The role of presidential advisory systems in US foreign policy-making : the case of the National Security Council and Vietnam, 1953-1961

Doctoral dissertation, University of Joensuu

De usucapione

Arkit: 1 arkintunnukseton lehti, A4 B2.

De aequilibrio imperiorum

Invocatio: I.N.J.

Historia Regiae Academiae Aboensis

Invocatio: Q.B.V.

Maria

Soitinnus: lauluääni, piano.

Comparison Structure Analysis

This study presents an automatic, computer-aided analytical method called Comparison Structure Analysis (CSA), which can be applied to different dimensions of music. The aim of CSA is first and foremost practical: to produce dynamic and understandable representations of musical properties by evaluating the prevalence of a chosen musical data structure through a musical piece. Such a comparison structure may refer to a mathematical vector, a set, a matrix or another type of data structure and even a combination of data structures. CSA depends on an abstract systematic segmentation that allows for a statistical or mathematical survey of the data. To choose a comparison structure is to tune the apparatus to be sensitive to an exclusive set of musical properties. CSA settles somewhere between traditional music analysis and computer aided music information retrieval (MIR). Theoretically defined musical entities, such as pitch-class sets, set-classes and particular rhythm patterns are detected in compositions using pattern extraction and pattern comparison algorithms that are typical within the field of MIR. In principle, the idea of comparison structure analysis can be applied to any time-series type data and, in the music analytical context, to polyphonic as well as homophonic music. Tonal trends, set-class similarities, invertible counterpoints, voice-leading similarities, short-term modulations, rhythmic similarities and multiparametric changes in musical texture were studied. Since CSA allows for a highly accurate classification of compositions, its methods may be applicable to symbolic music information retrieval as well. The strength of CSA relies especially on the possibility to make comparisons between the observations concerning different musical parameters and to combine it with statistical and perhaps other music analytical methods. The results of CSA are dependent on the competence of the similarity measure. New similarity measures for tonal stability, rhythmic and set-class similarity measurements were proposed. The most advanced results were attained by employing the automated function generation – comparable with the so-called genetic programming – to search for an optimal model for set-class similarity measurements. However, the results of CSA seem to agree strongly, independent of the type of similarity function employed in the analysis.

Focusing on the quality of learning processes

S. 327-333

Jääkiekko-ottelutapahtuman palvelun laatu : case : TuTo Hockey

Tämä tutkielma tehtiin toimeksiantona TuTo Hockeylle. Tutkielmassa tutkitaan palvelun laatua suomalaisessa jääkiekko-ottelutapahtumassa. Sen kartoittamiseksi ja palvelun laadun ymmärtämiseksi asetettiin seuraavat kolme osaongelmaa: • Mistä suomalaisen jääkiekko-ottelutapahtuman palvelun laatu koostuu? • Mitkä palvelun laadun ulottuvuudet ovat tärkeimpiä asiakkaille eli katsojille? • Miten palvelun laatu ja sen ulottuvuudet vaikuttavat kokonaistyytyväisyyteen? Tutkielmassa käydään läpi palvelun laadun mittaamisen eri menetelmiä. Palvelun laatua on tutkittu paljon, mutta urheilukontekstissa kovin vähän ja etenkin katsojaurheiluun liittyviä tutkimuksia on vain muutama. Tutkielman empiirinen osio toteutettiin kvantitatiivisena kyselytutkimuksena TuTo Hockeyn kahdessa kotiottelussa, jotka olivat 12.3.2008 TuTo – SaPKo ja 18.3.2008 TuTo – KooKoo ja internetissä Webrolpol-ohjeman avulla. Tutkimukseen hyväksyttyjä vastauksia tuli kaiken kaikkiaan 327 kappaletta. Näistä Webropolin kautta tuli 182 kappaletta ja loput 145 kpl kerättiin otteluissa TuTo Hockeyn kotiotteluissa. Suomalaisen jääkiekko-ottelutapahtuman palvelun laatu koostuu useista eri asioista. Tutkimusta hankaloitti aiemman tutkimustiedon puute. Koska muut aiemmat tutkimukset oli tehty eri lajeissa ja eri maissa, suora vertaaminen ja aiempien kyselyiden toistaminen ei lajien ja kulttuurien erojen vuoksi ollut mahdollista. Tutkimuksen tuloksista käy ilmi, että TuTo Hockeyn palvelun laatu on korkealla tasolla. Tärkeimpinä palvelun laadun ulottuvuuksina katsojat pitivät Halli- ja Saavutettavuus-ulottuvuuksia. Kokonaistyytyväisyyden kanssa jokainen palvelun laadun ulottuvuus korreloi positiivisesti. Regressioanalyysillä saatiin lisäksi selvitettyä, että suurimmat vaikutukset kokonaistyytyväisyyteen oli Lisäpalvelut ja ohjelma-, Tiedotus- ja Halli-ulottuvuuksilla.

Vastavalmistuneiden opettajien työllistyminen ja akateemisten taitojen tarve

Tässä artikkelissa kuvatussa tutkimuksessa selvitettiin sitä, onko aineen- ja luokanopettajiksi valmistuneiden itsensä mielestä pro gradu -työn aiheella, arvosanalla tai tutkimusmenetelmien hallinnalla ollut merkitystä heidän työllistymiseensä.

Individual dietary counselling during and after pregnancy: Impact on diet and body weight

In Finland, maternity and child health clinics play a key role in promoting health in young families. Currently, obesity causes the greatest challenges to clinics. In obese pregnant women, an increased risk for metabolic diseases exist which can affect both the mother and child. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the role of dietary counselling: in Finnish health clinics; in the regulation of dietary intake; and in affecting the body weight of women. The main aim was to test the effect of dietary counselling and probiotic intervention on dietary intake and maternal body weight during and after pregnancy. In addition to dietary counselling, the effect of other factors, such as eating behaviour on dietary intake and body weight control after pregnancy was assessed. Another aim was also to evaluate dietary counselling practices by nurses (n = 327) in Finnish health clinics assessed by a questionnaire. At the beginning of the pregnancy, women (n = 256) enrolled in a dietary intervention study, were randomised into three groups. One group received dietary counselling with probiotics, one had counselling with placebo and the third group was the control group. The control group consisted of women whom did not receive counselling and took placebo. Probiotics and placebo supplements were used until the end of exclusive breastfeeding or six months after pregnancy. Women were followed from early pregnancy up to four years after pregnancy. Follow-up visits took place three times during pregnancy, at one and six months, and one, two and four years after pregnancy. Dietary counselling, provided by a nutritionist, aimed to influence the quality of dietary fat intake. Dietary counselling is important to provide in clinics, as determined by the nurses, and these nurses expressed a want to improve their own nutritional knowledge through education. The nurses had varying knowledge of current dietary recommendations. Dietary counselling for women during and after pregnancy resulted in beneficial changes in dietary intake up to one year after pregnancy and body weight and waist circumference up to four years after pregnancy. Probiotics had a beneficial effect together with dietary counselling on waist circumference until one year after pregnancy, but not throughout the long term, four years after pregnancy. Other factors, such as eating behaviour, associated with dietary intake and body weight control after pregnancy. Specifically, dietary recommendations are reached amongst women whom had high cognitive restraint in their eating behaviour and did not demonstrate uncontrolled eating. Overweight women more frequently emotionally ate compared to normal weight women and women with central adiposity related more frequently to having an uncontrolled eating behaviour than women with normal waist circumference. In addition, being overweight prior to pregnancy and excessive weight gain during pregnancy associated with increased body weight retention after pregnancy. This study showed that individual dietary counselling is useful in influencing dietary intake which adheres to dietary recommendations and this counselling influences, favourably, body weight after pregnancy. Especially, women with the risk for weight retention, such as women who have emotional and uncontrolled eating behaviours, who were overweight prior to pregnancy or those who had excessive weight gain during pregnancy, may benefit from individual dietary counselling. This study underscores the need to develop dietary counselling practices for pregnant women and their follow-up after pregnancy in Finnish health clinics. These practices include increasing the efficacy of the counselling such as collaboration with families, having knowledgable health professionals and having sufficient resources.