On formation, growth and concentrations of air ions

Aerosol particles have effect on climate, visibility, air quality and human health. However, the strength of which aerosol particles affect our everyday life is not well described or entirely understood. Therefore, investigations of different processes and phenomena including e.g. primary particle sources, initial steps of secondary particle formation and growth, significance of charged particles in particle formation, as well as redistribution mechanisms in the atmosphere are required. In this work sources, sinks and concentrations of air ions (charged molecules, cluster and particles) were investigated directly by measuring air molecule ionising components (i.e. radon activity concentrations and external radiation dose rates) and charged particle size distributions, as well as based on literature review. The obtained results gave comprehensive and valuable picture of the spatial and temporal variation of the air ion sources, sinks and concentrations to use as input parameters in local and global scale climate models. Newly developed air ion spectrometers (Airel Ltd.) offered a possibility to investigate atmospheric (charged) particle formation and growth at sub-3 nm sizes. Therefore, new visual classification schemes for charged particle formation events were developed, and a newly developed particle growth rate method was tested with over one year dataset. These data analysis methods have been widely utilised by other researchers since introducing them. This thesis resulted interesting characteristics of atmospheric particle formation and growth: e.g. particle growth may sometimes be suppressed before detection limit (~ 3 nm) of traditional aerosol instruments, particle formation may take place during daytime as well as in the evening, growth rates of sub-3 nm particles were quite constant throughout the year while growth rates of larger particles (3-20 nm in diameter) were higher during summer compared to winter. These observations were thought to be a consequence of availability of condensing vapours. The observations of this thesis offered new understanding of the particle formation in the atmosphere. However, the role of ions in particle formation, which is not well understood with current knowledge, requires further research in future.

Kohti määrittämätöntä : Maahanmuuttajien vertaisryhmiin osallistuneiden naisten toimijuus

In this research, I examine the agency of women who has taken part in peer groups for immigrants organized by Finnish refugee council. My thesis is connected with post-colonial feminist research where difference and power have been studied especially from the view of those inferior positions. Agency is the main tool that I use in this thesis. I examine how peer groups are significant in the speech of women and how women s agency shows in their lives. My goal was to examine how women build their lives in a new environment. I also want to show an alternative view in the discussion about integration by telling about the lives of the women. My data is from single and group interviews, from one peer group meeting that I observed and conversations with the peer mentors. Altogether I interviewed 29 women from the age of 18 to elderly people. Women had emigrated from eight different countries. I also used educational material made for peer group mentors as my data. According to my study, the peer groups were significant for women especially because of the social relations made in the groups and the knowledge achieved about Finnish society. Also the language skills achieved in the peer groups were important. In the peer groups women realized to fill the competences acquired to make their space of agency wider. Women s agency was sometimes quiet and it aimed to maintain. This kind of agency made the foundation to everyday life in Finland. It was also used to create relation to the country of emigration. Agency occurred also as toleration. Especially when confronting racism or when women had to give up customs that were important to them. The sense of agency grew in peer groups. This and through perceiving their competences women pondered the paths in their future. Women spoke of themselves as foreigners and made distinction with the majority of population. In the educational material and in the speech of the mentors, the image of Finnishness was unlimited. Women did not find space for them in the concept of Finnish. The intercommunication between women and the majority of population was narrow and those were formed mainly in context of the work of the majority of population. In my research, I noticed that women have enough knowledge, skills and competences for agency, only the space for it is narrow. When speaking about integration, immigrants are seen as objects to be activated. I suggest that from this way of speaking focus should be changed from activation to deconstruction of the positions shown to women.

Towards the Breaking Day : An Ethnography of Belian Curing Rituals among the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo

Towards the Breaking Day is an ethnography of belian, an exceptionally lively tradition of curing rituals performed by the Luangans, a politically marginalized population of swidden cultivators of Indonesian Borneo. The principal purpose of the study is to explore the significance of belian rituals in practice. It asks what belian rituals do socially, politically, and existentially for particular people in particular circumstances. Departing from conventional conceptions of rituals as ethereal liminal or insulated traditional domains, it demonstrates the importance of understanding rituals as emergent within their specific historical and social settings, and highlights the irreducibility of lived reality to epistemological certainty. Each chapter of the book represents an analysis of a concrete ritual performance, exemplifying a diversity of ritual genres, stylistic modalities and sensual ambiences, ranging from low-keyed, habitual affairs to drawn-out, crowd-seizing community rituals and innovative, montage-like cultural experiments. The study is based on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in non-Christian Central Luangan communities in which ritual and everyday life are complexly intermixed. It is intended as a contribution to the anthropological study of ritual and to the ethnography of Borneo religion in which the study of shamanistic life rituals has been overshadowed by a long-standing fascination with death and funerary rites.

Ühis- ning erijooni Soome ja Eesti Kaitseliitude puhkpillimuusikas aastatel 1925-1934.

This study focuses on the similarities and differences between the Estonian Defence League and the Finnish Civil Guard brass bands during the period 1925-1934. By 1934 this paramilitary volunteer state defence organisation had reached stability in its development, such that social, cultural and patriotic education of the people - with the help of brass band music among other means- had acquired a significant role, in addition to prioritised military and sports activities. The study begins with introductory paragraphs I and II, which describes the founding of the organisations, their participation in the Wars of Independence and their subsequent peace time activities as well as their representation in the media at the time. The thesis also briefly introduces military music in Finland and Estonia, as well as describes the influence of military music on the Defence League brass bands. The period under review includes the global economic crisis, which undoubtedly concerned the Defence League/Civil Guard and the Lapua and War of Independence movements, which greatly affected the apolitical principles of the organisations. The main emphasis of the thesis is the Defence League/Civil Guard brass band`s musical activities in two counties - Etelä-Pohjanmaa and Pärnumaa, while also including a general overview of the Estonian Defence League brass bands´ activities. One of the most important benefits of the thesis is its introduction of the brass band repertoire in use at the time, which was played by both professional and as well as amateur orchestras the latter of which also included the brass bands of the Defence League/Civil Guard and the Fire Services. Brass band music held a secondary, yet significant position in the Defence League/Civil Guard, where the orchestra as a musical grouping was obliged to perform not only at inner-organisational and national celebrations but also at any event requiring brass band music, such as song festivals, singing days, and other local cultural events. The professional preparation of the band conductors at the beginning of the period under review was not well specialised, but the training of the Defence League/Civil Defence brass band conductors was carried out regularly in both republic according to the opportunities and dedicated training programmes available. The musicians of the Defence League/Civil Defence brass bands were at the same time members of the military organisations as well as amateur musicians, which placed upon them extra demands - they were under close public supervision in all situations. Based on the principle of chronology it appeared that both Finnish and Estonian respective organisations´ brass bands used the gradually improving economic situation for purchasing musical instruments, obtaining repertoire and training musicians/conductors. Despite the fact that brass band music in the Defence League/Civil Guard was considered an amateur activity and a hobby, the more far-reaching objective of the organisation was to resemble the Defence Forces´ orchestras as closely as possible in all aspects. The Defence League/Civil Guard brass band music definitely had a significant influence on forming, developing and enriching music life in both republics. The reviewed nine-year period introduced the musical activities of the Defence League/Civil Guard against the background of the everyday life of the organisation and the need for brass band music and its continuity in the voluntary state defence institutions of both republics.

Ekotuotteet kuluttajan arjessa – vastuullisuutta, puhtautta ja arjen luksusta

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan kuluttajien näkemyksiä ekotuotteiden valintaan vaikuttavista tekijöistä. Analysoin ekotuotteiden hankintaa kolmen teeman kautta. Ne ovat vihreys ja vastuullisuus, puhtaus tuotevalinnoissa sekä niin sanottu arjen luksus. Tutkimukseni empiirinen osa koostuu 10 teemahaastattelusta. Tutkimuskohteena on ekokauppa Ruohonjuuressa ostoksiaan tekevät kuluttajat. Haastateltavia etsin ilmoituksella ekokauppa Ruohonjuuresta sekä kaupan Facebook-sivuilta. Lisäksi oma haastattelupäivä Ruohonjuuren myymälässä tuotti haastateltavia mukaan tutkimukseen. Kirjoitin haastatteluista yhteenvedon ja analysoin aineistoa teemoittelun avulla. Nykyiset ympäristöongelmat vaikuttavat siihen, millaisena koemme arjen tulevaisuudessa. Vihreä ja vastuulllinen kuluttaja ottaa huomioon kulutuspäätöksiensä vaikutukset ympäristöön. Vihreät kulutuspäätökset tarkoittavat kestäviä kulutustapoja kuten jätteiden lajittelua, kirpputorikierrättämistä ja ympäristöä säästävien ekotuotteiden valintaa. Aineiston perusteella voi todeta, että ekotuotteiden ympäristömyönteisyyteen liitetään läheisesti luomutuotanto ja luomutuotteet. Ekotuotteet nähdään myös eettisinä ja moraalisina valintoina, joiden avulla halutaan vaikuttaa myös muiden hyvinvointiin. Ekotuotteisiin kohdistuu siten monenlaisia odotuksia, mutta myös epäilyjä. Aineistoni perusteella tuotetta ei välttämättä koettu ekotuotteeksi, jos sen valmistamiseen on käytetty paljon resursseja. Kuluttajat ovat kiinnostuneita ruoan alkuperästä ja sen aitoudesta. Ekotuotteet koetaan muita tuotteita päinvastoin puhtaiksi vaihtoehdoiksi. Puhtaus ekotuotteissa mielletään laadultaan turvallisiksi ja terveellisiksi tuotteiksi, jotka maistuvat hyvältä. Haastatteluaineiston perusteella voi todeta, että ekotuotteet koettiin myös arjen ostosten erikoisuudeksi. Arjen luksus lisää käyttäjälleen mielihyvän elämyksiä. Ekotuotteita ostamalla rakennetaan myös omaa elämäntyyliä ja erottaudutaan muista. Aineiston perusteella ekokauppaan mennään kiertelemään, tekemään heräteostoksia ja etsimään uutuuksia. Shoppailu ekokaupassa voi olla nautinnollista ja miellyttävää toimintaa, vaikka ostamista vain harkitaan. Ekotuote lahjana kertoo lahjan antajasta ja tuo lahjan saajalle palan luksusta vaikkapa luomusuklaan muodossa.

Elämän ja entisyyden maisemat : Kolgujev nenetsien arjessa, muistelussa ja kerronnassa

The dissertation discusses the conceptions of place and landscape amongst Nenets living on the island of Kolguyev or being of Kolguyev descent. The conceptions are examined through the everyday life of the community, oral recollections and narration that unfold meanings related to the island. The research material has been collected in ethnographic fieldwork in 2000 2005. The duration of individual fieldworks varies from two weeks to three months and their total duration is nearly six months. The fieldwork has been conducted both on the island and in the city of Nar yan-Mar. The main methods have been participant observation and recorded and unrecorded informal interviews. In addition to the field work data, archive materials, travel accounts, and other historical texts by outsiders about Kolguyev or the Nenets living in the European side of Russia have been used as a research material. The analysis is based on the idea of the place as a meeting point of the physical features, experiences in them and collective narration about them. The concept sense of place is used to describe the interaction of these three. Lived space manifests individual s or collective sense of place. The places form different kinds of networks of meanings which are called landscapes. Hot spots are places where different meanings accumulate. Furthermore, the material is analysed using the concepts of Tale World and Story Realm by Katherine Young. The Tale World is a realm created during the Story Realm, i.e. the event of narrations. The Tale Worlds are true as such but become evaluated in the Story Realm. The Tale Worlds are seen to arise both from the physical features of a place and from oral tradition, but at the same time these worlds give meanings to the place. The Tale Worlds are one of the central ingredients for the sense of place. One of the most central hot spots in Kolguyev is the arok harbour, where most of the themes of the pre-Soviet Tale Worlds are placed: trade and interaction with the Russians, rituals of the popular religion and arrival of the first Nenets to the island. arok is also part of the landscape of the coast where the meetings of Nenets and the other(s) are generally connected. Furthermore, arok is connected to the network of amans graves but also more generally to the landscape of collective sacred and sacrificial places. Another hot spot is the population centre of Bugrino which unfolds through the evaluations of the Tale Worlds. It also is the centre of the everyday life of the community studied. The Tale Worlds of the radiant past fastens on the population centre which is described through the negative models within the genre of litany. Sacred places, that represent the possibility to meet the Otherworld or mark places were encounters with the Otherworld have taken place, generate many kinds of landscapes in the island. They fasten on the graves of the amans, sirtya tradition, and to collective sacred places with their associations. The networks are not closed systems but are given meanings and new associations continuously in narration and recollection. They form multi-level and significant landscapes which reflect the fastening of the Kolguyev Nenets in the tundra of the island. In the research material the holy places and the popular religiousness are emphasised which is one of the most significant research results. It can be seen to reflect collective resistance and the questioning of the atheistic propaganda of the Soviet years. The narration and the recollection often refer also to the discourse of the anti-religious propaganda or use its strategies. The centrality of the holy places is also based on the tenacity of the religious Tale Worlds and sense of place and to the collective significance of the religion in general.

Monumenttikuvista elämyskuviin : Helsinki matkaesitteiden kuvituksessa 1895 - 2005

The purpose of this study is to define how Helsinki has been presented in the pictures of tourist brochures and how their illustration has changed over time. Attention is also paid to the values and meanings that the pictures mediate, as well as their historical and societal connections. The pictures are approached as representations selectively interpreting and illustrating the reality of Helsinki, while constructing mental images of it. An iconological framework structures the study. It proceeds from the description and classification of the physical features towards an analysis of time- and culture-specific meanings. The emergence of meanings and their historical and cultural underpinnings are examined from the perspectives of humanistic geography, semiotics and constructionism. In the analysis attention is paid to the discourses, myths and ideologies that underlie the representations. Information on the physical features of the pictures and their changes is collected with a content analysis. The classified data consists of 1377 photographs. These pictures are collected from 75 tourist brochures of Helsinki that have been published between 1895 and 2005. The deeper meanings of the pictures are studied qualitatively, by paying attention to the mental images that the content elements and visual effects evoke. Research studies, contemporary literature and the texts of the tourist brochures are utilised in the interpretation of the meanings. There has been a permanent core to objects of the pictures during the entire study period. It has consisted mainly of sights that are located close to the Senate and Market Squares. In addition, marine elements have been popular. The area of Helsinki represented in the brochures has extended from the Senate Square towards Töölö Bay. Pictures of monumental buildings and statues have been complemented with snapshots and portraits. In the beginning of the 20th century, brochures were mainly produced for the travelling, educated elite. The style of the pictures was declaratory and educative. They aimed at medating an objective image of the reality that prevailed in Helsinki. In practice, the pictures were connected to a patriotic ideology and the corresponding myth of Finnishness. In the second half of the 20th century the improvement of the standard of living led to a democratisation of consumers and an increase in the tourism demand. Local culture and the everyday life of "ordinary" people became popular themes in the pictures. A new welfare ideology manifested itself in the people of the local residential areas, for instance. The increase in the cultural diversity has led to the recognition of new target groups, expecially since the 1980s. The human figures in the pictures have started to function as objects of identification and a means of constructing mental images. A pronounced emphasis on experience and individuality in the illustration of the tourist brochures mirrors the post-modern change and a new ideology based on consumption. The construction and consumption of the pictures in the tourist brochures is governed by the conventions of representation and interpretaion that are typical of the genre of tourist brochures. The pictures emphasize the perceived positive characteristics of Helsinki and thus construct a skewed view of the reality. However, consumers can knowingly use the pictures as a means of dreaming and detaching themselves from their everyday reality.

Asukkaan Helsinki? : Tapaustutkimus vuorovaikutteisuudesta kaupunkisuunnittelussa

This study examines the interaction between inhabitants and urban planning. In addition to traditional methods of participation there can be seen an increasing need to find new channels and means to influence on one´s environment. Hearing of inhabitants during planning is hoped to decrease the amount of claims and this way to speed up the planning process. Discussion that emphasizes competitiveness and innovativeness in planning has brought out the role of inhabitants as selective consumers and end users. This extension of civil perspective completes the thought of participation in city planning and adds the pressure on developing the interaction and user orientation. The aim of the study is to point out the present situation of inhabitant´s participation and influencing in Helsinki. Helsinki City Planning Department opened a new information and exhibiotion hall called Laituri in 2008. Laituri provides the latest information about planning projects in Helsinki and temporary exhibitions as well as it operates as communication channel and information point for the department. In this study Laituri is examined as a case study of interaction between citizen and planner. The study is divided into two principal themes. The aim is to research action and interactivity at Laituri from the inhabitants´and planners´point of view. The qualitative study has inquiries, interview surveys and observation as research methods. Empiricial data of the study consists of three parts which complement each other: Laituri operational reseach, inquiry directed to the members of Laituri team and interviews of three experts. The aim is to find answers to questions like, does Laituri reach the citizens and will the opportunities to participate improve along Laituri. The study examines also how the local knowledge of inhabitants will come across to planners and further to planning. The study combines discussions of inhabitants´ influencing in Finnish society and science community. Cornerstones of the study are inhabitant participation, interaction and local knowledge in urban planning. The theory behind the study is communicative planning theory. In addition the theory consists of key concepts. The study introduces a concept of Inhabitant´s Helsinki, which reflects the inhabitant as customer-citizen who is an active product developer in participative urban planning. According to the research results the experts of Laituri and majority of inhabitants in Helsinki experience that the inhabitant´s possibilities to participate will improve along Laituri. However half of the citizens in Helsinki believe that local knowledge and ideas will only have minor impact on the final plan. According to city dwellers the present practise used by Helsinki City Planning Department supports only partially adequate interaction. The experts of Laituri experience that the role of Laituri is first of all forum of communication and discussion channel instead of effective local data collector. Based on the results the study introduces a model of inhabitant´s participation field. According to the model Laituri can be seen as phenomenom in Helsinki urban planning which has the elements of network municipality. The planner is more like diplomatic trend-setter and visionary. The inhabitant of Helsinki is an expert in city living and participative producer of local knowledge. Participation methods are increasingly segmented and tailored in every plan and project. The study argues that Inhabitant´s Helsinki is a pluralistic milieu in constant pressure for change. Therefore reaching the everyday life experiencies of inhabintants should be at higher degree in Helsinki City Planning Department´s operations.