Central Bank Digital Currency & Effects on Technological Efficiency In the European Union

The purpose of the master’s thesis is to resolve the potential effects on technological efficiency within the European Union area when the European Central Bank launches a Central Bank Digital Currency or Digital Euro via conducting a phenomenographic research. At the time of the research multiple central banks across the globe are planning to issue a centrally governed digital currency, with some reaching the first simulation and trial periods. So far, no Central Bank Digital Currency has been officially launched as there remains open questions about the optimal meth ods of implementation, timetable, technological hierarchy etc. Potential viable options have been reported by various central banks, but no decisions have yet been made. In this master’s thesis the viewpoint of technological efficiency was chosen since as a viewpoint it has not been previously studied and the results should provide significant arguments in favour or against the different methods of implementation. The research results also provide important information on which efficiency- and technological efficiency metrics are appreciated and what side-effects constantly improving technological efficiency could have. To prepare the reader for the research and interpretation of the results an extensive and thorough theory is provided. The master’s thesis illuminates the concepts of central-, retail- and wholesale banks, digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, payment systems, monetary policies, his torical trends in financial technology and digitalization. The research was conducted as a quali tative phenomenography research, by organizing interviews and workshops with top experts within the financial and fintech field of profession. The correspondence consisted of a prerequi site form, a two-hour intensive themed workshop, and an additional round of interviews. The interview’s objective was to present open-ended questions that allowed maximum flexibility for the experts to expose their perception and experiences about the phenomenon. The interviews were recorded in transcript and video format, and later analysed. In the analysis the experiences and perceptions of the experts were identified and categorized in terms of their meaning. Out of the categories, distinct themes and views could be formed in a logical and hierarchical method to form the subjective future view of the experts. The key findings of the research were the categories identified from the gathered materials through phenomenographic methods and the finding that what is perceived to be efficient and what is technological efficiency could be interpreted to be close to identical derived from sub conscious and conscious perceptions. The categories derived from the perceptions of the ex perts proved to provide the crucial material for forming the future view of the research and to answer the key research questions. The main categories identified from the gathered materials were Efficiency, Technology, Probability, and Policies and Political Effects. To summarise the re sults, it was perceived that various attributes of technological efficiency were perceived to en hance as a result of, or as result of the following motivation and funding behind a CBDC’s launch, but all the effects were not seen only as net positive.Tämän Pro Gradu tutkielman tarkoituksena on tutkia, mitä mahdollisia vaikutuksia Euroopan Keskuspankin (EKP) julkaisemalla digitaalisella, keskuspankin hallinnoimalla valuutalla voi olla teknologiseen tehokkuuteen Euroopan unionin rajojen sisällä. Tutkimus on suoritettu fenomenografisin tutkimusmetodein. Tutkimuksen aloittamisen ajankohtana useat keskuspankit ympäri maailman ovat julkisesti ilmoittaneet kehittävänsä digitaalista keskuspankki valuuttaa, tarkoituksena lanseerata valuutta julkiseen käyttöön lähitulevaisuudessa. Toistaiseksi virallista digitaalisen keskuspankki valuutan lanseerausta ei ole suoritettu, joskin useita simulaatioita, sekä suljetun käyttäjäryhmän kokeiluja on tehty. Implementaatiokeino, käytettävä teknologia ja vaikuttavat tahot digitaalisen keskuspankki valuutan ympärillä ovat vielä laajalti standardoimatta, joka luo kriittisen tarpeen optimimaalisimman loppuratkaisun tutkimiselle. Yksi kriittinen aspekti selvitystyössä on tutkia eri implementaatiokeinojen vaikutuksia teknologiseen tehokkuuteen, joka on valikoitu tämän tutkimuksen näkökulmaksi. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää mitä vaikutuksia, sekä mahdollisia sivuvaikutuksia Euroopan keskuspankin lanseeraamalla digitaalisella keskuspankki valuutalla voi olla teknologisen tehokkuuden osalta. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisen fenomenografisen tutkimuksen metodein hyödyntäen erilaisia haastattelu ja kyselypohjaisia tiedonkeruumenetelmiä. Tutkimuksen osallistujiksi, eli asiantuntijoiksi valikoitui viisi finanssi, vakuutus, IT, eCommerce ja talousrikollisuuden ammattilaista. Tiedonkeruukeinoina tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin kyselylomaketta (prerequisite form), teemahaastattelua (workshop), sekä aukkojen täydentämiseksi yksityishaastettuluita sähköisiä viestintätyökaluja hyödyntäen (additional round of interviews). Haastattelut olivat luonteeltaan mahdollisimman avoimia ja ei-ohjaavia, jotta osallistujien todellisia käsityksiä ja havaintoja voitiin luotettavasti analysoida jälkikäteen ilman vaikuttamisvaikutusta. Kaikki haastattelut tallennettiin, litteroitiin, sekä teemahaastattelun osalta videoitiin. Kerätty tieto analysoitiin huolellisesti, jonka lopputuloksena muodostettiin havainnekuva ja teemoiteltu kategorisointi keskeisimmistä havainnoista, sekä käsityksistä. Lopputuleman kategorioista jalostettiin tiivis kuvaelma (The view of the future), tulevaisuuden näkymä, joka maalaa kuvan tulevaisuudesta, jossa digitaalinen keskuspankki valuutta on otettu käyttöön, sen vaikutuksineen. Tutkimuksen tärkeimmät tulokset muodostuivat analyysin kautta muodostetuista kategorioista, joiden perusteella tulevaisuuden kuva voitiin muodostaa ja jota kautta tutkimuksen kysymyksiin voitiin vastata. Tutkimuksen tuloksena havaittiin myös, että ns. tiedostamaton ja tiedostettu vaikutelma tehokkuudesta olivat lähes identtiset, joka korostaa tutkimustulosten luotettavuutta ja sitä, että kyseessä on tosiasiallisesti vaikutelma, mielipiteen sijaan. Tutkimustulokset osittain kompensoivat aiempaa tutkimuskenttää, mutta myös uutta relevanttia tietoa onnistuttiin luomaan, jonka perusteella keskuspankkien hallinnoimaan digitaaliseen valuuttaan liittyy myös uhkakuvia, joita aiemmista tutkimuksista ei löydetty. Tiivistetysti tutkimuksessa todettiin, että digitaalinen keskuspankki valuutta luo useita tehostavia vaikutuksia teknologiseen tehokkuuteen Euroopassa, mutta kaikki vaikutukset eivät ole kategorisesti positiivisia

Siirtokapasiteetin jakaminen markkinatoimijoille

European Union legislation on transmission capacity allocation and congestion management thrives to achieve fair and consistent treatment for European market participants. A lack of sufficient and coordinated methods to handle internal congestions in capacity calculation and allocation reduces given transmission capacity to the market. This leads to inefficient market and undue discrimination between market participants depending on location of internal congestions. Challenge is noticed in Finnish congestion management when production is shifting towards north whereas most of the consumption is located in south. Improved methods should consider socio-economic impacts and treat market participants without undue discrimination. This master thesis discusses transmission capacity calculation between internal and cross-zonal trade including rules to avoid undue discrimination. Developed method improves currently used congestion management practices by estimating market impacts of capacity reduction during internal congestions in European market area. Congestion management during capacity calculation is realised either with redispatching or cross-border transmission capacity reduction. A decision between these methods is depending on which method shows lower socio-economic costs and higher market efficiency. Socio-economic impacts of reduced transmission capacity were estimated based on market information gathered from years 2016–2017. Results show that socio-economic impact for reduced cross-zonal transmission capacity is averagely within 15–45 €/MWh during congestion while the majority of values are within 20–30 €/MWh indicating lower values than average Finnish day-ahead market price. Most of market impacts occur in Finnish bidding zone, respectively capacity changes influence Swedish and Baltic State bidding zones. Highly volatile redispatching costs were estimated subject to balancing market prices due to relatively low quantity of historical redispatching measures. When comparing costs between capacity reduction and redispatching, results conclude socio-economic justification of redispatching especially below 100 MW congestions in all price ranges due to similar or even lower costs than capacity reduction. Above this, relieving congestions based on absolute costs of required actions and therefore, congestions within 100–200 MW are generally relieved with redispatching if reasonably priced resources are available. During even higher congestions, the availability of redispatch should be considered and capacity reduction is justified

Uritetun paalun vetokapasiteetti

Anchors are often used to resist tensile forces on tall and narrow structures where steel pipe piles are used to restrain compressive force. It has been studied that by grooving the steel pipe pile and by drilling and grouting the pile to the bedrock it could also resist tensile forces. The grooved tensile pipe pile could thus replace the anchors and increase the cost-effectiveness of the design. This master`s thesis was funded by SSAB and is based on the previous research “The tensile capacity of steel pipe piles drilled into the bedrock” published in 2015. In this research grooved steel pipe piles drilled and grouted into the bedrock to resist tensile forces are studied by literature review and field test. The main focus was to develop the design of grooved tensile steel pipe pile, implement theory on the field test and compare the results to previous studies. This research can be divided in two parts. In the first part instructions and theory concerning tensile piles are studied by literature review. In the second part grooved tensile steel pipe pile design are tested by the field test. From the literature review it was found that the material properties, size of the annulus, size of the reamer, friction and mechanical interlocking affects to the bond strength and design of the grooved tensile pipe pile. With the aid of the literature review and previous research the design was modified by increasing the wall thickness of the pile and by selecting oversized reamer for some of the piles. Otherwise similar grooved tensile pipe pile design was used in the loading test as in previous studies. In this research the piles were tested from the ground level in construction like situation. The achieved bond strength stayed between 0.24 to 0.88 MPa. The highest tensile capacity was 3068 kN. Failure was assumed to happen on steel to grout surface. The highest values were obtained on piles with wider annulus between rock and pile surface. It is assumed that this enabled a better flushing and grouting resulting in higher capacity. Therefore base on the tested piles, the RDs 220/12.5 pile with grooves and 273 mm ring bit is recommended to be used as tensile pile. Results were finally compared to the present instructions and previous studies. It was found that capacity of the grooved tensile pipe pile was over five times higher than it is allowed to use for the design according to present instructions

Early maladaptive schemas in chronically depressed patients : A preliminary investigation

Background Schema therapy has been proposed as a potentially effective treatment for chronic depression. However, little is known about early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), a key concept in schema therapy, in relation to chronic depression or chronic depression with comorbid personality pathology. The aim of the present study was to compare EMSs between currently chronically depressed patients with comorbid cluster C personality disorder (CDCPD), currently chronically depressed patients (CD), and patients remitted from chronic depression (CDR). Methods Based on data from a naturalistic follow-up study on psychiatric outpatients with major depressive disorder, three groups were formed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV: CDCPD (n = 15), CD (n = 23), and CDR (n = 13). Groups were compared in terms of background information and measurements for depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and EMSs (Young Schema Questionnaire). Results Patients with CDCPD and CD did not differ in terms of background variables or the severity of depressive symptoms, but patients with CDCPD were more maladaptive with respect to the majority of EMSs. Patients with CDR were less depressed than CDCPD or CD patients, but did not differ in terms of EMSs compared with CD patients. Conclusions Comorbid cluster C personality disorder appears to be associated with more severe EMS endorsement in chronically depressed patients. Remitted patients show similar cognitive vulnerability factors in terms of EMSs compared to those currently chronically depressed. The findings suggest that EMSs may contribute to vulnerability to chronic depression. Focusing on EMSs may be beneficial in the treatment of chronic depression.Peer reviewe

Kestävyystieteen muutosteoriat

Peer reviewe

Non-melancholic depressive symptoms are associated with above average fat mass index in the Helsinki birth cohort study

Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).There is an existing link between two of the most common diseases, obesity and depression. These are both of great public health concern, but little is known about the relationships between the subtypes of these conditions. We hypothesized that non-melancholic depressive symptoms have a stronger relationship with both body composition (lean mass and fat mass) and dysfunctional glucose metabolism than melancholic depression. For this cross-sectional study 1510 participants from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study had their body composition evaluated as lean mass and fat mass (Lean Mass Index [LMI, kg/m2] + Fat Mass Index [FMI kg/m2] = Body Mass Index). Participants were evaluated for depressive symptoms utilizing the Beck depression inventory, and had laboratory assessments including an oral glucose tolerance test. Higher than average FMI was associated with a higher percentage (mean [%], 95% CI) of participants scoring in the depressive range of the Beck depression inventory (20.2, 17.2–23.2) compared to those with low FMI (16.3, 13.8–18.9; p = 0.048) when adjusted for age, sex, education, and fasting plasma glucose concentration. Higher FMI was associated with a higher likelihood of having depressive symptoms (OR per 1-SD FMI = 1.37, 95% CI 1.13–1.65), whereas higher LMI was associated with a lower likelihood of having depressive symptoms (OR per 1-SD LMI = 0.76, 95% CI 0.64–0.91). Participants with an above average FMI more frequently (mean [%], 95% CI) had non-melancholic depressive symptoms (14.7, 11.8–17.7) as compared to those with low FMI (9.7, 7.6–11.9; p = 0.008) regardless of LMI levels. There was no difference between the body composition groups in the likelihood of having melancholic depressive symptoms. The non-melancholic group had higher (mean [kg/m2], SD) FMI (9.6, 4.1) than either of the other groups (BDI < 10: 7.7, 3.1; melancholic: 7.9, 3.6; p < 0.001), and a higher (mean [mmol/l], SD) 2-h glucose concentration (7.21, 1.65) than the non-depressed group (6.71, 1.70; p = 0.005). As hypothesized, non-melancholic depressive symptoms are most closely related to high fat mass index and dysfunctional glucose metabolism.Peer reviewe

Depressive symptoms and mortality-findings from Helsinki birth cohort study

Background Individuals with depression and depressive symptoms have a higher mortality rate than non-depressed individuals. The increased comorbidity and mortality associated with depression has remained largely unexplained. The underlying pathophysiological differences between depressive subtypes, melancholic and non-melancholic, may provide some explanation to this phenomenon. Methods One thousand nine hundred and ninety five participants (mean age 61 years) from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study were recruited for this prospective study and followed up for a mean of 14.1 years. Information regarding medical history, lifestyle, and biochemical parameters were obtained. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated. Results Participants were followed up for a total of 28,044 person-years. The melancholic depressive group had an increased adjusted risk of mortality [HR 1.49 (95% CI: 1.02-2.20)] when compared to the non-depressive group. Comparing mortality to the whole population of Finland using standardized mortality ratios (SMR) both the non-melancholic [1.11 (95% CI: 0.85-1.44)] and melancholic depressive [1.26 (95% CI: 0.87-1.81)] groups had higher mortality than the non-depressive group [0.82 (95% CI: 0.73-0.93)]. Conclusions Melancholic depressive symptoms are most strongly related to a higher mortality risk.Peer reviewe

Residential wood combustion in Finland : PM2.5 emissions and health impacts with and without abatement measures

Exposure to fine particles in ambient air has been estimated to be one of the leading environmental health risks in Finland. Residential wood combustion is the largest domestic source of fine particles, and there is increasing political interest in finding feasible measures to reduce those emissions. In this paper, we present the PM2.5 emissions from residential wood combustion in Finland, as well as the resulting concentrations. We used population-weighed concentrations in a 250 × 250 m grid as population exposure estimates, with which we calculated the disease burden of the emissions. Compared to a projected baseline scenario, we studied the effect of chosen reduction measures in several abatement scenarios. In 2015, the resulting annual average concentrations were between 0.5 and 2 µg/m3 in the proximity of most cities, and disease burden attributable to residential wood combustion was estimated to be 3400 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) and 200 deaths. Disease burden decreased by 8% in the 2030 baseline scenario and by an additional 63% in the maximum feasible reduction scenario. Informational campaigns and improvement of the sauna stove stock were assessed to be the most feasible abatement measures to be implemented in national air quality policies

Sampling Rate Effects on Resting State fMRI Metrics

Low image sampling rates used in resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) may cause aliasing of the cardiorespiratory pulsations over the very low frequency (VLF) BOLD signal fluctuations which reflects to functional connectivity (FC). In this study, we examine the effect of sampling rate on currently used rs-fMRI FC metrics. Ultra-fast fMRI magnetic resonance encephalography (MREG) data, sampled with TR 0.1 s, was downsampled to different subsampled repetition times (sTR, range 0.3–3 s) for comparisons. Echo planar k-space sampling (TR 2.15 s) and interleaved slice collection schemes were also compared against the 3D single shot trajectory at 2.2 s sTR. The quantified connectivity metrics included stationary spatial, time, and frequency domains, as well as dynamic analyses. Time domain methods included analyses of seed-based functional connectivity, regional homogeneity (ReHo), coefficient of variation, and spatial domain group level probabilistic independent component analysis (ICA). In frequency domain analyses, we examined fractional and amplitude of low frequency fluctuations. Aliasing effects were spatially and spectrally analyzed by comparing VLF (0.01–0.1 Hz), respiratory (0.12–0.35 Hz) and cardiac power (0.9–1.3 Hz) FFT maps at different sTRs. Quasi-periodic pattern (QPP) of VLF events were analyzed for effects on dynamic FC methods. The results in conventional time and spatial domain analyses remained virtually unchanged by the different sampling rates. In frequency domain, the aliasing occurred mainly in higher sTR (1–2 s) where cardiac power aliases over respiratory power. The VLF power maps suffered minimally from increasing sTRs. Interleaved data reconstruction induced lower ReHo compared to 3D sampling (p &lt; 0.001). Gradient recalled echo-planar imaging (EPI BOLD) data produced both better and worse metrics. In QPP analyses, the repeatability of the VLF pulse detection becomes linearly reduced with increasing sTR. In conclusion, the conventional resting state metrics (e.g., FC, ICA) were not markedly affected by different TRs (0.1–3 s). However, cardiorespiratory signals showed strongest aliasing in central brain regions in sTR 1–2 s. Pulsatile QPP and other dynamic analyses benefit linearly from short TR scanning

Influence of spatial resolution on population PM2.5 exposure and health impacts

Health effect estimates depend on the methods of evaluating exposures. Due to non-linearities in the exposure-response relationships, both the predicted mean exposures as well as its spatial variability are significant. The aim of this work is to systematically quantify the impact of the spatial resolution on population-weighted mean concentration (PWC), its variance, and mortality attributable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure in Finland in 2015. The atmospheric chemical transport model SILAM was used to estimate the ambient air PM2.5 concentrations at 0.02° longitudinal × 0.01° latitudinal resolution (ca. 1 km), including both the national PM2.5 emissions and the long-range transport. The decision-support model FRES source-receptor matrices applied at 250-m resolution was used to model the ambient air concentrations of primary fine particulate matter (PPM2.5) from local and regional sources up to 10 km and 20 km distances. Numerical averaging of population and concentrations was used to produce the results for coarser resolutions. Population-weighted PM2.5 concentration was 11% lower at a resolution of 50 km, compared with the corresponding computations at a resolution of 1 km. However, considering only the national emissions, the influences of spatial averaging were substantially larger. The average population-weighted local PPM2.5 concentration originated from Finnish sources was 70% lower at a resolution of 50 km, compared with the corresponding result obtained using a resolution of 250 m. The sensitivity to spatial averaging, between the finest 250-m and the coarsest 50-km resolution, was highest for the emissions of PPM2.5 originated from national vehicular traffic (about 80% decrease) and lowest for the national residential combustion (60% decrease). Exposure estimates in urban areas were more sensitive to the changes of model resolution (14% and 74% decrease for PM2.5 and local PPM2.5, respectively), compared with estimates in rural areas (2% decrease for PM2.5 and 36% decrease for PPM2.5). We conclude that for the evaluation of the health impacts of air pollution, the resolution of the model computations is an important factor, which can potentially influence the predicted health impacts by tens of percent or more, especially when assessing the impacts of national emissions