Pappi ja Raamattu : Suomen evankelis-luterilaisen kirkon pappien suhde Raamattuun

The Pastor and the Bible: Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Pastors Relationship with the Bible Since 1970s there has been extensive discussion in Finland about questions relating to the interpretation of the Bible. The themes of this discussion have focused on the trustworthiness and authority of the Bible, and the discussion has attracted participation not only from representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland but also from representatives of the academic community. The discussion has resulted in extensive publication on the relation of postmodern theology to the Bible. Despite this debate and the texts that have been produced, there is little empirical data on how Evangelical Lutheran pastors with theological education view the Bible. In the present study, 22 pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland were interviewed about how they defined their relationship with the Bible. The interview material was analyzed by means of data-based content analysis. The analysis showed, first, that the pastors viewed the Bible as a mirror of the spiritual growth that they had experienced in the past. Second, the Bible was viewed as a source in the interpretation of matters of faith. The third theme concerned the pastors key experiences in their relationship with the authority of the Bible. The time periods that were significant in defining pastors spiritual growth and past perspective on the Bible included childhood, youth, the period of theological education, and the time spent as a pastor. In childhood, the Bible was part of the spiritual atmosphere of the home, and parents and grandparents made a crucial contribution to the child s emerging view of the Bible. In childhood, the Bible was essentially the Old Testament and its exciting stories. In youth, reading the Bible became more personal, and the teachings of Jesus began to take on a more central role. In youth, most of the interviewees had strong experiences of faith and began to view the Bible as an absolute and divine source of dogma. The period of theological studies meant a change in their relationship with the Bible and particularly, revelation of the human aspects of the Bible. These changes were associated with a deepening of belief in the Bible and also a painful crisis in questions related to the trustworthiness of the Bible. For many of the interviewees, their relationship with the Bible changed also when they started their work as pastors. When faced with a call to work as a pastor, the interviewees created a synthesis of the secure faith that they had experienced in their childhood and the more critical views with which they had become acquainted during their theological education. Pastorhood meant the beginning of public teaching of the Bible. The interviewees felt that, in this new role, they discovered again - but now in a deeper sense - the trustworthiness in the bible that they had experienced during their childhood. Based on the interviewees experiences during the periods mentioned above, five different interpretations were formed regarding how the interviewed pastors viewed their past relationship with the Bible. These interpretations were detachment from literal interpretation of the Bible (1), changes in their relationship with the Bible arising from experiences of faith (2), a slow process during which their relationship with the Bible became more human (3), overcoming hardships (4), and no change in their relationship with the Bible (5). In interpretations 1-3, the past was described as a linear development and journey towards a more coherent relationship with the Bible. Interpretations 4-5, in turn, reflected a desire to detach oneself from the perspectives of linear development and change and, instead, emphasize the immutable and process-like nature of one s relationship with the Bible. Concerning the Bible as a source in matters of faith, a conspicuous aspect of the interviews was that all pastors wanted to disconnect themselves from a fundamentalistic view of the Bible, regarding this as an intellectually dishonest relationship with the Bible. On the other hand, none of the interviewees supported a totally relativist view of the Bible. Instead, all interviewees regarded the Bible as a vital source for both them and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Between the two poles of extremely fundamental and extremely relativistic views, four different categories of viewing the Bible emerged from the interviews: absolute truth (a), a book about the message of salvation (b), a book about holiness and generous love (c), and a source of inspiration (d). The views in categories (a) and (b) emphasized the divine nature of the Bible. According to the pastors who expressed these views, the Bible contains a clear and trustworthy message of God. The views in categories (c) and (d), in turn, emphasized the human aspects of the Bible. The pastors who expressed these views regarded the Bible as a collection of books that was born in a specific historical and cultural context and includes material characteristic to this time. Due to the time-bound nature of the Bible, each generation has to update its view of the Bible. The views in categories (c) and (d) arose from human reality. Comparisons of the views in the different categories indicated that despite their obvious differences, they also shared some common features. The views in categories (a) and (d) shared the common feature of absoluteness, which was seen in category (a) as an emphasis on dogmatism and in category (d) as an emphasis on rationalism. The views in categories (b) and (c), in turn, shared the common feature of a flexible and dynamic relationship with the Bible. The key experiences that appeared to characterize pastors relationship with the authority of the Bible were a joy that arises from self-evidence, awakening to confusion, fear of openness, falling back upon paradoxes, and new confidence. These experiences reveal the circular nature of the process that was common to all interviewees interpretation of their relationship with the Bible. That is, the interviewees experiences of their relationship with the Bible seem to go through a circular process that is activated again and again in new life events. It is like a journey from self-evidence towards critical questions and again back to new confidence. The interview material showed, hence, that relationship with the Bible are characterized by a process that involves experiences of trust, questioning and new trust. The present study brings out the multifaceted reality of pastors relationship with the Bible. The study breaks down contradictions between conservative and liberal views of the Bible by showing how representatives of these opposing poles share commonalities in their attitudes. The study points to a close association between an individual s life history and his or her relationship with the Bible, and lays the groundwork for future studies to investigate the relation between personality and view of the Bible.

Generations and turnout : The generational effect in electoral participation in Finland

The relationship between age and turnout has been curve-linear as electoral participation first increases with age, remains relatively stable throughout middle-age and then gradually declines as certain physical infirmities set in (see e.g. Milbrath 1965). Alongside this life-cycle effect in voting, recent pooled cross-sectional analyses (see e.g. Blais et al. 2004; Lyons and Alexander 2000) have shown that there is also a generational effect, referring to lasting differences in turnout between various age groups. This study firstly examines the extent to which the generational effect applies in the Finnish context. Secondly, it investigates the factors accounting for that effect. The first article, based on individual-level register data from the parliamentary elections of 1999, shows that turnout differences between the different age groups would be even larger if there were no differences in social class and education. The second article examines simultaneously the effects of age, generation and period in the Finnish parliamentary elections of 1975-2003 based on pooled data from Finnish voter barometers (N = 8,634). The results show that there is a clear life cycle, generational and period effect. The third article examines the role of political socialisation in accounting for generational differences in electoral participation. Political socialisation is defined as the learning process in which an individual adopts various values, political attitudes, and patterns of actions from his or her environment. The multivariate analysis, based on the Finnish national election study 2003 (N=1,270), indicated that if there were no differences in socialisation between the youngest and the older generations, the difference in turnout would be much larger than if only sex and socioeconomic factors are controlled for. The fourth article examines other possible factors related to generational effect in voting. The results mainly apply to the Finnish parliamentary elections of 2003 in which we have data available. The results show that the sense of duty by far accounts for the generational effect in voting. Political interest, political knowledge and non-parliamentary participation also narrowed the differences in electoral participation between the youngest and the second youngest generations. The implication of the findings is that the lower turnout among the current youth is not a passing phenomenon that will diminish with age. Considering voting a civic duty and understanding the meaning of collective action are both associated with the process of political socialisation which therefore has an important role concerning the generational effect in turnout.

Generation and Characterization of the Cation-Chloride Cotransporter KCC2 Hypomorphic Mouse

The cation-Cl- cotransporter (CCC) family comprises of Na+-Cl- cotransporter (NCC), Na+-K+-2Cl- cotransporters (NKCC1-2), and four K+-Cl- cotransporters (KCC1-4). These proteins are involved in several physiological activities, such as cell volume regulation. In neuronal tissues, NKCC1 and KCC2 are important in determining the intracellular Cl- levels and hence the neuronal responses to inhibitory neurotransmitters GABA and glycine. One aim of the work was to elucidate the roles for CCC isoforms in the control of nervous system development. KCC2 mRNA was shown to be developmentally up-regulated and follow neuronal maturation, whereas NKCC1 and KCC4 transcripts were highly expressed in the proliferative zones of subcortical regions. KCC1 and KCC3 mRNA displayed low expression throughout the embryogenesis. These expression profiles suggest a role for CCC isoforms in maturation of synaptic responses and in the regulation of neuronal proliferation during embryogenesis. The major aim of this work was to study the biological consequences of KCC2-deficiency in the adult CNS, by generating transgenic mice retaining 15-20% of normal KCC2 levels. In addition, by using these mice as a tool for in vivo pharmacological analysis, we investigated the requirements for KCC2 in tonic versus phasic GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition. KCC2-deficient mice displayed normal reproduction and life span, but showed several behavioral abnormalities, including increased anxiety-like behavior, impaired performance in water maze, alterations in nociceptive processing, and increased seizure susceptibility. In contrast, the mice displayed apparently normal spontaneous locomotor activity and motor coordination. Pharmacological analysis of KCC2-deficient mice revealed reduced sensititivity to diazepam, but normal gaboxadol-induced sedation, neurosteroid hypnosis and alcohol-induced motor impairment. Electrophysiological recordings from CA1-CA3 subregions of the hippocampus showed that KCC2 deficiency affected the reversal potentials of both the phasic and tonic GABA currents, and that the tonic conductance was not affected. The results suggest that requirement for KCC2 in GABAergic neurotransmission may differ among several functional systems in the CNS, which is possibly due to the more critical role of KCC2 activity in phasic compared to tonic GABAergic inhibition.

Inflammatory and coagulation disturbances in acute pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis (AP), a common cause of acute abdominal pain, is usually a mild, self-limited disease. However, some 20-30% of patients develop a severe disease manifested by pancreatic necrosis, abscesses or pseudocysts, and/or extrapancreatic complications, such as vital organ failure (OF). Patients with AP develop systemic inflammation, which is considered to play a role in the pathogenesis of multiple organ failure (MOF). OF mimics the condition seen in patients with sepsis, which is characterized by an overwhelming production of inflammatory mediators, activation of the complement system and systemic activation of coagulation, as well as the development of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) syndrome. Vital OF is the major cause of mortality in AP, along with infectious complications. About half of the deaths occur within the first week of hospitalization and thus, early identification of patients likely to develop OF is important. The aim of the present study was to investigate inflammatory and coagulation disturbances in AP and to find inflammatory and coagulation markers for predicting severe AP, and development of OF and fatal outcome. This clinical study consists of four parts. All of patients studied had AP when admitted to Helsinki University Central Hospital. In the first study, 31 patients with severe AP were investigated. Their plasma levels of protein C (PC) and activated protein C (APC), and monocyte HLA-DR expression were studied during the treatment period in the intensive care unit; 13 of these patients developed OF. In the second study, the serum levels of complement regulator protein CD59 were studied in 39 patients during the first week of hospitalization; 12 of them developed OF. In the third study, 165 patients were investigated; their plasma levels of soluble form of the receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein were studied during the first 12 days of hos-pitalization; 38 developed OF. In the fourth study, 33 patients were studied on admission to hospital for plasma levels of prothrombin fragment F1+2 and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), and thrombin formation capacity by calibrated automated thrombogram (CAT); 9 of them developed OF. Our results showed significant PC deficiency and decreased APC generation in patients with severe AP. The PC pathway defects seemed to be associated with the development of OF. In patients who developed OF, the levels of serum CD59 and plasma sRAGE, but not of HMGB1, were significantly higher than in patients who recovered without OF. The high CD59 levels on admission to the hospital seemed to be predictive for severe AP and OF. The median of the highest sRAGE levels was significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. No significant difference between the patient groups was found in the F1+2 levels. The thrombograms of all patients were disturbed in their shape, and in 11 patients the exogenous tissue factor did not trigger thrombin generation at all ( flat curve ). All of the patients that died displayed a flat curve. Free TFPI levels and free/total TFPI ratios were significantly higher in patients with a flat curve than in the others, and these levels were also significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. The flat curve in combination with free TFPI seemed to be predictive for a fatal outcome in AP.

Biological mechanisms behind clozapine-induced agranulocytosis

Clozapine is the most effective drug in treating therapy-resistant schizophrenia and may even be superior to all other antipsychotics. However, its use is limited by a high incidence (approximately 0.8%) of a severe hematological side effect, agranulocytosis. The exact molecular mechanism(s) of clozapine-induced agranulocytosis is still unknown. We investigated the mechanisms behind responsiveness to clozapine therapy and the risk of developing agranulocytosis by performing an HLA (human leukocyte antigens) association study in patients with schizophrenia. The first group comprised patients defined by responsiveness to first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) (n= 19). The second group was defined by a lack of response to FGAs but responsiveness to clozapine (n=19). The third group of patients had a history of clozapine-induced granulocytopenia or agranulocytosis (n=26). Finnish healthy blood donors served as controls (n= 120). We found a significantly increased frequency of HLA-A1 among patients who were refractory to FGAs but responsive to clozapine. We also found that the frequency of HLA-A1 was low in patients with clozapine-induced neutropenia or agranulocytosis. These results suggest that HLA-A1 may predict a good therapeutic outcome and a low risk of agranulocytosis and therefore HLA typing may aid in the selection of patients for clozapine therapy. Furthermore, in a subgroup of schizophrenia, HLA-A1 may be in linkage disequilibrium with some vulnerability genes in the MHC (major histocompatibility complex) region on chromosome 6. These genes could be involved in antipsychotic drug response and clozapine-induced agranulocytosis. In addition, we investigated the effect of clozapine on gene expression in granulocytes by performing a microarray analysis on blood leukocytes of 8 schizophrenic patients who had started clozapine therapy for the first time. We identified an altered expression in 4 genes implicated in the maturation or apoptosis of granulocytes: MPO (myeloperoxidase precursor), MNDA (myeloid cell nuclear differentiation antigen), FLT3LG (Fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand) and ITGAL (antigen CD11A, lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1). The altered expression of these genes following clozapine administration may suggest their involvement in clozapine-induced agranulocytosis. Finally, we investigated whether or not normal human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are sensitive to clozapine. We treated cultures of human MSCs and human skin fibroblasts with 10 µM of unmodified clozapine and with clozapine bioactivated by oxidation. We found that, independent of bioactivation, clozapine was cytotoxic to MSCs in primary culture, whereas clozapine at the same concentration stimulated the growth of human fibroblasts. This suggests that direct cytotoxicity to MSCs is one possible mechanism by which clozapine induces agranulocytosis.

Local numerical modelling of magnetoconvection and turbulence - implications for mean-field theories

During the last decades mean-field models, in which large-scale magnetic fields and differential rotation arise due to the interaction of rotation and small-scale turbulence, have been enormously successful in reproducing many of the observed features of the Sun. In the meantime, new observational techniques, most prominently helioseismology, have yielded invaluable information about the interior of the Sun. This new information, however, imposes strict conditions on mean-field models. Moreover, most of the present mean-field models depend on knowledge of the small-scale turbulent effects that give rise to the large-scale phenomena. In many mean-field models these effects are prescribed in ad hoc fashion due to the lack of this knowledge. With large enough computers it would be possible to solve the MHD equations numerically under stellar conditions. However, the problem is too large by several orders of magnitude for the present day and any foreseeable computers. In our view, a combination of mean-field modelling and local 3D calculations is a more fruitful approach. The large-scale structures are well described by global mean-field models, provided that the small-scale turbulent effects are adequately parameterized. The latter can be achieved by performing local calculations which allow a much higher spatial resolution than what can be achieved in direct global calculations. In the present dissertation three aspects of mean-field theories and models of stars are studied. Firstly, the basic assumptions of different mean-field theories are tested with calculations of isotropic turbulence and hydrodynamic, as well as magnetohydrodynamic, convection. Secondly, even if the mean-field theory is unable to give the required transport coefficients from first principles, it is in some cases possible to compute these coefficients from 3D numerical models in a parameter range that can be considered to describe the main physical effects in an adequately realistic manner. In the present study, the Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat transport, responsible for the generation of differential rotation, were determined along the mixing length relations describing convection in stellar structure models. Furthermore, the alpha-effect and magnetic pumping due to turbulent convection in the rapid rotation regime were studied. The third area of the present study is to apply the local results in mean-field models, which task we start to undertake by applying the results concerning the alpha-effect and turbulent pumping in mean-field models describing the solar dynamo.

Cultural Trauma and Life Stories

The purpose of this work is to use the concepts of human time and cultural trauma in a biographical study of the turning points in the recent history of Estonia. This research is primarily based on 148 in-depth biographical interviews conducted in Estonia and Sweden in 1995-2005, supplemented by excerpts from 5 collections and 10 individually published autobiographies. The main body of the thesis consists of six published and of two forthcoming separate refereed articles, summarised in the theoretical introduction, and Appendix of the full texts of three particular life stories. The topic of the first article is the generational composition and the collective action frames of anti-Soviet social mobilisation in Estonia in 1940-1990. The second article details the differentiation of the rites of passage and the calendar traditions as a strategy to adapt to the rapidly changed political realities, comparatively in Soviet Estonia and among the boat-refugees in Sweden. The third article investigates the life stories of the double-minded strategic generation of the Estonian-inclined Communists, who attempted to work within the Soviet system while professing to uphold the ideals of pre-war Estonia. The fourth article is concentrated on the problems of double mental standards as a coping strategy in a contradictory social reality. The fifth article implements the theory of cultural trauma for the social practice of singing nationalism in Estonia. The sixth article bridges the ideas of Russian theoreticians concerning cultural dialogue and the Western paradigm of cultural trauma, with examples from Estonian Russian life stories. The seventh article takes a biographical look at the logic of the unraveling of cultural trauma through four Soviet decades. The eighth article explores the re-shaping of citizen activities as a strategy of coping with the loss of the independent nation state, comparatively in Soviet Estonia and among Swedish Estonians. Cultural trauma is interpreted as the re-ordering of the society s value-normative constellation due to sharp, violent, usually political events. The first one under consideration was caused by the occupations of the Republic of Estonia by the Soviet army in 1940-45. After half a century of suppression the memories of these events resurfaced as different stories describing the long-term, often inter-generational strategies of coping with the value collapse. The second cultural trauma is revealed together with the collapse of the Soviet power and ideology in Estonia in 1991. According to empirical data, the following three trauma discourses have been reconstructed: - the forced adaptation to Soviet order of the homeland Estonians; - the difficulty of preserving Estonian identity in exile (Sweden); - the identity crisis of the Russian population of Estonia. Comparative analyses of these discourses have shown that opposing experiences and worldviews cause conflicting interpretations of the past. Different social and ethnic groups consider coping with cultural trauma as a matter of self-defence and create appropriate usable pasts to identify with. Keywords: human time, cultural trauma, frame analysis, discourse, life stories

Combined Tevatron upper limit on gg->H->W+W- and constraints on the Higgs boson mass in fourth-generation fermion models

We combine results from searches by the CDF and D0 collaborations for a standard model Higgs boson (H) in the process gg->H->W+W- in p=pbar collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. With 4.8 fb-1 of integrated luminosity analyzed at CDF and 5.4 fb-1 at D0, the 95% Confidence Level upper limit on \sigma(gg->H) x B(H->W+W-) is 1.75 pb at m_H=120 GeV, 0.38 pb at m_H=165 GeV, and 0.83 pb at m_H=200 GeV. Assuming the presence of a fourth sequential generation of fermions with large masses, we exclude at the 95% Confidence Level a standard-model-like Higgs boson with a mass between 131 and 204 GeV.

Tiering Effects in Third-party Logistics: A First-tier Buyer Perspective

This doctoral dissertation takes a buy side perspective to third-party logistics (3PL) providers’ service tiering by applying a linear serial dyadic view to transactions. It takes its point of departure not only from the unalterable focus on the dyad levels as units of analysis and how to manage them, but also the characteristics both creating and determining purposeful conditions for a longer duration. A conceptual framework is proposed and evaluated on its ability to capture logistics service buyers’ perceptions of service tiering. The problem discussed is in the theoretical context of logistics and reflects value appropriation, power dependencies, visibility in linear serial dyads, a movement towards the more market governed modes of transactions (i.e. service tiering) and buyers’ risk perception of broader utilisation of the logistics services market. Service tiering, in a supply chain setting, with the lack of multilateral agreements between supply chain members, is new. The deductive research approach applied, in which theoretically based propositions are empirically tested with quantitative and qualitative data, provides new insight into (contractual) transactions in 3PL. The study findings imply that the understanding of power dependencies and supply chain dynamics in a 3PL context is still in its infancy. The issues found include separation of service responsibilities, supply chain visibility, price-making behaviour and supply chain strategies under changing circumstances or influence of non-immediate supply chain actors. Understanding (or failing to understand) these issues may mean remarkable implications for the industry. Thus, the contingencies may trigger more open-book policies, larger liability scope of 3PL service providers or insourcing of critical logistics activities from the first-tier buyer core business and customer service perspectives. In addition, a sufficient understanding of the issues surrounding service tiering enables proactive responses to devise appropriate supply chain strategies. The author concludes that qualitative research designs, facilitating data collection on multiple supply chain actors, may capture and increase understanding of the impact of broader supply chain strategies. This would enable pattern-matching through an examination of two or more sides of exchange transactions to measure relational symmetries across linear serial dyads. Indeed, the performance of the firm depends not only on how efficiently it cooperates with its partners, but also on how well exchange partners cooperate with an organisation’s own business.

Sensemaking in the Third Space - Essays on French-Finnish Bicultural Experiences in Organizations and Their Narratives (summary section only)

Research on cross-cultural and intercultural aspects in organizations has been traditionally conducted from an objectivist, functionalist perspective, with culture treated as an independent variable, and often the key explanatory factor. In order to do justice to the ontological relativity of the phenomena studied, more subjectivist research on intercultural interactions, and especially on their relationships with the dynamics of cultural identity construction, is needed. The present research seeks to address this gap by focusing on bicultural interactions in organizations, as they are experienced by the involved individuals. It is argued that such bicultural situations see the emergence of a space of hybridity, which is here called a ‘third space’, and which can be understood as providing ‘occasions for sensemaking’: it is this individual sensemaking that is of particular interest in the empirical narrative study. A first overall aim of the study is to reach an understanding of the dynamics of bicultural interactions in organizations; an understanding not only of the potential for learning and emancipatory sensemaking, but also of the possibility of conflict and alienatory ordering (this is mainly addressed in the theoretical essays 1 and 2). Further, a second overall aim of the study is to analyze the reflexive identity construction of four young French expatriates involved in such bicultural interactions in organizations in Finland, in order to examine the extent to which their expatriation experiences have allowed for an emancipatory opportunity in their cases (in essays 3 and 4). The primary theoretical contribution in this study lies in its new articulation of the dynamics of bicultural interactions in organizations. The ways in which the empirical material is analyzed bring about methodological contributions: since the expatriates’ accounts are bound to be some kind of construction, the analysis is made from angles that point to how the self-narratives construct reality. There are two such angles here: a ‘performative’ one and a ‘spatial’ one. The most important empirical contributions lie in the analysis of, on the one hand, the alternative uses that the young expatriates made of the notion of ‘national culture’ in their self-narratives, and, on the other hand, their ‘narrative practices of the third space’: their politics of escape or stabilization, their exploration of space or search for place, their emancipation from their origin or return to home as only horizon.

Köyhyyden perintö : Tutkimus kulttuurisen tiedon sisällöistä ja jatkuvuuksista suomalaisissa elämäkerta- ja sananlaskuaineistoissa

The Legacy of Poverty. A Study of the substance and continuity of cultural knowledge in Finnish biographical and proverbial texts The study focuses on the idea of the cultural knowledge and shared understanding that ordinary people, folk , have of the concepts and ideas about rural based poverty in Finland. Throughout 19th century and well into 20th century, the majority of the population remained agrarian and poor. By the 1950s, most people still lived in rural areas and a majority of them earned their living primarily from agriculture and forestry. Urbanization proceeded rapidly from the 1960s onwards. Even though the Nordic welfare state was firmly established in Finland by the 1970s, old forms of agrarian poverty still remained in the culture. The source material for the study consists of 99 biographies and 502 proverbs. Biographical texts include written autobiographies and interviewed biographies. A primary analyzing concept is called a poverty speech. The poverty speech has been analyzed by providing answers to the following three questions: What connotations do people attach to poverty when they speak about it? What sort of social relations arise when people speak about poverty? How is the past experience of poverty constructed in the present and in the welfare state context? Cultural knowledge is a theoretical and analytical tool that enables people to categorize information. The three questions stated above are crucial in revealing the schematic structure that people use to communicate about agrarian poverty. Categories are analyzed and processed in terms of cultural themes that contain the ideals and stereotypes of spoken motif and sub-themes. The application of theoretical and analytical premises to the poverty speech has shown that there are four cultural themes. The first theme is Power. The social connotations in the poverty speech are mostly in relation to the better-off people. Poverty does not exist without an awareness of welfare, i.e. the understanding of a certain standard of welfare above that of one's own. The second theme is about family ties as a resource and welfare network. In poverty speech, marriage is represented as a means to upgrade one's livelihood. Family members are described as supporting one another, but at the same time as being antagonists. The third theme, Work represents the work ethic that is being connected to the poverty. Hard working as a representation is attached to eligibility for `a good life´ that in Finland was to become an owner-occupier of a cottage or a flat. The fourth theme is Security. The resentment of unfair treatment is expressed by using moral superiority and rational explanations. The ruling classes in the agrarian society are portrayed as being evil and selfish with no social conscience because they did not provide enough assistance to those who needed it. During the period when the welfare benefit system was undeveloped, the poor expected the wealthier people to make a contribution to the distribution of material wealth. In the premises of cultural knowledge, both oral and written traditions are about human thinking: they deal with topics, ideas and evaluations that are relevant to their bearers. Many elements expressed in poverty speech, such as classifications and customs derived from the rural world, have been carried over into the next generation in newer contexts and a different cultural environment. Keywords: cultural knowledge, cognitive categorization, poverty, life stories, proverbs

Optimization of sample preparation for next-generation sequencing with Illumina Genome Analyzer II

The growing interest for sequencing with higher throughput in the last decade has led to the development of new sequencing applications. This thesis concentrates on optimizing DNA library preparation for Illumina Genome Analyzer II sequencer. The library preparation steps that were optimized include fragmentation, PCR purification and quantification. DNA fragmentation was performed with focused sonication in different concentrations and durations. Two column based PCR purification method, gel matrix method and magnetic bead based method were compared. Quantitative PCR and gel electrophoresis in a chip were compared for DNA quantification. The magnetic bead purification was found to be the most efficient and flexible purification method. The fragmentation protocol was changed to produce longer fragments to be compatible with longer sequencing reads. Quantitative PCR correlates better with the cluster number and should thus be considered to be the default quantification method for sequencing. As a result of this study more data have been acquired from sequencing with lower costs and troubleshooting has become easier as qualification steps have been added to the protocol. New sequencing instruments and applications will create a demand for further optimizations in future.