Negotiating home and belonging. Young Kurds in Finland

This study looks at negotiation of belonging and understandings of home among a generation of young Kurdish adults who were born in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey and who reached adulthood in Finland. The young Kurds taking part in the study belong to the generation of migrants who moved to Finland in their childhood and early teenage years from the region of Kurdistan and elsewhere in the Middle East, then grew to adulthood in Finland. In theoretical terms, the study draws broadly from three approaches: transnationalism, intersectionality, and narrativity. Transnationalism refers to individuals’ cross-border ties and interaction extending beyond nationstates’ borders. Young people of migrant background, it has been suggested, are raised in a transnational space that entails cross-border contacts, ties, and visits to the societies of departure. How identities and feelings of belonging become formed in relation to the transnational space is approached with an intersectional frame, for examination of individuals’ positionings in terms of their intersecting attributes of gender, age/generation, and ethnicity, among others. Focus on the narrative approach allows untangling how individuals make sense of their place in the social world and how they narrate their belonging in terms of various mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, including institutional arrangements and discursive categorisation schemes. The empirical data for this qualitative study come from 25 semi-structured thematic interviews that were conducted with 23 young Kurdish adults living in Turku and Helsinki between 2009 and 2011. The interviewees were aged between 19 and 28 years at the time of interviewing. Interview themes involved topics such as school and working life, family relations and language-learning, political activism and citizenship, transnational ties and attachments, belonging and identification, and plans for the future and aspirations. Furthermore, data were collected from observations during political demonstrations and meetings, along with cultural get-togethers. The data were analysed via thematic analysis. The findings from the study suggest that young Kurds express a strong sense of ‘Kurdishness’ that is based partially on knowing the Kurdish language and is informed by a sense of cultural continuity in the diaspora setting. Collective Kurdish identity narratives, particularly related to the consciousness of being a marginalised ‘other’ in the context of the Middle East, are resonant in young interviewees’ narrations of ‘Kurdishness’. Thus, a sense of ‘Kurdishness’ is drawn from lived experiences indexed to a particular politico-historical context of the Kurdish diaspora movements but also from the current situation of Kurdish minorities in the Middle East. On the other hand, young Kurds construct a sense of belonging in terms of the discursive constructions of ‘Finnishness’ and ‘otherness’ in the Finnish context. The racialised boundaries of ‘Finnishness’ are echoed in young Kurds’ narrations and position them as the ‘other’ – namely, the ‘immigrant’, ‘refugee’, or ‘foreigner’ – on the basis of embodied signifiers (specifically, their darker complexions). This study also indicates that young Kurds navigate between gendered expectations and norms at home and outside the home environment. They negotiate their positionings through linguistic repertoires – for instance, through mastery of the Finnish language – and by adjusting their behaviour in light of the context. This suggests that young Kurds adopt various forms of agency to display and enact their belonging in a transnational diaspora space. Young Kurds’ narrations display both territorially-bounded and non-territorially-bounded elements with regard to the relationship between identity and locality. ‘Home’ is located in Finland, and the future and aspirations are planned in relation to it. In contrast, the region of Kurdistan is viewed as ‘homeland’ and as the place of origins and roots, where temporary stays and visits are a possibility. The emotional attachments are forged in relation to the country (Finland) and not so much relative to ‘Finnishness’, which the interviewees considered an exclusionary identity category. Furthermore, identification with one’s immediate place of residence (city) or, in some cases, with a religious identity as ‘Muslim’ provides a more flexible venue for identification than does identifying oneself with the (Finnish) nation.

Species composition and biogeographic relations of the rock outcrop flora on the high plateau of Itatiaia, SE-Brazil

We studied the flora of vegetation islands on rock outcrops on the Itatiaia Plateau (22°21'S and 44°40'W), at 2,400 m.a.s.l. A total of 114 vascular plant species, which correspond to ca. 20%-25% of the currently inventoried flora of the plateau, were sampled in 197 small vegetation islands (total area of 0.034 ha). Xerophytes and hydrophytes were often found side by side due to environmental heterogeneity at a small scale, explaining in part the high species diversity. Rock outcrops may support floras quite distinct from those in neighbouring habitats, due to the action of strong environmental filters, but in Itatiaia the geographic distribution patterns among rupicolous plants appear to mimic those described for the whole flora around it, with 15.1% of narrow endemic species and six strictly rupicolous plants. Underlining the "temperate" nature of the high elevation climate in Itatiaia, the sampled flora was dominated by species of the families Asteraceae and Poaceae, and the number of CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism) species was very low. A few endemic species of tropical origin - Pleurostima gounelleana (Beauv.) Men. (Velloziaceae) and Fernseea itatiaiae (Wawra) Baker (Bromeliaceae) - play a crucial role in this vegetation, as pioneer mat-formers facilitating later establishment of numerous other species. Hemicryptophytes prevail in the sampled flora, while therophytes are exceptionally rare and mainly consist of opportunistic species associated with disturbances. Numerous microhabitats and strong environmental gradients in these high elevation rock outcrops afford opportunities for establishment of a highly diversified flora. These island-like environments may represent an important refuge for grassland species from fire and other disturbances in the surrounding grasslands.

Water relations of tree species growing on a rock outcrop in the "Parque Estadual de Itapuã", RS

Water relations of the tree species Myrsine umbellata Mart. ex A. DC., Dodonaea viscosa Jacq. and Erythroxylum argentinum O. E. Schulz, growing on a rock outcrop in the "Parque Estadual de Itapuã" (RS), were studied. Environmental (precipitation, temperature, soil water) and plant (water potential, vapor pressure deficit, stomatal conductance, transpiration, leaf specific hydraulic conductance, osmotic potential and cell wall elasticity) parameters were collected in five periods and pooled into two sets of data: wet and dry periods. Myrsine umbellata showed great stability of the plant parameters, including the maintenance of high pre-dawn (psiwpd) and mid-day (psiwmd) water potentials in the dry period (-0.48 and -1.12 MPa, respectively), suggesting the presence of a deep root system. Dodonaea viscosa and E. argentinum reached lower psiwpd (-1.41 and -1.97 MPa, respectively) and a greater degree of stomatal closure in the dry period, suggesting a shallower root system. Differential exposure to soil drought was also corroborated by differential drought effects on the whole-plant leaf specific hydraulic conductance (Gt). Correlation analysis pointed to weak correlations between psiwpd and g s. Erythroxylum argentinum was the only species to show osmotic adjustment in response to drought. It is suggested that M. umbellata has low tolerance to water deficits, adopting an avoidance behavior. The much lower values of psiw reached by D. viscosa and E. argentinum suggest a greater tolerance to drought by these species.

Amérique septentrionale : dressée sur les relations les plus modernes des voyageurs et navigateurs, et divisée suivant les différentes posessions des Européens

Julkaisussa: Atlas universel

Description de la Tartarie tirée en partie de plusieurs cartes qui en ont esté faictes en partie de diverses relations et de divers autheurs arabes qui ont esté au jour jusques à présent

Julkaisussa: Cartes générales de la géographie ancienne et nouvelle, ou les empires, monarchies, royaumes, estats, républiques, et peuples. Vol I

Heart rate recovery after exercise: relations to heart rate variability and complexity

Physical exercise is associated with parasympathetic withdrawal and increased sympathetic activity resulting in heart rate increase. The rate of post-exercise cardiodeceleration is used as an index of cardiac vagal reactivation. Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) and complexity can provide useful information about autonomic control of the cardiovascular system. The aim of the present study was to ascertain the association between heart rate decrease after exercise and HRV parameters. Heart rate was monitored in 17 healthy male subjects (mean age: 20 years) during the pre-exercise phase (25 min supine, 5 min standing), during exercise (8 min of the step test with an ascending frequency corresponding to 70% of individual maximal power output) and during the recovery phase (30 min supine). HRV analysis in the time and frequency domains and evaluation of a newly developed complexity measure - sample entropy - were performed on selected segments of heart rate time series. During recovery, heart rate decreased gradually but did not attain pre-exercise values within 30 min after exercise. On the other hand, HRV gradually increased, but did not regain rest values during the study period. Heart rate complexity was slightly reduced after exercise and attained rest values after 30-min recovery. The rate of cardiodeceleration did not correlate with pre-exercise HRV parameters, but positively correlated with HRV measures and sample entropy obtained from the early phases of recovery. In conclusion, the cardiodeceleration rate is independent of HRV measures during the rest period but it is related to early post-exercise recovery HRV measures, confirming a parasympathetic contribution to this phase.

Fuzzy tolerance/equivalence relations from intersection, union and complement operators and their application to a clustering method

This master thesis work introduces the fuzzy tolerance/equivalence relation and its application in cluster analysis. The work presents about the construction of fuzzy equivalence relations using increasing generators. Here, we investigate and research on the role of increasing generators for the creation of intersection, union and complement operators. The objective is to develop different varieties of fuzzy tolerance/equivalence relations using different varieties of increasing generators. At last, we perform a comparative study with these developed varieties of fuzzy tolerance/equivalence relations in their application to a clustering method.

Fundraising and investor relations in social enterprise: Marketing your way out of the pioneer gap in African off-grid renewable energy

Social enterprises apply the best of business for the pursuit of social or environmental mission while also generating revenues. Globally, nearly 1,3 billion people lack access to electricity, as well as another billion having access to only low quality and infrequent electricity. Off-grid renewable energy, like solar, will increasingly have a key role in the solution of the energy access issue. The pioneer gap in off-grid renewable energy consists of financing (or funding) gaps and capacity gaps, to do with both the early stage of the enterprises in question, as well as the early stage of the whole industry. The gaps are emphasised by specific characteristics of off-grid renewable energy business models and the requirements of operating in bottom-of-the-pyramid markets. The marketing perspective to fundraising is chosen to uncover the possible role enterprises themselves have in bridging the pioneer gap. The purpose of this thesis is to study how social enterprises operating in off-grid renewable energy in Africa utilise marketing activities in their investor relations in bridging the pioneer gap. This main research question is divided into the following sub-questions:  How does the pioneer gap affect fundraising for these enterprises?  How are the funding needs for these enterprises characterised?  How do these enterprises build trust in their investor relations? The theoretic framework is built on relationship marketing and investor relations, with an emphasis on creation of trust. The research is conducted as a thematical case study. Primary data is gathered via semi-structured interviews with six solar energy companies and two accelerators. According to the findings, the main components affecting trust-creation are diminished information asymmetry and perceived risk, mission alignment as well as a personal fit or relationship with the investor. Therefore, an enterprise can utilise e.g. the following marketing activities in their investor relations to bridge the pioneer gap: ensuring investor material, the enterprise story and presenting of them is clear, concise and complete to “package” the enterprise as an investment; taking investor needs and motivations into account as well as utilising existing investors as ambassadors.

Fiscal reform and federal relations: Brazilian deadlocks

Brazilian fiscal reform got to deadlocks because proposals tried to avoid considering federal relations. There are two main types of federal relations: the competitive and the cooperative. In both types is possible to observe coordination mechanisms. Brazilian federalism is a mixture of both types what leads to difficulties finding solutions. We argue that is more important to find mechanisms to facilitate cooperation than to discuss the qualities of any alternative fiscal structure. Fiscal reforms brings along a great deal of uncertainty. So it is important to discuss the reform timing and the compensation mechanisms before hand.

Between Dugin’s Eurasianism and Mahan’s Sea Power Concept: Russia’s Geopolitical Discourse within Foucault’s ‘Discursive Tree’ before and After the Incorporation of the Crimea

The fall of 2013 could be characterized as a crossroad in the geopolitics of Eastern Europe, namely Ukraine. Two rivalry geopolitical projects have been developing throughout the post-Cold War years, and it seems that they reached a collision point in Ukraine; a country whose authorities have been for long switching sides between the European Union and the Russian Federation in their foreign policy commitments. The refusal/postponing to sign the Association Agreement with Brussels, an expected event by a large category of the Ukrainian society, by Yanukovich’s government led to the outset of the latter; and brought a pro-Western, anti-Russian government in Kyiv. It seems that Ukraine, after those events, has embarked definitively on the path of integration into the West (European Union and possibly NATO). The Russian Federation, who has been throughout Putin’s years engaged into the re-integration of post-Soviet space, reacted to these developments in an assertive manner by violating borders, agreements and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Thus, the incorporation of the Crimea into the Russian Federation is the first in its kind in the post-Soviet space, despite the existence of various other conflicts that broke out in the region after the Soviet Union broke up. I will investigate in this thesis the nature of what will be labelled, in this work, the Crimean issue. I argue that the incorporation of the Crimean peninsula into the Russian Federation marks a new era in Russian geopolitical thinking that shapes, to a far extent, Russian foreign policy. Discourse analysis will be the methodological basis for this study, with a special focus on Michel Foucault’s Archaeology of Knowledge. The innovation that this research brings is the fact that it discusses Russian geopolitical discourse within the scope of Foucault’s ‘discursive tree’, with a reference to the Crimean issue. A wide range of primary sources will be consulted in this study such as presidential addresses to the Federal Assembly (2000-2014), Foreign Policy Concepts of the Russian Federation (2000, 2008), Russian maritime doctrines, as wells as Dugin’s Osnovy Geopolitiki (Foundations of Geopolitics), Mahan’s (The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783) and other Eurasianism related literature.

A year after Crimea: continuity and change of Finnish-Russian relations reflected in the views of the government officials of Finland and Russia

This thesis discusses the dynamism of bilateral relations between Finland and Russia and their interconnection with wider EU-Russia relations in the sight of the recent conflict in Ukraine. In particular, incorporation of Crimea in the territory of Russia in March 2014 is believed to have triggered a series of disputes between the European Union and Russia and thus, have impacted the course of the bilateral Finnish-Russian relations. The study leans on a premise that there are some historical traditions and regularities in the Finnish foreign policy course towards Russia which make the bilateral Finnish-Russian relations special. These traditions are distinguished and described in the book “Russia Forever? Towards Pragmatism in Finnish/Russian relations” (2008) edited by H. Rytövuori-Apunen. Assuming that the featured traditions take place in modern relations between Finland and Russia, the aim of the thesis is to find out how these traditions reappear during the year shaped by the events in Ukraine. In order to do that, author follows the timeline of happenings around the Ukraine crisis starting with Crimea’s referendum on independence, and exams the way these events were commented on and evaluated by the key government officials and political institutions of Finland and Russia. The main focus is given to the Finnish official discourse on Russia during the study period. The data collection, consisting of mostly primary sources (ministerial press releases and comments, statements, speeches and blog posts of individual policy makers) is processed using the thematic analysis supported by the content analysis. The study reveals that the consequences of the Ukraine crisis have brought, among others, complications to the economic cooperation between Finland and Russia, and have stimulated the increased attention of the Finnish decision makers to the country’s security questions. As a result, the character and importance of some historical regularities of the Finnish foreign policies on Russia, like the Continental Dilemma, have taken new shape.

Stretching the drum skin : an analysis of power relations in leadership and succession in the Evangelical Lutheran church in Tanzania-Northern diocese 1942– 1993

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