Guidelines for the analysis of student web usage in support of primary educational objectives

The Internet and World Wide Web provides huge amounts of information to individuals with access to it. Information is an important driving factor of education and higher education has experienced massive adoption rates of information and communication technologies, and accessing the Web is not an uncommon practice within a higher educational institution. The Web provides numerous benefits and many students rely on the Web for information, communication and technical support. However, the immense amount of information available on the Web has brought about some negative side effects associated with abundant information. Whether the Web is a positive influence on students’ academic well-being within higher education is a difficult question to answer. To understand how the Web is used by students within a higher education institution is not an easy task. However, there are ways to understand the Web usage behaviour of students. Using established methods for gathering useful information from data produced by an institution, Web usage behaviours of students within a higher education institution could be analysed and presented. This dissertation presents guidance for analysing Web traffic within a higher educational institution in order to gain insight into the Web usage behaviours of students. This insight can provide educators with valuable information to bolster their decision-making capacity towards achieving their educational goals

How candidate characteristics matter : Candidate profiles, political sophistication, and vote choice

Our study examines the influence of various candidate characteristics (sociodemographic profile, competence and experience, issue positions, and party affiliation) on voters' preference for a candidate, and investigates the impact of voters' levels of political sophistication on their likelihood of considering various candidate characteristics voters when deciding whom to support. Using data from the 2015 Finnish National Election Study, this study is situated within the complex Finnish open list system with many candidates at display and mandatory preference voting. We find that voters mostly argue to make their choice based on candidate characteristics with direct politically relevant information such as candidate party affiliation and issue positions. Candidate sociodemographic profile has relatively little stated impact. Overall, voters with higher levels of political sophistication tend to be more likely to consider a broad range of candidate characteristics. When investigating the relative impact of each candidate characteristic (that is, their impact relative to the other candidate characteristics) on voting behaviour, political sophistication increases the likelihood of saying to rely on candidate characteristics that are more demanding in terms of information processing such as competence and experience, and issue positions. Our analyses also show how different measures of political sophistication have distinct effects.Peer reviewe

Policy or person? : The electoral value of policy positions and personal attributes in the Finnish open-list system

Under open-list proportional representation (OLPR), individual candidates compete for personal votes and representation has a distinctly individualistic dimension. This article provides a unique analysis of this individualistic representational dimension, by comparing the effects of policy positions with personal vote-earning attributes on individual electoral success within the context of the Finnish OLPR. The study confirms that personal attributes related to experience, locality and celebrity status have a strong positive effect on candidates’ ability to attract personal votes. On a more novel account, it also demonstrates that even under decidedly complex electoral settings, policy positions matter for candidates’ electoral fortunes, and that candidates who take on moderate positions within the context of their respective party are more successful than candidates who deviate from the party-median.Under open-list proportional representation (OLPR), individual candidates compete for personal votes and representation has a distinctly individualistic dimension. This article provides a unique analysis of this individualistic representational dimension, by comparing the effects of policy positions with personal vote-earning attributes on individual electoral success within the context of the Finnish OLPR. The study confirms that personal attributes related to experience, locality and celebrity status have a strong positive effect on candidates’ ability to attract personal votes. On a more novel account, it also demonstrates that even under decidedly complex electoral settings, policy positions matter for candidates’ electoral fortunes, and that candidates who take on moderate positions within the context of their respective party are more successful than candidates who deviate from the party-median.Peer reviewe

Candidates' representational roles

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Welfare Services from a Minority Perspective : Explaining Satisfaction with Language-Based Welfare Services among Swedish-Speaking Finns

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Androgens and the breast

Abstract There is increasing interest in the role of androgens in the treatment of women but little is known about their long-term safety. There are also very few studies on testosterone therapy and breast cancer risk. However, some observations support the concept that androgens may counteract the stimulatory effects of estrogen and progestogen in the mammary gland. Mammographic breast density and breast cell proliferation could be regarded as surrogate markers for the risk of breast cancer. Recently the addition of testosterone to a common estrogen/progestogen regimen was found to inhibit the stimulatory effects of hormones on breast cell proliferation. The effects of testosterone alone on the postmenopausal breast remain to be investigated. © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Androgens; Breast; Cancer Numerous women all over the world are treated with different combinations of estrogen and progestogen for hormonal contraception and the alleviation of menopausal symptoms. Currently, there is much confusion and an intense discussion about the longterm safety of such hormone therapy. In particular, the effects on the breast have been focused. Clinical and observational studies have reported an increased risk for breast cancer during postmenopausal combined estrogen/progestogen treatment (HT) The fact that sex steroid hormones and their receptors act in concert has stimulated interest in the role of androgens and testosterone in the treatment of women. The androgen receptor (AR) is a third member of the nuclear receptor super family and is a ligand-activated nuclear transcription factor which mediates androgen E-mail address: [email protected]. action The most obvious indication for androgen replacement therapy is symptomatic androgen insufficiency caused by pituitary, adrenal or ovarian failure. In many countries, testosterone treatment has gradually become a more accepted component of HT, especially in oophorectomized women. The testosterone therapy can also be considered in young women with premature ovarian failure, e.g., the Turner syndrome, after chemo or radiotherapy or in hypothalamic/pituitary disorders

Ideological mavericks or party herd? : The effect of candidates’ ideological positions on intra-party success

Political candidates' ideological positions have been used to explain success in inter-party competition, but little is known about how they impact success in intra-party competition. Here, candidates' positions on the Left-Right and GAL-TAN dimensions are analysed in three Finnish parliamentary elections (2011, 2015, 2019). Candidates' ideological positions are measured in terms of their ideological distance from their own party's median candidate. Absolute ideological distances between candidates and their party's median candidate decrease candidates' preference votes. Furthermore, the effects are contingent on the general ideological position of the candidate's party. However, these interactions do not follow any clear pattern, as more rightist candidates in right-wing parties and more green-alternative-libertarian candidates in traditional-authoritarian-nationalist parties all experience a decrease in their preference votes. This effect is large enough to be a decisive factor in intra-party competition between the last candidate that was elected and the first one that was not.Peer reviewe

Fighting over friends and neighbors : The effect of inter-candidate geographic distance on intra-party competition

Previous studies on intra-party competition have largely neglected the role played by geographic distance between co-partisan candidates. In this study, we argue that candidates who live further away from intra-party competitors on the same party list benefit electorally from their remoteness. Moreover, we contend that the electoral effectiveness of exhibiting local personal vote attributes – a theoretically and empirically well-established candidate strategy to cultivate personal votes – also depends on the geographical proximity of localized co-partisan candidates. Using a unique and untapped dataset of more than 5,000 Finnish election candidates’ home address coordinates over four consecutive parliamentary elections (1999–2011), we run beta regression models to examine the effects of candidate remoteness and nearest candidates’ local characteristics on intra-party vote shares. To measure the remoteness of a particular candidate, we develop a novel index based on the distribution of co-partisans over concentric circles around that candidate. The empirical analyses show that the effect of geographic remoteness depends on local party strength and the degree of urbanization: candidates particularly benefit from more distant co-partisans in party strongholds and rural and suburban municipalities. Moreover, all models confirm that nearby located localized co-partisans decrease a candidate’s own vote share. These findings have important implications for politicians’ careers, party nomination strategies and future empirical research on intra-party competition.Previous studies on intra-party competition have largely neglected the role played by geographic distance between co-partisan candidates. In this study, we argue that candidates who live further away from intra-party competitors on the same party list benefit electorally from their remoteness. Moreover, we contend that the electoral effectiveness of exhibiting local personal vote attributes – a theoretically and empirically well-established candidate strategy to cultivate personal votes – also depends on the geographical proximity of localized co-partisan candidates. Using a unique and untapped dataset of more than 5,000 Finnish election candidates' home address coordinates over four consecutive parliamentary elections (1999–2011), we run beta regression models to examine the effects of candidate remoteness and nearest candidates' local characteristics on intra-party vote shares. To measure the remoteness of a particular candidate, we develop a novel index based on the distribution of co-partisans over concentric circles around that candidate. The empirical analyses show that the effect of geographic remoteness depends on local party strength and the degree of urbanization: candidates particularly benefit from more distant co-partisans in party strongholds and rural and suburban municipalities. Moreover, all models confirm that nearby located localized co-partisans decrease a candidate's own vote share. These findings have important implications for politicians' careers, party nomination strategies and future empirical research on intra-party competition.Peer reviewe