Dental utilisation by young adults before and after subsidisation reform in Finland

Dental care was never fully integrated into the welfare state in Finland, but in 1986 it was decided to improve access to both publicly and privately provided dental care by reducing the price paid by patients. Since this would have been rather expensive to do for the whole population, it was decided to introduce it gradually, starting with the young adult population (those under 21 already had free publicly provided dental care). The so-called “Subsidisation Reform” (SR) was based on the assumption that the seeking of care would increase, as would the amount of care actually provided, and this increase would be spread across both the public and the private sectors. This study investigates the short-term effects of this reform. The seeking of care did increase, but the amount of care actually provided decreased and the changes were not evenly spread between the two sectors. The reasons for these changes are explored, and some of the inherent difficulties in evaluating health care reforms are set out, since they are likely to be of wider significance than this particular reform in Finland.reform, dental care

Bringing Mythical Forests to Life in Early Childhood Education

In this article, I have sought to develop an understanding of the contribution of imaginative and nature appreciation in early childhood environmental education dealing with old, cultural nature myths and beliefs. The argument rests on the belief that the basis of a child-environmental education is in imagination which resonates with play, aesthetics and storytelling as old, historical nature myths have a story-like power to transform human perception of the world and our relationship to it. The thinking of the old nature myths and development of early childhood environmental education is in this article relying on new materialism and posthumanist thinking of intra-action (Barad 2003; 2007). This article specifically considers the usage of material Whisper of the Spirit, which places educators in the position of examining their environmental education practices as relative, evolving and emergent situations in which the old nature myths and the existing material components could have their role and significance.Peer reviewe

Kodin automaatio

Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli kodin automaatiojärjestelmän pystyttäminen, käyttöönotto, järjestelmäkuvauksen luominen ja järjestelmän tuovan hyödyn arviointi lämmityksen energiankulutuksen näkökulmasta hyvinkääläiselle Napalmi Tietotekniikka Oy yritykselle. Opinnäytetyön lähdemateriaali on pääosin englanninkielistä ja Pohjois-Amerikka-keskeistä. Työssä käydään ensin läpi esineiden internetin ja kodin automaation perusteet ja tutustutaan näiden tietoturvaan, sekä muutamaan suosittuun protokollaan. Opinnäytetyössä pystytettävässä järjestelmässä käytettiin Z-Wave-protokollaa. Myös järjestelmään liitettävät laitteet, jotka tulivat toimeksiantajan puolesta, ja järjestelmän järjestelmäkuvaus käydään läpi työssä. Järjestelmäkuvauksen jälkeen kuvataan järjestelmän pystyttäminen ja arvioidaan automaation mahdollista hyötyä lämmityksen energiankulutuksen kustannuksissa. Lopuksi pohdittiin mitä olisi voitu tehdä toisin ja miten opinnäytetyön tekeminen onnistui. Työn tuloksena on toimiva kodin automaatiojärjestelmä, järjestelmäkuvaus ja mahdollisten lämmityksen energiankulutuksen säästön arvio.The purpose of this thesis was to set up a home automation system, put it into service, create a system description and to evaluate the benefits of the system from the point of view of energy consumption for heating, to Napalmi Tietotekniikka Ltd. from Hyvinkää. The source materials for this thesis are mainly in English and North America centric. The work first goes through the basics of the internet of things and home automation and introduces their information security as well as a few of the more popular protocols. The system that will be set up in the thesis uses the Z-Wave protocol. Also, the devices connected to the system that were provided by the client and the system description of the system are included in the thesis. After the system description, the system is set up and the potential benefits of automation in the cost of energy consumption of heating are evaluated. Finally, we discussed what could have been done differently and how successful the thesis was overall. The result of this thesis is a functional home automation system, system description and an estimate of the possible savings to be made in energy consumption for heating

Barriers to adopting a customer profitability-oriented mindset - A case study

Customer profitability is a key issue for companies in the increasingly dynamic business environment, and many organizations have made the shift to a more customer profitability focused mindset in their ways of working. A multitude of companies have the motivation and a business case for doing so, however, such changes are not often simple. Various factors may hinder the companies’ abilities to exploit the resources available to them and truly transition into a customer profitability-oriented model of working. The purpose of this study is to understand the change process associated with shifting to a more customer profitability-oriented way of operating as outlined above. The study is conducted as a case study within an organization that stays anonymous in the Thesis. The study aims to answer two research questions: (1) “What kinds of barriers can hinder companies’ efforts in adopting a customer profitability focus?” and (2) “How are the barriers identified interrelated as a combination of components that have a hindering effect on adoption?”. The research is carried out as a qualitative case study. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted among employees in various roles within the organization. The interviewees were identified by using a method of snowball sampling, which finds research subjects by interviewees giving the interviewer the name of the next potential interviewee. The results indicate that there are five main barriers when it comes to adopting a profitability-oriented mindset within the case company. The barriers identified are 1) Traditional Way of Thinking and Resistance to Change; 2) Accuracy Issues and Trust Issues; 3) Complexity and Multiple Systems; 4) Alignment Issues Within Company; and 5) Lack of Ownership and Know-how. An analysis was constructed from the findings of the research. They demonstrate how the adoption of a customer profitability-oriented mindset is hindered as a result of two barriers as individual components, and how the components are interrelated and thus the negative effect on adoption is magnified

Policies and Strategies on Arts Education with ICTs in Finland and China

Peer reviewe

Vertaisoppiminen digitaalisessa toimintaympäristössä. Tapaustutkimus kahden viisivuotiaan Minecraft -luomisesta

Peer reviewe

Keski-ikäisen naisen hengenahdistusoire

English summaryPeer reviewe

Paperileija olemisen mietiskelynä : Yrjö Hirnin suomalaisen leikkitutkimuksen perusteoksessa leikki ja taide suhteutuvat elämään oppimismatkana

Yrjö Hirn, Leikkiä ja taidetta: Muutamia lukuja lasten leluista, lauluista, tansseista ja pikku teatterista. Suomentanut J. V. Lehtonen. Helsinki: WSOY, 1918Non peer reviewe

Täyskäsi - K. Jaakko J. Hintikka

Edellisissä muistikuvissa käsittelin akateemikkoja Kaila, von Wright, Ketonen ja Niiniluoto. Nyt on vuorossa Jaakko Hintikka. Hintikka oli kyllä Suomen Akatemian elinikäinen tutkijaprofessori mutta ei akateemikko. Hänen nimityksensä oli kalkkiviivoilla, mutta lopulta presidentti Urho Kekkonen vihelsi Akatemia-pelin poikki ja lopetti vanhan instituution. Ehkä pysyvä muutto Yhdysvaltoihin vaikutti siihen, ettei hän myöhemmin saanut uusimuotoista akateemikon arvoa.Non peer reviewe