Psychosocial aspects of cleft lip and palate. Implications for parental education

Lectio praecursoria

Parental and Successor Liability in EU Competition Law Infringements

Under EU competition law, parent companies may be held jointly and severally liable for the competition law infringements committed by their subsidiaries. The possibility of holding parent companies liable demonstrates a significant exception from the idea of separate legal entities. However, it is not the only deviation developed under EU competition law. In cases, where the legal entity responsible for the anti-competitive conduct has changed its form, liability can be attributed to the new operator, in particular, to its successor. The principles of legal certainty and legitimate expectations are issues that surround the doctrines of parental and successor liability. The aim of this thesis is to present a comprehensive comparative analysis of the parental and successor liability doctrines and to clarify the conditions under which it is possible to attribute liability for the infringements of EU competition law. The main purpose is therefore to demonstrate the problems related to the allocation of liability and to discuss whether these liability principles, established to assure the effective enforcement of the EU competition rules, are good solutions. The research methods used in this thesis are the legal dogmatic approach and the comparative law approach. The former enables the possibility of using the case law and legislation as a framework in which the difficulties concerning the application of parental and successor liability can be discussed while the latter ensures the comparison of the characteristics and judgments. The doctrines of parental and successor liability are both well established, but the application practice has caused several difficulties. These problems derive from, inter alia, the broadness and disjointed developed of the doctrines. There has been much recent case law dealing with these issues and having the potential to open up a considerable risk and to allocate strict liability for parent and successor companies.

Parental influences and mothers’ experiences on infant and young child feeding practices

The objective of this thesis was to better understand how parental factors influence feeding practices, how mothers experience feeding and what factors mothers perceive influencing feeding in different contexts. This study is largely based on STEPS Study (Steps to Healthy Development of Children), which is a longitudinal cohort of 1797 families. In addition, qualitative data was collected among mothers in Finland and Solomon Islands. The results of this study show that different parental determinants associate with infant and young child feeding behavior and practices. Mothers with high cognitive restraint of eating introduced complementary foods earlier and neophobic mothers’ breastfed exclusively for a shorter time than mothers who ranked lower in these behaviors. Fathers’ poor diet quality associated with shorter total breastfeeding duration. Mothers’ postnatal depressive symptoms associated with shorter duration of exclusive breastfeeding, earlier introduction of complementary foods and lower compliance of feeding recommendations. The higher amount of marital distress associated with longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding and better compliance with feeding recommendations. Mothers, who participated in qualitative interviews, described how complex interplay of individual perceptions, significant others and socio-cultural environment influenced feeding practices and behavior. This study showed that several parental factors influence infant and young child feeding practices as well as compliance with the feeding recommendations. Maternal experiences and perceptions on child feeding relate to the context where mother-infant pair lives in. These results highlight the importance of targeting feeding support and, if needed, specific interventions to mothers and families who are in risk of poor feeding practices.