervention were formed. The result of this study shows that students had benefited from the course and described effects on both wellbeing and learning. Students in both study groups experienced effects on wellbeing and learning. The importance of peer-support during studying was discussed, which highlights the need for support from peers who experience similar difficulties and concerns. There were also mentions of negative experiences which the students gave as explanations to why a part of the course had not been effective in enhancing their wellbeing and learning. These categories were more often discussed by students whose risk for burnout had increased during the course. Several categories under the themes of positive experiences of effects on wellbeing and learning were more often discussed by students whose risk for burnout had decreased during the course. The result of this study shows that the ACT-based intervention can be regarded as effective in improving wellbeing and studying, and experiences of the intervention were in general positive. Integration of similar interventions in study programs would be beneficial.
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(2016)Since its creation the internet and especially SNSs (Social Networking Sites, e.g. Facebook, Twitter) have faced high expectations of political deliberation in the academic discussion. Empirical research has found both positive and negative evidence of online deliberation, although the majority of the research gives a rather discouraging image of internet’s potential to enhance political deliberation. The aim of this thesis is to examine the potential of social media to serve as an arena for deliberation by looking at the attitudes toward the deliberative ideal. The research questions are the following. To what extent people see social media as a platform for political deliberation? When do people share their political or societal opinions online? What are the motivations behind the decisions of taking part to the discussion, that is, sharing societal or political opinions online? Theoretical framework stems from the deliberative democracy theory. Deliberative democracy is a conception of democracy that underscores rational-critical discussion as a source of democratic legitimacy. John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas are often regarded as the most notable political writers of the last century and their writings have influenced greatly the deliberative democracy theory. In the theory section, Rawls’ and Habermas’ accounts regarding deliberation will be presented before taking a look at the deliberative democracy online. Empirically the study utilises the qualitative attitude approach method (Vesala and Rantanen, 2007). In qualitative attitude approach attitudes are understood as stances that are constructed in human interaction. Qualitative attitude approach utilises its own empirical methodology. It is based on semi-structured interviews that consist of attitude statements. The presumption is that attitudes can be examined by analysing the verbal expressions. The interview data is analysed as a commentary that consists of comments and their reasoning. For this study, ten students were interviewed about their attitudes toward social media as an arena for political deliberation. The results reflect the previous research. Participants agreed with the deliberative ideal but in practice they saw many obstacles for political deliberation online. When participating in online deliberation was evaluated positively, the reasons were that participating is important, political discussion online is educational, fun and easier as political discussion face-to-face and that by participating one can find support for own views. When participating in online deliberation was evaluated negatively, the reasons were fear of criticism, unwillingness to cause controversy, lack of interest and increased level of self-awareness.
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(2020)Epistemic beliefs are somewhat stable conceptions of what knowledge is. On one hand, they have been suggested to be a developmental sequence, and on the other hand, consist of multiple intertwined dimensions. The aim of this study is to research the connections in university students’ epistemic beliefs, and their relation to academic disciplines and academic achievement. Previous studies have suggested that while some disciplinary differences exist, the more relativistic epistemic beliefs have generally been seen as more sophisticated ones. These more relativistic epistemic beliefs have previously been shown to be positively connected to better academic achievement. A person-oriented approach is applied in this study, to provide a tangible perspective to the students’ epistemic beliefs. The sample consisted of 831 first-year students from University of Helsinki from years 2013 and 2014. The data used in the study was part of Mind the Gap –project, and it was collected with a multi-sectioned questionnaire, mainly from large introductory courses. Additional data from the study register was used to examine academic achievement. The data was analyzed statistically with SPSS, using TwoStep cluster analysis, crosstabs, and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA). Three epistemic profiles were found: Non-Reflective Students, Reflective Theorists, and Practical Academics. Some significant differences, supported by earlier research, were found in the representation of the identified epistemic profiles in the faculties. Reflective Theorists were broadly represented in the Faculty of Social Sciences and sparse in the Faculty of Medicine. Additionally, Practical Academics were largely present in the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, and Non-Reflective Students in the Faculty of Law. In regards to Study Performance, Reflective Theorists had significantly higher Study Performance (GPA) than the two other profiles. This study overall broadened the comprehensive understanding of university students’ epistemic beliefs, and can be useful in planning university studies and student intake locally.
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(2024)It has been found by multiple research projects that subjective and objective measurements of greenery often do not match when measured for the same area. Some even say that this is due to these measurements considering different attributes of the greenery. However, one important factor to consider in this equation is the impact of personal characteristics of the people providing subjective greenery measurements. Factors such as age, gender, worldview and education level have been found to have an impact on how and how much people perceive greenery. As there seem to be very few studies regarding this topic which focus on people with a higher education, the participants of this study are all university students from four of the largest cities or areas in Finland: the Helsinki Capital Region, Tampere, Oulu and Turku. One of the objectives of this study are to see whether participants perceive the same amount of urban greenery as the objective amount, calculated using the “normalized difference vegetation index”. Another objective is to research whether subjective perception is dependent on whether the participant is a resident of the city, for which they are estimating the urban greenery percentage. This study also looks into whether there is a correlation between age and urban greenery perception or difference between genders regarding the perception of urban greenery. The results show that the participants tend to overestimate the amount of greenery, and that residents always perceive their home city to be greener than at least some non-residents. No significant connections were found in the tests concerning age and gender. This highlights the importance of considering personal characteristics and perceptions of people when developing new green spaces.
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(2016)The aim of this study was to look into university students' expectancies and achievement strategies regarding their domain studies and how they develop through the first three years of academic studies. The study also examines the differences of the development of these components between five academic domains. According to previously formulated theories (Carver, Scheier & Segerstrom, 2010; Eccles & Wigfield, 1983; Nurmi & Salmela-Aro, 1998), these aspects play an important role in motivation and learning in academic related context. In this study the three year trajectories were especially of interest, as they might offer some new insight and also present ideas for further research regarding motivation and success in academic education. This study started as a part of RYM Indoor Environment Program (TEKES, 2011-2015) and continued as a part of Mind the Gap Between Digital Natives and Educational Practices -project (Academy of Finland's Human Mind program, 2013-2016). The participants in the first year were 498 students from two different universities. In the three-year follow-up, 215 of these students continued to participate. Five disciplines were presented in the study; teacher education, chemistry, law, theology and engineering. The study was conducted as a quantitative research and the data was collected by a self-report questionnaire over three years' period and by accumulation of credits retrieved from universities' records. The five studied disciplines seem to start their studies in equivalent position – the first academic year appears to be perceived as positive and valuable, with low levels of task-avoidance, although some differences were found in domain value. When proceeding to second academic year, some differing trajectories between disciplines were recognized. While some domains' students seem to value their studies, other domains' students showed to decrease in the level of perceived domain value. Positively, optimism proved to increase in all disciplines between first and second year as well as between second and third year. However, task-avoidance, which has been found to predict poor academic performance and low satisfaction (Nurmi et al. 2003), showed to remain stable throughout the three years. Educational implications of these trajectories are also discussed in this study.
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(2024)As part of the European Green Deal, the European Union has set a goal to increase its domestic raw material extraction by 2030. The EU Critical Raw Materials Act lays out concrete goals for securing and strengthening EU’s domestic supply of critical raw materials. The Critical Raw Materials Act will potentially have significant impacts on land use in Europe’s mineral rich regions. These include northern Fennoscandia which is also home to the Indigenous Sámi inhabiting Sápmi. Extractive projects have multifaceted impacts on local communities and the environment, and mining-related conflicts are on the rise globally. The EU’s goal to increase mining domestically calls for the critical assessment of mining from the perspective of justice. The theoretical framework of this thesis comprises of environmental justice and extractivism. The geographical focus of this thesis is on mining in the northern parts of Fennoscandia – Norway, Sweden and Finland. My research question is: how do different stakeholders from Norway, Sweden and Finland view increasing mining in northern Fennoscandia from an environmental justice perspective? My method is critical discourse analysis consisting of three levels of analysing discourse: textual, interpretative, and critical. I combine perspectives of environmental justice to the study of discourse and apply an environmental justice framework consisting of procedural, recognition and epistemic justice. My data consists of stakeholder feedback submitted to the European Commission’s open online consultation on the Critical Raw Materials Act proposal. The aim is to understand how different stakeholders consider environmental justice aspects as part of increasing extractive activities in northern Fennoscandia. The analysis reveals that most stakeholders agree with the need to increase mining of critical raw materials, and the northernmost Fennoscandia is coined as an important location for mining critical raw materials. Regions emphasize the involvement of local communities and the positive contributions of mining locally. Sámi representatives underline Indigenous rights and strengthening Sámi participation in decision-making. Business actors emphasize the need to accelerate mining permitting processes and to reassess environmental legislation in the context of mining projects. Many stakeholders view technological solutions as a means to conduct mining sustainably, and business actors in particular call for a change of attitudes towards mining. A critical analysis reveals that in terms of environmental justice the discourse is rather limiting; local and traditional knowledge and livelihoods are not thoroughly addressed, and the environment is viewed mainly as a resource.
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(2014)Unkarin koulujärjestelmä ei eroa paljon Suomen järjestelmästä. Oppivelvollisuus kestää 18-vuotiaaksi ja julkinen valtion ylläpitämä koulutus on maksutonta. Lisäksi on yksityisiä kouluja. Kömal on vuonna 1984 perustettu unkarilainen matematiikkalehti, joka järjestää kuukausittain matematiikkakilpailuja unkarilaisille koululaisille. Kilpailutehtävistä löytyy Kömalin verkkosivulta englanninkieliset käännökset, ja ne ovat kaikkien saatavilla. Suomessa matematiikkakilpailut eivät ole yhtä suosittuja kuin Unkarissa, mutta tarjolla on sekä kansallisia että kansainvälisiä kilpailuja. Tähän työhön olen suomentanut 116 kilpailutehtävää eri vuosilta. Kaikki tehtävät ovat kilpailun helpoimmasta kategoriasta. Ainakin tässä kategoriassa oli eniten geometrian tehtäviä. Tehtävien luokittelu eri aihealueisiin ei kuitenkaan ollut aina helppoa, sillä lähes kaikkien tehtävien ratkaisemiseen tarvitaan osaamista useilta matematiikan osa-alueilta. Analysoimieni tehtävien perusteella unkarilaiset matematiikan tehtävät ovat haastavampia ja moniulotteisempia kuin suomalaiset tehtävät. Suomessa matematiikka pilkotaan osa-alueisiin, joiden välinen yhteys saattaa jäädä epäselväksi. Unkarilaisen mallin mukaan matematiikka on yksi iso kokonaisuus, jossa kaikki palaset liittyvät toisiinsa. Analysoimani tehtävät olivat kilpailutehtäviä, eivätkä siis välttämättä vastaa unkarilaisten oppikirjojen tehtäviä. Kaikki analysoimani tehtävät ovat kilpailun helpoimmasta kategoriasta, jossa nuorin kilpailijaryhmä luokille 1-8 eli 6-14-vuotiaille oppilaille. Näistä suurin osa tehtävistä on mielestäni liian haastavia suomalaisille peruskoululaisille, tietysti kilpailuun osallistuminen ylipäätään edellyttää matemaattista harrastuneisuutta.
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(2020)Tutkielmani analysoi Porvoon piispa John Vikströmin Unkariin ja Tšekkoslovakiaan vuosina 1975–1976 suuntautuneita matkoja. Tarkastelen työssäni matkojen motiiveja, rakennetta sekä niiden poliittista ja yhteiskunnallista viitekehystä. Hahmotan näiden matkojen perusteella Vikströmin itään suuntautuneen toiminnan kokonaisuutta 1970-luvun puolivälin poliittisissa jännitteissä. Tutkielmani hyödyntää laajaa lähdepohjaa, joka koostuu pääasiassa Kirkkohallituksen Ulkoasianosaston arkistoaineistosta sekä Vikströmin matkaa käsittelevästä sanomalehtiaineistosta. Toteutan kyseisten matkojen historiatapahtumaprosessin kuvauksen tarkastelemalla sisältöanalyyttisesti kyseistä materiaalia. Lisäksi hahmotan Vikströmin toiminnan historiallista ilmenemistä suhteessa ajan yhteiskunnallisiin ja poliittisiin virtauksiin aiheeseen liittyvää tutkimuskirjallisuutta hyödyntäen. Vikströmin matkojen taustalla oli Suomen evankelisluterilaisen kirkon kansainvälistymiskehitys sekä Suomen poliittinen asema idän ja lännen välisenä liittoutumattomana valtiona. Liittoutumattomuus ja Neuvostoliiton kanssa solmittu YYA-sopimus vaikuttivat Suomen kirkon mahdollisuuteen toimia rautaesiripun kummallakin puolella. Tutkielmani osoittaa, että Vikström omaksui tutkimusajankohtana Suomen virallisen ulkopolitiikan linjan. Piispa vältti puuttumista sosialististen valtioiden uskontovapaustilanteeseen sekä tuomasta julkisuudessa esiin itä-Euroopan kirkkojen ja niiden jäsenten kohtaamaa sortoa ja ihmisoikeusloukkauksia. Itsesensuurin käytäntö oli tutkimusajankohtana yleinen koko Suomen evankelisluterilaisen kirkon ylätasolla. Valtion ulkopoliittisten intressien myötäily perustui kirkon pyrkimykseen turvata Suomen itsemääräämisoikeus, joka itänaapurin kannalta koettiin uhkaksi. Neuvostoliiton kansandemokraattista järjestelmää pidettiin vahingollisena uskonnonvapauden toteutumiselle, minkä takia Suomen itsenäisyyden säilyttäminen oli myös Suomen kirkon etu.
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(2019)Goals: The aim of this study is to examine how Hungarian Finnish language students produce word and sound durations in disyllabic words that consist of one foot. The focus of this study was to find out, do Hungarian speakers produce the foot-based durations the same way Finns do. These are examined from the very beginning of the students’ Finnish studies and changes in vowel durations are investigated both in read and imitated speech. Finnish and Hungarian prosody has been studied quite a lot, but as far as is known this kind of study of durations has not been done before. Methods and materials: This study consisted of speech production experiment, acoustic analysis and statistical analyses. Four students who had only just started their Finnish studies in the beginning of the investigation took part in the experiment. The experiment was repeated similarly three times during fall semester, so that each subject took part in the experiment three times. The speech production experiment had three parts: reading, imitating and reading again. The test material consisted of disyllabic words, both Finnish words and pseudo words, and the word structures were CVCV and CVCCV (where CC was always a geminate). Altogether 3837 words were analyzed in the study. The relative vowel durations were studied statistically using t tests and linear mixed effects model. Results and conclusions: Based on this study, Hungarian subjects produce Finnish foot-based durations very similarly to a native Finnish speaker. Although the statistical analyses showed that there was a significant difference in the relative vowel durations in CVCV and CVCCV words between the Finnish speaker and subjects, overall the vowels behaved the same way in their speech in different word structures. When the initial syllable was light, the second-syllable vowel was longer than when the initial syllable was heavy. In the CVCCV words then the subjects’ relative vowel durations were longer than in CVCV structured words. The examination of the relative vowel durations indicates that Hungarian speakers have an underlying ability to produce Finnish foot-based quantity. A natural subject for further study would be an examination of this phenomena with Hungarian test words, since the foot-based durations has not presumably been studied in Hungarian language. Could it be possible that Hungarian quantity system was foot-timed likewise Estonian and Finnish? Also, examination of the quantity production of other than Finno-Ugric language speakers would be interesting and welcomed topic for future research.
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(2017)Tutkielman lähtökohta Tutkielmassa pyritään selvittämään, käytetäänkö unkarin kielessä prosodisia keinoja fokuksen ilmaisemisessa. Tutkittavina ominaisuuksina ovat perustaajuuden ja vokaalien kestojen vaihtelut eri fokuskonditioissa. Kyseinen aihe valittiin, koska prosodian tutkimus on erittäin tärkeä, mutta vähän huomioitu ala käännöstieteessä. Lisäksi aiempien tutkimusten toisistaan eroavat tulokset vaativat aiheen jatkokäsittelyä. Kimmokkeena tutkielmalle toimivat samasta aiheesta, mutta suomen kielestä tehdyt tutkimukset. Näkökulmana kautta tutkielman onkin unkarin ja suomen prosodisten piirteiden vertailu. Aineisto ja menetelmät Aineistona on 10 unkarinkielisen koehenkilön ääneen lukemia SVO-rakenteisia lauseita, jotka esiintyvät neljässä eri fokuskonditiossa, jotka ovat 1) laaja fokus, 2) kapea fokus subjektilla, 3) kapea fokus verbillä sekä 4) fokus sekä subjektilla että verbillä. Lausetyyppejä on yhdeksän, joiden kunkin subjekti ja verbi ovat kaksitavuisia. Kaikkiaan tutkittavia lauseita on 1074. Äänitykseen on käytetty PsychoPy-alustalla luotua interaktiivista ohjelmaa. Äänitettyjen lauseiden subjektit ja verbit on segmentoitu Praat-ohjelmalla tavuiksi ja tavujen ydinvokaaleiksi. Tutkimuksessa datana on Praatin ProsodyPro-skriptillä erotellut eri tavujen maksimiperustaajuudet ja eri ydinvokaalien kestot. Fokuksen vaikutusta perustaajuuksiin ja vokaalikestoihin tarkastellaan tilastollisesti sekamallin avulla. Tulokset Tutkimuksessa havaitaan, että fokuskonditio vaikuttaa siihen, kuinka paljon maksimiperustaajuus muuttuu subjektin ensimmäisen ja toisen tavun välillä. Subjektin ollessa fokuksessa perustaajuus laskee erityisen jyrkästi verrattuna muihin fokuskonditioihin. Muut perustaajuuteen liittyvät löydökset eivät ole tilastollisesti merkitseviä, mutta niissäkin on havaittavissa trendejä. Fokuksen vaikutus subjektin ensimmäisen tavun sekä verbin molempien tavujen kestoon on tilastollisesti merkitsevä: kukin tavu on pidempi kyseisen sanan ollessa fokusoituna kuin laajassa fokuksessa ja toisaalta tavut ovat lyhyempiä, jos fokuksessa on lauseen toinen tutkittava sana. Tulokset ovat samansuuntaisia kuin aiemmin suomesta saadut tulokset sekä jotkin aiemmin unkarista saadut tulokset. Jatkotutkimuksissa olisi perusteltua tehdä myös havaintokokeita sekä käsitellä kontrastiivista fokusta. Tämän tutkimuksen tuloksia voi hyödyntää esimerkiksi tekstistä puheeseen ja puheesta tekstiin -kääntimissä ja ylipäätään kielen mallinnuksessa sekä kielenopetuksessa. Prosodian tiedostaminen on tärkeää myös esimerkiksi tulkille.
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