Ethics in a Technological World : Framing the Questions and Three Approaches

This study addresses the following question: How to think about ethics in a technological world? The question is treated first thematically by framing central issues in the relationship between ethics and technology. This relationship has three distinct facets: i) technological advance poses new challenges for ethics, ii) traditional ethics may become poorly applicable in a technologically transformed world, and iii) the progress in science and technology has altered the concept of rationality in ways that undermine ethical thinking itself. The thematic treatment is followed by the description and analysis of three approaches to the questions framed. First, Hans Jonas s thinking on the ontology of life and the imperative of responsibility is studied. In Jonas s analysis modern culture is found to be nihilistic because it is unable to understand organic life, to find meaning in reality, and to justify morals. At the root of nihilism Jonas finds dualism, the traditional Western way of seeing consciousness as radically separate from the material world. Jonas attempts to create a metaphysical grounding for an ethic that would take the technologically increased human powers into account and make the responsibility for future generations meaningful and justified. The second approach is Albert Borgmann s philosophy of technology that mainly assesses the ways in which technological development has affected everyday life. Borgmann admits that modern technology has liberated humans from toil, disease, danger, and sickness. Furthermore, liberal democracy, possibilities for self-realization, and many of the freedoms we now enjoy would not be possible on a large scale without technology. Borgmann, however, argues that modern technology in itself does not provide a whole and meaningful life. In fact, technological conditions are often detrimental to the good life. Integrity in life, according to him, is to be sought among things and practices that evade technoscientific objectification and commodification. Larry Hickman s Deweyan philosophy of technology is the third approach under scrutiny. Central in Hickman s thinking is a broad definition of technology that is nearly equal to Deweyan inquiry. Inquiry refers to the reflective and experiential way humans adapt to their environment by modifying their habits and beliefs. In Hickman s work, technology consists of all kinds of activities that through experimentation and/or reflection aim at improving human techniques and habits. Thus, in addition to research and development, many arts and political reforms are technological for Hickman. He argues for recasting such distinctions as fact/value, poiesis/praxis/theoria, and individual/society. Finally, Hickman does not admit a categorical difference between ethics and technology: moral values and norms need to be submitted to experiential inquiry as well as all the other notions. This study mainly argues for an interdisciplinary approach to the ethics of technology. This approach should make use of the potentialities of the research traditions in applied ethics, the philosophy of technology, and the social studies on science and technology and attempt to overcome their limitations. This study also advocates an endorsement of mid-level ethics that concentrate on the practices, institutions, and policies of temporal human life. Mid-level describes the realm between the instantaneous and individualistic micro-level and the universal and global macro level.

The Nature, Origins, and Consequences of Finnish Shame-Proneness: A Grounded Theory Study

Although shame is a universal human emotion and is one of the most difficult emotions to overcome, its origins and nature as well as its effects on psychosocial functioning are not well understood or defined. While psychological and spiritual counselors are aware of the effects and consequences of shame for an individual s internal well-being and social life, shame is often still considered a taboo topic and is not given adequate attention. This study aims to explain the developmental process and effects of shame and shame-proneness for individuals and provide tools for practitioners to work more effectively with their clients who struggle with shame. This study presents the empirical foundation for a grounded theory that describes and explains the nature, origins, and consequences of shame-proneness. The study focused on Finnish participants childhood, adolescence and adulthood experiences and why they developed shame-proneness, what it meant for them as children and adolescents and what it meant for them as adults. The data collection phase of this study began in 2000. The participants were recruited through advertisements in local and country-wide newspapers and magazines. Altogether 325 people responded to the advertisements by sending an essay concerning their shame and guilt experiences. For the present study, 135 essays were selected and from those who sent an essay 19 were selected for in-depth interviews. In addition to essays and interviews, participants personal notebooks and childhood hospital and medical reports as well as their scores on the Internalized Shame Scale were analyzed. The development of shame-proneness and significant experiences and events during childhood and adolescence (e.g., health, parenting and parents behavior, humiliation, bullying, neglect, maltreatment and abuse) are discussed and the connections of shame-proneness to psychological concepts such as self-esteem, attachment, perfectionism, narcissism, submissiveness, pleasing others, heightened interpersonal subjectivity, and codependence are explained. Relationships and effects of shame-proneness on guilt, spirituality, temperament, coping strategies, defenses, personality formation and psychological health are also explicated. In addition, shame expressions and the development of shame triggers as well as internalized and externalized shame are clarified. These connections and developments are represented by the core category lack of gaining love, validation and protection as the authentic self. The conclusions drawn from the study include a categorization of shame-prone Finnish people according to their childhood and adolescent experiences and the characteristics of their shame-proneness and personality. Implications for psychological and spiritual counseling are also discussed. Key words: shame, internalized shame, external shame, shame development, shame triggers, guilt, self-esteem, attachment, narcissism, perfectionism, submissiveness, codependence, childhood neglect, childhood abuse, childhood maltreatment, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, psychological well-being

Sankarihautaus vapaussodassa : valkoisten kaatuneiden hautaaminen Suomessa vuonna 1918

Civil War Hero Burials the funerals of the fallen White in Finland in 1918 This study focuses on the burial with honours of fallen White combatants during the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as well as on the reasons underpinning the practice. The main sources of the study included the archives of the White army, the Civil Guard organisation and the Church, as well as the newspapers. The genetic method of history research was used. Both the existing tradition of military burials and the ecclesiastical burial culture influenced the burials of those who fell during the Civil War. The first war hero funerals took place as early as the beginning of February 1918, and the first larger-scale collective funerals were organised in Laihia and Vaasa in the Ostrobothnia province, with the latter attended by the supreme civil and military leaders of White Finland. From early on, these funerals assumed their characteristic features, such as the lion flag a design for the Finnish national flag proposed immediately upon the declaration of the country s independence military parades, lines of honour guards, eulogies, salutes and common war hero graves. As a result of the general offensive begun in mid-March 1918, the numbers of the fallen multiplied, so special organisations were established to handle the burials of the fallen. At the same time, the war hero funerals became more frequent and diffused, and the numbers of the buried grew throughout the country. In early March, the advocates of the republican system of government published their appeal in the newspapers, requesting that collective graves for those who fell in the war prepared in every locality. They motivated their request by stating that it was the funerals in particular that had inspired many men to join the ranks voluntarily in the first place, and that the large collective soldiers graves increased the numbers of those who answered the call and left for the front. The Civil Guard organisation arranged the burials of war heroes. The clergy contributed by officiating the religious service and by clearly aligning themselves with the Whites in their eulogies. The teachings of the Lutheran Church suggest that they found the Whites to be the temporal authority instituted by God, and therefore authorised raising the sword against the Reds. Speaking at the funerals with great pomp and sentimental power, the leaders of the Civil Guard and the exponents of the learned classes instigated their audiences against the Reds. The funeral speeches idealised the war hero s death by recalling military history since the times of ancient Greece. Being of the emblematic colour of the Whites, the white coffin assumed a particular importance connected to ideas of biblical purity and innocence. By the end of May 1918, almost 3,300 Whites were buried in the soldiers graves prepared by the burial organisation in some 400 localities. Only about 200 men remained missing in action or unidentified. The largest common graves accommodated over 60 fallen combatants. Thus, the traditions of the 1918 Civil War directly influenced war hero burial practices, which continued into the Finnish Winter War of 1939.

The Politics of Pulp Investment and the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST)

The Politics of Pulp Investment and the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST) The paper industry has been moving more heavily to the global South at the beginning of the 21st century. In a number of cases the rural populations of the global South have engaged in increasingly important resistance in their scuffle with the large-scale tree plantation-relying pulp investment model. The resistance had generally not yet managed to slow down Southern industrial tree plantation expansion until 2004. After all, even the MST, perhaps the strongest of the Southern movements, has limited power in comparison to the corporations pushing for plantation expansion. This thesis shows how, even against these odds, depending on the mechanisms of contention and case-specific conflict dynamics, in some cases the movements have managed to slow and even reverse plantation expansion. The thesis is based on extensive field research in the Brazilian countryside. It outlines a new theory of contentious agency promotion, emphasizing its importance in the shaping of corporate resource exploitation. The thesis includes a Qualitative Comparative Analysis of resistance influence on the economic outcomes of all (14) Brazilian large-scale pulp projects between 2004-2008. The central hypothesis of the thesis is that corporate resource exploitation can be slowed down more effectively and likely when the resistance is based on contentious agency. Contentious agency is created by the concatenation of five mutually supporting mechanisms of contention: organizing and politicizing a social movement; heterodox framing of pulp projects; protesting; networking; and embedding whilst maintaining autonomy. The findings suggest that contentious agency can slow or even reverse the expansion of industrial plantations, whereas when contentious agency promotion was inactive, fast or even unchecked plantation expansion was always the outcome. The rule applied to all the assessed 14 pulp conflict cases. The hypothesis gained strong support even in situations where corporate agency promotion was simultaneously active. In previous studies on social movements, there has been a lack of contributions that help us understand the causal mechanisms of contention influencing economic outcomes. The thesis answers to the call by merging a Polanyian analysis of the political economy with the Dynamics of Contention research program and making a case for the impact of contentious agency on capital accumulation. The research concludes that an efficient social movement can utilize mechanisms of contention to promote the potential of activism among its members and influence investment outcomes. Protesting, for example via pioneering land occupations, seemed to be particularly important. Until now, there has been no comprehensive theory on when and how contentious agency can slow down or reverse the expansion of corporate resource exploitation. The original contribution of this research is to provide such a theory, and utilize it to offer an extensive explanation on the conflicts over pulp investment in Brazil, the globalization of the paper industry, and slowing of industrial plantation expansion in the global South.

Essays on Economic Integration and Labour Demand

This dissertation consists of an introductory section and three essays investigating the effects of economic integration on labour demand by using theoretical models and by empirical analysis. The essays adopt an intra-industry trade approach to specify a theoretical framework of estimation for determining the effects of economic integration on employment. In all the essays the empirical aim is to explore the labour demand consequences of European integration. The first essay analyzes how labour-demand elasticities with own price have changed during the process of economic integration. As a theoretical result, intensified trade competition increases labour-demand elasticity, whereas better advantage of economies of scale decreases labour-demand elasticity by decreasing the elasticity of substitution between differentiated products. Furthermore, if integration gives rise to an increase in input-substitutability and/or outsourcing activities, labour demand will become more elastic. Using data from the manufacturing sector from 1975 to 2002, the empirical results provide support for the hypothesis that European integration has contributed to increased elasticities of total labour demand in Finland. The second essay analyzes how economic integration affects the impact of welfare poli-cies on employment. The essay considers the viability of financing the public sector, i.e. public consumption and social security expenses, by general labour taxation in an economy which has become more integrated into international product markets. The theoretical results of the second essay indicate that, as increased trade competition crowds out better economies of scale, it becomes more costly to maintain welfare systems financed by labour taxation. Using data from European countries for the years 1975 to 2004, the empirical results provide inconsistent evidence for the hypothesis that economic integration has contributed to the distortion effects of welfare policies on employment. The third essay analyzes the impact of profit sharing on employment as a way to introduce wage flexibility into the process of economic integration. The results of the essay suggest that, in theory, the effects of economic integration on the impact of profit sharing on employment clearly depend on a trade-off between intensified competition and better advantage of economies of scale. If product market competition increases, the ability of profit sharing to improve employment through economic integration increases with moderated wages. While, the economic integration associating with market power in turn decrease the possibilities of profit sharing with higher wages to improve employment. Using data from the manufacturing sector for the years 1996 to 2004, the empirical results show that profit-sharing has a positive impact on employment during the process of European integration, but can have ambiguous effects on the stability of employment in Finland.

Achieving medium-high density in low scale development: The Queensland experience in innovative ‘fine-grained’ urbanism

Worldwide population growth and economic agglomeration is driving increasing urban density within larger metropolitan conurbations. Population growth and housing diversity and affordability issues in Queensland have seen an increasing demand for more diverse and higher density development. Under Queensland’s flexible planning regulatory provisions, a level of ‘medium’ to ‘high density’ is being achieved by a focus on fine-grained urban design, low scale development, lot diversity, and delivery of single dwelling products. This for Queensland (and Australia) has been an unprecedented innovation in urban and dwelling design. Dwellings are being delivered on lots with zero regulatory minimum sizes providing for a range of new products including ‘apartments on the ground’. This paper reviews recent and nascent demonstrations of EDQ’s fine-grained urbanism principles, identifiable with historical ‘vernacular suburbanism’. The paper introduces and defines a concept of a ‘natural density’ linking human scale built form with walkability. The paper challenges the notion that (sub)urban development, outside major city centres, needs to be of a higher scale to achieve density and diversity aspirations. ‘Natural density’ provides a means of achieving the increasing demand for more diverse and higher density development.

Itsenäisen Suomen puolesta : Sotilaskomitea 1915-1918

For Independent Finland. The Military Committee 1915–1918 In the course of the First World War, several organizations were founded with the purpose of making Finland independent or, at least, restoring her autonomous status. The Military Committee was the most significant active independence organization in Finland in the First World War, in addition to the activist student movement, i.e., the Jaeger Movement. The Military Committee was an organization founded in 1915 by officers who had attended the Hamina Cadet School, with the goal of creating a national army for a liberation war against the Russian troops. It was believed that the liberation war should succeed only with the help of the German Army. With the situation in society continually tensing up in the autumn 1917, the Military Committee also had to figure on the possibility of a Civil War. The activities of the Military Committee started in the early part of 1915 when they were still small-scale, but they gained significant momentum after the Russian Revolution in March 1917. In January 1918, the Military Committee formed the general staff for the White Army, the Senate’s troops. The independence-related activities of the Hamina cadets in the years of the First World War were more extensive and multifaceted than has been believed heretofore. The work of the Military Committee was divided into preparations for a liberation war in Finland, on one hand, and in Stockholm and Berlin, on the other hand. In Finland, the Military Committee took part in intelligence gathering for Germany and in supporting the recruiting Jaegers, and later in founding the civil guard organization, in solving the law and order authorities issue, and finally in selecting the Commander-in-Chief for the Senate’s troops. The member of the Military Committee, especially Captain Hannes Ignatius of the Cavalry contributed greatly to the drafting of the independence activists’ national action plan in Stockholm in May 1917. This plan preceded the formation of the civil guard organization. The Military Committee’s role in founding the civil guards was initially minor, but in the fall of 1917, the Military Committee started to finance the activities of the civil guards, named several former officers as commanders of the civil guards and finally overtook the entire civil guard movement. In Stockholm and Berlin, the representatives of the Military Committee were in active contact with both the high command of the German Army and with the representatives of the Swedish Army. Colonel Nikolai Mexmontan, who was a representative of the Military Committee, collaborated with Swedish officers and Jaeger officers in Stockholm in coming up with comprehensive and detailed plans for starting the Liberation War. Under Mexmontan’s leadership, there were serious negotiations to enter into a confederation with Germany. Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm Thesleff, on the other hand, became the commander of the Jaeger Battalion 27. The influence and importance of the Military Committee came to the forefront in independent and conflict-torn Finland. The Military Committee became a Senate committee on the 7th of January 1918, with its chairman, for all practical purposes, as the Commander-in-Chief in an eventual war. Lieutenant General Claes Charpentier was the chairman of the Military Committee from mid-December 1917 onwards, but on the 15th of January 1918 he had to resign in favour of Lieutenant General Gustaf Mannerheim. Soon after that, Mannerheim got an order from the chairman of the Senate P. E. Svinhufvud to organize and assume the leadership of the law and order authorities. The chairman of the Military Committee became the Commander-in-Chief of the Senate troops in January 1918, and the Military Committee became the Commander-in-Chief’s general staff. The Military Committee had turned from a clandestine organization into the first general staff of the independent Finnish Army.

Vallankumous kotona! : Arkielämän visuaalinen murros 1960-luvun lopussa ja 1970-luvun alussa

Revolution at home! Visual Changes in Everyday Life in Finland in the Late 1960s and Early 1970s The purpose of my research was to investigate the visual changes in private homes in Finland during the 1960s and 1970s. The 1960s is often described as a turning point in Finnish life, a time when the society's previous agricultural orientation began to give way first to an industrial orientation and then, by the end of the 1970s, to a service orientation. My title refers to three elements in the transition period: the question of daily life; the timeframe; and the visual changes observable in private homes, which in retrospect signalled a kind of revolution in the social orientation. Those changes appeared not only in colours and designs but also in the forms and materials of household objects. My premise is that analysing interiors from a historical perspective can reveal valuable information about Finnish society and social attitudes, information that might easily escape attention otherwise. I have used the time-honoured method of collecting narratives. As far back as Aristotle, formulating narratives has been a means of gaining knowledge. By collecting and classifying narratives about the 1960s and 1970s, it is possible to gain new insight into these important decades. The archetypal 1960s narrative, involving student demonstrations and young people's efforts to improve society, is well known. Less well known is the narrative that relates the changes going on in daily life. Substantially the study focuses mainly on fabrics, porcelain ware and the use of plastics. Marimekko's style is especially important when following innovations in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Porcelain production at the Arabia factory was another element that had a great influence on the look of Finnish homes and kitchens; and a further widespread phenomenon of the late 1960s and early 1970s was the use of plastics in many different forms. Further evidence was sought in Anttila department store mail catalogues, which displayed products that were marketed on a large scale, as well as in magazines such as Avotakka. The terminal point of the visual evolution is the real homes, as seen in the questionnaire "Homemade". I have used the 800 pages of the oral history text that respondents of the Finnish Literature Society have written about their first home in the 1960s. I also used archival material on actual homes in Helsinki from the archives of the Helsinki City Museum. The basic story is the elite narrative, which was produced by students in the 1960s. My main narrative from the same time is visual change in everyday life in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I have classified the main narrative of visual change into four subcategories: the narrative of national ideas, the narrative of a better standard of living, the narrative of objects in the culture of everyday life and the narrative of changing colour and form.

Modeling ecological and evolutionary processes in spatially structured populations

Many species inhabit fragmented landscapes, resulting either from anthropogenic or from natural processes. The ecological and evolutionary dynamics of spatially structured populations are affected by a complex interplay between endogenous and exogenous factors. The metapopulation approach, simplifying the landscape to a discrete set of patches of breeding habitat surrounded by unsuitable matrix, has become a widely applied paradigm for the study of species inhabiting highly fragmented landscapes. In this thesis, I focus on the construction of biologically realistic models and their parameterization with empirical data, with the general objective of understanding how the interactions between individuals and their spatially structured environment affect ecological and evolutionary processes in fragmented landscapes. I study two hierarchically structured model systems, which are the Glanville fritillary butterfly in the Åland Islands, and a system of two interacting aphid species in the Tvärminne archipelago, both being located in South-Western Finland. The interesting and challenging feature of both study systems is that the population dynamics occur over multiple spatial scales that are linked by various processes. My main emphasis is in the development of mathematical and statistical methodologies. For the Glanville fritillary case study, I first build a Bayesian framework for the estimation of death rates and capture probabilities from mark-recapture data, with the novelty of accounting for variation among individuals in capture probabilities and survival. I then characterize the dispersal phase of the butterflies by deriving a mathematical approximation of a diffusion-based movement model applied to a network of patches. I use the movement model as a building block to construct an individual-based evolutionary model for the Glanville fritillary butterfly metapopulation. I parameterize the evolutionary model using a pattern-oriented approach, and use it to study how the landscape structure affects the evolution of dispersal. For the aphid case study, I develop a Bayesian model of hierarchical multi-scale metapopulation dynamics, where the observed extinction and colonization rates are decomposed into intrinsic rates operating specifically at each spatial scale. In summary, I show how analytical approaches, hierarchical Bayesian methods and individual-based simulations can be used individually or in combination to tackle complex problems from many different viewpoints. In particular, hierarchical Bayesian methods provide a useful tool for decomposing ecological complexity into more tractable components.

Build-up of toxic metals on the impervious surfaces of a commercial seaport

In the context of increasing threats to the sensitive marine ecosystem by toxic metals, this study investigated the metal build-up on impervious surfaces specific to commercial seaports. The knowledge generated in this study will contribute to managing toxic metal pollution of the marine ecosystem. The study found that inter-modal operations and main access roadway had the highest loads followed by container storage and vehicle marshalling sites, while the quay line and short term storage areas had the lowest. Additionally, it was found that Cr, Al, Pb, Cu and Zn were predominantly attached to solids, while significant amount of Cu, Pb and Zn were found as nutrient complexes. As such, treatment options based on solids retention can be effective for some metal species, while ineffective for other species. Furthermore, Cu and Zn are more likely to become bioavailable in seawater due to their strong association with nutrients. Mathematical models to replicate the metal build-up process were also developed using experimental design approach and partial least square regression. The models for Cr and Pb were found to be reliable, while those for Al, Zn and Cu were relatively less reliable, but could be employed for preliminary investigations.

A simple method for large-scale preparation of chick embryo tRNA

A simple method for preparing bulk quantities of tRNA from chick embryo has been developed. In this method chick embryos were homogenized in a buffer of pH 4.5, followed by deproteinization with phenol. The aqueous layer was allowed to separate under gravity. The resulting aqueous layer, after two more phenol treatments, was directly passed through a DEAE-cellulose column and the tRNA eluted therefrom with 1 Image NaCl. The tRNA prepared by this method was as active as the one prepared at neutral pH.

Characterisation and source identification of pollution episodes caused by long-range transported aerosols

Aerosol particles can cause detrimental environmental and health effects. The particles and their precursor gases are emitted from various anthropogenic and natural sources. It is important to know the origin and properties of aerosols to efficiently reduce their harmful effects. The diameter of aerosol particles (Dp) varies between ~0.001 and ~100 μm. Fine particles (PM2.5: Dp < 2.5 μm) are especially interesting because they are the most harmful and can be transported over long distances. The aim of this thesis is to study the impact on air quality by pollution episodes of long-range transported aerosols affecting the composition of the boundary-layer atmosphere in remote and relatively unpolluted regions of the world. The sources and physicochemical properties of aerosols were investigated in detail, based on various measurements (1) in southern Finland during selected long-range transport (LRT) pollution episodes and unpolluted periods and (2) over the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and Antarctica during a voyage. Furthermore, the frequency of LRT pollution episodes of fine particles in southern Finland was investigated over a period of 8 years, using long-term air quality monitoring data. In southern Finland, the annual mean PM2.5 mass concentrations were low but LRT caused high peaks of daily mean concentrations every year. At an urban background site in Helsinki, the updated WHO guideline value (24-h PM2.5 mean 25 μg/m3) was exceeded during 1-7 LRT episodes each year during 1999-2006. The daily mean concentrations varied between 25 and 49 μg/m3 during the episodes, which was 3-6 times higher than the mean concentration in the long term. The in-depth studies of selected LRT episodes in southern Finland revealed that biomass burning in agricultural fields and wildfires, occurring mainly in Eastern Europe, deteriorated air quality on a continental scale. The strongest LRT episodes of fine particles resulted from open biomass-burning fires but the emissions from other anthropogenic sources in Eastern Europe also caused significant LRT episodes. Particle mass and number concentrations increased strongly in the accumulation mode (Dp ~ 0.09-1 μm) during the LRT episodes. However, the concentrations of smaller particles (Dp < 0.09 μm) remained low or even decreased due to the uptake of vapours and molecular clusters by LRT particles. The chemical analysis of individual particles showed that the proportions of several anthropogenic particle types increased (e.g. tar balls, metal oxides/hydroxides, spherical silicate fly ash particles and various calcium-rich particles) in southern Finland during an LRT episode, when aerosols originated from the polluted regions of Eastern Europe and some open biomass-burning smoke was also brought in by LRT. During unpolluted periods when air masses arrived from the north, the proportions of marine aerosols increased. In unpolluted rural regions of southern Finland, both accumulation mode particles and small-sized (Dp ~ 1-3 μm) coarse mode particles originated mostly from LRT. However, the composition of particles was totally different in these size fractions. In both size fractions, strong internal mixing of chemical components was typical for LRT particles. Thus, the aging of particles has significant impacts on their chemical, hygroscopic and optical properties, which can largely alter the environmental and health effects of LRT aerosols. Over the Atlantic Ocean, the individual particle composition of small-sized (Dp ~ 1-3 μm) coarse mode particles was affected by continental aerosol plumes to distances of at least 100-1000 km from the coast (e.g. pollutants from industrialized Europe, desert dust from the Sahara and biomass-burning aerosols near the Gulf of Guinea). The rate of chloride depletion from sea-salt particles was high near the coasts of Europe and Africa when air masses arrived from polluted continental regions. Thus, the LRT of continental aerosols had significant impacts on the composition of the marine boundary-layer atmosphere and seawater. In conclusion, integration of the results obtained using different measurement techniques captured the large spatial and temporal variability of aerosols as observed at terrestrial and marine sites, and assisted in establishing the causal link between land-bound emissions, LRT and air quality.

Spatial and temporal determinants of Finnish farmland bird populations

During the past decades agricultural intensification has caused dramatic population declines in a wide range of taxa related to farmland habitats, including farmland birds. In this thesis, I studied how boreal farmland landscape characteristics and agricultural land use affect the abundance and diversity of farmland birds using extensive field data collected by territory mapping of breeding farmland birds in various parts of Finland. My results show that the area and openness of agricultural areas are key determinants of farmland bird abundance and distribution. A landscape composition with enough open farmland combined with key habitats such as farmyards and wetland is likely to provide essential prerequisites for the occurrence of a rich farmland avifauna. In Finland, the majority of large areas suitable for open habitat specialists are located in southern and western parts of the country. However, the diversity of the species with an unfavourable conservation status in Europe (SPECs) had notable hotspot areas in northern and north-western agricultural areas. I found that in boreal agroecosystems farmland birds favour fields with springtime vegetative cover, especially agricultural grasslands and set-asides. Hence, in the spring cereal dominated Finnish agroecosystems it is the absence of field vegetation that may limit populations of many farmland bird species. It is likely that the decrease of crops providing vegetative cover in the spring, such as permanent grasslands, cultivated grass, and autumn-sown cereals, has greatly contributed to the declines of Finnish farmland birds. Grass crops have persistently declined in Finland as a consequence of specialization in crop production and the large-scale decline in livestock husbandry. Small-scale non-crop habitats, especially ditches and ditch margins, are also important for many bird species in the Finnish agroecosystems, but have dramatically declined during the last decades. A major problem for farmland bird conservation in Finland is the conflict between landscape structure and agricultural management. Areas with mixed and cattle farming are virtually absent from the large agricultural plains of southern and south-western Finland, where the landscape structure is more likely to be favourable for rich farmland bird assemblages. On the other hand, mixed and cattle farming is still rather frequent in northern and central parts of the country, where the landscape structure is not suitable for many farmland specialist birds requiring open landscapes. My results provide useful guidelines for farmland bird conservation, and imply that considerable attention needs to be paid to landscape factors when selecting areas for various conservational management actions, such as agri-environment schemes. Actions promoting the abundance of set-asides, grass crops, and ditches would markedly benefit Finnish farmland bird populations. Organic farming may benefit farmland birds, but it is not clear how general its beneficial effect is in boreal agroecosystems. The most urgent action aiming to preserve farmland biodiversity would be to support re-introducing and sustaining cattle farming by environmental subsidies. This would be especially beneficial in the southern parts of Finland, where the landscape characteristics and abundance of agricultural areas are most suitable for farmland birds and where cattle farming is currently rare.

Genomic approach to organ-specific growth control

Growth is a fundamental aspect of life cycle of all organisms. Body size varies highly in most animal groups, such as mammals. Moreover, growth of a multicellular organism is not uniform enlargement of size, but different body parts and organs grow to their characteristic sizes at different times. Currently very little is known about the molecular mechanisms governing this organ-specific growth. The genome sequencing projects have provided complete genomic DNA sequences of several species over the past decade. The amount of genomic sequence information, including sequence variants within species, is constantly increasing. Based on the universal genetic code, we can make sense of this sequence information as far as it codes proteins. However, less is known about the molecular mechanisms that control expression of genes, and about the variations in gene expression that underlie many pathological states in humans. This is caused in part by lack of information about the second genetic code that consists of the binding specificities of transcription factors and the combinatorial code by which transcription factor binding sites are assembled to form tissue-specific and/or ligand-regulated enhancer elements. This thesis presents a high-throughput assay for identification of transcription factor binding specificities, which were then used to measure the DNA binding profiles of transcription factors involved in growth control. We developed ‘enhancer element locator’, a computational tool, which can be used to predict functional enhancer elements. A genome-wide prediction of human and mouse enhancer elements generated a large database of enhancer elements. This database can be used to identify target genes of signaling pathways, and to predict activated transcription factors based on changes in gene expression. Predictions validated in transgenic mouse embryos revealed the presence of multiple tissue-specific enhancers in mouse c- and N-Myc genes, which has implications to organ specific growth control and tumor type specificity of oncogenes. Furthermore, we were able to locate a variation in a single nucleotide, which carries a susceptibility to colorectal cancer, to an enhancer element and propose a mechanism by which this SNP might be involved in generation of colorectal cancer.

Ecological impacts of Phlebiopsis gigantea biocontrol treatment against Heterobasidion spp. as revealed by fungal community profiling and population analyses

Wood decay fungi belonging to the species complex Heterobasidion annosum sensu lato are among the most common and economically important species causing root rot and stem decay in conifers of the northern temperate regions. New infections by these pathogens can be suppressed by tree stump treatments using chemical or biological control agents. In Finland, the corticiaceous fungus Phlebiopsis gigantea has been formulated into a commercial biocontrol agent called Rotstop (Verdera Ltd.). This thesis addresses the ecological impacts of Rotstop biocontrol treatment on the mycoflora of conifer stumps. Locally, fungal communities within Rotstop-treated and untreated stumps were analyzed using a novel method based on DGGE profiling of small subunit ribosomal DNA fragments amplified directly from wood samples. Population analyses for P. gigantea and H. annosum s.l. were conducted to evaluate possible risks associated with local and/or global distribution of the Rotstop strain. Based on molecular community profiling by DGGE, we detected a few individual wood-inhabiting fungal species (OTUs) that seemed to have suffered or benefited from the Rotstop biocontrol treatment. The DGGE analyses also revealed fungal diversity not retrieved by cultivation and some fungal sequence types untypical for decomposing conifer wood. However, statistical analysis of DGGE community profiles obtained from Rotstop-treated and untreated conifer stumps revealed that the Rotstop treatment had not caused a statistically significant reduction in the species diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi within our experimental forest plots. Locally, ISSR genotyping of cultured P. gigantea strains showed that the Rotstop biocontrol strain was capable of surviving up to six years within treated Norway spruce stumps, while in Scots pine stumps it was sooner replaced by successor fungal species. In addition, the spread of resident P. gigantea strains into Rotstop-treated forest stands seemed effective in preventing the formation of genetically monomorphic populations in the short run. On a global scale, we detected a considerable level of genetic differentiation between the interfertile European and North American populations of P. gigantea. These results strongly suggest that local biocontrol strains should be used in order to prevent global spread of P. gigantea and hybrid formation between geographically isolated populations. The population analysis for H. annosum s.l. revealed a collection of Chinese fungal strains that showed a high degree of laboratory fertility with three different allopatric H. annosum s.l. taxa. However, based on the molecular markers, the Chinese strains could be clearly affiliated with the H. parviporum taxonomical cluster, which thus appears to have a continuous distribution range from Europe through southern Siberia to northern China. Keywords: Rotstop, wood decay, DGGE, ISSR fingerprinting, ribosomal DNA