Holocene Varved Lake Sediments as Records of Palaeoenvironmental Change and Geomagnetic Palaeosecular Variation in Eastern Finland

This dissertation discusses Holocene palaeoenvironmental and palaeomagnetic secular variation (PSV) records reconstructed from sediments preserved in Lake Lehmilampi (63º37´N, 29º06´E) and Lake Kortejärvi (63º37´N, 28º56´E) in eastern Finland. Several piston and freeze cores were obtained from both lakes for varve and magnetic analyses. Sediment samples were impregnated in low-viscosity epoxy and physical parameters of varves, including varve thickness and relative grey-scale values, were recorded using x-ray densitometry combined with semiautomatic digital image analysis. On average, varve records of Lehmilampi and Kortejärvi cover 5122 and 3902 years, respectively. Past solar activity, as estimated by residual ₁₄C data, compares favourably with varve thicknesses from Lehmilampi during the last 2000 years. This indicates the potential of clastic-organic varves to record sensitively climatic variations. Bulk magnetic parameters, including magnetic susceptibility together with natural, anhysteretic and isothermal remanent magnetizations, were measured to describe mineral magnetic properties and geomagnetic palaeosecular variation recorded in the sediments. Main stages in the development of the investigated lakes are reflected in the variations in the mineral magnetic records, sediment lithology and composition. Similar variations in magnetic parameters and sediment organic matter suggest contribution of bacterial magnetite in the magnetic assemblages of Lehmilampi. Inclination and relative declination records yielded largely consistent results, attesting to the great potential of these sediments to preserve directional palaeosecular variation in high resolution. The PSV data from Lehmilampi and Kortejärvi were stacked into North Karelian PSV stack, which may be used for dating homogenous lake sediments in the same regional context. Reconstructed millennial variations in relative palaeointensity results are approximately in agreement with those seen in the absolute palaeointensity data from Europe. Centennial variations in the relative palaeointensity, however, are influenced by environmental changes. Caution is recommended when using varved lake sediments in reconstructing relative palaeointensity.

The molecular mechanisms and evolutionary significance of plumage colour variation in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca)

A common feature of natural populations is that individuals differ in morphology, physiologyand behavior (i.e .phenotype). A thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary forces behind this phenotypic variation is a prerequisite for understanding evolution.This thesis examines the molecular mechanism and the roles of the different evolutionary forces in plumage colour variation in pied flycatchers (Ficedulahypoleuca). Malepied flycatchers exhibit marked variation in both pigmentary and structural plumage colourand the trait has repeatedly been suggested to be of adaptive significance. An examination of plumage colour variation on reproductive output trevealed that structural colouration, and more specifically the degree of ultraviolet (UV) reflectance had an effect on number of young sired. Paternity analyses of breeding males revealed that males that had been cuckolded by their social mate tended to be less UV reflectant than males that had not been cuckolded.Neither pigment-based norstructural colouration was found to affect the probability of siring young in other nests. Phenotypic differentiation was found to be markedly greater than differentiation at neutralgenetic markers across the pied flycatcher breeding range. Furthermore patterns of differentiationin phenotypes and selectively neutral genes were not uniform. Outlier tests searching for genomic footprints of selection revealed elevated levels of genetic divergence in a gene associated with feather development (and thus potentially structural colouration) and ultraviolet vision. Th eobserved differentiation in allelic frequencies was particularly pronounced in the Spanish piedflycatcher populations. Examining gene expression during feather development indicated that the TYRP1 gene (known to be involved in the production of black pigment) may be relevant in generating phenotypic variation in pied flycatcher plumage. Also, energy homeostasis related genesfeatured prominently among the genes found to be expressed in one extreme phenotype but not the other. This is of particular interest in light of what is known about the pleiotropy ofthe melanocortin system which underlies brown-black pigment production. The melanocortinsystem is also associated with energy homeostasis (among a number of other physiological functions) and thus the results could be pointing to the signalling function of brown-blackplumage. Plumage colour variation in pied flycatchers, both structural and pigmentary, can thus beconcluded to be exhibiting signals of non-neutral evolution. Structural colouration was found to play a role in sexual selection and putative signals of selection were further detected in acandidate gene for this trait. Evidence for non-neutral evolution of pigmentary colouration was also detected. These findings, together with the fact that preliminary evidence for an energy balance associated signalling function for plumage was found, present good starting points for further investigations into the meaning and mechanisms of plumage colour variation in piedflycatchers.

Genuskongruens på reträtt : variation i nominalfrasen i Kvevlaxdialekten

I sin avhandling studerar Viveca Rabb grammatiskt genus i Kvevlaxdialekten i Österbotten. Det traditionella tregenussystemet med maskulinum (t.ex. hande biilin 'den där bilen'), femininum (t.ex. honde såjen 'den där sågen') och neutrum (hede epłe 'det där äpplet') befinner sig i förändring. Rabb fokuserar i sin avhandling på den bestämda slutartikeln och på fem pronomen, nämligen honde/hande 'den där', miin/menn 'min', eron/eran 'er' in tołonde/in tołinde 'en sån där' samt naon/nain 'någon'. Förändringarna i genussystemet diskuteras genom en analys av rapporterat språkbeteende i byarna Kvevlax, Koskö, Vassor och Västerhankmo i nuvarande Korsholm, och med hjälp av grammatisk teori och språksociologi. Informanterna hör till tre olika åldersgrupper: födda ca 1920, 1950 och 1980. Metoden är främst kvantitativ och inbegriper statistisk testning. Undersökningen visar att äldre, lägre utbildade och stationära informanter använde feminint genus mera än yngre, högre utbildade informanter som pendlar till sitt arbete. Informanternas hemby hade betydelse vid bevarandet av feminint (men inte maskulint) genus, medan deras kön inte hade någon påvisbar betydelse. Analysen visar även hur substantivböjningen har betydelse vid val av pronomenvariant (maskulin, feminin eller neutral), men att användningen av den bestämda slutartikeln som ledtråd till genus ändå tycks vara på tillbakagång, och då främst vid orden med den bestämda slutartikeln -en (t.ex. handen). Detta gynnar maskulint genus (hande) på bekostnad av feminint genus (honde). Konkreta substantiv bevarar vidare feminint genus bättre än abstrakta. Suffixet -ingg verkar kopplas samman med feminint genus, medan suffixen -heit och -els kopplas till maskulint genus. Det semantiska fältet träd har å sin sida betydelse främst i de byar (Vassor och Västerhankmo) där ledtrådar från substantivböjningen saknas. Resultaten ger sålunda en bild av ett samspel mellan överlappande ledtrådar i ett system där kongruensen på pronomenen minskar och användningen av feminint genus avtar.

Of pearls and pigs : a conceptual-semantic Tiernet approach to formal representation of structure and variation of phraseological units

"Helmiä sioille", pärlor för svin, säger man på finska om någonting bra och fint som tas emot av en mottagare som inte vill eller har ingen förmåga att förstå, uppskatta eller utnyttja hela den potential som finns hos det mottagna föremålet, är ointresserad av den eller gillar den inte. För sådana relativt stabila flerordiga uttryck, som är lagrade i språkbrukarnas minnen och som demonstrerar olika slags oregelbundna drag i sin struktur använder man inom lingvistiken bl.a. termerna "idiom" eller "fraseologiska enheter". Som en oregelbundenhet kan man t.ex. beskriva det faktum att betydelsen hos uttrycket inte är densamma som man skulle komma till ifall man betraktade det som en vanlig regelbunden fras. En annan oregelbundenhet, som idiomforskare har observerat, ligger i den begränsade förmågan att varieras i form och betydelse, som många idiom har jämfört med regelbundna fraser. Därför talas det ofta om "grundform" och "grundbetydelse" hos idiom och variationen avses som avvikelse från dessa. Men när man tittar på ett stort antal förekomstexempel av idiom i språkbruk, märker man att många av dem tillåter variation, t.o.m. i sådan utsträckning att gränserna mellan en variant och en "grundform" suddas ut, och istället för ett idiom råkar vi plötsligt på en "familj" av flera besläktade uttryck. Allt detta väcker frågan om hur dessa uttryck egentligen ska vara representerade i språket. I avhandlingen utförs en kritisk granskning av olika tidigare tillvägagångssätt att beskriva fraseologiska enheter i syfte att klargöra vilka svårigheter deras struktur och variation erbjuder för den lingvistiska teorin. Samtidigt presenteras ett alternativt sätt att beskriva dessa uttryck. En systematisk och formell modell som utvecklas i denna avhandling integrerar en beskrivning av idiom på många olika språkliga nivåer och skildrar deras variation i form av ett nätverk och som ett resultat av samspel mellan idiomets struktur och kontexter där det förekommer, samt av interaktion med andra fasta uttryck. Modellen bygger på en fördjupande, språkbrukbaserad analys av det finska idiomet "X HEITTÄÄ HELMIÄ SIOILLE" (X kastar pärlor för svin).

Orthogonal function method in modelling paper web quality variation

This work is devoted to the analysis of signal variation of the Cross-Direction and Machine-Direction measurements from paper web. The data that we possess comes from the real paper machine. Goal of the work is to reconstruct the basis weight structure of the paper and to predict its behaviour to the future. The resulting synthetic data is needed for simulation of paper web. The main idea that we used for describing the basis weight variation in the Cross-Direction is Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) algorithm, which is closely related to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. Signal forecasting in time is based on Time-Series analysis. Two principal mathematical procedures that we used in the work are Autoregressive-Moving Average (ARMA) modelling and Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) process.

Phenolics of the Inner Bark of Silver Birch: Characterization and Intraspecific Variation

This thesis describes work related to the in-depth characterization of the phenolic compounds of silver birch (Betula pendula) inner bark. Phenolic compounds are the most ubiquitous class of plant secondary compounds. The unifying feature of this structurally diverse group is an aromatic ring containing at least one hydroxyl group. Due to the structural diversity, phenolics have various roles in the plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, they can confer several health-promoting properties to humans. Furthermore, the structural diversity of this class of compounds causes challenges for their analysis. The study species in the present work, silver birch, is economically the most important hard wood species in northern Europe. Its inner bark contains a high level of phenolic compounds and it has shown one of the strongest antioxidant activities among 92 Finnish plant materials. The literature review surveys the diversity and organ specific distribution of phenolic compounds in silver birch as well as the proposed ecological functions of phenolic compounds in nature. In addition, the basis for the characterization of phenolics by mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD) are reviewed. The objective of the experimental work was to extract, purify, characterize, and quantify the inner bark phenolic compounds. Overall 36 compounds were characterized by MS and ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV). 24 compounds were isolated and their structures confirmed by NMR and CD spectroscopy. Five novel natural compounds were identified. Special emphasis was placed on the establishment of a method for the characterization of proanthocyanidins (PAs). Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) was utilized because of its high resolution power and predictable elution order of oligomeric and polymeric PAs according to an increasing degree of polymerization. The combination of HILIC and high-resolution MS detection allowed the identification of procyanidin (PC) polymers up to the degree of polymerization of 22. In addition, a series of oligomeric and polymeric PC monoxylosides were observed for the first time in nature. Season and genotype influenced the quantities of the main inner bark phenolics, yet qualitative differences were not observed. However, manual wounding of the inner bark induced the production of ellagitannins (ETs) in the wounded tissues, i.e. callus. Since ETs were not detected in the intact inner bark, this finding may reflect the capacity of silver birch to exploit ellagitannins in its defense.

Phase variation in Flavobacterium psychrophilum : influence on host-pathogen interactions

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