The Return of the Ingrian Finns: Ethnicity, Identity and Reforms in Finland's Return Immigration Policy 1990-2010

This thesis investigates the construction of Finnish identity by Finnish policymakers when discussing the Right to Return Policy for Ingrian Finns. This policy, which existed from 1990 to 2010, granted Finnish residency to citizens of the Soviet Union, and subsequently Russia and Estonia, who descended from seventeenth century Finnish émigrés to the region around St Petersburg. The thesis critically analyses the discursive constructions of Finnish identity presented in the language of lawmakers on this policy, and argues that lawmakers established an ideology of Finnishness initially predicated on ideas of language, religion, ancestry, and historical relations to Finland’s neighbours Sweden and Russia. I further argue that lawmakers’ calls for an end of the policy in the late 1990s and 2000s used some of the same discursive constructions of Finnishness initially employed to justify Ingrian inclusion to now exclude Ingrians from their idea of Finnishness. To a large extent, the history of the Ingrian Return policy therefore presents a renegotiation of Ingrian, but not Finnish, identity by Finnish lawmakers. The thesis contributes to the study of identity construction on two levels. Firstly the policy presents the tension between constructions of Finnishness as an ethnic identity and as a community of Finnish citizens, and shows the relative resilience of ethnicity-based identity constructions in Finnish immigration policy at this time. Secondly, the Ingrian Finnish Return policy provides a case study of how essentialising discursive constructions of identity can be strategically used in political discussions. Analysis of this policy contributes to the broader study of identity theorisations as an example of establishing identity norms through public policy, using essentialising identity constructions that ignore alternative views of the nation as a diverse community, particularly in a period of increasing migration

Economic location of five leading New England industries.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit

Efficient Simulation of Large-Scale Loss Networks

Recently Rajasekaran and Ross [1] presented an algorithm that takes an expected 0(1) time to generate a nonuniform discrete random variate. In this paper we discuss how this algorithm can be employed in the efficient simulation of large-scale telephone networks. In a simulation based upon a standard event-list approach, the generation of a new event in the systems take 0(log n) time. With this new algorithm, event generation becomes an 0(1) process, and simulation times for large networks can be reduced

Heterogeneity of autoreactive T cell clones specific for the E2 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in primary biliary cirrhosis.

The extraordinary specificity of bile duct destruction in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and the presence of T cell infiltrates in the portal tracts have suggested that biliary epithelial cells are the targets of an autoimmune response. The immunodominant antimitochondrial response in patients with PBC is directed against the E2 component of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDC-E2). Hitherto, there have only been limited reports on the characterization and V beta usage of PDC-E2-specific cloned T cell lines. In this study, we examined peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) for their reactivity to the entire PDC complex as well as to the E1- and E2-specific components. We also examined the phenotype, lymphokine profile, and V beta usage of PDC-specific T cell clones isolated from cellular infiltrates from the livers of PBC patients. We report that PBMC from 16/19 patients with PBC, but not 12 control patients, respond to the PDC-E2 subunit. Interestingly, this response was directed to the inner and/or the outer lipoyl domains, despite the serologic observation that the autoantibody response is directed predominantly to the inner lipoyl domain. Additionally, lymphokine analysis of interleukin (IL) 2/IL-4/interferon gamma production from individual liver-derived autoantigen-specific T cell clones suggests that both T helper cell Th1- and Th2-like clones are present in the liver. Moreover, there was considerable heterogeneity in the T cell receptor for antigen (TCR) V beta usage of these antigen-specific autoreactive T cell clones. This is in contrast to murine studies in which animals are induced to develop autoimmunity by specific immunization and have an extremely limited T cell V beta repertoire. Thus, our data suggest that in human organ-specific autoimmune diseases, such as PBC, the TCR V beta repertoire is heterogenous

The "secularization" and ethnicization of migration discourse: the Ingrian Finnish Right to Return in Finnish politics

Finland’s Right to Return policy for Ingrian Finns (1990–2010) presented Russian and Estonian citizens who qualified as having Finnish ancestry the legal means to resettle in Finland. The policy was initially driven by Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, who spoke publicly of his belief that the Ingrian Finnish minority in Russia was Finnish because it was Lutheran rather than Orthodox. However, Finnish politicians increasingly abandoned the view of a common Lutheran identity between Ingrian Finns and Finland, and shifted the discussion to language, ancestry and historical memory, which were used to both endorse and disendorse Ingrian Finns’ Finnishness. We argue that the disappearance of religion from the Right to Return discourse was a strategic – if not necessarily conscious – choice that emphasized the more primordial aspects of Finnish identity (and the Ingrian Finns’ lack of those), which in turn enabled stricter restrictions and, ultimately, the discontinuation of the policy

Boundaries of National Belonging in Ingrian Finnish Return Migration : A Multi-level Perspective

Peer reviewe

Crohn's Disease Associated with Sweet's Syndrome and Sjögren's Syndrome Treated with Infliximab

The association of Crohn's disease (CD) and Sweet's syndrome is rare and the presence of Sjögren's syndrome in Crohn's disease is even rarer, with only three reports found in the literature. We describe two cases of Crohn's disease associated with Sweet's syndrome, one of which is the first case of CD and Sweet's concomitantly associated with Sjögren's syndrome. Both cases responded rapidly to Infliximab therapy with complete resolution of the skin lesions

Comparison of Weekly and Daily Wet Deposition Samples from an Eastern U.S. National Atmospheric Deposition Program Site

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

Bacteroides fragilis enterotoxin gene sequences in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

We identified enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis in stool specimens of patients with inflammatory bowel disease and other gastrointestinal disorders. The organism was detected in 11 (13.2%) of 83 patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Of 57 patients with active disease, 19.3% were toxin positive; none of those with inactive disease had specimens positive for enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis gene sequences

COVID-19, Social Justice, and Clinical Cancer Research

The COVID-19 pandemic and related socioeconomic events have markedly changed the environment in which cancer clinical trials are conducted. These events have resulted in a substantial, immediate-term decrease in accrual to both diagnostic and therapeutic cancer investigations as well as substantive alterations in patterns of oncologic care. The sponsors of clinical trials, including the United States National Cancer Institute, as well as the cancer centers and community oncology practices that conduct such studies, have all markedly adapted their models of care, usage of health care personnel, and regulatory requirements in the attempt to continue clinical cancer investigations while maintaining high levels of patient safety. In doing so, major changes in clinical trials practice have been embraced nationwide. There is a growing consensus that the regulatory and clinical research process alterations that have been adopted in response to the pandemic (such as the use of telemedicine visits to reduce patient travel requirements and the application of remote informed consent procedures) should be implemented long term. The COVID-19 outbreak has also refocused the oncologic clinical trials community on the need to bring clinical trials closer to patients by dramatically enhancing clinical trial access, especially for minority and underserved communities that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In this Commentary, changes to the program of clinical trials supported by the National Cancer Institute that could improve clinical trial availability, effectiveness, and diversity are proposed.This work was supported in whole or in part with federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, ZIA BC 011078; Phase 0/1 Clinical Trials