Molecular genetics and evolution of Puumala hantavirus

Puumala virus (PUUV) is the causative agent of nephropathia epidemica (NE), a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Finland has the highest documented incidence of NE with around 1000 cases diagnosed annually. PUUV is also found in other Scandinavian countries, Central Europe and the European part of Russia. PUUV belongs to the genus Hantavirus in the family Bunyaviridae. Hantaviruses are rodent-borne viruses each carried by a specific host that is persistently and asymptomatically infected by the virus. PUUV is carried by the bank voles (Myodes glareolus, previously known as Clethrionomys glareolus). Hantaviruses have co-evolved with their carrier rodents for millions of years and these host animals are the evolutionary scene of hantaviruses. In this study, PUUV sequences were recovered from bank voles captured in Denmark and Russian Karelia to study the evolution of PUUV in Scandinavia. Phylogenetic analysis of these strains showed a geographical clustering of genetic variants following the presumable migration pattern of bank voles during the recolonization of Scandinavia after the last ice age approximately 10 000 years ago. The currently known PUUV genome sequences were subjected to in-depth phylogenetic analyses and the results showed that genetic drift seems to be the major mechanism of PUUV evolution. In general, PUUV seems to evolve quite slowly following a molecular clock. We also found evidence for recombination in the evolution of some genetic lineages of PUUV. Viral microevolution was studied in controlled virus transmission in colonized bank voles and changes in quasispecies dynamics were recorded as the virus was transmitted from one animal to another. We witnessed PUUV evolution in vivo, as one synonymous mutation became repeatedly fixed in the viral genome during the experiment. The detailed knowledge on the PUUV diversity was used to establish new sensitive and specific detection methods for this virus. Direct viral invasion of the hypophysis was demonstrated for the first time in a lethal case of NE. PUUV detection was done by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and RT-nested-PCR of the autopsy tissue samples.

The Soviet Union, Finland and the Cold War : The Finnish Card in Soviet Foreign Policy, 1956-1959

From the Soviet point of view the actual substance of Soviet-Finnish relations in the second half of 1950s clearly differed from the contemporary and later public image, based on friendship and confidence rhetoric. As the polarization between the right and the left became more underlined in Finland in the latter half of the 1950s, the criticism towards the Soviet Union became stronger, and the USSR feared that this development would have influence on Finnish foreign policy. From the Soviet point of view, the security commitments of FCMA-treaty needed additional guarantees through control of Finnish domestic politics and economic relations, especially during international crises. In relation to Scandinavia, Finland was, from the Soviet point of view, the model country of friendship or neutrality policy. The influence of the Second Berlin Crisis or the Soviet-Finnish Night Frost Crisis in 1958-1959 to Soviet policy towards Scandinavia needs to be observed from this point of view. The Soviet Union used Finland as a tool, in agreement with Finnish highest political leadership, for weakening of the NATO membership of Norway and Denmark, and for maintaining Swedish non-alliance. The Finnish interest to EFTA membership in the summer of 1959, at the same time with the Scandinavian countries, seems to have caused a panic reaction in the USSR, as the Soviets feared that these economic arrangements would reverse the political advantages the country had received in Finland after the Night Frost Crisis. Together with history of events, this study observes the interaction of practical interests and ideologies, both in individuals and in decision-making organizations. The necessary social and ideological reforms in the Soviet Union after 1956 had influence both on the legitimacy of the regime, and led to contradictions in the argumentation of Soviet foreign policy. This was observed both in the own camp as well as in the West. Also, in Finland a breakthrough took place in the late 1950's: as the so-called counter reaction lost to the K-line, "a special relationship" developed with the Soviet Union. As a consequence of the Night Frost Crisis the Soviet relationship became a factor decisively defining the limits of domestic politics in Finland, a part of Finnish domestic political argumentation. Understood from this basis, finlandization is not, even from the viewpoint of international relations, a special case, but a domestic political culture formed by the relationship between a dominant state, a superpower, and a subordinate state, Finland.

The Emerging Phenotype: Ecological Genetics of Color, Form and Sex in the Common Frog

One of the main aims of evolutionary biology is to explain why organisms vary phenotypically as they do. Proximately, this variation arises from genetic differences and from environmental influences, the latter of which is referred to as phenotypic plasticity. Phenotypic plasticity is thus a central concept in evolutionary biology, and understanding its relative importance in causing the phenotypic variation and differentiation is important, for instance in anticipating the consequences of human induced environmental changes. The aim of this thesis was to study geographic variation and local adaptation, as well as sex ratios and environmental sex reversal, in the common frog (Rana temporaria). These themes cover three different aspects of phenotypic plasticity, which emerges as the central concept for the thesis. The first two chapters address geographic variation and local adaptation in two potentially thermally adaptive traits, namely the degree of melanism and the relative leg length. The results show that although there is an increasing latitudinal trend in the degree of melanism in wild populations across Scandinavian Peninsula, this cline has no direct genetic basis and is thus environmentally induced. The second chapter demonstrates that although there is no linear, latitudinally ordered phenotypic trend in relative leg length that would be expected under Allen s rule an ecogeographical rule linking extremity length to climatic conditions there seems to be such a trend at the genetic level, hidden under environmental effects. The first two chapters thus view phenotypic plasticity through its ecological role and evolution, and demonstrate that it can both give rise to phenotypic variation and hide evolutionary patterns in studies that focus solely on phenotypes. The last three chapters relate to phenotypic plasticity through its ecological and evolutionary role in sex determination, and consequent effects on population sex ratio, genetic recombination and the evolution of sex chromosomes. The results show that while sex ratios are strongly female biased and there is evidence of environmental sex reversals, these reversals are unlikely to have caused the sex ratio skew, at least directly. The results demonstrate that environmental sex reversal can have an effect on the evolution of sex chromosomes, as the recombination patterns between them seem to be controlled by phenotypic, rather than genetic, sex. This potentially allows Y chromosomes to recombine, lending support for the recent hypothesis suggesting that sex-reversal may play an important role on the rejuvenation of Y chromosomes.

Human Rights in Action

In the post-World War II era human rights have emerged as an enormous global phenomenon. In Finland human rights have particularly in the 1990s moved from the periphery to the center of public policy making and political rhetoric. Human rights education is commonly viewed as the decisive vehicle for emancipating individuals of oppressive societal structures and rendering them conscious of the equal value of others; both core ideals of the abstract discourse. Yet little empirical research has been conducted on how these goals are realized in practice. These factors provide the background for the present study which, by combining anthropological insights with critical legal theory, has analyzed the educational activities of a Scandinavian and Nordic network of human rights experts and PhD students in 2002-2005. This material has been complemented by data from the proceedings of UN human rights treaty bodies, hearings organized by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, the analysis of different human rights documents as well as the manner human rights are talked of in the Finnish media. As the human rights phenomenon has expanded, human rights experts have acquired widespread societal influence. The content of human rights remains, nevertheless, ambiguous: on the one hand they are law, on the other, part of a moral discourse. By educating laymen on what human rights are, experts act both as intermediaries and activists who expand the scope of rights and simultaneously exert increasing political influence. In the educational activities of the analyzed network these roles were visible in the rhetorics of legality and legitimacy . Among experts both of these rhetorics are subject to ongoing professional controversy, yet in the network they are presented as undisputable facts. This contributes to the impression that human rights knowledge is uncontested. This study demonstrates how the network s activities embody and strengthen a conception of expertise as located in specific, structurally determined individuals. Simultaneously its conception of learning emphasizes the adoption of knowledge by students, emphasizing the power of experts over them. The majority of the network s experts are Nordic males, whereas its students are predominantly Nordic females and males from East-European and developing countries. Contrary to the ideals of the discourse the network s activities do not create dialogue, but instead repeat power structures which are themselves problematic.

Siperiaa sanoiksi - uralilaisuutta teoiksi : Kai Donner poliittisena organisaattorina sekä tiedemiehenä antropologian näkökulmasta

The doctoral dissertation, entitled Siperiaa sanoiksi - uralilaisuutta teoiksi. Kai Donner poliittisena organisaattorina sekä tiedemiehenä antropologian näkökulmasta clarifies the early history of anthropological fieldwork and research in Siberia. The object of research is Kai Donner (1888-1935), fieldworker, explorer and researcher of Finno-Ugric languages, who made two expeditions to Siberia during 1911-1913 and 1914. Donner studied in Cambridge in 1909 under the guidance of James Frazer, A. C. Haddon and W. H. R. Rivers - and with Bronislaw Malinowski. After finishing his expeditions, Donner organized the enlistment of Finnish university students to receive military training in Germany. He was exiled and participated in the struggle for Finnish independence. After that, he organized military offensives in Russia and participated in domestic politics and policy in cooperation with C. G. E. Mannerheim. He also wrote four ethnographic descriptions on Siberia and worked with the Scandinavian Arctic areas researchers and Polar explorers. The results of this analysis can be sum up as follows: In the history of ethnographic research in Finland, it is possible to find two types of fieldwork tradition. The first tradition started from M. A. Castrén's explorations and research and the second one from August Ahlqvist's. Donner can be included in the first group with Castrén and Sakari Pälsi, unlike other contemporary philologists, or cultural researcher colleagues, which used the method of August Ahlqvist. Donner's holistic, lively and participant-observation based way of work is articulated in his writings two years before Malinowski published his thesis about modern fieldwork. Unfortunately, Donner didn't get the change to continue his researche because of the civil war in Finland, and due to the dogmatic position of E. N. Setälä. Donner's main work - the ethnohistorical Siberia - encloses his political and anthropological visions about a common and threatened Uralic nation under the pressure of Russian. The important items of his expeditions can be found in the area of cultural ecology, nutritional anthropology and fieldwork methods. It is also possible to prove that in his short stories from Siberia, there can be found some psychological factors that correlate his early life history.

Eläinlääkärin pehmeät direktiivit

Tutkielmassa selvitetään, millaisia direktiivejä eli ohjailevia lausumia eläinlääkäri käyttää potilasvastaanottonsa aikana vaikuttaakseen eläimen tai sen omistajan toimintaan. Lähtökohtana on huomio siitä, että eläinlääkäri pehmentää etenkin eläimenomistajalle suunnattuja ohjeita, neuvoja ja pyyntöjä erilaisin kielellisin keinoin. Kaiken kaikkiaan eläinlääkärin direktiivit vaikuttavat kontekstissaan toimivilta, tilanteeseen sopivilta ja riittävän kohteliailta. Tutkielmassa pohditaan, miksi tiettyjä direktiivejä on tarpeen pehmentää enemmän kuin toisia, ja millaisin keinoin tätä pehmeää, kohteliasta puhetta luodaan. Tutkimusmenetelmänä on keskustelunanalyysi. Aineistona on yhdeksän vuonna 2009 videokuvattua potilaskäyntiä eteläsuomalaiselta eläinlääkäriasemalta. Tallenteissa esiintyy kolme eri eläinlääkäriä, jotka kaikki ovat naisia. Aineistoa on yhteensä noin 100 minuuttia, ja se on litteroitu keskustelunanalyysin konventioiden mukaisesti. Keskusteluasetelma on aiempiin keskustelunanalyyttisiin tutkimuksiin verrattuna poikkeuksellinen, koska tilanteessa on osallistujana ei-kielellinen olento, eläin. Vaikka eläimen ei voida odottaa ymmärtävän kieltä, sillekin esitettäviä direktiivejä usein pehmennetään. Määrällisesti merkittävimmiksi pehmentämisen keinoiksi osoittautuvat passiivi ja modaaliverbit. Passiivilla puhuja välttää mainitsemasta puhuteltavan persoonaa ja tietyssä kontekstissa tekee toiminnasta näennäisesti yhteistä. Modaaliverbeillä toiminnasta tehdään ei-ehdotonta, kun se ilmaistaan esimerkiksi luvallisena tai kannattavana. Modaaliverbeihin yhdistyy usein nollapersoona, jolla myös vältetään persoonan mainitseminen. Lisäksi keskusteluissa esiintyy runsaasti muita pehmentämisen keinoja, esimerkiksi epäsuoria ilmauksia ja varauksia kuten ehkä. Yllättävää on jos-partikkelin avulla muodostettavan ohjailevan lausuman suhteellinen yleisyys eläinlääkärikeskusteluissa. Jos otat tosta kiinni -tyyppinen direktiivi on saanut melko vähän huomiota aiemmissa direktiivitutkimuksissa mutta on tässä keskustelukontekstissa ilmeisen käyttökelpoinen. Tutkimuksessa selviää, että paljas, pehmentämätön imperatiivikäsky esitetään eläimenomistajalle vain poikkeustilanteessa, jossa suoruudelle on erityinen tarve. Eläimelle imperatiivikäskyjä voidaan kuitenkin esittää muulloinkin.

Why study translation universals?

Abstract: Research on translation universals has its roots in the need to make generalizations about the features that distinguish translations from non-translations. They go back to the old tradition of negative comments about the failings of typical translations. These comments concern the relations between translations and the target language, and between translations and their source texts. With the rise of descriptive studies, and the use of corpus research methods borrowed from linguistics, the search for the typical features of translations became more systematic. A number of hypotheses about potential universals have been proposed, and tested on different languages and language pairs. Some of them are evidently false; on others, the jury is still out. If some hypotheses continue to be supported by empirical evidence, the question then arises of how they might best be explained. There has been fierce criticism of some of the assumptions underlying the search for universals, including the use of the term 'universal'itself, but the approach has also brought clear methodological benefits.

Valkoinen läiskä kartalla : Perusvärinnimet ja niiden merkityskentät unkarin- ja suomenkielisissä idiomeissa

Työni tavoitteena on vertailla unkarilaisia ja suomalaisia idiomeja, joissa esiintyy jokin perusvärinnimi. Perusvärinnimiä ovat fehér (valkoinen), fekete (musta), szürke (harmaa), piros tai vörös (punainen), zöld (vihreä), sárga (keltainen), kék (sininen) ja barna (ruskea). Erityisesti pyrin ottamaan selvää käytetäänkö samaa värinnimeä molemmissa kielissä samasta asiasta vai onko värinnimien käytössä tarkasteltujen kielten välillä eroja. Vertailen unkarilaisia idiomeja suomalaisiin ja käytän vertailussa Tamás Forgácsin esittämää mallia ekvivalenssin lajeista. Aineisto on kerätty unkarin- ja suomenkielisistä fraasi- ja idiomisanakirjoista sekä yleissanakirjoista. Idiomi on yksi fraseologismien alaryhmistä. Idiomi koostuu vähintään kahdesta lekseemistä, jotka voidaan kirjoittaa joko yhteen tai erikseen. Idiomi on puhtaimmillaan opaakki, kiteytynyt sanaliitto, mutta idiomi voi olla myös osittain sananmukaisesti tulkittavissa. Idiomaattisuuden ja metaforisuuden aste on jatkumo, jonka toisessa päässä ovat täysin läpinäkymättömät ja toisessa transparentit sanaliitot. Idiomit ovat puhtaimmillaan tiettyyn kieleen sidottuja. Idiomit voivat olla kuitenkin laajalevikkisiä, koska niitä on lainattu eri kieliin suoraan kääntämällä esimerkiksi Raamatusta tai antiikin teksteistä. Viime vuosisatojen ja vuosikymmenten idiomit ovat hypoteettisesti useimmiten käännöslainoja jostain Euroopan valtakielestä. Värinnimitutkimuksen tunnetuimpia teorioita on Berlinin ja Kayn teoria kielessä esiintyvien värinnimien järjestyksestä. Heidän mukaansa musta, valkoinen ja punainen esiintyvät maailman kielissä kaikista yleisimmin, sininen, ruskea ja harmaa puolestaan esiintyvät vain korkeakulttuureissa, eivät esimerkiksi luonnonkansojen kielissä. Hypoteesini on, että aineistossa esiintyvien värinnimien lukumäärä korreloi jossain määrin Berlinin ja Kayn esittämän värinnimien järjestyksen kanssa. Täysin identtisiä idiomeja sanastoltaan ja merkitykseltään löytyy aineistosta suhteellisen paljon, useimmat näistä ovat valkoisen, mustan tai harmaan värin sisältäviä idiomeja. Täysin toisiaan vastaavista idiomeista suurin osa on tullut unkariin ja suomeen Raamatusta tai lainattu sellaisenaan englannista, saksasta tai ranskasta. Osittaisessa vastaavuussuhteessa ja funktionaalisessa vastaavuussuhteessa löytyy värinnimien kannalta mielenkiintoisimmat idiomit: keltainen ja vihreä esiintyvät parissa idiomissa ristikkäin. Pääasiassa idiomeissa esiintyvät värinnimet ovat unkarin ja suomen välillä identtisiä, mikäli unkarilaiselle idiomille löytyy vastine suomen kielestä. Idiomit ilman vastinetta ovat aineiston suurin ja samalla myös kirjavin ryhmä analysoitavaksi, pienin ryhmä puolestaan ovat leksikaalisen vastaavuuden ryhmään kuuluvat idiomit. Suurin osa unkarilaisista idiomeista on työssä analysoitu, mutta suomenkieliset vastineettomat idiomit jäävät vähäiselle huomiolle tutkimusongelman näkökulmasta johtuen. Aineiston 143 unkarilaisesta idiomista noin puolet sijoittuu nollaekvivalenssin eli vastineettomien idiomien ryhmään. Täydellisen ekvivalenssin ryhmä on toiseksi suurin, leksikaalisen vastaavuuden ryhmä pienin. Idiomeissa esiintyvistä väreistä yleisimpiä ovat musta, valkoinen, punainen ja vihreä. Ruskeaa väriä ei esiinny unkarilaisissa idiomeissa lainkaan, suomalaisissa idiomeissa viidessä. Unkarin ja suomen värien merkityskentät vastaavat pitkälti toisiaan. Ainoastaan keltainen ja vihreä esiintyivät selkeästi ristikkäin: unkariksi kateus on keltaista ja suomeksi vihreää, tulokkaaseen liitetään unkarissa vihreä, suomessa keltainen väri.

Analysis of Puumala hantavirus in a bank vole population in northern Finland: evidence for co-circulation of two genetic lineages and frequent reassortment between strains

"In this study, for the first time, two distinct genetic lineages of Puumala virus (PUUV) were found within a small sampling area and within a single host genetic lineage (Ural mtDNA) at Pallasjarvi, northern Finland. Lung tissue samples of 171 bank voles (Myodes glareolus) trapped in September 1998 were screened for the presence of PUUV nucleocapsid antigen and 25 were found to be positive. Partial sequences of the PUUV small (S), medium (M) and large (L) genome segments were recovered from these samples using RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two genetic groups of PUUV sequences that belonged to the Finnish and north Scandinavian lineages. This presented a unique opportunity to study inter-lineage reassortment in PUUV; indeed, 32% of the studied bank voles appeared to carry reassortant virus genomes. Thus, the frequency of inter-lineage reassortment in PUUV was comparable to that of intra-lineage reassortment observed previously (Razzauti, M., Plyusnina, A., Henttonen, H. & Plyusnin, A. (2008). J Gen Virol 89, 1649-1660). Of six possible reassortant S/M/L combinations, only two were found at Pallasjarvi and, notably, in all reassortants, both S and L segments originated from the same genetic lineage, suggesting a non-random pattern for the reassortment. These findings are discussed in connection to PUUV evolution in Fermoscandia."

Vaggvisor i Kvevlax : Språkliga strukturer och konstruktioner

Lullabies in Kvevlax. Linguistic structures and constructions. The study is a linguistic analysis of constructions that shape the texts used in lullabies in Kvevlax in Ostrobothnia in Finland. The empirical goal is to identify linguistic constructions in traditional lullabies that make use of the dialect of the region. The theoretical goal was to test the usability of Construction Grammar (CxG) in analyses of this type of material, and to further develop the formal description of Construction Grammar in such a way as to make it possible to analyze all kinds of linguistically complex texts. The material that I collected in the 1960s comprises approximately 600 lullabies and concomitant interviews with the singers on the use of lullabies. In 1991 I collected additional material in Kvevlax. The number of informants is close to 250. Supplementary material covering the Swedish-language regions in Finland was compiled from the archives of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland. The first part of the study is mainly based on traditional grammar and gives general information about the language and the structures used in the lullabies. In the detailed study of the Kvevlax lullabies in the latter part of the study I use a version of Construction Grammar intended for the linguistic analysis of usage-based texts. The analysis focuses on the most salient constructions in the lullabies. The study shows that Construction Grammar as a method has more general applicability than traditional linguistic methods. The study identifies important constructions, including elements typical of this genre, that structure the text in different variants of the same lullabies. In addition, CxG made it possible to study pragmatic aspects of the interactional, cultural and contextual language that is used in communication with small children. The constructions found in lullabies are also used in language in general. In addition to being able to give detailed linguistic descriptions of the texts, Construction Grammar can also explain the multidimensionality of language and the variations in the texts. The use of CxG made it possible to show that variations are not random but follow prototypical linguistic patterns, constructions. Constructions are thus found to be linguistic resources with built-in variation potentials.

The prevention of workplace bullying as a question of human resource management: measures adopted and underlying organizational factors

The aim of this study has been to analyze measures adopted to counteract workplace bullying from the perspective of human resource management. First, the kind of measures that are adopted to prevent bullying were examined. Second, factors affecting the extent of such measures were explored. The introduction of written anti-bullying policies and the provision of information were found to be the most common measures adopted. The policies strongly emphasized the role of supervisors and the immediate superior. Measures to counteract bullying were positively related to the adoption of ‘sophisticated’ human resource practices, previous negative publicity concerning bullying and the presence of a young human resource manager. The results, however, also indicated that imitation seemed to provide an important impetus behind anti-bullying efforts.

Discursive (de)legitimation of a contested Finnish greenfield investment project in Latin America

Despite the central role of legitimacy in corporate social responsibility debate, little is known of subtle meaning-making processes through which social actors attempt to establish or de-establish legitimacy for socially contested corporate undertakings, and through which they, at the same time, struggle to define the proper social role and responsibility of corporations. We investigated these processes in the context of the intense socio-political conflict around the Finnish forest industry company Metsa¨-Botnia’s world-scale pulp mill in Uruguay. A critical discursive analysis of Finnish media texts highlights three types of struggle that characterized the media coverage: legalistic argumentation, truth fights, and political battles. Interestingly, this case illustrates how the corporate representatives — with the help of the national media — tend to frame the issue in legalistic terms, emphasize their expert knowledge in technical and environmental evaluations, and distance themselves from political disputes. We argue that similar tendencies are likely to characterize corporate social responsibility debates more generally.

Variation i kvinnors namnfraser i officiella dokument i Helsingfors 1780-1930 : Socioonomastiska synvinklar på makt och identitet

This dissertation is an onomastic study of variation in women s name phrases in official documents in Finland during the period 1780−1930. The aim is to discuss from a socio-onomastic perspective both the changeover from patronymics to inherited family names and the use of surnames after marriage (i.e. whether women adopted their husbands family names or retained their maiden names), before new laws in this area entered into force in Finland in the early 20th century. In 1920, a law on family names that required fixed names put an end to the use of the patronymic as a person s only surname. After 1929, it was no longer possible for a married woman to retain her maiden name. Methodologically, to explain this development from a socio-onomastic perspective, I have based my study on a syntactic-semantic analysis of the actual name phrases. To be able to demonstrate the extensive material, I have elaborated a scheme to divide the 115 different types of name phrases into 13 main categories. The analysis of the material for Helsinki is based on frequency calculations of the different types of name phrases every thirtieth year, as well as on describing variation in the structure and semantic content of the name phrases, e.g. social variation in the use of titles and epithets. In addition to this, by applying a biographic-genealogical method, I have conducted two case studies of the usage of women s name phrases in the two chosen families. The study is based on parish registers from the period 1780−1929, estate inventory documents from the period 1780−1928, registration forms for liberty of trade from the period 1880−1908, family announcements on newspapers from the period 1829−1888, gravestones from the period 1796−1929 and diaries from the periods 1799−1801 and 1818−1820 providing a corpus of 5 950 name phrases. The syntactic-semantic analysis has revealed the overall picture of various ways of denoting women in official documents. In Helsinki, towards the end of the 19th century, the use of inherited family names seems to be almost fully developed in official contexts. At the late 19th century, a patronymic still appears as the only surname of some working-class women whereas in the early 20th century patronymics were only entered in the parish register as a kind of middle name. In the beginning of the 19th century, most married women were still registered under their maiden names, with a few exceptions among the bourgeoisie and upper class. The comparative analysis of name phrases in diaries, however, indicates that the use of the husband s family name by married women was a much earlier phenomenon in private contexts than in official documents. Keywords: socio-onomastics, syntactic-semantic analysis, name phrase, patronymic, maiden name, husband s family name