Rural Food System Change in Tanzania during the Post-Ujamaa Era. A Case Study from Western Bagamoyo District

Food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa have been rapidly transforming during the recent decades with diverse outcomes on human development and environment. This study explores the food system change in rural villages in eastern Tanzania where subsistence agriculture has traditionally been the main source of livelihood. The focus is on the salient changes in the spatial dimensions and structural composition of the food system in the context of economic liberalization that has taken place after the end of the socialist ujamaa era in the mid-1980s. In addition, the linkages of the changes are examined in relation to food security, socio-economic situation, livelihoods, and local environment. The approach of the study is geographical, but also involves various multi-disciplinary elements, particularly from development studies. The research methods included thematic and questionnaire interviews, participatory tools, and the analysis of land use/ cover data and official documents. Several earlier studies that were made in the area during the late 1970s and 1980s provided an important reference base. The study shows that subsistence farming has lost its dominant role in food provisioning due to the declining productivity of land, livestock losses, and the increasing shift of labour to non-farm sectors. Also rapid population growth has added to the pressure on land and other natural resources. Despite the increasing need for money for buying marketed foods and other necessities, the nutritional situation shows improvement and severe malnutrition has diminished. However, the long-term sustainability of this transformation raises concerns. Firstly, the food security situation continues to be fragile and prone to shocks such as adverse climatic conditions, crop failures and price hikes. Secondly, the commodification of the food system and livelihoods in general is linked to rapid environmental degradation in the area, particularly the loss of soil fertility and deforestation. The situation calls for efforts that take more determined and holistic approaches towards sustainable development of the rural food system with particular focus on the role and viability of small-scale farming.

Creating possibilities for collective creativity : Brokerage Functions in Practice-Based Innovation

In the network era, creative achievements like innovations are more and more often created in interaction among different actors. The complexity of today‘s problems transcends the individual human mind, requiring not only individual but also collective creativity. In collective creativity, it is impossible to trace the source of new ideas to an individual. Instead, creative activity emerges from the collaboration and contribution of many individuals, thereby blurring the contribution of specific individuals in creating ideas. Collective creativity is often associated with diversity of knowledge, skills, experiences and perspectives. Collaboration between diverse actors thus triggers creativity and gives possibilities for collective creativity. This dissertation investigates collective creativity in the context of practice-based innovation. Practice-based innovation processes are triggered by problem setting in a practical context and conducted in non-linear processes utilising scientific and practical knowledge production and creation in cross-disciplinary innovation networks. In these networks diversity or distances between innovation actors are essential. Innovation potential may be found in exploiting different kinds of distances. This dissertation presents different kinds of distances, such as cognitive, functional and organisational which could be considered as sources of creativity and thus innovation. However, formation and functioning of these kinds of innovation networks can be problematic. Distances between innovating actors may be so great that a special interpretation function is needed – that is, brokerage. This dissertation defines factors that enhance collective creativity in practice-based innovation and especially in the fuzzy front end phase of innovation processes. The first objective of this dissertation is to study individual and collective creativity at the employee level and identify those factors that support individual and collective creativity in the organisation. The second objective is to study how organisations use external knowledge to support collective creativity in their innovation processes in open multi-actor innovation. The third objective is to define how brokerage functions create possibilities for collective creativity especially in the context of practice-based innovation. The research objectives have been studied through five substudies using a case-study strategy. Each substudy highlights various aspects of creativity and collective creativity. The empirical data consist of materials from innovation projects arranged in the Lahti region, Finland, or materials from the development of innovation methods in the Lahti region. The Lahti region has been chosen as the research context because the innovation policy of the region emphasises especially the promotion of practice-based innovations. The results of this dissertation indicate that all possibilities of collective creativity are not utilised in internal operations of organisations. The dissertation introduces several factors that could support collective creativity in organisations. However, creativity as a social construct is understood and experienced differently in different organisations, and these differences should be taken into account when supporting creativity in organisations. The increasing complexity of most potential innovations requires collaborative creative efforts that often exceed the boundaries of the organisation and call for the involvement of external expertise. In practice-based innovation different distances are considered as sources of creativity. This dissertation gives practical implications on how it is possible to exploit different kinds of distances knowingly. It underlines especially the importance of brokerage functions in open, practice-based innovation in order to create possibilities for collective creativity. As a contribution of this dissertation, a model of brokerage functions in practice-based innovation is formulated. According to the model, the results and success of brokerage functions are based on the context of brokerage as well as the roles, tasks, skills and capabilities of brokers. The brokerage functions in practice-based innovation are also possible to divide into social and cognitive brokerage.

Tilintarkastajan kurinpidollinen vastuu

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli tutkia, millaista on tilintarkastajan kurinpidollinen vastuu ja kuinka tällainen vastuu voi realisoitua käytännössä. Alkuosa käsittelee tilintarkastusjärjestelmää teoreettiselta kannalta, vastaavasti jälkimmäisessä osassa on tutkittu tilintarkastajille langetettuja sanktioita ja niiden määriä. Näiden perusteella on pyritty tekemään johtopäätöksiä rangaistuskäytännöistä ja niiden mahdollisista muutoksista. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että tilintarkastusjärjestelmä on juuri nyt voimakkaan muutoksen alaisena. Vuoden 2007 lakiuudistuksen jälkeen kansainvälistyminen ja EU:n tasoiset säännökset tullevat muokkaamaan tilintarkastusjärjestelmää entisestään. Kaiken kaikkiaan säännökset ovat tilintarkastajilla kuitenkin melko hyvin hallinnassa, sillä keskimäärin 5-10 tapauksessa vuosittain tutkitaan tilintarkastajan toimintaa, mutta vain muutama johtaa kurinpidollisiin toimenpiteisiin.

Extremfall, stjärnelever och verktygsskramlare : en diskursanalytisk studie av lärares tal om studerande som behöver särskilt stöd

The groups within Finnish vocational upper secondary education and training (VET) are often heterogeneous with respect to the student's need for support in their studies. According to the national core curricula, Special Education Needs (SEN) students should in the first place, get their education in the same group as everyone else. This dissertation aims to clarify and create an understanding about how the ideals and intention of equality in education is constructed in communication among teachers in VET in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. Through this understanding it should be possible to highlight a potential which could ultimately contribute to a positive development of a more inclusive education within VET. The epistemological platform of the study is to be found within the post structuralist philosophy of language that is considered as subsumed in a social constructionist thinking. The data has been collected through focus group discussions in groups of 3–6 participants (teachers) in seven schools in Finnish-Swedish VET. The analyses are based on a discursive psychological analysis combined with an analysis based on Michel Foucault's concepts with an emphasis on the subject, government and power. Four discourser where identified in the analysis of teachers' constructions of the educational assignment in relation to SEN students. The most dominant was discussing the educational assignment as a pragmatic project i.e. as a matter of transmission of knowledge. The discourse included both interpretative repertoires where the heterogeneous group was constructed as self-evident and possible to manage as well as a constructed as an impossible project. The educational assignment was also constructed as a holistic project, as part of a democratic project, and as a labor market project. Each discourse contains both including as well as excluding features in relation to SEN students. The development of an inclusive practice can and should therefore include elements from all of them. Three discourses were identified in the analysis concerning teachers' versions of SEN students: students with difficulties and problems; students who do not use or do not have ability and students who are irresponsible and lack the will to study. Within the various discourses and interpretative repertoires were both constructs when teachers described a concern and kindness in relation to the individual SEN student and constructions where teachers mainly expressed fears that other students in the group would be negatively affected by students in need of special support. Results from the third research question conclude the results from the two others, the analysis is done out of a government perspective. In the material use of different government techniques are identified: disciplinary power through direct reprimands; pastoral power by a desire of insight in order to promote the opportunities for consultation and the use of bio-power that primarily focuses on what is best for the population and whose tool racism results in a legitimation of the exclusion of SEN students. The conclusion is that teachers in VET need to pay attention to inclusive and exclusive elements identified in various discourses.

Osaamisen johtaminen ja kehittäminen asiantuntijaorganisaatiossa - case Itä-Suomen yliopiston opinto- ja opetuspalvelut

Tutkielman tavoitteena on luoda kokonaisvaltainen kuvaus osaamisen johtamisesta ja kehittämisestä tutkielman kohdeorganisaatiossa. Lisäksi halutaan selvittää, millaista osaamista kohdeorganisaatiosta löytyy ja mikä motivoi asiantuntijoita oman osaamisen kehittämiseen. Teoreettinen tarkastelu pohjautuu kolmeen keskeiseen käsitteeseen: osaamiseen, osaamisen johtamiseen ja osaamisen kehittämiseen. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa pyritään myös selkeyttämään näiden käsitteiden määritelmien kirjavaa kenttää. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena tapaustutkimuksena. Empiirinen aineisto kerättiin sähköisten kyselylomakkeiden avulla. Tutkielman kohdeorganisaatio on kokenut muutama vuosi sitten suuren organisaatiorakenteen muutoksen, mikä on tuonut omat haasteensa osaamisen johtamiseen ja toisaalta korostanut sen tärkeyttä. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että kohdeorganisaatiossa on vahvaa monialaista osaamista ja oman osaamisen kehittämiseen motivoituneita työntekijöitä. Kuitenkin useimmilla osaamisen kehittäminen jää päivittäisten työtehtävien varjoon, joten kouluttautumiselle ja työssä oppimiselle toivottiin lisää mahdollisuuksia.

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance This thesis deals with enabling change in universities, more explicitly enhancing education for sustainable development with tools for quality assurance. Change management is a discipline within management that was developed in the 1980s because business changed from being predictable to unpredictable. The PEST mnemonic is a method to categorize factors enabling change; such as political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors, which all affect higher education. A classification of a change, in either hard or soft, can help understanding the type of change that an organization is facing. Hard changes are more applied to problems that have clear objectives and indicators, with a known cause of the problem. Soft changes are applied to larger problems that affect the entire organization or beyond it. The basic definition for sustainable development is: the future generations should have similar opportunities as the previous. The UN has set as a global goal an integration of education for sustainable development (ESD) at all levels of education during 2005- 2014. The goal is set also in universities, the graduates of which are future leaders for all labor markets. The objective for ESD in higher education is that graduates obtain the competence to take economic, social and environmental costs and benefits into account when making decisions. Knowledge outcomes should aim for systematic and holistic thinking, which requires cross disciplinary education. So far, the development of ESD has not achieved its goals. The UN has identified a need for more transdisclipnary research in ESD. A joint global requirement for universities is quality assurance, the aim of which is to secure and improve teaching and learning. Quality, environmental and integrated management systems are used by some universities for filling the quality assurance requirements. The goal of this thesis is to open up new ways for enhancing ESD in universities, beyond the forerunners; by exploring how management systems could be used as tools for promoting ESD. The thesis is based on five studies. In the first study, I focus on if and how tools for quality assurance could be benefitted for promoting ESD. It is written from a new perspective, the memetic, for reaching a diversity of faculty. A meme is an idea that diffuses from brain to brain. It can be applied for cultural evolution. It is a theory that is based on the evolutionary theory by Darwin, applied for social sciences. In the second Paper, I present the results from the development of the pilot process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The development of the model is based on a study that includes earlier studies, a survey in academia and an analysis of the practice in 11 universities in the Nordic countries. In the third study, I explore if the change depends on national culture or if it is global. It is a comparative study on both policy and implementation level, between the Nordic countries and China. The fourth study is a single case study based on change management. In this study, I identify what to consider in order to enable the change: enhancing ESD with tools for quality assurance in universities. In the fifth Paper, I present the results of the process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The model was compared with identified drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems. Finally, the process model was piloted and applied for identifying sustainability aspects in curricula. Action research was chosen as methodology because there are not already implemented approaches using quality management for promoting ESD, why the only way to study this is to make it happen. Another reason for choosing action research is since it is essential to involve students and faculty for enhancing ESD. Action based research consists of the following phases: a) diagnosing, b) planning action, c) taking action and d) evaluating action. This research was made possible by a project called Education for Sustainable Development in Academia in the Nordic countries, ESDAN, in which activities were divided into these four phases. Each phase ended with an open seminar, where the results of the study were presented. The objective for the research project was to develop a process for including knowledge in sustainable development in curricula, which could be used in the quality assurance work. Eleven universities from the Nordic countries cooperated in the project. The aim was, by applying the process, to identify and publish examples of relevant sustainability aspects in different degree programs in universities in the Nordic countries. The project was partly financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and partly by the participating pilot universities. Based on the results of my studies, I consider that quality, environmental and integrated management systems can be used for promoting ESD in universities. Relevant sustainability aspects have been identified in different fields of studies by applying the final process model. The final process model was compared with drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems in universities and with succeeding with management systems in industry. It corresponds with these, meaning that drivers are taken into account and barriers tackled. Both ESD and management systems in universities could be considered successful memes, which can reflect an effective way of communication among individuals. I have identified that management systems could be used as tools for hard changes and to support the soft change of enhancing ESD in universities with management system. Based on the change management study I have summarized recommendations on what to consider in order to enable the studied change. The main practical implications of the results are that the process model could be applied for assessment, benchmarking and communication of ESD, connected to quality assurance, when applied. This is possible because the information can be assembled in one picture, which facilitates comparison. The memetic approach can be applied for structuring. It is viable to make comparative studies between cultures, for getting insight in special characteristics of the own culture. Action based research is suitable for involving faculty. Change management can be applied for planning a change, which both enhancing ESD and developing management systems are identified to be.

OpenAIRE Guidelines for Literature Repositories, Data Archives and CRIS managers

Poster at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

AgEcon Search: Evolution of a Subject Repository

Poster at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

The Human Communication Science Virtual Lab (HCS vLab): A repository microclimate in a rapidly evolving research-ecosystem

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Europe PubMed Central

Workshop presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Tulevaisuuden työkonepuomin globaali optimointi -esiselvitys

Monitavoiteoptimointia käytetään laajasti auto- ja lentokoneteollisuudessa suunnittelun apu-välineenä, mutta muuten sen käyttö ei ole vielä yleistynyt laajemmin. Tässä työssä on tarkoi-tus tehdä laaja esiselvitys monitavoiteoptimoinnista ja sen hyödyntämisestä työkonepuomien suunnittelun apuvälineenä. Työ tehtiin yhteistyössä Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston ja projektiin osallistuvien FIMA ry:n jäsenten kanssa. Tulosten ja johtopäätösten perusteella tutkimusta tullaan mahdollisesti jatkamaan Tampereen teknillisen yliopiston tohtorikoulussa. Työssä selvitettiin mitä monitavoiteoptimoinnilla tarkoitetaan ja esitellään sen etenemisvai-heet. Lisäksi työssä esitellään lyhyesti kuusi monitavoiteoptimointiohjelmistoa pääominai-suuksineen sekä selvitetään ohjelmistolisenssien hintoja. Työssä optimointiin perehdyttiin teleskooppipuomin jatkoksen case -tutkimuksen avulla. Ni-velpuomit ja nivel- ja teleskooppipuomien yhdistelmät rajattiin työn ulkopuolelle. Työssä muodostettiin teleskooppipuomin jatkoksen poikkileikkauksen optimointityökalu. Sen avulla voidaan laskea luotettavasti optimit mitat painon suhteen niin, että lommahdusrajoitteet, tai-vutusvastus sekä taipuma otetaan huomioon ja samalla voitiin arvioida optimointiprosessin etuja ja haittoja. Optimoinnin tuloksia voidaan käyttää edelleen monitavoiteoptimoinnin lähtö-arvoina. Optimointi tehtiin Matlabin avulla ja tulokset verifioitiin AGIFAP -elementtimenetelmäohjelmistolla. Optimoituja tuloksia tutkittiin edelleen Femap -elementtimenetelmäohjelmistolla, jolla haettiin vuorovaikutussuhteita monitavoiteoptimoinnin tueksi. FE -analyysien avulla muodostettiin kaksi apuohjelmaa optimoinnin tueksi. Työssä havaittiin, että teleskooppipuomin jatkoksen optimointi vaatii FE -analyysiohjelmiston rinnalleen, jotta voidaan varmistua rakenteen kestävyydestä ja optimoida väsymiskestävyyt-tä. Liukupalojen vaikutus teleskooppipuomin käytökseen sekä väsymiskestävyyden optimoin-ti vaatii jatkotutkimusta.

Moniammatillinen, ammattiryhmien välinen ja ammattirajat ylittävä yhteistyö erikoissairaanhoidossa

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata terveydenhuoltoalan eri ammattiryhmien, fysioterapeuttien, puheterapeuttien, sairaanhoitajien ja toimintaterapeuttien muodostamien tiimien kokemuksia moniammatillisesta yhteistyöstä erikoissairaanhoidossa. Erilaisten yhteistyötä kuvaavien käsitteiden käytön epäjohdonmukaisuus moniammatillisen yhteistyön viitekehyksessä ja se, ettei käsitettä ole hoitotyön kontekstissa lopullisesti määritelty, oli myös pohjana tälle tutkimukselle, jonka avulla pyrittiin määrittelemään yhteistyötä kuvaavia käsitteitä tarkemmin erikoissairaanhoidossa. Tutkimuksen kohderyhmänä olivat fysioterapeutit, puheterapeutit, sairaanhoitajat ja toimintaterapeutit, jotka tekevät yhteistyötä erilaisissa tiimeissä eräässä erikoissairaanhoidon sairaalassa eteläisessä Suomessa. Aineisto kerättiin fokusryhmähaastatteluna (n=6) haastatteluun osallistuneiden osallistujien kokonaismäärän ollessa 24. Aineisto analysoitiin induktiivisella ja deduktiivisella sisällön analyysillä. Tutkimuksen tuloksena saatiin haastateltavien kokemuksiin perustuvia moniammatillisen yhteistyön, ammattiryhmien välisen yhteistyön ja ammattirajat ylittävän yhteistyön eri muotojen ominaispiirteitä, joita ilmeni kaikissa osallistuneissa ryhmissä eri painotuksin. Jokainen ryhmä oli kehittänyt toimintaansa tarpeitaan vastaavasti, mutta optimaalista tasoa ei kaikissa ryhmissä ole saavutettu. Yhteistyössä osallistujat kokivat erilaisia tekijöitä, joilla oli merkitystä niin työntekijälle, potilaan saamalle palvelulle kuin organisaation tuottamalle palvelulle. Toisaalta moniammatillinen yhteistyömuoto sujuessaan tuki yksittäisen työntekijän suoriutumista omassa tehtävässään. Kirjallisuudessa moniammatillisuutta merkitsevää käsitteistöä oli määritelty, mutta selkeää varmuutta käsitteistön yhtenevyydestä ei voitu saada. Erityisesti merkityseroja esiintyi moniammatillisuuden käsitteissä silloin kun käsiteltiin ammattien välistä (-professional) ja ammattialojen välistä (-disciplinary) toimintaa ja niiden merkitystä yhteistyössä. Tutkimus antaa uutta tietoa eri ammattiryhmien käytännön tason työskentelyssä moniammatillisen yhteistyön eri muodoista ja yhteistyön eri muotojen mahdollisuudesta toimia terveydenhuollon palveluissa sekä potilaan, yksittäisen työntekijän kuin organisaation parhaaksi.

Open Access Subject Repositories – an Overview

Workshop presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Marshall e os críticos à economia política clássica

Marshall and the critics to the classical political economy. This paper analyzes the period of transition between the millian orthodoxy and the marshallian orthodoxy with special emphasis on the influence of the economic debates of the 1870's and 1880's in the genesis of Marshall's conceptions. It is argued that in these decades Political Economy was questioned in three different fronts: by the theoretical critics, by the adepts of the historical method, and by the humanists. It is also argued that Marshall answered these criticisms, sometimes by accepting and incorporating them, sometimes by rejecting them, and in doing so he was able to construct a new disciplinary consensus - that gave the foundations to the practice of the next generation of economists.

Tilintarkastajan vastuu kurinpidollisesta näkökulmasta

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää millainen on tilintarkastajan kurinpidollinen vastuu lakisääteisessä tehtävässä. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, miten tilintarkastajan vastuu voi realisoitua ja millaisia kurinpidollisia seuraamuksia tilintarkastajille määrätään Suomessa. Tutkimuksen aineistona on käytetty TILA: n valvonta-asioiden ratkaisuja vuosina 2007 - 2014. Patentti – ja rekisterihallitus on vastannut kurinpidollisista asioista vuoden 2016 alusta lähtien. Tutkimuksessa noudatetaan käsitteellistä lähestymistapaa: tilintarkastajan vastuun ohella työssä on käsitelty muun muassa lakisääteistä tilintarkastusta, hyvää tilintarkastustapaa ja ammattieettisiä periaatteita. Työ on toteutettu laadullisena tutkimuksena ja aineisto koostuu dokumenteista koskien kurinpidollisia ratkaisuja vuosina 2007 - 2014. Tutkintatapausten käsittelyssä huomiota kiinnitettiin tutkinnan aloittamisen syihin ja tutkinnan seurauksena määrättyihin sanktioihin. Tutkintaan johtaneiden syiden väliltä pyrittiin löytämään yhteisiä tekijöitä. Lisäksi huomiota kiinnitettiin tutkintatapausten ja sanktioiden määrien kehitykseen. Tarkasteluaikavälillä yleisin syy tutkinnan aloittamiselle oli hyvän tilintarkastustavan tai tilintarkastuslain vastainen toiminta. Sanktiomuodoista varoituksia annettiin hieman enemmän kuin huomautuksia, hyväksymisen peruuttamiseen päädyttiin vain kahdeksassa tapauksessa. Yli puolessa tutkintatapauksissa sanktioita ei määrätty ollenkaan. Kaiken kaikkiaan sanktioiden ja tutkintatapausten määrässä ei havaittu tapahtuneen suurta vaihtelua tarkasteluaikavälillä.