Les formes d’adresse dans un corpus de films français et leur traduction en finnois

The use of forms of address in French films and their Finnish translations The use of forms of address constitutes an integral part of speakers’ communicative competence. In fact, they are not only used to assign to whom the speech is addressed, but also to construct the relationship between speakers. However, the choice of a suitable form is not necessarily evident in modern, pluralistic society. By the notion form of address, I refer to pronouns of address (tu vs. vous) and different nouns of address like names, titles (Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle), kinship terms, occupational terms, terms of endearment and insults. The purpose of the present thesis is, first, to study the semantic and pragmatic values of forms of address in dialogues of modern French films, and, second, their translation in Finnish subtitles. It is evident that film language is not spontaneous, but only a representation of authentic speech, and that subtitles are a written version of the original spoken language. Consequently, this thesis studies spoken fictive dialogues and their written translations. The methods applied in the study are the Interactional and Pragmatic Approach as well as Translatology. The role of forms of address in an interpersonal relationship is studied with dimensions of distance and power (Brown and Gilman 1960, Kerbrat-Orecchioni 1992), whereas the pragmatic dimension permits studying in particular the use of forms of address in speech acts (Kerbrat-Orecchioni 2001). The translation strategies are studied with the help of Venuti’s (1995) notions of foreignizing and domesticating strategies. The results of the thesis suggest that the pronoun use in the studied films is usually reciprocal. However, the relations of power have not disappeared, but are expressed in a more discrete manner with nouns of address (for instance vous + Docteur vs. vous + Anita). The use of the pronoun of address vous seems still to be common, but increased intimacy is expressed by accompanying familiar nouns of address like first names. The nominal forms of address accompany different speech acts, but not in a systematic manner. In a dialogue they appear usually in the first speech act, and more rarely in the response, but not in both. In addition, they have an important role in the mechanics of conversation. The translators here face multiple demands, and their translations seem mostly to be a compromise between foreignizing and domesticating strategies.

Kulttuurierot ja kielimuuri valtanäkökulmasta suomalais-puolalaisessa työyhteisössä

The thesis deals with cultural differences and language barrier in a Finnish-Polish working environment. The object is to find out what kind of language and cultural practices prevail and what are their consequences. This qualitative research focuses on problem solving strategies used to manage language barrier and cultural differences and their effect on power relations within the working environment and in relation to e.g. parent company, business partners or customers. The research data was collected by half-structured individual interviews of 24 Finns and Poles in seven companies in Poland. The research indicates that language practices as well as Polish employees' language skills significantly affect information flows: those Poles, who have good language skills, are less dependent on their Finnish superior and thanks to their contacts with Finnish parent company they gain adequate information. Different time perceptions next to the perceived slowness of Finns are one of the most important factors causing cultural conflicts in the researched working environments. Most often mentioned by Finns were issues of trust. However, the problematic issues brought up most were often things that the respondents could not influence since they did not concern the closest working environment but others. It seems that the contrast that used to be strong between superiors and subordinates in Poland has - partly due to the Finns' informal management style - in these mixed working environments transformed into a contrast between own working environment and the outsiders.

School and choice : Anethnography of a primary school with bilingual classes

Based on a one-year ethnographic study of a primary school in Finland with specialised classes in Finnish and English (referred to as bilingual classes by research participants), this research traces patterns of how nationed, raced, classed and gendered differences are produced and gain meaning in school. I examine several aspects of these differences: the ways the teachers and parents make sense of school and of school choice; the repertoires of self put forward by teachers, parents and pupils of the bilingual classes; and the insitutional and classroom practices in Sunny Lane School (pseudonym). My purpose is to examine how the construction of differentness is related to the policy of school choice. I approach this questions from a knowledge problematic, and explore connections and disjunctions between the interpretations of teachers and those of parents, as well as between what teachers and parents expressed or said and the practices they engaged in. My data consists of fieldnotes generated through a one-year period of ethnographic study in Sunny Lane School, and of ethnographic interviews with teachers and parents primarily of the bilingual classes. This data focuses on the initial stages of the bilingual classes, which included the application and testing processes for these classes, and on Grades 1─3. In my analysis, I pursue poststructural feminist theorisations on questions of knowledge, power and subjectivity, which foreground an understanding of the constitutive force of discourse and the performative, partial, and relational nature of knowledge. I begin by situating my ethnographic field in relation to wider developments, namely, the emergence of school choice and the rhetoric of curricular reform and language education in Finland. I move on from there to ask how teachers discuss the introduction of these specialised classes, then trace pupils paths to these classes, their parents goals related to school choice, teachers constructions of the pupils and parents of bilingual classes, and how these shape the ways in which school and classroom practices unfold. School choice, I argue, functioned as a spatial practice, defining who belongs in school and demarcating the position of teachers, parents and pupils in school. Notions of classed and ethnicised differences entered the ways teachers and parents made sense of school choice. Teachers idealised school in terms of social cohesiveness and constructed social cohesion as a task for school to perform. The hopes parents iterated were connected to ensuring their children s futurity, to their perceptions of the advantages of fluency in English, but also to the differences they believed to exist between the social milieus of different schools. Ideals such as openmindedness and cosmopolitanism were also articulated by parents, and these ideals assumed different content for ethnic majority and minority parents. Teachers discussed the introduction of bilingual classes as being a means to ensure the school s future, and emphasised bilingual classes as fitting into the rubric of Finnish comprehensive schooling which, they maintained, is committed to equality. Parents were expected to accommodate their views and adopt the position of the responsible, supportive parent that was suggested to them by teachers. Teachers assumed a posture teachers of appreciating different cultures, while maintaining Finnishness as common ground in school. Discussion on pupils knowledge and experience of other countries took place often in bilingual classes, and various cultural theme events were organized on occasion. In school, pupils are taught to identify themselves in terms of cultural belonging. The rhetoric promoted by teachers was one of inclusiveness, which was also applied to describe the task of qualifying pupils for bilingual classes, qualifying which pupils can belong. Bilingual classes were idealised as taking a neutral, impartial posture toward difference by ethnic majority teachers and parents, and the relationship of school choice to classed advantage, for example, was something teachers, as well as parents, preferred not to discuss. Pupils were addressed by teachers during lessons in ways that assumed self responsibility and diligence, and they assumed the discursive category of being good, competent pupils made available to them. While this allowed them to position themselves favourably in school, their participation in a bilingual class was marked by the pressure to succeed well in school.

Pain in juvenile idiopathic arthritis : parents and children as agents of disease management

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a severe childhood disease usually characterized by long-term morbidity, unpredictable course, pain, and limitations in daily activities and social participation. The disease affects not only the child but also the whole family. The family is expected to adhere to an often very laborious regimen over a long period of time. However, the parental role is incoherently conceptualized in the research field. Pain in JIA is of somatic origin, but psychosocial factors, such as mood and self-efficacy, are critical in the perception of pain and in its impact on functioning. This study examined the factors correlating and possibly explaining pain in JIA, with a special emphasis on the mutual relations between parent- and patient-driven variables. In this patient series pain was not associated with the disease activity. The degree of pain was on average fairly low in children with JIA. When the children were clustered according to age, anxiety and depression, four distinguishable cluster groups significantly associated with pain emerged. One of the groups was described by concept vulnerability because of unfavorable variable associations. Parental depressive and anxiety symptoms accompanied by illness management had a predictive power in discriminating groups of children with varying distress levels. The parent’s and child’s perception of a child’s functional capability, distress, and somatic self-efficacy had independent explanatory power predicting the child’s pain. Of special interest in the current study was self-efficacy, which refers to the belief of an individual that he/she has the ability to engage in the behavior required for tackling the disease. In children with JIA, strong self-efficacy was related to lower levels of pain, depressive symptoms and trait anxiety. This suggests strengthening a child’s sense of self-efficacy, when helping the child to cope with his or her disease. Pain experienced by a child with JIA needs to be viewed in a multidimensional bio-psycho-social context that covers biological, environmental and cognitive behavioral mechanisms. The relations between the parent-child variables are complex and affect pain both directly and indirectly. Developing pain-treatment modalities that recognize the family as a system is also warranted.

Nuorisokodista maailmalle : Kokemuksia nuorisokodissa elämisestä ja aikuisiässä selviytymisestä

This thesis studies the experiences of women who have lived in a youth home as girls. There are two main themes: 1) experiences of living in a youth home, and 2) experiences of coping as an adult. Data on the first theme is purely subjective; it derives from personal, recalled experiences. Data on the second theme is partly based on experiences and partly on facts about the current life situation of the research participants. A third theme of the thesis is concerned with the question of how the research participants’ placement in a youth home influenced their later life. The thesis contributes valuable knowledge concerning the experiences of young people who have been raised in substitute care, a topic that is rare in the literature. The empirical data of the study consists of responses to an initial inquiry and subsequent interviews. The inquiry was sent to 116 former inhabitants of a youth home. 62 altogether returned the inquiry, and 34 participated in the interview. The purpose of the inquiry was to produce an overview of the life situations of the research participants and to invite them to participate in the interview. In addition, the inquiry sought to produce an overview of how the participants enjoyed living in a youth home and how they saw its significance in terms of their later lives. The interviews concentrated on the research participants’ experiences concerning the processes of getting into a youth home, living there, and coping independently in life afterwards. The most central result relating to the first main theme was that the experiences were both shared and non-shared. Living in a youth home was characterized by six general sentiments: “wonderful, real home”, “new world!”, “safe haven”, “place to live”, “penal institution”, and “nightmare”. These sentiments seemed to be related first and foremost to whether one’s own, individual needs and expectations had been met in the youth home. The strongest and most common needs, as experienced, were the needs for safety, belongingness and respect. On the basis of the experiences, meeting these needs can be considered as the most important task of a youth home. The results relating to the second main theme of the study were examined in two different ways. Comparisons with the general female population (education, situation in working life and financial circumstances) showed that research participants had coped less well. Differences were also found to exist in family structures: nuclear families and single mother families were more unusual among research participants, and stepfamilies more common, than in the general population. More of the participants’ children than of the general population’s lived with somebody other than their parent. However, the experience of coping well was common among research participants, although the beginning of independent living had been generally experienced as difficult: feelings of loneliness, insecurity and restlessness were dominant. Later, a sense of life control developed and strengthened through joining with others (family, work, friends), through accepting one’s own life history and through creating one’s own model of living. As the most significant explanation of their coping, the research participants identified their own (innate) strength and will to cope. The majority of the research participants felt that the youth home had a positive influence on their later lives. Positive influences can be grouped in three “levels”: I) getting out of the home, II) having good experiences and learning useful things, and III) the essential effect on one’s own way of thinking and living. The second level’s influence includes strengthened self-esteem, increased social understanding and new knowledge and skills. Some research participants did not think the youth home had any significance in terms of their later lives, and some thought it had negative significance.

Valta kotikasvatuksessa

The aim of this research was to explore how issues of power manifest themselves in bringing up children at home. The starting point for the study was a phenomenon centered, power focused, and theoretically orientated view which also included an empirical part as well. The most common aim of the research was to find out and theoretize of power which is suitable for bringing up children at home. Power was defined and researched on the basis of existing power theories, mostly those presented in anglo-american research on power. For closer investigation I chose the most common categorizations and theories of power, namely, the nature of power, the four dimensions of power, and forms of power. The empirical part of the research consisted of 22 thematic interviews with mothers, fathers and 14 – 16-year-old teenagers from 11 different families. The interviewees were found through snowball sampling. The questions for the interviews were based on power theories. The result of the research was that the most common categorizations and theories of power were useful but not satisfactory in the study of power in bringing up children at home. The nature of authority in bringing up children at home appears to have same characteristics as the categorization of authority put forward by Weber but in addition it included extra categories called moral authority and ontological-existential authority. Theoretically the most challenging problem concerns the conflict between modern and postmodern views of power. None of them alone is able to describe power in bringing up children at home. The best solution appeared to be to add an assumption about the inner relation to the modern power view and an assumption about the Popperian three worlds to the postmodern view of power. The relationship between the parent and the child is necessary the inner power relation where the relation itself modifies the parties’ identities. In that case positive and productive elements are also included in the power relationship. Parents use many forms of power in bringing up children at home. Manipulative and violent forms of power are not justifiable but other forms of power and their open exercise is sometimes necessary. The important criteria to use in order to determine the most suitable forms of power and the most appropriate ways of exercising that power is to see how they improve the development of the identity and internalization of values of the child. An ethically justified exercise of power in bringing up children at home is based on a dialogical, pedagogical relationship between the parent and the child, focuses on the relationship between the parent and the child, orientates itself further than present, aspires to promote the good of the child, and comes true in a caring atmosphere.

Nuorten kokema yksinäisyys ja sen yhteys tulevaisuusorientaatioon

The aim of this study was to examine 1) how much and how adolescents experience loneliness, 2) how they orientate to the future, 3) are loneliness experiences and future attitudes associated with self-esteem and 4) are loneliness experiences associated with future orientation. The data (n=172) was collected in September 2003 and it consisted of 9th grade students living in countryside and city. The research was quantitative questionnaire study and it was statistically analysed. So far the problem of loneliness has not been noticed enough. People experience loneliness when there is discrepancy between actual and desired levels of interpersonal contact. In adolescence loneliness is quite common because young people go through the crises of human relationships and identity. In adolescence the meaning of friends and fellows increases and the relationship with parents changes. Future orientation becomes meaningful in adolescence because young people have to make realistic choices concerning their future life. In this study almost every adolescent had someone to be with and talk to. However 19% of adolescents experienced loneliness. Lonely adolescents experienced lack of friendships and fellowships. Lonely adolescents also felt that they left outside of others and that they were alone. Boys experienced more often lack of friendships and fellowships than girls. Girls experienced that they left more often outside and that they were more often alone than boys. Adolescents living in city experienced a little more loneliness experiences than adolescents living in countryside. Lonely adolescents had also difficulties to make social relationships and they experienced loneliness also related with parents. Lonely adolescents had also weak self-esteem. Adolescents orientated to the future mainly positively. The most important future target was health and the least important target was the universal peace and problems solving of the world. Adolescents believed that they affect to their future mainly by themselves and they planed their future about 5-10 years ahead. For adolescents it was important to have education and work to the future. In the future it was also important to have a lifelong companion and own family. For most of the young people it was also important to keep up social relationships and realize him/herself. Adolescents thought high standard of living and money also quite important things in the future. Girls preferred different future targets more important than boys. For the boys only money and high standard of living were more important than for girls. 18% of adolescents had pessimistic attitude to the future. For pessimistic adolescents many future targets were less important than for the adolescents having affirmative or optimistic attitude for the future. Adolescents who had pessimistic attitude to the future had also weak self-esteem. For the lonely adolescents it was not so important 1) to keep up social relationships and realize themselves in the future. Lonely adolescents did not prefer 2) lifelong companion and own family as important as other young people. Also 3) others acceptance and appreciation were not so important for lonely adolescents. 4) Travelling was also more insignificant for lonely than for others. Lonely adolescents future attitudes were quite pessimistic. Parent related loneliness explained future targets insignificance and pessimistic attitude for the future the most. The experience of loneliness seems to be associated with future orientation in many cases. That s why it is important to pay attention to adolescents loneliness experiences. Loneliness is real and serious problem which threats health. Thus we need to examine further loneliness in adolescence and as a result of that it is possible to develop and use interventions to help lonely adolescents to orientate positively to their future.

Vammaisen lapsen äidin vanhemmuuden kokemus sekä lähiympäristön ja kasvatuskumppanuuden merkitys

The parenthood experience of a mother with a disabled child and the meaning of the social environment and parent-professional partnerships The importance of parental guidance when a family has a child with a disability or autism has been pointed out by several studies. The present research was based on the premise that by supporting the mother we can help the whole family to cope better and the professionals in day care or at school are able to support parents. The starting point was the subjective experience, which is also the central focus of the phenomenological method. The purpose of this study was firstly to describe the experience of the mother and the dialogue between mother and educational professionals. Secondly it was the task of this research to discover what kind of support and information the mother obtains from her social environment. At the background of this study there was the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner, the ecocultural approach by Gallimore and the interactive examination of family that take into consideration the whole environment and personal situation. The research data was collected by interviewing the mothers, the day care personnel and the teachers at school. In this research there were a total of 32 interviews and 24 informants: 10 mothers who have a child with a disability and/or autism, 8 professionals in day care and 6 teachers at school. This study was longitudinal because the same mothers were interviewed twice, first in 1998 and then after five years in 2003. It was thus possible to get information on whether their life situation had changed and the nature of those changes. The data of this study was analysed by the method of phenomenological psychology that was applied for this study. The findings indicated that all mothers had experienced many complicated emotional feelings such as: anger, mourning, fear and sadness as well as love and bonding. It can be said that several human feelings existed at the same time. Mothers experienced that the support of the social environment, for example, relatives, families in the same situation and persons taking care of the child had significant meaning for their coping. However the life situation among the mothers varied. Mostly mothers received valuable support for their parenthood and they have adopted a strong emotion for manage ring. Mothers with an autistic child were more stressed than mothers with a mentally retarded child. A few mothers had numerous problems with taking care of their child and they did not get enough help. Same mothers were very exhausted too and the situation was quite the same after five years, when their child was teenager. All mothers said that after starting school the support for the family had significally diminished. Mothers said that dialogue with teacher got on without problems, but there were meetings seldom, so it wasn´t possible to get enough support for their parenthood. Keywords: parenthood, motherhood, disability, early special education, family-centred.

Pellon pientareelta akateemisiin sfääreihin : Opettajuuden rakentuminen ja muuttuminen sotienjälkeisessä Suomessa opettajien omaelämäkertojen valossa

From the field to the academic sphere how teachers professional identities and roles have changed in post-war Finland This study explores teacher autobiographies. The span of the writings extends mainly from the Second World War to the new millennium. The autobiographers are mostly elementary and secondary school teachers in Finland, although there are a few who have worked in vocational schools, polytechnic institutes or one of the various adult education centres. The researcher is aware of the diversity among those educational institutions and their teachers, but wanted to concentrate on similarities rather than differences. The autobiographers have been explored with four different research questions in view. The first was to identify professional and personal elements and themes mentioned by teachers in writing about themselves. The second was to identify the factors that have affected those elements and themes. The third was to examine the kinds of literary forms teachers used in their autobiographies. The fourth was the most crucial and an endeavour to connect the previous questions: how teachers professional identities and roles have changed during the period studied. In the first five chapters the teachers voices come through clearly. Two of these chapters are organized in chronological order. The first is about childhood, youth and the time spent in school, the second deals with the years studying in university or teachers college and finally being recruited to the teachers. In these chapters the rural background of many teachers stands out, an issue that also emerged symbolically or de facto in the autobiographies. The chronological scheme changes to a thematic order, in which social matters (students, parents, colleagues) and teachers working circumstances are dealt with. Four selected autobiographies are examined closely. In these autobiographies five different types of teacher narratives can be identified. To begin with, teachers stressed their vocation, which is quite a normal work orientation for those working in the educational field. Others emphasised how they were looking for professional development; a few wrote about personal advancement as well. There are also narratives by teachers who simply drifted into the profession of teaching, while a few teachers felt unwelcome in their own schools. As for the changes that teachers have witnessed, there are also some themes that are widely shared. Most pointed out how the teacher has become more foster parent than educator, as real parents have withdrawn from their responsibilities of raising children. This theme was frequently broached, although attitude towards it and ways of handling the phenomenon differed substantially. Teachers also stressed how their profession has lost the aura and prestige it once had. At the same time teachers are being expected to collaborate more with their colleagues, which is not in line with the centuries-old tradition of working alone. Teachers seem to be in a state of flux, buffeted by elements of stability and change interacting simultaneously. Many teachers are demanding a re-examination of their working reality. Teachers long and intimate relationship with society and the state may be at a crossroads. Key words: teachers professional identity and role, autobiographical study, post-war Finland

Opettajan ja vanhemman vuorovaikutus ja keskustelun kehykset koululaisen kehityskeskusteluissa

The aim of the study is to describe the consultation discussions between the teacher, parents and the student. The structure and the interaction of the conversation is in the focus of the study. The study explicates the organization of the interaction and orientation of the participants in the conversation. The study approaches conversation as a dynamic activity and studies it from the point of view of the participants. Assessment is one of the themes involved in the teacher-parent-student consultation discussions. Assessment as a duty of the school brings an institutional aspect in the conversation, but the ways it is implemented and expressed varies in the conversational situations. Participants communication and interaction in the situation influences the ways the consultation discussions are carried out. The framework of the study is based on the ethno methodological approach where a social situation and its meaning is seen negotiated by the participants. The interest of the study is to find out how the participants implement mutual understanding and how it can be observed in their interaction. Quantitatively, the interaction of the participants is described in the framework of the interaction analysis and linked to the socio-emotional and rational aspects of the interaction. The empirical part of the study consists of data collected with questionnaires and videotaped conversations. The main research problems of the study are, how the teachers and parents described the consultation discussions and how the interaction of the teacher, the parent and the student is organized during the conversation. The background of the study is linked to the previous studies concerning co-operation between the teacher and the parent and home-school relationship. This part of the study aims to enlighten how the consultation discussions are part of the co-operation in the school context. The questionnaires link the consultation discussions to the every day co-operation between the teacher and the family. Expectations and results described by the parents and teachers are analysed. Videotaped data is both analysed quantitatively based on interaction analysis and approached with the ethno methodological interpretation. The interest of my study is, how people participate in the situation of consultation discussion, how they orientate in it and influence the conversation. The analyses of the consultation discussions are based on the both quantitative interaction analysis and ethno methodological frame analysis. With the theoretical approach of my study I want to describe and enlighten the organization of the interaction and ways of orientation of the participants in consultation discussions. Keywords: consultation discussion, interaction, evaluation, orientation in the conversation, home-school cooperation, quantitative interaction analysis, frame analysis

Noviisiopettajana peruskoulussa : Aloittelevien opettajien autenttisia kokemuksia ensimmäisestä opettajavuodesta

As a Novice Teacher at Comprehensive School: The authentic experiences of the beginning teachers during their first year of teaching The aim of this study is to explicate the novice year of teaching in the light of teachers´ authentic experiences. The subject of this investigation is the teachers´ subjective world of experience during their first academic year of teaching and the sharing of these experiences in collaborative consulting meetings. The themes discussed in the meetings were introduced into the collaborative group by the novice teachers themselves, and the progress of discussion was con-trolled by them. The research data was gathered in a consultative working group where the way a novice teacher starts to interpret, analyze and identify his/her own complex and dynamic teaching situations was observed. The research data gathered in this way illuminates novice teachers´ world of experience and mental picture as well as the unconscious sides of school life. In a theoretical frame of reference, the work of a teacher is identified, according to systemic scientific thought, as a dynamic triangle in which the basic elements are the personality of the teacher, the role of the teacher and the school as an organization. These basic elements form a whole within which the teacher works. The dynamics of this triangle in a teacher’s work are brought to light through the study of the phenomena of groups and group dynamics since a teacher works either as a member of a group (working community), as a leader of a group (teaching situations) or in a network (parent – teacher cooperation). Therefore, tension and force are always present in teaching work. The main research problem was to explain how a novice teacher experiences his/her first working year as a teacher. The participants (n=5) were teaching at five different comprehensive schools in the city of Helsinki. This was their first long-term post as a teacher. The research data consists of seven collaborative consulting meetings, as well as recordings and transcripts of the meetings. A classificatory framework was developed for data analysis which enabled a sys-tematic qualitative content analysis based on theory and material. In addition to the consulting meetings, the teachers were interviewed at the beginning and at the end of the process of collecting the research material. The interviews were used to interpret the meanings of the content analysis based on raw data. The findings show that there is a gap between teacher education and the reality of school life, which causes difficulties for a novice teacher during his/her first teaching year. The gap is rather a global educational problem than a national one, and therefore it is independent of cultural factors. Novice teachers desire a well-structured theory of teacher education and a clear programme where the themes and content delve deeper and deeper into the subject matter during the study years. According to the novice teachers, teacher education frequently consists of sporadic and unconnected study and class situations. An individual content weakness of teacher education is the lack of insufficient initiation into evaluation processes. The novice teachers suggest that a student must be provided good-quality and competent guidance during the study years and during his or her induction. There should be a well-organized, structured and systematic induction program for novice teachers. The induction program should be overseen by an organization so that the requirements of a qualified induction can be met. The findings show that the novice teachers find the first year of teaching at comprehensive school emotionally loaded. The teachers experienced teaching as difficult work and found the workload heavy. Nevertheless, they enjoyed their job because, as they said, there were more pleasant than unpleasant things in their school day. Their main feeling at school was the joy of success in teaching. The novice teachers felt satisfaction with their pupils. The teachers experienced the more serious feelings of anger and disgust when serious violence took place. The most difficult situations arose from teaching pupils who had mental health problems. The toughest thing in the teacher´s work was teaching groups that are too heterogeneous. The most awkward problems in group dynamics happened when new immigrants, who spoke only their own languages, were integrated into the groups in the middle of the school year. Teachers wanted to help children who needed special help with learning but restated at the same time that the groups being taught shouldn’t be too heterogeneous. The teachers wished for help from school assistants so that they could personally concentrate more on teaching. Not all the parents took care of their children according to the comprehensive school law. The teachers found it hard to build a confidential relationship between home and school. In this study, novice teachers found it hard to join the teaching staff at school. Some of the teachers on staff were very strong and impulsive, reacting loudly and emotionally. These teachers provoked disagreement, conflicts, power struggles and competition among the other teachers. Although the novice teachers of the study were all qualified teachers, three of them were not interested in a permanent teaching job. For these teachers teaching at a primary school was just a project, a short period in their working life. They will remain in the teaching profession as long as they are learning new things and enjoying their teaching job. This study is an independent part of the research project on Interplay – Connecting Academic Teacher Education and Work, undertaken by the Department of Applied Sciences of Education at the University of Helsinki. Key words: novice teacher, emotions, groups and group dynamics, authority, co-operation between home and school, teacher community, leadership at school, induction, consulting

Keltaista ja kimaltavaa : kodin ja koulun yhteistyöstä koulun ja kodin yhteyteen

Through this study I aim to portray connections between home and school through the patterns of thought and action shared in everyday life in a certain community. My observations are primarily based upon interviews, writings and artwork by people from home (N=32) and school (N=13) contexts. Through the stories told, I depict the characters and characteristic features of the home-school interaction by generations. According to the material, in the school days of the grandparents the focus was on discipline and order. For the parents, the focus had shifted towards knowledge, while for the pupils today, the focus lies on evaluation, through which the upbringing of the child is steered towards favourable outcomes. Teachers and those people at home hold partially different understandings of home-school interaction, both of its manifested forms and potentials. The forms of contact in use today are largely seen as one-sided. Yearning for openness and regularity is shared by both sides, yet understood differently. Common causes for failure are said to lie in plain human difficulties in communication and social interaction, but deeply rooted traditions regarding forms of contact also cast a shadow on the route to successful co-operation. This study started around the idea, that home-school interaction should be steered towards the ex-change of constructive ideas between both the home and school environments. Combining the dif-ferent views gives to something to build upon. To test this idea, I drafted a practice period, which was implemented in a small pre-school environment in the fall of 1997. My focus of interest in this project was on the handling of ordinary life information in the schools. So I combined individual views, patterns of knowledge and understanding of the world into the process of teaching. Works of art and writings by the informants worked as tools for information processing and as practical forms of building home-school interaction. Experiences from the pre-school environ-ment were later on echoed in constructing home-school interaction in five other schools. In both these projects, the teaching in the school was based on stories, thoughts and performances put to-gether by the parents, grandparents and children at home. During these processes, the material used in this study, consisting of artwork, writings and interviews (N=501), was collected. The data shows that information originating from the home environments was both a motivating and interesting addition to the teaching. There even was a sense of pride when assessing the seeds of knowledge from one’s own roots. In most cases and subjects, the homegrown information content was seamlessly connected to the functions of school and the curriculum. This project initiated thought processes between pupils and teachers, adults, children and parents, teachers and parents, and also between generations. It appeared that many of the subjects covered had not been raised before between the various participant groups. I have a special interest here in visual expression and its various contextual meanings. There art material portrays how content matter and characteristic features of the adult and parent contexts reflect in the works of the children. Another clearly noticeable factor in the art material is the impact of time-related traditions and functions on the means of visual expression. Comparing the visual material to the written material reveals variances of meaning and possibilities between these forms of expression. The visual material appears to be related especially to portraying objects, action and usage. Processing through that making of images was noted to bring back memories of concrete structures, details and also emotions. This process offered the child an intensive social connection with the adults. In some cases, with children and adults alike, this project brought forth an ongoing relation to visual expression. During this study I end up changing the concept to ‘home-school collaboration’. This widely used concept guides and outlines the interaction between schools and homes. In order to broaden the field of possibilities, I choose to use the concept ‘school-home interconnection’. This concept forms better grounds for forming varying impressions and practices when building interactive contexts. This concept places the responsibility of bridging the connection-gap in the schools. Through the experiences and innovations of thought gained from these projects, I form a model of pedagogy that embraces the idea of school-home interconnection and builds on the various impres-sions and expressions contained in it. In this model, school makes use of the experiences, thoughts and conceptions from the home environment. Various forms of expression are used to portray and process this information. This joint evaluation and observation evolves thought patterns both in school and at home. Keywords: percieving, visuality, visual culture, art and text, visual expression, art education, growth in interaction, home-school collaboration, school-home interconnection, school-home interaction model.

Effects of oral calcium sensitizers on experimental heart failure

Suun kautta annosteltava kalsiumherkistäjä parantaa sydämen vajaatoimintaan liittyvää pumppausvajetta kokeellisissa sydämen vajaatoimintamalleissa Huolimatta viime vuosikymmenien lääketieteellisestä kehityksestä krooninen sydämen vajaatoiminta on silti edelleen vakava, elämänlaatua voimakkaasti rajoittava sairaus. Kalsiumherkistäjät ovat uusi, sydämen pumppausvoimaa lisäävä lääkeryhmä. Levosimendaani, kotimaista alkuperää oleva kalsiumherkistäjä, on kliinisessä käytössä akuutin vajaatoiminnan hoitoon suonensisäisesti ja lyhytaikaisesti annosteltavana valmisteena. Levosimendaanilla on aktiivinen metaboliitti, OR-1896, jonka oletetaan olevan vuorokauden mittaisen levosimendaani-infuusion jälkeen havaittujen useita päiviä kestävien hyödyllisisten vaikutuksisten takana. Levosimendaanin kroonisen, suun kautta tapahtuvan annostelun vaikutuksista tieto on vähäisempää, mutta sillä näyttää olevan positiivisia vaikutuksia potilaiden raportoimana. FM Marjut Louhelainen on selvittänyt väitöskirjassaan suun kautta annosteltavan levosimendaanin ja sen pitkäkestoisen aktiivisen metaboliitin vaikutuksia kroonisen vajaatoiminnan hoidossa käyttämällä sekä hypertensiivisen sydäntaudin että 2 tyypin diabeteksen komplisoimaan sydäninfarktin kokeellisia malleja. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin lisäksi vajaatoimintaan johtavia molekyylitason tapahtumia sydänlihaksessa. Tutkimuksessa osoitettiin, että krooninen suun kautta annosteltu hoito sekä kalsiumherkistäjä levosimendaanilla että sen aktiivisella metaboliitilla estää hypertensiiviseen sydämen vajaatoiminnan aikaasaamaa sydämen uudelleenmuovaantumista ja siihen liittyvää kuolleisuutta. Nämä vaikutukset välittyivät vähentyneen sydänlihassoluhypertrofian, solukuolleisuuden ja neurohumaraalisen aktivaation kautta. Levosimendaanin ja OR-1896:n osoitettiin myös parantavan sydämen pumppausfunktiota tyyppi 2 diabeteksen komplisoimassa sydäninfarktissa. Ei-diabeettiseen tilanteeseen verrattuna diabetekseen liittyvä infarktin jälkeinen vajaatoiminnan kehitys oli yhteydessä lisääntyneeseen tulehdukseen, fibroosiin, solukuolemaan, neurohumoraaliseen aktivaatioon ja ennenaikaiseen kudoksen vanhenemiseen. Sekä levosimendaani, että OR-1869 vähensivät tulehduksen, fibroosin ja solukuoleman merkkejä ja vaimensi neurohumoraalista aktivaatiota. OR-1896 myös vähensi solujen vanhenemiseen liittyvien merkkiaineiden ilmentymistä. Väitöskirjassa todettiin, että suun kautta annosteltuna sekä levosimendaani, että sen aktiivinen metaboliitti OR-1896, omaavat terapeuttista potentiaalia sekä hypertensiivisen sydäntaudin hoitoon että sydäninfarktin jälkeisen vajaatoiminnan estoon. FM Marjut Louhelaisen farmakologian alaan kuuluva väitöskirja Effects of oral calcium sensitizers on experimental heart failure tarkastetaan Helsingin yliopiston Lääketieteellisessä tiedekunnassa perjantaina 29.01.2010 klo 12 (Biomedicum Helsinki, luentosali 2, Haartmaninkatu 8, Helsinki). Vastaväittäjänä toimii professori Raimo Tuominen, Helsingin yliopiston Farmasian tiedekunnasta ja kustoksena professori Eero Mervaala Helsingin yliopiston Lääketieteellisestä tiedekunnasta.

Organic contaminants - occurrence and biological effects in the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea was studied with respect to selected organic contaminants and their ecotoxicology. The research consisted of analyses of total hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, bile metabolites, hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). The contaminants were measured from various matrices, such as seawater, sediment and biota. The methods of analysis were evaluated and refined to comparability of the results. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons, originating from petroleum, are known to be among the most harmful substances to the marine environment. In Baltic subsurface water, seasonal dependence of the total hydrocarbon concentrations (THCs) was seen. Although concentrations of parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment surface varied between 64 and 5161 ug kg-1 (dw), concentrations above 860 ug kg-1 (dw) were found in all the studied sub-basins of the Baltic Sea. Concentrations commonly considered to substantially increase the risk of liver disease and reproductive impairment in fish, as well as potential effects on growth (above 1000 ug kg-1 dw), were found in all the studied sub-basins of the Baltic Sea except Kattegat. Thus, considerable pollution in sediments was indicated. In bivalves, the sums of 12 PAHs varied on a wet weight basis between 44 and 298 ug kg-1 (ww). The predominant PAHs were high molecular weight and the PAH profiles of M. balthica differed from those found in sediment from the same area. The PAHs were both pyrolytic and petrogenic in origin, and a contribution from diesel engines was found, which indicates pollution of the Baltic Sea, most likely caused by the steadily increasing shipping in the area. The HPLC methods developed for hepatic EROD activity and bile metabolite measurements proved to be fast and suitable for the study of biological effects. A mixed function oxygenase enzyme system in Baltic Sea perch collected from the Gulf of Finland was induced slightly: EROD activity in perch varied from 0.30 14 pmol min-1 mg-1 protein. This range can be considered to be comparable to background values. Recent PAH exposure was also indicated by enhanced levels (213 and 1149 ug kg-1) of the bile metabolite 1-hydroxypyrene. No correlation was indicated between hepatic EROD activity and concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene in bile. PCBs and OCPs were observed in Baltic Sea sediment, bivalves and herring. Sums of seven CBs in surface sediment (0 5 cm) ranged from 0.04 to 6.2 ug kg-1 (dw) and sums of three DDTs from 0.13 to 5.0 ug kg-1 (dw). The highest levels of contaminants were found in the most eastern area of the Gulf of Finland where the highest total carbon and nitrogen content was found and where the lowest percentage proportion of p,p -DDT was found. The highest concentrations of CBs and the lowest concentration of DDTs were found in M. balthica from the Gulf of Finland. The highest levels of DDTs were found in M. balthica from the Hanö Bight, which is the outer part of the Bornholm Basin close to the Swedish mainland. In bivalves, the sums of seven CBs were 72 108 ug kg-1 (lw) and the sums of three DDTs were 66 139 ug kg-1 (lw). Results from temporal trend monitoring showed, that during the period 1985 2002, the concentrations of seven CBs in two-year-old female Baltic herring were clearly decreased, from 9 16 to 2 6 ug kg-1 (ww) in the northern Baltic Sea. At the same time, concentrations of three DDTs declined from 8 15 to 1 5 ug kg-1 (ww). The total concentration of the fat-soluble CBs and DDTs in Baltic herring muscle was shown to be age-dependent; the average concentrations in ten-year-old Baltic herring were three to five-fold higher than in two-year-old herring. In Baltic herring and bivalves, as well as in surface sediments, CB 138 and CB153 were predominant among CBs, whereas among DDTs p,p'-DDD predominated in sediment and p,p'-DDE in bivalves and Baltic herring muscle. Baltic Sea sediments are potential sources of contaminants that may become available for bioaccumulation. Based on ecotoxicological assessment criteria, cause for concern regarding CBs in sediments was indicated for the Gulf of Finland and the northern Baltic Proper, and for the northern Baltic Sea regarding CBs in Baltic herring more than two years old. Statistical classification of selected organic contaminants indicated high-level contamination for p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDD, p,p'-DDE, total DDTs, HCB, CB118 and CB153 in muscle of Baltic herring in age groups two to ten years; in contrast, concentrations of a-HCH and g-HCH were found to be moderate. The concentrations of DDTs and CBs in bivalves is sufficient to cause biological effects, and demonstrates that long-term biological effects are still possible in the case of DDTs in the Hanö Bight.

Pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in the least killifish, Heterandria formosa

It has been only recently realized that sexual selection does not end at copulation but that post-copulatory processes are often important in determining the fitness of individuals. In this thesis, I experimentally studied both pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in the least killifish, Heterandria formosa. I found that this species suffers from severe inbreeding depression in male reproductive behaviour, offspring viability and offspring maturation times. Neither sex showed pre-copulatory inbreeding avoidance but when females mated with their brothers, less sperm were retrieved from their reproductive system compared to the situation when females mated with unrelated males. Whether the difference in sperm numbers is due to female or male effect could not be resolved. Based on theory, females should be more eager to avoid inbreeding than males in this species, because females invest more in their offspring than males do. Inbreeding seems to be an important part of this species biology and the severe inbreeding depression has most likely selected for the evolution of the post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance mechanism that I found. In addition, I studied the effects of polyandry on female reproductive success. When females mated with more than one male, they were more likely to get pregnant. However, I also found a cost of polyandry. The offspring of females mated to four males took longer to reach sexual maturity compared to the offspring of monandrous females. This cost may be explained by parent-offspring conflict over maternal resource allocation. In another experiment, in which within-brood relatedness was manipulated, offspring sizes decreased over time when within-brood relatedness was low. This result is partly in accordance with the kinship theory of genomic imprinting. When relatedness decreases, offspring are expected to be less co-operative and demand fewer resources from their mother, which leads to impaired development. In the last chapter of my thesis, I show that H. formosa males do not prefer large females as in other Poeciliidae species. I suggest that males view smaller females as more profitable mates because those are more likely virgin. In conclusion, I found both pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection to be important factors in determining reproductive success in H. formosa.