Friendship and Social Emotions in Young Adult Finns' Drinking Diaries

In the article we examine the management of social emotions and friendship bonds by analysing the young adults� pub and drinking diaries. We assume that emotions that are embodied in the management of friendship ties can be reduced to the emotions of pride and shame. According to Scheff, as primary social emotions, they are present in all communication and action. They express for the participants of interaction the actual "temperature" of social relations. Pride refers to a strong and safe involvement in interaction, in which individuals feel themselves fine and respectful. In a shameful state, individuals, in turn, experience themselves negatively in the eyes of others, which imply that social bonds are intimidated. The analysis of drinking experiences from the viewpoint of pride and shame brings expressively forth how drinking strengthens or weakens different kinds of social relations and dynamics and how actors try to attach to them or secede from them. In the diary narratives, the pride and shame of drinking is most strongly associated with reinforcement and bonding efforts of ties of friendship that are considered laid-back and like-minded. In relation to them the status, competition, the emphasis of one's self and indulging in love affairs occur in the narratives considerably more seldom, and if they occur, they rather contribute to shameful experiences or remain subordinate to friendship.Friendship, Management of Social Emotions, Pride, Shame, Diary

The Vulnerable Brain and Very Preterm Infants - Findings from the PIPARI-Study

Preterm birth is a risk for normal brain development. Brain maturation that normally happens in the uterus is in very preterm infants a developmental challenge during their stay in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Typical brain injuries of preterm infants include ischemic injuries, brain haemorrhages, ventricular dilatation (VD), and reduced brain volumes. Brain injury is a serious complication of prematurity leading to possible long term consequences for the neurodevelopment of the very low birth weight (VLBW) infant, such as cerebral palsy (CP), hearing impairments, vision problems, and delay in cognitive development.There is a need for further studies to ascertain the potential risk factors and their causal relationships to brain vulnerability, growth and development in the increasing number of surviving VLBW infants. This thesis consists of four studies evaluating the definitions, causes and consequences of brain lesions in VLBW(<1500g) or very low gestationalage (VLGA) (gestational age <32 gestational weeks) infants. We showed that the redistribution of fetal blood flow is a risk factor for smaller brain volumes at term. In addition,we showed that brain lesions related to prematurity are not associated with increased spontaneous crying behaviour or circadian rhythm development in infancy. However, the preterm infants began to fuss more often and were held more than term infants at five months of age. Furthermore, we showed that VD is associated with brain lesions and smaller brain volumes. Therefore, brain magneticresonance imaging can be recommended for infants with VD. VD together with other brain pathology is a risk factor for the onset of developmental impairments in VLBW/VLGA infants at two years of age.Ennenaikainen syntymä on riski aivojen normaalille kehitykselle. Pikkukeskosilla aivojen tärkeitä kehitysvaiheita tapahtuu tehohoidon aikana kohdun ulkopuolella. Pikkukeskosen tyypillisiin aivokomplikaatioihin kuuluvat aivoverenvuodot, hapenpuutteen aiheuttamat vauriot, aivojen sivukammioiden laajentuminen ja aivoaineksen tilavuuksien pieneneminen. Aivovaurio on vakava keskosuuden komplikaatio, koska se voi johtaa pitkäaikaisiin kehityksen ongelmiin, kuten esimerkiksi CP-vammaisuuteen, kuulon tai näön ongelmiin tai älyllisen kehityksen viiveeseen. Koska yhä useampi pikkukeskonen jää henkiin ennenaikaisuudesta huolimatta, on tärkeä tutkia mahdollisia ris¬kitekijöitä pikkukeskosen aivojen vaurioitumiselle. Tämän väitöskirjan neljä osatyötä käsittelivät aivojen kuvantamistutkimuksissa todetun aivovaurion luokittelua, mahdollisia syitä aivovauriolle ja aivojen vaurioitumi¬sen seurauksia pikkukeskosen (<1500g / <32 raskausviikkoa syntyessä) kehitykselle. Tutkimuksemme osoitti, että sikiön verenkierron uudelleenjakautuminen hapenpuutteen seurauksena aiheuttaa riskin aivojen kasvulle. Osoitimme myös, ettei aivovaurio lisää spontaanin kokonaisitkun määrää tai vaikuta vuorokausirytmin kehittymiseen pikkukeskosilla imeväisiässä. Keskoset aloittivat täysiaikaisia lapsia useammin kitinäjakson viiden kuukauden korjatussa iässä ja heitä pidettiin sen seurauksena enemmän sylissä kuin täysiaikaisia verrokkeja. Lisäksi osoitimme, että keskosilla, joilla aivojen sivukammiot ovat laajentuneet, on usein muitakin poikkeavia aivolöydöksiä ja pienemmät aivojen kokonais- ja osatilavuudet lasketussa ajassa. Mikäli aivojen sivukammiot ovat poikkeavasti laajentuneet ultraäänitutkimuksessa lasketussa ajassa, voidaan tulostemme perusteella suositella aivojen magneettitutkimusta mahdollisten lisälöydösten varmentamiseksi. Aivojen sivukammioiden laajentuminen yhdessä muun aivovaurion kanssa liittyi suurentuneeseen riskiin kehityksen ongelmille kahden vuoden korjatussa iässä pikkukeskosilla.Siirretty Doriast

The distribution of pension wealth and the accuracy of individual perceptions in Finland

This licentiate thesis studies the accuracy of the pension expectations of Finnish workers and the distribution of pension wealth in Finland. The Finnish pension system was reformed in 2005. The aims of the reform were to make the earnings-related pension scheme more sustainable, to increase labour force participation of older workers, and to make the system more equitable. In the old system, pension rights were calculated based on the average earnings of the ten last years in each job, so earnings in the other years were ignored. From 2005 on, pension rights will be based on all earnings between ages 18 to 68. The reform meant that for each worker, the earned pension rights until the end of year 2004 had to be calculated. So the registers in the Finnish pension system contain information on actual earned pension rights for every worker. This data is used in this licentiate thesis to study the accuracy of pension benefit expectations of Finnish workers and the distribution of pension wealth in Finland. Börsch-Supan (2005) has evaluated the Finnish 2005 pension reform. His conclusion is that the reform is a step in the right direction, but more steps will be needed in the future. The reform has tightened the relation between earnings and pension benefits, which is important. However, even though the reform was aimed to increase labour force participation of older workers, there still are incentives to retire early. The system is also unnecessarily complicated, which increases to cost of acquiring information that individuals need in order to make retirement decisions. This licentiate thesis consists of two essays, one on the accuracy of pension benefit expectations of Finnish workers, and the other on the distribution of pension wealth in Finland. The essays use the same data set, a combination of survey and register data. The individuals in the sample are 45 years old or older..

Virtual worlds, fiction, and reality

Mi objetivo en este artículo es plantear y discutir algunas de las preguntas filosóficas sobre la Realidad Virtual&amp;nbsp; (RV). El problema fundamental se refiere a la naturaleza ontológica de la realidad virtual: ¿es real o ficticia? ¿La&amp;nbsp; RV es comparable a ilusiones, alucinaciones, sueños, o mundos de ficción? ¿Son todas las categorías filosóficas&amp;nbsp; tradicionales suficientes para darnos la comprensión del fenómeno de la RV? Para abordar estas cuestiones,&amp;nbsp; emplearé como mis herramientas filosóficas la semántica de mundos posibles y las teorías lógicas de la&amp;nbsp; percepción y la imaginación. Mi conclusión principal es que la RV es comparable a una imagen en 3-D que&amp;nbsp; puede ser vista desde el interior.My aim in this paper is to raise and discuss some philosophical questions about Virtual Reality (VR). The most&amp;nbsp; fundamental problem concerns the ontological nature of VR: is it real or fictional? Is VR comparable to illusions,&amp;nbsp; hallucinations, dreams, or worlds of fiction? Are traditional philosophical categories at all sufficient to give us&amp;nbsp; understanding of the phenomenon of VR? In approaching these questions, I shall employ possible world&amp;nbsp; semantics and logical theories of perception and imagination as my philosophical tools. My main conclusion is&amp;nbsp; that VR is comparable to a 3-D picture which can be seen from the inside

Effects of population changes in the labour market: an analysis of six European countries

The publication examines the labour market effects of demographic changes in six European countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. In all these countries, the ageing of population is weakening the old-age dependency ratio. In other words the proportion of those aged 65 or over to the working age population is growing. Fertility is not sufficient to ensure population increase in any of these six countries. This means immigration plays a major role in all countries. As the number of the working age population falls, employment rates tend to rise. This has happened in all countries in recent years, along with a decrease in unemployment rates. Labour productivity has not decreased in any of these countries; in some, it has actually increased. Most recently, the old-age dependency ratio has remained largely unchanged in Germany and Sweden, while in other countries in has continued to decline. The development of fertility shows more variation. Germany and Latvia have recently succeeded in increasing fertility. With regard to immigration, Latvia differs from the other countries in that its net immigration is negative, although the situation is stabilising. Net immigration has increased lately in Estonia, Latvia (although the level remains negative), the Netherlands and Sweden. Eurostat’s population scenarios indicate the significant impact of migration on demographic development by 2035. It seems that immigration could reverse the otherwise declining population trend in the Netherlands and Sweden, and to keep it almost unchanged in Finland. In the other three countries, population scenarios show a downward trend. Policy responses are quite similar in all countries examined. They focus on pension systems, access to employment to those with weak labour market participation, labour market policy, competence development, family-friendly solutions, and immigration policy. The publication is based on the work of the international labour market forecasting network (ILMFN)