"They don't understand how we feel": An affective approach to improving the 'best practice' of community-based post-disaster recovery

This thesis presents a critical investigation into the community-based approaches on post-disaster recovery, approaching the subject through the case of Japan after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Community-based approaches form a part of the general participatory turn over the last decades, with the purpose of engaging citizens into decision-making processes by following four key principles: participation, empowerment, resilience and proximity. The popularity of these approaches has given rise to their status as the global 'best practice' in the field of development, and post-disaster recovery more specifically, thus warding further attention and investigation. Despite the popularity of these approaches, I will show how community-based approaches often lead to inconsistent outcomes, and communal dissatisfaction toward the processes themselves remain prevalent. In Tohoku, this dissatisfaction was emphatically articulated by majority of the participants through the utterance kimochi ga wakaranai (they don't understand how we feel). The thesis therefore asks, why does dissatisfaction remain rife despite the adoption of community- based recovery in Tohoku? While many authors propose that this dissatisfaction is primarily a procedural problem leading from a gap between theory and practice, I argue that the problem is related to the epistemological and methodological starting points of recovery that divide recovery and trajectories for the future into endogenous and exogenous domains and discourses. Where the exogenous discourse of the authorities emerged from motivations to understand how this disaster was able to take place and how in the recovery vulnerabilities that led to its onset could be minimised, for the locals it was the affective intensities of their personal experiences and intimate daily existence within the post-disaster landscape that drove their understanding of the events and desired shape for the future of their communities. Through the ethnographic data analysis, the research finds the dominant exogenous discourses did not resonate with their localised daily experience of the recovery, with the discrepancy in the visions creating tensions and dissatisfaction toward the recovery process and paradoxically distancing the communities from the 'community-based' recovery

Leadership Challenges in Multicultural Project Groups: Experiences of Finnish Project Managers

This thesis studies the effects and challenges of multiculturalism in a project group. The objective is to name additional barriers for group work caused by multicultural project group. In addition, the aim is to find effective models for project managers to control and utilize multiculturalism and what kind of qualities and skills might be useful to the manager to possess through the experiences of Finnish project managers. The theoretical part of this study examines theory and previous research on the main subjects. The concepts of projects and culture are introduced and the barriers for project work rising from cultural diversity and solutions for reducing them through managerial models are discussed as is the role and requirements of the project leader. In the end, these are merged into a framework. The methodology of this study is qualitative and it was conducted with semi-structured interviews. The respondents had previous experience on leading multicultural projects. The attempt was not to direct the answers to certain outcomes but to see if the interviewees would bring forward similar subjects that were found in the theory. After this the interviews were carefully analyzed to form the results. Emphasis was given to the first-hand experiences shared in the interviews since they provided the most valuable information on the subject. The study provides useful information on managing of multicultural project groups. With the help of the results it is easier to predict the challenges regarding international project work and create a project structure that can help reducing the barriers confronted. The empirical findings support previous literature which shows that this thesis confirms previous studies.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

WE HACKED THE LAW! - Oikeusjärjestelmän käyttäjäkokemusta parantamassa

Non peer reviewe

Sävelkulkuun liittyviä piirteitä suomen- ja ranskankielisten autististen poikien puheessa ryhmäkuntoutuskeskusteluaineistossa

It is known that persons afflicted with autism often have deviant prosodic features in their speech. For example, they may have a limited range of intonation, their speech can be overly fast, jerky or loud, or it can be characterized by large pitch excursions, quiet voice, inconsistent pause structure, prominent word stress and/or by creaky or nasal voice (Paul et al. 2005a; Paul et al. 2005b; Shriberg et al. 2001; Provonost et al. 1966; Rutter & Lockyer 1967; Ornitz & Ritvo 1976; Fay & Schuler 1980; Tager-Flusberg 1981; Baltaxe & Simmons 1985, 1992; Paul 1987; McPartland & Klin 2006; Tager-Flusberg 2000). Moreover, it has been shown that people afflicted with autism have difficulties to produce affective prosodic patterns (Scott 1985). Fine et al. (1991) have however reported that autistic subjects are able to employ useful prosodic patterns for communication. Producing appropriate stress patterns can nevertheless be difficult for them (Paul et al. 2005a, Paul et al. 2005b). Shriberg et al. (2001) report that persons with autism have notable deficits in pragmatic and affective use of prosody, but they do not have difficulties with the grammatical functions of prosody. Deviant prosodic features of speech do not, however, concern every individual afflicted with autism (Simmons & Baltaxe 1975; Paul et al. 2005b). Nevertheless, when these features occur, they constitute a significant obstacle to the social acceptance of the individual (Paul et al. 2005a: 205). Indeed, deviant prosodic features may create an immediate impression of “oddness” (VanBourgondien & Woods 1992), and they affect autistic speakers’ ratings of social and communicative competence (Paul et al. 2005b). The aim of this paper is to present different salient prosodic features occurring in slightly autistic preadolescents’ speech. The data come from authentic group therapy sessions where 11–13-year-old Finnish-speaking boys (N = 7) and French-speaking boys (N = 4) speak with each other and with their two therapists. The paper will focus on the following features: large pitch excursions, bouncing pitch, flat pitch, jerky rhythm, slow speech rate and fast speech rate. Some of these features occur only in Finnish or in French, whereas some others can be found in both languages. It is also interesting that some of them occur all the time in the speech of an individual, whereas some others occur only in certain types of contexts. The analyses have been carried out using methods of phonetics.It is known that persons afflicted with autism often have deviant prosodic features in their speech. For example, they may have a limited range of intonation, their speech can be overly fast, jerky or loud, or it can be characterized by large pitch excursions, quiet voice, inconsistent pause structure, prominent word stress and/or by creaky or nasal voice (Paul et al. 2005a; Paul et al. 2005b; Shriberg et al. 2001; Provonost et al. 1966; Rutter & Lockyer 1967; Ornitz & Ritvo 1976; Fay & Schuler 1980; Tager-Flusberg 1981; Baltaxe & Simmons 1985, 1992; Paul 1987; McPartland & Klin 2006; Tager-Flusberg 2000). Moreover, it has been shown that people afflicted with autism have difficulties to produce affective prosodic patterns (Scott 1985). Fine et al. (1991) have however reported that autistic subjects are able to employ useful prosodic patterns for communication. Producing appropriate stress patterns can nevertheless be difficult for them (Paul et al. 2005a, Paul et al. 2005b). Shriberg et al. (2001) report that persons with autism have notable deficits in pragmatic and affective use of prosody, but they do not have difficulties with the grammatical functions of prosody. Deviant prosodic features of speech do not, however, concern every individual afflicted with autism (Simmons & Baltaxe 1975; Paul et al. 2005b). Nevertheless, when these features occur, they constitute a significant obstacle to the social acceptance of the individual (Paul et al. 2005a: 205). Indeed, deviant prosodic features may create an immediate impression of “oddness” (VanBourgondien & Woods 1992), and they affect autistic speakers’ ratings of social and communicative competence (Paul et al. 2005b). The aim of this paper is to present different salient prosodic features occurring in slightly autistic preadolescents’ speech. The data come from authentic group therapy sessions where 11–13-year-old Finnish-speaking boys (N = 7) and French-speaking boys (N = 4) speak with each other and with their two therapists. The paper will focus on the following features: large pitch excursions, bouncing pitch, flat pitch, jerky rhythm, slow speech rate and fast speech rate. Some of these features occur only in Finnish or in French, whereas some others can be found in both languages. It is also interesting that some of them occur all the time in the speech of an individual, whereas some others occur only in certain types of contexts. The analyses have been carried out using methods of phonetics.Peer reviewe

Production animal welfare - farmers' attitudes and practices

In our preliminary study we explored farmer's attitudes towards production animal welfare at 9 Finnish pig production farms and 9 dairy farms in 2005

Citizens’ sustainable, future-oriented energy behaviours in energy transition

This study explored individuals' engagement in the sustainable energy transition in Finland. Using the attitude-behaviour-context model (Guagnano et al., 1995) and Stern's (2000) typology of environmentally significant behaviours, this study tested the assumption that individuals' engagement in transition is a combination of socio-psychological and contextual (socio-economic) variables and that the active engagement requires individuals to have a future orientation, systemic and self-efficacy, subjective knowledge and a pro-environmental attitude. The survey (N = 1012), representative of the 17-75-yearold Finnish population, was analysed with exploratory factor analysis and linear regression. The socio-psychological variables explained a larger portion of variance than the socio-economic variables in all three types of sustainable energy behaviours. The consideration of future consequences, self-efficacy and knowledge were positively associated with all three types of sustainable energy behaviours. Systemic efficacy was positively associated with and the consideration of immediate consequences was negatively associated with private-sphere environmentalism. The results suggest that individuals' consideration of the immediate and distant future should be included in the socio-psychological models of sustainable behaviours. The results also suggest that policymakers need to focus on strengthening citizens' efficacy beliefs, future orientation and knowledge. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.peerReviewe

Citizens’ images of a sustainable energy transition

Achieving a sustainable energy transition is crucial for mitigating climate change. Citizens' acceptance of the transition is important for it to succeed. We explored citizens' images of the future energy forms and energy system in Finland, and the drivers of a sustainable energy transition. The data gathered with an online questionnaire targeting an adult population 17–75 years of age (N = 1012) were analysed with exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regression. Four dimensions of future energy forms were identified: next-generation renewables, fossil energy, bioenergy, and established renewable vs. nuclear energy. Four dimensions of the future energy system were also identified: renewing the energy market, domestic power, small-scale producers, and consumer awareness. Five transition drivers were likewise identified: mainstreaming renewable energy, international actors, individual actions, changing values and economy, and emancipatory change. Mainstreaming renewable energy emerged as the key driver of transition, followed by individual actions. Generally, the sustainable energy transition was strongly supported by citizens' images, but different socio-economic groups preferred somewhat different images. Thus, the diversity of consumers' and citizens’ roles in the transition needs to be acknowledged and encouraged in legitimate national energy policies.peerReviewe

Surface expression, peptide repertoire, and thermostability of chicken class I molecules correlate with peptide transporter specificity.

The chicken major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has strong genetic associations with resistance and susceptibility to certain infectious pathogens. The cell surface expression level of MHC class I molecules varies as much as 10-fold between chicken haplotypes and is inversely correlated with diversity of peptide repertoire and with resistance to Marek's disease caused by an oncogenic herpesvirus. Here we show that the average thermostability of class I molecules isolated from cells also varies, being higher for high-expressing MHC haplotypes. However, we find roughly the same amount of class I protein synthesized by high- and low-expressing MHC haplotypes, with movement to the cell surface responsible for the difference in expression. Previous data show that chicken TAP genes have high allelic polymorphism, with peptide translocation specific for each MHC haplotype. Here we use assembly assays with peptide libraries to show that high-expressing B15 class I molecules can bind a much wider variety of peptides than are found on the cell surface, with the B15 TAPs restricting the peptides available. In contrast, the translocation specificity of TAPs from the low-expressing B21 haplotype is even more permissive than the promiscuous binding shown by the dominantly expressed class I molecule. B15/B21 heterozygote cells show much greater expression of B15 class I molecules than B15/B15 homozygote cells, presumably as a result of receiving additional peptides from the B21 TAPs. Thus, chicken MHC haplotypes vary in several correlated attributes, with the most obvious candidate linking all these properties being molecular interactions within the peptide-loading complex (PLC).This work was originally supported by core funding to the Basel Institute for Immunology (which was founded and supported by F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. Ltd., CH-4005 Basel, Switzerland), then by core funding to the Institute for Animal Health [now re-branded the Pirbright Institute, sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) of the UK] and finally by programme grant 089305 from the Wellcome Trust to JK.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from PNAS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.151185911

Väline vai itseisarvo? : tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistäminen tuottajien asenteiden kohteena

Tuotantoeläinten hyvinvointia voidaan edistää muun muassa erilaisin ruokinnallisin, teknisin ja hoitokäytäntöihin liittyvin toimenpitein. Tärkeä yksittäinen eläinten hyvinvointiin vaikuttava tekijä on eläinten hoitajan asenne ja käyttäytyminen eläimiä kohtaan. Nykyisen asennetutkimuksen teorioiden valossa erityisesti tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistämistä koskevat asenteet ennustavat tuottajien toiminta-aikomuksia ja ovat siten yhteydessä eläinten todelliseen hyvinvointiin, terveyteen ja tuotokseen. Tutkimuksessamme selvitimme suomalaisten sianlihan- ja maidontuottajien asenteita eläinten hyvinvoinnin edistämistä kohtaan tulkitsemalla heidän argumentaatiotaan Ajzenin (2002) suunnitellun toiminnan teorian pohjalta. Teorian mukaan ihmisen käyttäytymistä tai aikomusta toimia tietyllä tavalla voidaan parhaiten ennustaa itse toimintaan kohdistuvien asenteiden avulla. Asenteiden lisäksi näitä käyttäytymisaikomuksia määrittävät myös uskomukset ulkopuolisista sosiaalisista odotuksista ja omista vaikutusmahdollisuuksista. Käytimme laadullisen asennetutkimuksen lähestymistapaa. Haastattelimme 9 sianlihan- ja 9 maidontuottajaa esittämällä heille erilaisia tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistämiseen liittyviä lauseväittämiä. Olimme kiinnostuneita siitä, miten tuottajat kommentoivat tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistämisen arvottamista, siihen liittyviä subjektiivisia normeja ja tuottajan vaikutusmahdollisuuksia. Kiinnitimme huomiota myös siihen, miten he tulivat määrittäneeksi omaa toimija-asemaansa ja minkälaisiin arvoihin he vetosivat. Tilakäynneillä, haastattelujen yhteydessä, teimme kaikilla tiloilla myös karkeat arviot eläinten hyvinvoinnista. Arvioinnissa käytimme pääosin ympäristöperäisiä, mutta myös joitakin eläinperäisiä hyvinvoinnin indeksimittareita, joilla pyrimme arvioimaan eläinten tuotanto-olosuhteiden lajinmukaista toimivuutta sekä eläinten sopeutumista olosuhteisiin. Tuottajat toivat esiin kaksi erilaista, mutta usein päällekkäistä eläinten hyvinvoinnin arvottamisen tapaa. Yhtäältä he käsittivät hyvinvoinnin eläimen periaatteelliseksi oikeudeksi tulla kohdelluksi ja hoidetuksi moitteettomasti, jolloin hyvinvoinnin edistäminen ei vaadi suuria investointeja tai resursseja vaan voidaan nähdä pieninä ja yksinkertaisina käytännön toimina. Toisaalta tuottajat totesivat eläinten hyvinvoinnin olevan hyvän tuottavuuden ehto ja edellytys, jota tulee vaalia jo sen tuottaman rahallisen arvon vuoksi. Subjektiivisten normien lähteistä erityisesti teurastamot ja meijerit näyttäytyivät tärkeinä, tuottajan asenteita ja toimintaa ohjaavina auktoriteetteina. Periaatteelliseen arvoulottuvuuteen liitettiin vähemmän normeja kuin tuotantokeskeiseen lähestymistapaan. Auktoriteeteilla oli merkitystä myös tuottajan kokemien vaikutusmahdollisuuksien suhteen. Vaikuttamisen rajoja asettivat niin ikään tuottajan oma jaksaminen sekä taloudelliset resurssit. Tuottajan positiivinen näkemys omista vaikutusmahdollisuuksista eläinten hoidossa ja hyvinvoinnin edistämisessä oli hyvinvointi-indeksipisteiden perusteella yhteydessä parempaan eläinten hyvinvoinnin tasoon. Halukkuus edistää eläinten hyvinvointia ei kuitenkaan näiden tulosten valossa näyttäisi riippuvan siitä, asennoituuko tuottaja siihen periaatteellisesti, välineellisesti tai molemmin tavoin: hyvinvointi-indeksin pistemäärät eivät eronneet merkittävästi eri lailla hyvinvoinnin edistämiseen asennoituvien tuottajien tiloilla. Tuottajat näkivät tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistämisen tärkeäksi, mutta erilaisin perustein. Tuottajille tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistäminen merkitsi laajaa hyvinvointitoimintojen joukkoa, joka voitiin ryhmitellä neljään hyvinvoinnin edistämisen tapaan: olosuhteiden parantamiseen, hoitotyöhön, eläimen hyvään kohteluun ja tuottajan omasta hyvinvoinnista huolehtimiseen. Tuottajat tunnistavat mainitut neljä hyvinvoinnin edistämisen tapaa relevanteiksi, mutta niiden arvottamisessa oli vaihtelua, ja eri tuottajat todennäköisesti asettaisivat ne erilaiseen tärkeysjärjestykseen. Kaikkein kiistanalaisimmalta hyvinvoinnin edistämistavalta vaikutti eläimen hyvän kohtelun alle kuuluvien käytäntöjen luokka, kun taas muut kolme hyvinvoinnin edistämisen tapaa vaikuttivat saavan pääosin myönteisen sävyistä arvottamista. Periaatteellinen arvolataus ja eläimen hyvä kohtelu asenteen kohteena liittyivät usein yhteen, mutta tätä voitiin tukea myös välineellisin perustein. Sen sijaan muiden kolmen hyvinvoinnin edistämisen tapojen kohdalla ei näkynyt vastaavanlaista painotuseroa. Kaiken kaikkiaan tulokset vahvistavat käyttämämme teoreettisen tulkintakehyksen keskeisen viestin, jonka mukaan tuottajan asenteiden ja tuotantoeläinten hyvinvoinnin edistämisen välinen yhteys ei ole yksioikoinen tai mekaaninen