Browsing by Title
Now showing items 3034-3053 of 30981
-
(2015)This thesis studies the communicational practices used in promoting gourmet products in Finland. Its purpose is to find out what kind of communicational practices can be used in promoting products belonging to the gourmet category; to establish if product attributes such as country of origin and ethical production should be used as key marketing messages; and finally to generate insight on the special communicational aspects that have to be taken into account when marketing more unfamiliar meat products such as veal and canned gourmet ready-meals. The theoretical part starts with van der Veen’s definition on luxury foods (2003). Then, the phenomenon of building luxury value through marketing is addressed, with a theoretical framework constructed around Kotler’s (2005) marketing mix. Danziger’s (2005) and Twithcell’s (2001) insights hint that storytelling has a key role in building luxury value. Tamagnini’s & Tregear’s (1998) model indicates that niche marketing can be a good approach in the delicatessen meat sector. Finally, the studies conducted by Leclerc, Schmitt and Dubé (1994) as well as Luomala (2007) indicate that French origins might to be an asset on the Finnish market. A qualitative approach was chosen to gather data. Eight Finnish food professionals, representing four different profiles, were interviewed about their opinions on communication practices in promoting gourmet products and meat. Results show that storytelling is deemed the most efficient way to market gourmet products. After having compiled a coherent story, a food brand needs to expose the story to the desired consumer group(s). Tools to do this can include collaboration with journalists, celebrities, trendsetters and retailers, paid advertising, and using the brand’s own channels. However, the most important marketing channel for food is estimated to be recipes, and according to this study recipes should be an integral part of all marketing communication effort of any gourmet food brand. In addition price, packaging and placement are also essential communicational tools in building added value and differentiating the product from non-gourmet rivals. Both ethical production and French origins are seen as mostly positive product attributes that are worth communicating to the consumers. The degree in which these attributes should be highlighted depends on the segment(s) the product is primarily aimed at. Veal and canned gourmet ready-meals are seen as products that need to adopt a niche marketing strategy, aiming to commit food enthusiasts first. Veal is not seen as a product type that would demand particularly cautious communication measures. Canned gourmet ready meals, on the other hand, are seen as a very tricky product category because of the poor reputation similar products have in Finland. Strong marketing efforts should be placed to make the general attitude change. Because the approach is qualitative and the viewpoints presented by the experts are subjective, the results presented in this thesis cannot be generalized. The primary objective for this research is not to provide definitive knowledge on promoting gourmet products, but rather generate fresh viewpoints on how promoting gourmet products in contemporary Finland can be addressed. Understanding the process of adding value is important to marketers, food producers and regular consumers alike, but to gain comprehensive knowledge about the phenomenon further research is needed.
-
(2014)Since colonial times, the media has been used as a tool in the quest for engendering social change in developing countries in general. In the East African state of Tanzania in particular, there has been a strong tradition of using the media to educate and inform the citizenry. The approaches have varied from the early top-down attempts to modernize the nation to the more recent trends of emphasizing participation and the role of the citizens. One of the social actors working in the field of development in Tanzania is Twaweza, a ten-year initiative that emphasizes the role of communication and the media in creating an active citizenry. This study was motivated by the desire to understand how the media can be deployed in the quest for development in a country still very much on the wrong side of the digital divide. Thus the aim of this study was to gain insight on how and why this single social actor is striving for sustainable change in Tanzania through the promotion of active citizenry. This study was conducted as a qualitative case study of Twaweza and four relevant media actors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As the aim of the study was to gain understanding, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were chosen as the main data collection method. Six Twaweza representatives and four media representatives were interviewed. In addition, prior to the interviews document form data was collected for background material. The data gathered was analyzed using thematic analysis. During the analysis five central, intertwined themes (social change, citizen agency, information, the mass media, the government and other social actors) rose from the data. From these discussions the key findings were that citizens are, indeed, believed to be at the root of sustainable change. All will not act to create change, but some can be activated through timely and well-targeted messages sent through the media. Yet, information alone will not activate people especially in a cultural and social context such as Tanzania. A key implication of this study for the organization is that it needs to clarify its ideology and focus its operations if it is to reach the ambitious goal of creating bottom-up change in East Africa.
-
(2017)As in many countries, education in Chile has been a huge problem for authorities and researchers. Over time, there have been many attempts to improve quality, but with little to no success. It is difficult to find the main reason why Chilean education faces many problems. One reason could be the way teachers understand the policy instruments; the national curriculum, and how clear it is. However, it also could be related to the way of using skills related to communication in general, and teacher-student interaction in particular. My assumption is they have been ignored or under considered as part of the teaching process. Some experts have recognized the relevance of communication and teacher- student interaction, because of the significance of reciprocity. It has a very crucial role for effective teaching and learning to take place (Arthur, Gordon, & Butterfield, 2003). This is an in-depth research into both systems of education, a comparative and qualitative investigation that aim to analyse guidelines for teachers and principals. This research will collect data through the analysis of both national curriculums, to see how these terms are mentioned and described in them as part of the guidelines of every taught subject, and how many of these teaching methods include teacher-student interaction. For this reason, the purpose of my thesis is to analyse how the elements of communication and teacher-student interaction are presented in the official curriculums of Chile and Finland. Although the analysis of documents is the main source of data, this investigation considers also the observation to understand the dynamics in the classroom, despite being only an illustration.
-
(2022)Quantum networking is developing fast as an emerging research field. Distributing entangled qubits between any two locations in a quantum network is one of the goals of quantum networking, in which repeaters can be used to extend the length of entanglement. Although researchers focus extensively on problems inside one quantum network, further study on communication between quantum networks is necessary because the next possible evolution of quantum networking is the communication between two or more autonomous quantum networks. In this thesis, we adapted a time slotted model from the literature to study the inter quantum network routing problem. Quantum routing problem can be split into path selection and request scheduling. We focus on the latter considering the previous one received considerable interest in the literature. Five request scheduling policies are proposed to study the impact of preference for certain request types on entanglement generation rate. Experiments also demonstrate other factors should be considered in context of entanglement rate in communication between quantum networks, e.g., the number and distribution of requests and inter-network distance.
-
(2013)This Master’s thesis aims to study what crisis communication strategies an organisation can use to prevent or mitigate reputational crisis in social media. The study discusses current social media crisis strategies and proposes to find new ones. The intention is to create a communication model for reputational crisis in social media. With the model it is possible to assess the likelihood of a paracrisis turning into a crisis and consequently choose an appropriate strategy. The model is hence a tool when assessing signals from environmental scanning. The study is theoretic. The theoretic framework of the study consists of crisis communication, reputation and social media theory. The study discusses crisis communication and social media crisis theory. Reputation is brought into the discussion as reputational crisis is a subcategory of crisis. Reputation is also affected by crisis communication. In order to assess strategies for reputational crisis in social media, the features and logic of social media are discussed. Finally conventional crisis communication strategies are evaluated to see if they can be applied to reputational crisis in social media. Previous research shows that the refuse, refute and reform strategies can be used in social media crisis. Based on this study a fourth strategy may be added to the refuse, refute and reform –strategies, the positive strategy. In this strategy the organisation turns negative publicity into positive but a precondition is often a previously good reputation. The different strategies are illustrated in this study with case examples of social media crisis. The strategies which are found suitable for social media have been included in the model. Having gone through key crisis communication strategies, the conclusion is that the same crisis communication strategies which work in legacy media do not automatically work in social media. Crisis communication theory does however provide a good ground to start from when assessing crisis communication strategies for social media. The most important sources used in this study have been Coombs’ and Holladay’s studies on crisis communication and particularly paracrisis in social media, Åberg’s work on communication theory, Aula’s, Gonzalez-Herrero’s and Hoffman’s work on social media reputation and Korpiola’s studies on crisis communication in digital publicity.
-
(2018)The aim of the study was to investigate cornerstones of a communications strategy for a start-up specializing to wood-based packaging materials. These include packaging materials, which are produced in a sustainable way and decrease environmental load with their biodegradability. These cornerstones are basis for a globally profitable and competitive business. Literature review and qualitative interviews were used as a method. The circular economy business model enables a new way to operate and generate competitive advantage for a start-up. The plastics industry claims biodegradability of some forms; the communication challenge of the competitors is to prove these arguments false. Launching world-wide renewable wood-based packaging material to consumers and to packaging industry requires co-operation between all stakeholders. To be a true alternative to plastics, the product must be based on sustainability principles, recyclability and compostability. To avoid greenwashing, all communication must be based on reliable and verifiable information. The developed communications strategy addresses all the aforementioned challenges. The communications strategy focuses on younger generation consumers and rely on their ability to utilize social media in their communications. A circular economy start-up company must outperform plastics packaging manufacturers economically, environmentally and socially with sustainable packaging solutions. Nevertheless, based on this thesis, sustainability is a valid selling and communications argument. The interviews conducted by this thesis support this finding.
-
(2018)Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisia asenteita ja näkemyksiä kokeneilla ja vähemmän kokeneilla yläkoulun englanninopettajilla on kommunikatiivista kielenopetusta ja sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta hyödyntäviä luokka-aktiviteetteja kohtaan sekä verrata, eroavatko asenteet ja näkemykset kokeneiden ja vähemmän kokeneiden opettajien välillä. Lisäksi halutaan selvittää opettajien mahdolliset kehitysideat kommunikatiivisuuteen ja/tai sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta hyödyntävien luokka-aktiviteettien käyttöön liittyen. Tutkimuksen teoriaosio tarkastelee aiheelle oleellisia käsitteitä, joita ovat muun muassa kommunikatiivinen kompetenssi, kommunikatiivinen kielenopetus sekä sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta hyödyntävä aktiviteetti. Lisäksi teoriaosiossa käsitellään esimerkiksi kommunikatiivisen kielenopetuksen historiaa Suomessa sekä kahta viimeisintä Perusopetuksen Opetussuunnitelmaa (2004; 2014). Kyseessä on laadullinen, aineistolähtöinen tutkimus, jossa materiaali koostuu kahden kokeneen ja kahden vähemmän kokeneen yläkoulun englanninopettajan litteroiduista haastatteluista. Haastattelut toteutettiin puolistrukturoituina teemahaastatteluina, joiden apuna hyödynnettiin viittä kirjallisuuskatsauksesta esiinnoussutta aiheeseen liittyvää teemaa. Haastattelupyyntö lähetettiin sähköpostitse kaikille Helsingissä, Espoossa ja Vantaalla virassa oleville yläkoulun englanninopettajille, joiden yhteystiedot pystyttiin löytämään internetistä, ja neljä ensimmäisenä vastannutta tutkimukseen soveltuvaa opettajaa kutsuttiin haastatteluun. Aineisto kerättiin kokonaisuudessaan tammi-maaliskuussa 2018. Haastatellut opettajat jaettiin kokeneisiin ja vähemmän kokeneisiin Kunnallisen opetushenkilöstön virka- ja työehtosopimuksen (2016) määrittelemän aineenopettajan kokemuslisän mukaan. Tulokset osoittavat, että sekä kokeneiden että vähemmän kokeneiden englanninopettajien asenteet kommunikatiivista kielenopetusta ja sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta hyödyntäviä aktiviteetteja kohtaan ovat kaiken kaikkiaan positiivisia. Opettajien näkemykset sisälsivät enemmän samankaltaisuuksia kuin eroavaisuuksia, ja suuri osa eroavaisuuksista pystyttiin löytämään yksittäisistä vastauksista. Merkittävimmät eroavaisuudet kokeneiden ja vähemmän kokeneiden opettajien näkemysten välillä koskivat nykyteknologian käyttöä kommunikatiivisten ja sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta hyödyntävien luokka-aktiviteettien toteutuksessa. Vähemmän kokeneet opettajat myös korostivat suullisen kommunikaation ensisijaista tärkeyttä, kun kokeneet opettajat vaikuttivat pitävän kirjallista ja suullista kommunikaatiota tasa-arvoisina englannin kielen opetuksessa. Opettajien samankaltaiset näkemykset liittyivät pääasiassa kohdekielen käyttöön sekä kieliopin merkitykseen opetuksessa, ja uuden opetussuunnitelman vaikutusta kielenopetuksen kommunikatiivisuuteen pidettiin myös jokseenkin vähäisenä. Opettajien ehdottamat kehitysideat omaa opetustaan koskien olivat kaiken kaikkiaan vähäisiä ja yleisluonteisia, ja vain harvoja tarkkarajaisia kehitysideoita mainittiin.
-
(2020)Tutkielma käsittelee viestinnällistä opetusta kiinan kielen opetuksessa sekä opettajien omia käsityksiä omasta opetuksestaan. Suomessa yleinen opetussuuntaus on ollut hyvin pitkään mm. sosiokonstruktivistinen ja viestinnällinen kielenopetus on yksi tapa toteuttaa sen mukaisia periaatteita. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten paljon opettajat hyödyntävät viestinnällistä opetusta kiinan kielen opetuksessa ja miten heidän omat käsityksensä opetuksesta mahdollisesti poikkeavat todellisuudesta opetustilanteissa. Tutkimustavaksi valikoitui tapaustutkimus, jonka puitteissa yhdistettiin tutkimusmenetelmiä. Luonteeltaan tutkielma on kvalitatiivinen. Ensin pyrittiin kartoittamaan yleistilannetta kiinan kielen opetuksessa kyselyllä. Varsinaisen tutkimuksen menetelminä toimivat kiinan kielen opetustuntien observointi luokissa ja opettajien haastattelut. Observoinnin suunnittelussa sekä toteutuksessa hyödynnettiin KIELO tutkimuksen kyselyssä mainittuja aihealueita, joiden kautta pyrittiin selvittämään, mitkä viestinnälliselle opetukselle tavanomaiset tekijät toteutuivat opetuksessa. Haastatteluissa kerättiin opettajien omia käsityksiä opetuksesta ja niitä vertailtiin observoinnissa kerättyyn aineistoon. Tutkimuskohteena olivat oppilaitokset Helsingissä. Tutkimuksen pohjalta voidaan todeta, että kiinan kielen opettajat eivät pääosin käyttäneet viestinnällisiä opetusmenetelmiä opetuksessaan. Heidän oma käsityksensä viestinnällisestä opetuksesta poikkesi myös jonkin verran lähdekirjallisuudesta. Opetuksen keskipisteenä oli opetusmateriaali, joka ikään kuin määritti opetuksen tahdin ja sisällön. Myöskään opettajien laatimat tehtävät eivät aina tukeneet viestinnällistä vuorovaikutusta vaan niiden tarkoitus oli harjoitella opittuja rakenteita. Tutkimuksesta kävi ilmi, että opettajat pitivät oppilaiden kiinan kielen taidon osaamista tärkeänä. Muihin viestintätaidon aihealueisiin kiinnitettiin vähemmän huomiota.
-
(Helsingin yliopistoHelsingfors universitetUniversity of Helsinki, 2006)This study aims at identifying the existing and potential resources, as well as recognizing the hinderances, for community-based ecotourism development in the Taita Hills in south-eastern Kenya. The indigenous mountain rain forests on the hills are rich in biodiversity, but severely degraded because of encroachment caused by the dynamics of increased population, socio-politics and economics. The research problems are based on the hypothesis that there is no tourism in the Taita Hills generating income for the local economy and high population density combined with poverty creates a need for alternative employment opportunities as well as for sustainable ways of forest resource management. The data for this study was gathered during two field trips in Kenya, in January-February 2004 and 2005, as a part of the Taita Project within the Department of Geography at the University of Helsinki. The qualitative methods used consist of RRA and PRA techniques, in-depth interviews, a structured questionnaire and literature analysis as well as attendance on excursions and a workshop with conservation experts and officials. Four case areas in the Taita Hills are studied. The study concludes that alternative livelihoods are needed among the Taita Hills' rural population and community-based ecotourism is seen as a way of bringing financial benefits for households as well as reviving the fading cultural traditions and indigenous knowledge about forest use. The governmental policies, district level development plans and some NGOs support ecotourism development. The Forest Act 2005 forms base for local participation in forest management. The unique natural features, the welcoming Taita-culture and the location in the coastal tourism circle favour Taita Hills. However, this kind of development has its risks, such as too rapid change of sorest usage level and the exposure of communities to an ecotourism treadmill process. The costbenefit ration of marketing for hard ecotourists is generally low and the tourism infrastructure needs upgrading in the Taita Hills. More tight collaboration is important between the different level stakeholders working for conservation and development. Community-based ecotourism in Taita Hills, when carefully planned and managed, could be one opportunity for Kenya to diversify its tourism product supply and for forestadjacent communities to gain tangible benefits on a sustainable basis from forests.
-
(2013)This research focused on sustainable community forest management and policy implications for the biosphere reserve of Luki in the DR- Congo. The purpose of this research was to find out opportunities and options to develop sustainable community forest management at the biosphere reserve of Luki. The research was conducted in the biosphere reserve of Luki located in the southwest of DR- Congo. The human activities threat the biosphere reserve of Luki to be under significant pressure of unsustainable management. The research revealed a number of options and opportunities to establish sustainable community forest management and policies needed to sustain forest ecosystem in the biosphere of Luki. The research uses a qualitative research methods, both primary and secondary data were collected during field work in 2010 through interviews and other various participatory methods. The interviewee includes different local forestry authorities and local community. The results of the research showed that, sustainable community forest management cannot be established in an environment where no effective policy instruments or law enforcement being in place. The results show that, due to political conditions in DR- Congo, the government has not been able to put certain measure to resolve tenure rights. This has remained a difficult issue and challenge that the government has not been able to find an immediate solution. The research recommends the need to develop a sustainable community forest management at the biosphere reserve of Luki. The government needs to clarify the forest code by clearly stating what government wants to do with its vast forest resources, especially in regard to the forest dependent people. A policy framework should be put in place as soon as possible in order for forest institutions to be able to function. The management strategy should be an inclusive process in order to promote equity and multiple use of forest resource at local community level.
-
(2020)China has become an important global actor, especially as a partner for countries of the Global South, and it is possible that China will attempt to become a hegemonic world power. This thesis focuses on the possible hegemonic ambitions of the People’s Republic of China and examines the way China frames the international environment and itself as an international actor. Through framing analysis, this thesis seeks to find out what China’s international ambitions are and how they could affect the Global South. A neo-Gramscian framework is utilised to interpret the Chinese rhetoric as an attempt at gathering international support from developing countries for possible pursuit of international hegemony. This thesis features a framing analysis of official Chinese rhetoric. The analysis of a White paper on China’s position in the world and six speeches by high-level Chinese officials concentrates on how China frames international issues and what kind of solutions China proposes. Attention is paid to specific strategies that are used to mobilise support from the developing country audiences and to empower and legitimise China as an international leader. The results reveal two distinct frames presented in the Chinese rhetoric: a frame of global inequality and a frame of common human progress. Blame for current global issues is attributed to the Global North and China is consistently framed as a benevolent, moral actor. The Chinese proposal for a new, more just international order is framed as an expression of the common will of humanity and as a logical result of common human progress. The history of Third World solidarity is employed as a rhetorical tool to convince the Global South of China’s good intentions and trustworthiness. China seems to be trying to gain support from the Global South for its international political agenda. The agenda is presented as advancing the shared interest of the Global South: development. However, when analysing the Chinese rhetoric from a world system theory viewpoint, the promise of development seems empty. The Chinese political programme seems to uphold the existing international system and aims to achieve incremental improvements within it. This could result in some degree of development in some areas, but it does not provide a solution for global poverty and underdevelopment.
-
(2021)Tausta: Komorbiditeettien eli muiden itsenäisten sairauksien vaikutusta myasthenia graviksen (MG) ennusteeseen ei tunneta. Muut autoimmuuni sairaudet on liitetty MG:een mutta niidrn rooli MG:n taudin kuvaan on kiistanalainen. Menetelmät: Tässä retrospektiivisessä yhden keskuksen kohorttitutkimuksessa seurasimme 154 suomalaista yleistynyttä MG:sta sairastavaa potilasta, joille oli tehty tymektomia eli kateenkorvan poisto. Keskimääräinen seuranta-aika oli 8,6 (±5.0 ) vuotta tymektomian jälkeen. Potilaiden komorbiditeetit oli diagnosoitu miltä tahansa ajanhetkeltä ja tiedot oli peräisin potilasasiakirjoista. Tautitaakka pisteytettiin käyttämällä Charlson comorbidity indexiä (CCI). Potilaat jaettiin alaryhmiin komorbiditeettien mukaan; MG ainoastaan (n=45) ja MG sekä mikä tahansa komorbiditeetti (n=109). Jälkimmäinen ryhmä jaettiin vielä; MG sekä muu autoimmuunitauti (n=33) ja MG sekä ei-autoimmuuni komorbiditeetti -ryhmään(n=76). Tutkimuksen päätetapahtumina oli täydellinen remissio (CSR), minimaalisen lääkityksen tarve (pyridostigmiini max 100mg/vrk) ja sairaalahoidon tarve. Tulokset: Potilaat joilla ainoastaan MG saavutti CSR useammin kuin MG sekä mikä tahansa komorbiditeetti –ryhmä (26.7% vs 8.3%, p = 0.004). Minimaalisen lääkityksen tarpeen saavutettiin useammin MG ainoastaan -ryhmässä kuin MG sekä ei-autoimmuuni komorbiditeetti –ryhmässä (p = 0.047 ). Sairaalahoidon tarve oli alhaisempaa potilailla joilla vain MG kuin potilailla oli MG sekä mikä tahansa komorbiditeetti (p = 0.046). Logistisen regressioanalyysin mukaan matala CCI kasvattaa todennäköisyyttä saavuttaa CSR (p = 0.033). Matala CCI oli yleisempää potilailla, joilla oli minimaalinen lääkitys tarve ja eivätkä tarvinnut sairaalahoitoa (p < 0.001) Johtopäätökset: Lähes 9 vuoden tymektomian jälkeisen seurannan aikana potilailla, joilla on yleistynyt MG ja komorbiditeettejä on huonompi ennuste kuin potilailla jotka sairastavat vain MG:tä. Autoimmuunisairaudet eivät huonontanut MG:n ennustetta enempään kuin muut komorbiditeetit.
-
(2015)The OECD Model Tax Convention contains a beneficial owner requirement for the taxation of dividend, interest and royalty income. The purpose of the requirement is to prevent improper use of tax treaties, and consequently counteract abusive treaty shopping structures that aim at gaining tax treaty benefits that would not otherwise be achievable. As the beneficial owner requirement is included in the OECD Model Tax Convention, it is consequently included in tax treaties that are concluded by Member States of the European Union. From the perspective of the EU law, the requirement may, however, constitute as a restriction on free movement. As there is not significant harmonization of direct taxation within the European Union, nationals of Member States are able to use the different tax systems of different Member States to minimize their tax burden by exercising the freedom of establishment. The structures that make use of the disparities in the national tax systems of Member States can be view as abusive on national level, but they may be protected by the fundamental freedoms that the EU treaties provide for. Therefore, anti-abusive legislation that a Member State has introduced may create a restriction on free movement. The freedom of establishment ensures that a national of a Member States has the right to move freely within the EU without being subject to excessive measures, which are not applied in purely domestic but comparable situations. This gives an EU national the possibility to choose to establish an entity in a Member State where the taxation of dividend, interest and royalty income on source is most favourable for the tax payer. However, in order to invoke the freedom of establishment, the company in question must pursuit effective and genuine economic activities in the state of establishment. This thesis examines whether the structures that are used by Member State nationals to gain tax treaty benefits are protected by the EU law, and if the application of the beneficial ownership concept that is included in the tax treaties that are concluded between different Member States, is in fact against EU law, and particularly against the freedom of establishment. Furthermore, the thesis examines the potential justifications for the restriction that the beneficial ownership requirement might create on the freedom of establishment. The thesis aims to conclude how the beneficial ownership provisions in tax treaties should be interpreted so that the interpretation is essentially in compliance with EU law. When examining the case law of the European Court of Justice, it seems evident that the beneficial owner requirement can create a restriction on the freedom of establishment. Nevertheless, this restriction may be justified, to some extent, by the necessity to prevent tax avoidance. The European Court of Justice has developed in its practice a doctrine of abuse, under which the Member States are allowed to introduce national anti-abuse legislation to counteract tax avoidance. It is established in the case law of the European Court of Justice that while national anti-abusive legislation may create a restriction on the freedom of establishment, the restriction may be justified on the grounds of prevention of abusive practices. The national anti-abusive legislation must be, however, designed exclusively to prevent the use of wholly artificial arrangements, and therefore establishments that entail effective and genuine economic activities cannot be excluded from obtaining tax treaty benefits. Consequently, the beneficial owner requirement must be applied in such manner that it only excludes purely artificial arrangement from attaining the benefits of a tax treaty.
-
(2021)As one of the steps the Court uses to evaluate the existence of discrimination in relation to the exercise of the fundamental freedoms, comparability is an important question for anyone operating within the scope of the jurisdiction of the European Union. What makes it even more important in the context of direct taxation, is the way direct taxation is harmonised in the European Union. In the absence of positive harmonisation, negative harmonisation, which occurs through the Court finding national legislation incompatible with, for example, the fundamental freedoms, has an important role in enabling market integration in direct tax matters. This study looks at the steps the Court employs in determining comparability in cases related to dividend taxation. Accordingly, the fundamental freedoms discussed are the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. We start by looking at what the concept of comparability means, since in reality, we cannot expect any cases to be comparable in every aspect. In its analysis of comparability, the Court first looks at whether the member state being accused of discriminatory measures has exercised its taxing powers in respect of the income in question. If the answer is no, the cases cannot be deemed comparable. If the answer is yes, the Court will move on to the next step. In the second step, the Court will determine whether the taxpayers compared in the case are subject to tax in the same way in respect of the income in question. If the answer is yes, the cases should be treated comparably in every other aspect as well (i.e. discriminatory measures cannot be applied). If the answer is no, the Court will move on to the final distinguishing step. If the two other questions have not clarified whether the situations in question are objectively comparable, the Court will analyse the situation in light of the aim of the national legislation. If the aim is relevant for the situations of both of the taxpayers equally, the taxpayers should be regarded as being comparable.
-
(2019)Le but de ce travail est de comparer les manières dont les tutoriels internet et les manuels favorisent le développement des compétences lexicales et grammaticales des apprenants finnophones. Dans une première partie théorique, nous remettons dans la perspective historique les relations qui existent entre didactique des langues et technologie, jusqu’aux dernières évolutions d’aujourd’hui marquées par le processus de digitalisation et de généralisation de l’usage d’internet. Puis, nous présentons plusieurs classifications des usages d’internet en classe de langue avant de concentrer notre analyse sur l’utilisation des tutoriels et du manuel. Notre analyse porte plus précisément sur le développement de la compétence lexicale et de la compétence grammaticale. Le corpus retenu est constitué du manuel Escalier, d’un tutoriel de vocabulaire Quizlet et de deux tutoriels de grammaire trouvés sur les sites internet suivants : Français interactif et Français facile. L’analyse est constituée d’une première comparaison entre les deux supports, manuel et tutoriels. Un deuxième niveau de comparaison est mis en place entre les recommandations de la recherche pour le développement des deux compétences et la façon dont le manuel et les tutoriels internet les prennent en compte. Pour chaque compétence considérée, lexicale et grammaticale, nous partons de sa définition et des recommandations faites par les chercheurs pour leur développement. A l’issue de ces comparaisons, nous remarquons qu’internet offre des possibilités de développement intéressantes mais que ces pistes ne sont pas sans risque. De plus, le potentiel d’internet reste souvent sous-exploité. En conclusion, nous constatons que les tutoriels et les manuels se complètent dans leur réponse à la problématique du développement des compétences lexicales et grammaticales des apprenants de français. Toutefois leurs réponses restent, au vu des chercheurs, insuffisantes. Cependant, le développement d’internet pourrait permettre d’améliorer l’efficacité de cette réponse. Ceci pourtant n’est possible que si internet est utilisé de manière complexe. Au long de cette étude, nous avons remarqué que perspective actionnelle, digitalisation et socio-constructivisme tendraient à ne considérer l’apprentissage d’une langue que comme l’acquisition d’une technique qui doit s’inscrire dans le monde réel par des actions.
-
(2016)Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on verrata The Simpsons – sarjan kahden tuotantokauden ranskankielisiä dubbauksia toisiinsa, sekä alkuperäiseen englanninkieliseen versioon. Toinen käännöksistä on ranskalainen ja toinen quebeciläinen. Erityisenä kiinnostuksen kohteena ovat kulttuurisidonnaisten käsitteiden käännökset ja niissä käytetyt käännösstrategiat. Kulttuurisia viittauksia on sekä kielellisiä että kielenulkoisia. Työn pyrkimyksenä on selvittää, ovatko kääntäjät valinneet käännösstrategioita, joilla he ovat korostaneet kohdemaan kulttuuria, vai ovatko he pyrkineet pysymään mahdollisimman lähellä alkuperäistä versiota. Lähtökohtana on ajatus siitä, että Quebecin tiukasta kielipolitiikasta johtuen quebeciläinen versio sisältää todennäköisesti enemmän kohdekulttuuria korostavia viittauksia. Korpuksen kahta tuotantokautta erottaa 19 vuotta, joten tämä työ tutkii myös sarjan mahdollisia kielellisiä muutoksia eri tuotantokausien välillä. Työn teoreettinen viitekehys pohjautuu Jean-Paul Vinay’n ja Jean Darbelnet’n käännösstrategioiden luokitteluun ja työssä määritellään tarkemmin analyysiosiossa käytetyt kulttuurisidonnaiset viittaukset. Empiirisessä tutkimusosassa käsitellään kulttuurisidonnaisia viittauksia ensin kvantitatiivisesti, minkä jälkeen niitä tutkitaan lähemmin esimerkkien avulla. Ensimmäisessä osassa käsitellään uudissanoja, toisessa osassa puhekielen termejä ja kolmannessa osassa tarkastellaan kielenulkoisia kulttuuriviittauksia. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että kielenulkoisissa kulttuuriviittauksissa ranskalaisissa dubbauksissa on korostettu kohdekulttuuria enemmän kuin quebeciläisissä dubbauksissa, sillä amerikkalainen kulttuuri on quebeciläisille tutumpi kuin ranskalaisille. Kielellisissä kulttuuriviittauksissa tämä kuitenkin vaihtelee. Quebeciläinen kääntäjä kääntää usein sananmukaisesti ja käyttäen alkuperäisen sanan rekisteriä, kun taas ranskalainen kääntäjä korostaa sarjan yleistä puhekielistä tyyliä, lisäämällä myös puhekielen sanoja, jotka eivät ilmene missään muodossa alkuperäisessä dialogissa. Tämä viittaa siihen, että quebeciläinen kääntäjä on uskollisempi alkuperäiselle versiolle, mutta korpuksesta löytyy myös tapauksia, jossa quebeciläinen kääntäjä käyttää regionalismeja ja vapaata käännöstä, jotka päinvastoin korostavat kohdekulttuuria. Jälkimmäisen tuotantokauden lyhemmistä episodeista johtuen kielellisiä muutoksia on vaikea kartoittaa, mutta uudissanojen huomattava lisääntyminen on paitsi todiste kielen jatkuvasta muuttumisesta myös osoitus muutoksesta käännösstrategioissa.
-
(2022)Diabetes mellitus is an incurable disease caused by dysfunctional insulin signaling. The brown adipose tissue (BAT) serves as a hotspot for both lipid and glucose consumption and is thus an attractive target for treating metabolic diseases. Newly surfacing evidence suggest that the endothelial cells (ECs) lining the inner layer of vessels might regulate the morphology and function of adipose tissues. Several studies, including our own, suggest that the vessel density is negatively affected by metabolic diseases. As the BAT is an important organ for systemic lipid and glucose metabolism, and as the effects of metabolic diseases on BAT vessels are not adequately explored, I wanted to investigate how the BAT vasculature changes upon early time points of type 1 (T1D) and 2 (T2D) diabetes in this thesis work. To this end, I used mouse models with chemically induced T1D and genetic T2D and characterized these models with immunohistochemical analyses and immunoassays. To explore the transcriptomic landscapes of ECs and adipose stem cells (ASCs), I analyzed scRNAseq data of BAT stromal vascular fractions (SVF), focusing on changes in gene expression and EC-ASC interactions at a transcriptomic level. Also, by using a publicly available single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) dataset, I compared BAT SVF gene expression to complement the data resulting from our experiments. The results from this work reveal differential angiogenic responses in the T1D and T2D mouse models and open new avenues of research into how these different pathways are activated and how we can take advantage of these differences to treat diseases. All in all, this work will support the efforts in developing better options for future diabetes prevention, diagnosis, and care.
-
(2014)Evolutionary mechanisms in living organisms exist in the most microscopic organisms too, such as populations of tumor cells. This process causes cancer to be one of the most difficult disease to cure for the objective of the evolutionary process taking place within the cells is to make the cancerous population resistant to treatment, while causing them to change in several ways and increase in number. One critical result of this process is called tumor heterogeneity, a term which is used to describe how each tumor population has distinctive properties within and between tumors. Cancer stem cells, small groups of cells that have the capability to form tumors, are one of the foundations of tumor heterogeneity. This study surveys expressions of known Cancer stem cells in different cancer types to note the effects of intratumor heterogeneity (heterogeneity within tumors). This comparative analysis consists of comparisons between normal tissues and cancerous tissues of the same cancer type (colorectal cancer) and between primary cancer tissues and metastatic cancer tissues of the same cancer type (colorectal cancer). The expectation is to observe cancer stem cells to be more expressive in metastatic tissues as they are source of transformation in primary cancers to become more aggressive metastatic cancers. All data used in this study were downloaded from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) website and data analysis were done with R/Bioconductor tools. After extracting the differentially expressed genes between the groups, functional annotation was carried out with The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) Bioinformatics Tools.
-
(2020)Peace has always been a pivotal issue in the core of humankind’s thoughts throughout centuries; prophets, great thinkers, poets and elites have expressed their concern, vision and ideas of peace. Major world religions have teachings for peace. As one of the new religious movements of the world, Baha’i Faith has placed peace in the focus of its teaching. There have also been academic and intellectual efforts to define peace and to present plans for making peace like the works of Johan Galtung, the founder of the peace and conflict studies. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the peace plan of Baha’i Faith with Johan Galtung’s peace theory and explore their possible crucial differences and similarities (commonalities). In Galtung’s book, Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, the first chapter is peace theory which is used to explore Baha’i teachings on peace in Baha’i primary sources like writings of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Bahá' (first successor), Shoghi Effendi (Guardian and appointed head of the Faith) and Universal House of Justice (supreme ruling body) publications. Secondary Baha’i sources are also studied which are articles, papers and books written about Baha’i Faith. The method of comparative analysis used in this study is lens comparison in which we explore A (Galtung’s Peace Theory) less than B (Baha’i Faith peace plan), we use A as a lens through which to view B. The text A is used as a framework to understand and compare with text B. Galtung’s peace theory is an umbrella under which Baha’i teachings are studied. The idea of peace and the approach toward this idea is in the center of this comparison. During this process, the differences and commonalities of A and B are listed and analyzed in three realms, i.e. in relation to peace and gender, peace and democracy and peace and inter-state systems. After every point by point comparison chapter, all common and different features of A and B are observed, listed and analyzed to verify to what degree they are similar with or differ from each other. In this way, it is possible to see the level of proximity and remoteness of two sources and to verify how much they converge or diverge. The thesis reveals in which areas of peace-building ideas, Galtung and Baha’i Faith have common approaches and in which areas they have different standpoints, i.e. this paper disclosed, on gender and peace, both approaches have high level of proximity and convergence.
-
(2021)Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract ROS or Reactive Oxygen Species can be found throughout all living organisms on the planet. Without ROS, processes, which are essential for the sustainment of most living organisms, such as respiration would not be possible. On the other hand, uncontrolled ROS generation can cause severe damage to the cellular structure. The family of ROS includes multiple compounds, which share a common trait of high chemical activity. ROS can be produced on demand by specific enzymes which are localized within cellular structures, such as membranes. One group of enzymes is called NADPH (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) oxidases. These enzymes possess common structure which is composed of transmembrane region with multiple loop helixes and usually two or more terminal motifs, which are devised into regulatory EF-hand motifs and catalytic motifs. NADPH oxidases are essential ROS producers and can be found throughout most clades of living organism and are widely represented in different cellular compartments and distributed across different tissues in multicellular organisms. As an example, Nox family of NADPH oxidases can be found in human tissues and immune cells. Another common group of NADPH oxidases is respiratory burst oxidase homologues (RBOH) can be found in plants. Members of this group play important role in plant immune defense against pathogens. One example is AtRBOHD, which is expressed in Arabidopsis genus of plants. Upon activation, these enzymes are known to produce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as mean of antibacterial defense. These host defense mechanisms are known to be driven by different signaling molecules. It has been determined that in some examples of NADPH Oxidases, including Nox5 and RBOHD, the state of activation can be induced through the effects of Ca2+ ions. Moreover, it has been determined, that ROS-producing state of these NADPH oxidases is achieved through change of conformation. This change in conformation is attributed to the different modes of interaction of motifs of oxidases, which are dependent on concentration of bivalent cation Ca2+. Previous research regarding intramolecular interactions within specific NADPH oxidase- Nox5β has been performed by multiple research teams and different sources appear to contradict each other on the exact mode of interaction of Nox5β EF-hand upon presence of Ca2+. Therefore the exact interaction model of terminals of Nox5β is unclear. In addition, the effect of presence of Ca2+ on the interaction terminals in another representative of NADPH oxidases- AtRBOHD, which possess highly analogous molecular structure of catalytic C-terminus to Nox5β, has never been thoroughly studied, as well as interactive cross-compatibility of the C and N terminals from these two distinct species of NADPH oxidases. The objectives of this research are to analyze intramolecular interactions of N- and C- terminals in Arabidopsis RBOHD and Human Nox5β upon presence of ionic calcium, compare Ca2+-induced terminals interactions in said oxidases and to establish possible cross-compatibility of terminals in these two distinct NADPH oxidase species. Practical aspects of this research included cloning the C- and N- cytoplasmic regions of Nox5β and AtRBOHD into bacterial expression vectors utilizing the PIPE cloning method, heterologous production of epitope-tagged tails of NOX5β and RBOHD in E. Coli BL21 and finally in-vitro pull-down assays to analyse the interactions of the tails upon the presence of Ca2+ as well as interactive cross-compatibility of these tails. By utilizing methods mentioned above, this research has demonstrated that interactions of terminals motifs both in Nox5β and AtRBOHD are possible even in calcium-deprived environment, which was achieved through use calcium-binding agent (EDTA) and the effect of calcium on interactions of terminals both in RBOHD and Nox5β is very limited if not insignificant. This research has also demonstrated that the cross-compatible interactions between terminals of Nox5β and AtRBOHD are possible. Results of this research indicate a strong structural conservation within NADPH oxidases, which indicates similar intramolecular interaction mechanisms within two highly diverged species. These findings may prove to be useful as a background for the future research regarding ROS producing enzymes and evolutional conservation in structures of oxidases.
Now showing items 3034-3053 of 30981