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  • Tuoriniemi, Iiris (2019)
    Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a promising processing method for the next generation semiconductor devices. Major advantages of ALD include conformality, uniformity over large areas, precise thickness control, repeatability and high quality of films produced. ALD thin film deposition is done inside an ALD reactor. Typical construction materials of ALD reactors include metal alloys such as stainless steel, aluminum and titanium. These materials contain multiple metallic elements that can be detrimental to the performance, reliability and yield of semiconductor devices. In order to process semiconductor devices with ALD, metal impurity levels originating from the ALD reactor must be controlled. Allowed levels of metal impurities in semiconductor processing are stringent and showing a tightening trend. This has led into the development of new methods for contamination control together with the adoption of more sensitive and robust detection methods for metallic impurities, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This master thesis focuses on the metallic impurities originating from an ALD reactor and their prevention with ALD coatings. Three typical construction materials, aluminum, titanium and stainless steel were examined. The studied coatings were ALD deposited aluminum oxide (Al2O3), hafnium oxide (HfO2) and their nanolaminate (Al2O3/HfO2). The ability of the coatings to prevent metal impurity transfer from the metals to silicon substrates through the gas phase was studied by exposing the coated metals to two ALD precursors, trimethyl aluminum (TMA) and tris(dimethylamino) cyclopentadienyl hafnium (CpHf(NMe2)3). Metal impurity concentrations on silicon were measured with ICP-MS. Since academic literature concerning control of metal contamination from ALD reactors does not directly exist, the literature part of this thesis was based on relevant related topics. The selected topics included the development of semiconductor industry, role of ALD in this development and new ALD materials and chemistries required. Additionally, protective ALD films and the effects of metal impurities in semiconductor products were reviewed. The overall conclusion of this study was that the ALD coatings provide a worthy solution for metal contamination control. Some differences between the passivation efficiencies of different metal – coating systems were found.
  • Malkamäki, Henriikka (2023)
    Tropical coral reefs are amongst the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. In recent decades, coral reefs have suffered an unprecedented decline in habitat-forming hard coral cover due to anthropogenic stressors, with severe impacts on ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. Some of the pressing issues that coral reefs are facing can be mitigated through active reef restoration, such as coral transplantation, which aims to increase the hard coral cover, biodiversity, and structural complexity of a reef site. Studies on the passive benefits that increase the natural recovery potential and resilience of coral reefs following active restoration efforts remain scarce. In collaboration with Indo Ocean Project, this study aimed to compare benthic recruitment patterns between three coral sites located within the Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area, Indonesia. The reef sites included a restoration site with gardened Acropora corals, a natural site, and a rubble site that could serve as a restoration site. The experiment was conducted using standardized settlement tiles to measure and observe various response variables as indicators for the natural recovery potential and resilience capacity of the reef. The sites were also surveyed for their benthic reef cover, structural complexity, and fish abundance and community composition. The research objective was to find out how benthic recruitment patterns differ between restoration and natural reef sites, and why. The results confirm that active coral reef restoration efforts induce co-benefits in the benthic environment through enhanced structural complexity, leading to subsequent increases in overall fish abundance and particularly the number of herbivorous fish, and thus to a lower density of turf algae. These are promising findings for the later development of the reef site. The results do not imply that restoration efforts directly translate into enhanced coral recruitment or increases in crustose coralline algae abundance. However, the plentiful supply of spats observed at the restoration site indicates that local coral recruitment can improve over time after the transplanted corals have healed from transplantation stress and become fecund. Finally, the current rubble area can be expected to function as a restoration area in the future, as it appears to be within the reach of coral recruits. This study demonstrates that active coral reef restoration can yield benefits for the whole benthic ecosystem, and thereby aid recovery and strengthen resilience at localized scales. Given the accelerated rate of coral reef degradation, regular monitoring of restoration success is crucial to avoid loss of information regarding the benefits of active coral reef restoration for the fragile benthic ecosystem.
  • Kaukonen Lindholm, Olli Veikko (2020)
    The focus of this thesis is on the recent changes in ethnic and class relations that have taken place in Bolivia since the beginning of the 21st century with the expansion of the economic middle class and the rise of the indigenous movements, Evo Morales and his socialist party to political power. This is approached through the medium of coca leaf, a key symbol of the Central Andean indigenous peoples, and its chewing that has recently been appropriated by all social layers of Bolivia. The recent popularity of coca challenges the race-based class structure of Bolivia, where prejudices on indigenous peoples have been epitomised in coca. The realities of social change are investigated by looking into the contemporary perceptions that Bolivians have towards coca, and how its increasing use reflects the changing identities and relations between different social layers. The city of Tarija was chosen as the primary field site as coca is commonly chewed there publicly. As previous anthropological research on coca has mainly been conducted in rural surroundings, this thesis illuminates how the leaf is used by the urban population of Bolivia. The principle research questions are: How is the chewing of coca leaf perceived and practiced by the different layers, of the contemporary society of Tarija, and how does this contribute to the production of separate ethnic and class identities, but also national and departmental unity? This thesis is mostly based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Bolivia between 3 December 2018 and 23 February 2019, of which two months were spent in the city of Tarija and it surroundings, while one month of supplementary research was conducted in other parts of Bolivia. In addition to participant observation, the material collected included 14 recorded interviews as well as 63 informal interviews. Besides ethnographic data, this thesis also analyses the history of coca leaf at the epicentre of racial and social relations of Bolivian society, which also includes its place as one of the main ingredients of the global drug trade. As the perceptions surrounding coca are linked to its possible narcotic qualities and medical applicability, an analysis of the medicinal value of the coca leaf is included to provide a background for the claims made by the interviewees. To approach the multiple meanings of the coca leaf, this thesis employs a locally engaged theory. Anthropological concepts and theories of multiple origins are employed and applied throughout the ethnographical analysis to build a multi-sited and encompassing understanding of coca chewing. The identities are approached from an intersectional perspective to show the complexity of identity building, where gender, age, race and class are in interaction with each other. The reasons that members of different groups give for coca chewing and how these reasons work to create differences between the chewers are analysed to demonstrate how the traditional upper and middle classes of Tarija do not partake in the key symbolism that coca has for the Central Andean indigenous peoples. Instead, they perceive coca as an ancient medicine, a national emblem that works to create unity between all Bolivians by connecting them to their shared indigenous roots, while the chewing of the leaf for work-related reasons, as a stimulant, is perceived to be practiced mainly by the rural population and the working class. By further differentiating the zones of coca production to traditional producers and narcotraffickers, and as also demonstrated with an analysis on the public chewing of coca, this thesis argues that through coca chewing, the traditional upper and middle classes are able to overpass the racism previously employed in demonstrations against Evo Morales and his socialist party. Their new rhetoric highlights national unity regardless of class or ethnicity in the name of democracy. The ambiguous relation that the people of Tarija have towards coca reflects the ambiguous relations that exist between the different social layers of the city. The increasing popularity of coca reflects the social change that has diluted the colonial race-based boundaries between social classes, but also the limits of this change, as many of the prejudices and stereotypes previously attached to race and coca, instead of disappearing, have been reassigned to low income levels and political affiliation.
  • Kangasjärvi, Emilia (2012)
    This thesis is an ethnographic study of chadō, the Japanese way of Tea, with particular focus on the social and communal aspects present in a formal Tea event, a chaji. Perhaps as a result of the closed nature of the Japanese way of Tea (an invitation from the host is required in order to take part in a chaji) previous studies of the subject in English have confined themselves primarily to the aesthetic or artistic nature of chadō. In contrast, this study emphasizes the ritual and symbolic aspects of a chaji, examining Tea (the term used to describe chadō within the study), as a transition ritual, the ultimate goal of which is enlightenment or tranquillity. Through a comprehensive analysis of Tea and its practice, the findings of this study suggest that a special social-sphere is created during a chaji, a sphere which in turn fosters a sense of shared community between the participants. As a result of the ritual practice and the manifestation of symbolic communication within a chaji, shared values of respect and harmony are affirmed and renewed among the community. The initial fieldwork for this study was conducted over a period of three months in Kyōto Japan, based on participant observation at the Urasenke school of Tea as well as through conducting interviews with some of the school’s students. This first-hand observation and research was then filtered through the lens of transition rituals as defined by the classic study Rite de passage of Van Gennep and Victor Turner’s conceptualization of society and rituals. In linking the data to these theoretical frameworks, the findings show that in participating in a chaji, Tea practitioners are able to leave the mundane world behind them, moving through a phase of symbolic cleansing, and into the sacred or spiritual realm of Tea. This transition occurs in three distinct phases which Van Gennep defines as separation, transition, and incorporation. The study argues that it is possible to view a sense of shared community among chaji practitioners as taking place not within the realm of structured society, but rather in its margins. As such, the individual participant of a chaji is no longer defined by his or her status or role in society at large; when participating in a chaji, the Tea practitioner is sharing in a 'once in a lifetime' experience of shared communal harmony. The findings also suggest that through its focus on traditional Japanese art forms (ceramics, calligraphy, flower arrangement), Tea operates as a mechanism to create a communal experience with a shared value system. Although chadō is defined by its adherents as being quintessentially Japanese, this study makes comparisons to other consumption rituals in which a communal feeling is achieved among the participants.
  • Huttunen, Juri (2022)
    This study examines the use of migrants or asylum seekers as a means of pressure by States towards other States. The term ‘coercive engineered migration’ (CEM) by Kelly Greenhill, denoting cross-border population movements that are deliberately created or manipulated in order to induce political, military and/or economic concessions from a target State or States, is used as the factual framework in this study to describe the phenomenon under examination. Inspired by the recent events between Belarus and its neighbours, this study looks at a situation, where a sending State, outside the EU and CoE, is deliberately sending asylum seekers to its neighbour, the receiving State, being an EU and CoE Member State. The research question guiding this study is: ‘Can an EU and CoE member State receiving asylum seekers in connection to a situation of coercive engineered migration prevent the entry into its territory from said individuals?’ An answer is attempted via doctrinal analysis of the receiving State’s rights under the jus ad bellum and parallel obligations under international human rights law, namely obligations relating to non-refoulement and collective expulsion of aliens under the ECHR. It is submitted that a CEM situation may amount up to a use of force and where it does, in order to draw a balance between the State’s rights and the human rights of the asylum seekers, the receiving State should be able to derogate from its collective expulsion-related obligations under the ECHR and the EU Fundamental Rights Charter in order to close off a portion of its land border to defend itself against the CEM situation deliberately created by the sending State.
  • Mittler, Cea (2016)
    The aim of this Thesis is to evaluate the underlying access regulation pertaining to LNG terminals resulting in the coexistence of unregulated and regulated LNG terminals. Correspondingly comparing the situation on liberalised markets with the proposed regulation in Finland. There are two ground presumptions that lays down the frame for the Thesis. The first presumption believes that a liberalised market model is better for Finland compared to the current isolated market status. The rationale is based on the common targets set by the EU supporting the full implementation of the Third Gas Directive and opening the market for competition. Although the argumentation of the Thesis support a liberalised market, there are certain concerns lingering in the legislative air pertaining to the LNG terminal access regime. In light of these the Thesis’s discussion is built around these possible shortcomings. As the thesis concludes that a well-formulated, thoughtful and comprehensive liberalisation will bring about more advantages than disadvantages, a thoroughly discussion on the market triggers will be given. The second presumption is that regulated and unregulated regimes are not good or bad per se, the decision to choose between them by regulators should take into account the characteristics of the market. As will be later demonstrated, many regulatory schemes are hybrid, showing features of both access regimes. These two presumptions embodies the supporting pillars of this Thesis, the theme of which is the relationship between and the evaluation of unregulated and regulated access to LNG terminals. The object is to discuss and evaluate the legal framework around access regimes pertaining to LNG terminals and consequently add content to the presumptions. The complexity of the questions is demonstrated by the opinions given by market participants during the comment round of the proposal. There is a visible opposition to apply the reformed NGMA to off-grid terminals. These opinions, the opposition and the arguments surrounding the proposed legislation, gives this Thesis its core. However, this is not only a national resistance but a commonly discussed question: whether the access regime, where a coexistence of both unregulated and regulated access regimes is applicable, fully serve the intention of a liberalised LNG market?
  • Lv, Guowei (2014)
    This master thesis discusses two main tasks of computational etymology. First, finding cognates in multilingual text. Second, finding underlying correspondence rules by aligning cognates. For the first part, I briefly described two categories of methods in identifying cognates: symbol based and phonetic based. For the second part, I described the Etymon project, which I had been working in. The Etymon project uses a probabilistic method and Minimum Description Length principle to align cognate sets. The objective of this project is to build a model which can automatically find as much information in the cognates as possible without linguistic knowledge as well as find genetic relationship between those languages. I also discussed the experiment that I did to explore the uncertainty in the data source.
  • Michelsson, Erica (2021)
    nformation and computer technologies (ICT), and to assess the relationships of cognitive ability and key factors relating to ICT use and attitudes. This study assessed a number of ICT related factors including internet addiction, smartphone and tablet use, social media use, computer self-efficacy, negative attitudes towards ICT, positive expectations towards ICT, and ICT use for work. Methods: The study sample was part of the PLASTICITY (Perinatal Adverse events and Special Trends in Cognitive Trajectory) -study. The sample consisted of a Finnish cohort born between 1971–1974 (n = 546), who lived through the ICT diffusion era. Multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) was used to assess the structural composition of the ICT-questionnaire. Cognitive abilities were measured with The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) when the examinees were 9 years old, and with Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) when the examinees were 40-45 years old. Two structural equation models were created to describe the associations between subjective wealth, education, cognitive ability and the ICTQ factors. The model with adulthood cognitive abilities predicting ICT use was compared to the model with childhood cognitive abilities predicting adulthood ICT use. Results and discussion: ICT use and attitudes were affected by cognitive ability, education, and wealth, and computer self-efficacy and negative attitudes towards ICT emerged as central mediators in the social cognitive model of ICT use. Cognitive ability predicted four of the seven ICT factors: computer self-efficacy, negative attitudes towards ICT, computer use for work, and indirectly the use of smartphones and tablets. Cognitive ability did not predict internet addiction, social media use, and ICT hobbies, or positive expectations towards ICT. Based on the mediation analysis, some of this effect is likely to be attributable to the other consequences of cognitive ability, including education and wealth. However, at least some seem to reflect more direct cognitive selectivity, perhaps due to the verbal and information-processing skill demands of the ICT. Furthermore, cognitive ability measured during childhood, decades before the individuals were introduced to ICT, was as significant as a predictor for negative attitudes towards ICT and computer self-efficacy, as adulthood cognitive abilities. Overall, the results imply that cognitive ability is not associated with access to ICT, but affects the predispositions to use technology and the acquisition of ICT skills.
  • Napola, Jukka (2015)
    Recent evidence suggests paranormal and religious beliefs may result from cognitive biases that all humans share. People who think in an intuitive manner are supposedly more affected by these biases than analytical people. Consequently, mounting evidence suggests those who endorse intuitive thinking style tend to be more religious and have more paranormal beliefs than people with an analytic thinking style. However, less attention has been paid to people who are highly analytical but nevertheless have supernatural beliefs. Since analytical people should be less susceptible to cognitive biases, other factors such as metacognitive tendencies might account for these beliefs. On the other hand, if intuitive thinking style is a major causal factor behind paranormal beliefs, an intuitive sub-group among sceptics could be considered an anomaly. Metacognitive tendencies could be a potential psychological factor behind scepticism. A sample of nearly 3000 Finnish participants revealed that there was an analytical and intuitive subgroup among the believers and sceptics. Particularly, analytic believers had more cognitive biases and lesser tendency to belief flexibility than analytic sceptics. Intuitive sceptics had more cognitive biases than analytic sceptics but they adhered more to flexible thinking than intuitive believers. The results of this thesis underline the multifarious nature of both paranormal beliefs and thinking styles. Although analytical thinking may help the person to overcome the automatic and often erroneous shortcuts that the mind produces, it may fail to suppress overlearned and reflectively practiced beliefs. On the other hand, an intuitive thinking style and cognitive biases may not necessary lead to paranormal believing, especially if the living environment encourages a sceptic worldview. Future studies should address the mechanisms that lead individuals with similar epistemological tendencies to acquire totally different metaphysical beliefs.
  • Nordensvan, Eva Maria (2024)
    Objective: Accumulating research has shown that severe illness and ICU care seem to affect the cognitive functioning of ICU survivors in many different patient populations. So far, there seems to be little research focusing on the cognitive functioning of circulatory shock patients. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the cognitive functioning of circulatory shock patients during the first three months after ICU care. The study aimed to compare the level of cognitive functioning of circulatory shock patients with control subjects at the time of ICU discharge and three months thereafter. Further, a temporal viewpoint was added to explore the recovery of cognitive functioning within the first three months following ICU care. Methods: This study is part of the ASSESS-SHOCK 2 project. The sample (N = 99) included 51 circulatory shock patients and 48 control subjects. The cognitive functioning of circulatory shock patients was assessed at ICU discharge and 3 months thereafter with the MoCA test. The assessment 3 months after ICU discharge also included a comprehensive domain-specific neuropsychological evaluation including 23 tests. The control subjects were assessed once with the same methods. Both the performance means, and frequency of cognitive impairment were considered in the analyses. Group differences were studied with general linear models and analysis of covariance, with age and level of education as factors and covariates. The temporal change was studied with a general linear mixed model, with age, level of education, delirium, and severity of illness as factors and covariates. Results and conclusions: This study was one of the first to focus on the post-ICU cognitive functioning of all types of circulatory shock patients. As hypothesised, circulatory shock patients had a lower level of overall cognitive functioning at ICU discharge than the control subjects. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 77% for the patients at ICU discharge and 43% three months thereafter, compared to 33% for the control subjects. The significant cognitive differences between the two groups disappeared during the first three months after ICU discharge, as the patients’ cognitive functioning seemed to recover during that period. A closer look at the performance on different cognitive domains revealed, however, that circulatory shock patients still seemed to perform worse than the control subjects in the domains of executive functions and attention, and visuomotor and visual functions at the 3-month follow-up. Based on the results, circulatory shock patients seem to be particularly vulnerable to experiencing cognitive difficulties after ICU care. The findings of this study highlight the importance of screening for post-ICU cognitive difficulties in patients treated for circulatory shock. Identifying the cognitive difficulties already at the hospital could help to set up rehabilitation programs, ensuring that the patients would receive the support needed for the best possible recovery.
  • Moliis, Henrik (2019)
    Background and purpose: Cognitive impairment is a common and well-known consequence of supratentorial infarct, but its prevalence and severity after infratentorial infarct is unclear. We compared the frequency and prognostic value of domain-specific cognitive deficits after supratentorial and infratentorial infarct. Methods: In a consecutive cohort of first-ever stroke patients (N=244) admitted to Helsinki University Hospital, 37 patients had an infratentorial infarct. Patients were assessed by a neuropsychologist 3 months post-stroke in 9 cognitive domains, and functional disability was assessed at 15 months. Frequencies of cognitive deficits were compared using the Pearson chi-square test. The association between cognitive deficits and functional disability at the 15-month follow-up was analysed using logistic regression. Results: There was no significant difference between the frequency of cognitive deficits in patients with infratentorial vs supratentorial infarct. Altogether 73% of patients with infratentorial infarct and 82.1% of patients with supratentorial infarct had impairment in at least one cognitive domain, and 42.3% in the infratentorial group and 47.3% in the supratentorial group had deficits in 3 or more cognitive domains. In the infratentorial group, only visuoconstructional and spatial functions showed at least a convincing trend of association with functional disability at 15 months (OR 9.0, 95%CI 1.3-62.5, p=0.027). In the supratentorial group, both executive functions and attention (OR 2,9, 95%CI 1.5-5.8, p=0.002) and visuoconstructional and spatial functions (OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.5-5.7, p=0.001) showed this association. Conclusion: Cognitive deficits are as common in infratentorial as in supratentorial infarct, and it is important to recognize them to meet the needs of rehabilitation.
  • Malmivirta, Titti (2020)
    Continuous thermal imaging is a way to measure psycho-physiological signals in humans. Psycho-physiological signals refer to physical signals caused by some psychological or mental situation or change. One of the technical challenges with the thermal psycho-physiological signal measurement is that the devices used to measure the temperature changes need to be sensitive and accurate enough to actually detect them. This is generally true for laboratory equipment, but the current relatively cheap and small mobile devices, including uncooled thermal cameras, could be used to make this kind of measurements cheaper, less intrusive and mobile. Currently the customer-priced mobile devices still tend to produce a lot of noise and other inaccuracies to measurements. The focus of this thesis is to evaluate the usefulness of the FLIR One thermal camera integrated in the Caterpillar Cat S60 phone for cognitive load measurement and the possibility to improve the measurement accuracy with additional calibration correction. We developed a deep learning based calibration correction method as an attempt to improve the quite noisy initial measurements of the thermal camera. Then an experiment measuring cognitive load was organised. The calibration correction method was used to reduce errors in the data from the cognitive load experiment to see if the performance of the thermal camera can be improved enough for accurate cognitive load detection. Our results show that while our calibration correction method does improve the measurement accuracy when compared to the ground truth, the fluctuations in the measurements do not decrease enough to improve the performance of the thermal camera with regards to the cognitive load sensing.
  • Ketvel, Laila (2021)
    Objective: Both stress-related exhaustion and depression have previously been associated with a decline in cognitive performance, but there is a lack of evidence on whether these conditions have different associations with different cognitive domains and whether they have additive effects on cognitive performance. Furthermore, very little is known about the cognitive effects of chronic stress-related exhaustion. Consequently, the aims of this study were to 1) examine the associations between current stress-related exhaustion and cognitive performance, 2) investigate whether different developmental trajectories of stress-related exhaustion are differently associated with cognitive performance, 3) compare the association between stress-related exhaustion and cognitive performance to the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive performance, 4) examine if individuals with comorbid stress-related exhaustion and depression have lower cognitive performance than individuals with at most one of these conditions (i.e., whether clinical stress-related exhaustion and clinical depression might have additive effects on cognitive performance). Methods: The data used in the study was a Finnish population-based sample of six cohorts born between 1962 and 1977 from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Stress-related exhaustion was assessed using the Maastricht Questionnaire, depressive symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory, and cognitive performance with four subtests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, measuring visuospatial associative learning, reaction time, sustained attention, and executive functions. Cognitive performance and depressive symptoms were assessed in 2012, and stress-related exhaustion in 2001, 2007, and 2012. Participants were 35 to 50 years old in 2012. Linear associations between stress-related exhaustion and cognitive performance (N = 905) and depressive symptoms and cognitive performance (N = 904) were examined by conducting multivariate regression analyses. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, and parents’ socioeconomic status were controlled in the regression models. Additionally, multivariate analyses of variance were performed to investigate the different developmental trajectories of stress-related exhaustion and their relation to cognitive performance (N = 541) and the associations of comorbid stress-related exhaustion and depression with cognitive performance (N = 1273). Results and conclusion: The main finding was that high stress-related exhaustion is associated with slower reaction times, but not with performance in spatial working memory, visuospatial associative learning, or executive functions. Ongoing, chronic stress-related exhaustion was more strongly associated with slower reaction times than short-term exhaustion experienced years ago. Compared to depressive symptoms, high stress-related exhaustion was associated with slower reaction times also when subclinical cases were included, whereas only clinical levels of depressive symptoms had an association with slower reaction times. There were no differences in cognitive performance between individuals with only stress-related exhaustion or depression and those with comorbid stress-related exhaustion and depression, which supports the notion that these conditions do not have additive effects on cognitive performance. These findings add to the existing evidence of the cognitive effects of stress-related exhaustion in the general population and have several practical implications. Further research is needed on the topic, preferably with longitudinal designs, more comprehensive cognitive measures, and clinical assessment of the psychiatric symptoms.
  • Rouhe, Ella (2020)
    Despite a stated commitment to the principle of policy coherence for development (PCD), which means taking development policy objectives into account in all policies likely to impact developing countries, the European Union (EU) has shown limited success in prioritising poverty reduction over other policy sectors’ objectives. Especially since the migration crisis in 2015-16, development cooperation appears to be increasingly used for migration management. This thesis examines how migration and development are linked in EU external policy, how the concept of PCD has been considered, and what coherence means, in the context of EU external policies on migration and development. The thesis analyses the concept of policy coherence and the interconnections between migration and development in the European Agenda on Migration (2015), the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy (2016), and the New European Consensus on Development (2017) and their implementation reports and further communications about migration policy issued by the European Commission between the beginning of the refugee crisis in 2015 and the end of the Juncker administration in late 2019. The document data is triangulated with semi-structured expert interviews, and the data is analysed using qualitative content analysis. Based on the analysis, EU policy considers migration and development linked mainly through the root causes of migration being development problems, although there is also a recognition that migration can contribute to development. Adding to the literature on the securitisation of migration and development, the study finds that migration management is considered a priority for which development cooperation can be used as leverage. This conflicts with the principle of PCD, which the study finds to be largely absent from the policy documents, indicating it is not a priority for EU external policy. The conflict between the EU’s stated normative principles and the instrumentalisation of aid can be considered normative incoherence and organized hypocrisy, which can undermine the EU’s credibility as a global actor and supposedly normative power. Although PCD is not found to be prominent anymore, ‘coherence’ is used across the documents as something to be enhanced. Based on the analysis, ‘coherence’ ascribes effectiveness, unity and credibility to the EU’s holistic, integrated approach coordinating policies, instruments and actors in pursuit of the EU’s overall interests, although these are adapted to each country context. The study suggests coherence may be understood as emblematic of a holistic approach used to legitimise the instrumentalisation of development cooperation for the EU’s overall external policy objectives.
  • Kiviniemi, Eero A. (2018)
    Microbial cellulases, e.g. cellobiohydrolases, are able to degrade cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass to smaller glucose-containing monomers and oligomers. Cellulases are often multi-domain enzymes comprised of different protein domains (i.e. modules), which have different functions. The main two components, which often appear in cellulases, are the cellulose-binding module (CBM) and the catalytic domain. The CBMs bind to cellulose, bringing the catalytic domains close to their substrate and increasing the amount of enzymes on the substrate surface. The catalytic domain performs the cleavage of the substrate, e.g. in the case of cellobiohydrolases hydrolyses or “cuts” the crystalline cellulose chain into smaller soluble saccharides, mainly cellobiose. Unlike aerobic fungi, which utilize free extracellular enzymes to break down cellulose, anaerobic microbes often use a different kind of strategy. Their cellulases are organized and bound to the cell surface in a macromolecular protein complex, the cellulosome. The core of the cellulosome is formed of a scaffolding protein (the scaffoldin) consisting mainly of multiple consecutive cohesin domains, into which the catalytic subunits of enzymes attach via a dockerin domain. This creates a protein complex with multiple different catalytic domains and activities arranged in close proximity to each other. Dockerins and cohesins are known to bind each other with one of the strongest receptor-ligand -pair forces known to nature. Dockerin containing fusion proteins have also been successfully combined in vitro with proteins containing their natural counterparts, cohesins, to create functional multiprotein complexes. In this Master’s thesis work the goal was to 1) produce fusion proteins in which different CBMs were connected to dockerin domains, 2) combine these fusions with cohesin-catalytic domain fusion proteins to create stable CBM and catalytic domain containing enzyme complexes, 3) to characterize these enzyme complexes in respect of their thermostability and cellulose hydrolysis capacity and 4) to ultimately create a robust and fast domain shuffling method for multi-domain cellobiohydrolases (CBH) to facilitate their faster screening. The hypothesis of the experiments was that different CBMs fused with a dockerin domain and the cellobiohydrolase catalytic domain fused with a cohesin domain could be produced separately and then be combined to produce a functional two-domain enzyme with a dockerin-cohesin “linker” in between. In this way time and work could be saved because not every different CBM- catalytic domain -pair would have to be cloned and produced separately. Several CBM-dockerin fusion proteins (in which the CBM were of fungal or bacterial origin) were tested for expression in heterologous hosts, either in Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Escherichia coli. The purified proteins were combined with a fungal glycoside hydrolase family 7 (GH7) cellobiohydrolase-cohesin fusion protein produced in S. cerevisiae. The characterization of the catalytic domain-CBM -complexes formed through cohesin-dockerin interaction included thermostability measurements using circular dichroism and activity assays using soluble and insoluble cellulosic substrate. The results were compared to enzyme controls comprising of the same CBM and catalytic domain connected by a simple peptide linker. The results showed that the cohesin-dockerin –linked cellobiohydrolase complex performed in the cellulose hydrolysis studies in a similar manner as the directly linked enzyme controls at temperature of 50˚C and 60 ˚C. At temperatures of 70 ˚C the complex did not perform as well as the control enzymes, apparently due to the instability of the dockerin-cohesin interaction. The thermostability measurements of the enzymes, together with the previously published data supported the hydrolysis results and this hypothesis. The future work should be aimed at enhancing the thermostability of the cohesin-dockerin interaction as well as on verifying the results on different cellulase fusion complexes.
  • Hannikainen, Jaakko (2020)
    Ohjelmointikielen valinta on tärkeä osa ohjelmistoprojektien toteutusta. Vaikka ohjelmointikielet uudistuvat nopeaan tahtiin, nykypäivänä on yhä tavallista valita ohjelmiston toteutukseen C-ohjelmointikieli, joka on standardoitu yli 30 vuotta sitten. Tutkielmassa tutkitaan syitä, miksi C on nykypäivänä vieläkin laajassa käytössä uudempien ohjelmointikielten sijaan. Tutkielmassa C:hen verrattaviksi ohjelmointikieliksi valitaan Ada, C++, D, Go sekä Rust. Kaikki viisi kieltä ovat tehokkaita. Tämän lisäksi jokaisen kielten historiassa on ollut tavoitteena korvata C:n käyttö. Ohjelmointikieliä verrataan C:hen suorituskyvyn, muistinkäytön sekä C-yhteensopivuuden osalta. Tämän lisäksi tutkielmassa selvitetään tärkeimpiä C:n ominaisuuksia sekä C:n kehitettävissä olevia ominaisuuksia. Tuloksia käytetään uuden Purkka-ohjelmointikielen suunnitteluun. Muut ohjelmointikielet todetaan suorituskykymittauksissa C:tä hitaammiksi. Tämän lisäksi muiden ohjelmointikielten ominaisuudet, kuten automaattisen muistinhallinnan, todetaan aiheuttavan ongelmia C-yhteensopivuudelle. C:n tärkeimmiksi ominaisuuksiksi nousevat esiin yksinkertaisuus, tehokkuus sekä alustariippumattomuus. Nämä ominaisuudet otetaan huomioon Purkka-kielen suunnittelussa, jossa painotetaan näiden lisäksi yhteensopivuutta C-ohjelmointikielen kanssa. Tutkielmaa varten kehitetty Purkka-kieli on suunniteltu C:n kaltaiseksi ohjelmointikieleksi, jossa on muutettu C:n syntaksia yksinkertaisemmaksi ja johdonmukaisemmaksi. Suorituskykymittauksissa todetaan, että Purkan muutokset C:hen eivät aiheuta suoritusaikaisia rasitteita. Koska Purkka-kieli käännetään C:ksi, se on mahdollisimman yhteensopiva nykyisten kääntäjien kanssa.
  • Holm, Aki; Kirkegaard, Hans; Taccone, Fabio; Søreide, Eldar; Grejs, Anders; Duez, Christophe; Jeppesen, Anni; Toome, Valdo; Hassager, Christian; Rasmussen, Bodil; Laitio, Timo; Storm, Christian; Hästbacka, Johanna; Skrifvars, Markus (2020)
    Johdanto Ennen teho-osastolle saapumista aloitettu viilennyshoito kylmillä suonensisäisillä nesteillä ei vaikuta parantavan sairaalan ulkopuolella sydänpysähdyksen saaneiden potilaiden funktionaalista ennustetta. Hypoteesinamme oli, että tämä johtuu tehottomasta viilennyksestä ja hoidon sivuvaikutuksista. Aineisto ja menetelmät Post hoc-analyysi alijoukosta potilaita (n = 352), jotka olivat mukana TTH48-tutkimuksessa (NCT01689077) ja joko saivat kylmiä suonensisäisiä nesteitä ennen teholle saapumista, tai eivät saaneet. Tietoja kerättiin potilaiden lähtötilanteesta, sydänpysähdykseen liittyvistä tekijöistä, viilennysmenetelmistä, sivuvaikutuksista ja kehon lämpötilasta eri hoidon vaiheissa. Ensisijainen päätepiste oli kesto spontaanin verenkierron palautumisesta tavoitelämpötilaan (<34°C) ja toissiajiset päätepisteet olivat verenkiertoon liittyvät sivuvaikutukset, elektrolyyttihäiriöt ja hypoksia ensimmäisten 24 tunnin aikana tehohoidossa. Vähintään yhden tunnin ero ajassa tavoitelämpötilaan määriteltiin ennalta merkittäväksi. Tulokset Tutkimukseen mukaan otetuista 352 potilaasta 110 saivat kylmiä suonensisäisiä nesteitä ennen teho-osastolle saapumista. Mediaani aika spontaanin verenkierron palautumisen ja tavoitelämpötilan saavuttamisen välillä oli pidempi ryhmässä, joka sai kylmiä nesteitä verrattuna ryhmään, joka ei saanut (318 vs. 281 min, p < 0.01). Kylmien nesteiden käyttö ennen tehoosastolle saapumista ei assosioitunut tavoitelämpötilan saavuttamisen kestoon lineaariregressiomallissa sisältäen hoitokeskuksen, painoindeksin, sydämen vajaatoiminnan, diabeteksen ja sydänpysähdyksen keston (standardoitu beta vaikutuskerroin: 0.06, 95% luottamusvälit B:lle -49 ja 16, p = 0.32). Ryhmien välillä ei ollut eroa hypoksian yleisyydessä tehoosastolle saapuessa (1.8% ja 3.3%, p = 0.43) tai elektrolyyttitasapainon häiriöissä (hyponatremia: 1.8% ja 2.9% p = 0.54; hypokalaemia: 1.8% ja 4.5%, p = 0.20). Sairaalakuolleisuudessa ei ollut eroa ryhmien välillä. Johtopäätökset Tavoitteellisen lämpötilan hallinnan aloittaminen kylmillä suonensisäisillä nesteillä ennen tehoosastolle saapumista ei lyhentänyt kestoa spontaanin verenkierron palautumisesta tavoitelämpötilaan pääsemiseen. Emme löytäneet tilastollisesti merkitsevää eroa kuolleisuudessa tai sivuvaikutusten yleisyydessä ennen teho-osastolle saapumista kylmien nesteiden antamisen perustella jaotelluissa ryhmissä.
  • Nurmela, Mika (2022)
    We study a system of cold high-density matter consisting purely of quarks and gluons. The mathematical construction of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) introduces interactions between the fields, which modify the thermodynamic properties of the system. In the presence of interactions, we can not solve the thermodynamic properties of the system analytically. The method is to expand the result in a series in terms of the QCD coupling constant. This is referred to as the perturbation theory in the context of thermal field theory (TFT). The coupling constant describes the strength of the interaction. We introduce the basic calculation methods used in the QCD and the TFTs in general. We will also include the chemical potential associated with the number of quarks in the system in the calculation. In the case of zero temperature, quarks form a Fermi-sphere such that energy states lower than the chemical potential will be Pauli blocked. The resulting fermionic momentum integrals are modified as a consequence. We can split these integrals into two parts, referred to as the vacuum and matter parts. We can split the calculation of the pressure into two distinct contributions: one from skeleton diagrams and one from ring diagrams. The ring diagrams have unphysical IR divergences that we can not cancel using the counterterms. This is why hard thermal loop (HTL) effective field theory (EFT) is introduced. We will discuss this HTL framework, which requires the computation of the matter part of the gluon polarization tensor, which we will also evaluate in this thesis.
  • Raatikainen, Oona (2021)
    Tämä tutkielma tarkastelee aistiverbien koleksifikaatiotyyppejä Itämeren kielialueen kielissä, eli miten tämän kielialueen kielet erottelevat aistiverbien perusmerkityksiä leksikaalisesti, ja toisaalta mitä perusmerkityksiä kielet ilmaisevat samalla lekseemillä, eli koleksifikoivat. Tutkielma edustaa sekä leksikaalista typologiaa että areaalista kielitiedettä. Aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa on havaittu areaalisia koleksifikaatiotyyppejä, niin aistiverbien kuin muidenkin semanttisten kenttien kohdalla. Itämeren kielialueen kielet ovat olleet kontaktissa tuhansia vuosia ja niistä löytyy monia areaalisia piirteitä, ulottuen fonologiasta leksikkoon. On myös esitetty, että alueen uralilaiset kielet ovat indoeurooppalaistuneet kontaktin myötä, ja toisaalta alueen indoeurooppalaisista kielistä on löydetty uralilaisia piirteitä. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on tarkastella, onko Itämeren kielialueen kielissä havaittavissa jaettuja aistiverbien koleksifikaatiotyyppejä, ja onko koleksifikaatioissa havaittavissa ns. indoeurooppalaistumista tai uralilaistumista. Tutkielmassa verrataan Itämeren kielialueen kieliä sekä keskenään että verrattuna sukukieliin, joita puhutaan alueen ulkopuolella. Tutkielman aineisto kerättiin kyselylomakkeella, jossa äidinkielisiä puhujia pyydettiin kääntämään omalle äidinkielelleen englanninkielisiä lyhyitä lauseita, joissa esiintyi aistiverbejä. Lopullinen aineisto sisältää 199 vastausta 40 kielellä, joista kahdeksan on uralilaisia kieliä ja 32 Euroopassa puhuttavia indoeurooppalaisia kieliä. Itämeren kielialueen kielistä tutkimuksessa on edustettuna 14 kieltä, jotka kuuluvat viiteen eri kielihaaraan. Itämeren kielialueen ulkopuoliset kielet aineistossa muodostavat kontrolliryhmän, jota vasten kielikontaktien mahdollisia vaikutuksia voidaan verrata. Analyysissä jokaisesta kielestä tunnistettiin mahdolliset koleksifikaatiot, ja kieltenvälinen vertailu tapahtui sekä kielihaaran että -kunnan tasolla. Itämeren kielialueen kieliä verrattiin sekä suhteessa toisiinsa että suhteessa alueen ulkopuolella puhuttuihin sukukieliin. Tutkimuksesta selviää, että Itämeren kielialueen kielet eivät jaa yhtä yhteistä aistiverbien koleksifikaatiotyyppiä, vaan kielistä löytyy useita erilaisia tyyppejä. Tulokset osoittavat myös, että koleksifikaatiotyypit ovat hyvin samanlaisia samaan kielihaaraan kuuluvien lähisukukielten kesken. Osa Itämeren kielialueen kielistä kuitenkin poikkeaa huomattavasti lähisukukielistään, ja koleksifikaatiotyypeistä löytyy yhtäläisyyksiä myös kielisukulaisuusrajojen yli. Sama koleksifikaatiotyyppi löytyy mm. ruotsista, virosta ja meänkielestä, jotka samalla poikkeavat lähisukukielistään. Myöskin latvia ja liettua poikkeavat toisistaan, ja liettuan koleksifikaatiotyyppi muistuttaa slaavilaisista kielistä löytyvää mallia. Osa tuloksista näyttää heijastelevan kielikontaktien vaikutusta. Tutkimuksesta selviää myös, että osa koleksifikaatiotyypeistä on hyvin yleisiä kielikunnasta ja -haarasta riippumatta, joten kielikontakti ei välttämättä ole ainoa yhtäläisyyksiä ja eroavaisuuksia selittävä tekijä.
  • Ma, Jun (2021)
    Sequence alignment by exact or approximate string matching is one of the fundamental problems in bioinformatics. As the volume of sequenced genomes grows rapidly, pairwise sequence alignment becomes inefficient for pan-genomic analyses involving multiple sequences. The graph representation of multiple genomes has been an increasingly useful tool in pan-genomics research. Therefore, sequence-to-graph alignment becomes an important and challenging problem. For pairwise approximate sequence alignment under Levenshtein (edit) distance, subquadratic algorithms for finding an optimal solution are unknown. As a result, aligning sequences of millions of characters optimally is too challenging and impractical. Thus, many heuristics and techniques are developed for possibly suboptimal alignments. Among them, co-linear chaining (CLC) is a powerful and popular technique that approximates the alignment by finding a chain of short aligned fragments that may come from exact matching. The optimal solution to CLC on sequences can be found efficiently in subquadratic time. For sequence-to-graph alignment, the CLC problem has been solved theoretically on a special class of graphs that are narrow and have no cycles, i.e. directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) with small width, by Mäkinen et al. (ACM Transactions on Algorithms, 2019). Pan-genome graphs such as variation graphs satisfy these restrictions but allowing cycles may enable more general applications of the algorithm. In this thesis, we introduce an efficient algorithm to solve the CLC problem on general graphs with small width that may have cycles, by reducing it to a slightly modified CLC problem on DAGs. We implemented an initial version of the new algorithm on DAGs as a sequence-to-graph aligner GraphChainer. The aligner is evaluated and compared to an existing state-of-the-art aligner GraphAligner (Genome Biology, 2020) in experiments using both simulated and real genome assembly data on variation graphs. Our method improves the quality of alignments significantly in the task of aligning real human PacBio data. GraphChainer is freely available as an open source tool at https://github.com/algbio/GraphChainer.