The accumulation of metal runoff from acidic sulphate soils in two avian predators, white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Acidic sulphate soils are one of the largest sources of metal contamination in Finland, exceeding in some cases industrial emissions. Sulphate soils occur naturally in the Finnish coastal areas, but anthropogenic land modification and land rising causes the metals and metalloids in the soil mobilize and end up in water bodies with runoff. Metal leaches from sulphate soils are harmful to aquatic organisms, but the concentrations and accumulation of metals from sulphate soils in apex avian species has not been studied. Using inductively coupled plasma -mass spectrometry, concentrations and spatial trends of 17 metals and metalloids associated with sulphate soils were analysed from the blood of nestlings of white-tailed eagles and great cormorants collected from sulphate soil and control areas in the western Finnish coast. For most metals, there were no differences in blood concentrations between control and sulphate soil areas, except for the arsenic concentrations in white-tailed eagles, which were higher in the sulphate soil areas, and lithium concentrations of cormorants, which were higher in the control areas. The concentrations of most metals were within background levels, not known to cause toxic effects. Concentrations of mercury, cadmium and lead were at the level of mild sublethal toxicity. Concentrations of several elements correlated between species. Latitudinal trends and intraspecies correlations of metals were also observed. The results indicate, that the white-tailed eagles and great cormorants do not get their metal burden from the sulphate soils, and that metal contamination and their accumulation into apex species varies along the Finnish coast

Apex avian species as sentinels for legacy and emerging contaminants in northern Baltic Sea coastal food webs

Anthropogenic contamination is a wide-spread environmental problem. In addition to persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic legacy contaminants, emerging contaminants with unknown environmental behaviour are causing concern. Many contaminants biomagnify in food webs, meaning that highest concentrations of contaminants are found in the apex species. Trophic dynamics of contaminants may differ depending on the properties of the contaminant, environment, and species composing a particular food web. In this thesis, I examine the current state of metal and organohalogen contamination in the Finnish Baltic coastal food webs, focussing on three avian sentinel species: the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), and the common eider (Somateria mollissima). In Chapter I, I investigate whether nestlings of white-tailed eagles and great cormorants act as sentinels for metal contamination associated with acidic sulphate soils. Compared to the control areas, I find higher concentrations of aluminium and cobalt in white-tailed eagles and of copper and manganese in great cormorants from the acidic sulphate soil areas. These results indicate that acidic sulphate soils are a source of certain metals for white-tailed eagle and great cormorant nestlings; there are, however, differences in metal exposure between these species. In Chapter II, I study the trophic transfer of mercury (Hg) between the benthic and pelagic food chains of the Archipelago Sea food web. The rate of trophic magnification of Hg was higher in the pelagic food chain than in the benthic food chain when the homeotherm birds were excluded from statistical models. In Chapter III, I investigate organohalogen contamination in the Archipelago Sea food web. I find that several organohalogen compounds biomagnify in the food web. Concentrations were generally highest in bird species, particularly the white-tailed eagle. As with the Hg models, statistical fit of the trophic magnification models of organohalogen compounds increased when removing birds from the data. In addition to the legacy contaminants, I also found emerging contaminant perfluoroethylcyclohexane sulfonate in the white-tailed eagle, great cormorant, and two fish species. This thesis demonstrates that different ecological and ecophysiological traits of the species play a role in the contaminant exposure and food web dynamics of the contaminants.Ravintoverkkojen huippulajit haitta-aineiden ilmentäjinä Suomen rannikolla Ympäristön kemiallinen saastuminen on vakava maailmanlaajuinen ongelma. Pysyvien, eliöihin kertyvien ja myrkyllisten, laajalle levinneiden haitta-aineiden lisäksi huolta aiheuttavat uudet haitta-aineet, joiden käyttäytymistä ympäristössä ei vielä tunneta. Monet haitta-aineet rikastuvat ravintoverkossa, jolloin korkeimmat pitoisuudet löytyvät ravintoverkon huipulla olevista lajeista. Haitta-aineiden käyttäytyminen ravintoverkossa riippuu aineen kemiallisista ominaisuuksista sekä ympäristön ja kyseisen ravintoverkon koostavien lajien piirteistä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkin metallien ja orgaanisten halogeeniyhdisteiden aiheuttamaa saastumista Suomen rannikon ravintoverkoissa keskittyen kolmeen ilmentäjälajiin: merikotkaan (Haliaeetus albicilla), merimetsoon (Phalacrocorax carbo) ja haahkaan (Somateria mollissima). Luvussa I tutkin ilmentävätkö merikotkan ja merimetson pesäpoikaset happamista sulfaattimaista peräisin olevia metallipäästöjä. Merikotkan poikasissa alumiinin ja koboltin pitoisuudet, ja merimetson poikasissa kuparin ja mangaanin pitoisuudet olivat koholla happamien sulfaattimaiden läheisyydessä syntyneissä ja kasvaneissa poikasissa verrattuna kontrollialueiden poikasiin. Tulokset osoittavat, että happamat sulfaattimaat ovat joidenkin metallien lähde merikotkan ja merimetson poikasille. Metalleille altistumisessa oli kuitenkin eroa lajien välillä. Luvussa II tutkin elohopean kulkeutumista Saaristomeren ravintoverkon benttisessä ja pelagisessa ravintoketjussa. Elohopea rikastui nopeammin trofiatasoa kohden pelagisessa ravintoketjussa verrattuna benttiseen ravintoketjuun, kun tasalämpöisiä lintuja ei sisällytetty mukaan rikastumismalleihin. Luvussa III tutkin orgaanisia halogeeniyhdisteitä Saaristomeren ravintoverkossa. Useat tutkituista aineista rikastuivat ravintoverkossa. Useimpien aineiden pitoisuudet olivat korkeimmat linnuissa, etenkin merikotkassa. Samoin kuin elohopean rikastumismalleissa, halogeeniyhdisteiden rikastumismallien selitysaste parani, kun lintuja ei sisällytetty malleihin. Tavanomaisten, Itämeren ympäristössä jo vuosia esiintyneiden haitta-aineiden lisäksi löysin perfluorietyylisykloheksaani sulfonaattia merikotkista, merimetsoista ja kahdesta kalalajista. Väitöskirja korostaa eri ekologisten ja ekofysiologisten ominaisuuksien roolia lajien haittaainealtistuksessa ja haitta-aineiden käyttäytymisessä ravintoverkoissa

Web- ja mobiilikäyttöliittymän suunnittelu : Kuntosalin toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän asiakaskäyttöliittymät

Ihmisten vaatiessa yksilöllisempää ja joustavaa palvelua, kuntosalien toiminnanohjausjärjestelmien kysyntä kasvaa. Asiakaskunta on kuitenkin hyvin kirjava ja tästä syystä toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän käyttöliittymän käytettävyys on yksi tärkeimmistä myynnin kilpailuvalteista. Jotta Polar Electro Oy pysyisi kilpailun kärjessä myös tulevaisuudessa, he haluavat päivittää Club Management by Polar -järjestelmän käyttöliittymät nykyaikaisiksi ja helppokäyttöisemmiksi. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli suunnitella uudet rautalankamallit Polarin Club Management -toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän asiakaskäyttöliittymästä sekä sen mobiiliversiosta. Polar Electro Oy:n vuonna 2006 lanseeraama Club Management by Polar -järjestelmän asiakaskäyttöliittymä sisältää kuntosalin ryhmäliikuntakalenterin, tuntivarausjärjestelmän sekä asiakkaan omat tiedot ja avoimet laskut. Suunnittelua varten kehitettiin oma prosessimalli, jossa hyödynnettiin käyttöliittymä- ja iteratiivista suunnittelumallia. Prosessin alussa hankittiin tietoperustan lisäksi käyttäjätietoa haastatteluin ja arvioitiin nykyisen käyttöliittymän käytettävyyttä heuristisen asiantuntija-arvioinnin avulla. Taustatiedon pohjalta suunniteltiin kaksi erilaista rautalankamalliversiota webkäyttöliittymästä sekä yksi mobiiliversio. Näille rautalankamalleille tehtiin käytettävyystestejä kolmessa iteraatiossa, eli löydetyt käytettävyysongelmat korjattiin jokaisen testikierroksen jälkeen. Iteratiivinen suunnittelu mahdollisti myös korjausten toimivuuden tutkimisen. Toimeksiantaja voi hyödyntää opinnäytetyön tuloksia käyttöliittymän uudelleen suunnittelussa. Heuristisen arvioinnin tulokset paljastivat nykyisen käyttöliittymän ongelmakohdat. Lisäksi haastatteluissa ja käytettävyystutkimuksessa kerätty käyttäjätieto kertoo nykyaikaisen käyttäjän ajatusmaailmasta ja tarpeista. Tärkeimpänä tuloksena pidetään kuitenkin edellä mainitun tiedon avulla suunniteltuja käyttöliittymän rautalankamalleja, jotka antavat hyvän pohjan jatkokehitykselle.While people are expecting personal and flexible service, the sales of the enterprise recourse planning systems (ERP) for fitness clubs have increased. There are many kinds of clients in fitness clubs and because of that the good usability of ERP is one of the most important advantages. In the future Polar Electro Oy wants to be on the top of the competition, and for that reason they want to update the user interfaces of Club Management by Polar to be modern and user-friendly. The aim of this thesis was to design new wireframes for the Club Management web and mobile user interface. The customer interface of the ERP system launched by Polar Electro Oy in 2006, includes the timetable of the group sports in a fitness club, the reservation system, the client´s personal information and open invoices. A new process model was created for the design, with the help of the user interface design and iterative design models. Besides gathering information about the usability theory, at the beginning of the study user information was collected with interviews and the usability of the existing interface was evaluated with Heuristic evaluation. With the help of the collected information two wireframes for the web interface and one for the mobile interface was designed. The usability of these wireframes was tested in three iteration rounds, so that the usability problems found were fixed after each test round. Iterative design enabled also to test the corrections of the usability problems. The client is able to utilize the results of the thesis when updating the ERP system´s user interface. The results of the Heuristic evaluation revealed the problems of the existing interface. Furthermore, the user information gained from interviews and usability testing relates to the spirit and the needs of a modern user. However, the most important results of the study are the wireframes for the web and mobile user interfaces, which can be used as the framework of development

Yhteistoiminnallinen työskentely ja poikkitieteellisen asiantuntijuuden kehittyminen

Peer reviewe

WE HACKED THE LAW! - Oikeusjärjestelmän käyttäjäkokemusta parantamassa

Non peer reviewe

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

Private landowners and protected species : What sort of noncompliance should we be worried about?

Species protection legislation has been used as one of the main approaches in conservation - yet in many cases we know only little about the effectiveness and side-effects of such regulation. Noncompliance can limit effectiveness of legislative protection, and deliberate harmful actions by landowners have sometimes been reported as a response to restrictions. We studied attitudes of 186 Finnish forest owners toward the protection of Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans - a species which is protected according to the European Union Habitats Directive and is a well-known example for species protection in Finland. We explored the attitudes and claims of harming protected species by comparing the responses of persons with and without direct experience of legal protection by structural equation modelling. We found that experience did not explain forest owners' attitudes toward having the species in their forest. Claims of harming protected species were connected to policy attitudes and should be interpreted as a political phenomenon: they reflect political discourse on conservation policy and are a part of debate between stakeholders. Accidental and reckless noncompliance seem more important phenomena than intentional harming, especially as the chance in Finnish Nature conservation likely Act likely affects information of nest sites on logging areas. Other instruments than legislative protection of known nest sites might be more effective in protecting the flying squirrel population. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Perceived interest in learning sustainability competencies among higher education students

Authors are listed alphabeticallyPurpose This study aims to assess higher education students’ interest in learning sustainability competencies and their pro-ecological worldviews at a large research-intensive university in Finland to provide a background information for developing a sustainability science course. Design/methodology/approach In total, 797 students participated in the study. The data were collected through an online survey that measured students’ interest in learning sustainability competencies and their pro-ecological worldviews. Participants were classified into five categories based on field of study. The data were analysed by using Pearson’s correlation, independent samples t-tests, and analysis of variance. Findings The participating students perceived learning of critical thinking and values thinking most interesting. Interest in learning sustainability competencies and pro-ecological worldview appeared to differ across fields of study. Participants studying humanities expressed lower interest in collaborative use of digital technology compared to the participating students in science and agriculture. Participating students in health and welfare scored lower on interest in learning values thinking than students in other study fields. Research limitations/implications The response rate was low. It is likely that the participants felt strongly about sustainability challenges, therefore making them more interested in sustainability competencies. The limited number of sustainability competencies studied does not allow generalisation to all sustainability competencies. Practical implications The differences in interest in learning sustainability competencies and pro-ecological worldview should be understood and considered when planning sustainability education. Originality/value These results provide new insights into the interlinkage of students’ interest in learning sustainability competencies, their pro-ecological worldviews and their field of study.Peer reviewe

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.</p