Koivun paakkutaimien juurten kasvupotentiaali ja istutusajankohta.

TutkimusartikkeliKoivun paakkutaimia on istutettu perinteisesti yksivuotisina, kylvövuotta seuraavana keväänä ennen lehtien puhkeamista. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan mahdollisuutta istuttaa taimet jo kylvövuoden kesällä ja syksyllä. Koivun paakkutaimien juurten kasvupotentiaalia tutkittiin kasvihuonekokeissa kasvukauden eri vaiheissa sekä seurattiin eri ajankohtina istutettujen koivun paakkutaimien alkumenestystä peltokokeissa. Yksivuotisten koivun paakkutaimien juurten kasvu alkoi keväällä hitaasti ja nopeutui selvästi vasta kesäkuun alun jälkeen, kun lehdet olivat saavuttaneet täyden koon. Keväällä kylvettyjen ja samana kesänä, eri ajankohtina istutettujen, taimien juurten kasvupotentiaali oli voimakkainta ensimmäisellä istutuskerralla heinäkuun puolessavälissä ja heikkeni suoraviivaisesti kohti syksyn istutuskertoja. Pellolle perustetuissa istutusajankohtakokeissa sääolosuhteiltaan normaalin vuoden heinä–elokuussa istutetut koivun paakkutaimet menestyivät yhtä hyvin tai paremmin kuin seuraavana keväänä istutetut taimet. Koivun paakkutaimien kesäistutus edellyttää kuitenkin huolellista taimien käsittelyä ja hoitoa koko istutusketjun ajan

Effect of Project Finance on Public Infrastructure Project Appraisal – Case study: Hailuoto Causeway

Public investment project appraisal is based on cost-benefit analysis of both the social and economic costs and benefits of a project. By taking into account both the social and economic effects, government agencies in charge of investing public funds aim to reach the socio-economically most advantageous end result. Cost-benefit analysis compares projects based on the present values of their direct socio-economic costs and benefits but does not include evaluation of potential project finance arrangements. Project costs are implicitly assumed to be paid when the asset is ready for use, while the benefits produced by the project are received over a long forecast period. Including an evaluation of available financing arrangements can provide valuable additional information to public decision makers for allocating scarce public funds. The aim of this study was to complement the information provided by cost-benefit analysis by examining two research questions: (1) ”Effect of Project Finance on the Socio-economic Profitability of the Hailuoto Causeway project” and (2) “Expediting Project Start with off-budget Financing”. The research was carried out as a quantitative case study, using data about the socio-economic benefits and costs of the Hailuoto Causeway project estimated for the official project appraisal report. Three financial models were built to simulate (1) direct budget financing of the project as well as (2) debt financing via a public project company and (3) procurement of the project via a comprehensive service agreement, with the project financed and built by a private service provider. The effect of expedited project start was examined by testing delayed budget-financed project timelines against a PPP service agreement starting on time. The results indicate that a long-term, debt-funded project finance arrangement can substantially improve the socio-economic profitability of a project when evaluated based on present values. The most significant factors affecting the effectiveness of project financing arrangements are the cost of debt financing, the societal discount rate used, length of the project’s investment period as well as potential efficiency advantages of the private service provider in the PPP model. Private financing can be employed to finance projects outside public investment budgets. The results from the case study indicate that a budget constraint would need to delay the project by two to four years for a private financing arrangement to be socio-economically preferable over budget financing. Based on the results different project characteristics call for different financing arrangements. Thus, an evaluation of available project financing arrangements should be considered to complement the cost-benefit analysis of a project

Small-Country Effect within Europe: Liquidity Risk, Small-Firm Effect or Other Factors?

This paper studies an anomaly known as the Small-Country Effect, small countries’ tendency to produce higher risk-adjusted stock returns than large countries. I use data from 17 European countries from July 1990 through December 2016 and provide a look to the return characteristics of European national stock markets. I compare the compounded average annual returns between European countries grouped in portfolios based on the market capitalization of their national stock markets. I then regress the value-weighted excess return of each country individually on the sample average compounded return and several risk factors associated with liquidity and small-firm-specific risk. I find no evidence of small countries systematically outperforming large countries in Europe. This result is robust to different risk adjustments. In addition I find the small countries to have worse risk-return characteristics than large countries, contradicting many previous studies on the subject

A rebirth for the pharaoh: reflections on the classification of the new kingdom divine birth cycle as a ritual

The interpretation of rituals enacted, or represented,in the temples of Egypt is limited by the often sparse survival of evidence; most of our knowledge of the Egyptian temple cult comes from the temples of the Graeco-Roman period. This paper deals with an aspect of ancient Egyptian divine kingship, the divine birth cycle, and the question of its rituality. The focus is on the well-known but somewhat enigmatic event of engendering the divine child (i.e. the king), as depicted during the New Kingdom period. Following the various types of ritual classification, one might be tempted to interpret the divine birth cycle as a political ritual designed to legitimize the pharaoh's rule. At the same time, it coequals with various aspects of religious renewal, such as the annual re-creation, and rebirth of the pharaonic state through its socio-ideological self, represented by the king. In this respect, one might categorize divine birth as a festival or calendrical rite. The purpose of this paper is to explore various ways of interpreting the divine birth cycle as a ritual, or as a religious representation of a different type

Once More with Feeling: Seth the divine trickster

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