Finnish Monetary and Foreign Exchange Policy on the Way towards the Euro

This paper presents the salient aspects of Finland?s monetary and exchange rate policies during the run-up to monetary union in the 1990s. In the course of slightly more than a decade, Finland?s monetary and exchange rate policies were thoroughly revamped. There were serious problems associated with the liberalisation process in the early part of the decade, the most noteworthy being an economic and banking crisis. Finland?s financial system nonetheless developed rapidly. As regards exchange rate policy, almost all varieties of exchange rate regime were tried. A fixed rate regime based on a currency index fell apart in the early part of the decade and was replaced by a floating rate system. Later, in 1993, this was combined with an inflation-targeting monetary policy strategy. At the start of 1995 Finland joined the European Union, and in October 1996 the markka was joined to the EU?s Exchange Rate Mechanism. The improvement in financial and price stability that followed the economic crisis facilitated the adjustment to the euro area?s single currency and single monetary policy at the start of 1999, which was accomplished without serious problems.monetary policy; foreign exchange policy; EMU; euro; monetary policy arrangements

Finnish monetary and foreign exchange policy and the changeover to the euro

This paper presents the salient aspects of Finland’s monetary and exchange rate policies during the run-up to monetary union in the 1990s. In the course of slightly more than a decade, Finland’s monetary and exchange rate policies were thoroughly revamped. The remnants of heavy regulation were removed and a market-based financial system was put in place. There were serious problems associated with the liberalisation process in the early part of the decade, the most noteworthy being an economic and banking crisis. Finland’s financial system nonetheless developed rapidly and became a more integrated part of the global system. As regards exchange rate policy, almost all varieties of exchange rate regime were tried. A fixed rate regime based on a currency index fell apart in the early part of the decade and was replaced by a floating rate system. Later, in 1993, this was combined with an inflation-targeting monetary policy strategy. At the start of 1995 Finland joined the European Union, and in October 1996 the markka was joined to the EU’s Exchange Rate Mechanism. The improvement in financial and price stability that followed the economic crisis facilitated the adjustment to the euro area’s single currency and single monetary policy at the start of 1999, which was accomplished without serious problems.monetary policy; foreign exchange policy; EMU; euro; monetary policy arrangements

Availability in mobile application in IaaS cloud

Deploying software system into IaaS cloud takes infrastructure out of user's control, which diminishes visibility and changes system administration. Service outages of infrastructure services and other risks to availability have caused concern for early users of cloud. In this thesis existing web application, which is deployed in IaaS cloud, was evaluated for availability. Whole spectrum of different cloud related incidents that compromises provided service was examined. General view from availability point of view of the case Internet service was formed based on interviews. Big cloud service providers have service level agreements effective and long cloud outages are rare events. Cloud service providers build mutually independent domains or zones into infrastructure. Internet availability is largely determinative of users' perceived performance of site. Using multiple cloud service providers is a solution to cloud service unavailability. Case company had discovered requirements for availability and sufficiently prevented threats. Case company was satisfied in cloud services and there is no need to withdraw from cloud. User is a significant threat to the dependability of system, but there are no definite means to prevent user from damaging system. Taking routinely and regularly backups of data outside the cloud is the core activity in IT crisis preparedness. Application architecture was evaluated and found satisfactory. Software system contains managed database service and load balancer as an advanced feature from IaaS provider. Both services give crucial support for the availability of the system. Examined system has conceptually simple stateless recovery.Ohjelmiston käyttö IaaS -pilvessä saattaa infrastruktuurin käyttäjän kontrollin ulottumattomiin, mikä heikentää näkyvyyttä ja muuttaa järjestelmän hallintaa. Palvelukatkot infrastruktuuripalveluissa ja muut riskit saatavuudelle ovat aiheuttaneet varovaisuutta pilvipalveluiden varhaisissa käyttäjissä. Tässä diplomityössä evaluoitiin olemassa olevan ja IaaS -pilvessä käytettävän web-sovelluksen saatavuutta. Kokonainen kirjo erilaisia pilveen liittyviä tapahtumia, jotka keskeyttävät tarjotun palvelun, tutkittiin. Yleiskuva saatavuuden näkökulmasta katsottuna muodostettiin haastattelujen pohjalta. Suurilla pilvipalveluiden tarjoajilla on voimassa olevat palvelutasosopimukset ja pitkät palvelukatkot ovat harvinaisia tapahtumia. Pilvipalveluiden tarjoajat rakentavat infrastruktuuriin toisistaan riippumattomasti toimivia alueita. Suurelta osalta määräävä tekijä käyttäjien kokeman sivuston suorituskyvyn kannalta on Internetin kautta palveluun liittymisen saatavuus. Useamman pilvipalvelun tarjoajan käyttäminen on ratkaisu pilvipalvelun saatavuuteen. Case-yritys oli löytänyt vaatimukset saatavuudelle ja riittävällä tavalla estänyt riskien toteutumisen. Case-yritys oli tyytyväinen pilvipalveluihin ja pilvestä pois vetäytymiselle ei ole tarvetta. Käyttäjä on merkittävä riski järjestelmän luotettavuudelle, mutta ei ole varmoja tapoja estää käyttäjää vahingoittamasta järjestelmää. Keskeinen toiminto tietotekniseen kriisiin varautumisessa on rutiininomainen ja säännöllinen varmuuskopioiden teko. Sovelluksen arkkitehtuuria evaluoitiin ja se havaittiin tarpeita vastaavaksi. Ohjelmistojärjestelmä sisältää palveluntarjoajan ylläpitämän tietokantapalvelun ja web-palvelimien tietoliikenteen kuorman tasaajan IaaS -palvelun edistyneinä ominaisuuksina. Molemmat palvelut tukevat ratkaisevasti järjestelmän saatavuutta. Tarkastellussa järjestelmässä on käsitteellisesti yksinkertainen tilaton järjestelmän palautuminen

Self-reported health problems in a health risk appraisal predict permanent work disability : a prospective cohort study of 22,023 employees from different sectors in Finland with up to 6-year follow-up

Purpose Work disability (WD) as a medico-legal concept refers to disability benefits (DB) that are granted due to diseases that permanently reduce work ability. We studied whether an occupational healthcare instrument for the prediction of sickness absence (SA) risk-a health risk appraisal (HRA)-also predicts permanent WD. Methods HRA results were combined with registry data on DB of 22,023 employees from different industry sectors. We analysed how the HRA risk categories predict DB and considered occupational group, gender, age, and prior SA as confounding variables. Cumulative incidence function illustrates the difference between the HRA risk categories, and the Fine-Gray model estimates the predictors of WD during 6-year follow-up. Results The most common primary reasons for permanent WD were musculoskeletal (39%) and mental disorders (21%). Self-reported health problems in the HRA, labelled as "WD risk factors", predicted DB when controlling for age and prior SA. Hazard ratios were 10.9 or over with the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval 3.3 or over among those with two simultaneous WD risk factors. 14% of the females and 17% of the males with three or more simultaneous WD risk factors had received a DB, whereas the respective figures among those without findings were 1.9% and 0.3%. Conclusions Self-reported health problems in the HRA, especially multiple simultaneous WD risk factors, predict permanent WD among both genders across occupational groups. Screening WD risk with a self-administered questionnaire is a potential means for identifying high-risk employees for targeting occupational healthcare actions.Peer reviewe

Executive Function Profiles at Home and at School in 11-Year-Old Very Low Birth Weight or Very Low Gestational Age Children

Objective: Executive function (EF) problems of children born at very low birth weight (VLBW; = 70 had clinically significant problems in the Working Memory subscale at school. Although they had clinically significant problems at home in the Behavioral Regulation Index, the difference disappeared when adjusted for paternal education. Lower gestational age, lower birth weight z-score, surgical necrotizing enterocolitis, low paternal and maternal education, and lower full-scale IQ were identified to be risk factors for higher scores in ecological assessment of EF. Conclusion: VLBW or VLGA children in this cohort exhibit fewer EF problems in ecological assessment of EF compared to previous literature. EF problems of this study population vary by home and school setting and are emphasized in working memory at school. Screening for EF problems in school environment is recommended to target the support.Peer reviewe