Institutionalisaatio ja ulkopoliittinen yhteistyö : EU:n Lähi-idän politiikan muotoutuminen

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Pro gradu -työni tutkimuskohteena on Euroopan unionin yhteisen ulkopolitiikan muotoutuminen. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan sekä ulkopoliittisen yhteistyön institutionalisaatiota että tämän ulkopolitiikan varsinaista substanssia. Tapaustutkimuksena on EU:n Lähi-idän politiikan kehittyminen, tarkemmin suhtautuminen arabi - Israel-konfliktiin. Ajallisesti tarkastelu ulottuu 1960-luvun lopulta 2000-luvun alkuun. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen lähestymistapa pohjautuu Michael E. Smithin hypoteesiin, jonka mukaan kasvava institutionalisaatio auttaa tuottamaan aikaisempaa suurempaa kansainvälistä yhteistyötä. Tutkimusongelmana on, miten yhteisen ulkopolitiikan institutionaalinen kehitys on heijastunut unionin Lähi-idän politiikkaan? Aluksi tarkastellaan EU:n ulkopoliittisen yhteistyön/yhteisen ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikan muotoutumista erityisesti sitä luoneiden raporttien ja sopimusten kautta. Smith jaottelee EU:n ulkopolitiikan institutionaalisen kehityksen viiteen eri vaiheeseen: intergovernmentaaliseen foorumiin, informaation jakamiseen, normien kehittymiseen, pysyvien organisaatioiden vakiintumiseen ja governancen aikaan. Tämä jaottelu toimii tarkasteluni pohjana. Unionin Lähi-idän politiikkaa lähestytään Smithin esittämien yhteistyön kvantitatiivisten ja erityisesti kvalitatiivisten indikaattorien kautta. Kvalitatiiviset indikaattorit käsittävät kaksi kriteeristöä, joista koostuvan matriisin pohjalta tehdään johtopäätökset EU:n Lähi-idän politiikan kehityksestä. Ensimmäisessä kriteeristössä luokitellaan unionin ulkopoliittinen toiminta sen aikomusten ja päämäärien mukaan kolmeen kategoriaan: refleksiiviseen, reaktiiviseen ja aktiiviseen. Toinen kriteeristö puolestaan jaottelee EU:n jäsenvaltioiden kollektiivisen toiminnan matalan kustannusten toimiin, ainoastaan kansallisella tasolla toimeenpantavaan substantiivisempaan toimintaan ja lopulta sekä jäsenvaltiot että EC:n sisältävään substantiiviseen toimintaan. Smithin mukaan ulkopolitiikan institutionalisaation etenemisen tulisi heijastua ulkopoliittiseen yhteistyöhön siten, että yhteisön resursseja käyttävä aktiivinen ja substantiivinen toiminta korvaisi aikaisemman matalan kustannusten refleksiivisen toiminnan. Tarkastelussa kiinnitetään huomiota ennen kaikkea erityisiin alueellisiin kriiseihin, EU:n osallisuuteen Lähi-idän rauhanprosessissa, EU:n keskeisiin lausumiin, strategioihin, alueellisiin dialogeihin ja toimiin sekä tapaan, jolla EU on käyttänyt uusia ulkopoliittisia instrumenttejaan suhteessa Lähi-itään. Tuloksena on, että vaikka institutionalisaation ja ulkopolitiikan tehostumisen välillä onkin jonkinlainen yhteys erityisesti Maastrichtin sopimuksen jälkeisenä aikana, ei institutionalisaatio yksin riitä selittämään muutoksia unionin Lähi-idän politiikassa. Poliittinen yhteistyö ei ole edennyt linjassa institutionalisaation kanssa, vaan on ollut lähinnä hyppelehtivää. Vaikuttaa siltä, että unionin toiminnan selittäjänä eivät niinkään ole institutionaalisen rakenteen asettamat reunaehdot, vaan pikemminkin jäsenvaltioiden poliittinen tahto ja erityisesti sen puute. Keskeisimpinä käytettyinä lähteinä ovat olleet Michael E. Smithin teos Europe´s Foreign and Security Policy, The Institutionalization of Cooperation, Bulletin of the European Communities ja Euroopan yhteisöjen virallinen lehti

Developing and piloting a self-assessment tool for medication review competence of practicing pharmacists based on nationally set competence criteria

Background New competence requirements have emerged for pharmacists as a result of changing societal needs towards more patient-centred practices. Today, medication review competence can be considered as basic pharmaceutical competence. Medication review specific competence criteria and tools for self-assessing the competence are essential in building competences and a shared understanding of medication reviews as a collaborative practice. The aim of this study was to develop and pilot a self-assessment tool for medication review competence among practicing pharmacists in Finland. Methods The development of the self-assessment tool was based on the national medication review competence criteria for pharmacists established in Finland in 2017 and piloting the tool among practicing pharmacists in a national online survey in October 2018. The pharmacists self-assessed their medication review competence with a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for "very poor/not at all" to 5 for "very good". Results The internal consistency of the self-assessment tool was high as the range of the competence areas' Cronbach's alpha was 0.953-0.973. The competence areas consisted of prescription review competence (20 items, Cronbach's alpha 0.953), additional statements for medication review competence (11 additional items, Cronbach's alpha 0.963) and medication review as a whole, including both the statements of prescription review and medication review competence (31 items, Cronbach's alpha 0.973). Competence items closely related to routine dispensing were most commonly self-estimated to be mastered by the practicing pharmacists who responded (n = 344), while the more clinical and patient-centred competence items had the lowest self-estimates. This indicates that the self-assessment tool works logically and differentiates pharmacists according to competence. The self-assessed medication review competence was at a very good or good level among more than half (55%) of the respondents (n = 344). Conclusion A self-assessment tool for medication review competence was developed and validated. The piloted self-assessment tool can be used for regular evaluation of practicing pharmacists' medication review competence which is becoming an increasingly important basis for their contribution to patient care and society.Peer reviewe

Historical contingency via priority effects counteracts environmental change on metacommunity dynamics across decades

Community ecology has had a strong focus on single snapshots of species compositional variation in time. However, environmental change often occurs slowly at relatively broad spatio-temporal scales, which requires historically explicit assessments of long-term metacommunity dynamics, such as the order of species arrival during community assembly (i.e., priority effects), a theme that merits further empirical quantification. In this study, we applied the Bayesian inference scheme of Hierarchical Modeling of Species Communities together with information on functional traits and evolutionary dependencies to efficiently explore the question of how ecological communities are organized in space and time. To do this, we used a comprehensive time-series dataset from boreal lake plants and adopted the perspective that more sound conclusions on metacommunity dynamics can be gained from studies that consider a historically integrative approach over long timeframes. Our findings revealed that historical contingency via priority effects can profoundly shape community assembly under the influence of environmental change across decades (here, from the 1940s to the 2010s). Similarly, our results supported the existence of both positive and negative species-to-species associations in lake plants, suggesting that functional divergence can switch the inhibition–facilitation balance at the metacommunity level. Perhaps more importantly, this proof-of-concept study supports the notion that community ecology should include a historical perspective and suggests that ignoring priority effects may risk our ability to identify the true magnitude of change in present-day biotic communitiesS

Different species trait groups of stream diatoms show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin

Understanding the drivers of community structure is an important topic in ecology. We examined whether different species trait groups of stream diatoms (ecological guilds and specialization groups) show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin. We used local- and catchment-scale environmental and spatial variables in redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to examine community structuring. Local and catchment conditions and spatial variables affected diatom community structure with different relative importance. Local-scale environmental variables explained most of the variation in the low-profile and motile guilds, whereas local and spatial variables explained the same amount of the variation in the high-profile guild. The variations in the planktic guild and the specialist species were best explained by spatial variables, and catchment variables explained most variation only in generalist species. Our study showed that diatom communities in subarctic streams are a result of both environmental filtering and spatial processes. Our findings also suggested that dividing whole community into different groups by species traits can increase understanding of metacommunity organization.Peer reviewe

Different species trait groups of stream diatoms show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin

Understanding the drivers of community structure is an important topic in ecology. We examined whether different species trait groups of stream diatoms (ecological guilds and specialization groups) show divergent responses to spatial and environmental factors in a subarctic drainage basin. We used local- and catchment-scale environmental and spatial variables in redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to examine community structuring. Local and catchment conditions and spatial variables affected diatom community structure with different relative importance. Local-scale environmental variables explained most of the variation in the low-profile and motile guilds, whereas local and spatial variables explained the same amount of the variation in the high-profile guild. The variations in the planktic guild and the specialist species were best explained by spatial variables, and catchment variables explained most variation only in generalist species. Our study showed that diatom communities in subarctic streams are a result of both environmental filtering and spatial processes. Our findings also suggested that dividing whole community into different groups by species traits can increase understanding of metacommunity organization.Peer reviewe

Comparison of psyllium feeding at home and nasogastric intubation of psyllium and magnesium sulfate in the hospital as a treatment for naturally occurring colonic sand (geosediment) accumulations in horses : a retrospective study

Background: Ingestion of geosediment (further referred as sand) may cause weight loss, diarrhea and acute or recurrent colic in horses. Our aim was to compare the efficacy of three treatment protocols in clearing colonic sand accumulations in clinical patients. This retrospective clinical study consisted of 1097 horses and ponies, which were radiographed for the presence of colonic sand. Horses included to the study (n = 246) were displaying areas of sand in the radiographs of >= 75 cm(2) and were treated medically monitoring the response with radiographs. The horses were assigned into three groups based on the given treatment: Group 1 was fed psyllium [1 g/kg body weight (BW)] daily at home for a minimum of 10 days (n = 57); Group 2 was treated once with psyllium or magnesium sulfate by nasogastric tubing followed by daily feeding of psyllium (1 g/kg BW) at home for a minimum of 10 days (n = 19), and Group 3 was treated by daily nasogastric tubing for 3-7 days with psyllium and/or magnesium sulfate (1 g of each/kg BW) (n = 170). Results: The initial area of sand did not differ significantly between the treatments. Group 3 had significantly less residual sand than Groups 1 and 2, and the proportion of resolved horses was higher in Group 3 than in Groups 1 and 2. Conclusions: Daily nasogastric tubing with psyllium and/or magnesium sulfate for 3-7 days removes large accumulations of sand from the colon in horses more effectively than feeding psyllium for at least 10 days.Peer reviewe

Correlates of different facets and components of betadiversity in stream organisms

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Seismicity and Sources of Stress in Fennoscandia

This chapter investigates the Fennoscandian uplift area since the latest Ice Age and addresses the question if glacial isostatic adjustment may influence current seismicity. The region is in an intraplate area, with stresses caused by the lithospheric relative plate motions. Discussions on whether uplift and plate tectonics are the only causes of stress have been going on for many years in the scientific community. This review considers the improved sensitivity of the seismograph networks, and at the same time attempts to omit man-made explosions and mining events in the pattern, to present the best possible earthquake pattern. Stress orientations and their connection to the uplift pattern and known tectonics are evaluated. Besides plate motion and uplift, one finds that some regions are affected stress-wise by differences in geographical sediment loading as well as by topography variations. The stress release in the present-day earthquakes shows a pattern that deviates from that of the time right after the Ice Age. This chapter treats the stress pattern generalized for Fennoscandia and guides the interested reader to more details in the national chapters.Peer reviewe

Changes in the functional features of macrophyte communities and driving factors across a 70-year period

Functional homogenisation occurs across many areas and organism groups, thereby seriously affecting biodiversity loss and ecosystem functioning. In this study, we examined how functional features of aquatic macrophytes have changed during a 70-year period at community and species levels in a boreal lake district. At the community level, we examined if aquatic macrophyte communities showed different spatial patterns in functional composition and functional richness in relation to main environmental drivers between the time periods. We also observed each species in functional space to assess if species with certain sets of traits have become more common or rare in the 70-year study period. We found changes in the relationship between functional community composition and the environment. The aquatic macrophyte communities showed different patterns in functional composition between the two time periods, and the main environmental drivers for these changes were partly different. Temporal changes in functional richness were only partially linked to concomitant changes in the environment, while stable factors were more important. Species’ functional traits were not associated with commonness or rarity patterns. Our findings revealed that functional homogenisation has not occurred across these boreal lakes, ranging from small oligotrophic forest lakes to larger lakes affected by human impacts