Lunch eating patterns during working hours and their social and work-related determinants : Study of Finnish employees

Work has a central role in the lives of big share of adult Finns and meals they eat during the workday comprise an important factor in their nutrition, health, and well-being. On workdays, lunch is mainly eaten at worksite canteens or, especially among women, as a packed meal in the workplace s break room. No national-level data is available on the nutritional quality of the meals served by canteens, although the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health laid out the first nutrition recommendations for worksite canteens in 1971. The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of various socio-demographic, socioeconomic, and work-related factors to the lunch eating patterns of Finnish employees during the working day and how lunch eating patterns influence dietary intake. Four different population-based cross-sectional datasets were used in this thesis. Three of the datasets were collected by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population survey from 1979 to 2001, n=24746, and 2005 to 2007, n=5585, the National Findiet 2002 Study, n=261), and one of them by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Work and Health in Finland survey from 1997, 2000, and 2003, n=6369). The Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population survey and the Work and Health in Finland survey are nationally representative studies that are conducted repeatedly. Survey information was collected by self-administered questionnaires, dietary recalls, and telephone interviews. The frequency of worksite canteen use has been quite stable for over two decades in Finland. A small decreasing trend can be seen in all socioeconomic groups. During the whole period studied, those with more years of education ate at worksite canteens more often than the others. The size of the workplace was the most important work-related determinant associated with the use of a worksite canteen. At small workplaces, other work-related determinants, like occupation, physical strain at work, and job control, were also associated with canteen use, whereas at bigger workplaces the associations were almost nonexistent. The major social determinants of worksite canteen availability were the education and occupational status of employees and the only work-related determinant was the size of the workplace. A worksite canteen was more commonly available to employees at larger workplaces and to those with the higher education and the higher occupational status. Even when the canteen was equally available to all employees, its use was nevertheless determined by occupational class and the place of residence, especially among female employees. Those with higher occupational status and those living in the Helsinki capital area ate in canteens more frequently than the others. Employees who ate at a worksite canteen consumed more vegetables and vegetable and fish dishes at lunch than did those who ate packed lunches. Also, the daily consumption of vegetables and the proportion of the daily users of vegetables were higher among those male employees who ate at a canteen. In conclusion, life possibilities, i.e. the availability of a canteen, education, occupational status, and work-related factors, played an important role in the choice of where to eat lunch among Finnish employees. The most basic prerequisite for eating in a canteen was availability, but there were also a number of underlying social determinants. Occupational status and the place of residence were the major structural factors behind individuals choices in their lunch eating patterns. To ensure the nutrition, health, and well-being of employees, employers should provide them with the option to have good quality meals during working hours. The availability of worksite canteens should be especially supported in lower socioeconomic groups. In addition, employees should be encouraged to have lunch at a worksite canteen when one is available by removing structural barriers to its use.

Ukrainan vuosien 1932-33 nälänhädän historiapolitiikka

Ukrainan presidentiksi nousi ns. oranssin vallankumouksen nosteessa Viktor Justsenko. Hänen presidenttikaudellaan (2005-2010) vuosien 1932-33 nälänhätä (holodomor) nousi keskeiseksi sekä sisä-, että ulkopolitiikan teemaksi. Holodomor, joka viittaa nälällä aiheutettuun tuhoon, pyrittiin tuomaan osaksi ukrainalaista kollektiivista muistia. Justsenkon aloitteesta säädettiin laki, jonka mukaan holodomor oli ukrainalaisten kansanmurha. Vuosina 1932-33 ympäri Neuvostoliittoa vallitsi nälänhätä. Ukrainalainen maaseutu kärsi pahoin nälänhädän seurauksista, sillä eri arvioiden mukaan 3,5-10 miljoonaa ukrainalaista menehtyi joko suoranaisesti tai välillisesti nälänhädän seurauksena. Ukrainan itsenäistyttyä nälänhätä, jota oli diasporassa alettu kutsua holodomoriksi (nälkätuho), nousi kansallisen historian keskeiseksi teemaksi. Ukrainalainen historioitsija Georgi Kasjanov on nimittänyt tätä uutta vaihetta historian kansallistamiseksi. Tässä työssä pohditaan sitä, miksi holodomor nostettiin keskeiseen asemaan presidentti Viktor Justsenkon valtakaudella. Keskeinen vastakkainasettelun lähtökohta on ollut itsenäisen Ukrainan ja Neuvostoliiton seuraajavaltion Venäjän suhtautuminen nälänhätään 1932-33. Ukrainalaisissa näkökulmissa on painottunut stalinistisen järjestelmän kritiikki, mikä toisaalta on saatettu tulkita myös koko kommunistisen aikakauden tuomitsemiseksi. Venäjällä taas nälänhätä on tulkittu useimmiten yleisneuvostoliittolaiseksi tragediaksi, joka ei kohdistunut erityisesti mitään tiettyä kansallisuutta vastaan. Tutkimuksen keskeinen lähtökohta on tarkastella ukrainalaisten ja venäläisten tulkintojen eroja ja sitä, millä tavoin holodomorilla on tehty politiikkaa. Tutkimusaineistona on käytetty ukrainalaisten osalta presidentti Justsenkon puheita, lakialoitteita ja muita julkilausumia, sekä eräiden yhteiskunnallisten toimijoiden ja historioitsijoiden kannanottoja. Venäläisen osapuolen tulkintoja on pyritty luomaan muutamien tutkimusten ja yhteiskunnallisten toimijoiden, sekä poliitikkojen lausumien pohjalta. Suurin osa aineistosta on kerätty venäjänkielisistä verkkolehdistä. Presidentti Justsenkolle vuosien 1932-1933 historiasta muodostui ase, jolla hän kävi omaa poliittista taisteluaan lännen puolesta itää vastaan. Välit Venäjään olivat viileät koko hänen presidenttikautensa ajan. Lähimmäksi presidentin kantaa holodomor-kysymyksessä tulivat diasporaukrainalaiset. Venäjällä kritisoitiin ankarasti Justsenkon tanssia haudoilla eli hänen tapaansa käyttää nälänhädän uhreja oman politiikkansa välineenä. Venäläiset korostivat nälänhädän tragediaa kaikkien Neuvostoliiton kansojen tragediana. Holodomor oli osa kansallisen historian uudelleenkirjoitusta ja kansakunnan rakentamisen prosessia. Justsenkon päämääränä oli lähentää Ukrainaa länteen, jolloin ukrainalaisen kansakunnan uhriasema antoi oikeutuksen sanoutua irti neuvostoajasta. Tietyssä mielessä holodomor-projekti oli venäläisvastainen, sillä se implisiittisesti tuki käsitystä venäläisistä rikollisina, kansanmurhan toimeenpanijoina.

Denitrification in the River Estuaries of the Northern Baltic Sea

Estuaries have been suggested to have an important role in reducing the nitrogen load transported to the sea. We measured denitrification rates in six estuaries of the northern Baltic Sea. Four of them were river mouths in the Bothnian Bay (northern Gulf of Bothnia), and two were estuary bays, one in the Archipelago Sea (southern Gulf of Bothnia) and the other in the Gulf of Finland. Denitrification rates in the four river mouths varied between 330 and 905 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1). The estuary bays at the Archipelago Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia had denitrification rates from 90 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1) to 910 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1) and from 230 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1) to 320 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1), respectively. Denitrification removed 3.6-9.0% of the total nitrogen loading in the river mouths and in the estuary bay in the Gulf of Finland, where the residence times were short. In the estuary bay with a long residence time, in the Archipelago Sea, up to 4.5% of nitrate loading and 19% of nitrogen loading were removed before entering the sea. According to our results, the sediments of the fast-flowing rivers and them estuary areas with short residence times have a limited capacity to reduce the nitrogen load to the Baltic Sea.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in sediments of the Gulf of Finland

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) and denitrification were measured in the open sea and coastal accumulation basins of the Gulf of Finland. The different methods used gave conflicting results on the importance of the anammox process in the sediments. Anammox generally contributed less than 20 % to the total N-2 production, and no anammox was found in a shallow inner estuary basin. However, the discovery of the anammox process in the open sea sediments challenges the denitrification measurements made in the area, as the coexistence of anammox and denitrification compromises the central assumptions behind the method used in denitrification measurements and causes overestimates of the N-2 production. The high (NO3-)-N-15 incubation concentration used in Baltic Sea denitrification measurements exacerbates this overestimation, which is likely to have been substantial.

Seasonal and short-term variation in denitrification and anammox at a coastal station on the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea

Benthic processes were measured at a coastal deposition area in the northern Baltic Sea, covering all seasons. The N-2 production rates, 90-400 mu mol N m(-2) d(-1), were highest in autumn-early winter and lowest in spring. Heterotrophic bacterial production peaked unexpectedly late in the year, indicating that in addition to the temperature, the availability of carbon compounds suitable for the heterotrophic bacteria also plays a major role in regulating the denitrification rate. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) was measured in spring and autumn and contributed 10% and 15%, respectively, to the total N-2 production. The low percentage did, however, result in a significant error in the total N-2 production rate estimate, calculated using the isotope pairing technique. Anammox must be taken into account in the Gulf of Finland in future sediment nitrogen cycling research.