Has social justice any legitimacy in Kant's theory of right? The empirical conditions of the legal state as a civil union

This paper aims at shedding light on an obscure point in Kant's theory of the state. It discusses whether Kant's rational theory of the state recognises the fact that certain exceptional social situations, such as the extreme poverty of some parts of the population, could request institutional state support in order to guarantee the attainment of a minimum threshold of civil independence. It has three aims: 1) to show that Kant's Doctrine of Right can offer solutions for the complex relation between economics and politics in our present time; 2) to demonstrate the claim that Kant embraces a pragmatic standpoint when he tackles the social concerns of the state, and so to refute the idea that he argues for an abstract conception of politics; and 3) to suggest that a non-paternalistic theory of rights is not necessarily incompatible with the basic tenets of a welfare state.

In search of good relationships to music : understanding aspiration and challenge in developing music school teacher practices

This study focuses on teacher practices in publicly funded music schools in Finland. As views on the aims of music education change and broaden, music schools across Europe share the challenge of developing their activities in response. In public and scholarly debate, there have been calls for increased diversity of contents and concepts of teaching. In Finland, the official national curriculum for state-funded music schools builds on the ideal that teaching and learning should create conditions which promote ‘a good relationship to music’. The meaning of this concept has been deliberately left open in order to leave room for dialogue, flexibility, and teacher autonomy. Since what is meant by ‘good’ is not defined in advance, the notion of ‘improving’ practices is also open to discussion. The purpose of the study is to examine these issues from teachers’ point of view by asking what music school teachers aim to accomplish as they develop their practices. Methodologically, the study introduces a suggestion for building empirical research on Alperson’s ‘robust’ praxial approach to music education, a philosophical theory which is strongly committed to practitioner perspectives and musical diversity. A systematic method for analysing music education practices, interpretive practice analysis, is elaborated with support from interpretive research methods originally used in policy analysis. In addition, the research design shows how reflecting conversations (a collaborative approach well-known in Nordic social work) can be fruitfully applied in interpretive research and combined with teacher inquiry. Data have been generated in a collaborative project involving five experienced music school teachers and the researcher. The empirical material includes transcripts from group conversations, data from teacher inquiry conducted within the project, and transcripts from follow-up interviews. The teachers’ aspirations can be understood as strivings to reinforce the connection between musical practices and various forms of human flourishing such that music and flourishing can sustain each other. Examples from their practices show how the word ‘good’ receives its meaning in context. Central among the teachers’ concerns is their hope that students develop a free and sustainable interest in music, often described as inspiration. I propose that ‘good relationships to music’ and ‘inspiration’ can be understood as philosophical mediators which support the transition from an indeterminate ‘interest in music’ towards specific ways in which music can become a (co-)constitutive part of living well in each person’s particular circumstances. Different musical practices emphasise different aspects of what is considered important in music and in human life. Music school teachers consciously balance between a variety of such values. They also make efforts to resist pressure which might threaten the goods they think are most important. Such goods include joy, participation, perseverance, solid musical skills related to specific practices, and a strong sense of vitality. The insights from this study suggest that when teachers are able to create inspiration, they seem to do so by performing complex work which combines musical and educational aims and makes general positive contributions to their students’ lives. Ensuring that teaching and learning in music schools remain as constructive and meaningful as possible for both students and teachers is a demanding task. The study indicates that collaborative, reflective and interdisciplinary work may be helpful as support for development processes on both individual and collective levels of music school teacher practices.

The role of import intermediary companies in the Russian imports from the EU A case study of a Russian industrial company’s point of view on import intermediaries

The literature on agency suggests different implications for the use of export intermediaries. However, only few studies provide a view on import intermediaries. This thesis tries for its part to fill this research gap by studying the import intermediaries in the EU–Russia trade from a Russian industrial company’s point of view. The aim is to describe import intermediation and explain the need for import intermediary companies in the EU–Russia trade. The theoretical framework of this thesis originates from an article by Peng and York (2001), in which they study the performance of export intermediaries. This thesis applies resource-based theory, transaction cost theory and agency cost theory, following the idea of Peng and York. The resource-based theory approach is utilised for describing an ideal import intermediary company, and transaction cost theory provides a basis for understanding the benefits of using the services of import intermediary companies, while agency cost theory is applied in order to understand the risks the Russian industrial company faces when it decides to use the services of import intermediaries. The study is performed in the form of a case interview with a representative of a major Russian metallurgy company. The results of the study suggest that an ideal intermediary has the skills required specifically for the imports process, in order to save time and money of the principal company. The intermediary company helps reducing the amount of time the managers and the staff of the principal company use to make imports possible, thus reducing the salary costs and providing the possibility to concentrate on the company’s core competencies. The benefits of using the services of import intermediary companies are the reduced transaction costs, especially salary costs that are minimised because of the effectiveness and specialisation of import intermediaries. Intermediaries are specialised in the imports process and thus need less time and resources to organise the imports. They also help to reduce the fixed salary costs, because their services can be used only when needed. The risks of being misled by intermediaries are minimised by the competition on the import intermediary market. In case an intermediary attempts fraud, it gets replaced by its rival.

ATTITUDES TOWARD RUSSIAN CUSTOMERS IN THE FINNISH RETAIL TRADE SECTOR – A salesperson’s point of view

The amount of Russian tourists in Finland has increased significantly in the past years. The impact of Russian tourism to the Finnish retail trade sector is enormous, since Russian tourists often spend a lot of money particularly on shopping. Shopping tourism is mainly focused in the near border cities, such as Imatra and Lappeenranta, and in addition in Helsinki metropolitan area. The purpose of this study is to map the attitudes and perceptions of the sales personnel who are working in the Finnish retail trade sector towards Russian customers and to discover which elements affect these attitudes. The theories in this study are based on cultural elements and elements related to sales behavior and performance. Cultural differences between Finland and Russia, cultural distance and cultural intelligence form the cultural aspect of this study. Customer orientation vs. sales orientation (SOCO), adaptive selling, selling skills and job competency, salesperson’s affect and empathy toward customers, and job autonomy form the elements concerning sales behavior and performance. Furthermore, the attitude – behavior link, based on social psychology is addressed. A survey was conducted in two retail trade chains operating in Finland. These retail companies have stores and department stores in different geographical areas in Finland and the survey was conducted in altogether 19 cities. In addition to the theories that were discussed, two expert interviews were conducted in order to get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon at hand. Moreover the interviews helped in the formulation of the hypotheses and the questionnaire design. The questionnaires were sent directly to the stores, where they were placed so that they were available for the sales personnel. Altogether 487 usable responses were collected. The returned questionnaires were analyzed with IBM SPSS 21 statistics program. The results of this study indicated that the attitudes toward Russian customers are more negative compared to other foreign customers. However, the respondents’ attitudes toward and perceptions of Russian customers varied a lot. From the background variables age, education level, length of employment in current workplace, and length of experience in customer service had an effect on the attitudes of the respondents. In addition, the perceptions of Russian customers were more positive in the Eastern Finland compared to Helsinki metropolitan area. The cultural elements; cultural knowledge, cultural distance and cultural intelligence all affected the attitudes of the respondents. From the elements related to sales behavior and performance customer orientation, salesperson’s affect and empathy toward customers, and perceived job autonomy had an effect on the attitudes

Vuotovesien merkitys jätevesihuollossa

Yleisimmät viemäröintijärjestelmät ovat erillisviemäröinti ja sekaviemäröinti. Erillisviemä-röinnissä jäte- ja hulevedet johdetaan omissa verkostoissa. Sekaviemäröinnissä kaikki viemä-röitävät vedet virtaavat samassa verkostossa. Vuotoveden osuus jätevesiviemäriverkostossa virtaavasta jätevedestä on keskimäärin yli 30 prosenttia. Vuotovesiselvityksen avulla pyritään selvittämään vuotoveden esiintymisalueet ja mahdolliset vuotokohteet. Mallintamalla laadittu selvitys tarjoaa mahdollisuuden tarkastella verkostoa kokonaisuutena ja erilaisissa käyttötilan-teissa. Tämä työ perustuu Joensuun kantakaupungin viemäriverkostosta mallintamalla laadit-tuun vuotovesiselvitykseen. Työssä on tarkoitus selvittää vuotovesistä aiheutuvan lisäener-giantarpeen ja kasvihuonekaasupäästöjen kasvua sekä pohtia verkoston omistussuhteiden, sään ääri-ilmiöiden ja taajuusmuuttajien vaikutuksia vuotovesien hallintaan. Lisäksi selvitetään voidaanko tuloksista tehdä valtakunnallisia yleistyksiä. Joensuun viemäriverkostossa jätevesien pumppaukseen käytetystä energiasta noin 43 prosent-tia kuluu vuotovesien pumppaukseen. Siitä aiheutuu vuosittain 480 MWh:n lisäenergiantarve, joka johtaa 106 tonnin hiilidioksidipäästöihin. Lisäenergiantarpeesta aiheutuva hiilidioksidi-päästö on pieni liikenteen aiheuttamaan päästöön verrattuna. Saneerauksilla voidaan saavuttaa 60 prosentin vähennys vuotovesimäärään. Tavoitteeksi tulisi asettaa keskusta-alueella olevien sekaviemäreiden korvaaminen erillisviemäreillä esimerkiksi lähimmän 10 vuoden aikana ja vuotovesimäärän yleinen vähentäminen koko verkoston alueella. Ilmastonmuutoksen myötä yleistyvät rankkasateet lisäävät vuotovesimäärää etenkin sekaviemäröidyillä alueilla. Tämä korostaa sekaviemäröidyn verkoston korjaustoimenpiteiden tärkeyttä. Taajuusmuuttajien yleistyvä käyttö tasaa haitallisia virtaamapiikkejä. Optimaaliseksi säädetty pyörimisnopeus pienentää merkittävästi pumppujen energiankulutusta. Työstä saadut tulokset ovat valtakun-nallisella tasolla suuntaa antavia. Tarkemmat yleistykset vaativat useista erikokoisista verkos-toista tehtyjen vuotovesiselvitystulosten analysointia.

Arrêt du conseil d'Etat du roi qui ordonne que les instances sur le fait des Aides, seront portées aux élections et par appel en la cour des Aides et que les secrétaires du roi et leurs veuves ne jouiront point des entrées et détail des dits droits d'aides ailleurs qu'à Paris

[Acte. 1716-03-17. Paris]