Pay for performance and corporate governance after financial crisis of 2007-2008: evidence from the U.S.

Purpose of the study The purpose of this paper is to study effects of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and followed new legislation from point of views of i) corporate governance policies ii) a pay for performance relationship and iii) a link between these two issues. The first contribution is to offer empirical evidence about alleged changes of corporate governance policies. Secondly, this paper offers new evidence about the pay for performance relationship after the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Lastly, a third contribution is to offer new evidence about the alleged strong link between corporate governance policies and pay for performance relationship. Data and methodology Corporate governance data is taken from BoardEx database and company’s performance and CEO’s compensation data from Compustat database. To study changes of corporate governance policies, I use unpaired t-tests to average values of corporate governance variables and test if there are some significant differences between pre- and post-crisis data. To study the pay for performance relationship, I run regressions with different performance measurements and forms of compensation. Lastly, to study the link between these two issues, I evaluate significances of corporate governance variables in pay for performance regressions. Findings It seems that companies have taken slightly different corporate governance policies after the financial crisis of 2007-2008. One the one hand, some parts of corporate governance policies seem to have become more effective as there are larger number of non-CEO chair of boards and more female and outside members of board. On the other hand, other parts seem to have become less effective as the average size of board has increased and there are larger percentages of aged and related members of board. The strong link between corporate governance policies and pay for performance relationship seems to exist as more (less) effective corporate governance policies seem to be linked with smaller (larger) amount of explanatory power in pay for performance regressions. The pay for performance relationship has become stronger between ROA and CEO’s total compensation but not between ROA and other forms of compensation or between a stock return and any form of compensation. One potential reason for unchanged level of pay for performance relationship with market-based performance measurement (the stock return) could be a trade-off between stronger pay for performance relationship and better risk management, which is one focus area of the new legislation

Lähisuhdeväkivallan ratkaisuvaihtoehdot Venäjällä

Peer reviewe

iPadin Etähallinnointi

Tämän opinnäytetyön aiheena on iPadin etähallinnointi. Teoriaosuudessa käsittellään, mitä etähallinnointi on, mistä kaikeista se koostuu, ja mitä asioita on otettava huomioon etähallinnoinnissa. Yksi oleellisimmista tekijöistä on toi- miva tietoturva. Tietoturvan eri osa-alueita käsitellään etähallinnoinnin näkökulmasta. Teoriaosuuden jälkeen paneudutaan tarkemmin siihen mitä iPadin etähallinnointi on, ja miten sitä voi toteuttaa käytännössä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on myös miettiä miten iPadin etähallinnointia voisi kehittää paremmaksi. Oppinnäytetyöhön kuuluu myös kysely, jossa selvitetään kokevatko laitteen käyttäjät etähallinnoin tarpeelliseksi, sekä millaisia kokemuksia heillä on laitteen käytöstä sekä etähallinnoinnista. Kyselyssä selvitään myös mihin iPadia pääasiassa käytetään.The purpose of this thesis was to find out how to improve the remote contol on iPads. The study focused on clarifying users’ opinions about the remote control and whether it is a necessary concept in the first place. In addition, various remote control solutions were looked into and it was also investigated how and what the people use their iPads for. In the theoretical part of the thesis, the concept of a remote control was explained. One main factor was operational information security. In the empirical part of the the- sis, a survey was conducted among iPad users to gain further insight on how people perceive the remote control

PLVAP as the gatekeeper of endothelial cell permeability and leukocyte migration

Endothelial cells (EC) line the lymphatic and vascular vessels of the body, forming a barrier between the lumen and surrounding tissue. ECs actively coordinate the exchange of migrating cells, fluids and molecules thus regulating tissue homeostasis. Correctly working endothelium is also important during the embryonic development, as progenitor cells have tight time windows to reach and colonize target tissues. Failures to do so lead to perturbed cell composition and lasting adverse effects in the adulthood. In the blood endothelium, plasmalemma vesicle-associated protein (PLVAP) forms diaphragms on specific plasma membrane structures (transendothelial channels, fenestrae and caveolae) and has been showed to regulate the EC permeability in blood vessels. However, the role of PLVAP in the lymphatic endothelium is not characterized, nor its role in the immune system during development. The aim of this thesis was to use in vivo and in vitro -methods to investigate endothelial cells in the lymph node and liver. The results of this thesis show that PLVAP is unexpectedly expressed in distinct lymphatic ECs of the lymph node and there, PLVAP regulates the antigen and lymphocyte entry to the lymph node. During development PLVAP expression is crucial for migration of macrophage progenitors and the emerging of a F4/80Hi tissue-resident macrophage population in several organs. In mammary gland, the F4/80Hi macrophages form a major population of the steady state macrophage pool and that their unique functions cannot be performed by other macrophage types.Kehon veri- ja imusuonistoa vuoraa endoteelisoluista koostuva kerros, joka toimii aktiivisena rajapintana suonten sisätilan ja ympäröivien kudosten välillä. Endoteelisolut suodattavat lävitseen soluja, nesteitä sekä molekyylejä ja säätelevät näin kehon fysiologista tasapainoa. Endoteelisolujen toiminta on tärkeää aikuisten kudosten homeostaasin ylläpidon säätelyssä, mutta myös sikiönkehityksen aikana ohjaamassa solujen esiasteiden kulkua kohdekudoksiinsa. Plasmalemma vesicleassociated protein (PLVAP) on veriendoteelisolujen pinnalla ilmentyvä proteiini, joka muodostaa siivilämäisiä suodattimia endoteelisoluihin. PLVAP:n on aikaisemmin osoitettu vaikuttavan endoteelisolujen läpäisevyyteen verisuonistossa. Tämän väitöskirjan tarkoituksena on tutkia in vivo ja in vitro-metodeja käyttäen imusolmukkeen ja maksan endoteelisoluja ja selvittää, kuinka PLVAPriippuvainen endoteelisolupermeabiliteetti säätelee soluliikennettä ja miten soluliikenteen häiriintyminen sikiönkehityksen aikana vaikuttaa myöhemmin kudoksissa. Väitöskirjatutkimuksessa selvitettiin, että PLVAP esiintyy odottamattomasti imusolmukkeen sinuksen endoteelisoluissa, joissa se säätelee antigeenien ja solujen pääsyä imusolmukkeeseen. Lisäksi selvisi, että sikiökautisessa maksassa PLVAP säätelee makrofagien esiasteiden pääsyä verenkierron kautta kohdekudoksiinsa. Näytimme, että normaalitilassa rintakudoksen makrofagipopulaatio koostuu merkittävin osin sikiöperäisistä kudosmakrofageista, joilla on erityistehtäviä, joita muut makrofagit eivät pysty suorittamaan

No longer parents or parents in need of support? : Views of child welfare experts on birth parents

Drawing on discourse analysis of interviews with child welfare experts, the chapter focuses on representations of birth parents of children in alternative care. The research questions are: what kind of discourses do child welfare experts use when talking about the birth parents and their parenthood? How do these experts view the role of the birth parents in the lives of these children? In spite of recent policy changes, children placed into alternative care are still conceptualised as ‘social orphans’, which emphasises the total absence of birth parents and the finality of the placement. In the empirical data, a persistent discourse of hopelessness, which gives little space for the birth parents’ ability to change or to have a meaningful role in the life of their children, is challenged by calls for more support for and cooperation with birth parents to enable family reunification. While there seems to be a growing will to work with birth parents, insufficient skills and methods to realise this still remain a problem. The results of this study suggest that representations of birth parents of children in the child welfare system are changing, and that they still need to change to enable the effective development of family support services.Peer reviewe

Helsingin alueen kuurojen kokemuksia tulkkauspalvelun ammattimaistumisesta

Opinnäytetyössä on tutkittu miten kuurot ovat kokeneet vuosien varrella tulkkauspalvelussa tapahtuneet muutokset. Opinnäytetyön aineisto koottiin haastattelemalla marraskuu 2009- tammikuu 2010 välisenä aikana viittä Helsingin Kuurojen Yhdistyksen jäsentä. Haastattelut muodostuivat yhden kuulevan tulkin esihaastattelusta sekä neljän kuuron henkilön päähaastatteluista. Haastatteluiden kautta kerättiin arvokasta materiaalia, joka on aikaisemmin kulkenut vain suullisena tietona. Opinnäytetyö oli tilaustyö, jonka tilaajana toimi Helsingin Kuurojen Yhdistys. Helsingin Kuurojen Yhdistyksen tarkoitus on vuonna 2015 julkaista poimintoja opinnäytetyöstä osana yhdistyksen 120-vuotishistoriikkia. Historiikista tehdään teos, johon on koottu yhdistyksen jäsenten henkilökohtaisia muistoja ja kokemuksia yhdistettynä heidän aikakautensa merkittäviin tapahtumiin. Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoite oli sama, ja opinäytetyön avulla haluttiin ennen kaikkea kerätä arvokasta kokemuspohjaista tietoa. Työstä haluttiin tehdä mielenkiintoinen ja kuurojen maailmaa valaiseva kokonaisuus keskittyen erityisesti Helsingin alueen kuuroihin. Koska kuurojen historiaa on Suomessa tutkittu hyvin vähän, opinnäytetyömme tuo uutta tietoa kuurojen historiasta kiinnostuneille. Viittomakielen tulkkauspalvelusta tuli laissa määritelty oikeus kuulovammaisille vuonna 1979. Ennen lakimuutosta kuulovammaiset saivat kielen kääntämiseen apua esimerkiksi kuulevilta, viittomakielentaitoisilta sukulaisiltaan. Kuulovammaiset jäivät usein paitsi heitä koskevasta tiedosta. Heille tulkattiin tiivistelty versio siitä, mitä muut olivat juuri keskustelleet. Tulkkauspalvelun ammattimaistuminen sekä tulkkien koulutuksen alkaminen olivat suuri parannus tulkkia tarvitsevien ihmisten oikeuksiin. Tulkkauspalvelu mahdollistaa tasa-arvoisen kommunikaation kuulevien ja kuurojen välillä. Tekniikan kehittyminen on tuonut huomattavasti parannusta tulkkien tilaamiseen sekä erilaisten käytännön asioiden hoitamiseen.This thesis is a qualitative research how the hearing impaired have observed changes to their inter-preting services over the passing years. The data used in this thesis has been collected by interviewing five (5) members of The Helsinki Deaf Club between November 2009 and January 2010. The interviews were split into two parts that were conducted as one preliminary interview with a hearing interpreter and the main interviews with four (4) hearing impaired persons. These interviews collected valuable information that has previously only been transmitted as oral interpretation. This thesis was a commissioned research ordered by The Helsinki Deaf Club. The objective of The Helsinki Deaf Club is to publish in 2015 extracts from different thesis as part of a publication comemorating their 120 year history. The publication will comprise recollections and experiences of its members during the historically significant events during their lifetime. The objective of this thesis was the same as the publication under work, to collect valuable empiric information. The desire was to create an interesting thesis that would shed insight into the world of the Helsinki hearing impaired community. Because there is little historical research of the hearing impaired in Finland, this thesis is of importance to those interested in its history. The legislation for the right of Interpreting Services for the hearing impaired was passed in 1979. Before the legislation was passed, interpreting for the hearing impaired was the responsibility of the hearing who were familiar with sign language, typically their relations. The hearing impaired often did not have the essential information they needed. The hearing impaired were interpreted compressed interpretations of the subjects discussed. The legislation formalising the Interpreting Services and the establishment of the education of interpreters were significant improvements to the rights of people who needed these interpreting services. The Interpreting Services enable equal communication between the hearing and hearing impaired. The development of technology has significantly improved the possibility to reserve interpreters and take care of other practical matters

Käyttäjälähtöinen tilasuunnittelu : case: Kupittaan kampus

Tämä opinnäytetyö tarkastelee Turun ammattikorkeakoulun Kupittaalle suunnitteilla olevan kampuksen käyttäjälähtöisyyttä opiskelijan näkökulmasta. Opinnäytetyössä tarkastellaan myös uudisrakennushankkeen etenemistä käyttäjän näkökulmasta, sekä jo toteutunutta kampushanketta Porvoossa. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on tuoda esiin opiskelijoiden tarpeet ja toiveet tulevaan kampukseen liittyen sekä antaa ideoita Turun ammattikorkeakoululle Kupittaan kampuksen suunnittelutyön tueksi. Opinnäytetyön teoreettinen viitekehys pohjautuu käyttäjälähtöiseen tilasuunnitteluun sekä uudisrakennushankkeen vaihekuvaukseen. Käyttäjälähtöisen tilasuunnittelun avulla pyritään kartoittamaan eri käyttäjäryhmien tarpeet sekä tuomaan ne esiin jo suunnitteluvaiheessa. Uudisrakennuksen vaihekuvaus helpottaa rakennuttajan sekä käyttäjän välistä vuorovaikutusta. Metodeina on käytetty teemahaastatteluja, havainnointia sekä tulevaisuusverstasta. Teemahaastattelujen ja havainnoinnin avulla on kartoitettu opiskelijoiden nykyistä fyysistä opiskeluympäristöä sekä heidän henkilökohtaisia näkemyksiään toimipisteiden tiloihin ja palveluihin liittyen. Tulevaisuusverstaan avulla kartoitettiin opiskelijoiden näkemystä tulevaisuuden kampuksesta. Yhteenvetona voidaan sanoa, että toimivan rakennuksen taustalta löytyy huolellisesti toteutettu tarveselvitys. Tarveselvitykseen sisältyy eri käyttäjäryhmien tarpeiden perinpohjainen analysointi sekä heidän osallistaminen sen suunnittelutyöhön. Suunnittelutyön kannalta oleellista on myös tiivis yhteistyö käyttäjien sekä eri suunnittelijoiden välillä. Käyttäjien tarpeiden selkiytymättömyys johtaa usein rakennuksen huonoon suunnitteluun sekä käytettävyyteen.The idea for the present bachelor’s thesis came up in a conversation with Marita Antikainen in May 2011. The subject is topical at the moment because the planning phase of the new campus starts in 2013. Students were selected as the target group of the study because both of the authors are themselves students. The present thesis focuses on the new campus which the Turku University of Applied Sciences is going to build at Kupittaa. The main focus is on user-oriented space planning from the students’ point of view. The main aim is to explore the students’ needs and requirements for the new campus. Another important aim is to give advice and ideas to the Turku University of Applied Sciences regarding the planning of the facilities for the new campus. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on user-oriented space planning and steps while constructing a new building. The idea of user-oriented space planning is to find out the needs and expectations that different user groups might have. The step description while constructing a new building facilitates the communication between the builder and the user. Another important part of the theoretical framework was based on physical learning environment in the future. The data was gathered through theme interviews, observation and a future workshop. The students in Porvoo campus and in the Turku University of Applied Sciences were asked different questions because the campus in Porvoo has already been built whereas the Turku University of Applied Sciences is still planning to build one. The future workshop, which was aimed only for the students, was carried out in the Turku University of Applied Sciences. Its main goal was to find out about the students’ ideas regarding the new campus. In conclusion it can be stated that a carefully made study of the needs plays a very important role while planning a new building and helps to explore the needs and expectations of the user groups. It is also necessary to involve the users in the planning work because it helps the designers and architects to plan better functioning buildings. An insufficiently done study of needs might lead to mistakes in planning and later on it can manifest itself as poor usability. In the future, it is necessary to see a building as one big changeable space

Understanding the Participatory Development approach to Solid Waste Management -A case study of Mnyamatsini, Swaziland

In the field of development studies, few concepts have gained as much prominence as the Participatory Development (PD) approach, which emphasizes on putting the poor and marginalized groups at the heart of development policy planning practices. Central to the PD approach is bottom-up management of development policymaking and practices, which considers learning, empowerment and local ownership as both a means to an end, and an end in itself. However, it has not gone without criticism, especially with regards to conceptual slips in visualizing community as a homogenous group, and underestimating the embedded power relations. This paper relies on the concept of PD and the related criticisms as a lens to understand the participation behavior in a bottom-up waste management project in Mnyamatsini, a semi-rural area of Swaziland. The project, ‘Mbabane Dry Sanitation and Waste Management’ (MDSWM) uses the PD approach as a core element to enable the project’s efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability and ultimately to contribute to solving the poor waste management practices in the community. However, central to the project’s success is the level of local participation of community members as both implementers and users. The findings of the paper demonstrate that the local community’s participation or not in the project as users and implementers is determined by a complex interplay of factors, including social relations, ownership issues and environmental health aspects. This complexity requires in this context, a “middle-ground” approach between “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches to this development project

Modelling the potential effect of shared bicycles on public transport travel times in Greater Helsinki : An open data approach

In many European cities, support for public transport and cycling in daily mobility is considered an efficient means to reduce air pollution, traffic jams, and carbon emissions. Shared bicycle systems have turned out effective in increasing cycling in many urban areas, particularly when combined with public transportation. In this study, we make an effort to model a hypothetical shared bike system and quantify its spatial effect on public transport travel times. The study area is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerations in Europe, the Greater Helsinki area in Finland. We model the travel times between the population and 16 important destinations in the city centre of Helsinki by public transportation and by public transportation extended with shared bikes. We use open route and timetable databases and tools developed in-house to perform extensive data mining through application programming interfaces (APIs). We show 1) that open transport information interfaces can provide a new effective means to evaluate multimodal accessibility patterns in urban areas and 2) that the launch of a bicycle sharing system could reduce public transportation travel times in the study area on average by more than 10%, meaning some 6 min per each individual trip. We conclude that bicycle sharing systems complementing the traditional public transport system could potentially increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of sustainable modes of urban transport and thus help cities to promote sustainable daily mobility. Finally, we emphasize that the availability of open data sources on urban transport information – such as the public transport data in our case – is vital for analysis of multimodal urban mobility patterns.In many European cities, support for public transport and cycling in daily mobility is considered an efficient means to reduce air pollution, traffic jams, and carbon emissions. Shared bicycle systems have turned out effective in increasing cycling in many urban areas, particularly when combined with public transportation. In this study, we make an effort to model a hypothetical shared bike system and quantify its spatial effect on public transport travel times. The study area is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerations in Europe, the Greater Helsinki area in Finland. We model the travel times between the population and 16 important destinations in the city centre of Helsinki by public transportation and by public transportation extended with shared bikes. We use open route and timetable databases and tools developed in-house to perform extensive data mining through application programming interfaces (APIs). We show 1) that open transport information interfaces can provide a new effective means to evaluate multimodal accessibility patterns in urban areas and 2) that the launch of a bicycle sharing system could reduce public transportation travel times in the study area on average by more than 10%, meaning some 6 min per each individual trip. We conclude that bicycle sharing systems complementing the traditional public transport system could potentially increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of sustainable modes of urban transport and thus help cities to promote sustainable daily mobility. Finally, we emphasize that the availability of open data sources on urban transport information – such as the public transport data in our case – is vital for analysis of multimodal urban mobility patterns.Peer reviewe

"Olisi kokous, jossa minua tarvittaisiin" : nuorten ajatuksia vaikuttamismahdollisuuksistaan Tonttulan nuorisokahvilassa

Opinnäytetyömme työelämänkumppani on Kehittyvä koulu yhdistys ry, joka ylläpitää Vantaalla Tonttulan nuorisokahvilaa. Yhdistys haluaa kehittää nuorten vaikuttamismahdollisuuksia toiminnassaan ja opinnäytetyömme tuloksia hyödynnetään kehittämistyössä. Opinnäytetyömme tavoitteena on saada vastauksia siihen miten nuoret mielestään voivat vaikuttaa Tonttulan nuorisokahvilassa ja mitä vaikuttaminen siellä heille merkitsee. Opinnäytetyö on toteutettu avoimessa yhteistyössä nuorisokahvilan ohjaajien ja nuorten kanssa niin, että nuoret ovat olleet aktiivisia toimijoita prosessissa. Opinnäytetyömme aineistonkeruumenetelmänä on eläytymismenetelmä, joka jättää hyvin tilaa nuorten omille ajatuksille aiheesta. Eläytymismenetelmätarinan kirjoitti työtämme varten yhdeksäntoista nuorta ja olemme analysoineet vastaukset teemoittelemalla. Opinnäytetyömme teoreettisena viitekehyksenä on voimaantumisteoria, johon olemme peilanneet tuloksia. Tulokset osoittavat, että vaikuttamisosallisuus on Tonttulan nuorille merkityksellistä. Heidän mielestään tärkeintä eivät ole erilliset tapahtumat tai rakenteet vaikuttamisen mahdollistamiseksi, vaan yhteisön demokraattinen asenne, jossa jokaisen yksilön mielipiteitä arvostetaan. Tonttulan nuorten mielestä vaikuttamista on se, että tulee aidosti kuulluksi, vaikka oma ehdotus ei aina toteutuisikaan. Aito dialogi yhteisön jäsenten kesken on tärkeintä. Opinnäytetyömme tulokset liittyvät selkeästi voimaantumisen osaprosesseihin. Tuloksista voi päätellä, että vaikuttamisosallisuus on yhteydessä voimaantumiseen. Kokemus vaikuttamisesta aiheuttaa myönteisiä tunteita kuten yhteenkuuluvuuden tunnetta ja tarpeellisuuden tunnetta, sekä innostusta osallistua uudestaan. Osattomuus vaikuttamisesta näyttää liittyvän voimaantumisen estymiseen ja aiheuttavan nuorilla vakavia huonommuuden tunteita.We carried out this study for an organisation called Kehittyvä koulu (Developing School Association). This study was conducted in a youth cafe called Tonttula which is run by Kehittyvä koulu. The organi-sation wants to develop young people's possibilities to have an influence. The purpose of this study was to get answers to what Tonttula's teenagers thought about having an influence on things in their own youth cafe Tonttula. We hope that Kehittyvä koulu can use the results of this study when they develop and plan their activity. Data for this study was collected by using the method of empathy-based stories. There were 19 volun-teers among the teenagers who wrote the stories. We analysed the stories using thematisation. Empowerment was this study's theoretic frame of reference. The results showed that participation and having an influence were important to the teenagers. They thought that the most important thing in Tonttula was the place's democratic atmosphere and respect of others and their opinions. The teenagers thought that to be heard was to have an influence on matters, even when their own ideas did not come true. Genuine dialogue was important. The results have a close link with the theory of empowerment. This may indicate that participation and influence opportunities among Tonttula's teenagers are connected to their empowerment. The experience of influencing creates positive feelings and community spirit. It makes teenagers feel needed as well as enthusiastic to participate in activities again. However, if a teenager does not have influence opportunities it seems that it prevents empowerment and causes feelings of serious inferiority