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Communicative Language Teaching in Mandarin Chinese : Reality in Classrooms

Annala, Elina (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.
Community-based Ecotourism as a Sustainable Development Option in the Taita Hills, Kenya

Himberg, Nina (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.
Community Forest Management and Policy implication for the Biosphere Reserve of Luki, Democratic Republic of Congo

Shange, Bosaze Rufinga (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.
Community of common development? : A neo-Gramscian perspective on Chinese hegemonic aspirations and the Global South

Huhtamäki, Lotta (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.
Comorbidities worsen the prognosis of generalised myasthenia gravis post-thymectomy

Myllynen, Chris; Laakso, Sini; Atula, Sari; Strbian, Daniel (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.
Compability of Beneficial Owner Requirements Included in Tax Treaties with the Freedom of Establishment

Hänninen, Sonja (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.
Comparability and dividend taxation incompatible with EU legislation

Granholm, Essi (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.
Comparaison de l’apprentissage des compétences lexicales et grammaticales par les tutoriels et par les manuels

Gicquel-Pahkala, Elisabeth (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.
Comparaison linguistique et culturelle des doublages français et québécois de la série animée The Simpsons

Sarantola, Paula (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.
Comparative analysis of brown adipose tissue stromal-vascular fraction reveals differential angiogenic responses in mouse models of type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus

Lackman, Madeleine Helena (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.
Comparative Analysis of Cancer Stem Cell Gene Expressions with respect to Intratumor Heterogenity

Asan-Liski, Bakiye Hilal (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.
Comparative Analysis of Galtung’s Peace Theory And Baha’i Faith Peace Plan

Zafaranloo, Saeed (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.
Comparative analysis of intramolecular interaction in Human NOX5β and Arabidopsis RBOHD

Avdonin, Savva (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.
Comparative analysis of prosodic characteristics of dialects of the English language using WaveNet

Tapper, Suvi (2023)

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the prosodic features of English dialects using WaveNet. The exact goal is to investigate whether the differences in prosody between the dialects are present in the data and the results, and whether the geographical distance between the cities included in the data has any influence on this. Another aim is to see how the prosodic features of the sentence types present in the data and their possible differences are manifested in the data and the results. Prosody is concerned with those characteristics of speech which cover more than just individual sounds. Prosodic features can further be divided into paralinguistic features, such as the rate of speech and pausing, and linguistic features, like intonation. Parameters useful for analysing prosody are fundamental frequency (f0), intensity and voice quality – we are interested in the first two. Fundamental frequency is the speed of the vibration of the vocal folds while speaking. Intensity in turn is connected to the changes of air pressure while speaking. The data used for this study is the IViE corpus (Intonational Variation in English), comprising of recordings done in nine British cities – Belfast, Bradford, Cambridge, Cardiff, Dublin, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Newcastle, with approximately 12 speakers per city. In three of the cities, Bradford, Cardiff and London, the dialect is that of a minority. The part of the corpus chosen for this study is a set of 22 sentences consisting of five sentence types. The analysis was performed using WaveNet, a convolutional neural network. It uses causal convolutions to ensure the data is processed correctly. In addition to being conditioned on the output of the network itself, it can also be conditioned using embeddings. The WaveNet implementation used here has two embedding layers – target and normalisation embeddings. Before the analysis the data was pre-processed and the relevant information concerning the fundamental frequency and intensity were extracted from the sound files. A corresponding *.time file was also created for each of the sound files, with the aim of minimising the influence of the possible differences in length between sentences and thus improve the network's ability to recognise the intonation contours correctly. The results are presented in the form of dendrograms, depicting the relationships between the dialects and sentence types – both separately and as a combination of the dialects and sentence types. It was shown, that the differences in prosody were in fact manifested in the data for both dialects and sentence types, although not exactly as expected. The geographical proximity did not seem to influence the dialectal similarities as much as was assumed – in addition to other influences this might also be due to some of the dialects being minority dialects in the cities, and therefore not necessarily so easily comparable to the dialects of the neighbouring area as the majority dialects might have been.
Comparative analysis of the framing of political actors in the events that led to Mubarak’s and Morsy’s ousters in CNN International edition and Al Jazeera English news sites

Kamel, Shaden (2015)

Global news networks played an important role in carrying powerful images from the Arab spring, whether on television or electronic screens. Furthermore, they provided the space for various individuals to voice their opinions and challenge government’s state television propaganda. However, as news networks compete against each other, they may provide different interpretations of the same event or issue, which may indicate their support for a particular political stance. The on-going events of the Egyptian 25th January revolution that led to the ouster of President Mohamed Hosny Mubarak, and the aftermath of Mubarak’s ouster, were highly covered global news networks. Similarly, Morsy’s ouster, a year later, by the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces brought worldwide media attention. This thesis seeks to determine how political actors are framed during the period of Mubarak’s ouster, in comparison to during the period of Morsy’s ouster, by CNN International edition (CNNI) and Al Jazeera English (AJE) news sites. Political actors during the period of both ousters include: Mubarak and Morsy as presidents, their regimes, the pro-government supporters and anti-government protestors, the United States and the Egyptian army. To examine how these political actors are framed, I have conducted a comparative framing analysis by using a quantitative and qualitative mixed method on a sample of news stories from CNNI and AJE news sites. Additionally, a quantitative analysis is conducted on the use of sources by both news sites. Data in this thesis includes 78 news stories from both news sites in total. I have chosen to examine CNNI news site as branch of CNN’s news network, as it reflects a Western, and particularly an American stance, on foreign issues. Also, I have chosen AJE news site as a branch of Al Jazeera’s news network, as it is an alternative non-Western channel that is described as having contributed positively to the pan-Arab media landscape. Results of this study indicate that even though CNNI is expected to represent a Western or American standpoint and AJE is expected to represent a non-Western alternative perspective, both news sites used the same frames in portraying political actors. However, there are some differences in the way both news sites used the same frame, which reflected their different political ideologies and interests. Furthermore, data results suggest that sources contribute greatly to the way both news sites framed political actors. For example, the concentration of US officials in CNNI’s news stories during the period of Mubarak’s ouster, reflected the US’ dilemma as a political actor between its interests with Mubarak’s government and its ‘democratic ideals’. Similarly, during the period of Morsy’s ouster, the concentration of US officials in CNNI’s news stories reflected a neutral stance then a critical stance over the military’s intervention in ousting Morsy. In AJE’s news stories, Al Jazeera’s apparent role as a political actor itself is reflected in how AJE’s reporters, who conveyed the voices of anti-Mubarak protestors, are the highest news sources present during the period of Mubarak’s ouster, whereas members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are the highest news sources present during the period of Morsy’s ouster.
Comparative analysis of the large-scale privatization in Russia and Kazakhstan in the 1990s

Kim, Sergey (2021)

The thesis focuses on the process of large-scale privatization in Russia and Kazakhstan in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The main research problem was finding the structural similarities that two countries shared before and during the implementation of the economic reforms and, also, the differences that defined the divergence of the political and economic trajectories already in the second half of the 1990s. The main method used in the thesis is a comparative analysis based on David Kang´s analytical framework described in his book ‘Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines’ (Cambridge University Press, 2002). The focus of the analysis is the balance of power between the government and the private sector as one of the main determinants of economic development. The conclusion of our work is that the large-scale privatization that was supposed to be democratic and distributive ended up enriching a small group of beneficiaries in both Russia in Kazakhstan but because of completely different reasons. Kazakhstani regime very early transformed into the predatory state where the political elite, consolidated around a strong figure of the president, could successfully take advantage of the private sector. Whereas, in Russia, stronger political polarization led to the rise of the powerful economic groups and actors (the ‘oligarchs’) that had a say in the key political decisions during the 1990s. Thus, portraying just one group of actors (whether the oligarchs or the corrupt government) as responsible for the ‘failure’ of large-scale privatization is too simplistic. The dynamics between the government and the private businesses as the system constraint was much more important.
Comparative Analysis on the Susceptibility of Norway spruce (Picea abies) in Northern and Southern Finland to Heterobasidion parviporum Infection

Stewart, Erik (2016)

Heterobasidion annosum s.l. is a devastating forest pathogen species complex which causes extensive damage to timber products in northern Europe. This study examined resistance of Norway spruce (Picea abies) in two field sites in Finland to annosum root rot (Heterobasidion parviporum) utilizing non-clonal stocks of P. abies. The northern field site in Rovaniemi does not have a historical presence of the pathogen, whereas the southern field site in Lapinjärvi has extensive historical presence of the pathogen. The goals of the study were to assess potential difference in susceptibility between the sites, as well as to examine the differences in susceptibility between tissue types and organs in the trees examined. The study inoculated treatment trees with H. parviporum, as well as mock inoculations without the pathogen for control trees. Six inoculations of one treatment type were placed into each of thirty randomly selected trees at both field sites. Three inoculations were done in the stem, and three in the roots, for a total of 360 inoculations. After being left in situ for three months, the trees were harvested, and resulting lesions in the phloem and xylem tissues in both the roots and stem were measured to determine the extent of visible lesion extensions from the inoculation point. Data collected from the experiment was analyzed in the context of three mixed effects models, with the assumption that larger lesions indicated lower resistance to the pathogen. The measurements considered as response variables for the models were the total length of the lesion, total width of the lesion, and total area of the lesion. Results indicated minor overall differences in the lesion sizes between site in the lesion width and lesion area models. Significant differences were found between tissue types in the lesion width, and lesion area models. Additionally, interactions between treatment and organ, as well as treatment and tissue were significant across all models. Several other interactions were significant across some, but not all models The results indicate that further research into the potential effects of historical or geographic isolation on the resistance of P. abies to H. parviporum should include strict genetic controls with crossing of genotypes across sites, and should also consider the differences due to abiotic factors which may influence resistance in field trials.
Comparative Approaches to Health and Safety in Forestry Operations in Scotland and Finland

Chambers, Philip (2019)

Forestry is a hazardous industry globally. Physical conditions, legal frameworks and cultural norms can vary from country to country leading to different approaches to site safety management. There are international, national and regional legislation and guidelines which outline normative approaches land managers can utilise to protect forestry machine operators and the public from accident or injury. In this study, the approaches the health and safety management in forestry operations are assessed in two countries within the European Union –Scotland (as part of the UK member state) and Finland. While both countries practice sustainable forest management, it is shown that this is carried out under different legal frameworks leading to differences in approach to site safety planning. Other factors are shown to have an effect including cultural factors and land ownership patterns.
Comparative computerized text analysis of psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy manuals

Koivusaari, Eeva Matleena (2023)

Abstract Objectives. Despite the convincing evidence of efficacy of psychotherapy, its mechanisms of change in therapy are still unclear raising questions on what constitutes psychotherapy. In this work, the common and specific factors of cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy were inspected by exploring psychotherapy manuals, which has not been previously studied in therapy research, using machine learning methods. The aim of this work was to gain understanding of the theoretical frames of different psychotherapy approaches and explore their distinguishability as well as semantic features. Methods. Textual psychotherapy manuals representing psychodynamic psychotherapy (n=4) and cognitive behavioral therapy (n=4) were analyzed using latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling. The number of topics was pre-defined as 2, based on the number of therapy approaches. Additionally, a Bayesian method was used, defining the best fitting number of topics for the data. Logistic regression was performed for both solutions regarding the selection of the number of topics to observe the associations of textual topics with the therapy approaches. Two models were compared in their ability to correctly discriminate between the therapy approaches. Results and conclusions. The models consisting of 2 and 24 topics proved excellent in distinguishing the therapy approaches thus pointing towards the differentiable nature of these two approaches. The discriminative power of the model with 24 topics was based on few perfectly discriminative topics yet the model also included topics common for both therapy approaches. Based on this work, the approaches differed regarding relational and agency emphasis whereas shared expectations appeared as common factor.
Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Professional and Non-professional Online Book Reviews

Pakarinen, Emmi (2020)

Tutkielmassani analysoin kirja-arvosteluita ja niissä esiintyvää arviointia. Tarkoituksena on näyttää, mistä osista internetissä julkaistavat kirja-arvostelut koostuvat eli minkälaiset piirteet ovat tyypillisiä kirja-arvosteluista koostuvalle genrelle sekä ammattikriitikoiden että harrastelijoiden keskuudessa. Tämän lisäksi vertailen ammattikriitikoiden ja harrastelijakriitikoiden kielen käyttöä. Tutkimuksen teoria perustuu genreanalyysiin, erityisesti Paltridgen (1995) esittämään analyysimalliin, ja kielessä esiintyvän evaluaation analyysi keskittyy kirja-arvosteluissa käytettävään vertailuun, subjektiivisuuteen sekä kirjoja arvottaviin ilmaisuihin (Thompson & Hunston: 2000). Tutkimuksen materiaali koostuu ammattikriitikoiden ja harrastelijakriitikoiden kirja-arvosteluista. Ammattikriitikoiden kirja-arvostelut kerättiin kahden sanomalehden The New York Timesin ja The Guardianin verkkosivuilta, kun taas Goodreads ja LibraryThing toimivat harrastelija kirja-arvosteluiden lähteinä. Yhteensä materiaali sisältää kaksitoista ammattikriitikoiden ja 48 harrastelijoiden kirja-arvostelua. Harrastelijoiden arvosteluja on käytettävässä materiaalissa enemmän, koska niiden välillä on enemmän eroja ja ne ovat lyhyempiä verrattuna ammattikriitikoiden kirja-arvosteluihin. Analyysin perusteella kirja-arvostelut muodostuvat kahdesta tärkeästä osasta. Ne sisältävät kirjaa kuvailevan osan, johon sisältyy esimerkiksi juonen ja kirjailijan esittely, ja kirjaa arvioivan osan, johon kuuluu esimerkiksi kirjoitustyylin tai hahmojen arvostelua. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat myös, että ammattikriitikoiden ja harrastelija-arvostelujen väliltä löytyy niitä erottavia piirteitä. Osa harrastelijoiden kirja-arvosteluista ei sisällä kirjaa kuvailevia osia, vaan ne koostuvat ainoastaan kirjaa arvioivista osista. Ammattikriitikoiden kirja-arvosteluissa taas on enemmän kirjailijoita koskevaa informaatiota ja muutenkin enemmän kirjojen sisältöihin liittyvää tietoa. Ammattikriitikoiden arvosteluista löytyy myös enemmän vertailevaa kieltä harrastelijoihin verrattuna. Kirjojen positiivisia ja negatiivisia piirteitä tuodaan esiin esimerkiksi vertaamalla niitä toisiin teoksiin. Ammattiarvostelijoihin verrattuna, harrastelijat puolestaan ovat subjektiivisempia kirjoja arvioidessaan. He käyttivät esimerkiksi enemmän minä-pronominia kertoessaan, mitä he tunsivat kirjaa lukiessaan ja mitä he pitivät kirjasta.

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