836 resultados para Nordic Countries


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This dissertation, based on material from Stenman s vast private archive, examines the role played by Swedish-speaking Finnish art dealer Gösta Stenman (1888-1947) and his art gallery, Stenmans Konstsalong, in the Finnish and Swedish art worlds from 1911 to 1947. This archive is examined here for the first time. The analytical framework used for this empirical study derives from Pierre Bourdieu s sociological theories. An art-sociological approach allows for the inclusion of more mechanisms at work in the art world than are typically embraced in such inquiries. This approach provides a fuller understanding of how Stenman attained his standing and central role in the art world in Finland as well as Sweden; enabling us to appreciate how he came to occupy such a prominent position in current art historical writing. All of these issues constitute new areas of research. Taking his cues from the contemporary art world of Paris, Stenman became the year 1914 a modern art dealer like no other in the Nordic countries. This dissertation represents the first academic investigation into his operations, strategies, and objectives, offering insight into not only the art dealer himself but also the functioning of the art market one of the most vital aspects of the art world. A by-product of this work, is that the modern art market in Finland is portrayed, including essential issues related to its growth and development as well as how it altered the conditions under which art could be produced, exhibited and promoted and what this entailed for the art world at large, artists and patrons alike. This first systematic analysis of the operations of Stenman s Konstsalong offers greater understanding of the art worlds of Sweden and Finland in the early twentieth century. The work also looks at how an agent of the art market could move between the fields of art in Sweden and Finland. The manner in which Stenman promoted individual artists, including his relationships with Tyko Sallinen, Helene Schjerfbeck, Juho Mäkelä, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Siri Derkert, Esther Kjerner, Eva Bagge, and many others, also falls within this purview. Stenman s contract with Sallinen from 1913 stands out as a new phenomenon in Finnish art promotion, whereby an artistic career became established via a far-sighted, strategic promotional program. The case study of Stenman s promotion of Schjerfbeck in Sweden provides evidence of the increasingly advanced nature of Stenman s strategies. The title of the dissertation, The Promoter of Modernism, attempts to convey that Stenman was the consummate modernist, modern in his thoughts, his actions, and his approach to art. Keywords: Gösta Stenman, Stenmans konstsalong, Stenmans dotter, art market, modernism, collecting, Novembergruppen, Helene Schjerfbeck, Tyko Sallinen, Juho Mäkelä, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Wäinö Aaltonen, Siri Derkert, Åke Göransson, Esther Kjerner, Eva Bagge.

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Nature, science and technology. The image of Finland through popular enlightenment texts 1870-1920 This doctoral thesis looks at how Finnish popular enlightenment texts published between 1870 and 1920 took part in the process of forming a genuine Finnish national identity. The same process was occurring in other Nordic countries at the time and the process in Finland was in many ways influenced by them, particularly Sweden. In Finland the political realities under Russian rule especially during the Russification years, and the fact that its history was considered to be short compared to other European countries, made this nation-building process unique. The undertaking was led by members of the national elite, influential in the cultural, academic as well as political arenas, who were keen to support the foundation of a modern Finnish identity. The political realities and national philosophy of history necessitated a search for elements of identity in nature and the Finnish landscape, which were considered to have special national importance: Finland was very much determined as a political entity on the basis of its geography and nature. Nature was also used as means of taking a cultural or political view in terms of, for example, geographical facts such as the nation s borders or the country s geographical connections to Western Europe. In the building of a proper national identity the concept of nature was not, however, static, but was more or less affected by political and economic progress in society. This meant that nature, or the image of the national landscape, was no longer seen only as a visual image of the national identity, but also as a source of science, technology and a prosperous future. The role of technology in this process was very much connected to the ability to harness natural resources to serve national interests. The major change in this respect had occurred by the early 20th century, when indisputable scientific progress altered the relationship between nature and technology. Concerning technology, the thesis is mainly interested in the large and at the time modern technological manifestations, such as railways, factories and industrial areas in Finland. Despite the fact that the symbiosis between national nature and international but successfully localized technology was in Finnish popular enlightenment literature depicted mostly as a national success story, concerns began to arise already in last years of the 19th century. It was argued that the emerging technology would eventually destroy Finland s natural environment, and therefore the basis of its national identity. The question was not how to preserve nature through natural science, but more how to conserve such natural resources and images that were considered to be the basis of national identity and thus of the national history. National parks, isolated from technology, and distant enough so as to have no economic value, were considered the solution to the problem. Methodologically the thesis belongs to the genre of science and technology studies, and offers new viewpoints with regard to both the study of Finnish popular enlightenment literature and the national development process as a whole.

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Aims. The main meals that youngsters have during the day are eaten at home and at school. In the Nordic countries breakfast and supper are often eaten with other members of the family. The way that Nordic countries arrange the school lunch and the frequency of family meals differ between countries. However, the challenges related to eating habits of the young are surprisingly similar. The aim of this study is to discuss how the Nordic countries could support youngsters’ healthy eating habits. This study was carried out as a part of a Nordic research project and it completed the work done by Kauppinen (2009) and Niemi (2009) in their Master’s Theses. The research questions are: 1. How do the youngsters evaluate their own eating habits and those of their family? 2. How do the youngsters evaluate the influence of home, family and school on their own eating habits? 3. What kind of relationship exists between eating at home and at school according to the data? Data and methods. A quantitative internet-based survey was used to collect data (N=1539) on the 9th graders conceptions and understandings. The survey consisted of respondents from Finland (N=586), Sweden (N=427), Denmark (N=295) and Norway (N=246). In this study the whole data to the appropriate extent was analyzed. The analysis was done with the SPSS-software and included examination of means, standard deviations, cross-tabulations, Pearson´s correlations, Chi-squared -tests, t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results were compaired between the countries and between sexes. Results and discussion. The studied youngsters evaluated their own eating habits positively. There were statistically signifigant differences (p< .05) between countries concerning the people who influence the youngsters’ healthy eating habits. Youngsters from Finland and Sweden considered making healthy choices at school easier than those from Denmark and Norway. Also eating a so called healthy lunch at school was more common in Finland and in Sweden. Eating breakfast and eating a healthy meal at school had a statistically significant interconnection (p< .001). The differences between sexes were not equal between the countries. The results supported those from previous studies, but also raised ideas for further study. Youngsters’ near environments should support their possibilities to make healthy choices and to participate to the decicion making process. Co-operation between the Nordic countries and between the home and the school is important. Listening to the youngsters’ own voice is a challence and a possibility for developing both home economics education and research in this area. Key words: Nordic countries, youngsters, healthy eating habits, eating at home, school meals

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Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important bacteria that cause disease in humans, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has become the most commonly identified antibiotic-resistant pathogen in many parts of the world. MRSA rates have been stable for many years in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands with a low MRSA prevalence in Europe, but in the recent decades, MRSA rates have increased in those low-prevalence countries as well. MRSA has been established as a major hospital pathogen, but has also been found increasingly in long-term facilities (LTF) and in communities of persons with no connections to the health-care setting. In Finland, the annual number of MRSA isolates reported to the National Infectious Disease Register (NIDR) has constantly increased, especially outside the Helsinki metropolitan area. Molecular typing has revealed numerous outbreak strains of MRSA, some of which have previously been associated with community acquisition. In this work, data on MRSA cases notified to the NIDR and on MRSA strain types identified with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing at the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) in Finland from 1997 to 2004 were analyzed. An increasing trend in MRSA incidence in Finland from 1997 to 2004 was shown. In addition, non-multi-drug resistant (NMDR) MRSA isolates, especially those resistant only to methicillin/oxacillin, showed an emerging trend. The predominant MRSA strains changed over time and place, but two internationally spread epidemic strains of MRSA, FIN-16 and FIN-21, were related to the increase detected most recently. Those strains were also one cause of the strikingly increasing invasive MRSA findings. The rise of MRSA strains with SCCmec types IV or V, possible community-acquired MRSA was also detected. With questionnaires, the diagnostic methods used for MRSA identification in Finnish microbiology laboratories and the number of MRSA screening specimens studied were reviewed. Surveys, which focused on the MRSA situation in long-term facilities in 2001 and on the background information of MRSA-positive persons in 2001-2003, were also carried out. The rates of MRSA and screening practices varied widely across geographic regions. Part of the NMDR MRSA strains could remain undetected in some laboratories because of insufficient diagnostic techniques used. The increasing proportion of elderly population carrying MRSA suggests that MRSA is an emerging problem in Finnish long-term facilities. Among the patients, 50% of the specimens were taken on a clinical basis, 43% on a screening basis after exposure to MRSA, 3% on a screening basis because of hospital contact abroad, and 4% for other reasons. In response to an outbreak of MRSA possessing a new genotype that occurred in a health care ward and in an associated nursing home of a small municipality in Northern Finland in autumn 2003, a point-prevalence survey was performed six months later. In the same study, the molecular epidemiology of MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) strains were also assessed, the results to the national strain collection compared, and the difficulties of MRSA screening with low-level oxacillin-resistant isolates encountered. The original MRSA outbreak in LTF, which consisted of isolates possessing a nationally new PFGE profile (FIN-22) and internationally rare MLST type (ST-27), was confined. Another previously unrecognized MRSA strain was found with additional screening, possibly indicating that current routine MRSA screening methods may be insufficiently sensitive for strains possessing low-level oxacillin resistance. Most of the MSSA strains found were genotypically related to the epidemic MRSA strains, but only a few of them had received the SCCmec element, and all those strains possessed the new SCCmec type V. In the second largest nursing home in Finland, the colonization of S. aureus and MRSA, and the role of screening sites along with broth enrichment culture on the sensitivity to detect S. aureus were studied. Combining the use of enrichment broth and perineal swabbing, in addition to nostrils and skin lesions swabbing, may be an alternative for throat swabs in the nursing home setting, especially when residents are uncooperative. Finally, in order to evaluate adequate phenotypic and genotypic methods needed for reliable laboratory diagnostics of MRSA, oxacillin disk diffusion and MIC tests to the cefoxitin disk diffusion method at both +35°C and +30°C, both with or without an addition of sodium chloride (NaCl) to the Müller Hinton test medium, and in-house PCR to two commercial molecular methods (the GenoType® MRSA test and the EVIGENETM MRSA Detection test) with different bacterial species in addition to S. aureus were compared. The cefoxitin disk diffusion method was superior to that of oxacillin disk diffusion and to the MIC tests in predicting mecA-mediated resistance in S. aureus when incubating at +35°C with or without the addition of NaCl to the test medium. Both the Geno Type® MRSA and EVIGENETM MRSA Detection tests are usable, accurate, cost-effective, and sufficiently fast methods for rapid MRSA confirmation from a pure culture.

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Cortinarius is the largest genus of Agaricales with a worldwide distribution. So far, over 4000 Cortinarius names and combinations have been published. Cortinarius spp. form ectomycorrhizae with different trees and shrubs. A majority of the Cortinarius species have narrow ecological preferences and many form ectomycorrhiza with only one or few host species. The subgenus Telamonia sensu lato (s. lat.), comprising the greatest number of species, is the most poorly known of the subgenera of Cortinarius. The centre of diversity is in the northern hemisphere, although some species of the group are also recognized in the southern hemisphere. The aim of this thesis was to study the taxonomy of Cortinarius subgenus Telamonia p.p. species based on morphological and molecular data, as well as to study the ecology and distribution of the species in North Europe. The taxonomical problems encountered and the difficulty in finding and studying all the relevant names and types slowed down the study. The diversity of the subgenus Telamonia s. lat. in North Europe (excluding sect. Hydrocybe, Icrustati and Anomali) was found to be far greater than previously thought. Even many of the common species have not yet been described. So far, ca. 200 species have been recognised from the Nordic countries, but the sampling in most groups does not cover the whole diversity and especially the southern deciduous forest species are underrepresented in our study. In most cases phylogenetic (only based on ITS data) and morphological species recognition were in concordance, but in a few cases morphologically delimited species had almost identical ITS sequences, raising the question as to whether ITS is always variable enough for species recognition. The opposite situation, in which a morphologically uniform species included two phylogenetically distinct lineages, however, was also encountered, suggesting the possibility of cryptic species in Cortinarius. In our studies no taxa below species level were recognised and the aforementioned results indicate that presumably they can only be recognised genetically. Based on our preliminary results a revision of the infrageneric classification in Cortinarius subgenus Telamonia s. lat. is needed, and more sections should be established for a meaningful and functional classification. Many groups have turned out to be artificial, and it seems evident that many characteristics have been over- or underemphasised. Many morphological characteristics, however, are useful in the identification of telamonioid species and e.g. some spore characteristics have often been overlooked. Our studies have concentrated on North Europe, but we have found some similarities with North European and North American taxa.

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The systemic autoinflammatory disorders are a group of rare diseases characterized by periodically recurring episodes of acute inflammation and a rise in serum acute phase proteins, but with no signs of autoimmunity. At present eight hereditary syndromes are categorized as autoinflammatory, although the definition has also occasionally been extended to other inflammatory disorders, such as Crohn s disease. One of the autoinflammatory disorders is the autosomally dominantly inherited tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS), which is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the tumour necrosis factor type 1 receptor (TNFRSF1A). In patients of Nordic descent, cases of TRAPS and of three other hereditary fevers, hyperimmunoglobulinemia D with periodic fever syndrome (HIDS), chronic infantile neurologic, cutaneous and articular syndrome (CINCA) and familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome (FCAS), have been reported, TRAPS being the most common of the four. Clinical characteristics of TRAPS are recurrent attacks of high spiking fever, associated with inflammation of serosal membranes and joints, myalgia, migratory rash and conjunctivitis or periorbital cellulitis. Systemic AA amyloidosis may occur as a sequel of the systemic inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic background of hereditary periodically occurring fever syndromes in Finnish patients, to explore the reliability of determining serum concentrations of soluble TNFRSF1A and metalloproteinase-induced TNFRSF1A shedding as helpful tools in differential diagnostics, as well as to study intracellular NF-κB signalling in an attempt to widen the knowledge of the pathomechanisms underlying TRAPS. Genomic sequencing revealed two novel TNFRSF1A mutations, F112I and C73R, in two Finnish families. F112I was the first TNFRSF1A mutation to be reported in the third extracellular cysteine-rich domain of the gene and C73R was the third novel mutation to be reported in a Finnish family, with only one other TNFRSF1A mutation having been reported in the Nordic countries. We also presented a differential diagnostic problem in a TRAPS patient, emphasizing for the clinician the importance of differential diagnostic vigiliance in dealing with rare hereditary disorders. The underlying genetic disease of the patient both served as a misleading factor, which possibly postponed arrival at the correct diagnosis, but may also have predisposed to the pathologic condition, which led to a critical state of the patient. Using a method of flow cytometric analysis modified for the use on fresh whole blood, we studied intracellular signalling pathways in three Finnish TRAPS families with the F112I, C73R and the previously reported C88Y mutations. Evaluation of TNF-induced phosphorylation of NF-κB and p38, revealed low phosphorylation profiles in nine out of ten TRAPS patients in comparison to healthy control subjects. This study shows that TRAPS is a diagnostic possibility in patients of Nordic descent, with symptoms of periodically recurring fever and inflammation of the serosa and joints. In particular in the case of a family history of febrile episodes, the possibility of TRAPS should be considered, if an etiology of autoimmune or infectious nature is excluded. The discovery of three different mutations in a population as small as the Finnish, reinforces the notion that the extracellular domain of TNFRSF1A is prone to be mutated at the entire stretch of its cysteine-rich domains and not only at a limited number of sites, suggesting the absence of a founder effect in TRAPS. This study also demonstrates the challenges of clinical work in differentiating the symptoms of rare genetic disorders from those of other pathologic conditions and presents the possibility of an autoinflammatory disorder as being the underlying cause of severe clinical complications. Furthermore, functional studies of fresh blood leukocytes show that TRAPS is often associated with a low NF-κB and p38 phosphorylation profile, although low phosphorylation levels are not a requirement for the development of TRAPS. The aberrant signalling would suggest that the hyperinflammatory phenotype of TRAPS is the result of compensatory NF-κB-mediated regulatory mechanisms triggered by a deficiency of the innate immune response.

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Gender perceptions, religious belief systems, and political thought have excluded women from politics, for ages, around the world. Combining feminist and modernisation theorists in my theoretical framework, I examine the trends in patriarchal Europe and I highlight the gender-sensitive model of the Nordic countries. Retracing local gender patterns from precolonial to postcolonial eras in sub-Saharan Africa, I explore the links between perceptions, needs, resources, education and women's political participation in Cameroon. Democratisation is supposed to open up political participation, to grant equal opportunities to all adults. One ironic feature of the liberalisation process in Cameroon has been the decrease of women in parliamentarian representation (14% in 1988, 6% in 1992, 5% in 1997 and 10% in 2002). What social, cultural and institutional mechanisms produced this paradoxical outcome, the exclusion of half the population? The gender complementarity of the indigenous context has been lost to male prevalence privileged by education, church, law, employment, economy and politics in the public sphere; most women are marginalised in the private sphere. Nation building and development have failed; ethnicism and individualism are growing. Some hope lies in the growing civil society. From two surveys and 21 focus groups across Cameroon, in 2000 and 2002, some significant results of the processed empirical data reveal low electoral registration (34.5% women and 65.9% men), contrasted by the willingness to run for municipal elections (33.3 % women and 45.2% men). The co-existence of customary and statutory laws, the corrupt political system and fraudulent practices, contribute to the marginalisation of women and men who are interested in politics. A large majority of female respondents consider female politicians more trustworthy and capable than their male counterparts; they even foresee the appointment of a female Prime Minister. The Nordic countries have institutionalised gender equality in their legislation, policies and practices. France has improved women's political inclusion with the parity laws; Rwanda is another model of women's representation, thanks to its post-conflict constitution. From my analysis, Cameroonian institutions, men and more so women, may learn and borrow from these experiences, in order to design and implement a sustainable and gender-balanced democracy. Keywords: democratisation, politics, gender equality, feminism, citizenship, Cameroon, Nordic countries, Finland, France, United Kingdom, quotas, societal social psychology.

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The evacuation of Finnish children to Sweden during WW II has often been called a small migration . Historical research on this subject is scarce, considering the great number of children involved. The present research has applied, apart from the traditional archive research, the framework of history-culture developed by Rüsen in order to have an all-inclusive approach to the impact of this historical event. The framework has three dimensions: political, aesthetic and cognitive. The collective memory of war children has also been discussed. The research looks for political factors involved in the evacuations during the Winter War and the Continuation War and the post-war period. The approach is wider than a purely humanitarian one. Political factors have had an impact in both Finland and Sweden, beginning from the decision-making process and ending with the discussion of the unexpected consequences of the evacuations in the Finnish Parliament in 1950. The Winter War (30.11.1939 13.3.1940) witnessed the first child transports. These were also the model for future decision making. The transports were begun on the initiative of Swedes Maja Sandler, the wife of the resigned minister of foreign affairs Rickard Sandler, and Hanna Rydh-Munck af Rosenschöld , but this activity was soon accepted by the Swedish government because the humanitarian help in the form of child transports lightened the political burden of Prime Minister Hansson, who was not willing to help Finland militarily. It was help that Finland never asked for and it was rejected at the beginning. The negative response of Minister Juho Koivisto was not taken very seriously. The political forces in Finland supporting child transports were stronger than those rejecting them. The major politicians in support belonged to Finland´s Swedish minority. In addition, close to 1 000 Finnish children remained in Sweden after the Winter War. No analysis was made of the reasons why these children did not return home. A committee set up to help Finland and Norway was established in Sweden in 1941. Its chairman was Torsten Nothin, an influential Swedish politician. In December 1941 he appealed to the Swedish government to provide help to Finnish children under the authority of The International Red Cross. This plea had no results. The delivery of great amounts of food to Finland, which was now at war with Great Britain, had automatically caused reactions among the allies against the Swedish imports through Gothenburg. This included the import of oil, which was essential for the Swedish navy and air force. Oil was later used successfully to force a reduction in commerce between Sweden and Finland. The contradiction between Sweden´s essential political interests and humanitarian help was solved in a way that did not harm the country´s vital political interests. Instead of delivering help to Finland, Finnish children were transported to Sweden through the organisations that had already been created. At the beginning of the Continuation War (25.6.1941 27.4.1945) negative opinion regarding child transports re-emerged in Finland. Karl-August Fagerholm implemented the transports in September 1941. In 1942, members of the conservative parties in the Finnish Parliament expressed their fear of losing the children to the Swedes. They suggested that Finland should withdraw from the inter-Nordic agreement, according to which the adoptions were approved by the court of the country where the child resided. This initiative failed. Paavo Virkkunen, an influential member of the conservative party Kokoomus in Finland, favoured the so-called good-father system, where help was delivered to Finland in the form of money and goods. Virkkunen was concerned about the consequences of a long stay in a Swedish family. The risk of losing the children was clear. The extreme conservative party (IKL, the Patriotic Movement of the Finnish People) wanted to alienate Finland from Sweden and bring Finland closer to Germany. Von Blücher, the German ambassador to Finland, had in his report to Berlin, mentioned the political consequences of the child transports. Among other things, they would bring Finland and Sweden closer to each other. He had also paid attention to the Nordic political orientation in Finland. He did not question or criticize the child transports. His main interest was to increase German political influence in Finland, and the Nordic political orientation was an obstacle. Fagerholm was politically ill-favoured by the Germans, because he had a strong Nordic political disposition and had criticised Germany´s activities in Norway. The criticism of child transports was at the same time criticism of Fagerholm. The official censorship organ of the Finnish government (VTL) denied the criticism of child transports in January 1942. The reasons were political. Statements made by members of the Finnish Parliament were also censored, because it was thought that they would offend the Swedes. In addition, the censorship organ used child transports as a means of active propaganda aimed at improving the relations between the two countries. The Finnish Parliament was informed in 1948 that about 15 000 Finnish children still remained in Sweden. These children would stay there permanently. In 1950 the members of the Agrarian Party in Finland stated that Finland should actively strive to get the children back. The party on the left (SKDL, the Democratic Movement of Finnish People) also focused on the unexpected consequences of the child transports. The Social Democrats, and largely Fagerholm, had been the main force in Finland behind the child transports. Members of the SKDL, controlled by Finland´s Communist Party, stated that the war time authorities were responsible for this war loss. Many of the Finnish parents could not get their children back despite repeated requests. The discussion of the problem became political, for example von Born, a member of the Swedish minority party RKP, related this problem to foreign policy by stating that the request to repatriate the Finnish children would have negative political consequences for the relations between Finland and Sweden. He emphasized expressing feelings of gratitude to the Swedes. After the war a new foreign policy was established by Prime Minister (1944 1946) and later President (1946 1956) Juho Kusti Paasikivi. The main cornerstone of this policy was to establish good relations with the Soviet Union. The other, often forgotten, cornerstone was to simultaneously establish good relations with other Nordic countries, especially Sweden, as a counterbalance. The unexpected results of the child evacuation, a Swedish initiative, had violated the good relations with Sweden. The motives of the Democratic Movement of Finnish People were much the same as those of the Patriotic Movement of Finnish People. Only the ideology was different. The Nordic political orientation was an obstacle to both parties. The position of the Democratic Movement of Finnish People was much better than that of the Patriotic Movement of Finnish People, because now one could clearly see the unexpected results, which included human tragedy for the many families who could not be re-united with their children despite their repeated requests. The Swedes questioned the figure given to the Finnish Parliament regarding the number of children permanently remaining in Sweden. This research agrees with the Swedes. In a calculation based on Swedish population registers, the number of these children is about 7 100. The reliability of this figure is increased by the fact that the child allowance programme began in Sweden in 1948. The prerequisite to have this allowance was that the child be in the Swedish population register. It was not necessary for the child to have Swedish nationality. The Finnish Parliament had false information about the number of Finnish children who remained in Sweden in 1942 and in 1950. There was no parliamentary control in Finland regarding child transports, because the decision was made by one cabinet member and speeches by MPs in the Finnish Parliament were censored, like all criticism regarding child transports to Sweden. In Great Britain parliamentary control worked better throughout the whole war, because the speeches regarding evacuation were not censored. At the beginning of the war certain members of the British Labour Party and the Welsh Nationalists were particularly outspoken about the scheme. Fagerholm does not discuss to any great extent the child transports in his memoirs. He does not evaluate the process and results as a whole. This research provides some possibilities for an evaluation of this sort. The Swedish medical reports give a clear picture of the physical condition of the Finnish children when arriving in Sweden. The transports actually revealed how bad the situation of the poorest children was. According to Titmuss, similar observations were made in Great Britain during the British evacuations. The child transports saved the lives of approximately 2 900 children. Most of these children were removed to Sweden to receive treatment for illnesses, but many among the healthy children were undernourished and some suffered from the effects of tuberculosis. The medical inspection in Finland was not thorough. If you compare the figure of 2 900 children saved and returned with the figure of about 7 100 children who remained permanently in Sweden, you may draw the conclusion that Finland as a country failed to benefit from the child transports, and that the whole operation was a political mistake with far-reaching consequenses. The basic goal of the operation was to save lives and have all the children return to Finland after the war. The difficulties with the repatriation of the children were mainly psychological. The level of child psychology in Finland at that time was low. One may question the report by Professor Martti Kaila regarding the adaptation of children to their families back in Finland. Anna Freud´s warnings concerning the difficulties that arise when child evacuees return are also valid in Finland. Freud viewed the emotional life of children in a way different from Kaila: the physical survival of a small child forces her to create strong emotional ties to the person who is looking after her. This, a characteristic of all small children, occurred with the Finnish children too, and it was something the political decision makers in Finland could not see during and after the war. It is a characteristic of all little children. Yet, such experiences were already evident during the Winter War. The best possible solution had been to limit the child transports only to children in need of medical treatment. Children from large and poor families had been helped by organising meals and by buying food from Denmark with Swedish money. Assisting Finland by all possible means should have been the basic goal of Fagerholm in September 1941, when the offer of child transports came from Sweden. Fagerholm felt gratitude towards the Swedes. The risks became clear to him only in 1943. The war children are today a rather scattered and diffuse group of people. Emotionally, part of these children remained in Sweden after the war. There is no clear collective memory, only individual memories; the collective memory of the war children has partly been shaped later through the activities of the war child associations. The main difference between the children evacuated in Finland (for example from Karelia to safer areas with their families) and the war children, who were sent abroad, is that the war children lack a shared story and experience with their families. They were outsiders . The whole matter is sensitive to many of such mothers and discussing the subject has often been avoided in families. The war-time censorship has continued in families through silence and avoidance and Finnish politicians and Finnish families had to face each other on this issue after the war. The lack of all-inclusive historical research has also prevented the formation of a collective awareness among war children returned to Finland or those remaining permanently abroad.. Knowledge of historical facts will help war-children by providing an opportunity to create an all-inclusive approach to the past. Personal experiences should be regarded as part of a large historical entity shadowed by war and where many political factors were at work in both Finland and Sweden. This means strengthening of the cognitive dimension discussed in Rüsen´s all-inclusive historical approach.

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Puu-Käpylä (“Wooden Käpylä”), a neighbourhood of Helsinki, is the earliest example of the Garden City Movement in Finland. The suburb of valuable wooden architecture was built between 1920 and 1925, with the aim to provide a healthy housing area for working-class families with many children. The houses were erected by a co-operative (Käpylän kansanasunnot, “People?s Dwellings”) and they are protected by the city plan since 1960?s. However, the historical value of the sheltered courtyards has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to survey the garden flora of Puu-Käpylä and to evaluate the authenticity of the courtyard gardens. The survey covered the area of one residential quarter (1.2 ha) with twelve 2-storey semi-detached timber houses arranged around a common yard, which was originally appointed for the tenants? vegetable gardens. The houses are still rented, and each flat is allowed a small lot of the courtyard for cultivation. A complete list was made of all perennial, ornamental plant taxa present in the quarter. Spring bulbs were missed due to the timing of the survey. Generally, the plants were recorded on species level, with the exception of common lilacs, shrub roses, irises and peonies that were thoroughly studied for cultivar identification. It was assumed that plants initially grown in the courtyard could be distinguished by studying Finnish garden magazines, books and nursery catalogues published in the 1920?s and by comparing the present vegetation to surviving documents from the quarter. The total number of ornamental plant taxa identified was 172, of which 17 were trees, 47 shrubs, 7 climbers and 101 herbaceous perennials. The results indicated that a major part of the shrubs, climbers and perennials presumably originated from the 1970?s or later, whereas ca. 70 % of the tree specimens were deemed as original. The survey disclosed a heritage variety of common lilac, resembling cultivar „Prince Notger?, a specific peony taxon, Paeonia humilis Retz., cultivated in Nordic countries since long ago, and a few historic iris varieties. Well-preserved design elements included front gardens on one side of the quarter, a maple alley on another side as well as trees at the garden gates. Old garden books and magazines did not shed much light on the Finnish garden flora commonly used in the period when Puu-Käpylä was built. However, they gave a valuable picture of contemporary planting design. Nursery catalogues offered insight into the assortment of ornamental plants traded in the 1920?s. Conclusions on the authenticity of the current flora were mainly drawn on the basis of old photographs and a vegetation survey map drawn in the 1970?s. This study revealed a need for standardization of syrvey methods applied when investigating garden floras. Uniform survey techniques would make the results comparable and enable a future compilation of data from e.g. historic gardens.

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In the markets-as-networks approach business networks are conceived as dynamic actor structures, giving focus to exchange relationships and actors’ capabilities to control and co-ordinate activities and resources. Researchers have shared an understanding that actors’ actions are crucial for the development of business networks and for network dynamics. However, researchers have mainly studied firms as business actors and excluded individuals, although both firms and individuals can be seen as business actors. This focus on firms as business actors has resulted in a paucity of research on human action and the exchange of intangible resources in business networks, e.g. social exchange between individuals in social networks. Consequently, the current conception of business networks fails to appreciate the richness of business actors, the human character of business action and the import of social action in business networks. The central assumption in this study is that business actors are multidimensional and that their specific constitution in any given situation is determined by human interaction in social networks. Multidimensionality is presented as a concept for exploring how business actors act in different situations and how actors simultaneously manage multiple identities: individual, organisational, professional, business and network identities. The study presents a model that describes the multidimensionality of actors in business networks and conceptualises the connection between social exchange and human action in business networks. Empirically the study explores the change that has taken place in pharmaceutical retailing in Finland during recent years. The phenomenon of emerging pharmacy networks is highly contemporary in the Nordic countries, where the traditional license-based pharmacy business is changing. The study analyses the development of two Finnish pharmacy chains, one integrated and one voluntary chain, and the network structures and dynamics in them. Social Network Analysis is applied to explore the social structures within the pharmacy networks. The study shows that emerging pharmacy networks are multifaceted phenomena where political, economic, social, cultural, and historical elements together contribute to the observed changes. Individuals have always been strongly present in the pharmacy business and the development of pharmacy networks provides an interesting example of human actors’ influence in the development of business networks. The dynamics or forces driving the network development can be linked to actors’ own economic and social motives for developing the business. The study highlights the central role of individuals and social networks in the development of the two studied pharmacy networks. The relation between individuals and social networks is reciprocal. The social context of every individual enables multidimensional business actors. The mix of various identities, both individual and collective identities, is an important part of network dynamics. Social networks in pharmacy networks create a platform for exchange and social action, and social networks enable and support business network development.

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The image of Pietism a window to personal spirituality. The teachings of Johann Arndt as the basis of Pietist emblems The Pietist effect on spiritual images has to be scrutinised as a continuum initiating from the teachings of Johann Arndt who created a protestant iconography that defended the status of pictures and images as the foundation of divine revelation. Pietist artworks reveal Arndtian part of secret, eternal world, and God. Even though modern scholars do not regarded him as a founding father of Pietism anymore, his works have been essential for the development of iconography, and the themes of the Pietist images are linked with his works. For Arndt, the starting point is in the affecting love for Christ who suffered for the humankind. The reading experience is personal and the words point directly at the reader and thus appear as evidence of the guilt of the reader as well as of the love of God. Arndt uses bounteous and descriptive language which has partially affected promoting and picturing of many themes. Like Arndt, Philipp Jakob Spener also emphasised the heart that believes. The Pietist movement was born to oppose detached faith and the lack of the Holy Ghost. Christians touched by the teachings of Arndt and Spener began to create images out of metaphors presented by Arndt. As those people were part of the intelligentsia, it was natural that the fashionable emblematics of the 17th century was moulded for the personal needs. For Arndt, the human heart is manifested as a symbol of soul, personal faith or unbelief as well as an allegory of the burning love for Jesus. Due to this fact, heart emblems were gradually widely used and linked with the love of Christ. In the Nordic countries, the introduction of emblems emanated from the gentry s connections to the Central Europe where emblems were exploited in order to decorate books, artefacts, interiors, and buildings as well as visual/literal trademarks of the intelligentsia. Emblematic paintings in the churches of the castles of Venngarn (1665) and Läckö (1668), owned by Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, are one of the most central interior paintings preserved in the Nordic countries, and they emphasise personal righteous life. Nonetheless, it was the books by Arndt and the Poet s Society in Nurnberg that bound the Swedish gentry and the scholars of the Pietist movement together. The Finnish gentry had no castles or castle churches so they supported county churches, both in building and in maintenance. As the churches were not private, their iconography could not be private either. Instead, people used Pietist symbols such as Agnus Dei, Cor ardens, an open book, beams, king David, frankincense, wood themes and Virtues. In the Pietist images made for public spaces, the attention is focused on pedagogical, metaphorical, and meaningful presentation as well as concealed statements.

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Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare cutaneous malignancy that occurs predominantly on sun exposed skin areas. A new polyomavirus (MCPyV) was identified in MCC tumor tissues in 2008 suggesting that a viral infection might be an etiological factor. A typical MCC is a rapidly growing painless purple nodule. In its early stage it can be misjudged by its appearance as a cyst or abscess. Recurrences are common and approximately half of the patients will develop lymph node metastases and third of the patents will have distant metastases. It affects mostly elderly persons at an average age of 70 at the time of diagnosis. MCC was first described in 1972 and the first MCC patient in Finland was identified in 1983. MCC has been poorly recognized, but increased awareness and better diagnostic accuracy has increased the incidence since the early years. In this study, all cases with a notation of MCC during 1979 2008 were obtained from the Finnish Cancer Registry. Based on this data, the incidence is 0.11 for men and 0.12 for women. It is similar than that of other Nordic countries, but lower than in the USA. For clinical series, the files of patients diagnosed with MCC during 1983 2004 were reviewed, and the tissue samples were re-evaluated, if available (n=181). Third of the patients were men, and the most common site of the primary tumor was the head and neck (53%). The majority of the patients (86%) presented with a clinically node-negative (Stage I or II) disease, but the disease recurred in 38% of them. The treatment schemes were heterogeneous. No additional benefit from a wide margin (≥2 cm) was found compared to a margin of 0.1-1.9 cm, but intralesional excision was more often associated with local recurrence. None of the patients with Stage I-II disease who had received postoperative radiotherapy had local recurrence during the follow-up period. The 5-year relative survival ratio for Stage I disease was 68%, for Stage II 67%, for Stage III 16%, and for Stage IV 0%. The relative excess risk of death was significantly lower among women than among men. Some of these tissue samples were further analyzed for vascular invasion (n=126) by immunohistochemistry using vascular endothelial markers CD-31 and D2-40. Vascular invasion was seen in 93% of the samples and it was observed already in very small, <5mm tumors. The tissue samples were also analyzed for the presence of MCPyV by using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative PCR. MCPyV DNA was present in 80% of 114 samples studied. The patients with virus-positive tumors had better overall survival than patients with virus-negative tumors. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed for the expression of VEGFR-2 (n=21) and endostatin (n=19), but they had no prognostic value. Our results support the concept of treating MCC with margin-negative excision and radiotherapy to the tumor bed to reduce local recurrence. The finding of a high frequency of lymphovascular invasion reduces its value as a prognostic factor, but emphasizes the role of sentinel node biopsy even in very small primary MCC.

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Housepits have a remarkably short research history as compared to Fennoscandian archaeological research on the Stone Age in general. The current understanding of the numbers and the distribution of Stone Age housepits in the Nordic countries has, for the most part, been shaped by archaeological studies carried out over the last twenty to thirty years. The main subjects of this research are Neolithic housepits, which are archaeological remains of semi-subterranean pithouses. This dissertation consists of five peer-reviewed articles and a synthesis paper. The articles deal with the development of housepits as seen in the data gathered from Finland (the Lake Saimaa area and south-eastern Finland) and Russia (the Karelian Isthmus). This synthesis expands the discussion of the changes observed in the Papers to include Fennoscandian housepit research as a whole. Certain changes in the size, shape, environmental location, and clustering of housepits extended into various cultures and ecological zones in northern Fennoscandia. Previously, the evolution of housepits has been interpreted to have been caused by the adaptation of Neolithic societies to prevailing environmental circumstances or to re-organization following contacts with the agrarian Corded Ware/Battle Axe Cultures spreading to North. This dissertation argues for two waves of change in the pithouse building tradition. Both waves brought with them certain changes in the pithouses themselves and in the practices of locating the dwellings in the environment/landscape. The changes in housepits do not go hand in hand with other changes in material culture, nor are the changes restricted to certain ecological environments. Based on current information, it appears that the changes relate primarily to the spread of new concepts of housing and possibly to new technology, as opposed to representing merely a local response to environmental factors. This development commenced already before the birth of the Corded Ware/Battle Axe Cultures. Therefore, the changes are argued to have resulted from the spreading of new ideas through the same networks that actively distributed commodities, exotic goods, and raw materials over vast areas between the southern Baltic Sea, the north-west Russian forest zone, and Fennoscandia.

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War children were sent away to shelter without their parents to other Nordic countries, mainly to Sweden. The phenomenon was remarkable. During the Second World War nearly 80,000 children were sent from their homes by trains or boats. These children travelled to foster homes where they were placed with new parents looking after them. After the conclusion of the peace, for some months or sometimes years later, orders were given to send the children back to their families in Finland. Returning back to Finland and to their biological parents and families was not always easy. Deep bonds between the children and their foster families were created and leaving caused grief to those small travellers once again. In some cases, distances were created in the relations between Mothers and their daughters. Many had forgotten their Finnish, and returning to school proved difficult. Some of the war children felt rootlessness, a result of being torn away from their family and culture. The aim of this study is to describe how former war children became mothers by themselves, and later on grandmothers. The study also explores how they describe the meaning of the war and their childhood in their own parenthood and what were their experiences of time in foster homes. Seven former war children and three daughters were interviewed for this study. Interviews were biographical. A narrative approach and thematic reading (by Riessman 2008) has guided the analysis of the texts. According to the results of this study, the importance of having your own home , family and security in childhood relationships is significant. Caring and having responsibility for disadvantaged others was important for former war children. What come from the detailed experiences of the 'war childhood' most of all were the difficulties they found on returning to Finland. Some of them had become very attached to their foster parents. There were varying degrees of language problems among the returnees. Some of the interviewees had completely forgotten their native language. Given that, starting the school at home was difficult. They also remembered continuous travelling.When asked on the outcome of their relationship with their biological mother, most interviewees were happy, with a few experiencing some distance in this relationship. Security and being available to protect their children were important in their own motherhood and grand motherhood. In difficult family situations like divorce, they wanted to give their time and support for helping with grandchildren. Another important aspect in family life is interaction between all its members. Talking things through in families and also in War Child Associations was highly valued. However, talking of war childhood had been silenced in some families. In conclusion, the experiences of former war children should take in consideration when difficult situations between parents and children or children s positions in war zones are resolved. War children also have a lot to give for further educational study.

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Human-mediated movement of plants and plant products is now generally accepted to be the primary mode of introduction of plant pathogens. Species of the genus Phytophthora are commonly spread in this way and have caused severe epidemics in silviculture, horticulture as well as natural systems all over the world. The aims of the study were to gather information on the occurrence of Phytophthora spp. in Finnish nurseries, to produce information for risk assessments for these Phytophthora spp. by determining their host ranges and tolerance of cold temperatures, and to establish molecular means for their detection. Phytophthora cactorum was found to persist in natural waterbodies and results suggest that irrigation water might be a source of inoculum in nurseries. In addition to P. cactorum, isolates from ornamental nursery Rhododendron yielded three species new to Finland: P. ramorum, P. plurivora and P. pini. The only species with quarantine status, P. ramorum, was most adapted to growth in cold temperatures and able to persist in the nursery in spite of an annual sanitation protocol. Phytophthora plurivora and the closely related P. pini had more hosts among Nordic tree and plant species than P. ramorum and P. cactorum, and also had higher infectivity rates. All four species survived two weeks in -5 °C , and thus soil survival of these Phytophthoras in Finland is likely under current climatic conditions. The most common tree species in Finnish nurseries, Picea abies, was highly susceptible to P. plurivora and P. pini in pathogenicity trials. In a histological examination of P. plurivora in P. abies shoot tissues, fast necrotrophic growth was observed in nearly all tissues. The production of propagules in P. abies shoot tissue was only weakly indicated. In this study, a PCR DGGE technique was developed for simultaneous detection and identification of Phytophthora spp. It reliably detected Phytophthora in plant tissues and could discriminate most test species as well as indicate instances of multiple-species infections. It proved to be a useful detection and identification tool either applied alone or in concert with traditional isolation culture techniques. All of the introduced species of Phytophthora had properties that promote a high risk of establishment and spread in Finland. It is probable that more pathogens of this genus will be introduced and become established in Finland and other Nordic countries unless efficient phytosanitary control becomes standard practice in the international plant trade.