Labour Market Effects of the Polytechnic Education Reform: The Finnish Experience

This paper evaluates the labour market effects of the introduction of the polytechnic education system in Finland. The polytechnic reform gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics. Since the timing of the reform differed across schools, we can compare the performance of polytechnic graduates to the performance of vocational college graduates controlling for both the year and the school effects. The results are somewhat sensitive to how the selectivity issues are treated but generally suggest that both the earnings and the employment levels of post-reform graduates are higher in the field of business and administration. The effects are much smaller and usually insignificant in other fields.school reform, polytechnic education, vocational education, return to education

Part III. Can we turn back the clock or modify the adverse dynamics? Programme and policy issues: Influencing public nutrition for non-communicable disease prevention: from community intervention to national programme - experiences from Finland

A global health transition is currently underway. The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is increasing rapidly in the developing world, very much as a result of changes in lifestyles. In addition to changes in tobacco use and physical activity, major changes are taking place in diets, contributing greatly to the growing epidemic of NCD. Thus, a huge global public health challenge is how to influence the trends in diet and nutrition for effective global NCD prevention. The health transition took place rapidly in Finland after World War II and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) was exceptionally high. The North Karelia Project was launched in 1972 as a community-based, and later as a national, programme to influence diet and other lifestyles that are crucial in the prevention of CVD. The intervention had a strong theory base and it employed comprehensive strategies. Broad community organisation and the strong participation of people were the key elements. Evaluation has shown how the diet (particularly fat consumption) has changed and how these changes have led to a major reduction in population serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels. It has also shown how ischaemic heart disease mortality in a working-age population has declined by 73% in North Karelia and by 65% in the whole country from 1971 to 1995. Although Finland is an industrialised country, North Karelia was rural, of rather low socio-economic level and with many social problems in the 1970s and 1980s. The project was based on low-cost intervention activities, where people's participation and community organisations played a key role. Comprehensive interventions in the community were eventually supported by national activities - from expert guidelines and media activities to industry collaboration and policy. Similar principles for nutrition intervention programmes could be used in developing countries, obviously tailored to the local conditions. This paper discusses the experiences of the North Karelia Project in the light of needs from the less-industrialised countries and makes some general recommendation

Labour market effects of the polytechnic education reform: the Finnish experience

This paper evaluates the labour market effects of the introduction of the polytechnic education system in Finland. The polytechnic reform gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics. Since the timing of the reform differed across schools, we can compare the performance of polytechnic graduates to the performance of vocational college graduates controlling for both the year and the school effects. The results are somewhat sensitive to how the selectivity issues are treated but generally suggest that both the earnings and the employment levels of post-reform graduates are higher in the field of business and administration. The effects are much smaller and usually insignificant in other fields

Labour Market Effects of Polytechnic Education Reform: The Finnish Experience

This paper evaluates the labour market effects of the introduction of the polytechnic education system in Finland. The reform transformed former vocational colleges gradually into polytechnics. Since the timing of the reform differed across schools, we can control for macroeconomic changes by comparing the performance of the polytechnic graduates to the performance of vocational college graduates who graduated at the same time, and to control for both time and the school fixed effects at the same time. We discover that both employment levels and earnings of post-reform graduates are significantly higher when compared to pre-reform graduates from the same schools. The effects of the polytechnic reform differ between the three largest fields. In the field of business and administration the effects from the reform have been overwhelmingly positive. This is in accordance with the fact that the polytechnic reform extended the length of education mostly in this field

Labour Market Effects of Polytechnic Education Reform: The Finnish Experience

This paper evaluates the labour market effects of the introduction of the polytechnic education system in Finland. The reform transformed former vocational colleges gradually into polytechnics. Since the timing of the reform differed across schools, we can control for macroeconomic changes by comparing the performance of the polytechnic graduates to the performance of vocational college graduates who graduated at the same time, and to control for both time and the school fixed effects at the same time. We discover that both employment levels and earnings of post-reform graduates are significantly higher when compared to pre-reform graduates from the same schools. The effects of the polytechnic reform differ between the three largest fields. In the field of business and administration the effects from the reform have been overwhelmingly positive. This is in accordance with the fact that the polytechnic reform extended the length of education mostly in this field

Clinical Tear Fluid Proteomics : A Novel Tool in Glaucoma Research

Tear fluid forms the outermost layer of the ocular surface and its characteristics and composition have been connected to various ocular surface diseases. As tear proteomics enables the non-invasive investigation of protein levels in the tear fluid, it has become an increasingly popular approach in ocular surface and systemic disease studies. Glaucoma, which is a set of multifactorial diseases affecting mainly the optic nerve and retinal ganglion cells, has also been studied using tear proteomics. In this condition, the complete set of pathophysiological changes occurring in the eye is not yet fully understood, and biomarkers for early diagnosis and accurate treatment selection are needed. More in-depth analyses of glaucoma tear proteomics have started to emerge only more recently with the implementation of LC-MS/MS and other modern technologies. The aim of this review was to examine the published data of the tear protein changes occurring during glaucoma, its topical treatment, and surgical interventions.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Comparison of early changes in tear film protein profiles after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond LASIK (FS-LASIK) surgery

Background: Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) are widely used surgical methods to correct myopia with comparable efficacy, predictability, and safety. We examined and compared the early changes of tear protein profiles after SMILE and FS-LASIK surgery in order to find possible differences in the initial corneal healing process. Methods: SMILE operations for 26 eyes were made with Visumax femtosecond laser. In FS-LASIK surgery for 30 eyes, the flaps were made with Ziemer FEMTO LDV Z6 femtosecond laser and stromal ablation with Wavelight EX500 excimer laser. Tear samples were collected preoperatively, and 1.5 h and 1 month postoperatively using glass microcapillary tubes. Tear protein identification and quantification were performed with sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra mass spectrometry (SWATH-MS). Results: Immediately (1.5 h) after we found differences in 89 proteins after SMILE and in 123 after FS-LASIK operation compared to preoperative protein levels. Of these differentially expressed proteins, 48 proteins were common for both surgery types. There were, however, quantitative differences between SMILE and FS-LASIK. Upregulated proteins were mostly connected to inflammatory response and migration of the cells connected to immune system. One month after the operation protein expressions levels were returned to baseline levels with both surgical methods. Conclusions: Our study showed that immediate changes in protein profiles after SMILE and FS-LASIK surgeries and differences between the methods are connected to inflammatory process, and the protein levels quickly return to the baseline within 1 month. The differences in protein profiles between the methods are probably associated with the different size of the epithelial wound induced.Peer reviewe

Mediakasvatus median ja kasvatuksen alueena : deskriptiivisen mediakasvatuksen ja didaktiikan näkökulmia

Aineisto on Opiskelijakirjaston digitoimaa ja Opiskelijakirjasto vastaa aineiston käyttöluvist

The decaying stuff of the Anthropocene : exploring contemporary trashscapes through ruination

In this article, we take the notion of ruination beyond crumbling built structures and use it to explore contemporary trashscapes. With the waste produced by humanity scaling up to encompass the entire planet, we examine life with and in the ruins of the Anthropocene, where there is no Away to which the rejectamenta could be expelled and thus set apart from humans. On the one hand, we scrutinise waste as matter in a ruined state, subject to and resulting from a process of ruination; waste is a trace of an anterior presence that remains and contin-ues to haunt us. On the other hand, we argue that collective wastage is turning the natural environment itself into ruins and landscapes into trashscapes. Towards the end of the article, we also stress the disruptive qualities of ruination and decay and discuss the renewed sensibilities evoked by waste. A life with waste in a world of Anthropocenic ruination amounts to a life that is not in complete control of itself but rather is inextricably entangled with otherness.Peer reviewe