Ambivalent self-understanding? : change, language and boundaries in the Shetland Islands (1970–present)

Avhandlingen berör språkets roll på Shetlandsöarna från år 1970 till idag och shetländarnas självbild som shetländare och skottar. Öarna, som ligger i Storbritanniens nordligaste del, beskrivs ofta som kulturellt annorlunda och unika. Även om shetländarna uppfattar sig själva som annorlunda, har utomstående betraktare tidvis tonat ner, tidvis betonat öarnas kulturella särdrag. Shetlandsöarna utgör ett intressant undersökningsobjekt, eftersom shetländarnas uppfattningar om sig själva som en särskild grupp har genomgått en förändring under de fyra senaste årtiondena. Den ekonomiska högkonjunktur som var en konsekvens av oljefynden i Nordsjön och 1990-talets politiska förändringar på öarna och i Skottland har båda påverkat de sätt på vilka Shetland beskrivs och förstås. I den förändrade samhällssituationen tvingades shetländarna omvärdera sin relation till det skotska fastlandet. Man var också tvungen att hitta nya svar på frågan vilka shetländarna är och på vilka sätt man borde värna om den verkliga eller föreställda kulturella autonomin. Avhandlingens syfte var att undersöka och analysera de sätt på vilka de samhälleliga förändringarna har påverkat shetländarnas självförståelse, särskilt de uppfattningar som är kopplade till språket. Undersökningen visar att många av dagens uppfattningar om en kulturell särart kan spåras till slutet av 1800-talet och tiden efter andra världskriget. Som avhandlingen visar har språkhistorien spelat en viktig roll i den process i vilken shetländarna har särskilt sig som en separat grupp. Språkets betydelse kan förstås korrekt endast om man i stället för att betrakta shetländarna som en etnisk grupp betraktar Shetlandsöarna som en relativt sett autonom beslutför region. I detta fall fungerar dialekten som en symbol för regional samhörighet.

Health-related quality of life in school children: validation of instrument, child self assessment, parent-proxy assessment and school nursing documentation of health check-ups

The aims of this study were to validate an international Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) instrument, to describe child self and parent-proxy assessed HRQL at child age 10 to 12 and to compare child self assessments with parent-proxy assessments and school nursing documentation. The study is part of the Schools on the Move –research project. In phase one, a cross-cultural translation and validation process was performed to develop a Finnish version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 (PedsQL™ 4.0). The process included a two-way translation, cognitive interviews (children n=7, parents n=5) and a survey (children n=1097, parents n=999). In phase two, baseline and follow-up surveys (children n=986, parents n=710) were conducted to describe and compare the child self and parent-proxy assessed HRQL in school children between the ages 10 and 12. Phase three included two separate data, school nurse documented patient records (children n=270) and a survey (children n=986). The relation between child self assessed HRQL and school nursing documentation was evaluated. Validity and reliability of the Finnish version of PedsQL™ 4.0 was good (Child Self Report α=0.91, Parent-Proxy Report α=0.88). Children reported lower HRQL scores at the emotional (mean 76/80) than the physical (mean 85/89) health domains and significantly lower scores at the age of 10 than 12 (dMean=4, p=<0.001). Agreement between child self and parent-proxy assessment was fragile (r=0,4, p=<0.001) but increased as the child grew from age 10 to 12 years. At health check-ups, school nurses documented frequently children’s physical health, such as growth (97%) and posture (98/99%) but seldom emotional issues, such as mood (2/7%). The PedsQLTM 4.0 is a valid instrument to assess HRQL in Finnish school children although future research is recommended. Children’s emotional wellbeing needs future attention. HRQL scores increase during ages between childhood and adolescence. Concordance between child self and parent-proxy assessed HRQL is low. School nursing documentation, related to child health check-ups, is not in line with child self assessed HRQL and emotional issues need more attention.

Self-Assessement Report for International Accreditation - Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in Energy Technology

Self-Assessment Report was made for the accreditation of degree programmes in Energy Technology. The report includes the following items: the content,concept and implementation of of the degree programmes, the resources, the quality management and further development of the degree programmes.

Self-Assessment Report for International Accreditation – Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes in Industrial Management

Self-assessment report for accreditation of the Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in Industrial Management.

Self assessment report for international accreditation - Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in Mechanical Engineering

Itsearviointiraportissa kuvataan Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston konetekniikan kandidaatin ja diplomi-insinöörin tutkinto-ohjelmat opetussuunnitelman 2011-2012 mukaisesti. Itsearviointiraportti on tuotettu saksalaisen ASIIN-akkreditointiorganisaation raportointimallin mukaisesti.

Self-Assessment Report for International Accreditation - Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes in Environmental Technology

Ympäristötekniikan kandidaatin ja diplomi-insinöörin tutkinto-ohjelmien itsearviointiraportissa käsitellään tutkinto-ohjelmien osaamistavoitteita ja niiden saavuttamista. Raportissa käydään läpi myös käytössä olevat resurssit sekä tutkinto-ohjelmiin liittyviä tunnuslukuja. Itsearviointi on toteutettu kansainvälisen akkreditointijärjestön kriteerien mukaisesti (ASIIN ja EUR-ACE).

I volontari italiani nelle Waffen-SS. Il pensiero politico, la formazione culturale e le motivazioni al volontariato. Una storia orale

My doctoral dissertation examines the experiences of the Italian volunteers in the Waffen-SS troops using in-depth interviews with former volunteers as the main primary source. This phenomenon, even if significant in size (depending on the source, some 15 000-20 000 Italian men volunteered in the Waffen-SS), has been hitherto largely unknown to historical research. The available literature on the Italian volunteers, mainly written by military history enthusiast journalists and methodologically weak, concentrates mainly on the combat operations and military organization, and offers a rather stereotypical profile of the volunteers. My dissertation does not aim to reconstruct the military history of the different divisions of the Waffen-SS in which Italian volunteers operated but instead to examine the subjective, private and intimate experience of the volunteers in order to understand the motivations, attitudes, beliefs and cultural and family background, as well as their political ideas. The main objective of my doctoral dissertation is to discover the ideological precepts of the volunteers’ political credo. As the last phase of fascism and its ideology, often defined as the “Germanisation” or “Nazification” of fascism, is still the object of wide academic debate, a better understanding of the volunteers’ ideology also contributes to deepening overall knowledge of the nature of this last phase. The theoretical frame of my dissertation lies in oral history, in particular in the postmodernist approach to oral history, through which I reconstruct the volunteers’ ideology. In-depth interviews with former volunteers are the main primary source, but multiple data collection methods have been adopted. Phone interviews and correspondence with the volunteers have also been considered as primary sources. In addition to interviews and correspondence, family archives consisting of diaries, correspondence with the volunteers’ relatives and photographic material have also been collected and examined. An ethnographic observation of the volunteers’ domestic spaces has been conducted during the in-depth interviews, and photo self-elicitation techniques have been used in cases where the volunteers were willing to share their photographs. An exhaustive portrait of the ideological structure of the volunteers has been obtained, as well as of the cultural and social origins of the values that contributed to the rise and adoption of this ideology. Further, the volunteers’ motivations to enlist have been clearly reconstructed, together with their cultural, political, social and military backgrounds. The results of the research are particularly relevant both for comprehension of the Italian phenomenon of volunteering in the Waffen-SS and for the reconstruction of the ideological dynamics of the last phase of fascism. The volunteers’ political and ideological system, which can be defined as the Italian SS-fascist ideology, disagrees strongly with the vaguely described ideological profile offered by previous studies that describe volunteers as generically “super-fascist”. The research also offers the opportunity for a deeper understanding of the final fascist ideological trajectory, currently defined, not without a certain level of approximation, as the “Germanisation” or “Nazification” of fascist ideology.

Improving alumni administration by self-built information system : building IMMIT connected' to enhance alumni connection

Alumni are considered as precious resource of the institutions, thus improving alumni adminis-tration is critical. In information era, alumni administration is assisted by widespread information technology, such as social network sites. This paper aims to discover if a self-built information sys-tem would enhance alumni connection in the IMMIT context, and what kind of attributes would be helpful applying to the special context. The current online alumni services at other universities and at the IMMIT host university are analyzed, and then social media is introduced. After illustrating the social capital existing in IM-MIT, the type of the self-built information system is suggested, following an interpretation of the prototype. Two research models are utilized in this article: TAM and intentional social action model. The second model is adjusted with proposed parameters. Afterwards, a survey and an interview protocol are designed under the guidance of the models. The results are analyzed in several groups, and the proposed parameters are tested. A conclusion is drawn to indicate how to improve alumni‟s intention to use and how to achieve a better-accepted design.

Self-Assessment Report for International Accreditation - Chemical Engineering

Kemiantekniikan kandidaatin ja diplomi-insinöörin tutkinto-ohjelmien itsearviointiraportissa käsitellään tutkinto-ohjelmien osaamistavoitteita ja niiden saavuttamista. Raportissa käydään läpi myös käytössä olevat resurssit sekä tutkinto-ohjelmiin liittyviä tunnuslukuja. Itsearviointi on toteutettu kansainvälisen akkreditointijärjestön kriteerien mukaisesti (ASIIN ja EUR-ACE).

Poster presentation as a report of a self-designed laboratory experiment : a case study

Julkaisumaa: 203 CZ CZE Tšekki

Self-assessment report for international accreditation - Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in Information Technology

Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston Tietotekniikan kandidaatin ja maisterin tutkinto-ohjelmien itsearviointi toteutettiin v. 2012 kansainvälistä akkreditointia varten. Itsearviointiraportissa kuvataan tutkinto-ohjelmien tavoitteet, toteutus ja arviointimenettelyt sekä tulokset.