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This Master’s Thesis will examine the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) as a banking supervisor under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the Banking Union (BU), focusing on the ECB in its new role as an applier of national legislation of the BU Member States under the SSM Regulation. During the course of the thesis, I will also analyze if, in my opinion, the BU and the conferral of the broader supervisory powers on the ECB has been enough to counter the issues that arose during the last financial crisis. Special focus will be given to the issues arising from these new institutions, especially pertaining to fragmented implementation of the single-rulebook legislation, accountability issues, judicial protection issues and so called fit and proper assessments as a manifestation of most of the issues arising from the ECB as an applier of national legislation. Fragmented implementation of the directives that often stipulate minimum harmonizing provisions, leads to situations where the ECB in its role as a banking supervisor and applier of national legislation is encountered by largely differing legislation in different BU Member States. Accountability issues relate to the opaque decision-making structures of the ECB and the rather unclear reviewability of ECB decisions by EU Courts. These problematic factors might lead to equality, uniformity, democracy and judicial protection issues. Judicial protection issue relates to Court review in the larger scale of things, where e.g. the CJEU might not be able to review all factors pertaining to a certain ECB decision, as the decisions can be multileveled and might include National Competent Authority decisions as well. Fit and proper assessments are corporate governance rules that measure the suitability of candidates to managing positions in banks. In the CRD IV -directive that governs these rules, the provisions are minimum harmonizing and e.g. a suitable candidate in one Member State might be deemed unsuitable in another Member State. The fit and proper assessments manifest a lot of the issues with the ECBs supervisory and “applier of national legislation” -role. Some of these issues could be solved by smaller fixes, whereas issues relating e.g. the fragmented implementation of BU Directives, would require for the whole single-rulebook legislations to be put together to a broad directly applicable regulation. Accountability issues could be fixed by imposing stricter transparency and reporting requirements on the ECB. Broader judicial review of ECB decisions might be paved for by the CJEU in its judgements, by e.g. allowing for a direct effect of directives in certain situations. Fit and proper assessment issues could be solved by broadening the powers of the ECB and further harmonizing the single-rulebook legislations. This thesis aims to analyze de lege lata if the changes made after the last financial crisis have been sufficient and if they work properly. As will be seen, there are a lot of issues arising from the new and significant, but problematic revisions. The methodology or theory in this thesis is going to be that of legal theory, focusing on EU Law. This thesis aim is to examine the single-rulebook regulation de lege lata with a rather critical approach and conclude in a de lege ferenda analysis, backed by legal literature, case law as well as personal analysis based on the aforementioned materials. As for the structure of this thesis, it will commence by an introductory chapter, where the contextual and constitutional base and background of the BU will be explained. The following chapters will focus on the main issues in the ECBs supervisory role, i.e. fragmented implementation of directives, accountability issues, judicial protection issues and fit and proper assessments as a manifestation of many of these issues. The last chapter concludes.

Sydämen kantasoluterapia on tutkimuksessa oleva hoitokäytäntö, jolla yritetään sydämeen kantasoluja siirtämällä saada aikaan arpeutuneen kudoksen paranemista, ja siten sydämen pumppauskyvyn parantumista. Tämä kirjallisuuskatsaus on osa isompaa tutkimusprojektia, jossa tätä kantasoluterapiaa yritetään toteuttaa sydämen omilla eteiskorvakkeen kantasoluilla. Tässä kirjallisuuskatsauksessa selvitimme, miten sydämen ultraääntä voidaan käyttää sydämen kantasolututkimuksissa vasteen seurannassa, ja mitkä menetelmät ovat luotettavia ja mitkä eivät, sekä miten tulosten luotettavuutta voidaan parantaa. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa selvisi, että sydämen ultraäänellä voi saada luotettavia tuloksia jotka toimivat hyvin kardiologisten ja sydänkirurgisten kliinisten tutkimuksien seurannassa, kunhan käytetään oikeita mittausmenetelmiä, ja minimoidaan tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat tulosten luotettavuuteen negatiivisesti. Selvitimme myös, milloin sydämen ultraääni tulokset ovat epäluotettavia, ja mitkä tekijät tähän johtavat. Vertasimme myös sydämen ultraääntä ja sydämen magneettitutkimusta, ja havaitsimme, että ultraäänellä voidaan välillä saada lähes yhtä luotettavia tuloksia kuin magneettikuvauksella, jos mittausmenetelmä on oikea. Sydämen ultraäänen käytöstä sydämen kantasoluterapiatutkimuksissa ei ole kuin muutama julkaisu, ja aihe vaatiikin lisää tutkimista.

Maisterintutkielmassani tutkin varhaiskeskiajalla kirjoitettua Ecloga Theoduli -runoteosta sekä kahta eri vuosisatoina siitä kirjoitettua kommentaaria. Tutkielmani on aineistolähtöinen kvalitatiivinen tapaustutkimus, ja käytän menetelmänäni pääasiassa lähilukua. Analysoin aineistoa tutkien sitä otosten, kuten yksittäisten säkeistöjen ja tekstijaksojen kautta. Ecloga Theoduli, josta käytän tutkielmassa nimeä Ekloga, kertoo kahden paimenen välisestä kilpalaulannasta: Pseustiksen ja Alithian, joista ensimmäinen laulaa antiikin myyteistä, jälkimmäinen Raamatun kertomuksista. Lopuksi kilpailun tuomari Fronesis julistaa Alithian voittajaksi. Varhaisempi siitä kirjoitetuista kommentaareista, joita tutkin, on 1000-luvulta, toinen taas 1300– ja 1400-lukujen vaihteesta. Kommentaarit eroavat toisistaan melko paljon: varhaisempi kommentoi Eklogaa kirjallisuuden näkökulmasta, toisessa kiinnostuksen kohteena on enemmän kristinuskon opit, Raamatun tulkintatavat, sekä luonnonfilosofia. Ekloga oli suosittu kouluteksti 1000-luvun puolivälistä 1500-luvun alkuun. Tutkielmassani selvitän, millä tavoin Ekloga toimi opetuksen välineenä kouluissa keskiajalla, mitä sen avulla opetettiin ja miten. Eklogassa on voimakas vastakkainasettelu antiikin pakanallisten myyttien ja kristinuskon välillä jälkimmäisen hyväksi. Se tuo hyvin ilmi ambivalentin suhtautumisen antiikin myytteihin keskiajalla. Se toimikin kristillisenä propagandana. Tutkielmani tuloksena on, että Eklogan käyttö koulutekstinä oli kuitenkin yllättävän monipuolista: kommentaareja analysoimalla käy ilmi, että sen avulla opetettiin Raamatun tulkintaa, yleissivistystä Raamatun kertomuksista ja antiikin myyteistä, sekä pitämään ensimmäistä faktana ja jälkimmäistä taruna. Sen lisäksi sen avulla opetettiin kirjallisuuden ja kristinuskon käsitteitä, sekä jopa luonnonfilosofiaa. Eklogan monipuolisuus selittääkin sen viisisataa vuotta kestänyttä suosiota keskiaikaisena koulutekstinä.

Biological diversity has been decreasing since industrial revolution, and the loss of biodiversity has become a com-mon topic in different groups from environmental organizations to consumers worldwide. Different goals for biodiver-sity conservation have been set both at the global and domestic level, but the continuous postponement of the tar-gets indicates that the government institutions establishing rules for protecting biodiversity are no longer sufficient, and new methods must be developed. One way how biodiversity can be protected is different ecological compensa-tion mechanisms. Ecological compensation is a process where project developers compensate for conservation efforts by creating ecologically equivalent profits or credits elsewhere. Globally, different ecological compensation mechanisms have been used for a long time as a part of nature conser-vation activities. In many countries, these activities are often based on legislation and regulations, such as in the US, Australia, and Germany. Additionally, every EU member state belongs to Natura 2000 network, where various com-pensation regulations have been implemented by the EU’s Habitat Directive. Voluntary-based compensation activi-ties on the other hand are newer way to protect nature and this study focuses on the use of these voluntary activities in Finland. One target group of potential users of ecological compensation mechanisms in Finland are companies that weaken or use different natural resources in their operations. Each company undertakes environmental responsibility in different ways, but ecological compensation as a way to conserve nature could be a powerful tool for companies to show their environmental responsibility. The aim of this study is to determine companies' perspectives on voluntary ecological compensation and analyze critical factors that affect companies’ willingness to participate in voluntary compensation projects in Finland. Three main objectives of this research include: 1) identifying the attractiveness of voluntary ecological compensation from private companies’ perspective 2) defining the most attractive compensation mechanisms and structures from the companies’ point of view and 3) further analysis of the risks and opportunities affect target companies that partici-pate in voluntary compensation projects. This study was conducted by using a qualitative research method. Re-search material was collected in the meetings with companies by using the participant observation mechanism. Study results highlighted, that the attractiveness of ecological compensation is based on multiple different factors that companies consider as important and which should be included in the compensation project. These factors are such as specific location of compensation area and certain ecosystem services in the compensation area. Most importantly, compensation must be related to companies’ operations at some level. Businesses do not get involved if the projects are not targeted to them, and especially if those are not approved by the relevant stakeholders.

Growing human populations and their growing appetites have caused severe environmental degradation. Ecological restoration promises an answer to environmental degradation and consequently serves as a major form of environmental management in the future. This Master’s thesis is a conceptual analysis of ecological restoration, also looking at the ethical implications that should follow from the concept. It is important to define the concept clearly to ensure that it fully responds to the causes and challenges of environmental degradation instead of simply justifying them by assuming that it is possible to restore nature without any problems. In addition, ecological restoration goes to the very heart of environmental philosophy, by challenging the dichotomy between nature and humans and therefore, offers a welcome perspective to the search of human place in the natural world. The thesis takes an analytical approach to the search for an appropriate definition of ecological restoration. Conceptual analysis is the main form of inquiry and the aim is to understand how the term has been understood and how it should be understood in a global context. This thesis looks at how ecological restoration has been defined in both philosophical and ecological literature, but the emphasis is on the philosophical literature. The analysis is confined to the most influential work covering ecological restoration, that is, of Robert Elliot (1982 and 1997), Eric Katz (1992 and 1997), Andrew Light (2000, 2012 and 2009), Eric Higgs (2003) and William Throop (2000 and 2012). Also Aldo Leopold’s (1949) work will be covered, even though he does not write about ecological restoration. The analysis is done by framing ecological restoration within four categories: goals, values, means and overall attitude. Framing ecological restoration within these categories ensures a thorough analysis of all the aspects of the concept that might otherwise remain hidden. If one of these categories is missing the concept would be lessened. The concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘wilderness’ have a major impact on how ‘ecological restoration’ is understood. The dichotomy of nature and humans distorts the debate surrounding ecological restoration. Therefore, the concept of nature needs to be defined clearly or even redefined in order to allow ecological restoration. The aim of the thesis is to resolve this conceptual conflict. Ecological restoration has the potential to re-build the relationship between nature and humans and offers the opportunity to re-evaluate the concept of nature, so that it does not necessarily exclude humans. If defined carefully, ecological restoration has the potential to restore damaged ecosystems.

The subject of the research was the expectations of Finnish consumers in electronic commerce, especially concentrating on electronic products. The goal was to find out which underlying characteristics arise when the valuations of online shopping are surveyed. These dimensions were also compared to the background variables. In addition the point of interest was on expectations on delivery, payment and customer service. The research was conducted with a questionnaire form using a convenience sample. The survey was conducted in the areas of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kotka and Turku. The aim was to reach different aged Finnish respondents, who were on the moment of the survey 16 years or older. The final sample consisted of 103 respondents. The data was analysed mainly with a Principle Component Analysis and further tests were made using the Analysis of Variance and t-tests. According to the Principle Component Analysis the characteristics of e-commerce in Finland were: privacy control, delivery, mobile-shopping, complete price, Finnish service language and design & navigation. These components followed mostly the original dimensions that were based on earlier research. However a new component of Finnish service language was found. Based on t-tests women valued privacy, mobile-shopping and design more than men. Differences according to the place of residence were examined in the same way. According to this research respondents living outside the capital area value Finnish service language in ecommerce more the residents of capital area. Approximately half of the respondents preferred to pay their purchases using online banking. The second most popular method was a credit card. Most of the respondents expect the package to arrive in 4 to 5 days from the ordering. Over half would pick up the parcel from the post office and approximately one fifth chose the home delivery. The traditional customer service mediums were the most preferred. Together over 90 percent of the respondents would contact the customer service by phone and by e-mail.

Dairy farms account for a large portion of the greenhouse gas emissions in the planet. Since cow manure provides a good medium for anaerobic digestion, this study analyzes the economic feasibility of installing a biogas plant adjacent to a 200-cow farm in Finland. The farms in this study produce only cow manure and grass silage to feed the digester. This paper focuses in comparing different scenarios such as electricity production for farm needs and the production of biofuels such as compressed biomethane as an additional business activity. After designing the farm economic model and the biogas installation, we provide an economic analysis of each scenario. The first one shows that it is not feasible to run the biogas business model based only on electricity savings for the farm. The second one proves that additional revenue streams such as biofuel production can revitalize and strengthen the financial model of the plant. Then, the sensitivity and reliability of the model is discussed by providing reasons (i.e. Finnish electricity tariff system) for the outcome of the results. The model reinforces the idea that farms must base their biogas business model on alternative side-streams and do not rely on energy production only. For further research, it is recommended that real life farm business models are incorporated as input data and a proven plant and CHP engine energy balance is secured.

Chinese infrastructural investments in Africa have increased significantly. In mainstream development studies, such investments are strongly encouraged due to their potential to create economic growth and modernisation. Because of controversies around such projects, regarding their impacts on the economy and locals, they require continuing political-economic analysis. Using Lamu Port in Kenya as a case study, this thesis provides a critical analysis of the justification, planning, implementation and construction processes of the project are examined especially from the point of view of local artisanal fishermen. Framed around the theory of social costs developed by K.W.Kapp, as a critique of neoliberal modernisation, fieldwork was carried out in Lamu to systematically analyse both the official justification of the project and the perceptions of local fishers and other locals on the impacts of the port construction on their lives. Data collected from one-on-one interviews have been systematised using Attride-Stirling’s thematic networks analysis. Along with a textual analysis of original official documents by the Government of Kenya and the LAPSSET authority, the thesis avoids earlier problems of methodological nationalism and, instead, develops a holistic analysis of social costs. The results show that, while some local jobs have been created, they are temporary and marginal and are nowhere near significant enough to make up for the undermining of local livelihoods through the reduction of fish stocks. A wider question of food security and long-term job security needs to be raised. The local economy before the construction of the port was stagnant, but it was stable. New jobs related to port construction proved not to be available. Widespread discrimination against locals further complicates the social costs of public-private enterprise. These results show a lack of congruence between the statements by the Government of Kenya, the optimism by international development agencies, and modernisation theorists on the one hand and the lived realities of fishers on the other. The transnational corporations constructing the port in this case the China Communications Construction company have, in the meanwhile, continued to make more profit and increased the price of their share on the world market. This disconnect indicates one way in which development projects are socially constructed and justified, while the dominance of a profit-oriented capitalistic system shifts costs of production to third parties and the environment in order to continue to extract profit from the Global South. As these social costs are systemic, their remedy would require restructuring the institutional foundations of the local, national, and global political economy of development and change

Disability imposes personal suffering but also economic consequences for individuals, employers, and the society. Finding an optimal method for disability prevention can be considered beneficial and increasingly important for a country with a prominent public sector and a weakening labor force participation rate like Finland. Previous studies show evidence of the effectiveness of worksite health promotion programs that target care for employees who face a high risk for disability. Evidence shows positive cost-effectiveness of targeted occupational health interventions in preventing short-term disability but a wider benefit-cost analysis of targeted occupational health interventions with a view on both short-term and long-term disability prevention has not previously been conducted. This study untangles the treatment effect of targeted occupational health interventions on societal net benefits resulted from disability prevention. Short-term disability as a concept is viewed through sickness absence, and long-term disability is represented by the disability benefits granted by the Finnish disability benefit system. The costs of disability preventing actions are limited to health care utilization. The research setting of this study has been observational, and the empirical analysis is conducted as a retrospective review of prospectively collected register data. The data registers cover health and disability related information of over 20,000 employees in Finland. In the main analysis, 1,679 treated employees identified with a high risk for disability are compared to 2,107 untreated high-risk employees. The benefit-cost analysis is constructed with the Average Treatment Effect framework combined with Net Benefits framework. The treatment of the framework of this study is an attendance to a targeted, pre-planned health check after an occupational health survey. The outcome of the framework is the net benefits that result from prevention of sickness absence workdays and granted disability benefits, and the investment costs resulted from health care utilization. The results are formed with Analysis of Covariance. Other methods to conduct the empirical analysis include polynomial regression, Multiple Imputation of Chained Equations, Propensity Scores, and Inverse Probability Weighting. The results of this study show that targeted occupational health interventions are likely to impose positive net benefits to the society. The Average Treatment Effect on the net benefits of high-risk employees, 1,875 euros with a 95% confidence interval from -759 to 4,509 euros (p-value: .155) (ANCOVA), can be considered worthwhile to the society. In the research setting, the net benefits were in practice gained from the prevention of long-term disability. The treatment was not effective on the costs of short-term disability or the total health care utilization costs per employee. Sensitivity analyses indicate that targeted occupational health interventions are not on average effective when predicted to employees without a disability risk.

This research investigates the influence of economic and sociocultural factors on voting behaviour for the True Finns (PS), a populist radical right-wing party in Finland. Regression models analyse data from the European Social Survey’s Round 10, to explore associations between economic and sociocultural variables and support for the True Finns. Findings indicate subjective economic insecurity has no direct impact on voting when combined with sociocultural factors. Lower economic satisfaction and being welfare dependence are associated with reduced support for the party. Moreover, negative perceptions of economic immigration impact positively relate to voting for the True Finns. Cultural immigration impact shows a weaker, although similar association. Lastly, no significant moderation was found regarding Economic Insecurity and Anti-Immigration Attitudes predicting voting behaviour. The study contributes to explore these relationships through the lenses of Social Identity Theory and the Integrated Threat Theory, emphasizing the complexity of the relationship between economic insecurity, sociocultural grievances, and populism.