Impact of production method and production area on energy balance of rye consumed in Helsinki

The results of the study show that production of fertilizers is the biggest factor in the rye production chain. Therefore organic rye tillage is not as intensive in energy usage as conventional practices. The energy consumed for transportation does not play a big role in total energy consumption of rye consumed in Helsinki

Modelling the effect of density-dependent chemical interference upon seed germination

Peer reviewe

Expedited evolution of soil bacteria exposed to organic contaminants

We tested two hypotheses for which support can be found in the literature. (1) the degradation of organic contaminants is faster in humus soil than in mineral soil and (2) the degradation of organic contaminants is faster in previously contaminated soil than in similar but previously non-contaminated soil

Failing hegemony? : Four essays on the global engagement of the United States of America in the 21st Century

In recent years, the position of the United States as the superpower par excellence has become increasingly tenuous. This state of affairs is often framed as a function of relative power shifts in the international system, domestic political and cultural travails as well as self-inflicted policy blunders, particularly in the Middle East. Yet, despite these apparent challenges, the United States remains, by most material indicators, the most powerful state in the world. Likewise, the US still possesses a broad global outlook, retains considerable agency in the international arena, and enjoys an extensive menu of policy options. This dissertation starts from the premise that US foreign policy and international actorness in the unfolding 21st century, indeed the very trappings of America’s international engagement, can still be analysed through the lens of hegemony. In other words, for the time being at least, the US can still be said to play a hegemonic role within the current international order. This role is replete with both the special privileges that have historically been assumed by and granted to materially powerful states with the requisite resources and willingness to lead, as well as the extraordinary responsibilities that befall upon such a leader to sustain international order. While America’s options and ability to shape the international arena in a manner it deems fit may be more restricted than in the recent past, at least in the short to medium term, the fate of American hegemony is not structurally predetermined by material historical forces. In fact, successful navigation of the treacherous currents of the international, in various regions, domains and issue areas, can lengthen the shadow of American hegemony or, at the very least, shape the international order that emerges after US ascendancy eventually wanes. The converse, of course, is true of failure, which would constitute the inability by the incumbent hegemon to select the “correct” policy course, or unwillingness to articulate and negotiate compelling normative visions of order fit for the changing times. It is the objective of the present study to bring to the fore, in a novel and innovative manner, precisely such difficulties of carrying out a hegemonic role. Specifically, the study pries into the intricacies of hegemonic failure in the early 21st century. It explores whether, in what sense, or to what extent the United States is indeed “failing hegemony”, or can even be seen as being in the process of losing its hegemonic position altogether. To carry out this task, the present exposition makes a case for bringing the ideational and social foundations of hegemony to the fore without neglecting the notion’s material basis and domestic-political foundations. The conceptual and theoretical discussion is thus built around an original tripartite framework consisting of the material, intrinsic and socio-institutional images of hegemony. This scaffold is complemented by four original publications that offer novel avenues for analyzing the concept of hegemony, in general, and its American manifestation, in particular. Each of the studies endeavours to capture new insights, primarily regarding the ideational and socio-institutional aspects of the US’s global role, and how these possibly contribute to hegemonic failure. The four essays thus mine: (i) the failed visions of order narrated by the American hegemon against the backdrop of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region; (ii) the hegemon’s fraught attempts to manage a pivotal relationship with Egypt through the fostering of trust; (iii) the prospects of increased value divergence within the transatlantic space reflected in American and European articulations of freedom; and (iv) the potentially corrosive ideational contests that unfold within the American body politic over the US hegemonic role, with a particular focus on the promulgation of Donald Trump’s foreign policy doctrine. Ultimately the theoretical edifice and the original publications speak to the inherent difficulty that the US will inevitably face when it comes to exercising hegemony in an ever more complex world. These challenges are not merely a function of the perceived decline in America’s relative material power or the manifold internal travails that possibly erode the United States’ ability to project power. The prospect of failure also resides in, and may thus spring from, the realm of the social, the ideational, the institutional, and the relational. Hegemony is ultimately also about (domestic) policy ideas that inform a sense of hegemonic purpose; about articulating compelling hegemonic visions of order, embedding them in institutions, and striving to realise them through policy implementation; about managing at times fraught relationships with allies, friends, and even foes; and about the building and nurturing of a shared value base within the hegemonic core. These are insights that theorists of hegemony, not to mention practitioners of foreign policy, ignore at their peril.Yhdysvaltojen säilyminen kansainvälisen järjestelmän johtavana suurvaltana on näyttänyt viime vuosina entistä epävarmemmalta. Tähän tilanteeseen ovat johtaneet kiihtyvä suhteellinen valtasiirtymä kansainvälisessä järjestelmässä, kotimaisten poliittisten ja kulttuuristen jakolinjojen syveneminen sekä ulkopoliittiset virhelaskelmat erityisesti Lähi-idässä. Näistä haasteista huolimatta Yhdysvallat on edelleen järjestelmän voimakkain valtio useimpien materiaalisten mittareiden valossa. Lisäksi USA on edelleen globaali toimija kaikilla relevanteilla kansainvälisen politiikan aloilla ja alueilla. Maa omaa myös laajan ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittisen keinopakin. Tämän väitöskirjan lähtökohtana on, että Yhdysvaltojen ulkopolitiikkaa ja kansainvälistä toimijuutta 2000-luvulla voi edelleen lähestyä hegemonia-käsitteen kautta. Nykyhetkessä USA:lla on yhä hegemoninen rooli kansainvälisellä areenalla, mikä tarkoittaa paitsi erityisiä etuoikeuksia, joita suurvallat ovat perinteisesti nauttineet, myös painavaa vastuuta vallitsevan kansainvälisen järjestelmän ylläpitämiseksi. Vaikka Yhdysvaltojen kyky muokata kansainvälistä järjestelmää mieleisekseen on aiempaa rajoitetumpi, lyhyellä tai keskipitkällä aikavälillä maan hegemoniaaseman heikkeneminen ei ole pelkästään rakenteellisten ajureiden ja historiallisten muutosvoimien ennalta määräämä lopputulema. Yhdysvallat voi pidentää hegemonisen asemansa kestoa omalla toiminnallaan, navigoimalla onnistuneesti kansainvälisen järjestelmän tyrskyissä ja tyvenissä. Yhtäältä onnistuneet (ulko)poliittiset ratkaisut eri alueiden, asiakysymysten ja kriisien suhteen antavat järjestelmän johtavalle valtiolle myös mahdollisuuden vaikuttaa siihen, millainen järjestelmä jää elämään Yhdysvaltojen ylivertaisen valta-aseman kadottua. Toisaalta epäonnistuminen eli kyvyttömyys tehdä oikeita poliittisia linjanvetoja ja ratkaisuja tai artikuloida houkuttelevia tulevaisuuden visioita kansainvälisen järjestelmän kehittämiseksi puolestaan nopeuttaisi maan johtajuusaseman rapautumista. Tämä väitöskirja nostaa esille niitä vaikeuksia, joita USA kohtaa pyrkiessään ylläpitämään hegemonia-asemaansa. Keskiössä ovat hegemoniset epaonnistumiset. Tutkimuksessa esitellään uusia näkökulmia siihen, millä tavoin Yhdysvallat on epäonnistunut hegemonia-asemansa ylläpitämisessä, sekä pohditaan, onko USA todella menettämässä johtajuusasemansa 2000-luvun alun kansainvälisessä järjestelmässä. Tätä tehtävää varten väitöskirjassa rakennetaan kolmiulotteinen teoriakehikko, jossa hegemoniaa tarkastellaan materiaalisena, sisäyntyisenä ja sosiaalisinstitutionaalisena ilmiönä. Kehikon tarkoituksena on tuoda analyysin keskiöön erityisesti hegemonian ideapohjaiset ja sosiaaliset rakennuspalikat, unohtamatta kuitenkaan valtaresurssien ja sisäpoliittisten tekijöiden merkitystä. Teoriaosiota täydentävät väitöskirjan neljä alkuperäisjulkaisua, joissa avataan näkökulmia sekä hegemoniakäsitteeseen että Yhdysvaltojen hegemonia-asemaan. Jokainen näistä osatutkimuksista tuo esille uuden avauksen USA:n globaalin roolin ideapohjaisista ja sosiaalis-institutionaalisista ulottuvuuksista ja siitä, miten nämä mahdollisesti linkittyvät hegemonisiin epäonnistumisiin. Alkuperäisjulkaisuissa tarkastellaan (i) Yhdysvaltojen epäonnistuneita alueellisen järjestelmän rakennusvisioita Lähi-idässä, (ii) USA:n hankaliksi osoittautuneita pyrkimyksiä rakentaa ja ylläpitää luottamukseen perustuvia suhteita Egyptin kanssa, (iii) transatlanttisen yhteisön arvopohjan rapautumismahdollisuuksia amerikkalaisten ja eurooppalaisten vapausdiskurssien pohjalta sekä (iv) niitä kamppailuja, joita Yhdysvaltojen sisällä käydään maan hegemoniaroolin tulevaisuudesta, keskittyen erityisesti Donald Trumpin presidenttikauteen. Teoriaosio ja alkuperäisjulkaisut osoittavat, miten vaikeaa hegemonia-aseman ylläpitäminen on entistä kompleksisemmassa kansainvälisessä järjestelmässä. Nämä haasteet eivät kuitenkaan kumpua ainoastaan Yhdysvaltojen suhteellisen valta-aseman heikkenemisestä kansainvälisessä järjestelmässä tai sisäpoliittisesta kuohunnasta, joka vaikeuttaa maan kykyä projisoida voimaa kansainväliselle areenalle. Epäonnistuminen voi kummuta yhtä lailla ideoista, sosiaalisista suhteista ja instituutioiden laiminlyönnistä. Hegemoniassa on siis kyse myös poliittisista ideoista, jotka ohjaavat maata kohti kansainvälisen johtajuusaseman tavoittelua ja ylläpitämistä; houkuttelevista visioista, niiden sitomisesta instituutioihin ja pyrkimyksistä niiden toteuttamiseksi; vaikeidenkin suhteiden ylläpitämisestä liittolaisten, kumppaneiden, ja jopa vihollisten kanssa; sekä jaetun arvopohjan rakentamisesta ja vaalimisesta järjestelmän pysyvyyden kannalta tärkeimpien saman mielisten valtioiden kanssa. Hegemonian teoreetikkojen, ja miksei myös ulkopolitiikan tekijöiden, tulisi jatkossa tiedostaa nämä näkökohdat

Dynamic dictators : elite cohesion and authoritarian resilience in China

Authoritarian resilience is a complex phenomenon, which a new wave of research helps us to understand better. Autocratization does not happen only in democracies, rather it can also happen in already authoritarian countries. As higher power concentration is associated with both increased war-proneness and domestic repression, autocratization trends should not be understated. In the Chinese case researchers disagree whether increased power concentration is a sign of regime strength or weakness. As the first step towards solving this puzzle, elements of authoritarian governance have to be described in detail and measured if possible. This chapter provides a framework for understanding changing levels of power concentration and how they might be linked with authoritarian resilience. It looks at elite level dynamics in China and discusses elements of power concentration including personalization, administrative centralization and state control over economic assets. There is a general trend of deepening autocratization during Xi Jinping’s regime. Institutional arrangements in existing institutions such as party bodies and the People’s Liberation Army, innovation of new institutions and purges of opponents show a clear trend of power concentration. Before the Xi era, the central government shared power with regional administrations and China’s level of fiscal decentralization was relatively high in international comparison. More recently the tide has turned towards increasing centralization. In the economic realm, China’s development model has many features ensuring party control. New forms of control such as the social credit system have emerged along with traditional measures, such as state control of the financial sector and special arrangements guiding state owned companies.Peer reviewe

MicroRNAs regulate "de novo" DNA methylation and histone mRNA 3' end formation in mammalian cells

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to have many important functions in mammalian cells. They can influence the expression of their target genes and in this way regulate the function of not only their primary targets, but also of the pathways and mechanisms acting downstream of the primary targets. There are several key proteins that are required for the biogenesis of miRNAs and for mediating the repressive functions of miRNAs in mammals, the most critical being the ribonuclease (RNase) III enzyme Dicer. Since Dicer is required for generation of all known mammalian miRNAs, depletion of Dicer is an appealing strategy to identify and study the pathways under miRNA-mediated control. Deletion of Dicer in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is rendering the cells to slow growth rate and inability to differentiate, and thus, to loose their most important feature i.e. pluripotency. We aimed to understand in further detail the causes behind these critical defects. We have performed transcriptional profiling of Dicer-deficient ESCs and through bioinformatic analysis we identified miRNAs of the ESC-specific miR-290 cluster to be functionally most important for mouse ESCs. These miRNAs were found to directly control the expression of several hundred primary targets and through their regulation influence many features of the ESCs. We found the miR-290 miRNAs to contribute to the growth rate of the ESCs and to influence also expression of many secondary target genes. Among their secondary targets we identified de novo DNA methyltrasferases (DNMT3s) that were significantly downregulated in Dicer-deficient mouse ESCs. The downregulation was due to an increased expression of Retinoblastomalike2 (RBL2), a transcriptional repressor and primary target miR-290 miRNAs. As a consequence of lowered DNMT3 expression the cells were unable to methylate DNA at the promoter of pluripotency genes such as Oct-4 (Octamer-binding transcription factor-4, also known as Pou5f1 for POU-domain, class 5, transcription factor 1), and thus, incapable of fully silencing these genes during differentiation. Hence, regulation of DNMT3s by miR-290 miRNAs is contributing to the maintenance of mouse ESC pluripotency. Further analysis of the promoter of primary miR-290 transcript (pri-miR-290) showed that the ESC specific expression and subsequent silencing of the transcript during neuronal differentiation is regulated by the chromatin status of the promoter. During neuronal differentiation the pri-miR-290 promoter looses histone modifications characteristic of active genes and gains typical marks of silenced chromatin. This is followed by de novo DNA methylation of the pri-miR-290 promoter. It is likely that the silencing of pri-miR-290 depends on DNA methylation of its promoter, thus allowing an auto-regulatory loop between the miRNAs and DNMT3 enzymes. In addition to Dicer-deficient mouse ESCs, we have studied the importance of Dicer as well as Argonaute proteins for the function of human cell lines by inducibly depleting these proteins in human HEK293T-REx cells. We observed that an intact RNA silencing pathway is needed for normal expression of many of the replication-dependent histone genes. We found up to 25% of all histone mRNAs to be upregulated upon loss of RNAi machinery and more detailed analysis of one of the histone genes, HIST1H3H, demonstrated that the upregulation was due to enhanced polyadenylation of the histone mRNA. This is in contrast to the normal 3’ end processing of replication-dependent histone mRNAs that takes place at the 3’ end-proximal stem-loop and is not followed by polyadenylation. The analysis of RNA from Dicer- or Dgcr8-deficient ESCs showed that this type of regulation of 3’ end formation by RNA silencing pathway is conserved in mice and depends on the generation of miRNAs. Thus, miRNAs seem to regulate the 3’ end processing of replication-dependent histone mRNAs. Future work will be needed to identify specific miRNAs and processing factors involved

Chapter 8 Dynamic dictators

This chapter provides a framework for understanding changing levels of power concentration and how they might be linked with authoritarian resilience. It looks at elite level dynamics in China and discusses elements of power concentration including personalization, administrative centralization, and state control over economic assets. There is a general trend of deepening autocratization during Xi Jinping’s regime. Institutional arrangements in existing institutions such as Party bodies and the People’s Liberation Army, innovation of new institutions, and purges of opponents show a clear trend of power concentration. Before the Xi era, the central government shared power with regional administrations and China’s level of fiscal decentralization was relatively high in international comparison. More recently, the tide has turned towards increasing centralization. In the economic realm, China’s development model has many features ensuring Party control. New forms of control such as the social credit system have emerged along with traditional measures, such as state control of the financial sector and special arrangements guiding state-owned companies