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Reptiles have long been studied in search of the mechanisms behind neuronal regeneration. This thesis delves into the regenerative areas of two emerging model species to the field of regenerative research: Pogona vitticeps (bearded dragon) and Pantherophis guttatus (corn snake). This fluorescent immunohistochemical study maps out and compares the constitutive proliferative zones in these two species to better define the focus of future comparative neurodegenerative experiments. A BrdU pulse chase experiment in conjunction with PCNA reveals proliferative zones in the lateral ventricular ependyma of both species. Stem cell niches were found in the ependymal lining adjacent to the medial cortex and dorsal ventricular ridge in both species, however, the nucleus sphericus ependyma was an active proliferative zone only in Pantherophis. Imaging of further markers in this study support the findings of the pulse chase experiment. High levels of the stem cell marker Sox2 was found in lateral ventricular ependymal cells in both species. The glial marker GFAP reveals a highly ordered array of radial glia in the cortical areas of Pogona, which is significantly reduced or absent in Pantherophis. And lastly the neuronal marker HU was found in the same cells that were BrdU positive and had migrated a short distance from the proliferative zones, which shows that the proliferative areas in the lateral ventricular lining do indeed produce neurons. The BrdU and PCNA marked cells were quantified in both species, and a brief comparison between the species showed that Pogona had a significantly higher number and concentration of proliferative cells in the proliferative zones than Pantherophis. Scattered BrdU positive cells that were neither neuronal nor positive for any other marker were also found scattered throughout the parenchyma of Pogona, and these cells remain uncharacterized. Differences between these two species are not surprising, as lizards are known to have better regenerative capabilities than snakes, however, more comparative research between these species is needed to gain further insight into the mechanisms behind their contrasting regenerative capabilities.

Tässä työssä tutkitaan impersonaalirakenteita espanjan ja portugalin eurooppalaisten varieteettien välillä uutiskielessä. Tarkasteltavat rakenteet ovat ser-apuverbillä muodostettava perifrastinen passiivi ja se-rakenteet, jotka voidaan jakaa passiivisiin ja impersonaalisiin rakenteisiin. Tavoitteena on selvittää, kummankielisessä korpuksessa tutkittavat rakenteet ovat kokonaisuudessaan yleisempiä ja kummat rakenteet ovat yleisempiä kussakin korpuksessa. Korpusten uutiset on jaettu seitsemään osastoon, jotka ovat yhteiskunta, politiikka, talous, urheilu, kulttuuri, tiede sekä teknologia. Tavoitteena on täten myös tutkia, esiintyykö rakenteita tyypillisemmin joissain tietyissä osastoissa. Funktionaalisesta näkökulmasta yksi impersonaalirakenteiden tehtävistä on agentin häivyttäminen (Siewierska 2008). Espanjaa ja portugalia pidetään tässä tutkimuksessa saman järjestelmän eri variantteina, sillä ne ovat geneettisesti niin läheistä sukua toisilleen (vrt. Moravcsik 2016). Tämän ansiosta molempien kielten rakenteisiin voidaan soveltaa samaa luokittelua. Impersonaalirakenteiden luokittelu pohjautuu Barrenechean ja M. de Rosettin (1979) malliin. Uutisten laadullisessa tarkastelussa hyödynnetään puolestaan Reinemann et al.:n (2011) luokittelua. Tutkimuksen korpukset koostuvat uutisista, jotka on espanjan osalta kerätty El Mundo- ja portugalin osalta O Diário de Notícias -sanomalehdestä ja jotka ajoittuvat vuosille 2017–2019. Espanjan korpuksen koko on 143 909 sanaa ja portugalin korpuksen koko 87 593 sanaa. Aineiston keruussa on hyödynnetty Corpus del Español NOW- (News on the Web) (Davies 2018–) ja Corpus do Português NOW (Davies 2018–) -internetkorpuksia, joiden pohjalta on koostettu oma korpus analyysia varten. Tulokset osoittavat impersonaalirakenteiden olevan yleisempiä portugalin korpuksessa kuin espanjan korpuksessa. Portugalin korpuksen normalisoitu frekvenssi on 93,6 tapausta 10 000:ta sanaa kohti ja espanjan korpuksen 82,5 tapausta 10 000:ta sanaa kohti. Korpusten välinen ero on tilastollisesti merkitsevä (G² = 7,71; p < 0,01). Espanjan korpuksessa se-rakenteet (58,6) ovat yleisempiä kuin perifrastinen passiivi (23,8). Portugalin korpuksessa vastaavasti perifrastinen passiivi (81,4) on yleisempi kuin se-rakenteet (12,2). Espanjan korpuksessa impersonaaliset rakenteet ovat tyypillisimpiä yhteiskunta- (100,7), kulttuuri- (99,7) ja tiedeaiheisissa (94,6) uutisissa ja harvinaisimpia urheilu-uutisissa (27,9). Portugalin korpuksessa ne ovat tyypillisimpiä puolestaan yhteiskunta- (135,9), politiikka- (89,3) ja kulttuuriosastoissa (87,7) ja harvinaisimpia urheiluosastossa (52,7). Portugalin korpuksessa impersonaalirakenteet ovat espanjan korpusta yleisempiä yhteiskunta-, politiikka-, urheilu- ja teknologia-aiheisissa uutisissa. Näissä kaikissa paitsi teknologiassa ero korpusten välillä on tilastollisesti merkitsevä. Espanjan korpuksessa rakenteet ovat yleisempiä talous-, kulttuuri- ja tiedeosastoissa, mutta näissä missään ero korpusten välillä ei ole tilastollisesti merkitsevä. Tyylillisesti suurimmat erot korpusten välillä havaitaan urheiluosastossa, sillä espanjan urheilu-uutisten kieli on huomattavasti kuvailevampaa kuin portugalin. Kaikki löydöt viittaavat uutiskielen olevan portugalin korpuksessa muodollisempaa kuin espanjan korpuksessa. Laajemmat johtopäätökset eri impersonaalirakenteiden käytöstä kielten välillä vaativat kuitenkin lisätutkimusta.

A continuous-time Markov chain is a stochastic process which has the Markov property. The Markov property states that the transition to a next state of the process only depends on the current state, that is, it does not depend on the process’ preceding states. Continuous-time Markov Chains are fundamental tools to model stochastic systems in finance and insurance such as option pricing and modelling insurance claim processes. This thesis examines continuous-time Markov chains and their most important concepts and typical properties. For instance, we introduce and investigate the Kolmogorov forward and backward equations, which are essential for continuous-time systems. However, the main aim of the thesis is to present a method and proof for constructing a Markov process from continuous transition intensity matrix. This is achieved by generating a transition probability matrix from given transition intensity matrix. When the transition intensities are known, the challenge is to determine the transition probabilities since the calculations can easily become difficult to solve analytically. Through the introduced theorem it becomes possible to simplify the calculations by approximations. In this thesis, we also make applications of the theory. We demonstrate how determining transition probabilities using Kolmogorov’s forward equations can become challenging in a simple setup. Furthermore, we will compare the approximations of transition probabilities derived from the main theorem to the actual transition probabilities. We make observations about the theorem’s transition probability function; the approximations derived from the main theorem provides quite satisfactory estimates of the actual transition probabilities.

Tutkielmassa tarkastelun kohteena on yksittäisen verkossa toimivan faniyhteisön tapa rakentaa, rajata ja ilmaista jaettua sosiaalista identiteettiä. Faniuden ja faniyhteisöjen luonnetta taustoitetaan Hirsjärven (2009) ja Nikusen (2003) tutkimuksella, ja faniyhteisöjen käsittämistä sosiaalisina ryhminä puolletaan sosiaalipsykologisen teorian käsityksillä ryhmien ominaisuuksista ja syntymekanismeista. Tutkielmassa käsitellään myös nimellisiä eroavaisuuksia sosiaalisen ja henkilökohtaisen identiteetin välillä, ja määritellään fanius identiteetiksi, jota tuotetaan nimenomaan sosiaalisessa kontekstissa muiden fanien kanssa. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytetään diskurssianalyysia, koska data on kerätty neljän eri käyttäjän omista ja jaetuista julkaisuista verkkoblogialustalta, jonka formaatti mahdollistaa keskustelun haarautumisen ja ajallisen jakautumisen tavalla, jonka tarkastelu keskusteluanaalysin keinoin katsotaan olevan suureksi osaksi epäkäytännöllistä kasvotyön ilmaisuja lukuun ottamatta. Dataa on kerätty määritellyltä ajanjaksolta käyttämällä kyseiselle faniyhteisölle relevantteja avainsanoja, jolla on pyritty varmistamaan, että viestintätilanteessa oleellinen identiteetti on fani-identiteetti. Analyysin käsittelyssä faniuden kohteesta lainattujen käsitteiden yleisyyden huomataan jäävän oletettua vähäisemmäksi, joskin niillä on joitakin funktioita. Huumori nousee esille merkittävänä identiteettityön keinona: erityisesti vuorovaikutuksessa syntyvä vitsailu ja siinä käytetyt negatiiviset kasvotyön strategiat luovat subjektipositioita faneille. Sen lisäksi diskurssista nousevat esiin intertekstuaalisuus, affektiiviset hyperbolat eli tunneilmaisun liioittelu, faniyhteisön yhteinen odotushorisontti ja jaettu tieto sekä normista poikkeavat kirjoittamisen tavat. Yksittäiset ilmaisut toimivat eri tasoilla ja limittyvät toisiinsa; esimerkiksi intertekstuaalisia viittauksia jaetun fani-identiteetin keskiöön esiintyy sekä hyperbolien kohteena, jaettujen merkitysten lähteenä että huumorin työkaluna. Tutkimuksen lopuksi arvioidaan sitä, kuinka hyvin tutkimuskysymyksiin saatiin vastaus ja pohditaan fanituksen kohteen narratiivin ja fani-identiteetin rakentumisen yhteyttä.

The discourses of Young Muslim men in the West have tended to focus on marginalisation, deviancy and threat. Often the voices of the targets of these stigmatizing discourses are not heard and thus, they do not have the possibility to re-define or resist the dominant discourses. This Thesis investigates how young Muslim men living in Finland, surrounded by discourses of threat and marginalisation, construct Muslimness and how they position themselves and others in that construction. The data was collected by semi-structured thematic group interviews, conducted in small groups or dyads, with 12 young men aged from 18-29 years. The data was analysed using a Critical Discursive Psychological approach, focusing on how the young men are constructed and positioned by the larger societal discourses and how they respond to these constructions, as well as on how they construct their identities in the immediate interaction situation. The analysis focused on three concepts; interpretative repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions, which all shed a light on how identities are constructed and negotiated in interaction in relation to the sociocultural context. In the data 3 interpretative repertoires, 3 ideological dilemmas and 5 subject positions were distinguished. The results show that the participants negotiate their identities in relation to various actors, as well as in relation to relevant identity categories such as gender and generation. In their talk, it can be distinguished that they sometimes accept and repeat, yet sometimes question and re-define how Muslimness is constructed in the societal discourses.

This thesis presents an ethnographic and discourse analytical approach to the construction of Saudi Arabian nationhood in the post-2016 era following the inception of the national, neoliberal economic reform plan Vision 2030. The analysis examines a dual dataset consisting of ethnographic data as well as textual and visual sources produced for the most part in the context of Saudi Arabia’s National Day and Founding Day celebrations. The framework of analysis draws on social constructivist theories of nationalism as well as Marxist approaches to political economy. The work focuses on the interlinkages of contemporary Saudi nationalism, capitalist political economy and the creation of neoliberal-national subjectivities by examining three core research questions. (1) How are national futures envisioned and pasts remembered in the context of state and elite production of nationalism? (2) How are certain femininities produced as national and what are the qualities that make up national femininities in state and elite discourse? (3) How do national celebrations participate in constructing Saudi Arabian nationhood and what are some popular responses to or understandings of nationalism in their context? The analysis shows how the neoliberal economic reform plan Vision 2030 constructs national, neoliberal subjects by projecting the image of a self-governing, economic and youthful Saudi citizen. Vision 2030 also emerges as an economic imaginary of a future techno-utopian Saudi Arabia, where the “giga projects” undertaken under Vision 2030 have been realized through the ambition-turned-labor of ideal citizens. Meanwhile, Founding Day surfaces as an invented tradition seeking to establish continuity with an “authentic” and suitable Saudi Arabian past at a time when the kingdom is in the midst of a period of economic and social change. The production of national subjects also occurs along gendered lines by producing neoliberal-national femininities: women occupy a dual role as both carriers of tradition and symbols of the nation and its modernity. Also popular Founding Day celebrations surface as practices that contribute to shaping subjectivities through the creation of embodied experiences of the nation along with visualizing its glorified past and utopian future. Participants in such events also participate in this subject formation by deciding whether to take part in celebrations and, if so, how.

This thesis explores how a university department, Creation Mine (CM), constructs creativity and seeks serendipity through communality within Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. Through their daily aspirations of low bureaucracy and anti-structure, the Mine community oppose the university structure – even though they are a part of and reproduce the bureaucracy in their community activity. The inherent juxtaposition between the communal ideals of structurelessness and the highly structural Finnish university bureaucracy causes a plethora of contradictions within the Mine, among its employees and external university bureaucrats alike. This thesis examines precisely these moments of deviation and conflict to understand how creativity and anti-structure are pursued in the space of a structure and how such contradiction is lived through in the daily lives of bureaucrats and creative workers. This research is based on anthropological methods of ethnographical inquiry and participant observation that took place from mid-November 2021 until the end of April 2022. Through Victor Turner's theorisation of liminality and social anti-structure, communitas, I examine the cultural emblem of the community – CM's intense product development course (DCC). The DCC transformed from a university course to a rite of passage through the course rituals. The cultural values and norms of the Creation Mine manifest in the DCC – it is a performance and spectacle of the whole community. Hence, the course's liminal values of emotional connection, equality, and humility are deemed inherently normative within the community. They are pursued, fortified and – notably – disrupted in the Miners' daily work life. Such liminal ideals are imperatively opposed to the university bureaucracy and cause social friction within the Mine. The idealisation of liminality creates a space for informal power structures and membership standards to form. Due to the informal rhetorics and organisation style, such standards and power structures remain obscure and ambivalent – even for the Mine members. Hence, informal standards become exclusionary determinants within the emotional community and, by extension, the workplace. The American-style performative informality, combined with the underlying Finnish bureaucracy and the multinational staff, renders the community's informal and formal power structures distorted and even invisible. The co-existent and contrasting organisational logics cause misunderstandings, frustration and informal grouping within the Mine, creating continual ambivalence among the staff. However, the community's emotional dwelling is not organised solely through structureless ambitions but under charismatic authority. Utilising the classic ideal types of Max Weber, I examine the conflicting charismatic and legal authority structures within the Mine. As the community congregates under its charismatic leader, denying bureaucratic structures from the communal space causes friction between the Creation Mine and external university bureaucrats. Regardless, the Miners must be able to collaborate with their external colleagues, despite the seemingly mutual prejudice towards each other. Thus, personal politics, familialism and play are utilised to render the external bureaucrats at least tolerable and cooperation possible. Thus, in their daily work life, The Miners must manoeuvre between many different and contrasting authority structures and ideals of structurelessness to find belonging in the communal space and workplace.

This qualitative research project studies the way in which the Vietnamese queer youth (including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and genderqueer) conceptualize their identities, and the interplay between their self-conceptualization, gender performance, and their interpretation of roles in relationships. Taken place during a time period when positive changes are taking place in the Vietnamese law regarding queer rights, this study also looks at the activist works of community organizations advocating for queer rights, and how such organizations, through their introduction to notions of rights and diversity, help construct the way young Vietnamese conceptualize queerness. Data from personal interviews suggests that many informants still strongly conform to heteronormativity, gender norms, and an essentialist characterization of queerness, which in turn regulates their gender performances and places restrictions on their romantic relationships. These interviews also paint a fragmented reflection of the Vietnamese queer youth community, with a strong degree of separation among different queer groups, and the emergence of a queer hierarchy informed by class, gender and sexuality. The collected data involves qualitative interviews conducted on seventeen young queer people in Vietnam. Half of these informants are volunteer activists working with an organization for queer rights in Ho Chi Minh City. This research also includes the author’s fieldwork observation and notes on the interactions with the informants outside of the interview settings and into the queer field of Vietnam. Guided by feminist methodology, this qualitative study aims to give a voice to marginalized identities and challenge the dominant gendered and classed structures that grant social acceptance to some queer identities while further marginalizing other queers through the regulation of gender performance and desires.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 is a Gram-negative plant pathogen that causes bacterial speck disease on tomato. The virulence of this bacterium is based on the type III secretion system (T3SS). Similar systems are also used by many other plant and animal pathogens, as well as symbiotic bacteria. The T3SS enables the transfer of specific bacterial virulence proteins from the bacterial cytoplasm into the host cell. This secretion is mediated by a needle-like structure that penetrates the plant cell wall. Once inside the host cells, the effector proteins are capable of shutting down the host’s immune system. However, what happens at the plant cell membrane is not well understood. One of the first bacterial proteins that come into interaction with a host protein during P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 infection is the HrpZ1 protein that is believed to participate in a membrane interaction, facilitating the transfer of effector proteins. Previous research has shown that HrpZ1 binds to a peptide and using an antiserum raised against this peptide in immunoblotting tests of tomato proteins separated by SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing, the target tomato protein of HrpZ1 has been found to be small and acidic. However, this specific protein has not yet been fully characterized. This is why the goal of the work for this thesis was to identify and characterize the target protein of HrpZ1 in tomato. For this purpose, a lambda cDNA expression library from tomato leaves was constructed, followed by immunoscreening of the library with the abovementioned antiserum, and analysing candidate clones by sequencing. Even though a good cDNA library was obtained, the immunoscreenings did not yield satisfactory results. Thus, the pursuit of the HrpZ1 target protein needs to be continued.

The aim of this research is to identify and compare how Posti (as the employer of an ethnically diverse workforce) and PAU (as the labour union representing a constantly diversifying field) construct new postal workforce diversities. The once respected and fairly well paid civil service offices of postal officers have turned into low-paid, low-skilled, often part-time work, which is failing to attract ethnic-Finn employees. As a result, migrant workers have infiltrated postal warehouse work, daytime mail delivery and especially early morning delivery. The rapid entrance of non-ethnic Finns into the field has forced Posti and PAU to consider, how they wish to approach the growing diversity of their workforce. This research examines these approaches. Articles from Posti’s personnel magazine and PAU’s membership magazine form the empirical basis for this research. Altogether 24 articles, 12 from each magazine, were chosen based on their relevance to the topic of ethnic diversity and migrant workforce. The material was collected from publications that were released between January 2014 and August 2017. Acker’s (2006) theoretical framework of “inequality regimes” in organizations serves as the core theory as well as the methodological tool for this research. The theoretical and methodological concept of frame analysis is also used to further help understand, how Posti and PAU are able to explain and justify existing inequalities in the data. A critical discourse analytical approach is present throughout the research, from the initial reading and coding of the material to the presentation of the results. The critical analysis of the selected material suggests that Posti and PAU approach the growing diversity of postal workforce in very different ways. Posti presents the diversification of the workforce as a necessary and positive change, which will help the company expand the personnel’s skillset and even increase its financial results. Ethnic diversity and increased migrant workforce is discussed in a thoroughly positive light in the personnel magazine of Posti. Migrant workers’ lack of Finnish language skills is the only negativity of the ethnically diverse workforce of Posti, which is brought up in the material. The poor Finnish skills of migrant workers are also stressed in the membership magazine of the union, but the union is also concerned with Posti’s unfair treatment of the migrant workforce. On one hand, PAU stresses the necessity to include migrant workers into the Finnish working life and on the other hand, PAU stresses the possible culture clashes this might generate. The core finding of this research is that the way diversity is approached is closely related to the objectives and aims of the organization in question. Posti very purposefully aims to construct a new cohesive workforce diversity, which focuses on the possibilities of diversity and actively aims to hide existing inequalities. Posti still relies heavily on manual labour to carry out its core services, and therefore, it is in its interest to portray diversity in a positive light. The approach that PAU takes towards diversity in its membership magazine, is far less coherent and purposeful than that of Posti. It shows concern for the potential mistreatment of Posti’s migrant workers but fails to take a stand on the position of migrant workers within the field. This research concludes that PAU is still unsure of its approach towards the new diversities of postal work. On one hand, its mission has always been to protect the terms and conditions of the employees, to which the entrance of migrant workers into the field poses a threat, but on the other hand, one of the key values of the labour movement has always been solidarity. So far, PAU is still trying to fulfil both objectives, which results in inconsistent and limited views of what the diversification of the workforce means for postal work.