Irving langmuir: o milagre da ciência

Irving Langmuir received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1932 "...for his outstanding discoveries and investigations within the field of surface chemistry", according to the Swedish Academy. However, few people know that his work comprises other very important contributions, and not only for chemistry, such as the discovery of plasma, the atomic hydrogen, the pure thermoionic phenomenon, the development of the cloud seeding technique for weather modification, among many others. This paper summarizes Langmuir's most important discoveries and theories, with an especial mention for his practical inventions and his work on the atomic theory.

Käänteinen arvonlisäverotus rakennustoimialan näkökulmasta

Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää käänteisen arvonlisäverotuksen mahdollisen käyttöönoton vaikutuksia suomalaisille rakennusyrityksille. Käänteinen arvonlisäverotus liittyy rakennusalalla ilmenevän harmaan talouden hillitsemiseen. Vastaavanlainen menettely on käytössä muutamissa Euroopan maissa, joista verrokkimaaksi työhön valikoitui Ruotsi. Tutkielmassa on käyty läpi talousrikollisuutta rakennusalalla, rakennusalan erityispiirteitä, Suomen ja Ruotsin arvonlisäverojärjestelmiä sekä käännetyn menettelyn käytöstä saatuja kokemuksia. Lisäksi haluttiin selvittää ruotsalaisten tekemiä lainsäädännöllisiä valintoja sekä niiden vaikutuksia. Tutkielman empiirinen aineisto kerättiin haastatteluin sekä Suomesta että Ruotsista. Tutkimuksen tuloksena voidaan sanoa, että menettely aiheuttaa yrityksille ylimääräistä hallinnollista taakkaa, mutta siitä huolimatta sen käyttöönottoon on suhtauduttu Ruotsissa melko positiivisesti. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin myös, että yksityiskohdilla ja säännöksillä on huomattavan suuri merkitys käännetyn menettelyn yrityksille aiheuttamaan kuormitukseen.

Natural Science in the Bothnian Sea During 1975-2008: A Review

The Baltic Sea is one of the most studied areas in the world. However, parts of its northernmost reach, the Bothnian Sea, seem to be under represented in the natural scientific literature compared to other parts of the Baltic. The Bothnian Sea represents a unique inland sea environment for the scientific community to study due to its shallowness and low salinity. The natural sciences research carried out on the Bothnian Sea has been reviewed between 1975 and 2008. This time period was chosen to continue on from an earlier review paper ending in 1974. Along with the number of papers published the goal was also to review the content of the papers, indentifying dominating themes to evaluate gaps in the current knowledge on the Bothnian Sea and provide recommendations for topics of future research focus. In a classification into specific research topics biodiversity was the leading research focus followed by chemical and physical oceanography, pollution and toxins, and fish biology and fisheries. The current good condition of the Bothnian Sea is highly valued with its historically less eutrophic and clearer waters when compared to the Baltic. However, today the Bothnian Sea is facing eutrophication resulting from nutrient-rich water transported by the many rivers draining into it from Sweden and Finland making it an area in need of protection and preservation. More human activity will also concentrate on the Bothnian Sea in the future. Therefore the use of the sea and its coastal areas must be planned carefully to minimize the harmful effects of this increasing human activity. To achieve this more information is needed for the basis of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and maritime spatial planning (MSP). For example, for the Bothnian Sea the information on the underwater nature which is essential for ICZM is so far missing to a large extent. Specific biological, chemical and physical oceanographic information is needed to combine with economic analyses and environmental policies regarding this region. More research of a multidisciplinary nature is required on the unique Bothnian Sea environment and this we feel is best achieved through a joint Finnish-Swedish research strategy.

Controllerilta vaadittavat ominaisuudet ja keskeisimmät työtehtävät - casetutkimus

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, millaiset ovat controllereiden työtehtävät ja controllereilta vaadittavat ominaisuudet tänä päivänä. Teoreettisena taustana tutkimuksessa oli johdon laskentatoimen kehitys 1980-luvulta tähän päivään. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisin menetelmin analysoimalla tänä vuonna julkaistuja suomalaisia ja ruotsalaisia controller-rekrytointi-ilmoituksia ja haastattelemalla henkilökohtaisesti controllerin työtehtävissä työskenteleviä henkilöitä useilta toimialoilta. Tutkimuksen keskeisimpänä tuloksena havaittiin, että yrityksen työpaikkailmoituksissa vaadittavissa ominaisuuksissa on eroavaisuuksia suhteessa haastattelussa painotettuihin ominaisuuksiin. Ilmoituksissa mainitut controllereiden työtehtävät olivat enemmän linjassa todellisten työtehtävien kanssa. Sekä työpaikkailmoituksissa että haastatteluissa kävi ilmi, että controllerin työtehtävä sisältää useasti edelleen ulkoiseen laskentaan liittyviä työtehtäviä. Tämä viittaa siihen, että controller-nimikkeen käyttö ei ole vielä vakiintunut vastaamaan johdon laskentatoimen tehtäviä. Controllereiden haastatteluissa nousi esiin useita controller-toiminnon kehityskohteita. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä todettiin, että controllerin työtehtävien ja ominaisuuksien kehittämiseen ovat vaikuttaneet johdon laskentatoimen tietojärjestelmien kehitys, uudet laskentainnovaatiot ja controllerin roolinmuutos kohti strategista liiketoiminnan tukijaa. Yritysten controller-toimintoa ei ole haastatteluiden perusteella kuitenkaan vielä organisoitu vastaamaan tätä roolinmuutosta, joten controllerit kokivat, että heillä ei ole riittävästi aikaa analysointityöhön. Lisäksi controllereiden yhteistyötä kollegojen ja sidosryhmien kanssa pitäisi lisätä ja controller-toiminto tulisi tuoda lähemmäs liiketoimintaa.

Gerontologia & geriatria

Gerontologian ja geriatrian pääkokoelma sijaitsee Terveystieteiden osastokirjastossa, jossa painettu yleiskokoelma koostuu 251 nimekkeestä monografioita. Kokoelmassa on runsaasti (38 %) sosiaaligerontologian kirjallisuutta, jolloin vanhenemisesta tarkastellaan yhteiskunnallisesta näkökulmasta. Kokoelmasta noin viidennes (22 %) on vanhenemiseen liittyviä yleisteoksia. Vanhenemista prosessina (13 %) ja geriatrista psykiatriaa (12 %) käsittelevät kirjat ovat myös selvästi edustettuina. Painettuja edelleen tulevia lehtiä on 3 kpl (Gerontechnology, Gerontologia, International Journal of Aging and Human Development). Sähkökirjoja on noin 150 nimekettä Ebrary-tietokannassa ja noin 40 nimekettä SpringerLink-tietokannassa. Lisäksi Books@Ovid, MDConcult ja Oxford Medical Handook Online -kokoelmissa yksi kirja. Tietosanakirjoja on 1 kpl (Encyclopedia of Gerontology). Sanastoja on 5 kpl( Hoidokki, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon sanasto, Swedish MeSH, Termix). Verkkolehtiä on kokoelmassa noin 80 nimekettä. ISI Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports -tietokannan listaamista 52 gerontologian & geriatrian lehdistä kokoelmissa on 38 nimekettä eli 73 prosenttia. Gerontologiaan ja geriatriaan liittyviä artikkeleita löytyy usean tieteenalan, kuten lääketieteen, hoitotieteen, kansanterveystieteen ja sosiaalitietieteiden, viitetietokannoista. Tietokantoja on noin 15-20, joista keskeisimpiä ovat esimerkiksi Medline, Web of Science ja Cinahl. Tämän lisäksi käytössä on useita lehtitietokantoja, esimerkiksi ScienceDirect ja EbscoHost.

Traffic flow development at North European company level with respect of China and Russia

The aim of the thesis is to analyze traffic flows and its development from North European companies` point of view to China and Russia using data from logistics questionnaire. Selected North European companies are large Finnish and Swedish companies. The questionnaire was sent via email to the target group. The study is based on the answers got from respondent companies from years 2006, 2009 and 2010. In the thesis Finnish Talouselämä newspaper and Swedish Affärsdata are used as a database to find the target companies for the survey. Respondents were most often logistics managers in companies. In the beginning of the thesis concepts of transportation logistics is presented, including container types, trade terms, axel loads in roads and in railways. Also there is information about warehousing types and terminals. After that, general information of Chinese and Russian transportation logistics is presented. Chinese and Russian issues are discussed in two sections. In both of them it is analyzed economic development, freight transport and trade balance. Some practical examples of factory inaugurations in China and Russia are presented that Finnish and Swedish companies have completed. In freight transport section different transportation modes, logistics outsourcing and problems of transportation logistics is discussed. The results of the thesis show that transportation flows between Europe and China is changing. Freight traffic from China to European countries will strengthen even more from the current base. When it comes to Russia and Europe, traffic flows seem to be changing from eastbound traffic to westbound traffic. It means that in the future it is expected more freight traffic from Russia to Europe. Some probable reasons for that are recent factory establishments in Russia and company interviews support also this observation. Effects of the economic recession are mainly seen in the lower transportation amounts in 2009.

Rahatalous

Suomen Pankin kirjaston rahatalouden kokoelma on maan kattavin ja monipuolisin rahatalouteen ja rahoitusmarkkinoihin painottunut kokoelma. Kokoelmaan kuuluu merkittävä määrä nimekkeitä, joita ei ole hankittu muihin suomalaisiin kirjastoihin. Rahatalouden kokoelma koostuu monografioista, painetuista kausijulkaisuista ja elektronisista lehtitietokannoista. Kokoelma on painottunut tieteelliseen kirjallisuuteen, joka tukee pankissa tehtävää tutkimusta. Lisäksi aineistossa on huomattava määrä yleistajuista kirjallisuutta rahatalouden eri aihealueilta. Rahatalouden kokoelmaan kuuluu monografioita n. 9000 nimekettä (joulukuu 2010). Kokoelma käsittää nimekkeitä useilta eri aihealueilta, kuten rahapolitiikka ja rahateoria (n. 900), valuutat, valuuttajärjestelmät ja valuuttakurssit (n. 1100), pankkitoiminta ja keskuspankit (n. 1300), rahoitusmarkkinat (n. 1700), yleinen talousteoria ja oppihistoria (n. 1300), talouspolitiikka ja -historia (n. 450), hyöty- ja hintateoriat (n. 300), taloudellinen kasvu ja kansantulo (n. 700), suhdanteet (n. 250), julkinen talous ja verotus (n. 400) ja ekonometria (n. 600). Lehtiä kokoelmaan kuuluu n. 300 nimekettä, joista edelleen tilataan 200 nimekettä. Osa lehdistä löytyy painettuna ja osa on käytettävissä kirjastoon hankittujen elektronisten lehtitietokantojen kautta. Kokoelma karttuu pääosin ostojen kautta ja uutta aineistoa hankitaan jatkuvasti. Kokoelmaa on kartutettu systemaattisesti 1950-luvulta lähtien, minkä vuoksi siihen kuuluu merkittävästi vanhempaa aineistoa. Kokoelmaan kuuluvista kirjoista n. 26 % on julkaistu 2000-luvulla ja n. 21 % 1990-luvulla. Varsin suuri osa kirjoista, n. 29 %, on julkaistu 1970- ja 1980-luvulla. Ennen vuotta 1950 julkaistua aineistoa on n. 10 % kokoelmasta. Aineisto on valtaosin englanninkielistä, mutta kokoelmaan kuuluu myös suomen-, ruotsin- ja saksankielisiä nimekkeitä. Monografiat on luokiteltu Suomen Pankin kirjaston oman luokitusjärjestelmän mukaan. Kokoelmaa säilytetään Suomen Pankin kirjaston tiloissa jaettuna avokokoelmaan ja varastokokoelmaan. Aineiston ensisijaisia käyttäjiä ovat pankin oma henkilökunta, mutta kirjasto on avoinna myös kaikille ulkoisille asiakkaille. Kokoelma on lainattavissa muutamia poikkeuksia lukuun ottamatta.

The introduction of Mormonism to Finnish society, 1840-1900

This study examines the place of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon church) in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland between the years 1840 and 1900. Attention is put on both the internal workings of the movement and the reactions of society. Theoretical insight is gained through the concepts of social construction and religious economies. Mormon image formation in Finland began by 1840 through newspaper reports on activities abroad and through essays on the faith’s history and doctrine. Mormons are mentioned almost 3,500 times in Finnish newspapers between 1840 and 1900, and at least twelve unique book titles sold in the country were explicitly devoted to discussing Mormonism. Most of the publicity was derived from foreign sources. Discourse analysis of this textual corpus shows a hegemonic discourse that combined themes such as fraud, deception, and theocracy in explaining the Mormon movement. Accompanied by plural marriage, these themes contributed to the construction of a strongly negative image of Mormonism already before the first missionaries arrived in 1875. In a society with a stringently regulated religious economy, this image contributed to a high level of resistance by civil authorities and Lutheran clergy. Twenty-five Mormon missionaries worked in Finland between 1875 and 1900, with a concentrated effort taking place between 1875 and 1889. At least 78 persons converted, mostly in the coastal areas among the Swedish-speaking minority population. Nine percent emigrated to Utah, 36% were excommunicated, others fell into oblivion, while still others clung to their new faith. The work was led from Sweden, with no stable church organization emerging among the isolated pockets of converts. Mormonism’s presence was thus characterized by private or small-group religiosity rather than a vibrant movement. The lack of religious community, conversation, and secondary socialization eventually caused the nineteenth-century manifestation of Finnish Mormonism to die out. Only one group of converts was perpetuated past World War II, after which large-scale proselytizing began.

Parallella, dynamiska representationer i gymnasiefysiken : implementering av ett interaktivt datorverktyg i didaktiska situationer och uppfattning av effektivt lärande

The computer is a useful tool in the teaching of upper secondary school physics, and should not have a subordinate role in students' learning process. However, computers and computer-based tools are often not available when they could serve their purpose best in the ongoing teaching. Another problem is the fact that commercially available tools are not usable in the way the teacher wants. The aim of this thesis was to try out a novel teaching scenario in a complicated subject in physics, electrodynamics. The didactic engineering of the thesis consisted of developing a computer-based simulation and training material, implementing the tool in physics teaching and investigating its effectiveness in the learning process. The design-based research method, didactic engineering (Artigue, 1994), which is based on the theoryof didactical situations (Brousseau, 1997), was used as a frame of reference for the design of this type of teaching product. In designing the simulation tool a general spreadsheet program was used. The design was based on parallel, dynamic representations of the physics behind the function of an AC series circuit in both graphical and numerical form. The tool, which was furnished with possibilities to control the representations in an interactive way, was hypothesized to activate the students and promote the effectiveness of their learning. An effect variable was constructed in order to measure the students' and teachers' conceptions of learning effectiveness. The empirical study was twofold. Twelve physics students, who attended a course in electrodynamics in an upper secondary school, participated in a class experiment with the computer-based tool implemented in three modes of didactical situations: practice, concept introduction and assessment. The main goal of the didactical situations was to have students solve problems and study the function of AC series circuits, taking responsibility for theirown learning process. In the teacher study eighteen Swedish speaking physics teachers evaluated the didactic potential of the computer-based tool and the accompanying paper-based material without using them in their physics teaching. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using questionnaires, observations and interviews. The result of the studies showed that both the group of students and the teachers had generally positive conceptions of learning effectiveness. The students' conceptions were more positive in the practice situation than in the concept introduction situation, a setting that was more explorative. However, it turned out that the students' conceptions were also positive in the more complex assessment situation. This had not been hypothesized. A deeper analysis of data from observations and interviews showed that one of the students in each pair was more active than the other, taking more initiative and more responsibilityfor the student-student and student-computer interaction. These active studentshad strong, positive conceptions of learning effectiveness in each of the threedidactical situations. The group of less active students had a weak but positive conception in the first iv two situations, but a negative conception in the assessment situation, thus corroborating the hypothesis ad hoc. The teacher study revealed that computers were seldom used in physics teaching and that computer programs were in short supply. The use of a computer was considered time-consuming. As long as physics teaching with computer-based tools has to take place in special computer rooms, the use of such tools will remain limited. The affordance is enhanced when the physical dimensions as well as the performance of the computer are optimised. As a consequence, the computer then becomes a real learning tool for each pair of students, smoothly integrated into the ongoing teaching in the same space where teaching normally takes place. With more interactive support from the teacher, the computer-based parallel, dynamic representations will be efficient in promoting the learning process of the students with focus on qualitative reasoning - an often neglected part of the learning process of the students in upper secondary school physics.

Kielikylpydidaktiikkaa kehittämässä : 3-6-vuotiaiden kielikylpylasten kielellinen kehitys ja kielikylpydidaktiikan kehittäminen päiväkodissa

The goal of this study is to determine the naming ability in Finnish and Swedish of nursery school-aged children participating in a language immersion programme, as well as their command of both languages. The study also aims to describe factors reflecting language immersion teaching in nursery schools based on action research and a literature survey. The longitudinal study, conducted in 2003–2005, comprised 133 native Finnish three- to six-year-old children in language immersion programmes. A total of four measurements were carried out over two and a half years. In each measurement, four separate tests were given to each child (totally 1134 measurements). Research material was collected using survey tools that measured the children’s naming ability and command of language. The tools had been translated into both Finnish and Swedish. The material also includes taped responses related to the tool for naming ability. Didactic approaches were developed on the basis of material from action research and the literature survey. The material was examined using methodological triangulation, and a quantitative analysis was made of each survey tool. Furthermore, a content analysis of the children’s taped responses gave further depth to the description of language development. The theoretical framework of the study is mainly based on modern sociocultural theories of second language development and acquisition. Thus, the approach is both linguistic and pedagogic, with emphasis lying on the latter. The socioculturally-oriented framework of this study is mainly influenced by the theorists Vygotski, Spolsky, van Lier and Cummins. According to the results, the language skills of children in language immersion programmes develop as expected from age three to six in the fields studied. In the field of language command, the children acquired excellent skills in listening comprehension. Their naming ability was not as good. In each test, the children showed weaker skills in Swedish than in Finnish. However, based on the assumption that the two languages have a shared cognitive field, the skills in Swedish catch up with the skills in Finnish at an annual rate of 6–7 per cent. The study indicates that children meet a language development threshold one year earlier in their native language than they do in the immersion language. As for the naming ability in Swedish, problems arose from the fact that the deviation in results increases with age. Children showed creativity in their use of naming strategies. Judging by the research results, children begin to use the immersion language as a tool for thought at a very early phase. The research results, action research and literature survey were also used to create a general educational model for language immersion.

Ja vet int va de heter på svenska : interaktion mellan tvåspråkiga elever och deras lärare i en enspråkig klassrumsdiskurs

This is a study about language and learning aspects in the interaction between pupils and teachers in classrooms, where the majority of the pupils are bilingual. The aim of the dissertation is to develop the understanding of interactional learning possibilities and constraints in relation to a bilingual context. Language related learning is used as an overall conception which covers learning related to classroom discourse, language and subject. The empirical study has been made in a Swedish speaking school in a strongly Finnish dominated environment in the south of Finland. In the material, mainly consisting of video recorded lessons in forms one to three, the interaction between the pupils and the teachers is analysed. Building on a social constructionist perspective, where learning is regarded as a social phenomenon, situated and visible in changing participation, sequences where pupils or teachers make the language relevant are emphasised. The sequences are analysed in line with the conversation analytic (CA) approach. A fundamental result is an understanding of a monolingual classroom discourse, jointly constructed by teachers and pupils and visible in the pupils' interactionally problematized code-switching. This means that the pupils are not victims of a top-driven language policy; they are active co-constructors of the monolingual discourse. Through different repair initiations the pupils are doing interactional work in positioning themselves correctly in the monolingual discourse, which they simultaneously maintain. This work has a price in relation to time, knowledge and exactness. The pupils' problematized code-switching is often directly and shortly repaired by the teachers. This kind of repair promotes the pupils' participation and is not, as opposed to the results of research in everyday talk, dispreferred in pupil-teacher talk. When the pupils use the possibility to, in a comparatively easy way, participate and thus express their knowledge through codeswitching, and simultaneously talk a monolingual discourse into being, the teacher can, through direct repair, show an understanding in regard to the content, facilitate language learning and simultaneously confirm the pupils as competent speakers and bilingual individuals. Furthermore, significant results show that the monolingual norm has a function of a contrasting background which gives the pupils and the teachers a possibility to use language alternation as a functional and meaningful activity. The pupils use codeswitching as a way of protesting or expressing non-participation in the classroom talk. By making the pupils' bilingualism relevant, the teachers express understanding and empathy and encourage the pupils' participation in the classroom talk. Bilingualism is a nonpreferred, but functioning, resource in the interaction between pupils and teachers.

Från problemföretag till kapitalförvaltning : Sveriges statliga företag 1980-2007

The Swedish State is a large owner of enterprises. The Swedish Government Office administers 54 companies/groups, of which 40 are wholly-owned and 14 partly-owned by the State. A total of approximately 180,000 people are employed in these enterprises. The State is moreover one of the largest owners of the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The total value of the enterprises is assessed at around SEK 750 billion. This study focuses on the key reasons why the Swedish State has had ownership in a wide range of companies. The study provides, with the help of earlier research, an historical review of government involvement in business. A deeper analysis of the Swedish situation is presented for the period 1980-2007. Concrete reasons are identified, along with explanations of the development of the state–owned sector, with respect to turnover, employment, industrial structure, results and investment. The development of the rules for Corporate Governance in the State sector is explained. This study also includes a look at the creation of State-owned subsidiaries as the means to develop and expand business. In addition, this examination presents a systematization of important reasons why new State-owned companies will be created. A creation which must be considered as a dynamic process over time.

Social capital and health : variations, associations and challenges

Although social capital and health have been extensively studied during the last decade, there are still open issues in current empirical research. These concern for instance the measurement of the concept in different contexts, as well as the association between different types of social capital and different dimensions of health. The present thesis addressed these questions. The general aim was to promote the understanding of social capital and health by investigating the oldest old and the two major language groups in Finland, Swedish- and Finnish-speakers. Another aim was to contribute to the discussion on methodological issues in social capital and health research. The present thesis investigated two empirical data sets, Umeå 85+ and Health 2000. The Umeå 85+ study was a cross-sectional study of 163 individuals aged 85, 90, and 95 or older, living in the municipality of Umeå, Sweden, in the year of 2000. The Health 2000 survey was a national study of 8,028 persons aged 30 or above carried out in Finland in 2000-2001. Different indicators of structural (e.g. social contacts) and cognitive (e.g. trust) social capital, as well as health indicators were used as variables in the analyses. The Umeå 85+ data set was analyzed with factor analysis, as well as univariate and multivariate analysis of variance. The Health 2000 data was analyzed with logistic regression techniques. The results showed that the Swedish-speakers in the Finnish data set Health 2000 had consistently higher prevalence of social capital compared to the Finnish-speakers even after controlling for central sociodemographic variables. The results further showed that even if the language group differences in health were small, the Swedishspeakers experienced in general better self-reported health compared with the Finnish-speakers. Common sociodemographic variables could not explain these observed differences in health. The results imply that social capital is often, but not always, associated with health. This was clearly seen in the Umeå 85+ data set where only one health indicator (depressive symptoms) was associated with structural social capital among the oldest old. The results based on the analysis of the Health 2000 survey demonstrated that the cognitive component of social capital was associated with self-rated health and psychological health rather than with participation in social activities and social contacts. In addition, social capital statistically reduced the health advantage especially for Swedish-speaking men, indicating that high prevalence of social capital may promote health. Finally, the present thesis also discussed the issue of methodological challenges faced with when analyzing social capital and health. It was suggested that certain components of social capital such as bonding and bridging social capital may be more relevant than structural and cognitive components when investigating social capital among the two language groups in Finland. The results concerning the oldest old indicated that the structural aspects of social capital probably reflect current living conditions, whereas cognitive social capital reflects attitudes and traits often acquired decades earlier. This is interpreted as an indication of the fact that structural and cognitive social capital are closely related yet empirically two distinctive concepts. Taken together, some components of social capital may be more relevant to study than others depending on which population group and age group is under study. The results also implied that the choice of cut-off point of dichotomization of selfrated health has an impact on the estimated effects of the explanatory variables. When the whole age interval, 35-64 years, was analyzed with logistic regression techniques the choice of cut-off point did not matter for the estimated effects of marital status and educational level. The results changed, however, when the age interval was divided into three shorter intervals. If self-rated health is explored using wide age intervals that do not account for age-dependent covariates there is a risk of drawing misleading conclusions. In conclusion, the results presented in the thesis suggest that the uneven distribution of social capital observed between the two language groups in Finland are of importance when trying to further understand health inequalities that exist between Swedish- and Finnish-speakers in Finland. Although social capital seemed to be relevant to the understanding of health among the oldest old, the meaning of social capital is probably different compared to a less vulnerable age group. This should be noticed in future empirical research. In the present thesis, it was shown that the relationship between social capital and health is complex and multidimensional. Different aspects of social capital seem to be important for different aspects of health. This reduces the possibility to generalize the results and to recommend general policy implementations in this area. An increased methodological awareness regarding social capital as well as health are called for in order to further understand the cfomplex association between them. However, based on the present data and findings social capital is associated with health. To understand individual health one must also consider social aspects of the individuals’ environment such as social capital.

Hemmet som ethos : en idéhistorisk studie av hur hemmet som ethos blev evident i hälsosysterns vårdande under 1900-talets första hälft

The home as ethos, an ethical dimension of human beings, is this study’s focus of interest. Can the home as ethos comprise motive and driving force for a human being? This dissertation has a mainly hermeneutic approach with a Caring Science interpretive horizon. Firstly, the purpose of this study is to develop the concept “home” through etymological and semantic analysis. The concept’s Caring Science content is also investigated. Secondly, the purpose of this study is to investigate, through the use of a history of ideas method, how the home as ethos is made visible and evident in public health nurses’ caring during the first half of the 20th century. Which motives compromise the driving force behind public health nurses’ caring? Which idea patterns are stressed? Material for the study’s concept determination consists of tymological dictionaries as well as Swedish language dictionaries published from 1850 – 2001. The results of the concept determination provide a preliminary idea-model, where dimensions such as ethos as a human being’s innermost room, human beings’ manner of being, and the metaphor “my home is my castle” are stressed. These results comprise the background of the history of ideas portion of the study. The study’s history of ideas investigation occurs through the evaluation and interpretation of historical sources focusing on the caring provided by public health nurses. Public health nurses comprise both the context and prevalent traditions during the time-period studied. The historical sources consist of three different types of sources, namely textbooks, archived material, and the professional nursing journals Epione and Sairaanhoitajatarlehti. The purpose is to rediscover fundamental idea-patterns through the thematic structuring of the patterns appearing in the historical sources. Three main idea-patterns and underlying themes are rediscovered: love- a fire which burns inside human beings; reverence for human beings and home; and the honor of responsibility. The emerging patterns are tightly interwoven and form a pattern. A new interpretation occurs, widening the study’s horizon and leading to the emergence of the theory-model’s contours. The study’s theory-model is formed from three different levels. Ethos as a human being’s innermost room- the spirit, encompasses a human being’s value base and the spirit that he/she is permeated with. Fundamental values are converted into an internal ethic, becoming visible in human beings’ manner of being- the manner of conduct. The metaphor “my home is my castle”- the tone, symbolizes the room where a human being’s abstract or concrete being lives. The spirit, the ethos, is expressed in a home’s culture and atmosphere, that is to say the tone of a home or how one lives in a room. Communion is a significant component in the creation of a culture and atmosphere. This study’s theory-model gives rise to a new perspective that can generate new patterns of action. The study’s theory-model results in a new historically-based view that create new patterns of action in care and Caring Science today.

Kotimaisten pankkien vuosikertomukset

Suomen Pankin kirjastossa on kattava kokoelma kotimaisten pankkien ja rahoituslaitosten vuosikertomuksia. Kokoelmaan kuuluu liikepankkien, osuus- ja säästöpankkien ja investointipankkien vuosikertomuksia. Lisäksi kokoelmassa säilytetään Helsingin pörssin vuosikertomuksia vuodesta 1912 lähtien. Vanhimmat kokoelmaan kuuluvat vuosikertomukset ovat 1800-luvulta, ja kokoelmaa kartutetaan jatkuvasti. Julkaisujen kielinä ovat suomi, ruotsi ja englanti.