Spatio-Temporal Variation in Water Quality of Orle River Basin, S.W. ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Spatio-Temporal Variation in Water Quality of Orle River Basin, S.W. Nigeria. ... Abstract. The water quality of small streams in Auchi area of Edo State, S.W. Nigeria was investigated with a view to ... and ecosystems. The study was carried out

U-Pb ages for PGR dykes, KFP, and adjacent older leucosomic PGRs from ONKALO underground research facility, Olkiluoto, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maenttaeri, I.; Engstroem, J.; Lahaye, Y.; Pere, T.

2010-06-01

Zircon LA-MC-ICP-MS and monazite TIMS ages have been determined for three PGR dykes (A2018, A2020, and A2070) and a KFP (A2022) from the ONKALO underground research facility, Olkiluoto, Eurajoki, SW Finland. For purposes of comparison, leucosomic PGRs (A2019, A2021, and A2023) crosscut by the PGR dykes and the KFP were also dated. Minimum ages for the PGR dykes and the A2022 KFP were determined by the monazite U-Pb ages. PGR dykes reveal partially overlapping ages of 1826 ± 7 Ma (A2018), 1811 ± 5 Ma (A2020), and 1817 ± 3 Ma (A2070). Monazite age of 1808 ± 6 Ma for the KFP is coeval with the youngest PGR dyke monazite. The ∼1.81-1.80 Ga ages for the supposed PGR dyke zircon agree within the error limits with the monazite ages. For the KFP, obvious co-magmatic zircon was not identified. The metamorphic zircon rims and domains found from the PGR dykes reveal multiphase overprinting, the ages ranging from 1.86 Ga to 1.80 Ga. Subsequently, the high-U PGR dyke zircon suffered major lead loss during the Rapakivi event at 1.58 Ga and finally, a few grains show early Devonian age of ∼400 Ma. In the KFP, many structurally homogeneous zircon domains and rims plot on a ∼1.80 Ga discordia line, while the concordant data are ∼1.83 Ga. Leucosomic PGRs A2019 and A2021 crosscut by the PGR dykes enclose 1.87-1.85 Ga zircon resembling and being contemporaneous with the tonalite zircon in the Olkiluoto area. The concordia ages of 1836 ± 13 Ma (A2019) and 1807 ± 11 Ma (A2021) for the metamorphic zircon domains in the leucosomes correlate perfectly with the supposed ages of the crosscutting PGR dykes. The youngest metamorphic zircon phases in leucosome A2023 are dated at 1.82-1.80 Ga. That is in good accordance with the monazite age 1808 ± 6 Ma from the KFP A2022 crosscutting the leucosome A2023. The samples contain also abundant older inherited zircon cores and grains. Archaean ages vary from 3.1 Ga to 2.7 Ga and the older Palaeoproterozoic between 2.1 Ga and 1.9 Ga. The

Geochemical baseline studies of soil in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Pihlaja, Jouni

2017-04-01

The soil element concentrations regionally vary a lot in Finland. Mostly this is caused by the different bedrock types, which are reflected in the soil qualities. Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) is carrying out geochemical baseline studies in Finland. In the previous phase, the research is focusing on urban areas and mine environments. The information can, for example, be used to determine the need for soil remediation, to assess environmental impacts or to measure the natural state of soil in industrial areas or mine districts. The field work is done by taking soil samples, typically at depth between 0-10 cm. Sampling sites are chosen to represent the most vulnerable areas when thinking of human impacts by possible toxic soil element contents: playgrounds, day-care centers, schools, parks and residential areas. In the mine districts the samples are taken from the areas locating outside the airborne dust effected areas. Element contents of the soil samples are then analyzed with ICP-AES and ICP-MS, Hg with CV-AAS. The results of the geochemical baseline studies are published in the Finnish national geochemical baseline database (TAPIR). The geochemical baseline map service is free for all users via internet browser. Through this map service it is possible to calculate regional soil baseline values using geochemical data stored in the map service database. Baseline data for 17 elements in total is provided in the map service and it can be viewed on the GTK's web pages (http://gtkdata.gtk.fi/Tapir/indexEN.html).

Environmental gamma radiation and fallout measurements in Finland, 1986-87

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arvela, H.; Markkanen, M.; Lemmelae, H.; Blomqvist, L.

1989-07-01

Results from a survey of environmental gamma radiation levels in Finland after the Chernobyl accident 1986 are presented. The measurements were made in 1986-87 by means of sensitive Geiger-counters and a gamma-spectrometer placed in cars. The results show the level of external radiation caused by the cesium fallout on the first of October 1987. The fallout pattern of 137 Cs as well as of 95 Zr and 103 Ru are also presented. In the center of Southern Finland there are wide areas with exposure levels exceeding 0.03 μSv h -1 , areas exceeding 0.10 μSv h -1 being very rare. The surface area weighted mean dose rate for the 461 municipalities in Finland was 0.027 μSv h -1 (range 0-0.19 μSv h -1 ). The population weighted mean dose rate was 0.037 μSv h -1 . The corresponding estimated surface activity of 137 Cs was 10.7 kBq m -2 . The passage of the Chernobyl plume over Finland in 1986 led to various fallout patterns for different radionuclides. The deposition of the non-volatile nuclides, 95 Zr and 141 Ce, is closely related to the passage of the hot particle dust formed at the initial explosion in the reactor at 01.23 LT on 26 April. This cloud passed over Finland between the morning and the night of 27 April. The deposition of volatile fission products such as 131 I, 132 Te, 134 Cs and 137 Cs in Finland was caused by releases from the burning reactor after the initial explosion. The radioactive plume spread over Southern and Central Finland between Sunday 27 April and Tuesday 29 April. On 30 April and finally on 1 May a could northerly airstream spread into the whole of Finland purifying the atmosphere. The volatile nuclides were mainly deposited by intermittent rain on 28-30 April. The deposition pattern of 103 Ru is a combination of the fallou patterns due to the initial explosion and the reactor burn, as well as the wet deposition occurring on 10-12 May caused by the releases from the burning reactor in early May

Saddle-shaped reticulate Nummulites from Early Oligocene rocks of Khari area, SW Kutch, India

Science.gov (United States)

Sengupta, S.; Sarkar, Sampa; Mukhopadhyay, S.

2011-04-01

Saddle-shaped reticulate Nummulites from the Early Oligocene rocks of Khari area, SW Kutch, India is reported here for the first time. Unusual shape of this Nummulites is due to the curved nature of the coiling plane, indicating space constrained postembryonic test growth. With regular development of chambers, septa and septal filaments, the saddle-shaped Nummulites constitutes the third morphotype of N. cf. fichteli Michelotti form A. Other morphotypes of the species reported earlier include inflated lenticular and conical tests. Multiple morphotypes of N. cf. fichteli form A indicates varied test growth in response to substrate conditions. Morphological variability exhibited by N. cf. fichteli form A from Kutch and some Early Oligocene reticulate Nummulites from the Far East are comparable. This faunal suite is morphologically distinct from the contemporary reticulate Nummulites of the European localities.

Regional development of river basins in the Olkiluoto-Pyhaejaervi Area, SW Finland, 2000 BP - 8000 AP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ojala, A.E.K.; Virkki, H.; Palmu, J.-P.; Hokkanen, K.; Kaija, J.

2006-12-01

Biosphere assessment forms one of the main components in Posiva's Safety Case portfolio and includes analyses of terrain and ecosystem development. Shoreline displacement and changes in surface hydrology form one part of these analyses. In this report, the regional development of the Olkiluoto-Pyhaejaervi area in the time period 2000 BP - 8000 AP was examined by taking into account changes in the surface flow patterns of the Lapinjoki and Eurajoki river basins. A hydrological model, EULA, was developed and applied to investigate the past and future hydrological regimes and changes in the Olkiluoto-Pyhaejaervi study area. As detailed assessment of erosion and sedimentation effects were not within the scope of this study, only their general effects were evaluated. The digital elevation models (DEM) for different time stages (2000, 1500, 1000 and 500 BP; 100, 300, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000, 6000, 7000 and 8000 AP) were compiled taking into account the land uplift and tilting of the Earth's crust. With the aid of various sophisticated GIS tools, the boundaries of the main river basins, the flow patterns of rivers and development of lakes during each stage were modelled. The yearly discharge rates of rivers Eurajoki and Lapinjoki were also evaluated with the assumption that present climatic features prevail during the whole time period 2000 BP - 8000 AP. Finally, the probability of significant changes in the surface water flow routes were estimated during different stages. (orig.)

Indications of postglacial and recent bedrock movements in Finland and Russian Karelia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuivamaeki, A.; Vuorela, P.; Paananen, M

1998-12-31

This report is mainly a summary report of the studies done 1986 - 1997 by the Geological Survey of Finland/Nuclear Waste Disposal Research on postglacial faulting (PG-faults) and recent bedrock movements. Most of the results have already been published in other YST-reports in Finnish. The first part of the report deals with the postglacial faults in Finland and in the second part the problems connected with the origin and age of paleoseismic dislocations found in Russian Karelia are described. The final part deals with the present vertical and horizontal movements of Finnish bedrock. The Pasmajaervi PG-fault is the most thoroughly studied PG-fault in Finland. Around the fault lineament interpretations and geophysical ground measurements have been done and the fault zone has been penetrated with two drill holes. Three levelling networks and one GPS-network have been established for revealing any recent movements of the PG-fault area. Other PG-faults studied, but not in the same detail, are Venejaervi, Ruostejaervi, Suasselkae and Vaalajaervi PG-faults. The PG-faults in Finland strike in the SW-NE direction and dip to the SE with the exception of the Vaalajaervi PG-fault. It strikes in the NW-SE direction. The dip direction is unknown. The length of the PG-faults is 4-36 km and the scarp height 0-12 m. PG-faults are reverse faults and they are located in old, reactivated fracture zones. The results of drillings and resistivity soundings in the Pasmajaervi PG-fault indicate, that the dip angle of 45 deg in the surface becomes more gentle with the increasing depth. This result may be important from a technical point of view when designing nuclear waste repositories. The strike directions of the PG-faults are perpendicular with the direction of prevailing horizontal maximum stress. The structure and location of the PG-faults is in accordance with the model presented by Muir Wood for the origin of PG-faults. The exceptional direction of the Vaalajaervi PG-fault is

Indications of postglacial and recent bedrock movements in Finland and Russian Karelia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuivamaeki, A.; Vuorela, P.; Paananen, M.

1998-01-01

This report is mainly a summary report of the studies done 1986 - 1997 by the Geological Survey of Finland/Nuclear Waste Disposal Research on postglacial faulting (PG-faults) and recent bedrock movements. Most of the results have already been published in other YST-reports in Finnish. The first part of the report deals with the postglacial faults in Finland and in the second part the problems connected with the origin and age of paleoseismic dislocations found in Russian Karelia are described. The final part deals with the present vertical and horizontal movements of Finnish bedrock. The Pasmajaervi PG-fault is the most thoroughly studied PG-fault in Finland. Around the fault lineament interpretations and geophysical ground measurements have been done and the fault zone has been penetrated with two drill holes. Three levelling networks and one GPS-network have been established for revealing any recent movements of the PG-fault area. Other PG-faults studied, but not in the same detail, are Venejaervi, Ruostejaervi, Suasselkae and Vaalajaervi PG-faults. The PG-faults in Finland strike in the SW-NE direction and dip to the SE with the exception of the Vaalajaervi PG-fault. It strikes in the NW-SE direction. The dip direction is unknown. The length of the PG-faults is 4-36 km and the scarp height 0-12 m. PG-faults are reverse faults and they are located in old, reactivated fracture zones. The results of drillings and resistivity soundings in the Pasmajaervi PG-fault indicate, that the dip angle of 45 deg in the surface becomes more gentle with the increasing depth. This result may be important from a technical point of view when designing nuclear waste repositories. The strike directions of the PG-faults are perpendicular with the direction of prevailing horizontal maximum stress. The structure and location of the PG-faults is in accordance with the model presented by Muir Wood for the origin of PG-faults. The exceptional direction of the Vaalajaervi PG-fault is

Land uplift and relative sea-level changes in the Loviisa area, southeastern Finland, during the last 8000 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miettinen, A.; Eronen, M.; Hyvaerinen, H.

1999-09-01

Southeastern Finland belongs to the area covered by the Weichselian ice sheet, where the release of the ice load caused a rapid isostatic rebound during the postglacial time. While the mean overall apparent uplift is of the order of 2 mm/yr today, in the early Holocene time it was several times higher. A marked decrease in the rebound rate occurred around 8500 BP, however, since then the uplift rate has remained high until today, with a slightly decreasing trend towards the present time. According to current understanding there have neither been temporary increases nor decreases in the rate of uplift during the postglacial time. Even so, it is not known for sure whether there are regional irregularities on the rebound in Finland. Concurrently with land uplift, relative sea-level changes in the Baltic basin were also strongly affected by the global eustatic rise of sea-level. During the early Litorina Sea stage on the southern coast of Finland around 7000 BP, the rise in sea-level exceeded the rate of land uplift, and resulted in a short-lived transgression. The most accurate information on relative sea-level changes in an uplifting area may be obtained from radiocarbon dated events of isolation in small lake basins, as they were cut off from larger bodies of water. The isolations of such basins from the sea may be reliably determined by the recorded changes in the diatom flora in the sediment sequences, at horizons which may be radiometrically dated. In the present study, the isolation-horizons of 13 basins were dated by 26 conventional and 2 AMS radiocarbon dates. According to the available sets of dates, the time span of emergence extends from 8300 BP to the past few hundred years, for lakes from c. 30 m to 1.1 m above the present sea-level. Due to the global rise in sea-level, during the period of 7500-6500 BP, the sea-level rise clearly exceeded the rate of uplift, and resulted in the Litorina transgression, which had an amplitude of around one metre. The

Land uplift and relative sea-level changes in the Loviisa area, southeastern Finland, during the last 8000 years

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miettinen, A.; Eronen, M.; Hyvaerinen, H. [Helsinki Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Geology

1999-09-01

Southeastern Finland belongs to the area covered by the Weichselian ice sheet, where the release of the ice load caused a rapid isostatic rebound during the postglacial time. While the mean overall apparent uplift is of the order of 2 mm/yr today, in the early Holocene time it was several times higher. A marked decrease in the rebound rate occurred around 8500 BP, however, since then the uplift rate has remained high until today, with a slightly decreasing trend towards the present time. According to current understanding there have neither been temporary increases nor decreases in the rate of uplift during the postglacial time. Even so, it is not known for sure whether there are regional irregularities on the rebound in Finland. Concurrently with land uplift, relative sea-level changes in the Baltic basin were also strongly affected by the global eustatic rise of sea-level. During the early Litorina Sea stage on the southern coast of Finland around 7000 BP, the rise in sea-level exceeded the rate of land uplift, and resulted in a short-lived transgression. The most accurate information on relative sea-level changes in an uplifting area may be obtained from radiocarbon dated events of isolation in small lake basins, as they were cut off from larger bodies of water. The isolations of such basins from the sea may be reliably determined by the recorded changes in the diatom flora in the sediment sequences, at horizons which may be radiometrically dated. In the present study, the isolation-horizons of 13 basins were dated by 26 conventional and 2 AMS radiocarbon dates. According to the available sets of dates, the time span of emergence extends from 8300 BP to the past few hundred years, for lakes from c. 30 m to 1.1 m above the present sea-level. Due to the global rise in sea-level, during the period of 7500-6500 BP, the sea-level rise clearly exceeded the rate of uplift, and resulted in the Litorina transgression, which had an amplitude of around one metre. The

Geochemistry of Archaean supracrustal belts in SW Greenland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Szilas, Kristoffer

This PhD-thesis investigates the geological formation environment of c. 3200-3000 million-year-old volcanic rocks from SW Greenland, using whole-rock geochemical data in combination with U-Pb, Sm-Nd and Lu-Hf isotope data. The following three supracrustal areas were studied: (1) The Tartoq Group ...

Structural control on gold mineralization in the Satulinmäki and Riukka prospects, Häme Schist Belt, southern Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerstin Saalmann

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The Satulinmäki and Riukka prospects located in the Häme Schist Belt in southern Finland are dominated by mafic and intermediate to felsic metavolcanic rocks of the Forssa Group formed in a continental arc setting. This magmatic belt formed some 1890–1880 Ma ago and has been deformed during the Svecofennian orogeny. The dominant penetrative foliation is represented by Sn+1, which is axial planar to cm- to dm-scale iscolinal Fn+1 folds and thus parallel to the layering Sn. Associated ductile shearing might reflect early thrusting. Dn+2 post-dating peak metamorphism is characterized by small-scale to regional-scale refolding of Fn+1 folds around ~SW-NE fold axes. This phase is transitional to development of SW-NE to WSW-ENE and NW-SE striking shear zones and faults formed due to dextral transpressionduring Dn+3 at retrograde conditions crossing the brittle-ductile transition. Many mineralized quartz veins have formed during this event. Later faults and quartz veins and reactivation of pre-existing structures during Dn+4 indicate rotation of the stress field to ~NESWoriented compression. A clear ~SW-NE trend of sulphide mineralization and elevated gold contents and the spatial association to Dn+3 quartz veins, shear zones and faults suggest a strong structural control, typical of orogenic gold deposits, and that mineralization took place during Dn+3. The controlling structures, (i WSW-ENE to SW-NE shear zones and faults and (ii NW-SE oriented fault, are second and third order structures to major regional-scale shear zones. The fault zones and their intersection points impart a directional permeability so that the mineralising fluids were channelled along dilatant zones. Approximately (WNW-(ESE trending faults being (reactivated as extensional faults or dilatant shear planes during Dn+3 transpression with WNW-ESE to NW-SE oriented compression direction could have acted as conduits for fluids during upward flow from deeper crustal level. Future

Basic rocks in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piirainen, T.; Gehoer, S.; Iljina, M.; Kaerki, A.; Paakkola, J.; Vuollo, J.

1992-10-01

Basic igneous rocks, containing less than 52% SiO 2 , constitute an important part of the Finnish Archaean and Proterozoic crust. In the Archaean crust exist two units which contain the majority of the basic rocks. The Arcaean basic rocks are metavolcanics and situated in the Greenstone Belts of Eastern Finland. They are divided into two units. The greenstones of the lower one are tholeiites, komatiites and basaltic komatiites. The upper consists of bimodal series of volcanics and the basic rocks of which are Fe-tholeiites, basaltic komatiites and komatiites. Proterozoic basic rocks are divided into seven groups according to their ages. The Proterozoic igneous activity started by the volominous basic magmatism 2.44 Ga ago. During this stage formed the layered intrusions and related dykes in the Northern Finland. 2.2 Ga old basic rocks are situated at the margins of Karelian formations. 2.1 Ga aged Fe-tholeiitic magmatic activity is widespread in Eastern and Northern Finland. The basic rocks of 1.97 Ga age group are met within the Karelian Schist Belts as obducted ophiolite complexes but they occur also as tholeiitic diabase dykes cutting the Karelian schists and Archean basement. The intrusions and the volcanics of the 1.9 Ga old basic igneous activity are mostly encountered around the Granitoid Complex of Central Finland. Subjotnian, 1.6 Ga aged tholeiitic diabases are situated around the Rapakivi massifs of Southern Finland, and postjotnian, 1.2 Ga diabases in Western Finland where they form dykes cutting Svecofennian rocks

Geological mapping of investigation trench OL-TK14 at the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nordbaeck, N.

2007-12-01

Geological mapping of investigation trench OL-TK14 was carried out by the Geological Survey of Finland at the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, as part of Posiva Oy's site investigation programme for the development of an underground repository for nuclear waste. The E-W striking, ca. 215 m long trench is located in the eastern part of the Olkiluoto Island adjacent to boreholes OL-KR40 and OL-KR45. The trench was cleaned with a pressure washer and pressurized air. The rock types were determined macroscopically. Five samples were also investigated microscopically. The main rock type in the trench is veined gneiss. A few less than 0.5 m wide coarsegrained pegmatitic granite dykes are also encountered. Furthermore a large number of mica gneiss, quartz gneiss and skarn inclusions are present in the veined gneiss, being often elongated and parallel to the foliation. The most dominant tectonic feature is the foliation S2 and associated intense granitic leucosome veining. The foliation strikes ENE-WSW and dips steeply towards SES. Intensely to moderately banded rocks dominate the trench. The sparse F3 folds observed in OL-TK14 are small-scale tight folds in leucosome veins. A large-scale (10 m) open bending of the foliation that could be a result of D4 folding was also observed. Shearbands and other signs of ductile shearing were observed on many locations in the trench and in the eastern part there is a high-grade ductile shear zone intersection. During the fracture mapping, all fractures intersecting the central thread were investigated and a total of 684 fractures were recorded. The average fracture density of the trench is 3.18 fractures/m. On the basis of fracture orientations three main sets can be distinguished: 1) a set striking N-S with vertical dip, 2) a ENE-WSW striking set with varying dips towards the SSE (parallel to the foliation) and 3) a NE-SW striking set with sub-vertical dip towards the SE or the NW. Most of the measured fractures are short due to the

Superconducting magnet applications in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berglund, P; Collan, H K; Lounasmaa, O V

1983-01-01

A short review of superconducting magnet applications in Finland is presented. The development work was done in areas that seem to offer potential for a significant break-through technology. So far our efforts have covered magnetic separation, electric DC machinery and medical NMR imaging, and it is now being extended to biological NMR on living tissue and to particle physics experiments. Our work has been facilitated by the recently started fabrication of domestic superconducting wire.

Making the Climate Count: Climate Policy Integration and Coherence in Finland

OpenAIRE

Kivimaa, Paula; Mickwitz, Per

2009-01-01

Tackling climate change in Finland and other industrialised countries requires major changes in production processes and consumption patterns. These changes will not take place unless climate change becomes a crucial factor in general and sector-specific policy-making. In this report climate policy integration in Finland is studied at different levels of policy-making: at the national level, regionally in Kymenlakso and the Metropolitan Area, as well as in the city of Helsinki and the town of...

The biomass energy market in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

In 2001, it was estimated that the Finnish biomass market was in excess of 235 million dollars. The development of renewable energy, with special emphasis on biomass, was supported by the development of an energy strategy by the government of Finland. The installed capacity of biomass in Finland in 2002 was 1400 megawatt electrical (MWe). Extensive use of combined heat and power (CHP) is made in Finland, and district heating (DH) systems using biomass are gaining in popularity. Wood-based biomass technologies, retrofits to fluidized bed combustion, and wood procurement technologies were identified as the best opportunities for Canadian companies interested in operating in Finland. A country with high standards, Finland seems to look favorably on new innovative solutions. Joint ventures with Finnish companies might be an excellent way for Canadian companies to gain a foothold in Finland and expand into the European Union, the Nordic countries, the Baltic, Russia and the Central and Eastern European markets. It was further noted that Finland is one of the leading exporters of biomass technology in the world. The document provided quick facts, examined opportunities, and looked at key players. 19 refs., 4 tabs

Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for the two layer fault system of Antalya (SW Turkey) area

Science.gov (United States)

Dipova, Nihat; Cangir, Bülent

2017-09-01

Southwest Turkey, along Mediterranean coast, is prone to large earthquakes resulting from subduction of the African plate under the Eurasian plate and shallow crustal faults. Maximum observed magnitude of subduction earthquakes is Mw = 6.5 whereas that of crustal earthquakes is Mw = 6.6. Crustal earthquakes are sourced from faults which are related with Isparta Angle and Cyprus Arc tectonic structures. The primary goal of this study is to assess seismic hazard for Antalya area (SW Turkey) using a probabilistic approach. A new earthquake catalog for Antalya area, with unified moment magnitude scale, was prepared in the scope of the study. Seismicity of the area has been evaluated by the Gutenberg-Richter recurrence relationship. For hazard computation, CRISIS2007 software was used following the standard Cornell-McGuire methodology. Attenuation model developed by Youngs et al. Seismol Res Lett 68(1):58-73, (1997) was used for deep subduction earthquakes and Chiou and Youngs Earthq Spectra 24(1):173-215, (2008) model was used for shallow crustal earthquakes. A seismic hazard map was developed for peak ground acceleration and for rock ground with a hazard level of a 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years. Results of the study show that peak ground acceleration values on bedrock change between 0.215 and 0.23 g in the center of Antalya.

Hydrochemistry of rivers in an acid sulphate soil hotspot area in western Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. ROOS

2008-12-01

Full Text Available During heavy rains and snow melting, acid sulphate (AS soils on the coastal plains of Finland are flushed resulting in discharge of acidic and metal-rich waters that strongly affect small streams. In this study, the impact of AS soils occurrence and hydrological changes on water quality were determined for 21 rivers (catchment sizes between 96–4122 km2 running through an AS soil hotspot area in western central Finland. Water samples, collected at the outlet, during eight selected events, were analysed for pH, dissolved organic carbon, electrical conductivity (EC and 32 chemical elements. Based on the correlation with percentage arable land in the catchments (a rough estimate of AS soil occurrences, as up to 50% of the arable land is underlain with these soils, it was possible to categorize variables into those that are enriched in runoff from such land, depleted in runoff from such land (only one element, and not affected by land-use type in the catchments. Of the variables enriched in runoff from arable land, some were leached from AS soils during high-water flows, in particular (aluminium, boron, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel, sulphur, silicon, thorium, thallium, uranium, and zinc and others occurred in highest concentrations during lower flows (calcium, EC, potassium, magnesium, sodium, rubidium and strontium. Molybdenum and phosphorus were not leached from AS soils in larger amounts than from other soils and thus related to other factors connected to the arable land. Based on the concentrations of potentially toxic metals derived from AS soils, the 21 rivers were ranked from the least (Lestijoki River, Lapväärtinjoki River and Perhonjoki River to the most (Sulvanjoki River, Vöyrinjoki River and Maalahdenjoki River heavily AS soil impacted. It has been decided that Vöyrinjoki is to be dredged along a ca. 20 km distance. This is quite alarming considering the high metal concentrations in the river.;

Energy policies of IEA countries: Finland - 2007 review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-03-15

Faced with considerable challenges related to its geography and size, Finland's sound energy policies do much to overcome its situation. The country leverages its small market where it can - such as by adopting or harmonising with EU directives and policies. To counter its relative isolation, Finland strengthened its position by becoming part of the larger Nordic electricity market and enhancing energy linkages. At the core, however, the country ensures energy security by relying on transparency and sound market signals to investors and customers, as well as by making good use of domestic sources of biomass and nuclear. As Finland continues to refine and enhance its energy policy, there are some areas that warrant special attention. As nearly all fossil fuels are imported and all natural gas comes through a single interconnection, the government should continue to explore ways to diversify import sources and routes. The new nuclear power plant currently being built - the first in a liberalised market - will help safeguard energy security, though the construction delays necessitate continued monitoring. Subsidies for peat, a fuel in abundance in Finland, should be reconsidered, as they do not enhance energy security. On the other hand, the government should continue to explore ways to expand new renewables, building on the current stock of biomass and hydro. This book takes an in-depth look at Finland's energy policy today and, through comparisons with good examples in other IEA countries, provides critiques and recommendations for improvements to guide the country towards a sustainable energy future. While the review provides comprehensive coverage of all topics, this thematic report highlights energy efficiency and energy R and D.

Energy policies of IEA countries: Finland - 2007 review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-03-15

Faced with considerable challenges related to its geography and size, Finland's sound energy policies do much to overcome its situation. The country leverages its small market where it can - such as by adopting or harmonising with EU directives and policies. To counter its relative isolation, Finland strengthened its position by becoming part of the larger Nordic electricity market and enhancing energy linkages. At the core, however, the country ensures energy security by relying on transparency and sound market signals to investors and customers, as well as by making good use of domestic sources of biomass and nuclear. As Finland continues to refine and enhance its energy policy, there are some areas that warrant special attention. As nearly all fossil fuels are imported and all natural gas comes through a single interconnection, the government should continue to explore ways to diversify import sources and routes. The new nuclear power plant currently being built - the first in a liberalised market - will help safeguard energy security, though the construction delays necessitate continued monitoring. Subsidies for peat, a fuel in abundance in Finland, should be reconsidered, as they do not enhance energy security. On the other hand, the government should continue to explore ways to expand new renewables, building on the current stock of biomass and hydro. This book takes an in-depth look at Finland's energy policy today and, through comparisons with good examples in other IEA countries, provides critiques and recommendations for improvements to guide the country towards a sustainable energy future. While the review provides comprehensive coverage of all topics, this thematic report highlights energy efficiency and energy R and D.

ASPECTS OF COMMODIFICATION OF RUSSIAN IN FINLAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ханнес Виимаранта

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This article examines the commodification of Russian in Finland, where recent decades have seen a sharp rise in the size of the Russian-speaking population and the number of tourists from Russia. We particularly consider the use of Russian in the fields of traditional and medical tourism, education, and culture - all of them areas where Russian tourists show a strong preference for services in their native language. The need to provide a variety of services in Russian means that proficiency in Russian is a sig-nificant asset on the job market, both for immigrants and for the relatively small number of Finns who can speak the language. We also note that there is considerable demand among Russian-speaking parents in Fin-land for educational services to supplement their children’s school education.

Wave hindcast experiments in the Indian Ocean using MIKE 21 SW ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Wave prediction and hindcast studies are important in ocean engineering, coastal ... wave data can be used for the assessment of wave climate in offshore and coastal areas. In the .... for the change in performance during SW monsoon.

Emergency preparedness in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koivukoski, J.

1993-01-01

Although the menace of nuclear war still persists, the focus in national emergency preparedness in Finland is presently on emergencies involving nuclear installations. The nuclear power plants, nuclear submarines and other installations in the former USSR are a major reason for this. In this article the main features and organization of emergency preparedness in Finland are described. (orig.)

Report on joint ecogeochemical mapping and monitoring in the West Murmansk Region and the contiguous areas of Finland and Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chekushin, V.A.; Bogatyrev, I.V.; Finne, T.E.

1993-12-01

A series of meetings between the Central Kola Survey Expedition, Geological Survey of Finland and Geological Survey of Norway in 1991-1992 led to the implementation of a pilot project of a joint ecogeochemical study of the impacts of industrial activities on the terrestrial systems of West Kola Peninsula and adjacent areas in Finland and Norway. The main aims of this pilot project were to harmonize methods of sampling, preparation, analysis, data treatment and interpretation, focusing on heavy metals and radionuclides. A small area in the three-country field, including Nikel, Zapoljarny and Kirkenes was chosen as test territory. Experiences of the pilot project should form a base for planning a major project to cover some 170000 km 2 in the three countries. Snow cover, terrestrial moss, A 0 -horizon, A 0+2 -horizon, C-horizon, stream water, stream sediments and overbank sediments were used as sampling medias, with 15 sites in each country. A data quality assessment was carried out, and maps of pollutant elements clearly delineate patterns similar to those found by other workers. There is no indication that C-horizon is affected, but results of overbank sediments indicate that there are abnormal conditions with regards to the sediment transport and chemistry in the ''industrial desert''. Results of 134,137 Cs determinations in the uppermost 5 cm of the soil profile show no alarming levels. An attempt at modelling the flux of contaminants has also been made. 29 refs., 54 figs., 9 tabs

The composition of the ground water in bedrock in the precambrian shield areas of Finland and other countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyyppae, J.

1986-11-01

The main properties of the composition of the ground water contained in the Precambrian bedrock of Finland are presented on the basis of the results of analyses of some 1750 water samples taken from bored wells and a few mines. They show that, with a few exceptions, the waters of bored wells are bicarbonate waters, in which the average total amount of dissolved substances diminishes according to their geographical location as one moves from the coastal areas toward estern and northern Finland. The influence of the mineral composition of the bedrock appears most distinctly in the rapakivi areas, where the average fluoride content of the ground water varies between 1.5 and 2.0 mg/l and is thus ten times the corresponding content prevailing in areas characterized by other types of rocks. Ground waters containing from 439 to 18.000 mg/l of chloride have also been met with in Finnish bedrock and the location of the sampling site of 38 samples is given together with the general nature of their chemical composition as well as the results of the determinations of the stable (δ ''2H, δ ''1''8O, δ ''3''4S, δ ''1''3C) and radioactive (''3H, ''1''4C) isotopes of a number of samples. The saline waters are mostly located in the region covered 6000-7500 years ago by the Littorina Sea. On the other hand, the isotopic composition of many saline waters corresponds to that of rainwater fallen during climatic conditions colder than the present. The most saline waters have been met with deep down in mines and deep boreholes, also, for example, far from the region covered by the Littorina Sea. The saline waters contained in Finnish bedrock usually release gas, which in some cases consists mainly of nitrogen but in some places includes significant amounts of methane. In addition, helium is one of the constituents

Damage from predation on the reindeer husbandry area in Finland during the years 1976-83

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauri Nieminen

1985-05-01

Full Text Available During the years 1976-1983 predators killed a total of 8900 reindeer in Finland. The highest numbers of reindeer killed by predators were found in the marked areas of Inari, Kuusamo and Sodankyla and in the reindeer herding areas of Kasivarsi (a total of 873 reindeer, Kemi-Sompio (731, Lappi (658 and northern Salla (632. With the exception of the Kasivarsi reindeer herding area, predator damage was more or less concentrated on the reindeer herding areas on the eastern border. During 1977- 1982 the majority of reindeer killed by predators were hinds (49,6% and calves (41,0%. Predators killed most reindeer in April-June. In May and June the majority of reindeer killed by predators were calves. During 1977-83 most reindeer were killed by wolves (27,6%. wolverine (25,4%, bear (24,8% and eagles (14,5%. Wolves killed reindeer mainly in the autumn and early winter during the soft snow period. Wolverine and lynx killed reindeer in February-April in crusted snow conditions. Bears killed most reindeer during the calving period in May-June and reindeer killed by eagles were found in plenty in spring and summer.Petovahingot Suomen poronhoitoalueella vuosina 1976-83.Abstract in Finnish / Yhteenveto: Vuosina 1976-83 pedot tappoivat Suomessa yhteenså 8 900 poroa. Eniten petojen tappamia poroja lôytyin Inarin, Kuusamon ja Sodankylån merkkipiireisså sekå Kåsivarren (yhteenså 873 poroa, Kemin-Sompion (731, Lapin (685, ja Sallan pohjoisen (632 paliskunnissa. Kåsivarren paliskuntaa lukuunottamatta petovahingot keskittyivåt låhinnå itårajan paliskuntiin. Vuosina 1977-82 petojen tappamista poroista suurin osa oli vaatimia (49,6% ja vasoja (41,0%. Eniten pedot tappoivat poroja huhti - kesåkuun aikana. Tuoko - ja kesåkuussa suurin osa petojen tappamista poroista oli vasoja. Vuosina 1977-83 eniten poroja tappoivat susi (27,6%, ahma (25,4%, karhu (24,8% ja kokta (14,5%. Sudet tappoivat poroja pååasiassa syksyllå ja alkutalvella pehmeån lumen aikana

Description of the electric power and energy trade in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komulainen, K.

1992-01-01

The Finnish State has traditionally controlled the import of electricity, larger related investments and pricing. Lately, a market orientated economic policy has influenced energy policy and the amount of state control has gradually decreased. Decisions have yet to be made with regard to the fifth nuclear power reactor. The paper deals briefly with the subjects of the electric power, natural gas and oil markets. Finland's transmission network has connections to the former Russia and the Baltic countries. According to agreements within the European Community, Finland must now make changes in its electric power supply structure. Competition will be encouraged and monopolies discouraged. Pricing shall be transparent, and power plants must present written documentation for their management system, price regulations etc. A law must be passed to legitimate trade across the country's borders. Emphasis will be laid on energy conservation and energy research and consultant services. It is claimed that Finland's level of technology in this area lives up to international standards. (AB)

Gift from Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1964-01-01

An instrument worth $19 000 for the analysis of nuclear radiation, donated by Finland to IAEA, was handed over by the Finnish Ambassador, Mr. Otso Wartiovaara, to the Director General of IAEA, Dr. Sigvard Eklund, at the Agency's laboratory at Seibersdorf on 22 January. The instrument, a multi-channel analyzer with 512 channels, was constructed in Finland. It is being used in connection with all the major Agency projects under way at Seibersdorf, such as the standardization of radionuclides, agricultural research, and analytical work carried out at the request of Member States

Coastal urbanization leads to remarkable seaweed species loss and community shifts along the SW Atlantic.

Science.gov (United States)

Scherner, Fernando; Horta, Paulo Antunes; de Oliveira, Eurico Cabral; Simonassi, José Carlos; Hall-Spencer, Jason M; Chow, Fungyi; Nunes, José Marcos C; Pereira, Sonia Maria Barreto

2013-11-15

Coastal urbanization is rapidly expanding worldwide while its impacts on seaweed communities remain poorly understood. We assessed the impact of urbanization along an extensive latitudinal gradient encompassing three phycogeographical regions in the SW Atlantic. Human population density, number of dwellings, and terrestrial vegetation cover were determined for each survey area and correlated with diversity indices calculated from seaweed percent cover data. Urban areas had significantly lower calcareous algal cover (-38%), and there was significantly less carbonate in the sediment off urban areas than off reference areas. Seaweed richness averaged 26% less in urban areas than in areas with higher vegetation cover. We observed a remarkable decline in Phaeophyceae and a substantial increase of Chlorophyta in urban areas across a wide latitudinal gradient. Our data show that coastal urbanization is causing substantial loss of seaweed biodiversity in the SW Atlantic, and is considerably changing seaweed assemblages. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

U-Pb ages for two tonalitic gneisses, pegmatitic granites, and K-feldspar porphyries, Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maenttaeri, I.; Lindberg, A.; Aaltonen, I.

2007-08-01

Secondary ion microprobe zircon U-Pb ages have been determined for two tonalitic gneisses, two pegmatitic granites, and two potassium feldspar porphyry samples from the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, S-W Finland. Moreover, monazites from the Kfeldspar porphyries were dated using TIMS U-Pb method. The tonalitic gneiss A1879 TTG 1 reveals bimodal zircon population and for A1880 TTG it is homogeneous. The samples yield similar overlapping concordia ages of 1851 ± 5 Ma and 1856 ± 5 Ma, respectively. The pegmatitic granite samples A1881 PGR 1 and A1883 PGR 2 have mostly zircons resembling those of the TTG's. The supposed pegmatitic zircons with high U and low Th are strongly altered. The zircon U-Pb data of A1881 PGR 1 plot roughly in two separate lines on a concordia diagram. The apparently younger ∼1.79 Ga data are all from the high U and low Th/U zircons and therefore certainly set the minimum age for the A1881 PGR 1. It is suggested, that the ∼1.85 Ga data comprise analyses from inherited zircons as it include both lower and higher Th/U zircons and 1.85 Ga coevals with age of the tonalitic gneisses. Thus, the apparent age for the A1881 PGR 1 is ∼1.79 Ga. The U-Pb data of sample A1883 PGR 2 also divide into two groups. The higher Th/U, inherited zircons determine an age of 1852 ± 9 Ma which is the same as that of the TTG's. The low Th/U zircon data scatter and the age of 1.83 Ga for A1883 PGR 2 is only poorly determined. The both potassium feldspar porphyry samples A1882 KFP 1 and A1884 KFP 2 reveal heterogeneous zircon populations. The A1882 KFP 1 zircons showing magmatic zoning in BSE images conceivably determine a concordia age of 1842± 6 Ma for the rock. In addition to that a few ∼1.9 Ga inherited zircon and metamorphic low Th/U rims with ages between 1.88 Ga and 1.83 Ga were detected. The age for the youngest metamorphic zircon rims overlaps with that of the magmatic zircons. The zircons in the other KFP sample A1884 show a wide range of ages

Membership Contests: Encountering Immigrant Youth in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Harinen, Paivi; Suurpaa, Leena; Hoikkala, Tommi; Hautaniemi, Petri; Perho, Sini; Keskisalo, Anne-Mari; Kuure, Tapio; Kunnapuu, Krista

2005-01-01

This article discusses different aspects of social and societal membership, when minority groups of young immigrants living in Finland are under consideration. During its history, Finland has mainly been a country of emigration. In the 1990s the direction of moving turned to the contrary and the amount of immigrants in Finland increased relatively…

Environmental monitoring in Finland 2006-2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niemi, J.

2006-01-01

This publication presents environmental monitoring carried out in Finland in 2006-2008. It is a summary of the environmental monitoring activities of the following national institutes: Geological Survey of Finland, Finnish Meteorological Institute, National Public Health Institute, Plant Production Inspection Centre, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Agrifood Research Finland, Finnish Institute of Marine Research, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Statistics Finland, Finnish Environment Institute, and Regional Environment Centres. Monitoring of natural resources, environmental pressures, state of the environment, water and health, land use and environmental policy are presented. The objective was to compile the information on national environmental monitoring and to activate information exchange and cooperation in this field. (orig.)

Site-selection studies for final disposal of spent fuel in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vuorela, P.; Aeikaes, T.

1984-02-01

In the management of waste by the Industrial Power Company Ltd. (TVO) preparations are being made for the final disposal of unprocessed spent fuel into the Finnish bedrock. The site selection program will advance in three phases. The final disposal site must be made at the latest by the end of the year 2000, in accordance with a decision laid down by the Finnish Government. In the first phase, 1983-85, the main object is to find homogeneous stable bedrock blocks surrounded by fracture zones located at a safe distance from the planned disposal area. The work usually starts with a regional structural analysis of mosaics of Landsat-1 winter and summer imagery. Next an assortment of different maps, which cover the whole country, is used. Technical methods for geological and hydrogeological site investigations are being developed during the very first phase of the studies, and a borehole 1000 meters deep will be made in southwestern Finland. Studies for the final disposal of spent fuel or high-level reprocessing waste have been made since 1974 in Finland. General suitability studies of the bedrock have been going on since 1977. The present results indicate that suitable investigation areas for the final disposal of highly active waste can be found in Finland

Solar power in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vesa, A.M.

2004-01-01

Solar cells, or photovoltaic units, have provided a useful supply of energy for low-power, non-gridconnected applications in Finland for some years. Applications have included navigational buoys, base stations for mobile phone networks, and appliances in holiday homes. Solar-powered systems have also been used in connection with grid power for over a decade, in Finland and elsewhere, and have proved generally successful - and solar energy is emerging as an increasingly interesting alternative for distributed electricity generation

Shrub expansion in SW Greenland under modest regional warming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Rasmus Halfdan; Meilby, Henrik; Kollmann, Johannes

2013-01-01

Shrub expansion has been observed widely in tundra areas across the Arctic. This phenomenon has been partially attributed to increasing temperatures over the past century. However, relationships among shrub expansion, grazing, and human disturbance have been studied little. SW Greenland...... is a subarctic to low-arctic region with a long and complex land-use history and only modest temperature increases over the past 50 years (0.2 °C decade-1), but changes in shrub cover have not previously been studied in this region. We compiled historical photographs of vegetation in SW Greenland (1898......–1974) and repeated the photos in 2010 and 2011. Sixty-four photo pairs were cropped into 133 smaller units and classified by aspect, substrate stability, muskoxen grazing, and human disturbance. The photo material was evaluated by 22 experts with respect to changes in shrub cover, revealing a general increase across...

Identification of Skills Needed for Central Areas of Green and Low-Carbon Economy, for the Needs of Labor Market, in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tove Holm

2017-01-01

Full Text Available EU has set sustainable growth as a goal for 2020, by which a transition to a more resource efficient greener and competitive economy should be achieved. This requires new skills in business life. We have studied how vocational education and training and higher education may serve as a promoter of a green and low-carbon economy in Finland. Based on results from interviews of companies three main areas were chosen. These areas were decentralized renewable energy production, use of organic by-products and promotion of energy efficiency in properties. Education in vocational education and training and universities of applied sciences, for the selected areas, was mapped in 2014-15. The results were presented on workshops, where knowledge supply chains for a green economy on the selected areas were developed. If was found that cooperation between different fields and levels of education is important, as the new skills often emerge at the interfaces.

Potential Trade-Offs Between Nature-Based Tourism and Forestry, a Case Study in Northern Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannu Salminen

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Forestry, as a large industry, has significant impacts on the quality of nature-based tourism landscapes in boreal forests. In Finland, the rapid growth of nature-based tourism has expanded outdoor recreation activities from protected areas into timber production forests; this is particularly so in northern Finland. This paper focuses on assessing balanced local net impacts of three alternative land-use scenarios, in which the level of integration between nature-based tourism (NBT and traditional forestry is varied. The study is located in northern Finland in the area between two top-rated tourist resorts, Ylläs and Levi. The results of the case study support the idea of an eligible integration between NBT and forestry, which takes into account scenic qualities of forested landscapes by restricting traditional management practices. In our case, the increased number of tourists (due to a more attractive forest environment offset the losses accrued in forestry (due to restricted forest management.

Finland's leading natural gas company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2000-01-01

The ownership structure of Finland's leading natural gas company, Gasum, changed fundamentally in 1999, and the company is now no longer a subsidiary of Fortum Corporation. 'Our new strong and broad ownership base will enable us to develop the natural gas business and pipeline network in Finland in response to the requirements of our Finnish customers', says Antero Jaennes, Gasum's Chairman and CEO, who stresses that Gasum is committed to remaining the leading developer of the Finnish natural gas market and the number-one gas supplier. Natural gas usage in Finland in 1999 totalled 3.9 billion m 3 (38.7 TWh), unchanged from 1998. Natural gas accounted for 11% of Finland's total primary energy need, as it did in 1998. The proportion of natural gas used in district heating rose by 2% to 36%, and moved down 2% in power generation to 10%. Industry's use of natural gas fell 1% to 17%. 75% of natural gas was used in combined heat and power (CHP) generation in industry and district heating. In 2000, Gasum expects to sell 4 billion m 3 of natural gas (40 TWh)

The use of local natural stone in construction of St. Petersburg region and south-east Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Luodes, Hannu; Härmä, Paavo; Panova, Elena; Pirinen, Heikki; Selonen, Olavi

2013-04-01

A three-year project, started in 2012, "Efficient use of natural stone in the Leningrad region and South-East Finland", studies the use and durability of natural stone in the city environments in the Nordic climate and especially along the Eastern Baltic Sea coastline between Helsinki and St. Petersburg. The project is lead by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) and the partners in the project are Saimaa University of Applied Sciences from Finland and Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Petersburg Complex Geological Expedition" Russian together with Saint-Petersburg State University from the Russian Federation. As associates in this project are also natural stone companies from Finland, Ylämaa Group Oy and Palin Granit Oy. The project is co-funded by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). A great potential of natural stone that can be used in construction is located in the border zone between South-East Finland and the Leningrad region. Rapakivi granite from that area has been utilized for several important buildings worldwide since 18th century and the area holds still potential for future economic growth. The use of the stone particularly from this area is based on its visual expression and good properties with high durability and long life cycle that can be used as arguments in the future development. Strengthening of the knowledge of the material reserves in the area gives a long term basement for economic development. Special aim of the project is to promote the use of natural stone in the city construction, especially the use of left-over stone generated in the production. In the project the use of natural stone in larger cities from the 18th century until today including the towns St. Petersburg, Vyborg, Helsinki, Kuopio and Kotka will be reported. Also an analysis of the near future needs of natural stone (qualities and quantities) in reconstruction and

International fashion franchise in Finland

OpenAIRE

Vu, Phuong

2015-01-01

The study concentrates on exploring international clothing franchise and particularly international clothing franchise in Finland. The main objective of the research is to discover obstacles Finnish franchisees encounter when bringing an international fashion franchise to Finland and recommendations that are beneficial to their success. The thesis is inclined to exploit aspects concerning franchisees’ perspectives. In the literature review, main concepts presented are franchising, franchi...

Energy efficiency in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

In Finland a significant portion of energy originates from renewable sources and cogeneration, that is, combined production of electricity and heat. Combined heat and electricity production is typical in the Finnish industry and in the district heating sector. One third of all electricity and 15 % of district heating is produced by cogeneration. District heating schemes provide about 45 % of heat in buildings. Overall efficiency in industry exceeds 80 % and is even higher in the district heating sector. In 1996 25 % of Finland`s primary energy was produced from renewable energy sources which is a far higher proportion than the European Union average of 6 %. Finland is one of the leading users of bioenergy. Biomass including peat, provides approximately 50 % of fuel consumed by industry and is utilised in significant amounts in combined heat and electricity plants. For example, in the pulp and paper industry, by burning black liquor and bark during the production of chemical pulp, significant amounts of energy are generated and used in paper mills. Conservation and efficient use of energy are central to the Finnish Government`s Energy Strategy. The energy conservation programme aims to increase energy efficiency by 10-20 % by the year 2010. Energy saving technology plays a key role in making the production and use of energy more efficient. In 1996 of FIM 335 million (ECU 57 million) spent on funding research, FIM 120 million (ECU 20 million) was spent on research into energy conservation

Investigating the Marine Protected Areas most at risk of current-driven pollution in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, using a Lagrangian transport model.

Science.gov (United States)

Delpeche-Ellmann, Nicole C; Soomere, Tarmo

2013-02-15

The possibility of current-driven propagation of contaminants released along a major fairway polluting the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, is examined using a 3D circulation model, a Lagrangian transport model and statistics. Not surprisingly, the number of hits to the MPA decreases almost linearly with its distance from the fairway. In addition, the potential pollution released during a ship accident with the pollutants carried by currents may affect MPAs at very large distances. Typically, a fairway section approximately 125 km long (covering about 1/3 of the approximate 400-km-long gulf) may serve as a source of pollution for each MPA. The largest MPA (in the Eastern Gulf of Finland) may receive pollution from an approximately 210-km-long section (covering about 1/2 of the entire length of the gulf). This information may be useful in assisting maritime management. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fine-Scale Genetic Structure in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sini Kerminen

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Coupling dense genotype data with new computational methods offers unprecedented opportunities for individual-level ancestry estimation once geographically precisely defined reference data sets become available. We study such a reference data set for Finland containing 2376 such individuals from the FINRISK Study survey of 1997 both of whose parents were born close to each other. This sampling strategy focuses on the population structure present in Finland before the 1950s. By using the recent haplotype-based methods ChromoPainter (CP and FineSTRUCTURE (FS we reveal a highly geographically clustered genetic structure in Finland and report its connections to the settlement history as well as to the current dialectal regions of the Finnish language. The main genetic division within Finland shows striking concordance with the 1323 borderline of the treaty of Nöteborg. In general, we detect genetic substructure throughout the country, which reflects stronger regional genetic differences in Finland compared to, for example, the UK, which in a similar analysis was dominated by a single unstructured population. We expect that similar population genetic reference data sets will become available for many more populations in the near future with important applications, for example, in forensic genetics and in genetic association studies. With this in mind, we report those extensions of the CP + FS approach that we found most useful in our analyses of the Finnish data.

Nuclear energy in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kilpi, K.; Palmen, B.

1983-01-01

Finland currently generates about 40% of its electricity from nuclear power. This achievement of worldwide record magnitude is based on long-lasting efforts to build and maintain the competent infrastructure and close international cooperation required by this demanding technology. This booklet published by the Finnish Atomic Energy Commission gives an overview of nuclear energy and related organizations in Finland. It describes the utility companies and nuclear power production, the manufacturing industry and its export potential, research and educational activities and the legal framework and authorities for nuclear safety and administration. International cooperation has been essential for Finland in developing its nuclear energy capacity and appreciation is espressed to many countries and international organizations which have contributed to this. At the same time Finnish organizations are willing to share the experiences and know-how they have gained in building nuclear power in a small country. This is a road which will be followed by many other countries in the decades to come. It is hoped that this booklet will also help to open new channels of cooperation in such efforts

Nuclear waste management. Pioneering solutions from Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasilainen, Kari

2016-01-01

Presentation outline: Background: Nuclear energy in Finland; Nuclear Waste Management (NWM) Experiences; Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LILW); High Level Waste - Deep Geological Repository (DGR); NWM cost estimate in Finland; Conclusions: World-leading expert services

Perceived outcomes of public libraries in Finland, Norway and the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vakkari, P.; Aabø, S.; Audunson, R.; Huysmans, F.; Oomes, M.

2014-01-01

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to compare the perceived benefits of public libraries and their structure in the major areas of life between Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach - The data were based on representative samples of Finnish, Norwegian and Dutch adult

Testing a river basin model with sensitivity analysis and autocalibration for an agricultural catchment in SW Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. TATTARI

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Modeling tools are needed to assess (i the amounts of loading from agricultural sources to water bodies as well as (ii the alternative management options in varying climatic conditions. These days, the implementation of Water Framework Directive (WFD has put totally new requirements also for modeling approaches. The physically based models are commonly not operational and thus the usability of these models is restricted for a few selected catchments. But the rewarding feature of these process-based models is an option to study the effect of protection measures on a catchment scale and, up to a certain point, a possibility to upscale the results. In this study, the parameterization of the SWAT model was developed in terms of discharge dynamics and nutrient loads, and a sensitivity analysis regarding discharge and sediment concentration was made. The SWAT modeling exercise was carried out for a 2nd order catchment (Yläneenjoki, 233 km2 of the Eurajoki river basin in southwestern Finland. The Yläneenjoki catchment has been intensively monitored during the last 14 years. Hence, there was enough background information available for both parameter setup and calibration. In addition to load estimates, SWAT also offers possibility to assess the effects of various agricultural management actions like fertilization, tillage practices, choice of cultivated plants, buffer strips, sedimentation ponds and constructed wetlands (CWs on loading. Moreover, information on local agricultural practices and the implemented and planned protective measures were readily available thanks to aware farmers and active authorities. Here, we studied how CWs can reduce the nutrient load at the outlet of the Yläneenjoki river basin. The results suggested that sensitivity analysis and autocalibration tools incorporated in the model are useful by pointing out the most influential parameters, and that flow dynamics and annual loading values can be modeled with reasonable

Pleural plaques in Sweden among immigrants from Finland - with an editorial note

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hillerdal, G.

1983-07-01

In the county of Uppsala, Sweden, all detected cases of pleural plaques have been investigated with reference to asbestos exposure. Up to June, 1981, the number of men found to have pleural plaques were 1030 and the number of women 42. A disproportionately high percentage, especially of the women and the younger men, were born in Finland. Also, the Finnish-born had been exposed to asbestos to a significantly lower degree. They came from all parts of Finland - not only from the area where anthophyllite asbestos is found and where endemic plaques are common. Thus, some other factor must have caused these plaques among the Finns.

Additive Manufacturing in Finland: Recommendations for a Renewed Innovation Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Ituarte, Iñigo Flores; Salmi, Mika; Ballardini, Rosa Maria; Tuomi, Jukka; Partanen, Jouni

The objective of this research is to define an optimal innovation policy and funding strategy to improve Additive Manufacturing (AM) capabilities in Finnish companies. To do so, we present an international review of innovation programs in the area of AM. In addition, the study replied upon a survey prepared to evaluate factors for AM implementation. The ultimate goal is to help in the definition of a national policy strategy in the area of AM based on the characteristics of the Finnish industrial ecosystem. The methodology and data collection method involved defining the taxonomy of Finnish AM industry. The target group of the survey was a population of AM experts, and individuals with knowledge on AM and industrial processes. Overall, the survey revealed that research and innovation activities are well positioned in Finland. In order for future innovation policies to further support developments in the field, we estimated that policy strategies need to generate about 6-8 M€/year in national and EU- funding instruments for AM technology transfer, development, and innovation activities. Efforts should be targeted towards strengthening uses of AM in final production. In fact, only 36% of Finnish respondents declared to use AM for final production, while leading countries in AM use it in average more than 50%. Another area in need of development in Finland is the use of AM high performance materials. Moreover, outsourcing of AM services in Finland is 23 percentage point higher in national and 13 percentage point higher in international outsourcing to service bureaus and suppliers. In this regard, future policies and funding strategies should maintain the created momentum. However, there is a need to acquire high-end research and industrial equipment to stimulate AM integration to the existing production systems. This in the end can trigger the creation of new products, processes and intellectual property, enabling innovation and competitive advantage.

Geostatistical analysis of space variation in underground water various quality parameters in Kłodzko water intake area (SW part of Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Namysłowska-Wilczyńska Barbara

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents selected results of research connected with the development of a (3D geostatistical hydrogeochemical model of the Kłodzko Drainage Basin, dedicated to the spatial variation in the different quality parameters of underground water in the water intake area (SW part of Poland. The research covers the period 2011-2012. Spatial analyses of the variation in various quality parameters, i.e., contents of: iron, manganese, ammonium ion, nitrate ion, phosphate ion, total organic carbon, pH redox potential and temperature, were carried out on the basis of the chemical determinations of the quality parameters of underground water samples taken from the wells in the water intake area. Spatial variation in the parameters was analyzed on the basis of data obtained (November 2011 from tests of water taken from 14 existing wells with a depth ranging from 9.5 to 38.0 m b.g.l. The latest data (January 2012 were obtained (gained from 3 new piezometers, made in other locations in the relevant area. A depth of these piezometers amounts to 9-10 m.

New data on distribution of Cypripedium macranthon sw. on the territory of Altai krai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. V. Vazhov

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The Family Orchidaceae Juss. –occupies an important place among the plants, which were highlighted related to their biology and ecology. The total number of species of the family in the Altai region – 27 (ruberoidny -13, rhizomatous – 14, 10 species of orchids are rare and protected. Among the many flowering plants highlights one of the most beautiful and the most noticeable because of its large flowers Orchid – lady's slipper large-flowered Cypripedium (Cypripedium macranthon Sw.. This species is rare and listed in the regional Red book, as residential landscape areas suffers from collecting in bouquets and digging out the gardeners for the introduction into the culture. Exterminated Orchid in the procurement of herbal raw materials in traditional medicine. The Shoe form a plurality of decorative forms that is of interest to collectors of plants, promotes the collection and implementation in connection with the market demand. Increasing anthropogenic load on the territory of the region, which also adversely affects the number and state of coenopopulations of C. macranthon Sw. For the Altai territory, the modern updated data on the habitat of the Orchid. Four previously unknown local populations of C. macranthon Sw. it is noted in the upper basin of the river Angara in the virgin area.

Membership Finland

CERN Multimedia

Rubbia,C

1991-01-01

Le DG C.Rubbia et la vice présidente du conseil du Cern souhaite la bienvenue à l'adhésion de la Finlande, comme 15me membre du Cern depuis le 1. janvier 1991 en présence du secrétaire generale et de l'ambassadeur

Radioactivity of fresh water fish in Finland after the Chernobyl accident in 1986

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saxen, R.; Rantavaara, A.

1987-06-01

The Chernobyl accident raised the deposition levels of radioactive substances in Finland. Fish were affected by radioactive substances in watersheds. Extensive study of areal and temporal changes in the radioactivity of freshwater fish was started soon after the accident. The aim of the study was to obtain new data on a situation involving fresh deposition and to estimate the importance of freshwater fish as a source of radiocesium for consumers. Attenuation was also paid to various factors affecting the radioactivity of fish. Samples were taken from about 200 lakes. In all, about 600 samples were analysed gammaspectrometrically. A few samples were also analysed radiochemically for beta-emitting 89 Sr and 90 Sr. The samples contained about ten different species of fish. The highest concentrations of radiocesium in fish were found in the areas of highest radioactive deposition in Finland. In areas with the same level of 137 Cs deposition, concentrations in fish depended on the size of the lake: the smaller the area of the lake in which the fish were caught the higher the concentration. Of the fish species studied, perches had the highest concentrations of radiocesium. Intake estimations were based on the average concentrations, weighted for catches, in each drainage area and in the whole country, and on the average intake of 137 Cs via freshwater fish. In Finland, the average intake of 137 Cs via freshwater fish in May-December 1986 was about 1200 Bq. The values obtained for different drainage basins varied from about 160 to 3400 Bq

International Uranium Resources Evaluation Project (IUREP) national favourability studies: Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-11-01

Finland covers an area of 337,000 skm. One third of the country lies north of the northern polar circle. 31,613 skm are covered by lakes. 71% of the landscape are covered by coniferous -wood. Climatlcal conditions are continental. The topography of the country is gently rolling with highest elevations of 300 m in the northern part. The most interesting geological units for uranium are Karelian, marginal meta-sediments, mainly quarzites and conglomerates but also schists. These schists are intruded by orogenlc plutonic rocks which are 1800-My-old. Potassium granites are common adjacent to the contact of the Pre-karelian basement (2500 My). In addition to these geological environment uranium and thorium minerals have been found in a large carbonatite in northern Finland, which is explored now

Integrated environmental research and networking of economy and information in rural areas of Finland

OpenAIRE

M. LUOSTARINEN

2008-01-01

This article uses material from many extensive research projects starting from the construction of the electric power supply network and its water supply systems in northern Finland in 1973-1986, to the Agropolis agricultural strategy and networking for the Loimijoki project. A list of the material and references of the publications is available in Agronet on the Internet. All these projects applied integrated environmental research covering biology, the natural sciences, social sciences, and...

Nurse managers' perceptions related to their leadership styles, knowledge, and skills in these areas-a viewpoint: case of health centre wards in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Vesterinen, Soili; Suhonen, Marjo; Isola, Arja; Paasivaara, Leena; Laukkala, Helena

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore nurse managers' perceptions related to their leadership styles, knowledge, and their skills in these areas in health centre wards in Finland. The data were collected from nurse managers (n = 252) in health centre hospitals in Finland using a structured questionnaire (response rate 63%). Six leadership styles-visionary, coaching, affiliate, democratic, commanding, and isolating-were reflected on. Almost all respondents in every age group considered four leadership styles-visionary, coaching, affiliate, and democratic-to be very important or important. Nurse managers estimated their knowledge and skills in leadership styles to be essentially fairly sufficient or sufficient. Nurse managers' abilities to reflect, understand, and, if necessary, change their leadership style influence the work unit's success and employees' job satisfaction. Nurse managers, especially new nurse managers, need more theoretic, evidence-based education to cope with these expectations and to develop their professional abilities. Together with universities, health care organizations should start planning nurse manager education programmes that focus on strategic issues, leadership, job satisfaction, challenging situations in leadership, change management, work unit management (e.g., economy, efficiency, and resources), and how the nurse managers consider their own wellbeing.

Mapping and characterising children’s daily mobility in urban residential areas in Turku, Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nora Charlotta Fagerholm

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Independent mobility in a local environment is crucial for a child’s development and physical activity, contributing to overall health and well-being. This methodological article describes a study capturing children’s daily mobility in two residential areas in Turku, southwestern Finland, by combining the methods of GPS tracking, mobility diaries, interviews and questionnaires. Geographical positioning data enables analysis of spatial characteristics of children’s mobility, e.g. the comparison to land use structure and analysis of the travel speed, while the qualitative data sets reveal how, why and with whom the travel was realised and the level of children’s independence in mobility.The results show that children’s mobility is clustered around homes and schools and evident gender differences exist; boys travel longer distances and at higher speeds than girls. The children in Turku are relatively independent and have extensive mobility licenses. However, the travel undertaken to practise hobbies or participate in organised leisure activities is realised in adult company and significantly dominated by car transportation. The results strengthen the observation that Finnish children are allowed to travel rather independently and to explore the surrounding environment without adult company, using active forms of transportation. The significant level of independence is a consequence of the high perception of safety, both from the children and the parents in the residential areas. The described mixed methods approach, combining objective measurement of actual mobility with qualitative data sets, is applicable for further mobility studies and the results offer implications for planning child-friendly urban environments.

Mineralogy and origin of atmospheric particles in the industrial area of Huelva (SW Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Bernabé, J. M.; Carretero, M. I.; Galán, E.

The mineralogy of atmospheric particles at the confluence of the Tinto and Odiel rivers, south of Huelva (a highly industrialized city in the SW Spain), was characterized in view to identify source origins. In spite of the small amount of sample collected, mineralogical characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction, polarized light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with EDS analysis system, using an adequate sample preparation methodology. Sedimentable (SP) and aerosols particles were sampled an one-week basis every two months for one year. Quartz, calcite and feldspars were found to be the major minerals in both fractions, and phyllosilicates, dolomite and gypsum were also identified in lower content. Minor mineral particles included barite, apatite, sphalerite and pyrite. SEM studies revealed the additional presence of chalcopyrite in both SP and aerosols, and of chalcocite-covellite, halite and sylvite in the latter. Siderite, hematite and ankerite were only detected in the SP fraction. The concentrations of the previous minerals increased in summer by effect of the limited rain and the resulting scarcity of atmosphere washing. Non-mineral particles detected by SEM in SP and aerosol fractions included spherical, biological and compositionally complex particles. The main source of mineral particles was found to be the soil suspension in addition to the metallurgical and fertilizer production industries in the area.

The Identities of Young Interrnational Adoptees in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heidi Virkki

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Of the 30,000 children adopted yearly all over the world, about 200-300 come to Finland. A former adoption donor country, Finland started receiving international adoptees in the 1970s. Nowadays, there are about 3,000 internationally adopted persons in Finland. This paper focuses on the views and experiences of young Finnish international adoptees, who were interviewed during summer and autumn 2005. Altogether three group interviews and six individual interviews were carried out. The main aim was to study cultural identity and experiences of difference. The primary objective of this study is to give a voice to young international adoptees in Finland and present results as examples of how the dominant population adapts to difference.

Palaeoenvironment and shoreline displacement on Suursaari Island, the Gulf of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atko Heinsalu

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The island of Suursaari in the middle of the Gulf of Finland is exceptionally high (175 m a.s.l.. Sediment profiles from one mire and three lakes were investigated using diatom and pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating and levelling of the elevations of ancient shorelines. The pollen stratigraphy of the Lounatkorkiasuo Mire sediment suggests a sedimentary record dating from the late Allerød.The development of late-glacial vegetation went through the same phases as in southern Finland, however these are probably somewhat earlier on the island of Suursaari. There are differences in the Holocene vegetation history of the higher and lower areas of the island. Lake Ruokalahenjärvi was isolated around 10 000 BP during the initial phase of the Yoldia Sea and the diatom assemblage indicates that at that time brackish-water flow had not penetrated into the Gulfof Finland. Diatoms from the isolation sediments of Lake Liivalahenjärvi and Lake Veteljärvi indicate a freshwater environment for the Yoldia Sea final phase at 9500–9600 BP. Levelling of coastal formations on Suursaari Island reveals that the Late Weichselian and early Holocene ancient shorelines are 5–15 m higher than expected from the isobase data for similar land uplift areas on the mainland.The anomalous shoreline levels on Suursaari Island may be explained byirregular land uplift. By the time of the Litorina Sea differences in shoreline altitudes had disappeared.

[Mental health in Chile and Finland: Challenges and lessons].

Science.gov (United States)

Retamal C, Pedro; Markkula, Niina; Peña, Sebastián

2016-07-01

This article analyses and compares the epidemiology of mental disorders and relevant public policies in Chile and Finland. In Chile, a specific mental health law is still lacking. While both countries highlight the role of primary care, Finland places more emphasis on participation and recovery of service users. Comprehensive mental health policies from Finland, such as a successful suicide prevention program, are presented. Both countries have similar prevalence of mental disorders, high alcohol consumption and high suicide rates. In Chile, the percentage of total disease burden due to psychiatric disorders is 13% and in Finland 14%. However, the resources to address these issues are very different. Finland spends 4.5% of its health budget on mental health, while in Chile the percentage is 2.2%. This results in differences in human resources and service provision. Finland has five times more psychiatric outpatient visits, four times more psychiatrists, triple antidepressant use and twice more clinical guidelines for different psychiatric conditions. In conclusion, both countries have similar challenges but differing realities. This may help to identify gaps and potential solutions for public health challenges in Chile. Finland’s experience demonstrates the importance of political will and long-term vision in the construction of mental health policies.

Licensing process in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tiippana, Petteri

2011-01-01

In accordance with the Nuclear Energy Act, the use of nuclear energy constitutes operations subject to license. The licensing process and conditions for granting a license is defined in the legislation. The licenses are applied from and granted by the Government. This paper discusses briefly the licensing process in Finland and also the roles and responsibilities of main stakeholders in licensing. Licensing of a nuclear power plant in Finland has three steps. The first step is the Decision in Principle (DiP). Goal of DiP is to decide whether using nuclear power is for the overall good for the Finnish society. The second step is Construction License (CL) and the goal of CL phase is to determine whether the design of the proposed plant is safe and that the participating organisations are capable of constructing the plant to meet safety goals. The third step is the Operating License (OL) and the goal of the OL phase is to determine whether the plant operates safely and licensee is capable to operate the plant safely. Main stakeholders in the licensing process in Finland are the utility (licensee) interested in using nuclear power in Finland, Ministry of Employment and the Economy (MEE), Government, Parliament, STUK, the municipality siting the plant and the general public. Government grants all licenses, and Parliament has to ratify Government's Decision in Principle. STUK has to assess the safety of the license applications in each step and give statement to the Ministry. Municipality has to agree to site the plant. Both STUK and the municipality have a veto right in the licensing process

Energy attitudes in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruuskanen, A.T.; Jaervinen, P.J.

1984-01-01

Energy issues are at present heavily debated in Finland. Public discussion is very emotional and biased against nuclear power. The undetermined situation together with the need for a decision on increasing the nuclear capacity led Imatran Voima Oy (Imatra Power Company) to measure the prevailing attitudes. The paper discusses the energy opinion surveys recently made in Finland. The general results give evidence of the changes occurring in the values of life. Environmental issues and the purity of energy production are seen as the most important factors of energy policy. Low price or availability and reliability are considered less important. The results of the surveys show, however, that people think that more electricity will be needed in the future. Natural gas, peat and hydroelectric power are most favoured. The attitude towards the use of coal and nuclear power is clearly more diffuse. In the survey, 21% want to increase the share of nuclear power, 32% want to keep its use at the present level and 35% want to reduce it. This 35% includes the one-fifth of the population that would like to abandon nuclear power altogether. Nuclear wastes and accidents are considered the most important factors contributing to the formation of attitudes towards nuclear energy. The other main factors are discussed in the paper. A great desire for information on energy policy together with personal decision making interests reflect the general attitude in Finland also. Totally incorrect information on nuclear energy is, however, surprisingly prevalent, which makes opposition to nuclear power understandable. All these factors make taking a decision on a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland difficult. (author)

The Identities of Young Interrnational Adoptees in Finland

OpenAIRE

Heidi Virkki

2008-01-01

Of the 30,000 children adopted yearly all over the world, about 200-300 come to Finland. A former adoption donor country, Finland started receiving international adoptees in the 1970s. Nowadays, there are about 3,000 internationally adopted persons in Finland. This paper focuses on the views and experiences of young Finnish international adoptees, who were interviewed during summer and autumn 2005. Altogether three group interviews and six individual interviews were carrie...

Finland`s second report under the framework convention on climate change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-12-31

Finland is an industrialized country with extensive forest lands. Because of the structure of industry and the country`s geophysical conditions, large amounts of energy are consumed. In 1995, CO{sub 2} emissions from fossil fuels and peat and from industry totalled 56 Tg, as compared to 54 Tg in 1990. Wood burning released another 21 Tg of CO{sub 2} in 1995, but this is not counted in total emissions because even more carbon was bound up in the growing stock in the forests. Methane (CH{sub 4}) emissions totalled 241 Gg in 1995, nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O) 18 Gg, nitrogen oxides 259 Gg, carbon monoxide (CO) 434 Gg and volatile organic compounds from human activities (NMVOC) 182 Gg. Emissions other than carbon dioxide were jointly equivalent to some 25 Tg of CO{sub 2} in terms of their direct or indirect greenhouse effect. These estimates are consistent wish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for estimating national greenhouse gas emissions and sinks. The minor deviations from the guidelines have been presented in this report. Trends in national greenhouse gas emissions and sinks to 2000 and beyond have been estimated in consultation with appropriate government departments, industry sectors, research institutions and other bodies. Wherever possible, these projections take into account the effect of current and planned policies and measures aimed at reducing emissions and enhancing sinks. The main focus in Finland`s climate strategy is to intensify those programmes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are already under way, such as efficiency improvements in the energy production and utilization system, and use of energy and carbon taxes. As well as limiting emissions of CO{sub 2} and other greenhouse gases, the Finnish action programme also includes measures to enhance carbon reservoirs and sinks. In its energy report to Parliament in autumn 1993, the Government adopted the goals of stopping increases in CO{sub 2} emissions from

Finland`s second report under the framework convention on climate change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

Finland is an industrialized country with extensive forest lands. Because of the structure of industry and the country`s geophysical conditions, large amounts of energy are consumed. In 1995, CO{sub 2} emissions from fossil fuels and peat and from industry totalled 56 Tg, as compared to 54 Tg in 1990. Wood burning released another 21 Tg of CO{sub 2} in 1995, but this is not counted in total emissions because even more carbon was bound up in the growing stock in the forests. Methane (CH{sub 4}) emissions totalled 241 Gg in 1995, nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O) 18 Gg, nitrogen oxides 259 Gg, carbon monoxide (CO) 434 Gg and volatile organic compounds from human activities (NMVOC) 182 Gg. Emissions other than carbon dioxide were jointly equivalent to some 25 Tg of CO{sub 2} in terms of their direct or indirect greenhouse effect. These estimates are consistent wish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for estimating national greenhouse gas emissions and sinks. The minor deviations from the guidelines have been presented in this report. Trends in national greenhouse gas emissions and sinks to 2000 and beyond have been estimated in consultation with appropriate government departments, industry sectors, research institutions and other bodies. Wherever possible, these projections take into account the effect of current and planned policies and measures aimed at reducing emissions and enhancing sinks. The main focus in Finland`s climate strategy is to intensify those programmes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are already under way, such as efficiency improvements in the energy production and utilization system, and use of energy and carbon taxes. As well as limiting emissions of CO{sub 2} and other greenhouse gases, the Finnish action programme also includes measures to enhance carbon reservoirs and sinks. In its energy report to Parliament in autumn 1993, the Government adopted the goals of stopping increases in CO{sub 2} emissions from

WHY CHINESE TOURISTS CHOOSE FINLAND AS TRAVEL DESTINATION

OpenAIRE

Zheng, Qiaoyin

2016-01-01

The purpose of this thesis is to find out the reasons why Chinese tourists choose Finland as travel destination. In this study, the author gives general view of Chinese outbound tourism and comes up with some reasonable recommendations for attracting more Chinese tourists to travel to Finland. Also the aim is to help readers to make improvements for increasing the competitiveness of Finland in the Chinese tourism market. The theoretical framework consist of the theory based on consumer b...

Air toxics research in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahkala, M.

1994-01-01

Air toxics research in Finland has developed rapidly in recent years. Though they have no enormous environmental problems in Finland, the author feels that they have to increase their knowledge of more efficient energy production and control technology. Enormous emission sources are around them, but there are also huge markets for know-how and technology in the energy sector. Two Finnish national research programs will ensure the continuity of the development efforts concerning combustion technology and environmental aspects at both theoretical and practical levels

Holocene oceanographic changes in SW Labrador Sea, off Newfoundland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sheldon, Christina; Seidenkrantz, Marit-Solveig; Pearce, Christof

2016-01-01

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages supported by selected geochemical data from three marine sediment cores collected in Placentia Bay, SE Newfoundland, are used to construct an ~13,000-year-long record of regional oceanographic changes in the SW Labrador Sea. The area is located in the boundary zo....... The Northern Hemisphere neoglacial cooling around 2.8 cal. kyr BP was characterized off SE Newfoundland by a further stabilization of the current system, dominated by the LC with some continued influx of GS water....

The Role of Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge and Participatory Plant Breeding in Climate Change Adaptation in Karst Mountain Areas in SW China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Yiching; Li, Jingsong [Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (China)

2011-07-15

This is a report of a country case study on the impacts of climate change and local people's adaptation. The research sites are located in the karst mountainous region in 3 SW China provinces - Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan – an area inhabited by 33 ethnic groups of small farmers and the poor, with rich Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) and culture. Climate change is exacerbating already harsh natural conditions and impacting on biodiversity of remote farmers living in extreme poverty, with very limited arable land. Genetic diversity has also suffered from the adoption of high yielding hybrids. Yet traditional varieties, related TK and Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) for maize and rice are showing real potential for resilience and adaptation.

Keeping Finland warm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

Close to 80% of the district heat produced in Finland is generated in combined heat and power (CHP) plants. This is a very high figure, and compares favourably with the situation else here, even in neighbouring Sweden, where local CHP facilities only account for 20% of district heat generation, because of the major role played by hydropower and nuclear. District heat is well-established, and has a 48% market share in Finland. Sales are growing by between 1% and 1,5% a year in terms of temperature-corrected offtake volume. This compares to a 50% market share in Sweden. District heat contracts generally follow recommendations drawn up by Finnish Energy Industries in cooperation with the country's competition and consumer protection authorities. This has promoted a consistent level of best practice and prevented unnecessary disputes between suppliers and customers

Wind energy statistics of Finland. Yearly report 2011; Tuulivoiman tuotantotilastot. Vuosiraportti 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turkia, V.; Holttinen, H.

2013-01-15

Wind power production from grid connected wind turbines in Finland was 481 GWh in 2011. This corresponds to 0.6 % of Finland's electricity consumption. Installed wind capacity was 199 MW at the end of the year and the number of the operating turbines was 131. Two new turbines were installed in 2011 with the total power of 1.75 MW and no turbines were taken out of operation. The average size of all turbines in Finland was 1 519 kW at the end of 2011 (1519 kW at the end of 2010). The new climate and energy strategy has a target of 2 500 MW wind power in 2020. A market based feed-in system with a guaranteed price of 83.5 euro/MWh entered into force on 25 March 2011 in Finland. There will be an increased tariff of 105.3 euro/MWh until end of 2015 (max 3 years). The difference between the guaranteed price and spot price of electricity will be paid to the producers as a premium. Year 2010 had close to long term average wind resource. The weighted production index for the four sea areas was 98 %. Average capacity factor of standard wind turbines, which operated the whole year, was 24 % while the best turbine yielded 45 % capacity factor. Technical availability of the standard wind power plants was 88,5 % in 2011. This report contains production and availability figures of the grid connected wind turbines in Finland as well as component summary of failure statistics. There is an English list of figure and table captions and the yearly statistics table is as an appendix. (orig.)

Fallout from the Chernobyl accident and overall cancer incidence in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurttio, Päivi; Seppä, Karri; Pasanen, Kari; Patama, Toni; Auvinen, Anssi; Pukkala, Eero; Heinävaara, Sirpa; Arvela, Hannu; Hakulinen, Timo

2013-10-01

We studied whether incidence of all cancer sites combined was associated with the radiation exposure due to fallout from the Chernobyl accident in Finland. An emphasis was on the first decade after the accident to assess the suggested "promotion effect". The segment of Finnish population with a stable residence in the first post-Chernobyl year (2 million people) was studied. The analyses were based on a 250m × 250m grid squares covering all of Finland and all cancer cases except cancers of the breast, prostate and lung. Cancer incidence in four exposure areas (based on first-year dose due to external exposure Chernobyl accident (1981-1985) and after it (1988-2007) taking into account cancer incidence trends for a longer period prior to the accident (since 1966). There were no systematic differences in the cancer incidence in relation to radiation exposure in any calendar period, or any subgroup by sex or age at accident. The current large and comprehensive cohort analysis of the relatively low levels of the Chernobyl fallout in Finland did not observe a cancer promotion effect. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Finland. Annex I [Example of TSOs and their Interaction with Key Stakeholders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2018-01-01

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland was established January 16, 1942. In January 1, 2015 VTT was transformed into a limited liability company by the Act on the Limited Liability Company Called VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (8761/2014). VTT is a non-profit research and technology organisation. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is responsible for state ownership steering. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is a Finnish state-owned limited liability company. The liabilities and obligations of the company’s governing bodies are as defined in applicable Finnish law. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd as the parent company together with its subsidiary companies forms the VTT Group of companies. The tasks carried out by VTT to the Finnish Regulatory Body Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) or any other Regulatory Body as support to their licensing or any other regulatory function are 100 % funded by the Regulatory Body as a customer to VTT.

National programme: Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forsten, J.

1986-01-01

Finland's programmes in the field of reactor pressure components are presented in this paper. The following information on each of these programmes is given: the brief description of the programme; the programme's schedule and duration; the name of the project manager

ABCGheritage project - promoting geotourism in northern Finland, northern Norway and the Kola Peninsula

Science.gov (United States)

Pihlaja, Jouni; Johansson, Peter; Lauri, Laura S.

2014-05-01

Nature tourism has been a growing business sector in the Barents area during the recent decades. With the purpose to develop nature tourism in a sustainable way, a cooperation project ABCGheritage - Arctic Biological, Cultural and Geological Heritage has been carried out. Project has received partial funding from the EU Kolarctic ENPI program. In the geoheritage part of the project the main activities were aimed to develop pro-environmental ways of geotourism in the area. The three main participants in the geoheritage part of the project are the Geological Survey of Finland, Northern Finland Office, the Geological Institute of the Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Bioforsk Soil and Environment from northeastern Norway. The duration of the project is 2012-2014 and most of the work has already been completed even if most of the results are not published yet. Totally ten different tasks have been implemented in the geological part of the project. The largest task has been the preparation of a geological outdoor map and guide book of the Khibiny Tundra locating in the central part of the Kola Peninsula. In Finland already 11 such maps have been published, and the experiences gained during their production have been used in this project, too. Geological heritage trails to the Khibiny Tundra have also been created and they will be drawn on the map. The second concrete result is the Barents Tour for Geotourist -guide, which will be published as a guide book, web pages and an exhibition. The route comprises ca 35 best geological demonstration sites along the circle route from northern Finland to northeastern Norway, from there to Kola Peninsula and then back to Finland. Information of the route will be available for all interested travelers. In addition to the geological outdoor map of the Khibiny Tundra and "Barents Tour for Geotourists"-guide, the primary outputs of the project are the geological nature trails on the field, geological

Knowledge and Life-Experiences: Finland Seen through Its Libraries and Information Services = Kunskap och Upplevelser: Finland som BDI-land.

Science.gov (United States)

Laaksovirta, Tuula H.; Haavisto, Tuula

This illustrated publication, printed in both English and Finnish, describes Finland's libraries and information services. Topics covered include: (1) library users; (2) the conceptual role of the library; (3) the growth and development of the library system through Finland's agrarian, industrial, and budding infotech social phases; (4) the…

Geological site selection studies in Precambrian crystalline rocks in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vuorela, P.

1988-01-01

In general geological investigations made since 1977 the Finnish crystalline bedrock has been determined to be suitable for the final disposal of the spent nuclear fuel. Regional investigations have been mainly based on already existing geological studies. Special attention has been paid on the international geological Finland as the Baltic Shield is stiff and stable and situated far outside the zones of volcanic and seismic activity. The present day crustal movements in Finland are related to landuplift process. Movements and possible faults in the bedrock follow fracture zones which devide the bedrock into mosaiclike blocks. As compared to small scale geological maps the bedrock blocks are often indicated as large granite rock formations which are less broken than the surrounding rocks, though the age of granite formations is at least 1500 millions of years. The large bedrock blocks (20-300 km 2 ) are divided to smaller units by different magnitudes of fractures and these smaller bedrock units (5-20 km 2 ) have been selected for further site selection investigations. At the first stage of investigations 327 suitable regional bedrock blocks have been identified on the basis of Landsat-1 winter and summer mosaics of Finland. After two years of investigations 134 investigation areas were selected inside 61 bedrock blocks and classified to four priority classes, the three first of which were redommended for further investigations. Geological criteries used in classification indicated clear differences between the classes one and three, however all classified areas are situated in large rather homogenous bedrock blocks and more exact three dimensional suitability errors may not be observed until deep bore holes have been made

Fuel peat utilization in Finland: resource use and emissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leijting, J.

1999-01-01

The aim of the study was to inventorize the emissions and other stressors caused by fuel peat use in Finland. The life cycle approach was used to organise and compile the burdens associated with the fuel peat utilisation sector in the years 1994 and 1995. Fuel peat accounts for about 6.5 % of the total primary energy production in Finland. The study showed that most emissions out into the air occur during combustion of peat in energy plants. The emissions account for about 13 - 14 % of the CO 2 emissions released by fossil fuel utilisation in Finland, for 12 % of the SO 2 for 8 % of the N 2 O and approximately 4 % of the NOR emissions released by anthropogenic sources in Finland. Phosphorus releases into waters contributes for about 0.2 % while nitrogen releases account for 0.3 % in the total anthropogenic discharge in Finland. (orig.) 88 refs

Payments for Improved Ecostructure (PIE): Funding for the Coexistence of Humans and Wolves in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Hiedanpää, Juha; Kalliolevo, Hanna; Salo, Matti; Pellikka, Jani; Luoma, Mikael

2016-09-01

The gray wolf ( Canis lupus) is a source of concern and a cause of damage to people's livelihoods. In Finland, as in most countries, actual damages are compensated according to the real lost value. However, often, the suffered damages are larger than what is compensated, and worries and fears are not accounted for at all. The purpose of our transdisciplinary action research is to contribute to the process of modifying the scientific, administrative, and everyday habits of mind in order to meet the practical prerequisites of living with the wolf. In 2014, we planned and participated in a process designed to update Finland's wolf population management plan. During our study, we applied e-deliberation, conducted a national wolf survey, and organized solution-oriented workshops in wolf territory areas around Finland. By applying abductive reasoning, we illustrate the basic features of an economic scheme that would help finance and coordinate practical modifications to the ecological, economic, and institutional circumstances and settings in wolf territory areas. The potential economic instrument is based on payments for improved ecostructures. In our paper, we describe the organization, functioning, and financing of this instrument in detail.

Geometric-kinematic characteristics of the main faults in the W-SW of the Lut Block (SE Iran)

Science.gov (United States)

Rashidi Boshrabadi, Ahmad; Khatib, Mohamad Mahdi; Raeesi, Mohamad; Mousavi, Seyed Morteza; Djamour, Yahya

2018-03-01

The area to the W-SW of the Lut Block in Iran has experienced numerous historical and recent destructive earthquakes. We examined a number of faults in this area that have high potential for generating destructive earthquakes. In this study a number of faults are introduced and named for the first time. These new faults are Takdar, Dehno, Suru, Hojat Abad, North Faryab, North Kahnoj, Heydarabad, Khatun Abad and South Faryab. For a group of previously known faults, their mechanism and geological offsets are investigated for the first time. This group of faults include East Nayband, West Nayband, Sardueiyeh, Dalfard, Khordum, South Jabal-e-Barez, and North Jabal-e-Barez. The N-S fault systems of Sabzevaran, Gowk, and Nayband induce slip on the E-W, NE-SW and NW-SE fault systems. The faulting patterns appear to preserve different stages of fault development. We investigated the distribution of active faults and the role that they play in accommodating tectonic strain in the SW-Lut. In the study area, the fault systems with en-echelon arrangement create structures such as restraining and releasing stepover, fault bend and pullapart basin. The main mechanism for fault growth in the region seems to be 'segment linkage of preexisting weaknesses' and also for a limited area through 'process zone'. Estimations are made for the likely magnitudes of separate or combined failure of the fault segments. Such magnitudes are used in hazard analysis of the region.

The Characteristics of Seismogenic Zones in SW Taiwan: Implications from Studying Mechanisms of Microearthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Strong; Chang, Yi-Zen; Yeh, Yu-Lien; Wen, Yi-Ying

2017-04-01

Due to the complicated geomorphology and geological conditions, the southwest (SW) Taiwan suffers the invasion of various natural disasters, such as landslide, mud flow and especially the threat of strong earthquakes as result of convergence between the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea plate. Several disastrous earthquakes had occurred in this area and often caused serious hazards. Therefore, it is fundamentally important to understand the correlation between seismic activity and seismogenic structures in SW Taiwan. Previous studies have indicated that before the failure of rock strength, the behaviors of micro-earthquakes can provide essential clues to help investigating the process of rock deformation. Thus, monitoring the activity of micro-earthquakes plays an important role in studying fault rupture or crustal deformation before the occurrence of a large earthquake. Because the time duration of micro-earthquakes activity can last for years, this phenomenon can be used to indicate the change of physical properties in the crust, such as crustal stress changes or fluid migration. The main purpose of this research is to perform a nonlinear waveform inversion to investigate source parameters of micro-earthquakes which include the non-double couple components owing to the shear rupture usually associated with complex morphology as well as tectonic fault systems. We applied a nonlinear waveform procedure to investigate local stress status and source parameters of micro-earthquakes that occurred in SW Taiwan. Previous studies has shown that microseismic fracture behaviors were controlled by the non-double components, which could lead to cracks generating and fluid migration, which can result in changing rock volume and produce partial compensation. Our results not only giving better understanding the seismogenic structures in the SW Taiwan, but also allowing us to detect variations of physical parameters caused by crack propagating in stratum. Thus, the derived source

Youth Suicide Trends in Finland, 1969-2008

Science.gov (United States)

Lahti, Anniina; Rasanen, Pirkko; Riala, Kaisa; Keranen, Sirpa; Hakko, Helina

2011-01-01

Background: There are only a few recent studies on secular trends in child and adolescent suicides. We examine here trends in rates and methods of suicide among young people in Finland, where suicide rates at these ages are among the highest in the world. Methods: The data, obtained from Statistics Finland, consisted of all suicides (n = 901)…

Landsat TM data processing for lithological discrimination in the Caraculo area (Namibe Province, SW Angola)

Science.gov (United States)

Alberti, A.; Alessandro, V.; Pieruccini, U.; Pranzini, E.

1993-10-01

Landsat TM data were used for lithological discrimination and mapping in the little-known, semiarid 900 km 2 area around Caraculo station and the middle course of the Rio Giraul (Namibe Province, SW Angola) following two main procedures. The first of these was based on visual evaluation of three-band composites, band-ratio composites and Principal Component Analysis. The second method relied on the extraction of spectral signatures, and their use to obtain automatic classifications. Satisfactory results were reached with the first procedure, thus allowing - with limited support of ground information — the draft of a lithological map, while the second method was not systematically efficient, even for confirmation of data acquired with the first procedure. Image interpretation suggests that an extensive but hithertoun differentiated metasedimentary complex consisting of a heterogeneous supracrustal sequence should be subdivided into at least two units. Field observations proved that one of these is marked by a notable frequency of marbles and the other is characterized by a widespread occurrence of amphibolitic bodies. Moreover, a belt of undetermined (thermally metamorphosed ?) metamorphic rocks is interposed between them. The distinction of so far unidentified units, though restricted to interpretation of processed Landsat TM data, has significant geological implications also in the regional context and will be helpful in guiding future work with conventional geological methods.

Supporting document for the SW Quadrant Historical Tank Content Estimate for U-Tank Farm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brevick, C.H.; Gaddis, L.A.; Johnson, E.D.

1994-06-01

This Supporting Document provides historical characterization information gathered on U-Tank Farm, such as historical waste transfer and level data, tank physical information, temperature data, sampling data, and drywell and liquid observation well data for Historical Tank Content Estimate of the SW Quadrant at the Hanford 200 West Area

Supporting Document for the SW Quadrant Historical Tank Content Estimate for SX-Tank Farm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brevick, C.H.; Gaddis, L.A.; Johnson, E.D.

1994-06-01

This Supporting Document provides historical characterization information gathered on SX-Tank Farm, such as historical waste transfer and level data, tank physical information, temperature data, sampling data, and drywell and liquid observation well data for Historical Tank Content Estimate of the SW Quadrant at the Hanford 200 West Area

Sustainable energy utilization in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alakangas, E.

1996-12-31

Finland tops the statistics for the industrialised world in the utilisation of bioenergy. In 1995 bioenergy, including peat-fired heat and power, accounted for 20 % of the total energy consumption. The declared goal of the government is to increase the use of bioenergy by not less than 25 % (1.5 million toe by the year 2005). Research and development plays a crucial role in the promotion of the expanded use of bioenergy in Finland. The aim is to identify and develop technologies for establishing and sustaining economically, environmentally and socially viable bioenergy niches in the energy system

Nuclear power prospects in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1961-01-01

The basic circumstances which stimulated Finland's interest in nuclear power are summarized in the report as follows: 'In Finland the main power resource has been, and still is, water power. It is clear, however, that the hydro potential is insufficient to cover the increasing consumption over a long period of time. Already about one half of this potential has been exploited. Thus the country will necessarily have to consider the utilization of thermal power to an increasingly large extent. There is no indigenous coal or oil. For this reason it has become necessary to investigate realistically the possibilities offered by nuclear power'

Comparison of Collection Schemes of Municipal Solid Waste Metallic Fraction: The Impacts on Global Warming Potential for the Case of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kari Heiskanen

2012-10-01

Full Text Available In this research article the sustainability of different practices to collect the metal fraction of household waste in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland is examined. The study is carried out by calculating and comparing the greenhouse gas reduction potential of optional practices for collecting the metal fraction of household waste in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland. In order to locate the greenhouse gas reduction potential of the separate collection of the metallic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW collected from residential sources, a comparative carbon footprint analysis using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA on six different waste management scenarios is carried out. The modeled system consisted of a waste collection system, transportation, and different waste management alternatives, including on-site separation, separation at the waste management facility as well as metallurgical recovery of separated scrap. The results show that, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, separate collection and recycling of the metallic fraction of solid MSW at residential properties is the preferable option compared to a scenario with no source sorting and incineration of everything. According to this research scenario where the metal fraction of solid household waste was not source-separated or collected separately have clearly higher greenhouse gas emissions compared to all the other scenarios with separate collection for metals. In addition, metal recycling by regional collection points has considerably lower greenhouse gas emission potential than metal recycling by collection directly from residential properties.

Carbon Storage Potential of Forest Land: A Comparative Study of Cases in Finland and Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martina Tijardović

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Background and Purpose: The concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been increasing over the last hundred years in relation to the Fourth IPCC assessment report that highlighted human activities as a direct influence on climate changes. Since Croatia and Finland signed the Kyoto Protocol, they are both committed to fulfil international obligations of lowering GHG’s emissions, enhancing the storage, as well as protecting and enhancing the current pools where the forestry sector has a prominent role. These obligations created a need for a review on carbon storage potentials for both countries with the aim of setting further scientific and management guidelines as the basic purpose of this research. Materials and Methods: Data collection was conducted within the scope of the Sort Term Scientific Mission (STSM in the period from May 2 – July 22, 2009 in the Finnish Forest Research Institute in Joensuu. The research encompassed an overview of literature, personal contacts with scientists and experts from both countries (research institutes, ministries, the EFI branch office in Joensuu and a field inspection which altogether provided an insight into the applied silvicultural and utilization activities. A significant data source were official documents and published project results on the carbon storage potential. Results and Discussion: Mitigation activities within the framework of the LULUCF project reduced the total emissions for 33.4 millions tons of CO2 equivalents in Finland in 2006 (this data has varied from 18 to 33.4 millions tons CO2 equivalents in the last fifteen years while for Croatia the availability of such data is limited. Finland has some former agricultural land which may be afforested but not in the substantial share, while in Croatia such areas amount to around 1 million ha. According to the climate change scenario for Finland (FINADAPT, predicting the largest climate changes, the total forest growth

Fifteen years of heating enterprise in southern Finland; Laempoeyrittaejyyttae Uudellamaalla jo 15 vuotta

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vuorio, K.; Lahdensaari-Natt, L., Email: kari.vuorio@tts.fi, Email: liisa.lahdensaari@tts.fi

2013-06-01

Heating entrepreneurs produce heat locally and sell heat to the end user at an agreed price. Heat is usually produced by burning wood chips from the companys own forests or from the surrounding forests. There were more than 500 heating plants run by heating entrepreneurs in Finland in the beginning of 2012. Some thirty of them were situated in the area of Uusimaa in southern Finland. It seems that heating entrepreneurship is steadily gaining ground, since the amount of heating plants has increased annually by around twenty. TTS-Tyoetehoseura (Work Efficiency Institute) started the nationwide research and development of heating entrepreneurship in 1993. At that time there were only three heating companies in Finland. The first started to operate in Uusimaa during 1994-1998. Among the first heating plants to be built in 1998 were Perttula Vocational School (KEUDA) with 500 kiloWatts capacity in Nurmijaervi, Ohkola school with 200 kiloWatts capacity in Maentsaelae and the Vaestankvarn schoolfarm with 700 kiloWatts capacity in Inkoo, of which we will give more info about in this bulletin. (orig.)

Ostracoda and foraminifera as short-term tracers of environmental changes in very polluted areas: the Odiel Estuary (SW Spain)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruiz, F.; Gonzalez-Regalado, M.L.; Borrego, J.; Abad, M.; Pendon, J.G.

2004-01-01

The analysis of 17 cores collected in the Odiel Estuary (SW Spain) permits delimiting the recent evolution of this zone during the past decades and the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on the distribution of Ostracoda and Foraminifera. In the upper estuary, the coincidence of acid waters, prolonged subaerial exposure, and coarse sediments may explain the absence or the disappearance of these microorganisms during the industrial period (1966-1985) in the major part of this area. In the lower estuary, sedimentary evolution and industrial wastes are the main factors influencing both the distribution and trends of the populations of these two groups. Finally, the main changes observed in the marine estuary are due to the sedimentary effects of the construction of two banks and the dredging of the main estuarine channel. - In a polluted estuary, the meiofaunal assemblages experience different changes even in adjacent sedimentary environments, closely related to anthropogenic and natural causes

Development and implementation of a geographical area categorisation method with targeted performance indicators for nationwide EMS in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Pappinen, Jukka; Laukkanen-Nevala, Päivi; Mäntyselkä, Pekka; Kurola, Jouni

2018-05-15

In Finland, hospital districts (HD) are required by law to determine the level and availability of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for each 1-km 2 sized area (cell) within their administrative area. The cells are currently categorised into five risk categories based on the predicted number of missions. Methodological defects and insufficient instructions have led to incomparability between EMS services. The aim of this study was to describe a new, nationwide method for categorising the cells, analyse EMS response time data and describe possible differences in mission profiles between the new risk category areas. National databases of EMS missions, population and buildings were combined with an existing nationwide 1-km 2 hexagon-shaped cell grid. The cells were categorised into four groups, based on the Finnish Environment Institute's (FEI) national definition of urban and rural areas, population and historical EMS mission density within each cell. The EMS mission profiles of the cell categories were compared using risk ratios with confidence intervals in 12 mission groups. In total, 87.3% of the population lives and 87.5% of missions took place in core or other urban areas, which covered only 4.7% of the HDs' surface area. Trauma mission incidence per 1000 inhabitants was higher in core urban areas (42.2) than in other urban (24.2) or dispersed settlement areas (24.6). The results were similar for non-trauma missions (134.8, 93.2 and 92.2, respectively). Each cell category had a characteristic mission profile. High-energy trauma missions and cardiac problems were more common in rural and uninhabited cells, while violence, intoxication and non-specific problems dominated in urban areas. The proposed area categories and grid-based data collection appear to be a useful method for evaluating EMS demand and availability in different parts of the country for statistical purposes. Due to a similar rural/urban area definition, the method might also be usable for

Environmental gamma radiation measurements in Finland and the influence of the meteorological conditions after the Chernobyl accident in 1986

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arvela, H.; Blomqvist, L.; Lemmelae, H.; Savolainen, A.L.; Sarkkula, S.

1987-06-01

Results from a survey of environmental gamma radiation levels in Finland after the Chernobyl accident 1986 were presented. The measurements were made by means of sensitive Geiger-counters and a gamma-spectrometer placed in cars. The results presented the level of external radiation caused by the cesium fallout on the first of October 1986. In the center of Southern Finland there are wide areas with exposure levels exceeding 0.04 μSv h -1 , areas exceeding 0.2 μSv h -1 being very rare. The surface area weighted mean dose rate for the 461 municipalities in Finland was 0.037 $mu$Sv h -1 (range 0-0.23 μSv h -1 ). The corresponding estimated surface activity of 137 Cs was 10.7 kBq m -2 . The population weighted mean dose rate was 0.051 μSv h -1 . Results from measurements at eight dose rate monitoring stations were presented as daily dose rate recordings in 1985-1986, the rate of decrease of the excess dose rate demonstrating quite large variations in the period from May to August. This indicated that the composition of the short-lived nuclides in the fallout varied from place to place. The influence of the meteorological conditions were reported with precipitation data from six days after the accident. There was a clear correlation between the results from precipitation and radiation measurements in different parts of Finland

The validity and reliability of the handheld SW-100 autokeratometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eghosasere Iyamu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Background: The agreement of new instruments or clinical tests with other instruments or tests defines the possibility of these being used interchangeably. Aim: To investigate the validity and reliability of the SW-100 autokeratometer using a Bausch & Lomb (B&L keratometer as the ‘gold standard’. Methods: Eighty subjects (80 right eyes aged between 21 and 38 years were recruited. For intra-test repeatability, two measurements of the corneal radius of curvature were taken with the SW-100 and B&L keratometers. Forty of the 80 subjects participated in the inter-test repeatability measurement. Results: Corneal radius of curvature was found to be statistically different between the two instruments (p < 0.001, with the SW-100 providing slightly flatter values of 0.11 mm and 0.05 mm for the horizontal and vertical meridians, respectively, than the B&L keratometer. The average corneal curvature was 0.07 mm flatter with the SW-100 autokeratometer than with the B&L device. Agreement between the SW-100 and B&L keratometers’ axes was 45% within ± 5°, 60.3% within ± 10°, 78.8% within ± 15°, 80.3% within ± 20°, and 88.7% within ± 40°. Intertest repeatability was better for the B&L device than the SW-100 and showed no significant difference between the two sessions. Both instruments demonstrated comparable intrasession repeatability. As such, both instruments were comparatively reliable (per coefficients of repeatability. The range of limits of agreement of ± 0.14 mm (horizontal meridian and ± 0.17 mm (vertical meridian between the SW-100 and B&L devices showed good agreement. Conclusion: The results suggest that the SW-100 autokeratometer is a reliable and objective instrument that, however, provides flatter radii of curvature measurements than the B&L keratometer. A compensating factor incorporated into the instrument could reduce the difference between the two instruments and make them more interchangeable.

75 FR 57815 - Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-22

... Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Sweden AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission... carboxymethylcellulose from Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Sweden. SUMMARY: The Commission hereby gives notice of the... carboxymethylcellulose from Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Sweden would be likely to lead to continuation or...

Policy Making Processes with Respect to Teacher Education in Finland and Norway

Science.gov (United States)

Afdal, Hilde Wagsas

2013-01-01

This article examines policy making processes in the area of teacher education (TE) in Finland and Norway. Particular attention is given to the roles different actors play in these processes and the potential effects of their involvement on the TE programs in the two countries. Contemporary policy processes are analyzed through a set of interviews…

SW-platform for R&D in Applications of Synchrophasor Measurements for Wide-Area Assessment, Control and Visualization in Real-Time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jóhannsson, Hjörtur; Morais, Hugo; Pedersen, Allan Henning Birger

2014-01-01

The Danish research project “Secure Operation of Sustainable Power Systems (SOSPO)” is currently being conducted in a collaboration by a group of partners from academia and industry. The focus of the project is on how to achieve secure operation of the power grid as large scale thermal power plants......, supplied by fossil fuel, are phased out in favor of non - controllable renewable energy sources like wind and solar energy. In particular, the SOSPO project aims to develop real - time stability and security assessment methods as well as wide - area control methods to re - establish stable and secure...... realistic conditions, the future system scenarios are represented in a real time grid simulator that is an integrated part of the platform. The SW - platform provides structured access to any model parameter as well as access to real - time phasor measurement unit (PMU) and remote terminal unit (RTU...

Fuel cycle management in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaeyrynen, H.; Mikkola, I.

1987-01-01

Both Finnish utilities producing nuclear power - Imatran Voima Oy (IVO) and Teollisuuden Voima Oy (Industrial Power Co. Ltd, TVO) - have created efficient fuel cycle management systems. The systems however differ in almost all respects. The reason is that the principal supplier for IVO is the Soviet Union and for TVO is Sweden. A common feature of both systems at the front end of the cycle is the building of stockpiles in order to provide for interruptions in fuel deliveries. Quality assurance supervision at the fuel factory for IVO is regulated by the Soviet Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a final control is made in Finland. The in-core fuel management is done by IVO using codes developed in Finland. The whole IVO fuel cycle is basically a leasing arrangement. The spent fuel is returned to the USSR after five years cooling. TVO carries out the in-core fuel management using a computer code system supplied by Asea-Atom. TVO is responsable for the back end of the cycle and makes preparations for the final disposal of the spent fuel in Finland. 6 refs., 2 figs

Fuel reliability experience in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kekkonen, L.

2015-01-01

Four nuclear reactors have operated in Finland now for 35-38 years. The two VVER-440 units at Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant are operated by Fortum and two BWR’s in Olkiluoto are operated by Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO). The fuel reliability experience of the four reactors operating currently in Finland has been very good and the fuel failure rates have been very low. Systematic inspection of spent fuel assemblies, and especially all failed assemblies, is a good practice that is employed in Finland in order to improve fuel reliability and operational safety. Investigation of the root cause of fuel failures is important in developing ways to prevent similar failures in the future. The operational and fuel reliability experience at the Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant has been reported also earlier in the international seminars on WWER Fuel Performance, Modelling and Experimental Support. In this paper the information on fuel reliability experience at Loviisa NPP is updated and also a short summary of the fuel reliability experience at Olkiluoto NPP is given. Keywords: VVER-440, fuel reliability, operational experience, poolside inspections, fuel failure identification. (author)

Geological setting of the Olkiluoto investigation site, Eurajoki, SW Finland. Excursion guidebook

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paulamaeki, S.

2009-08-01

Olkiluoto is an island of ca. 10 km 2 in area on the coast of the Botnian Bay and separated from the mainland by a narrow strait. The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant, with two reactors in operation and a third one under construction, and the underground repository for low and intermediate waste are located in the western part of the island. The repository for spent fuel will be constructed in the central part of the island at a depth of between 400 and 600 m. The suitability of Olkiluoto as a location for a spent fuel repository has been investigated over a period of 20 years by means of extensive ground- and air-based methods and shallow and deep drillings. In a regional context, Olkiluoto is located within a bedrock area, covering approximately 800 million years of geological history of the Precambrian Fennoscandian Shield. The oldest part of the bedrock consists of supracrustal, metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks deformed and metamorphosed during the Palaeoproterozoic Svecofennian orogeny ca. 1900-1800 million years ago. They are mostly migmatised, high-grade metamorphic mica gneisses, containing cordierite, sillimanite or garnet porphyroblasts. Plutonic rocks consisting of trondhjemites, tonalites, granodiorites, coarse-grained granites and pegmatites intrude the supracrustal rocks. The Mesoproterozoic anorogenic Laitila rapakivi batholith, dated at 1583 ±3 Ma, is located in the central part of the region. The Eurajoki rapakivi stock, located 5 km east of Olkiluoto, is a satellite massif to the Laitila batholiths. After the rapakivi magmatism the geological evolution of the area continued with the deposition of the Satakunta sandstone. The upper parts of the sandstone were deposited ca. 1400-1300 Ma ago, but the development of the sedimentation basin (graben) may have begun already during the rifting period, ca. 1650 Ma ago, associated with the intrusion of the rapakivi magma. The sandstone and older rocks are cut by olivine diabase dykes and sills 1270

Structure of Suasselkä Postglacial Fault in northern Finland obtained by analysis of ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Afonin, Nikita; Kozlovskaya, Elena

2016-04-01

Understanding inner structure of seismogenic faults and their ability to reactivate is particularly important in investigating the continental intraplate seismicity regime. In our study we address this problem using analysis of ambient seismic noise recorded by the temporary DAFNE array in northern Fennoscandian Shield. The main purpose of the DAFNE/FINLAND passive seismic array experiment was to characterize the present-day seismicity of the Suasselkä post-glacial fault (SPGF) that was proposed as one potential target for the DAFNE (Drilling Active Faults in Northern Europe) project. The DAFNE/FINLAND array comprised the area of about 20 to 100 km and consisted of 8 short-period and 4 broad-band 3-component autonomous seismic stations installed in the close vicinity of the fault area. The array recorded continuous seismic data during September, 2011-May, 2013. Recordings of the array have being analyzed in order to identify and locate natural earthquakes from the fault area and to discriminate them from the blasts in the Kittilä Gold Mine. As a result, we found several dozens of natural seismic events originating from the fault area, which proves that the fault is still seismically active. In order to study the inner structure of the SPGF we use cross-correlation of ambient seismic noise recorded by the array. Analysis of azimuthal distribution of noise sources demonstrated that that during the time interval under consideration the distribution of noise sources is close to the uniform one. The continuous data were processed in several steps including single station data analysis, instrument response removal and time-domain stacking. The data were used to estimate empirical Green's functions between pairs of stations in the frequency band of 0.1-1 Hz and to calculate correspondent surface wave dispersion curves. After that S-wave velocity models were obtained as a result of dispersion curves inversion using Geopsy software. The results suggest that the area of

Crowdsourcing-based nationwide tick collection reveals the distribution of Ixodes ricinus and I. persulcatus and associated pathogens in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Laaksonen, Maija; Sajanti, Eeva; Sormunen, Jani J; Penttinen, Ritva; Hänninen, Jari; Ruohomäki, Kai; Sääksjärvi, Ilari; Vesterinen, Eero J; Vuorinen, Ilppo; Hytönen, Jukka; Klemola, Tero

2017-05-10

A national crowdsourcing-based tick collection campaign was organized in 2015 with the objective of producing novel data on tick distribution and tick-borne pathogens in Finland. Nearly 20 000 Ixodes ticks were collected. The collected material revealed the nationwide distribution of I. persulcatus for the first time and a shift northwards in the distribution of I. ricinus in Finland. A subset of 2038 tick samples containing both species was screened for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (the prevalence was 14.2% for I. ricinus and 19.8% for I. persulcatus), B. miyamotoi (0.2% and 0.4%, respectively) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV; 0.2% and 3.0%, respectively). We also report new risk areas for TBEV in Finland and, for the first time, the presence of B. miyamotoi in ticks from mainland Finland. Most importantly, our study demonstrates the overwhelming power of citizen science in accomplishing a collection effort that would have been impossible with the scientific community alone.

Nutrient and metal pollution of the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline: Sediments, macroalgae, microbiota

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gubelit, Yulia; Polyak, Yulia; Dembska, Grazyna; Pazikowska-Sapota, Grazyna; Zegarowski, Lukasz; Kochura, Dmitry; Krivorotov, Denis; Podgornaya, Elena; Burova, Olga; Maazouzi, Chafik

2016-01-01

The anthropogenic pollution along the coastline of the eastern Gulf of Finland was studied through a range of methods, including analyses of metal contamination in water, surface sediments, accumulated algal biomass and its correlation with resistant microbiota. According to concentrations, the main pollutants in water were copper and manganese. Influence of Nuclear Power Plant was remarkable in adjacent areas and was expressed in high concentrations of molybdenum, nickel, copper and other elements in the water. Relatively high concentrations of copper, lead and zinc were found in sediments. Microbial tolerance appeared to be correlated with the concentration of the metals in sediments. Higher tolerance levels were found in sediment samples from more polluted stations. Macroalgae, which were massively developed in the coastal zone, had shown high level of metal bioaccumulation. Analyses of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus content of algal tissues allowed the estimation of additional nutrient loading from accumulated decaying algal biomass on the coastal zone of the eastern Gulf of Finland. Mass development of algae in coastal area may contribute to accumulation of organic matter and associated metals. In our study the highest metal concentrations in sediments were found at the sites with dense and continuous layer of fresh and decaying macroalgal biomass, accompanied by hypoxic conditions. Also our study has shown that accumulated biomass may be a significant source of nutrients in the coastal ecosystem. - Highlights: • We studied heavy metal pollution in the coastline of the eastern Gulf of Finland. • Sediments, water, mass macroalgae and microbiota were included into analyses. • Eutrophication and nutrient loading remain the main problem of the studied area. • Macroalgae contribute to accumulation of organic matter, nutrient, and heavy metal. • Pollution in the studied area is caused by a combination of different factors.

Nutrient and metal pollution of the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline: Sediments, macroalgae, microbiota

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gubelit, Yulia, E-mail: Gubelit@list.ru [Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Polyak, Yulia [Scientific Research Center for Ecological Safety of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Dembska, Grazyna; Pazikowska-Sapota, Grazyna; Zegarowski, Lukasz [Maritime Institute in Gdansk, Department of Environmental Protection, Gdansk (Poland); Kochura, Dmitry; Krivorotov, Denis; Podgornaya, Elena; Burova, Olga [Research Institute of Hygiene, Occupational Pathology and Human Ecology (RIHOPHE), Federal Medical Biological Agency, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Maazouzi, Chafik [Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Laboratoire d' Écologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés (LEHNA), Lyon (France)

2016-04-15

The anthropogenic pollution along the coastline of the eastern Gulf of Finland was studied through a range of methods, including analyses of metal contamination in water, surface sediments, accumulated algal biomass and its correlation with resistant microbiota. According to concentrations, the main pollutants in water were copper and manganese. Influence of Nuclear Power Plant was remarkable in adjacent areas and was expressed in high concentrations of molybdenum, nickel, copper and other elements in the water. Relatively high concentrations of copper, lead and zinc were found in sediments. Microbial tolerance appeared to be correlated with the concentration of the metals in sediments. Higher tolerance levels were found in sediment samples from more polluted stations. Macroalgae, which were massively developed in the coastal zone, had shown high level of metal bioaccumulation. Analyses of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus content of algal tissues allowed the estimation of additional nutrient loading from accumulated decaying algal biomass on the coastal zone of the eastern Gulf of Finland. Mass development of algae in coastal area may contribute to accumulation of organic matter and associated metals. In our study the highest metal concentrations in sediments were found at the sites with dense and continuous layer of fresh and decaying macroalgal biomass, accompanied by hypoxic conditions. Also our study has shown that accumulated biomass may be a significant source of nutrients in the coastal ecosystem. - Highlights: • We studied heavy metal pollution in the coastline of the eastern Gulf of Finland. • Sediments, water, mass macroalgae and microbiota were included into analyses. • Eutrophication and nutrient loading remain the main problem of the studied area. • Macroalgae contribute to accumulation of organic matter, nutrient, and heavy metal. • Pollution in the studied area is caused by a combination of different factors.

GIS analysis of change in an agriculture landscape in Central Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riitta Ruuska

1996-12-01

Full Text Available Changes in landscape over a period of 50 years were analysed in a rural area of 324 ha in Central Finland. The data were digitized from aerial photographs of the National Land Survey taken in 1944, 1959, 1979 and 1991, and analysed with the IDRISI™ geographic information system (GIS. The average proportion of land in agricultural use in the sample area was 17.4%. The arable area declined from the maximum of 62.3 ha (1959 to 47.6 ha. The total length of linear landscape elements, predominantly ditch bank habitats, halved, from 876 m/ha of field (1944 to 449 m/ha by the end of the period. The average rate of loss of field boundary habitat was 9.1 m/ha/ year. At the same time, the Shannon-Weaver index of diversity of agricultural landscape elements dropped from 0.37 to 0.24. The number of field parcels declined by 29%, and the mean parcel size increased by 45%, from 1.2 ha to 1.7 ha. The index value of the fractal dimension measuring the complexity of parcel shapes also fell, from 1.88 (1959 to 1.86 (1991. The change in spatial structure reflects the intensification of farming in Finland. Biodiversity at ecosystem level has clearly declined. However, the implications for the agroecosystem and its sustainability are still unknown.

Fossil fuel support mechanisms in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lampinen, Ari

2013-10-15

Fossil fuel subsidies and other state support for fossil fuels are forbidden by the Kyoto Protocol and other international treaties. However, they are still commonly used. This publication presents and analyses diverse state support mechanisms for fossil fuels in Finland in 2003-2010. Total of 38 support mechanisms are covered in quantitative analysis and some other mechanisms are mentioned qualitatively only. For some mechanisms the study includes a longer historical perspective. This is the case for tax subsidies for crude oil based traffic fuels that have been maintained in Finland since 1965.

On-site emergency preparedness in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vilkamo, O.

1998-01-01

General scheme of emergency preparedness in Finland is presented including legal framework, emergency organization and detailed description of plans and procedures. Emergency plan in Finland cover the following matters: classification of emergency situations and description of events and accidents, description of emergency organization, description of the arrangements for alerting and data transfer, management of an emergency situation and radiation protection, worker safety and radiation protection, on- and off-site radiation measurements during a preparedness situation, provision of information, rooms, equipment and facilities, post emergency debriefing and measures, a description of the maintenance of preparedness

How do Locals in Finland Identify Resident Foreigners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minna Säävälä

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This study examines the identi? cation by Finns of foreign residents in Finland by analyzing data from a representative sample survey carried out in 2002. When people were asked to name a group of foreigners residing in Finland, the majority ?rst mentioned Somalis, despite the fact that only 4 percent of foreign residents are Somali and 6 percent of foreign-language speakers speak Somali. The general tendency when identifying resident foreigners is to refer primarily to ethnic or national groups; references to status (e.g. refugee, return migrant, guest worker or religion (e.g. Muslim are rare in the survey. In terms of ethnicity, identifying foreign residents in Finland is inconsistent, particularly as Russians and Estonians, the two largest groups, are not readily seen as foreign residents. The prevalence of answering Somalis could be considered an outcome of the maximally visible difference between Finns and Somalis. A logistic regression analysis is used to examine whether identifying resident foreigners differs according to socio-economic and educational characteristics, age, gender, region, and attitude towards the number of resident foreigners in Finland. The variables that signi? cantly in? uence the probability of answering Somalis and Russians are the respondents region, age, attitude towards the number of foreign residents in Finland, and to some extent, gender and higher education. Respondents occupational status, vocational education or income does not have a signi? cant impact on the answers. Regional differences appear to be a major factor affecting how foreigners are identi? ed, which shows that although the need to consider resident foreigners as visibly, culturally and linguistically maximally different may be a nearly universal base line for creating difference and identity, identifying foreign residents in Finland is not entirely independent of demographic realities.

Circannual rhythm in the incidence of cryptorchidism in Finland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaleva, Marko M; Virtanen, Helena E; Haavisto, Anne-Maarit

2005-01-01

Conflicting data on circannual variation in birth rates of urogenital malformations have been reported previously. To assess risk factors of cryptorchidism we studied the seasonal variation of cryptorchidism in Finland. We performed a prospective cryptorchidism study in Turku, Finland, from 1997 ...

The spatial distribution of forest damages in southeastern Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jokinen, J.; Maekinen, E.; Meinander, O.; Haarala, S. [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)

1995-12-31

Up to the present time scientists researching the causes of the vast areas of forest damages observed in Europe and North America have presented many different hypotheses. Among the first explanations was the damaging effect of acid rain. Some researchers claimed that of all air pollutants ozone was the most important damaging agent. The stress theory emphasizes the interaction of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide with oxidants, hydrocarbons and heavy metals to be the main cause of toxic effects. In addition to above-mentioned theories, projects carried out by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) have revealed that under northern conditions coniferous forests have been damaged even in situations where the emissions consist of sulphur and nitrogen compounds occurring together. This theory postulates that the interaction of the above pollutants may be responsible by themselves for the effects on coniferous forests. The interaction is supposed to cause damages by two different mechanisms, namely, by causing direct toxic effects or through wintering failures. These mechanisms are indicated by the total nitrogen and sulphur concentration relationships of the needles. In the first case both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides occur at such a high levels in the air that they cause direct damages, while in the second case sulphur dioxide concentration, in particular, is lower and both compounds can then be used as nutrients causing nutrient imbalance and a loss of wintering hardiness of the needles. The study area in these projects was southeastern Finland, which is one of the most polluted areas in our country. Domestic emissions from the paper and pulp industry, as well as the Russian emissions (e g. from the Leningrad region) affect this area. The aim of this study was to test the sulphur-nitrogen hypothesis using data collected from the Kymi province, S.E. Finland. (author)

The spatial distribution of forest damages in southeastern Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jokinen, J; Maekinen, E; Meinander, O; Haarala, S [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)

1996-12-31

Up to the present time scientists researching the causes of the vast areas of forest damages observed in Europe and North America have presented many different hypotheses. Among the first explanations was the damaging effect of acid rain. Some researchers claimed that of all air pollutants ozone was the most important damaging agent. The stress theory emphasizes the interaction of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide with oxidants, hydrocarbons and heavy metals to be the main cause of toxic effects. In addition to above-mentioned theories, projects carried out by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) have revealed that under northern conditions coniferous forests have been damaged even in situations where the emissions consist of sulphur and nitrogen compounds occurring together. This theory postulates that the interaction of the above pollutants may be responsible by themselves for the effects on coniferous forests. The interaction is supposed to cause damages by two different mechanisms, namely, by causing direct toxic effects or through wintering failures. These mechanisms are indicated by the total nitrogen and sulphur concentration relationships of the needles. In the first case both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides occur at such a high levels in the air that they cause direct damages, while in the second case sulphur dioxide concentration, in particular, is lower and both compounds can then be used as nutrients causing nutrient imbalance and a loss of wintering hardiness of the needles. The study area in these projects was southeastern Finland, which is one of the most polluted areas in our country. Domestic emissions from the paper and pulp industry, as well as the Russian emissions (e g. from the Leningrad region) affect this area. The aim of this study was to test the sulphur-nitrogen hypothesis using data collected from the Kymi province, S.E. Finland. (author)

The future of facility management in Finland

OpenAIRE

Boateng, Ernest

2011-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the feasible future of facility management in Finland in order to provide an overview of the future of facility management. This is intended to serve as a guideline for the educational sector, facility management service companies, and the Facility management association in Finland (FIFMA) for future development. Qualitative method, precisely semi-structured/unstructured interview was adopted to address the problems in this study. The study c...

Nuclear power situation in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miettinen, J K

1976-01-01

Finland plans to have its future energy policy as well-balanced and economical as possible. Dependence on oil has to be reduced and savings have to be achieved wherever possible. Some growth of energy demand will be inevitable, and most of this growth has to be nuclear. Practically all hydropower that can be reasonably exploited is being utilized already. Finland has an abundance of peat, but it can be economically used only as a regional source of energy. This leaves, as the only real alternatives for the coming decennia, coal and fission; of the two, fission is evidently the better choice. Although other forms of energy such as fusion, solar, tidal, and wind energy have to be studied as longer-range alternatives. Four nuclear power plants are presently under construction in Finland and at least a few additional ones will evidently be built before 1990. Several of them will probably be of the combined district heat and electricity-producing type. The planning of nuclear energy has recently become complicated due to financing difficulties, uncertainties regarding long-range fuel services, and public opposition. The latter is partly caused by lack of information, partly by fears of a change of life-style in communities near the planned power plant sites. (From Conclusions)

Finland as a Knowledge Economy 2.0: Lessons on Policies and Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

in the 1950’s into one of the leading innovation-driven, knowledge-based economies and high-tech producers in the twenty-first century. The development was rapid, and involved determined action and sometimes drastic decisions by the government and other key actors. Today, at the end of 2013, Finland is facing...... new types of challenges both domestically and internationally in efforts to maintain its societal sustainability and economic competitiveness. Finland Knowledge Economy 2.0 presents some of the key policies, elements, initiatives and decisions behind Finland’s path into the Knowledge Economy of today....... The authors hope to provide the readers inspiration, new ideas, and novel insights. Hopefully some of the lessons learned may prove valuable in another context. Based on this account of the development of Finnish Knowledge Economy, the authors have identified six areas of lessons, each described in detail...

Environmental assessment of Ammassuo Landfill (Finland) by means of LCA-modelling (EASEWASTE)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niskanen, A.; Manfredi, Simone; Christensen, Thomas Højlund

2009-01-01

The Old Ammassuo Landfill (Espoo, Finland) covers an area of 52 hectares and contains about 10 million tonnes of waste that was landfilled between 1987 and 2007. The majority of this waste was mixed, of which about 57% originated from households. This paper aims at describing the management...... of the Old Ammassuo Landfill throughout its operational lifetime (1987-2007), and at developing an environmental evaluation based on life-cycle assessment (LCA) using the EASEWASTE-model. The assessment criteria evaluate specific categories of impact, including standard impact categories, toxicity......) and ecotoxicity in water chronic (ETwc). The largest impact potential was found for SGR and amounted to 57.6 person equivalent (PE) per tonne of landfilled waste. However, the SGR impact may not be viewed as a significant issue in Finland as the drinking water is mostly supplied from surface water bodies. Overall...

Theoretical calculation of shakeup intensities using Xa--SW wave functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tse, J.S.; Loubriel, G.

1981-01-01

The ground and 1s core hole state molecular wave functions of CH 4 , NH 3 , H 2 O, and HF obtained from Xa--SW calculations using the touching spheres (TS) and overlapping spheres (OS) approximations are used to calculate the intensity of shakeup satellites observed in their ls core level photoelectron spectra. The sudden approximation was assumed in the calculation. In case of TS Xa--SW wave functions, the one electron overlap integral inside the intersphere was calculated via Green's theorem. For OS Xa--SW wave functions, the integration over the awkwardly shaped intersphere region was circumvented by distributing the intersphere charge into the atomic spheres according to the charge partition scheme suggested by Case and Karplus. Our results show that there are no significant differences between the shakeup energies calculated from the TS and OS approximations. However, shakeup intensities calculated from TS Xa--SW wave functions are more reliable and in better numerical agreement with experiment

The Robust Software Feedback Model: An Effective Waterfall Model Tailoring for Space SW

Science.gov (United States)

Tipaldi, Massimo; Gotz, Christoph; Ferraguto, Massimo; Troiano, Luigi; Bruenjes, Bernhard

2013-08-01

The selection of the most suitable software life cycle process is of paramount importance in any space SW project. Despite being the preferred choice, the waterfall model is often exposed to some criticism. As matter of fact, its main assumption of moving to a phase only when the preceding one is completed and perfected (and under the demanding SW schedule constraints) is not easily attainable. In this paper, a tailoring of the software waterfall model (named “Robust Software Feedback Model”) is presented. The proposed methodology sorts out these issues by combining a SW waterfall model with a SW prototyping approach. The former is aligned with the SW main production line and is based on the full ECSS-E-ST-40C life-cycle reviews, whereas the latter is carried out in advance versus the main SW streamline (so as to inject its lessons learnt into the main streamline) and is based on a lightweight approach.

Mechanical-biological waste treatment and the associated occupational hygiene in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tolvanen, Outi K.; Haenninen, Kari I.

2006-01-01

A special feature of waste management in Finland has been the emphasis on the source separation of kitchen biowaste (catering waste); more than two-thirds of the Finnish population participates in this separation. Source-separated biowaste is usually treated by composting. The biowaste of about 5% of the population is handled by mechanical-biological treatment. A waste treatment plant at Mustasaari is the only plant in Finland using digestion for kitchen biowaste. For the protection of their employees, the plant owners commissioned a study on environmental factors and occupational hygiene in the plant area. During 1998-2000 the concentrations of dust, microbes and endotoxins and noise levels were investigated to identify possible problems at the plant. Three different work areas were investigated: the pre-processing and crushing hall, the bioreactor hall and the drying hall. Employees were asked about work-related health problems. Some problems with occupational hygiene were identified: concentrations of microbes and endotoxins may increase to levels harmful to health during waste crushing and in the bioreactor hall. Because employees complained of symptoms such as dry cough and rash or itching appearing once or twice a month, it is advisable to use respirator masks (class P3) during dusty working phases. The noise level in the drying hall exceeded the Finnish threshold value of 85 dBA. Qualitatively harmful factors for the health of employees are similar in all closed waste treatment plants in Finland. Quantitatively, however, the situation at the Mustasaari treatment plant is better than at some Finnish dry waste treatment plants. Therefore is reasonable to conclude that mechanical sorting, which produces a dry waste fraction for combustion and a biowaste fraction for anaerobic treatment, is in terms of occupational hygiene better for employees than combined aerobic treatment and dry waste treatment

Forest Energy Project of Central Finland; Keski-Suomen metsaeenergiaprojekti

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahokas, M [Regional Council of Central Finland, Jyvaeskylae (Finland); Kuitto, P J [VTT Energy, Jyvaeskylae (Finland). Fuel Production

1997-12-01

The Forest Energy Project of Central Finland (1994 - 1996) was one of the leading regional demonstration projects in Finland for testing and studying of the complete energy wood delivery chains and energy wood utilisation. The target of this provincial project was to collect and demonstrate the most promising energy wood procurement technologies and methods for utilisation of energy producers, forest industry and small and medium sized industries co- operating with forest owners, contractors and forest organisations. The project was a large development and technology transfer venture concentrated primarily on practical needs. Total delivery chains were formed of the best machine and method alternatives, and they were also demonstrated. The project offered hence a wide test field for regional and national techno / economical wood fuel development. The Forest Energy Project of Central Finland was a demonstration project supervised by the Regional Council of Central Finland. The project was a part of the national Bioenergy Research Programme. VTT Energy and the Forestry Board of Central Finland were responsible for the practical development work. A large number of provincial partners interested in wood fuels took part in the project. The project were carried out during the years 1994 - 1996. The total costs were 4.4 million FIM. The aim is to create a practical model for the entire system, by which enables the economically profitable increment of the utilisation of chip fuels in Central Finland by 100 GWh/1996 and 500 GWh/a (about 250 000 m{sup 3}) to the end of the decade. (orig.)

Studies of quaternary deposits in investigation trench OL-TK19 on the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huhta, P.

2013-07-01

The Quaternary deposits in investigation trench OL-TK19 were studied by the Geological Survey of Finland in October 2012. Samples for grain size determinations were taken from 3 vertical profiles, placed about 20-25 m apart along the trench. Two till units was sampled separately. The profiles extended from the soil surface down to bedrock. The samples were first dried in the laboratory after which they were sieved. In addition, the grain size distribution of the < 63 μm fraction was analyzed with the Sedigraph 5100 instrument. Sedimentological observations of the sampling profiles were documented in field by drawing them on a field observation form and the profiles were photographed using a digital camera. In addition, the excavated section was photographed along its whole length. The till cover in OL-TK19 consists of two parts. The surface layer of the till is oxidized, brownish grey sandy till, whereas the lower layer is unoxidized, grey silty till. Dark grey silty till as in the bottom of investigation trenches OL-TK13 and OL-TK14 was not found in this trench. The till layers in OL-TK19 was deposited in the last flow phase of the Weichselian continental ice. Bedrock striations indicate that the ice moved in a NW-SE direction. The till beds smooth bedrock topography. The tills showed no signs of disturbance related to bedrock movements. (orig.)

The Importance of Interfaces: A HW/SW Codesign Case Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Dan C. Raun; Madsen, Jan; Pedersen, Steen

1997-01-01

This paper presents a codesign case study in image analysis. The main objective is to stress the importance of handling HW/SW interfaces more precisely at the system level. In the presented case study, there is an intuitive and simple HW/SW interface, which is based upon the functional modules...

Possibilities and future of wind power production in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holttinen, E.; Tammelin, B.

1997-01-01

The article was prepared for two presentations for Finnish MPs late autumn 1996 in connection of the handling of new energy taxation in Finland. The governmental proposal was going to favour the use of coal and unfavour the use of renewable energy sources. The total amount of installed wind power in Finland (7 MW) was compared to some other European countries. Anyhow it is well known that the wind potential in Finland due to its long coast line, large archipelago and great number of arctic mountains, all with very good wind climate, offers a great opportunity for effective exploitation of wind energy. The price of wind energy in Finland is 30 p/kWh (about 0,05 ECU) and it is estimated that with bigger power plan units it could be 20 p/kWh. Different ways to support wind energy production was presented with examples from Germany, Denmark and Sweden. (orig.) (8 refs.)

The connection between migration and regional structure in Finland around 1990 - a GIS viewpoint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarkko Kauppinen

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The connection between migration and regional structure in Finland in the early 19905 is discussed on the basis of Geographic Irformation Systems (GIS data from Statistics Finland, compiled for map coordinate grid cells of 1 x 1 km. The results indicate that data of this kind enable a more detailed typology to be drawn up for migration. At the regional level, this allows the defining of places of "passing through '' which gain population from other local government districts but lose population through migration within their own district. The connection between migration and regional structure is manifested in the fact that flows both between and within local government districts mainly involve the more urbanised population centres and areas with: high levels of unemployment.

Searching for sponsors for four national rugby teams in Finland

OpenAIRE

Ylönen, Niina

2017-01-01

How to get more sponsors to four national rugby teams in Finland? Finnish Rugby Federation and its four national teams are in the need of new long lasting sponsorship deals to fund the national teams’ tournaments in Finland and abroad. Since rugby is quite unknown sports in Finland it faces challenges in getting new sponsorship deals and also its visibility is currently very low. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the current situation of rugby, sponsorship contracts Finnish rugby F...

Low carbon Finland 2050. VTT clean energy technology strategies for society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koljonen, T; Simila, L; Sipila, K [and others

2012-11-15

The Low Carbon Finland 2050 project by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland aims to assess the technological opportunities and challenges involved in reducing Finland's greenhouse gas emissions. A target for reduction is set as at least 80% from the 1990 level by 2050 as part of an international effort, which requires strong RD and D in clean energy technologies. Key findings of the project are presented in this publication, which aims to stimulate enlightening and multidisciplinary discussions on low-carbon futures for Finland. The project gathered together VTT's technology experts in clean energy production, smart energy infrastructures, transport, buildings, and industrial systems as well as experts in energy system modelling and foresight. VTT's leading edge 'Low Carbon and Smart Energy' enables new solutions with a demonstration that is the first of its kind in Finland, and the introduction of new energy technology onto national and global markets. (orig.)

137Cs in water and fishes in FInland during 1986-1991

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saxen, R.

1992-01-01

By following changes in 137 Cs concentration, during a time period, in water and fish it is possible to estimate the halving-times of the nuclides. Examples are given of estimations of halving-times for 137 Cs in water and fish in individual lakes, some larger surface water areas and in areas with the highest rainfall in Finland. Transfer coefficients from water to fish are given as a function of time in some lakes. Transfer coefficients from precipitation to fish have been calculated on an annual basis in the case of some species of fish. (AB)

Impact of peatland restoration on nutrient and carbon leaching from contrasting sites in southern Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Vasander, Harri; Sallantaus, Tapani; Koskinen, Markku

2010-05-01

Impacts of peatland restoration on nutrient and carbon leaching from contrasting sites in southern Finland Tapani Sallantaus1, Markku Koskinen2, Harri Vasander2 1)Finnish Environment Institute, Biodiversity unit, Box 140, FIN-00251 Helsinki, Finland, tapani.sallantaus@ymparisto.fi 2)Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland, markku.koskinen@helsinki.fi, harri.vasander@helsinki.fi Less than 20 % of the original mire area of southern Finland is still in natural state. Even many peatlands in today's nature conservation areas had been partly or totally drained before conservation. Until now, about 15000 ha of peatlands have been restored in conservation areas. Here we present data concerning changes in leaching due to restoration in two contrasting areas in southern Finland. The peatlands in Seitseminen have originally been fairly open, growing stunted pine, and unfertile, either bogs or poor fens. The responses of tree stand to drainage in the 1960s were moderate, and the tree stand before restoration was about 50 m3/ha, on average. The trees were partly harvested before filling in the ditches mainly in the years 1997-1999 . The peatlands of Nuuksio are much more fertile than those in Seitseminen, and had greatly responded to drainage, which took place already in the 1930s and 1950s. The tree stand consisted mainly of spruce and exceeded 300 m3/ha in large part of the area. The ditches were dammed in the autumn 2001 and the tree stand was left standing. Runoff water quality was monitored in three basins in both areas. To obtain the leaching rates, we used simulated runoff data obtained from the Finnish Environment Institute, Hydrological Services Division. The responses in leaching were in the same direction in both cases. However, especially when calculated per restored hectare (Table 1), the responses were much stronger in the more fertile areas of Nuuksio for organic carbon and nitrogen, but not so much

Solid and liquid biofuels markets in Finland. A study on international biofuels trade. IEA bioenergy task 40 and EUROBIONET II. Country report of Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heinimoe, J.; Alakangas, E.

2006-01-01

This study considered the current situation of solid and liquid biofuels markets and international biofuels trade in Finland and identified the challenges of the emerging international biofuels markets for Finland. The fact that industry consumes more than half of the total primary energy, widely applied combined heat and power production (CHP) and a high share of biofuels in the total energy consumption are specific to the Finnish energy system. One third of the electricity is generated in CHP plants. As much as 27% of the total energy consumption is met by using wood and peat, which makes Finland the leading country in the use of biofuels. Finland has made a commitment to maintain greenhouse gas emissions at the 1990 level at the highest during the period 2008-2012. The Finnish energy policy aims to achieve the target, and a variety of measures are taken to promote the use of renewable energy sources and especially wood fuels. In this study, the wooden raw material streams of the forest industry were included the international biofuels trade in addition to biomass streams that are traded for energy production. In 2004, as much as 45% of the raw wood imported into Finland ended up in energy production. The total international trading of biofuels was evaluated at 72 PJ, of which the majority, 58 PJ, was raw wood. About 22% of wood based energy in Finland originated from imported raw wood. Tall oil and wood pellets composed the largest export streams of biofuels. The annual turnover of international biofuels trade was estimated at about euro 90 million for direct trade and at about euro 190 million for indirect trade. The forest industry as the biggest user of wood, and the producer and user of wood fuels has a central position in biomass and biofuels markets in Finland. Lately, the international aspects of Finnish biofuels markets have been emphasised as the import of raw wood and the export of wood pellets have increased. Expanding the use of biofuels in the road

Low carbon Finland 2050. VTT clean energy technology strategies for society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koljonen, T.; Simila, L.; Sipila, K. [and others

2012-11-15

The Low Carbon Finland 2050 project by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland aims to assess the technological opportunities and challenges involved in reducing Finland's greenhouse gas emissions. A target for reduction is set as at least 80% from the 1990 level by 2050 as part of an international effort, which requires strong RD and D in clean energy technologies. Key findings of the project are presented in this publication, which aims to stimulate enlightening and multidisciplinary discussions on low-carbon futures for Finland. The project gathered together VTT's technology experts in clean energy production, smart energy infrastructures, transport, buildings, and industrial systems as well as experts in energy system modelling and foresight. VTT's leading edge 'Low Carbon and Smart Energy' enables new solutions with a demonstration that is the first of its kind in Finland, and the introduction of new energy technology onto national and global markets. (orig.)

76 FR 29191 - Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland and the Netherlands: Continuation of Antidumping...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-20

... Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland and the Netherlands: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Orders AGENCY: Import... antidumping duty orders on purified carboxymethylcellulose from Finland and the Netherlands would likely lead...) from Finland and the Netherlands. See Notice of Antidumping Duty Orders: Purified...

Energy taxation in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valtonen, M.

1991-01-01

Energy taxation in Finland is described in addition to plans for reforms in this respect. It is stated that taxation on energy has primarily a fiscal motive, and it can also be used as a means of steering of energy and environmental policy. Numerical data illustrate the text. (AB)

The introduction of nuclear power in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaafs, Daniel

2009-01-01

The aim of my research was to study the introduction of nuclear power in Finland with special focus on the domestic engineering works industry. I wanted to find out what really happened during this long process, which I consider to be unique. I also tried to clearfy the reasons why it came about at all, and why it developed in such a peculiar way. My basic research questions were: (a.) When and how was nuclear power introduced in Finland? (b.) Which were the reasons for this introduction and which were the results? (c.) Which was the role of the domestic engineering works industry? I started the investigation by exploring the original situation in Finland and also in the countries which came to be a primus motor for the development. I studied the relevant literature and interviewed quite a few of the persons who in a decisive way had an influence on the long and chaotic process which led to the introduction of nuclear power in Finland. When describing the different phases in the development I stayed in principle within the historic framework, although I diverged from a strict chronological order when necessary. Neither did I in my investigation take a neutral stance regarding the two large projects that had a central position in the introduction, namely the nuclear power plants in Lovisa and in Olkiluoto. The Lovisa project implied a greater challenge and it was also more important to the domestic industry than Olkiluoto. It therefore got more attention than Olkiluoto. Oy Finnatom Ab (managed by me 1975-2001), due to its role as a spokesman for the Finnish nuclear engineering works industry, occupied a central position in my investigation. The start of the introduction may psychologically be dated to the startup in 1958 of the Ydin Exponential pile, YXP, and in 1962 of Finland Reactor I, FiR I, and the end to the signing in 1982 by Industrins Kraft, ASEA and Asea-Atom of the acceptance protocol for Olkiluoto and the final permits for Lovisa, granted by the

76 FR 27663 - Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland, Mexico, Netherlands and Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-12

... Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland, Mexico, Netherlands and Sweden Determinations On the basis of the record \\1... carboxymethylcellulose from Finland and Netherlands would be likely to lead [[Page 27664

Isotopic Evidence for Microbial Activity in Crystalline Bedrock Fractures - a Case Study from Olkiluoto, SW Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Sahlstedt, E. K.; Karhu, J.; Pitkänen, P.

2015-12-01

Changes in the geochemical environment in crystalline bedrock fractures were investigated using the stable isotopes of C, O and S in fracture filling minerals as tracers. Of special interest were the possible changes which may occur in the subsurface at low temperatures. Especially, the influence of microbial activity was recognized as a catalyst for inducing changes in the geochemical environment. The study site is the Olkiluoto island located on the western coast of Finland, planned to host a geological repository for nuclear waste. Fracture surfaces were investigated to recognize the latest mineralizations at the site. These fillings were comprised of thin plates or small euhedral crystals of calcite and pyrite. The carbon and sulfur isotope compositions of calcite and pyrite were measured from bulk material by conventional IRMS, and in situ by secondary ion mass spectrometry. A notable feature of the late-stage fillings was high variabilities in the δ13C values of calcite and the δ34S values of pyrite, which ranged from -53.8 ‰ to +31.6 ‰ and from -50.4 ‰ to +77.7 ‰, respectively. Based on the isotopic compositions of the fillings, several features in the past hydrogeochemical environment could be recognized. The isotopic composition of the fracture fillings indicate an environment which was stratified with respect to depth. Characteristic features include bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) occurring at depths 50 m. It appears that methanic conditions were replaced by sulfate reduction at depths >50 m likely due to infiltration of SO42--rich brackish waters. Sulfate reducing bacteria used mainly surface derived organic carbon as electron donors. Some indication of minor methanotrophic activity was recognized in anomalously low δ13C values of calcite, down to -53.8 ‰, at the depth range of 34-54 m. This methanotrophic activity may have been related to bacteria using CH4 as an electron donor in BSR.

Aquifer thermal energy storage in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iihola, H; Ala-Peijari, T; Seppaenen, H

1988-01-01

The rapid changes and crises in the field of energy during the 1970s and 1980s have forced us to examine the use of energy more critically and to look for new ideas. Seasonal aquifer thermal energy storage (T < 100/sup 0/C) on a large scale is one of the grey areas which have not yet been extensively explored. However, projects are currently underway in a dozen countries. In Finland there have been three demonstration projects from 1974 to 1987. International co-operation under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, Annex VI, 'Environmental and Chemical Aspects of Thermal Energy Storage in Aquifers and Research and Development of Water Treatment Methods' started in 1987. The research being undertaken in 8 countries includes several elements fundamental to hydrochemistry and biochemistry.

Recent regulatory issues in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laaksonen, J.; Tiipana, P.

2001-01-01

This paper presents general regulatory issues from Finland since the last WWER Regulators Forum meeting in Odessa 11-13 October 2000. More specific issues concerning Loviisa NPP are described in the Annex of this paper. (author)

A Review of Telemedicine Services in Finland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khatri, Vikramajeet; Peterson, Carrie Beth; Kyriazakos, Sofoklis

2011-01-01

Telemedicine is gaining popularity due to the provision of ubiquitous health care services that is a fundamental need for every socialized society. In this paper, telemedicine services in Finland are discussed, as well as how they came into existence, how they are funded, evaluated, and what...... are their impacts on health care systems and society. Telemedicine services like teleradiology, telelaboratory, telepsychiatry and remote consultations, are being offered in all hospital districts. Primary health care centers in Finland are lacking telemedicine services, and are planning to have them. Electronic...

Radioactivity of milk, meat, cereals and other agricultural products in Finland after the Chernobyl accident in 1986

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rantavaara, A.; Haukka, S.

1987-06-01

The paper describes the surveillance of radioactive substances in agricultural products in Finland after the end of April 1986. The main objective was to assess the dietary intake of fallout radionuclides via milk, meat, cereals and eggs in Finland during the period May-December 1986. In spring 1986 the sampling programmes were extended on the basis of the continuous surveys carried out earlier. The sampling of different types of produce covered a considerable part of the main production areas. The frequency of the sampling was greatly increased from that in previous years, specially in spring and summer, in order to follow the temporal variation in the contents of radionuclides in milk and meat. Gamma-emitting radionuclides, especially ''1''3''1I, ''1''3''4Cs and ''1''3''7Cs, were measured on all samples. ''8''9Sr and ''9''0Sr were determined on the milk and cereal samples used for nationwide assessments. The mean dietary intakes of radionuclides in May-December 1986, calculated from the average consumption of foodstuffs in Finland and the nationwide production-weighted mean mean contents of radionuclides. Contamination of agricultural products due to fallout radionuclides did not cause any restrictions for their use in Finland

Indicator value of certain aquatic organisms for radioactive substances in the sea areas off the Loviisa and Ilkiluoto nuclear power plants (Finland)[Radioecology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ilus, E.; Klemola, S.; Ikaeheimonen, T.K.; Vartti, V.P.; Mattila, J. [STUK - radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki (Finland)

2006-04-15

The results of the marine radioecology studies carried out in 2000-2001 in the sea areas off the Loviisa and Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plants (South and West coast of Finland) are reported. Extensive regular monitoring programmes of environmental radioactivity have been carried out already for about 30 years in these areas. The aim of the present study was to compare the indicator value of the various members of the aquatic ecosystem with respect to environmental monitoring. Samples were taken from 27 species including phytoplankton (9 samples), zooplankton (9 samples), periphyton (12 samples), macroalgae and vascular plants (16 samples), benthic animals (8 samples), fish (20 samples) and birds (6). Special attention was paid to different tissues and organs of fish and birds, such as flesh, liver, entrails, bones, milt, spawn, eggs, egg shells etc. (in total 64 samples), because there has been a lot of debate among the opponents of nuclear power in the course of time about the role these objects in the environmental monitoring of the power plants. The samples were taken from relatively small areas both in Loviisa and Olkiluoto, which makes the results well comparable inside each of the sites. (au)

Indicator value of certain aquatic organisms for radioactive substances in the sea areas off the Loviisa and Olkiluoto nuclear power plants (Finland)[Radioecology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ilus, E.; Klemola, S.; Ikaeheimonen, T.K.; Vartti, V.P.; Mattila, J. [STUK - radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki (Finland)

2006-04-15

The results of the marine radioecology studies carried out in 2000-2001 in the sea areas off the Loviisa and Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plants (South and West coast of Finland) are reported. Extensive regular monitoring programmes of environmental radioactivity have been carried out already for about 30 years in these areas. The aim of the present study was to compare the indicator value of the various members of the aquatic ecosystem with respect to environmental monitoring. Samples were taken from 27 species including phytoplankton (9 samples), zooplankton (9 samples), periphyton (12 samples), macroalgae and vascular plants (16 samples), benthic animals (8 samples), fish (20 samples) and birds (6). Special attention was paid to different tissues and organs of fish and birds, such as flesh, liver, entrails, bones, milt, spawn, eggs, egg shells etc. (in total 64 samples), because there has been a lot of debate among the opponents of nuclear power in the course of time about the role these objects in the environmental monitoring of the power plants. The samples were taken from relatively small areas both in Loviisa and Olkiluoto, which makes the results well comparable inside each of the sites. (au)

A short comparative history of wells and toilets in South Africa and Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johannes Haarhoff

2006-04-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the technological development of wells and toilets and the cultural practices related to them in two countries, South Africa and Finland, from the Middle Ages to modern times. Wells and toilets have always been linked to the well-being of humans and they still are the most common technical systems in the service of mankind. They are simple to build, but if they are constructed improperly or stop functioning properly, they may endanger the health of both humans and the environment. The solutions used for getting clean water or for disposal of excrement have always been a matter of life and death for human settlements. Located on opposite sides of the world, the climate and natural resources of South Africa and Finland are very different. However, surprisingly similar solutions, for example wind turbines to pump water, have been used in rural areas. Furthermore, urbanization and industrialization occurred in both countries at approximately the same time in the 19th century, which caused increasing environmental problems in Finnish and South African urban areas. The transition to modern water supply and waste disposal systems was a very demanding process for municipal administrations in both countries.

Radioactive contamination of the forests of southern Poland and Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jasinska, H.; Kozak, K.; Mietelski, J.W.; Barszcz, J.; Greszta, J.

2004-01-01

Experimental data of caesium and ruthenium radioactivity in chosen parts of forest ecosystems in Finland and Southern Poland are presented and compared. Measurements were performed with a low-background gamma-rays spectrometer with the Ge(Li) detector. The maximum caesium 137 activity in litter from Poland is 2.5 kBq, in that from Finland 3.9 kBq, in spruce needles it is 0.4 kBq (Poland), 0.9 kBq (Finland) and in fern leaves it is as high as 15.9 kBq per kg of dry mass in one sample from Poland. (author)

Finland and nuclear non-proliferation: The evolution and cultivation of a norm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dassen, L. van

1998-03-01

Finland''s entrance on the non-proliferation scene was in 1963 when President Kekkonen suggested a Nordic nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ). This started a debate in and among the Nordic countries and it created a Finnish profile towards the Soviet Union. In most cases, the Soviets tried to bring Finland into a much closer relationship with the USSR. The mere prospect and debate on a Nordic NWFZ reduced the incentive for the Soviets to undermine Finnish neutrality or their desire to suggest consultations according to the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance on military assistance in the case of a threat to Soviet and/or Finnish security. During the negotiations on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1965-1968, Finland played a very active role as a bridge-builder, first between the superpowers and later between the developed and the developing world. This activity gave Finland a name in the UN, strengthened its neutrality and established good relations with the West as well. In 1978, Kekkonen brought up the Nordic NWFZ once more, this time under influence of certain strategic challenges to Finland and general East-West developments. In this Kekkonen had much backing by the public in Finland whereas other states reacted very reluctantly. Politics in Finland has to a large extent been marked by the relations with Russia and later the Soviet Union. However, nuclear non-proliferation was used to ease the weight of this imposing neighbour; a strategy that certainly must be regarded as successful. While achieving this, it was also possible to increase contacts with western states and remain accepted as a neutral state. For Finland, non-proliferation policy was initially a suitable issue to solve other problems than those related exclusively to proliferation. But it was also a policy with a high degree of persistence, pragmatism and willingness to work with concrete issues that maybe do not reach the international limelight in the short run but that work in

Finland and nuclear non-proliferation: The evolution and cultivation of a norm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dassen, L. van [Uppsala Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Peace and Conflict Research

1998-03-01

Finland``s entrance on the non-proliferation scene was in 1963 when President Kekkonen suggested a Nordic nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ). This started a debate in and among the Nordic countries and it created a Finnish profile towards the Soviet Union. In most cases, the Soviets tried to bring Finland into a much closer relationship with the USSR. The mere prospect and debate on a Nordic NWFZ reduced the incentive for the Soviets to undermine Finnish neutrality or their desire to suggest consultations according to the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance on military assistance in the case of a threat to Soviet and/or Finnish security. During the negotiations on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1965-1968, Finland played a very active role as a bridge-builder, first between the superpowers and later between the developed and the developing world. This activity gave Finland a name in the UN, strengthened its neutrality and established good relations with the West as well. In 1978, Kekkonen brought up the Nordic NWFZ once more, this time under influence of certain strategic challenges to Finland and general East-West developments. In this Kekkonen had much backing by the public in Finland whereas other states reacted very reluctantly. Politics in Finland has to a large extent been marked by the relations with Russia and later the Soviet Union. However, nuclear non-proliferation was used to ease the weight of this imposing neighbour; a strategy that certainly must be regarded as successful. While achieving this, it was also possible to increase contacts with western states and remain accepted as a neutral state. For Finland, non-proliferation policy was initially a suitable issue to solve other problems than those related exclusively to proliferation. But it was also a policy with a high degree of persistence, pragmatism and willingness to work with concrete issues that maybe do not reach the international limelight in the short run but that work in

Use of Student Experiments for Teaching Embedded Software Development Including HW/SW Co-Design

Science.gov (United States)

Mitsui, H.; Kambe, H.; Koizumi, H.

2009-01-01

Embedded systems have been applied widely, not only to consumer products and industrial machines, but also to new applications such as ubiquitous or sensor networking. The increasing role of software (SW) in embedded system development has caused a great demand for embedded SW engineers, and university education for embedded SW engineering has…

Integrated environmental research and networking of economy and information in rural areas of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. LUOSTARINEN

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This article uses material from many extensive research projects starting from the construction of the electric power supply network and its water supply systems in northern Finland in 1973-1986, to the Agropolis agricultural strategy and networking for the Loimijoki project. A list of the material and references of the publications is available in Agronet on the Internet. All these projects applied integrated environmental research covering biology, the natural sciences, social sciences, and planning methodology. To be able to promote sustainable agriculture and rural development there is a pressing need to improve research methodology and applications for integrated environmental research. This article reviews the philosophy and development of the theory behind integrated environmental re-search and the theory of network economy.

History of EISCAT – Part 2: The early history of EISCAT in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Oksman

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The idea of a Nordic incoherent scatter facility, proposed by Bengt Hultqvist, was for the first time discussed among representatives of the three Nordic countries Norway, Sweden and Finland in 1969 in Oulu, Finland. In the years to follow, when other countries joined in and the plans of the facility to be built gradually received concrete forms, Finland participated in the planning work, in spite of the large costs to be expected. When in negotiations with the Nordic partners in 1975 the share of Finland in EISCAT was reduced to five per cent and when the existing facilities and personnel at Sodankylä could be taken into account in the Finnish share, the Academy of Finland was finally ready to join EISCAT.

Seismic Tomography in Reykjanes , SW Iceland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jousset, Philippe; Blanck, Hanna; Franke, Steven; Metz, M.; Águstsson, K.; Verdel, Arie; Ryberg, T.; Hersir, Gylfi Páll; Weemstra, C.; Bruhn, D.F.; Flovenz, Olafur G

2016-01-01

We present tomographic results obtained around geothermal reservoirs using seismic data recorded both on-land Reykjanes, SW-Iceland and offshore along Reykjanes Ridge. We gathered records from a network of 83 seismic stations (including 21 Ocean Bottom Seismometers) deployed between April 2014 and

Starting a Small Business in Tampere Region in Finland : Business plan

OpenAIRE

Zhigalkin, Ivan

2016-01-01

Nowadays in Finland, there are a lot of people who are searching for a job. Also, there are opportunities for opening a new business which provides better quality or cheaper service. Such findings can lead someone to create his own workplace and reduce the level of unemployment. Repair, maintenance, and service of a passenger car are very expensive in Finland, especially in central and southern parts of Finland. The author assumes that there is a possibility to provide the described servi...

The Discourse on Multicultural Education in Finland: Education for Whom?

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Gunilla; Londen, Monica

2010-01-01

Finland is experiencing increased immigration and therefore increased cultural diversity in its schools. This paper examines the multicultural education discourse in Finland by analysing the national and municipal curricula for the comprehensive school, educational policy documents and teacher education curricula. The focus is on how multicultural…

Service design for Chinese restaurant management in Finland

OpenAIRE

Yang, Yan

2011-01-01

The main objective of the thesis is focused on understanding the service and operation model of Chinese restaurants in Finland, identifying the gaps between the service suppliers’ and the customers’ view on service quality and trying to find out the best Chinese restaurant service design in Finland. The conceptual framework of the thesis is based on the service design, the scale to measure the service quality - SERVQUAL model, and the comparison of Finnish and Chinese food culture and...

Air Pollution Mortality in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulla Lehmijoki

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The adverse health consequences of air pollution are of concern currently and there is a fear that these consequences escalate along with economic growth. The effect of economic growth on air pollution deaths is analyzed in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden by applying the Environmental Kuznets Curve approach, according to which economic growth has competing effects on air pollution and related deaths. On the one hand, emissions tend to increase as the scale of economic activity increases, but on the other hand, consumers and firms in richer countries use cleaner goods and adopt cleaner technologies. In Denmark and Finland, the latter effects are stronger, while in Sweden the opposite is true. Therefore, air pollution deaths will decrease in Denmark and Finland but increase in Sweden. Since country's own emissions do not determine air pollution completely, the paper briefly analyzes emissions from the Baltic countries and Russia.

Role of biofuels in Finland; Utility viewpoint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salminen, P.

1993-01-01

The use of wood biomass in Finland to generate energy (4.3 Mtoe) is one of the largest in the western industrialized countries. It represents 14 % of the primary energy use, while the use of peat for energy generation (1.4 Mtoe), often included in the same group, makes up 4-5 %. Significant energy groups include bark and sawdust (0.95 Mtoe) and waste liquors (2.4 Mtoe) from the chemical forest industry. Peat has primarily been used in population centres and by industry for combined generation of heat and power. The utilization of own by-products and other back-pressure generation based on peat or on imported fuels (in southern Finland), is typical for the industrial power plants. Wood biomass utilization will also be competitive in the future if it is readily collected in sufficient quantities at a given place as waste wood for industry. These biomasses include bark, various sawdusts, industrial waste chips and screenings, and as a separate group black liquor in the process circulation of the wood processing industry. The development of fluidized bed boilers in particular has provided improvement prerequisites for the use of low grade fuel batches of varying quality in combined heat and power plants. Most of the combined heat and power plants now built in Finland exceed the limit set for the competitiveness. Consequently, the prospects for an economical increase of combined heat and power generation capacity in Finland based on present technology is relatively small. The size of a competitive power plant has been determined to be about 50 MWe

Sustainable Living in Finland: Combating Climate Change in Everyday Life

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arto O. Salonen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Finland aims to be a carbon-neutral society by the year 2050. We are interested to know on a general level how sustainable living materializes among Finnish people, what is the structure of a sustainable lifestyle in Finland and how do people reason about their everyday behavior choices in the context of sustainability in order to combat climate change. The data (n = 2052 were collected by questionnaire in April 2017. They were corrected by sex, age and residential area to be representative of the population of Finland (18–79 years old. We applied mixed methods. A principal axis factoring was conducted on the 32 variables with orthogonal rotation (varimax. Six factors explained 65.2% of the variance. The respondents were also able to write why they considered the specific variable to be important for them. We classified 2811 reasonings. According to our results, Finns have become conscious of climate change, but carbon reduction has not become mainstream in their everyday life. Circulation and preventing loss of materials show a promising start to a Finn’s sustainable way of living. Recycling has been automated so that it is part of a Finn’s everyday routine and habits. Finns also favor domestic food and products. They are interested in the origin of materials. Essential reasons for that are supporting the local economy and ensuring a good employment rate for the state. Smart, carbon-free mobility is a challenge. Finns seem to estimate that their personal car use is already at the proper level. On the other hand, even one fifth reported consideration of environmental effects when planning holidays.

Dosimetric properties of a Solid Water High Equivalency (SW557) phantom for megavoltage photon beams.

Science.gov (United States)

Araki, Fujio

2017-07-01

The dosimetric properties of the recently developed SW557 phantom have been investigated by comparison with those of the existing SW457 phantom in megavoltage photon beams. The electron fluence ratio φ pl w , and chamber ionization ratio k pl , of water to SW457 and water to SW557 for 4-15MV photons were calculated as a function of depth using Monte Carlo simulations, and compared with measured values. Values of φ pl w for SW457 were in the range of 1.004-1.014 for 4MV, and 1.014-1.018 for 15MV photons. The φ pl w for SW557 ranged from 1.005 to 1.008 for 4MV and from 1.010 to 1.015 for 15MV photons and the variation of φ pl w with depth for each beam energy was within ±0.5%. Values of k pl were obtained with a PTW 30013 Farmer-type ionization chamber. The k pl for SW457 ranged from 0.997 to 1.011 for 4-15MV photons. Values of k pl for SW557 were almost unity for 4 and 6MV photons, while in the case of 10 and 15MV photons they were less than 1.006, excepting the build-up region. The measured and calculated k pl values of water to SW557 were in the range of 0.997-1.002 and 1.000-1.006, respectively, for 4-15MV photons, at a depth of 10cm with a source-to-axis distance of 100cm. The measured and calculated k pl values were in agreement within their uncertainty ranges. As a water-equivalent phantom, SW557 can be used with a dosimetric difference within±0.6%, for 4-15MV photons, and is more water-equivalent than SW457 in megavoltage photon beams. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Postglacial uplift of the eastern Gulf of Finland-Lake Ladoga region: models and observations

Science.gov (United States)

Amantov, Aleksey; Fjeldskaar, Willy; Amantova, Marina

2015-04-01

The eastern Gulf of Finland - Lake Ladoga region - is at the peripheral part of the Fennoscandian post-glacial uplift. We compared different modeling results for this region with observations, including our revision of geomorphological traces of paleo shorelevel. As in many parts of the general Baltic-White Sea bedrock lowland at the margin of the Fennoscandian Shield, the bedrock landscape was modified by glaciers, but it was also the major controlling factor for the history of glacial grows and decays. First-order landforms of this segment are: Lake Ladoga-Lake Ilmen lowland, Lembolovo High of the Karelic Isthmus and Neva-Gulf of Finland lowland. The range of the bedrock topography is close to 350 m. The landforms reflect different glacial behavior during stadials, with fast movement and strong erosion in northern Ladoga, but passive motion and accumulation around Lembolovo High. The differences influenced the ice sheet and deglaciation history. The shore level displacements in this area are slightly different than westwards in the Baltic area; the shoreline tilts are usually lower in southern-central part of the eastern Gulf of Finland-lake Ladoga region. For example, the shoreline tilts at 11 600 BP in the Baltic Ice Lake in the south-east range from 0.55 to 0.31 m/km. The slope of the Ancylus shoreline varies from 0.12 to 0.18 m/km, increasing to almost the double in the north-western area. Similarly, the Littorina shore level is tilted only 0.08 m/km, rising to 0.14 m/km in the north-west. We have used this data in our high resolution modeling involving glacial isostasy, hydro isostasy, sediment isostasy, and gravity field changes. The mopdeling is based on Earth rheology model with a low-viscosity asthenosphere of thickness less than 150 km and viscosity less than 7.0x10**19 Pa s above a mantle of viscosity 10**21 Pa s, and an effective elastic lithosphere thickness of 30-40 km (flexural rigidity 10**24 Nm). The specific uplift features in the area are

SW21 Summary Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juarez, A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-02-10

Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories hosted the tenth annual Strategic Weapons in the 21st Century Conference (SW21) on 21 January 2016 to reinforce the national commitment to leadership and institutional excellence for nuclear deterrence. The event has been successful over the years in drawing together a diverse, high-level group of policy makers and experts from multiple disciplines to engage in informed dialogue on topics related to strategic weapons in national and international security.

Consumer adoption in mobile wallet : a study of consumers in Finland

OpenAIRE

Doan, Ngoc

2014-01-01

The primary objective of this research is to understand about the consumer adoption status of mobile wallet within the research area limited in Finland. It also measures the market situation of mobile consumers toward mobile wallet. Practically, this research will be useful for the business stakeholders of mobile wallet who would like to expand the business to earn more market shares. It is also helpful for individuals such as students to improve the knowledge of mobile wallet which can possi...

Radioactive substances in foodstuffs and drinking water in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vaaramaa, K.; Vesterbacka, P.; Solatie, D. [STUK - Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (Finland)

2014-07-01

The concentrations of radioactive substances in the environment and foodstuffs are continuously monitored in Finland. Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) publishes the annual report of Surveillance of Environmental Radiation which shows the activity levels of artificial radionuclides in Finland. Based on the results the radiation dose to Finnish people is estimated. Natural radioactive elements will be included in the surveillance program in future years. The aim of the foodstuffs monitoring program is to obtain information from the intake of radionuclides through ingestion. The radioactivity in foodstuffs is monitored by collecting foodstuffs on market, drinking water and daily meals offered at hospitals over one week. The sampling sites are located in southern, central and northern Finland, representing the main population centres and areal differences in the consumption of foodstuffs. One of these sampling sites is located in the highest {sup 137}Cs deposition area in Finland originating from the Chernobyl accident. The foodstuff samples on market are, for example, wild game, wild berries, wild mushrooms and fish. {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr are analysed from mixed diet samples and {sup 137}Cs from foodstuffs samples on market. The concentrations of {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr in daily meals are low because the agricultural products used as raw material are almost free of artificial radionuclides. The small variation in the results is caused by the differences in the types of meals that were prepared on the sampling dates and in the areal origins of raw materials. {sup 137}Cs concentration is remarkably higher in such food which contains a lot of natural products like wild berries, freshwater fish, wild mushrooms and game. As an example, the concentrations of {sup 137}Cs in the solid food in 2012 ranged from 0.06 - 1.0 Bq/kg, and in the drinks from 0.27 - 0.40 Bq/l, respectively. The radiation dose to Finnish people is estimated based on an analysis of

Occurrence and mobility of toxic elements in coals from endemic fluorosis areas in the Three Gorges Region, SW China.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Yan; Xiao, Tangfu; Liu, Yizhang; Zhu, Jianming; Ning, Zengping; Xiao, Qingxiang

2017-10-01

Fluorine (F) is a topic of great interest in coal-combustion related endemic fluorosis areas. However, little extent research exists regarding the environmental geochemistry of toxic elements that are enriched in coals and coal wastes in traditional endemic fluorosis areas, particularly focusing on their occurrences and mobilities during the weathering-leaching processes of coals and coal wastes in the surface environment. This paper addressed the issue of toxic elements in coals and coal wastes in the Three Gorges Region, Southwest (SW) China, where endemic fluorosis has historically prevailed, and investigated the distribution, occurrence, mobility features, and associated potential health risks. For this purpose, a modified experiment combined with long-term humidity cell test and column leaching trial was applied to elucidate the mobility of toxic elements in coals and coal wastes. In addition, sequential chemical extraction (SCE) was used to ascertain the modes of occurrence of toxic elements. The results demonstrated that the contents of toxic elements in the study area followed the order: stone coals > gangues > coal balls > coals. Furthermore, modes of occurrence of toxic elements were obviously different in coals and coal wastes. For example, cadmium (Cd) was mainly associated with monosulfide fraction in coals, molybdenum (Mo) and arsenic (As) were mainly associated with carbonate and silicate in coal gangues and stone coals, chromium (Cr) mainly existed in silicate and insoluble matter in coal gangues and coal balls, thallium (Tl) mainly occurred in organic matter in stone coals and sulfide in coals, and the occurrence of antimony (Sb) varied with different kinds of samples. Moreover, a large amount of toxic elements released to the leachates during the weathering and leaching process, which might pollute the environment and threaten human health. Based on the geo-accumulation index (I geo ), single factor index (P i ) and Nemerow index (P N ), soils i n

Peat - The sustainable energy resource in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

In Finland the level of energy consumption for heating, transportation and industry is higher than in many other European countries. This is due to the northern position of the country and also to the fact that Finland is sparsely inhabited. Peat is one of the Finnish domestic energy resources. This brochure provides a compact package of background information on fuel peat. All the data presented concerning the production and use of peat, employment, investments in the peat industry, emission levels resulting from the production and use of peat, new combustion technologies and peatland resources, have been collected from documents and other sources that are accessible to the general public

The reactivation of the SW Iberian passive margin: a brief review

Science.gov (United States)

Duarte, Joao; Rosas, Filipe; Terrinha, Pedro; Schellart, Wouter; Almeida, Pedro; Gutscher, Marc-André; Riel, Nicolas; Ribeiro, António

2016-04-01

On the morning of the 1st of November of 1755 a major earthquake struck offshore the Southwest Iberian margin. This was the strongest earthquake ever felt in Western Europe. The shake, fire and tsunami devastated Lisbon, was felt as far as Finland and had a profound impact on the thinkers of that time, in particular on the Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Kant. The Great Lisbon Earthquake is considered by many as the event that marks the birth of modern geosciences; and made of this region one of the most well studied areas in the world. After the 1755 earthquake, Kant and others authors wrote several treaties dealing with the causes and dynamics of earthquakes and tsunamis and were close to identify some key elements of what we now call plate tectonics. More than two hundred years later, in the year of 1969, the region was struck by another major earthquake. This was precisely during the period in which the theory of plate tectonics was being built. Geoscientists like Fukao (1973), Purdy (1975) and Mackenzie (1977) immediately focused their attention in the area. They suggested that these events were related with "transient" subduction of Africa below Iberia, along the East-West Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. Several years later, Ribeiro (1989) suggested that instead of Africa being subducted below Iberia, it was the West Iberian passive margin that was being reactivated, a process that may, in time, lead to the formation of a new subduction zone. In the turning of the millennium, a subducting slab was imaged bellow the Gibraltar Straits, a remanent of the Western Mediterranean arc system that according to Gutscher et al. (2002) was related with ongoing subduction. Recently, it was proposed that a causal link between the Gibraltar subduction system and the reactivation of the SW Iberian margin might exist. In addition, the large-scale Africa-Eurasia convergence is inducing compressive stresses along the West Iberian margin. The margin

Assuring future competence in nuclear safety in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koskinen, K.

2004-01-01

Full text: Background: Within last few years we have been faced the fact that ageing of experts in nuclear safety field cannot be ignored in Finland. A great number of all experts/specialists with special competence on nuclear safety studied in the early 70's and had their first permanent jobs in the 'golden era' of nuclear power. These experts are going to retire within next ten years. Therefore both the regulatory body and licensees in Finland have the situation where the age distribution of staff member has become distorted. Also the amount of students in universities which have nuclear technology as their major subject has diminished remarkably until the decision of the new nuclear power plant unit in Finland was made in May 2001. After that the amount of students has risen. Assuring competences within the regulatory body STUK adopted the systematic approach to training in early 90's, this method is widely presented in IAEA TECDOC 1254 (2001). However, the very low turnover of staff led to decrease of training needs and therefore also the systematic training efforts decreased. In 2001 a need to restart the systematic approach to assuring competences was identified. To improve competence management at the regulatory body a competence analysis was carried out and a human resource plan for nuclear safety area for the near future was made. Competence analysis is a method which is quite commonly used on public sector and governmental organisations in Finland. STUK studied carefully the models used in other public sector organisations and adjusted the method to its own purposes. The model used has four competence categories: substance related, management skills, common working skills and STUK related working skills. Substance related competences were defined and described at working unit level. Descriptions for the rest three categories were made at STUK level and those were common for all departments. Substance related competencies common to all working at the

[Overexpression of N-myc downstream regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) inhibits proliferation, migration and promotes apoptosis in SW480 rectal cancer cells].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhiqiang; Sun, Yang; Wan, Hongxing; Chai, Fang

2017-01-01

Objective To investigate the role of N-myc downstream regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) gene in the proliferation, migration and apoptosis of rectal cancer cells. Methods Human rectal cancer SW480 cells were cultured and transfected with pCDNA3.1-NDRG2 and empty vector (SW480-Ve). SW480 cells were set as a control group. Cell proliferation was detected in SW480 cells, SW480-Ve cells and SW480-NDRG2 cells by MTT assay; cell migration distance in the three groups at 24, 48, 72 hours was tested by wound healing assay; apoptosis rate was determined in the three groups at 48 hours by flow cytometry; the expressions of Bax, caspase-3, Bcl-2 proteins in the three groups were examined by Western blotting. Results After the cells were cultured for 7 days, cell survival rate in SW480-NDRG2 group was significantly lower than that in SW480 cells and SW480-Ve cells; the cell survival rate decreased gradually with the prolongation of the culture time; and it had no significant difference between SW480-Ve group and SW480 group. Cell migration distance in SW480-NDRG2 group was significantly lower than that in SW480-Ve cells and SW480 cells, and it had also no significant difference between SW480-Ve cells and SW480 cells. The apoptosis rate in SW480-NDRG2 group was significantly higher than that in SW480 group and SW480-Ve group, and SW480 cells and SW480-Ve cells had no significant difference in the rate. The expressions of Bax and caspase-3 proteins in SW480-NDRG2 group were significantly higher than those in SW480 cells and SW480-Ve cells; Bcl-2 protein expression was significantly lower in SW480-NDRG2 group than in SW480 cells and SW480-Ve cells; and the expressions of Bax, caspase-3 and Bcl-2 proteins were not significantly different between SW480 cells and SW480-Ve cells. Conclusion Overexpression of NDRG2 can inhibit the proliferation, reduce cell migration, and promote cell apoptosis by regulating the expressions of Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 proteins in SW480 cells.

Health technology assessment in Finland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mäkelä, Marjukka; Roine, Risto P

2010-01-01

Since the 1990s, health policy makers in Finland have been supportive of evidence-based medicine and approaches to implement its results. The Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment (Finohta) has grown from a small start in 1995 to a medium-sized health technology assessment (HTA) agency,...... findings. The Managed Uptake of Medical Methods program links the hospital districts to agree on introduction of technologies. The Ohtanen database provides Finnish-language summaries of major assessments made in other countries.......Since the 1990s, health policy makers in Finland have been supportive of evidence-based medicine and approaches to implement its results. The Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment (Finohta) has grown from a small start in 1995 to a medium-sized health technology assessment (HTA) agency......, with special responsibility in providing assessments to underpin national policies in screening. External evaluations enhanced the rapid growth. In the Finnish environment, decision making on health technologies is extremely decentralized, so Finohta has developed some practical tools for implementing HTA...

Geographical differences in the prevalence of hypospadias in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aho, Martti Olavi; Koivisto, Anna-Maija; Juhani Tammela, Teuvo Leo; Auvinen, Anssi-Pekka

2003-01-01

Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital anomalies but the etiology is not fully understood. There seem to be genetic, endocrinological, and environmental factors involved. Great geographical variation in the prevalence of hypospadias has been reported both between and within countries. We studied the determinants of geographical variation in the prevalence of hypospadias in Finland. All patients treated for hypospadias in 1970-1996 before the age of 9 years among boys born in 1970-1986 were identified in the national hospital discharge registry. Prevalence of hypospadias was calculated for each of the 355 municipalities in Finland. Demographic data were obtained from Statistics Finland. Association of the explanatory factors with prevalence of hypospadias was assessed using Poisson regression methods. The prevalence of operated hypospadias varied between provinces and between university hospital districts, from a ratio of 0.65 to a ratio of 1.01. An association between the prevalence of hypospadias and the remoteness from the closest city was observed. There was no association with level of education, social class, or occupation. The observed differences in the prevalence of operated hypospadias in Finland may have several explanations. Different levels of ascertainment and both genetic and environmental factors can not be ruled out

IWGFPT/IAEA 13. plenary meeting 21-23 May 1997 country report: Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teraesvirta, R [IVO Power Engineering LTd (Finland)

1997-12-01

Nuclear fuel performance in Finland is discussed, reviewing the following issues: nuclear energy situation in Finland; fuel performance and fuel design; water chemistry; main research and development programmes. 2 refs, 3 figs.

IWGFPT/IAEA 13. plenary meeting 21-23 May 1997 country report: Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teraesvirta, R.

1997-01-01

Nuclear fuel performance in Finland is discussed, reviewing the following issues: nuclear energy situation in Finland; fuel performance and fuel design; water chemistry; main research and development programmes. 2 refs, 3 figs

A Comparative Analysis of Primary Teacher Professionalism in England and Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Rosemary; Vulliamy, Graham; Hamalainen, Seppo; Sarja, Anneli; Kimonen, Eija; Nevalainen, Raimo

2004-01-01

Policy-makers' conceptions of teacher professionalism currently differ markedly in England and Finland. In England they are shaped by agendas associated with the drive to raise standards and "commercialized professionalism" whilst in Finland they are influenced by notions of "teacher empowerment". This article analyses findings…

Business Culture Differences in Communication between Finland and Tunisia

OpenAIRE

Jemaiel, Karima

2013-01-01

The topic for this thesis is the business culture differences in communication between Finland and Tunisia. The business world is increasingly international which means that the business men and women should acknowledge the cultural differences which they are facing when conducting business in a foreign culture. The objective of this thesis was to identify business culture differences between Finland and Tunisia. By identifying the culture differences this thesis was able to find answers...

A Testing Framework for Critical Space SW

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Ignacio; Di Cerbo, Antonio; Dehnhardt, Erik; Massimo, Tipaldi; Brünjes, Bernhard

2015-09-01

This paper describes a testing framework for critical space SW named Technical Specification Validation Framework (TSVF). It provides a powerful and flexible means and can be used throughout the SW test activities (test case specification & implementation, test execution and test artifacts analysis). In particular, tests can be run in an automated and/or step-by-step mode. The TSVF framework is currently used for the validation of the Satellite Control Software (SCSW), which runs on the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellite on-board computer. The main purpose of the SCSW is to control the spacecraft along with its various subsystems (AOCS, Payload, Electrical Power, Telemetry Tracking & Command, etc.) in a way that guarantees a high degree of flexibility and autonomy. The TSVF framework serves the challenging needs of the SCSW project, where a plan-driven approach has been combined with an agile process in order to produce preliminary SW versions (with a reduced scope of implemented functionality) in order to fulfill the stakeholders needs ([1]). The paper has been organised as follows. Section 2 gives an overview of the TSVF architecture and interfaces versus the test bench along with the technology used for its implementation. Section 3 describes the key elements of the XML based language for the test case implementation. Section 4 highlights all the benefits compared to conventional test environments requiring a manual test script development, whereas section 5 concludes the paper.

Fluxes of greenhouse gases CH{sub 4}, CO{sub 2} and N{sub 2}O on some peat mining areas in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nykaenen, H; Martikainen, P J [National Public Health Inst., Kuopio (Finland). Dept. of Biology; Silvola, J; Alm, J [Joensuu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology

1997-12-31

The increase in concentration of greenhouse gases (CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4} and N{sub 2}O) in atmosphere is associated with burning of fossil fuels and also changes in biogeochemistry due to land use activities. Virgin peatlands are globally important stores of carbon and sources of CH4. Peatland drainage changes the processes in carbon and nitrogen cycles responsible for the fluxes of CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4} and N{sub 2}O. Preparing of peatlands for peat mining greatly change their biogeochemical processes. Effective drainage decreases water table and allows air to penetrate deep into peat profile. Aerobic conditions inhibit activities of anaerobic microbes, including the methanogens, whereas aerobic processes like methane oxidation are stimulated. Destruction of vegetation cover stops the carbon input to peat. In Finland the actual peat mining area is 0.05 x 106 hectares and further 0.03 x 106 hectares have been prepared or are under preparation for peat mining. The current total peatland area in the world used for mining is 0.94 x 106 ha and the area already mined is 1.15 x 106 ha. In this presentation fluxes of greenhouse gases (CH{sub 4}, CO{sub 2} and N{sub 2}O) on some mires under peat mining are reported and compared with those on natural mires and with the emissions from peat combustion. (15 refs.)

Fluxes of greenhouse gases CH{sub 4}, CO{sub 2} and N{sub 2}O on some peat mining areas in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nykaenen, H.; Martikainen, P.J. [National Public Health Inst., Kuopio (Finland). Dept. of Biology; Silvola, J.; Alm, J. [Joensuu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology

1996-12-31

The increase in concentration of greenhouse gases (CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4} and N{sub 2}O) in atmosphere is associated with burning of fossil fuels and also changes in biogeochemistry due to land use activities. Virgin peatlands are globally important stores of carbon and sources of CH4. Peatland drainage changes the processes in carbon and nitrogen cycles responsible for the fluxes of CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4} and N{sub 2}O. Preparing of peatlands for peat mining greatly change their biogeochemical processes. Effective drainage decreases water table and allows air to penetrate deep into peat profile. Aerobic conditions inhibit activities of anaerobic microbes, including the methanogens, whereas aerobic processes like methane oxidation are stimulated. Destruction of vegetation cover stops the carbon input to peat. In Finland the actual peat mining area is 0.05 x 106 hectares and further 0.03 x 106 hectares have been prepared or are under preparation for peat mining. The current total peatland area in the world used for mining is 0.94 x 106 ha and the area already mined is 1.15 x 106 ha. In this presentation fluxes of greenhouse gases (CH{sub 4}, CO{sub 2} and N{sub 2}O) on some mires under peat mining are reported and compared with those on natural mires and with the emissions from peat combustion. (15 refs.)

Synthesis and New Observations on Needle Pathogens of Larch in Northern Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Risto Jalkanen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Needle pathogens of larch (Larix spp. in the Nordic countries are under-studied. Their incidence in Finland tends to be low and local, and this may be a function of enemy release, since species of larch were introduced to the region. Here, the ecology and incidence of larch needle pathogens and the abiotic factors that also affect larch in northern Finland are reviewed. Field observations and related laboratory analyses during the past 35 years have mainly been obtained near the Kivalo Research Area within the Arctic Circle, Finnish Lapland. The relatively recent introduction of Hypodermella laricis is a primary focus. This pathogen is not only new to Nordic countries, but can cause severe outbreaks, defoliation and crown-thinning in the canopies of all ages of most planted larch species worldwide. Symptoms of H. laricis clearly differ from those of Mycosphaerella laricina; the latter has affected Larix sibirica at high latitudes for decades. The effects of Meria laricis, Lophodermium laricinum, various rust fungi, and wind and frost are also discussed.

Cooling systems of the resting area in free stall dairy barn

Science.gov (United States)

Calegari, F.; Calamari, L.; Frazzi, E.

2016-04-01

A study during the summer season evaluated the effect of different cooling systems on behavioral and productive responses of Italian Friesian dairy cows kept in an experimental-free stall barn located in the Po Valley in Italy. The study involved 30 lactating dairy cows subdivided into two groups kept in two pens with external hard court paddock in each free stall. The same cooling system was applied in the feeding area in both pens. A different cooling system in the resting area was applied to the two pens: in the pen SW, the resting area was equipped with fans and misters; in the other, there was simple ventilation (SV). Breathing rate, rectal temperature, milk yield, and milk characteristics (fat, protein, and somatic cell count) were measured. Behavioral activities (standing and lying cows in the different areas, as well as the animals in the feed bunk) were recorded. Mild to moderate heat waves during the trial were observed. On average, the breathing rate was numerically greater in SV compared with SW cows (60.2 and 55.8 breath/min, respectively), and mean rectal temperature remained below 39 °C in both groups during the trial (on average 38.7 and 38.8 °C in SV and SW, respectively. During the hotter periods of the trial, the time spent lying indoor in the free stall was greater in SW (11.8 h/day) than SV (10.7 h/day). Conversely, the time spent standing indoor without feeding was greater in SV (4.3 h/day) than SW (3.8 h/day). Milk yield was slightly better maintained during hotter period in SW compared with SV and somatic cell count was also slightly greater in the former. In conclusion, the adoption of the cooling system by means of evaporative cooling also in the resting area reduces the alteration of time budget caused by heat stress.

Intense sea-effect snowfall case on the western coast of Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Olsson, Taru; Perttula, Tuuli; Jylhä, Kirsti; Luomaranta, Anna

2017-07-01

A new national daily snowfall record was measured in Finland on 8 January 2016 when it snowed 73 cm (31 mm as liquid water) in less than a day in Merikarvia on the western coast of Finland. The area of the most intense snowfall was very small, which is common in convective precipitation. In this work we used hourly weather radar images to identify the sea-effect snowfall case and to qualitatively estimate the performance of HARMONIE, a non-hydrostatic convection-permitting weather prediction model, in simulating the spatial and temporal evolution of the snowbands. The model simulation, including data assimilation, was run at 2.5 km horizontal resolution and 65 levels in vertical. HARMONIE was found to capture the overall sea-effect snowfall situation quite well, as both the timing and the location of the most intense snowstorm were properly simulated. Based on our preliminary analysis, the snowband case was triggered by atmospheric instability above the mostly ice-free sea and a low-level convergence zone almost perpendicular to the coastline. The simulated convective available potential energy (CAPE) reached a value of 87 J kg-1 near the site of the observed snowfall record.

Responses of aquatic ecosystems to environmental changes in Finland and China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan eWeckström

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The concern for the state of global freshwater reservoirs has increased due to deterioration of the water quality during the last decades. This has prompted monitoring and restoration efforts such as the European Water Framework Directive and the national-scale 2nd-investigation and monitoring of the water quality, water volume and biota resources in China. The challenge so far has been the determination of the natural state (reference conditions of freshwater ecosystems. We used the sediment archives of five lakes and one brackish water embayment in Finland and China to assess the impact of selected variables of climatology, hydrology, nutrients, and changes in human population on these ecosystems during the last few centuries. The study sites represent catchment areas with varying land use. Despite the long distance between the sites and their different land-use characteristics, the direction and timing of changes during the last few centuries are well comparable between the high latitudes of Finland and the mid-low latitudes of China. This study reinforces the sensitivity of aquatic ecosystems to environmental change and underlines the usefulness of the palaeolimnological approach as a tool for determining reference conditions.

Urban form and greenhouse gas emissions in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harmaajaervi, Irmeli

2003-01-01

Finland's regional form is becoming more concentrated, while urban sprawl is causing growth centres to become fragmented. The effects caused by these changes on greenhouse gas emissions were studied up to the year 2010, when, in accordance with the Kyoto protocol, Finland's greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to the 1990 level. The urban form affects especially transportation inside regions, the potential to utilise district heating and the need for infrastructure. By preventing urban sprawl and by encouraging teleworking and some lifestyle changes, it would be possible to reduce annual transportation emissions by the year 2010 by 1.1 million tonnes CO 2 eq., i.e. 27%, the emissions from residential and service buildings by 1.1 million tonnes CO 2 eq., i.e. 5%, and the emissions from municipal infrastructure by 0.1 million tonnes CO 2 eq., i.e. 6%. Altogether, it is possible to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3 million tonnes, which amounts to 15% of Finland's target for emissions reductions in 2010. If the target-oriented scenario is realised, the subsequent decrease of emissions would accelerate. To stop urban sprawl, measures are required in planning, land use and housing policy as well as in transportation and tax policies. Additionally, more needs to be done in regard to co-operation, interaction and information dissemination. This paper introduces a report which estimates, for the first time, the effects caused by changes in the regional and urban forms on the levels of greenhouse gas emissions in Finland

Studies of quaternary deposits in investigation trench OL-TK17 on the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huhta, P.

2010-06-01

The Quaternary deposits in investigation trench OL-TK17 were studied by the Geological Survey of Finland in summer 2009. Samples for grain size determinations were taken from 13 vertical profiles, placed about 25 m apart along the trench, where bedrock didn't reach surface. Profiles 5 and 6 were done by the side of the trench because of that. Each till bed was sampled separately. The profiles extended from the soil surface down to bedrock. The samples were first dried in the laboratory after which they were sieved. In addition, the grain size distribution of the < 63 μm fraction was analyzed with the Sedigraph 5100 instrument. Sedimentological observations of the sampling profiles were documented in field by drawing them on a field observation form and the profiles were photographed using a digital camera. In addition, the excavated section was photographed along its whole length. The till cover in OL-TK17 consists of two parts. The surface layer of the upper till is oxidized, brown till, whereas the lower layer is unoxidized, grey till. The lower till has been preserved in bedrock depressions. The lower till is compact, dark grey silty till with more than 19 % of clay-size material (under 0.002 mm). The upper till in OL-TK17 was deposited in the last flow phase of the Weichselian continental ice. Bedrock striations indicate that the ice moved in a WNW-ESE direction. The till beds level out the bedrock topography. Weathered, broken bedrock was found in two places at the bottom of the trench near sampling profiles 08, 09 and 10. No signs of postglacial faults were detected either in the tills or in the exposed bedrock. The tills showed no signs of disturbance related to bedrock movements, only icepressed cracks were found in the lower silty compact till over broken bedrock. (orig.)

Transition to distributed energy generation in Finland: Prospects and barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruggiero, Salvatore; Varho, Vilja; Rikkonen, Pasi

2015-01-01

Small-scale distributed energy generation is expected to play an important role in helping Finland increase its energy self-sufficiency. However, the overall strategy to date for promoting distributed energy remains unclear. It is not yet well understood which factors promote the growth of the distributed energy sector and what barriers need to be removed. In this article we present the results of a questionnaire directed at a panel of 26 experts from the distributed energy value chain and 15 semi-structured interviews with industry and non-industry representatives. We investigated, from a sociotechnical transition perspective, the possibilities and challenges of the transition to distributed energy in Finland through 2025. The results show that a shift to a prosperous future for distributed energy is possible if permit procedures, ease of grid connection, and taxation laws are improved in the electricity sector and new business concepts are introduced in the heat sector. In contrast to other European countries, the transition in Finland is expected to take place through a market-based approach favoring investment-focused measures. We conclude that incentive-based schemes alone, whatever they may be, will be insufficient to create significant growth in Finland without institutional change, removal of barriers, and the engagement of key actors. - Highlights: • We examine the possibilities and challenges of the transition to DE in Finland. • Technological niches are emerging both in the heat and electricity sector. • Business model innovation is evident only in the electricity sector. • Removing barriers and developing new business models will accelerate the transition.

CONSIDERATION REGARDING THE TAXATION IN FINLAND AND ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ELENA LUCIA CROITORU

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper shows through comparison, in the first phase, the main features of the tax system focusing on direct and indirect taxes, in Finland and Romania, and then presents an analysis of the evolution of the structure and level of taxes in both countries. Last but not least, is presented an analysis of the level of tax burden and also the factors that influenced the pressure in these two countries. The diversity of the fiscality in Finland and Romania reflecting the political choice of a given moment and is the result of the economic and social structure of each country.

Finland: Scandinavia's top gas user sees demand rising rapidly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nielsen, H.H.

1992-01-01

The rising demand for natural gas in Finland which already uses more gas than any other Nordic country is noted. The natural gas market which is based on sales to large industries and for heating is compared to the market in Denmark which is geared to small private heating customers. Imports of Norwegian gas allowing increased sales for power generation in Finland, and the influence of the impending Finnish application for membership of the EC on the gas market are considered. (UK)

Tree species composition affects the abundance of rowan (Sorbus aucuparia L.) in urban forests in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamberg, Leena; Lehvävirta, Susanna; Kotze, D Johan; Heikkinen, Juha

2015-03-15

Recent studies have shown a considerable increase in the abundance of rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) saplings in urban forests in Finland, yet the reasons for this increase are not well understood. Here we investigated whether canopy cover or tree species composition, i.e., the basal areas of different tree species in Norway spruce dominated urban forests, affects the abundances of rowan seedlings, saplings and trees. Altogether 24 urban forest patches were investigated. We sampled the number of rowan and other saplings, and calculated the basal areas of trees. We showed that rowan abundance was affected by tree species composition. The basal area of rowan trees (≥ 5 cm in diameter at breast height, dbh) decreased with increasing basal area of Norway spruce, while the cover of rowan seedlings increased with an increase in Norway spruce basal area. However, a decrease in the abundance of birch (Betula pendula) and an increase in the broad-leaved tree group (Acer platanoides, Alnus glutinosa, Alnus incana, Amelanchier spicata, Prunus padus, Quercus robur, Rhamnus frangula and Salix caprea) coincided with a decreasing number of rowans. Furthermore, rowan saplings were scarce in the vicinity of mature rowan trees. Although it seems that tree species composition has an effect on rowan, the relationship between rowan saplings and mature trees is complex, and therefore we conclude that regulating tree species composition is not an easy way to keep rowan thickets under control in urban forests in Finland. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The 2005 energy year in Finland: Electricity consumption down

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

Electricity consumption declined by 2.5% in 2005, largely as a result of a six-week labour dispute in the paper indusry and mild weather conditions, according to a report on energy industry develop rents in 2005 published by Finnish Energy Industries. Over the longer term, energy consumption is forecast to grow by close to 2% a year. Water levels in waterways and water systems across the Nordic countries returned to normal in 2005 after a long period of reduced resources, stabilising hydropower output generally Following high levels of electricity exports westwards in 2004, electricity imports from the West reached almost record levels in Finland in 2005. Together with imports from Russia, Finland imported more electricity last year than ever before - and a full fifth of Finland's energy needs were covered by net electricity imports in 2005. Two thirds of imports came from Russia, with imports reaching almost the maximum capacity of the countries' interconnectors

Enhanced surveillance for tuberculosis among foreign-born persons, Finland, 2014-2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Räisänen, Pirre E; Soini, Hanna; Turtiainen, Pirjo; Vasankari, Tuula; Ruutu, Petri; Nuorti, J Pekka; Lyytikäinen, Outi

2018-05-09

Tuberculosis (TB) in foreign-born residents is increasing in many European countries including Finland. We conducted enhanced TB surveillance to collect supplementary information on TB cases among recent immigrants and their children to provide data for revising TB control policies in Finland to take into account the decrease in native cases and increase in foreign-born cases. TB cases were identified from the National Infectious Diseases Register. Data on foreign-born (if not available, most recent nationality other than Finnish) TB cases notified during 2014-2016 (country of birth, date of arrival to Finland, participation in TB screening, date of first symptoms, and details of possible contact tracing) were requested from physicians responsible for regional communicable disease control through a web-based questionnaire. Questionnaires were returned for 203 (65%) of 314 foreign-born TB cases; 36 (18%) were paediatric cases TB was detected in arrival screening in 42 (21%) and during contact tracing of another TB case in 18 (9%); 143 (70%) cases sought care for symptoms or were identified by chance (e.g. chest x-ray because of an accident). Of cases with data available, 48 (24%) cases were diagnosed within 3 months of arrival to Finland, 55 (27%) cases between 3 months and 2 years from arrival, and 84 (42%) cases after 2 years from arrival. Of all the foreign-born cases, 17% had been in a reception centre in Finland and 15% had been in a refugee camp abroad. In addition to asylum seekers and refugees, TB screening should be considered for immigrants arriving from high TB incidence countries, since the majority of TB cases were detected among persons who immigrated to Finland due to other reasons, presumably work or study. Further evaluation of the target group and timing of TB screening is warranted to update national screening guidance.

IAEA Says Finland's Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant Committed to Safety, Sees Areas for Enhancement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2018-01-01

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts said the operator of Finland’s Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) demonstrated a commitment to safety. The team also identified areas for further enhancement. The Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) concluded an 18-day mission on 22 March to Loviisa NPP, whose two 531-MWe pressurized-water reactors started commercial operation in 1977 and 1980, respectively. Fortum Power and Heat OY operate the plant, located about 100 km east of Helsinki, the capital. Nuclear power generates one-third of electricity in Finland, which has four operating power reactors and is constructing a fifth reactor. OSART missions aim to improve operational safety by objectively assessing safety performance using the IAEA’s safety standards and proposing improvement where appropriate. The 16-member team comprised experts from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Russia Federation, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America as well as IAEA officials. The review covered the areas of leadership and management for safety; training and qualification; operations; maintenance; technical support; operating experience; radiation protection; chemistry; emergency preparedness and response; accident management; human, technology and organizational interactions; and long-term operation. The team identified a number of good practices that will be shared with the nuclear industry globally, including: • The plant has developed the capability to automatically calculate leak rate tests of containment. • The plant established a process to test and improve modifications and updates early. • The plant has adopted a key system to effectively control access to various rooms in the plant. The mission made several proposals to improve operational safety, including: • The plant management should improve communications of their expectations and consistently reinforce their

Experiential health from an ageing and migration perspective: the case of older Finland-Swedes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kulla, Gunilla; Ekman, Sirkka-Liisa; Sarvimäki, Anneli

2010-02-01

Research has shown that immigrants and minority groups tend to have a lower health status compared to the majority population. The Finnish immigrants in Sweden are no exception. The Finland-Swedes, i.e., persons living in Finland who have Swedish as their mother language, seem to be an exception, however. They have been found to have better health and longer life expectancy compared to the Finnish majority. Research on health among migrated Finland-Swedes is scarce. The aim of this study was to describe and deepen the understanding of how older Finland-Swedes living as immigrants in Sweden, as well as re-migrants in Finland, experienced their health. Data was collected through 39 qualitative interviews with 29 older Finland-Swedes aged 65 or more. Data was analysed through qualitative thematic content analysis. The analysis resulted in five themes: Ageing means becoming frail and closer to death; Despite frailty and old age it is possible to feel well and experience peace; Being grateful for health as a source of life; Health comes from inner strength and external sources; Migration meant a mental and physical burden to health. Overall, both ageing and migration were experienced as jeopardising health.

Recovery of benthic macrofauna from chronic pollution in the sea area off a refinery plant, southwest Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leppakoski, E J; Lindstrom, L S

1978-05-01

Quantitative field studies on benthic sublittoral macrofauna near an oil refinery in southwestern Finland before and after the installation of a new wastewater treatment plant that reduced the amount of oil and liquid effluents are detailed. The number of species and species diversity increased during the first and second year after pollution abatement at the stations close to the former outflows. Postabatement succession is discussed. The recovery from chronic oil pollution and the degree of ecological damage caused by previous continuous discharge of oil is discussed. (1 diagram, 10 graphs, 4 maps, 33 references, 3 tables)

Superimposing various biophysical and social scales in a rapidly changing rural area (SW Niger)

Science.gov (United States)

Leduc, Christian; Massuel, Sylvain; Favreau, Guillaume; Cappelaere, Bernard; Leblanc, Marc; Bachir, Salifou; Ousmane, Boureïma

2014-05-01

In SW Niger, close to Niamey, a detailed hydrological survey has been developed for the last 20 years (international experiments HAPEX-SAHEL and later AMMA), investigating the distribution of water in atmosphere, surface, soil and aquifers. It covers an area of about 10 000 km2, with a series of imbricated scales of instrumentation, in time and space. This dense long term field observation led to many major scientific results. Among them, one of the most original and paradoxical is the continuous rise of the water table, even during the severe droughts of the 1970s and 1980s (about 3 m in the last 30 years). In spite of a large apparent homogeneity of the biophysical environment throughout the region, numerous heterogeneities exist at different scales, complicating the hydrological analysis. On the surface, the hydrological system was, ~6000 years ago, a structured drainage network leading to the Niger River. It was later broken into much smaller elements by aeolian dunes deposited during arid episodes and the study area now appears as a juxtaposition of hundreds of small endorheic catchments (most often 1 to 20 km2) where the surface runoff finally ends in temporary ponds. During most violent rainy events, erosion can be locally very severe and modify durably the size of the catchment and the local hydrology. Conversely, during smaller rainy events, surface runoff may never reach the ponds because it infiltrates in more permeable zones at mid-slope. The actual surface area of the catchment contributing to the surface runoff thus varies considerably with time. Because of their great number, only a few catchments are instrumented and extrapolation of measurements to ungauged catchments is an additional difficulty. Most of water temporarily stored in ponds infiltrates and recharges groundwater. The Continental Terminal (CT) aquifer system is made of three independent layers, of which the upper one (CT3) is only considered here. The CT aquifer systems is a

Comparative study of teaching content in teacher education programmes in Canada, Denmark, Finland and Singapore

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Jens; Bayer, Martin

2012-01-01

This article presents the results of a comparative study of the content in teacher education programmes for primary and lower secondary teachers (years 1-9(10)) in Canada, Denmark, Finland and Singapore. First and foremost, the study is a comparison between teacher education programmes in......, mathematics, and science. The study does not offer proof of any clear difference between the Danish teacher education programmes and those found in the topperforming countries; differences can be found in certain areas, in other areas there are greater differences between the four individual countries. Three...

The local forest management associations as estimators of the fuelwood market in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salakari, M.

1996-01-01

The Finnish Forest Research Institute inquired of the local forest management associations for their opinions about fuelwood consumption in their area. A further purpose was to establish a register of local fuelwood dealers. According to the inquiry the consumption of fuelwood has increased during the last five years and the increase will continue during the next three years. Although in some areas demand of fuelwood is greater than its supply, principally the fuelwood supply is sufficient. In Finland there seems to be 500 - 550 fuelwood dealers with sales over 50 m 3 /a. Half of them acquired the sold fuelwood from their own farm. (3 refs.)

Patient and population doses of x-ray diagnostics in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rannikko, S; Karila, K T.K.; Toivonen, M

1997-09-01

Periodic surveys of patient and population doses are important because of the large contribution of x-ray diagnostics to the artificial population dose. Measured entrance surface doses and dose-area products are the main quantities used for monitoring patient doses in hospitals, and most population dose studies have been derived from these quantities and from the frequences of x-ray examinations. This study is based on the radiation, exposure geometry, and patient parameters recorded by experienced radiographers and postgraduated students. The software used in the work (ODS-60 of Rados Technology) suits the determination of effective and organ doses from such detailed data using a human-like patient phantom which can be adapted for sex and size. The program, together with the very detailed input data, made it possible to determine organ equivalent and effective doses for complicated dynamic x-ray examinations and interventions in more detail than in previous studies. Collective organ and effective doses were derived for 50 examination types. The annual collective dose from diagnostic x-ray examinations in 1994 was 0.5 mSv per capita in Finland. The five groups of examinations or examinations that had greatest contributions to the collective dose were CT, barium enema: double contrast, lumbar spine, carotid angiography, and intestinal transit. Together they represented for about 60 % of the total dose. The highest dose-area products (about 2000 Gy cm{sup 2}) were obtained from certain angiographic and interventional examinations. A literature survey showed that Finland patient doses are at the same average level as in other countries of a high standard of health care. (orig.). 125 refs.

Patient and population doses of x-ray diagnostics in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rannikko, S.; Karila, K.T.K.; Toivonen, M.

1997-09-01

Periodic surveys of patient and population doses are important because of the large contribution of x-ray diagnostics to the artificial population dose. Measured entrance surface doses and dose-area products are the main quantities used for monitoring patient doses in hospitals, and most population dose studies have been derived from these quantities and from the frequences of x-ray examinations. This study is based on the radiation, exposure geometry, and patient parameters recorded by experienced radiographers and postgraduated students. The software used in the work (ODS-60 of Rados Technology) suits the determination of effective and organ doses from such detailed data using a human-like patient phantom which can be adapted for sex and size. The program, together with the very detailed input data, made it possible to determine organ equivalent and effective doses for complicated dynamic x-ray examinations and interventions in more detail than in previous studies. Collective organ and effective doses were derived for 50 examination types. The annual collective dose from diagnostic x-ray examinations in 1994 was 0.5 mSv per capita in Finland. The five groups of examinations or examinations that had greatest contributions to the collective dose were CT, barium enema: double contrast, lumbar spine, carotid angiography, and intestinal transit. Together they represented for about 60 % of the total dose. The highest dose-area products (about 2000 Gy cm 2 ) were obtained from certain angiographic and interventional examinations. A literature survey showed that Finland patient doses are at the same average level as in other countries of a high standard of health care. (orig.)

Ostreid herpesvirus in wild oysters from the Huelva coast (SW Spain).

Science.gov (United States)

López-Sanmartín, M; López-Fernández, J R; Cunha, M E; De la Herrán, R; Navas, J I

2016-08-09

This is the first report of ostreid herpesvirus 1 microvariant (OsHV-1 µVar) infecting natural oyster beds located in Huelva (SW Spain). The virus was detected in 3 oyster species present in the intertidal zone: Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793), C. angulata (Lamarck, 1819) and, for the first time, in Ostrea stentina Payraudeau, 1826. Oysters were identified by a specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and posterior restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis based on cytochrome oxidase I (COI) mitochondrial DNA. Results confirmed that C. angulata still remains the dominant oyster population in SW Spain despite the introduction of C. gigas for cultivation in the late 1970s, and its subsequent naturalization. C. angulata shows a higher haplotype diversity than C. gigas. OsHV-1 virus was detected by PCR with C2/C6 pair primers. Posterior RFLP analyses with the restriction enzyme MfeI were done in order to reveal the OsHV-1 µVar. Detections were confirmed by DNA sequencing, and infections were evidenced by in situ hybridization in C. gigas, C. angulata and O. stentina samples. The prevalence was similar among the 3 oyster species but varied between sampling locations, being higher in areas with greater harvesting activities. OsHV-1 µVar accounted for 93% of all OsHV-1 detected.

Supply chains of forest chip production in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, Kalle (Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)), e-mail: kalle.karha@metsateho.fi

2010-07-15

The Metsaeteho study investigated how logging residue chips, stump wood chips, and chips from small sized thinning wood and large-sized (rotten) roundwood used by heating and power plants were produced in Finland in 2008. Almost all the major forest chip suppliers in Finland were involved in the study. The total volume of forest chips supplied in 2008 by these suppliers was 6.5 TWh. The study was implemented by conducting an e-mail questionnaire survey and telephone interviews. Research data was collected in March-May 2009. The majority of the logging residue chips and chips from small-sized thinning wood were produced using the roadside chipping supply chain in Finland in 2008. The chipping at plant supply chain was also significant in the production of logging residue chips. 70% of all stump wood chips consumed were comminuted at the plant and 29% at terminals. The role of the terminal chipping supply chain was also significant in the production of chips from logging residues and small-sized wood chips. When producing chips from large-sized (rotten) roundwood, nearly a half of chips were comminuted at plants and more than 40% at terminals

Supply systems of forest chip production in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, K. (Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)), e-mail: kalle.karha@metsateho.fi

2010-07-01

The Metsaeteho study investigated how logging residue chips, stump wood chips, and chips from small-diameter thinning wood and large-sized (rotten) roundwood used by heating and power plants were produced in Finland in 2009. Almost all the major forest chip suppliers in Finland were involved in the study. The total volume of forest chips supplied in 2009 by these suppliers was 8,4 TWh. The study was implemented by conducting an e-mail questionnaire survey and telephone interviews. Research data was collected from March-May, 2010. The majority of the logging residue chips and chips from small-diameter thinning wood were produced using the roadside chipping supply system in Finland in 2009. The chipping at plant supply system was also significant in the production of logging residue chips. Nearly 70 % of all stump wood chips consumed were comminuted at the plant and 28 % at terminals. The role of the terminal chipping supply system was also significant in the production of chips from logging residues and small-diameter wood chips. When producing chips from large-sized (rotten) roundwood, similarly roughly 70 % of chips were comminuted at plants and 23 % at terminals. (orig.)

Supply chains of forest chip production in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, K. (Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)), Email: kalle.karha@metsateho.fi

2009-07-01

The Metsaeteho study investigated how logging residue chips. stump wood chips, and chips from small-sized thinning wood and large-sized (rotten) roundwood used by heating and power plants were produced in Finland in 2008. Almost all the major forest chip suppliers in Finland were involved in the study. The total volume of forest chips supplied in 2008 by these suppliers was 6,5 TWh. The study was implemented by conducting an e-mail questionnaire survey and telephone interviews. Research data was collected in March-May 2009. The majority of the logging residue chips and chips from small-sized thinning wood were produced using the roadside chipping supply chain in Finland in 2008. The chipping at plant supply chain was also significant in the production of logging residue chips. 70% of all stump wood chips consumed were comminuted at the plant and 29% at terminals. The role of the terminal chipping supply chain was also significant in the production of chips from logging residues and small-sized wood chips. When producing chips from large-sized (rotten) roundwood, nearly a half of chips were comminuted at plants and more than 40 % at terminals. (orig.)

Tissue N content and 15N natural abundance in epilithic mosses for indicating atmospheric N deposition in the Guiyang area, SW China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Xueyan; Xiao Huayun; Liu Congqiang; Li Youyi; Xiao Hongwei

2008-01-01

Tissue N contents and δ 15 N signatures in 175 epilithic mosses were investigated from urban to rural sites in Guiyang (SW China) to determine atmospheric N deposition. Moss N contents (0.85-2.97%) showed a significant decrease from the urban area (mean = 2.24 ± 0.32%, 0-5 km) to the rural area (mean = 1.27 ± 0.13%, 20-25 km), indicating that the level of N deposition decreased away from the urban environment, while slightly higher N contents re-occurred at sites beyond 30 km, suggesting higher N deposition in more remote rural areas. Moss δ 15 N ranged from -12.50 per mille to -1.39 per mille and showed a clear bimodal distribution (-12 per mille to -6 per mille and -5 per mille to -2 per mille ), suggesting that there are two main sources for N deposition in the Guiyang area. More negative δ 15 N (mean = -8.87 ± 1.65 per mille ) of urban mosses mainly indicated NH 3 released from excretory wastes and sewage, while the less negative δ 15 N (from -3.83 ± 0.82 per mille to -2.48 ± 0.95 per mille ) of rural mosses were mainly influenced by agricultural NH 3 . With more negative values in the urban area than in the rural area, the pattern of moss δ 15 N variation in Guiyang was found to be opposite to cities where N deposition is dominated by NO x -N. Therefore, NH x -N is the dominant N form deposited in the Guiyang area, which is supported by higher NH x -N than NO x -N in local atmospheric deposition. From the data showing that moss is responding to NH x -N/NO x -N in deposition it can be further demonstrated that the variation of moss δ 15 N from the Guiyang urban to rural area was more likely controlled by the ratio of urban-NH x /agriculture-NH x than the ratio of NH x -N/NO x -N. The results of this study have extended knowledge of atmospheric N sources in city areas, showing that urban sewage discharge could be important in cities co-generic to Guiyang

Social Pedagogy in Finland and Sweden: a comparative analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juha Hämäläinen

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Discussing how the concept of social pedagogy has been used in Finland and Sweden, this paper provides a historical and systemic comparison of policies and practices of social pedagogy in these two countries. The main aim is to identify and explain the main similarities and differences between the Finnish and Swedish national trajectories of social pedagogical thinking and action. In the first phase of the analysis, country-specific features of social pedagogy were described paying attention to historical and structural aspects. In the second phase, these descriptions were compared in a dialogue between the au- thors, one from Finland and the other from Sweden. The dialogue-based comparison was targeted to ex- plain the identified similar and different features of social pedagogical policies and practices. The explanation was based on historical and systemic considerations, especially those of historical development, research activities, theory buildings, methodologies and techniques, professionalization and the practice fields, and the future prospects of social pedagogy.The analysis showed that the historical roots and theoretical foundations of social pedagogical think- ing and action are very similar in Finland and Sweden but the position of social pedagogy  as an academic discipline  as well as a field of practice is partly different. Since social pedagogy has not been acknowl- edged as an academic discipline in Sweden, its outlook as a field of practice is on shaky ground, while in Finland the future of social pedagogy as an academic discipline  is uncertain because the social-peda- gogical know-how based on academic education is not well known and has not found general acceptance in the field’s practice.The analysis showed that the historical roots and theoretical foundations of social pedagogical thinking and action are very similar in Finland and Sweden but the position of social pedagogy as an academic discipline as well as a

Surveillance of environmental radiation in Finland. Annual Report 2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustonen, R.

2001-01-01

The main goal of the surveillance of environmental radioactivity is to be always aware of levels of radiation to which the public is exposed. Another goal is to detect all remarkable changes in levels of environmental radiation and radioactivity. Compliance with the basic safety standards laid down for protection of the health of the general public against dangers arising from ionising radiation can be ensured with environmental radiation surveillance. Running of surveillance programmes on continuous basis also maintains and develops competence and readiness to respond to radiological emergencies. Surveillance of environmental radioactivity in Finland is one of the official obligations of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). This obligation is based on the national and the European Communities' legislation. The Finnish radiation protection legislation appoints STUK as the national authority responsible for surveillance of environmental radioactivity, and the Euratom Treaty assumes continuous monitoring of levels of radioactivity in the air, water and soil in the Member States. In Finland, also the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Defence Forces are monitoring environmental radiation at their own stations. This report summarises the results of environmental radiation surveillance in 2000. The report also contains some comparisons with results from the previous years. The results are collected from monitoring programmes of STUK, FMI and the Defence Forces Research Institute of Technology. Nuclear power plant licensees are responsible for environmental surveillance in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Finland. Those results are reported elsewhere. STUK's partners in surveillance of environmental radioactivity are collecting and delivering samples for laboratory analyses, or are participating in whole-body counting. STUK would like to express its gratitude to the following institutions for the successful co-operation: Defence Forces

Surveillance of environmental radiation in Finland. Annual Report 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustonen, R.

2002-01-01

The main goal of the surveillance of environmental radioactivity is to be always aware of levels of radiation to which the public is exposed. Another goal is to detect all remarkable changes in levels of environmental radiation and radioactivity. Compliance with the basic safety standards laid down for protection of health of the general public against dangers arising from ionising radiation can be ensured with environmental radiation surveillance. Running of surveillance programmes on continuous basis also maintains and develops competence and readiness to respond to radiological emergencies. Surveillance of environmental radioactivity in Finland is one of the official obligations of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). This obligation is based on the national and the European Communities' legislation. The Finnish radiation protection legislation appoints STUK as the national authority responsible for surveillance of environmental radioactivity, and the Euratom Treaty assumes continuous monitoring of levels of radioactivity in the air, water and soil in the Member States. In Finland, also the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Defence Forces are monitoring environmental radiation at their own stations. This report summarises the results of environmental radiation surveillance in 2001. The report also contains some comparisons with results from the previous years. The results are collected from monitoring programmes of STUK, FMI and the Defence Forces Research Institute of Technology. Nuclear power plant licensees are responsible for environmental surveillance in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Finland. Those results are reported elsewhere. STUK's partners in surveillance of environmental radioactivity are collecting and delivering environmental samples for laboratory analyses, or are participating in whole-body counting. STUK would like to express its gratitude to the following institutions for the successful co-operation: Defence

Patterns of Hits to the Nearshore from a Major Fairway in the Gulf of Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Viikmae, B.; Soomere, T.

2012-04-01

The Baltic Sea hosts one of the heaviest ship traffic in the world. Although relatively small in size, still up to 15% of the world's cargo is transported along its numerous fairways. The largest threat to the environment is oil transportation that has increased more than by a factor of two in 2000-2008 and a 40% increase is expected by the year 2015. One of the major marine highways in the European waters enters the Baltic Sea through the Danish Straits, crosses the Baltic Proper and stretches through the Gulf of Finland to Saint Petersburg. An area that is highly vulnerable to ship pollution is the nearshore that usually has the largest ecological value. While the probability of coastal pollution for open ocean coasts can be reduced by shifting ship routes farther offshore, the problem for narrow bays, like the Gulf of Finland, is how to minimize the probability of hitting any of the coasts. To a certain extent, light can be shed to this problem by means of quantification of the offshore areas in terms of their ability to serve a danger to coastal environment if pollution would happen in these areas. A convenient way to address this problem is to use statistical analysis of a large number of Lagrangian trajectories of test particles representing the potential pollution and passively carried by surface currents. In this paper, we make and attempt to quantify the link between potential sources of pollution along an existing fairway and the sections of the coast reached by current-driven pollution. The problem is analysed by means of considering hits to the nearshore from a major fairway in the Gulf of Finland and by making sure whether certain parts of the coast are hit by pollution particles most frequently and whether or not these pollution particles stem from certain specific parts of the fairway. Trajectories are simulated in the Gulf of Finland by placing tracers among a line that follows one of the major fairways from the Baltic Proper to Saint Petersburg

Hot topics in Modern Cosmology - SW9 - Slides of the presentations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berezhiani, Z.; Sigl, G.; Biondi, R.; Volkov, M.; Noller, J.; Starobinsky, A.; Toporensky, A.; Renaux, S.; Pilo, L.; Comelli, D.; Slagter, R.; Novello, M.; Padilla, A.; Antunes, V.; Kamenshchik, A.; Vernieri, D.; Kaloper, N.; Denkiewics, T.; Gohar, H.; Zahariade, G.; Frusciante, N.; Von Strauss, M.

2016-01-01

This 9. Spontaneous Workshop (SW9) brought together specialists on recent insights in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. The aim was to stimulate debate on common topics in views of providing us with innovating ideas. SW9 topics includes: 1) Cosmological parameters - Anomalies in CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background); 2) Dark matter and neutrinos; 3) Gravity - Dark energy; 4) Singular universes; and 5) Cosmological Large Scale Structures - Magnetic Fields; This document is made up of the slides of the presentations

On SW-minimal models and N=1 supersymmetric quantum Toda-field theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mallwitz, S.

1994-04-01

Integrable N=1 supersymmetric Toda-field theories are determined by a contragredient simple Super-Lie-Algebra (SSLS) with purely fermionic lowering and raising operators. For the SSLA's Osp(3/2) and D(2/1;α) we construct explicitly the higher spin conserved currents and obtain free field representations of the super W-algebras SW(3/2,2) and SW(3/2,3/2,2). In constructing the corresponding series of minimal models using covariant vertex operators, we find a necessary restriction on the Cartan matrix of the SSLA, also for the general case. Within this framework, this restriction claims that there be a minimum of one non-vanishing element on the diagonal of the Cartan matrix. This condition is without parallel in bosonic conformal field theory. As a consequence only two series of SSLA's yield minimal models, namely Osp(2n/2n-1) and Osp(2n/2n+1). Subsequently some general aspects of degenerate representations of SW-algebras, notably the fusion rules, are investigated. As an application we discuss minimal models of SW(3/2, 2), which were constructed with independent methods, in this framework. Covariant formulation is used throughout this paper. (orig.)

Contrasting styles of Sn-W mineralisation in peninsular Thailand and SW England

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, D. A. C.

1986-01-01

The Sn-W deposits of SW England and SE Asia are associated with crustally derived granitic rocks with late volatile-enriched (F, Li, B, P) differentiates. In peninsular Thailand, primary ores are principally pegmatitic, and hydrothermal vein systems are only locally important. In SW England, wolframite and cassiterite mainly occur in hydrothermal vein systems, and are associated with greisening and tourmalinisation; mineralised pegmatites are rare. These two styles of mineralisation are thought to arise because of differences in the character of late magmatic processes. In peninsular Thailand, late-stage tourmaline-bearing granitic rocks are enriched in B, but not Li and F, compared to earlier biotite granites. Similar late-stage granitic rocks occur also in SW England, but a later topaz granite, enriched in F, Li and P, also occurs. The Thai pegmatitic Sn-W deposits are thought to have formed by late magmatic crystallisation from an aqueous phase enriched in metals and derived by exsolution from a B and metal-rich magma, whereas the SW England mineralisation involved essentially post-magmatic hydrothermal processes. Complexing agents (especially F) and metals may have been derived from granitic or country rocks during hydrothermal circulation at the current level of emplacement.

Additional nuclear power in Finland; Challenge for economics and financing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raumolin, H.I.

1989-01-01

The overview of energy situation in Finland is presented. Additional base-load power is needed in the second half of the 1990's. The experience of nuclear power including the price of electricity as well as construction and operation of power plants is presented. Challenges for new nuclear power are described. The challenges can be met by utilizing the good experience gained in Finland, as well as the competitive situation on the international market

International Expert Team Concludes IAEA Peer Review of Finland's Regulatory Framework for Nuclear and Radiation Safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

contributing to enhanced safety worldwide through international cooperation. In line with the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety, the mission reviewed the regulatory implications for Finland of the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan. The mission found that STUK's immediate- and longer-term response was timely and effective. Although short-term safety issues were not identified, a number of safety improvements have been initiated and STUK performed extremely well in informing the public. The IRRS team identified a number of areas where the overall performance of the regulatory system could be improved, including: - Although STUK operates in practice as an independent regulatory body, the government should strengthen the legislative framework by embedding in law the regulatory body, separate from entities having responsibilities or interests that could unduly influence its decisions; - The Finnish legislative framework should be further developed to cover authorization for facility decommissioning and the waste repository shutdowns; and - STUK can improve the effectiveness of its inspection activities by enhancing the focus of inspection on the most safety-significant areas and developing a formal qualification programme for inspectors. In its preliminary report, the IAEA team's main conclusions have been conveyed to STUK. A final report will be submitted to the Government of Finland in about three months. STUK has informed the team that the final report will be made publicly available. The IAEA encourages nations to invite a follow-up IRRS mission about two years after the mission has been completed. Background The team reviewed the legal and regulatory framework for nuclear safety and addressed all facilities regulated by STUK with the exception of the research reactor FiR 1, which STUK decided to exclude because the operator is shutting it down. This was the 44th IRRS mission conducted by the IAEA. Quick Facts - Finland has four

Assessing Soil Quality in Areas Affected by Sulfide Mining. Application to Soils in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (SW Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel González

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The characterization, evaluation and remediation of polluted soils is one of the present environmental challenges to be addressed in the coming years. The origin of trace elements in soils can be either geogenic or anthropogenic, but only the latter is interesting from a legal point of view. The hazard of the pollutants in the soils not only depends on their total concentration, but particularly on their availability. The mobility of the trace elements depends on their speciation, and it is also affected by several soil parameters. Mining activity is one of the most important anthropogenic causes of soil pollution. As a case study, this work is focused in the Riotinto mining area (Iberian Pyrite Belt, IPB, SW Spain. The IPB is one of the most important metallogenic provinces in the world and it has been exploited for thousands of years. The disposal of mining residues has produced important sources of contamination by trace elements and acidic waters affecting soils and rivers. In addition to these problems, the closure of mines in the Pyrite Belt at the end of the 20th Century has led to a great loss of employment, which has caused the development of an intensive agriculture of citrus fruits as a new source of income. The intensive growing of citrus fruits and the traditional subsistence agriculture have been developed surrounding the mining areas and on floodplains near to mining sites. The level of soil pollution has not been taken into account in these cases, nor has its impact on the health of the inhabitants of these areas. Therefore, it is of great interest to study the current state of the cultivated soils and the sources and types of contaminants derived from mining activity in order to program its decontamination, where appropriate, according to legislation. In order to know the present and future hazard posed by the soils chemical and mineralogical speciation has been carried out, given that the availability of a metal depends on the

Nuclear energy in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The booklet provides and up-to-date overview of the use of nuclear energy in Finland as well as future plans regarding the nuclear energy sector. It is intended for people working in the nuclear or energy sector in other countries, as well as for those international audiences and decision-makers who would like to have extra information on this particular energy sector. In the booklet nuclear energy is described as part of the Finnish electricity market

Preventing BEPS in Finland

OpenAIRE

Sourinthone, Aksone

2017-01-01

In the recent years, the focus on multinationals’ tax avoidance schemes or Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS) has been increasing constantly. The OECD and the European Commission are working on new tax rulings to counter those harmful practices. The report aims to analyse and assess the anti-BEPS package: what does it contain, how can it be effective on the European level and how is Finland implementing the new recommendations? The analysis was a desktop study: peer-reviewed articles, ...

The nuclear power situation in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miettinen, J.K.

1976-01-01

and's limited choice of energy sources makes nuclear power especially lly attractive and it is estimated that in 1985 14% of the energy consumed will be nuclear, which will then be the second most important source after oil (49%). Four power reactors, Loviisa 1 and 2 and TVO 1 and 2, are at present under construction. The first two are Russian PWRs, the latter two Asea-Atom BWRs. Loviisa 3 and 4 are planned but not yet ordered, and plans for a 1000 MWe plant to the West of Helsinki exist. The nuclear controversy in Finland has mainly been repetitions of the US and Swedish debates since 1970. However, local opposition to the project W. of Helsinki, based on the sociological effects of the inflow of Finnish speaking workers into a rural Swedish speaking district has become apparent. In the long term 13 major nuclear power plants are envisaged by the year 2000. Finland is party to the NPT and the IAEA safeguard system. (JIW)

Radioactivity of household water in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salonen, L.; Saxen, R.

1991-01-01

A nationwide study on artificial and natural radioactivity in household water has been under way in Finland since the 1960s. The occurrence of artificial radionuclides in the surface water of drainage basins has been monitored extensively. The proportion of household water derived from surface waters in Finland is currently 48 %, but its usage is decreasing whereas that of groundwater is increasing at an annual rate of 1 - 2 %. The natural radioactivity of household water has been studied in almost all of the waters distributed by public waterworks and in 5400 private ground water wells. The downward trend in 90 Sr, 137 Cs and 3 H concentrations in surface water continued from the middle 1960s until the Chernobyl accident. After the accident ten different radionuclides were detected in surface waters, but only 137 Cs made a minor contribution the radiation dose. The maximum effective dose via ingestion of water was about 0.001 mSv in 1986, and considerably lower in the following years

From political controversy to a technical problem? Fifteen years of opioid substitution treatment in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Selin, Jani; Hakkarainen, Pekka; Partanen, Airi; Tammi, Tuukka; Tigerstedt, Christoffer

2013-11-01

The aim of the article is to analyze changes in opioid substitution treatments (OST) in Finland. OST spread in Finland in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Phase 1). Since then, OST has become an integrated part of Finnish drug policy and is provided in various substance abuse treatment units as well as in municipal health centers (Phase 2). The paper analyses the policy around the implementation of opioid substitution treatment in Finland, focusing on identifying the key factors and the relations between them that have contributed to the implementation of OST in Finland. OST has become accepted in Finland during the past ten years as a crucial element of a harm reduction strategy. Present incentives behind this development are not as clearly related to drug-specific policies as in the late 1990s; rather, they stem from both the restructuring of health care services (e.g. cost-effectiveness) and the strengthening of the medical or technico-administrative approach to the development of OST. Since the early 2000s, the development of substitution treatment in Finland has not taken place under explicit drug-political guidance, but largely as a result of many differing intended and unintended effects. One of the unintended effects is the fact that buprenorphine has replaced heroin as the most commonly misused opioid in Finland. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dominant petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in the Archipelago Sea in South-West Finland (Baltic Sea) belong to different taxonomic groups than hydrocarbon degraders in the oceans.

Science.gov (United States)

Reunamo, Anna; Riemann, Lasse; Leskinen, Piia; Jørgensen, Kirsten S

2013-07-15

The natural petroleum hydrocarbon degrading capacity of the Archipelago Sea water in S-W Finland was studied in a microcosm experiment. Pristine and previously oil exposed sites were examined. Bacterial community fingerprinting was performed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and samples from selected microcosms were sequenced. The abundance of PAH degradation genes was measured by quantitative PCR. Bacterial communities in diesel exposed microcosms diverged from control microcosms during the experiment. Gram positive PAH degradation genes dominated at both sites in situ, whereas gram negative PAH degrading genes became enriched in diesel microcosms. The dominant bacterial groups after a 14 days of diesel exposure were different depending on the sampling site, belonging to the class Actinobacteria (32%) at a pristine site and Betaproteobacteria (52%) at a previously oil exposed site. The hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the Baltic Sea differ from those in the oceans, where most hydrocarbon degraders belong to Gammaproteobacteria. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Study of the gamma irradiation effects on the PMMA/HA and PMMA/SW

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, P., E-mail: silva@ivic.v [Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Centro de Fisica, Carretera Panamericana Km. 11, Caracas 1020-A (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Albano, C. [Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de Ingenieria (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Centro de Quimica (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Perera, R. [Departamento de Mecanica, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas 1080-A (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Dominguez, N. [Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Centro de Quimica (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of)

2010-03-15

The behavior of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) under the action of gamma radiation has been sufficiently studied. In this work, we present results from melt flow index (MFI), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of PMMA composites with hydroxyapatite (HA) and seaweed residues (SW) irradiated with gamma rays at 1.08 kGy/h. Composites of PMMA/HA and PMMA/SW with 10%, 20% and 30% of the filler were prepared. The results show an increase in the MFI values with the integral dose of radiation, being consistent with chain-scission reactions. No EPR signal was observed in pure PMMA, while in the composites, the typical EPR signal of the PMMA radicals was observed, which increased with the amount of HA or SW. When comparing the relative intensities of the EPR signals for both types of composites, a slight increase in the concentration of free radicals generated in the sample with SW respect to that of PMMA/HA composite was obtained. A decay of the total free radical concentration was observed as time elapsed.

Sr-Nd isotope systematics of xenoliths in Cenozoic volcanic rocks from SW Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kagami, Hiroo; Iwata, Masatoshi; Iizumi, Shigeru; Nureki, Terukazu.

1993-01-01

Based on new and previously published Sr and Nd isotope data, we examined the petrogenetic relationship between deep crust- and upper mantle-derived xenoliths contained in Cenozoic volcanic rocks and Cretaceous-Paleogene granitoid rocks in SW Japan. The deep crust- and upper mantle-derived mafic to ultramafic xenoliths contained in Cenozoic volcanic rocks from SW Japan have comparable initial Sr and Nd isotope ratios to the Cretaceous-Paleogene granitoid rocks in their respective districts. This may suggest that these xenoliths were genetically related to the Cretaceous-Paleogene granitoid rocks in SW Japan, and that regional variations in Sr and Nd isotope ratios observed in the granitoid rocks are attributed to differences in the geochemistry of the magma sources. (author)

Exchange of dose data within nuclear activities in Finland and Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vilkamo, O.; Malmqvist, L.

1988-01-01

In the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, only Sweden and Finland have introduced nuclear power into energy production. The first still operating nuclear power plant was commissioned in Sweden in 1972 and in Finland in 1977. It was soon noticed that there was a growing tendency that small groups of workers used to move at short notice between Finland and Sweden to work in the nuclear power plants in both countries during maintenance periods. In 1983, the regulatory authorities for radiation protection, National Institute of Radiation Protection in Sweden and Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety in Finland, surveyed the radiation exposure to those workers. The authorities have brought about an arrangement by means of which the central dose data bases in the other country since 1984 have been able to record without delay the radiation doses received by her own citizens in the nuclear power plants of the neighbouring country. In addition, the authorities have confirmed the procedures of controlling dose data on workers from the neighbouring country, before those workers start working in a nuclear power plant regulated by the national authorities in question. The paper describes the starting point of the activity, the established practice and the experience achieved. Until now, the practical experiences are positive. The total radiation exposure to the workers in the Swedish and Finnish nuclear power plants has been relatively low at each plant site. Thus, the main objective in the exchange of dose data, is to achieve a good radiation protection control

The Legionella pneumophila IcmSW complex interacts with multiple Dot/Icm effectors to facilitate type IV translocation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric D Cambronne

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Many gram-negative pathogens use a type IV secretion system (T4SS to deliver effector proteins into eukaryotic host cells. The fidelity of protein translocation depends on the efficient recognition of effector proteins by the T4SS. Legionella pneumophila delivers a large number of effector proteins into eukaryotic cells using the Dot/Icm T4SS. How the Dot/Icm system is able to recognize and control the delivery of effectors is poorly understood. Recent studies suggest that the IcmS and IcmW proteins interact to form a stable complex that facilitates translocation of effector proteins by the Dot/Icm system by an unknown mechanism. Here we demonstrate that the IcmSW complex is necessary for the productive translocation of multiple Dot/Icm effector proteins. Effector proteins that were able to bind IcmSW in vitro required icmS and icmW for efficient translocation into eukaryotic cells during L. pneumophila infection. We identified regions in the effector protein SidG involved in icmSW-dependent translocation. Although the full-length SidG protein was translocated by an icmSW-dependent mechanism, deletion of amino terminal regions in the SidG protein resulted in icmSW-independent translocation, indicating that the IcmSW complex is not contributing directly to recognition of effector proteins by the Dot/Icm system. Biochemical and genetic studies showed that the IcmSW complex interacts with a central region of the SidG protein. The IcmSW interaction resulted in a conformational change in the SidG protein as determined by differences in protease sensitivity in vitro. These data suggest that IcmSW binding to effectors could enhance effector protein delivery by mediating a conformational change that facilitates T4SS recognition of a translocation domain located in the carboxyl region of the effector protein.

A preliminary examination of adaption to climate change in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carter, T.R.; Kankaanpaeae, S.

2003-01-01

The global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.6 ± 0.2 deg C during the 20th century and by about 0.7 deg C in Finland over the same period. Most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is thought to be attributable to increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. There is also widespread evidence (including some from Finland) that this warming has already had discernible impacts on many physical and biological systems. Projected future climate changes are expected to have significant adverse effects on natural ecosystems, biodiversity, human health, and flood risk in Finland, while beneficial effects include increased crop yields and timber production and reduced winter energy demand. Worldwide, adverse impacts are expected to fall disproportionately on poorer countries and populations. Regardless of any foreseeable reductions in emissions, some future climate change appears to be unavoidable, so society must be prepared to adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change. Adaptation is thus a necessary complement to mitigation as a policy response to climate change, and has the potential to reduce many of the adverse impacts of climate change and to enhance beneficial impacts. However, understanding of adaptive capacity is relatively poor across all sectors in Finland, and lags behind comparable work in some other countries. In this report a number of research recommendations are suggested to redress this imbalance. (orig.)

DFN Modeling for the Safety Case of the Final Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel in Olkiluoto, Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Vanhanarkaus, O.

2017-12-01

Olkiluoto Island is a site in SW Finland chosen to host a deep geological repository for high-level nuclear waste generated by nuclear power plants of power companies TVO and Fortum. Posiva, a nuclear waste management organization, submitted a construction license application for the Olkiluoto repository to the Finnish government in 2012. A key component of the license application was an integrated geological, hydrological and biological description of the Olkiluoto site. After the safety case was reviewed in 2015 by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland, Posiva was granted a construction license. Posiva is now preparing an updated safety case for the operating license application to be submitted in 2022, and an update of the discrete fracture network (DFN) model used for site characterization is part of that. The first step describing and modelling the network of fractures in the Olkiluoto bedrock was DFN model version 1 (2009), which presented an initial understanding of the relationships between rock fracturing and geology at the site and identified the important primary controls on fracturing. DFN model version 2 (2012) utilized new subsurface data from additional drillholes, tunnels and excavated underground facilities in ONKALO to better understand spatial variability of the geological controls on geological and hydrogeological fracture properties. DFN version 2 connected fracture geometric and hydraulic properties to distinct tectonic domains and to larger-scale hydraulically conductive fault zones. In the version 2 DFN model, geological and hydrogeological models were developed along separate parallel tracks. The version 3 (2017) DFN model for the Olkiluoto site integrates geological and hydrogeological elements into a single consistent model used for geological, rock mechanical, hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical studies. New elements in the version 3 DFN model include a stochastic description of fractures within Brittle Fault Zones (BFZ

Snow bands over the Gulf of Finland in wintertime

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordi Mazon

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Large shore-parallel, quasi-stationary snow bands are occasionally observed over the Gulf of Finland during wintertime when the sea is not frozen. On the basis of Weather Research and Forecasting mesoscale model experiments and radar observations of snow bands formed in January 2006 and February 2012, we show that their dynamics share common characteristics: (1 the sea gulf that produces the known lake effect, (2 cold easterly large-scale flow along the gulf and (3 a cold local flow from the two near and opposite coastlines of Estonia and Finland in the form of two land-breeze cells which collide offshore. The associated fronts, which have strong rising motions, are maintained by the convergence of the land-breeze cells. In addition to these factors, the concave shape of the coast in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland promotes offshore convergence and the formation of several secondary bands of precipitation that are adjacent to the eastern part of the main band. When the easterlies turn to southerlies, horizontal convective rolls appear over the sea. The Estonian land breeze is enhanced while the cold air remains stagnant inland over the Finnish coast, acting as an orographic barrier lifting the marine air mass upwards. Consequently, a line of convective precipitation composed of several cells is formed along the Finnish coast. In both events, the simulations also show two low-level jets generated by the combined effects of the land-breeze cells and baroclinicity over the coast of Finland and Estonia.

Nuclear energy in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

The purpose of the booklet is to provide an up-to-date overview of the use of nuclear energy in Finland as well as future plans regarding the nuclear energy sector. It is intended for people working in the nuclear energy or other energy sectors in other countries, as well as for those international audiences and decision-makers who would like to have extra information on this particular energy sector. Nuclear energy is described as part of the Finnish electricity market. (orig.)

NPPCI activities in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wahlstroem, B.

1986-01-01

Research activities at the Technical Research Centre of Finland in the control and instrumentation field have been directed both towards immediate needs and towards long term goals. The immediate needs have been connected to different ongoing investigations and to development projects in connection with process industry. Of the more long term projects the following can be explicitly mentioned: the Nordic project on human reliability; work on software reliability; design guides for digital CI systems; simulation of technical processes; artificial intelligence in nuclear power

Film-induced Tourism in Finland : Its Current State and Opportunities

OpenAIRE

Anul, Kezban

2013-01-01

The goal of this paper was to evaluate the current state of film-induced tourism in Finland and to create suggestions for further development in the context of international markets. To the knowledge of the author, a comprehensive study about film-induced tourism in Finland has not been undertaken yet. Therefore, the thesis was designed in the form of an exploratory research with the aim to deliver some initial insights and key issues for the broad topic. The paper starts with a general ...

DTP2 Laboratory Situation in Tampere, Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timperi, A.

2006-01-01

Remote Handling is very important technology in the ITER project. Even ITER is regarded as a fairly long project, for the remote handling methods, tools and systems there is not very much development time provided. The technology has to be developed and demonstrated a long before supplied to the site in Cadarache. This is a large challenge, because the complex operations and extremely high reliability requirements. In the end of 2004, the Remote Operation and Virtual Reality Centre (ROViR) was established in Tampere Finland. The start up for this facility creation was an agreement with EFDA to host the Divertor Test Platform 2 (DTP2) in Finland. During the year 2005 the ROViR Centre was put in action. The construction work for DTP2 is currently going on and the platform should be ready for hosting the remote handling development by the end of 2006. After that the laboratory will receive the robots, tools and employees for the DTP2 operation. This abstract will give an overview of the DTP 2 platform in Tampere Finland as well as describe some other projects started in 2005. Presentation describes some problems of the ITER remote handling and tells about the state-of-the-art solutions. It also highlights some of the next tasks after putting the DTP2 platform in action. There are a plenty of tasks in the development of the ITER remote handling, after DTP2 laboratory is established. (author)

University Mergers in Finland: Mediating Global Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Välimaa, Jussi; Aittola, Helena; Ursin, Jani

2014-01-01

University mergers have become a common strategy for increasing global competitiveness. In this chapter, the authors analyze the implementation of mergers in Finnish universities from the perspective of social justice as conceived within Finland and other Nordic countries.

Surveillance of environmental radiation in Finland. Annual Report 2002

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustonen, R.

2003-01-01

The main goal of the surveillance of environmental radioactivity is to be always aware of the levels of radiation to which the public is exposed. Another goal is to detect all remarkable changes in the levels of environmental radiation and radioactivity. Compliance with the basic safety standards laid down for protection of the general public against dangers arising from ionising radiation can be ensured with environmental radiation surveillance. Running of surveillance programmes on a continuous basis also maintains and develops competence and readiness to respond to radiological emergencies. Surveillance of environmental radioactivity in Finland is one of the official obligations of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). This obligation is based on both national and EU legislation. The Finnish radiation protection legislation appoints STUK as the national authority responsible for the surveillance of environmental radioactivity, and the Euratom Treaty assumes continuous monitoring of levels of radioactivity in the air, water and soil in the Member States. In Finland, the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Defence Forces also monitor environmental radiation at their own stations. This report summarises the results of environmental radiation surveillance in 2002. The report also contains some comparisons with results from the previous years. The results are obtained from the monitoring programmes of STUK, FMI and the Defence Forces Research Institute of Technology. Nuclear power plant licensees are responsible for environmental surveillance in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Finland. These results are reported elsewhere. STUK's partners in the surveillance of environmental radioactivity collect and deliver environmental samples for laboratory analyses, or participate in whole-body counting. STUK would like to express its gratitude to the following institutions for successful co-operation: The Finnish Defence Forces, the Finnish

Surveillance of environmental radiation in Finland. Annual Report 2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustonen, R.

2004-01-01

The main goal of the surveillance of environmental radioactivity is to be always aware of the levels of radiation to which the public is exposed. Another goal is to detect all remarkable changes in the levels of environmental radiation and radioactivity. Compliance with the basic safety standards laid down for protection of the general public against dangers arising from ionising radiation can be ensured with environmental radiation surveillance. Running of surveillance programmes on a continuous basis also maintains and develops competence and readiness to respond to radiological emergencies. Surveillance of environmental radioactivity in Finland is one of the official obligations of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). This obligation is based on both national and EU legislation. The Finnish radiation protection legislation appoints STUK as the national authority responsible for the surveillance of environmental radioactivity, and the Euratom Treaty assumes continuous monitoring of levels of radioactivity in the air, water and soil in the Member States. In Finland, the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Defence Forces also monitor environmental radiation at their own stations. This report summarises the results of environmental radiation surveillance in 2003. The report also contains some comparisons with results from the previous years. The results are obtained from the monitoring programmes of STUK, FMI and the Defence Forces Research Institute of Technology. Nuclear power plant licensees are responsible for environmental surveillance in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Finland. These results are reported elsewhere. STUK's partners in the surveillance of environmental radioactivity collect and deliver environmental samples for laboratory analyses, or participate in whole-body counting. STUK would like to express its gratitude to the following institutions for successful co- operation: The Finnish Defence Forces, the Finnish

Natural radioactivity in private wells in Finland. A representative survey 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vesterbacka, P.; Maekelaeinen, I.; Arvela, H.; Tarvainen, T.; Hatakka, T.

2004-05-01

The goal of this study was to obtain a representative estimate on concentration of natural radionuclides in private well water and the radiation exposure from drinking water of people living outside public water supply in Finland. According to earlier studies, the number of private well users in Finland is about 10% of the population. Nonetheless, this group receives more than half of the collective radiation dose due to natural radioactivity in drinking water. In a random sampling study 2,000 persons, not using a public water supply as their drinking water according to the Population Register Centre were selected to the survey. Among subjects who gave their consent, about 500 private well users were selected in the study. Activity concentration of radon ( 222 Rn), radium ( 226 Ra), uranium ( 238 U and 234 U), lead ( 210 Pb) and polonium ( 210 Po), and mass concentration of uranium were determined from 288 drilled wells and 184 wells dug in soil. The concentrations of natural radionuclides were several times higher in drilled wells than in wells dug in soil. The average radon concentration in drilled wells was 460 Bq/l and in dug wells 50 Bq/l. The highest concentrations were found in Southern Finland, in Uusimaa region, and in South-Western Finland. Additionally, occasional high concentrations were found all over Finland. The average uranium concentration in drilled wells was 21 μg/l and in dug wells 1 μg/l. Spatial distribution of uranium was essentially similar to that of radon. The average radium concentration in drilled wells was 0.05 Bq/l and in dug wells 0.02 Bq/l. Unlike radon and uranium, the highest radium concentrations were found in coastal area. The average lead concentration in drilled wells was 0.040 Bq/l and in dug wells 0.013 Bq/l and the average polonium concentration 0.048 Bq/l and 0.007 Bq/l, respectively. Spatial distributions of lead and polonium were similar to that of radon. The average annual effective dose from natural radionuclides for

GPS measurements in Satakunta area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poutanen, M.; Nyberg, S.; Ahola, J.

2010-10-01

The Finnish Geodetic Institute, the Geological Survey of Finland, Posiva Ltd and municipalities in the district of Satakunta launched the GeoSatakunta research program in 2002 to carry out interdisciplinary studies on regional bedrock stress field and to apply the results e.g. in land use planning in the Satakunta area. The area was chosen for many reasons. Its geological diversity, extensive multi-disciplinary data coverage, and various interests of participants made the area suitable for the project. The purpose of the GPS observations is to get detailed information on recent crustal deformations in the area. The Finnish Geodetic Institute maintains e.g. national GPS network, FinnRef, and since 1995 a local research network in the Olkiluoto area. The Satakunta network differs from these, and this is the first time to obtain such detailed information of a regional network in Finland. The Satakunta GPS network consists of 13 concrete pillars for episodic GPS campaigns and the Olkiluoto permanent GPS station in the FinnRef network. The distances between the concrete pillars are 10-15 km, and the sites were chosen in a co-operation with the Geological Survey of Finland taking into account the geological structures in the area. The City of Pori made the final reconnaissance in the field and constructed eight pillars in 2003. The original network was expanded in 2005-2006 in Eurajoki and Rauma, and at the City of Rauma joined the co-operation. The five new pillars join the previous Olkiluoto network into the Satakunta network. There have been three annual GPS campaigns in 2003-2008. Time series of the Satakunta network are shorter than in the Olkiluoto network, and also the distances are longer. Therefore, the same accuracy than in Olkiluoto has not yet achieved. However, mm-sized movements can be excluded. Estimated velocities were small (0.2 mm/a) and mostly statistically insignificant because of relatively short time series. In this publication we describe the

ExternE National Implementation Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pingoud, K; Maelkki, H; Wihersaari, M; Pirilae, P [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland); Hongisto, M [Imatran Voima Oy, Vantaa (Finland); Siitonen, S [Ekono Energy Ltd, Espoo (Finland); Johansson, M [Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki (Finland)

1999-07-01

ExternE National Implementation is a continuation of the ExternE Project, funded in part by the European Commission's Joule III Programme. This study is the result of the ExternE National Implementation Project for Finland. Three fuel cycles were selected for the Finnish study: coal, peat and wood-derived biomass, which together are responsible for about 40% of total electricity generation in Finland and about 75% of the non-nuclear fuel based generation. The estimated external costs or damages were dominated by the global warming (GW) impacts in the coal and peat fuel cycles, but knowledge of the true GW impacts is still uncertain. From among other impacts that were valued in monetary terms the human health damages due to airborne emissions dominated in all the three fuel cycles. Monetary valuation for ecosystem impacts is not possible using the ExternE methodology at present. The Meri-Pori power station representing the coal fuel cycle is one of the world's cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plants with a condensing turbine. The coal is imported mainly from Poland. The estimated health damages were about 4 mECU/kWh, crop damages an order of magnitude lower and damages caused to building materials two orders of magnitude lower. The power stations of the peat and biomass fuel cycles are of CHP type, generating electricity and heat for the district heating systems of two cities. Their fuels are of domestic origin. The estimated health damages allocated to electricity generation were about 5 and 6 mECU/kWh, respectively. The estimates were case-specific and thus an generalisation of the results to the whole electricity generation in Finland is unrealistic. Despite the uncertainties and limitations of the methodology, it is a promising tool in the comparison of similar kinds of fuel cycles, new power plants and pollution abatement technologies and different plant locations with each other. (orig.)

ExternE National Implementation Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pingoud, K.; Maelkki, H.; Wihersaari, M.; Pirilae, P. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland); Hongisto, M. [Imatran Voima Oy, Vantaa (Finland); Siitonen, S. [Ekono Energy Ltd, Espoo (Finland); Johansson, M. [Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki (Finland)

1999-07-01

ExternE National Implementation is a continuation of the ExternE Project, funded in part by the European Commission's Joule III Programme. This study is the result of the ExternE National Implementation Project for Finland. Three fuel cycles were selected for the Finnish study: coal, peat and wood-derived biomass, which together are responsible for about 40% of total electricity generation in Finland and about 75% of the non-nuclear fuel based generation. The estimated external costs or damages were dominated by the global warming (GW) impacts in the coal and peat fuel cycles, but knowledge of the true GW impacts is still uncertain. From among other impacts that were valued in monetary terms the human health damages due to airborne emissions dominated in all the three fuel cycles. Monetary valuation for ecosystem impacts is not possible using the ExternE methodology at present. The Meri-Pori power station representing the coal fuel cycle is one of the world's cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plants with a condensing turbine. The coal is imported mainly from Poland. The estimated health damages were about 4 mECU/kWh, crop damages an order of magnitude lower and damages caused to building materials two orders of magnitude lower. The power stations of the peat and biomass fuel cycles are of CHP type, generating electricity and heat for the district heating systems of two cities. Their fuels are of domestic origin. The estimated health damages allocated to electricity generation were about 5 and 6 mECU/kWh, respectively. The estimates were case-specific and thus an generalisation of the results to the whole electricity generation in Finland is unrealistic. Despite the uncertainties and limitations of the methodology, it is a promising tool in the comparison of similar kinds of fuel cycles, new power plants and pollution abatement technologies and different plant locations with each other. (orig.)

ExternE National Implementation Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pingoud, K.; Maelkki, H.; Wihersaari, M.; Pirilae, P.; Hongisto, M.; Siitonen, S.; Johansson, M.

1999-01-01

ExternE National Implementation is a continuation of the ExternE Project, funded in part by the European Commission's Joule III Programme. This study is the result of the ExternE National Implementation Project for Finland. Three fuel cycles were selected for the Finnish study: coal, peat and wood-derived biomass, which together are responsible for about 40% of total electricity generation in Finland and about 75% of the non-nuclear fuel based generation. The estimated external costs or damages were dominated by the global warming (GW) impacts in the coal and peat fuel cycles, but knowledge of the true GW impacts is still uncertain. From among other impacts that were valued in monetary terms the human health damages due to airborne emissions dominated in all the three fuel cycles. Monetary valuation for ecosystem impacts is not possible using the ExternE methodology at present. The Meri-Pori power station representing the coal fuel cycle is one of the world's cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plants with a condensing turbine. The coal is imported mainly from Poland. The estimated health damages were about 4 mECU/kWh, crop damages an order of magnitude lower and damages caused to building materials two orders of magnitude lower. The power stations of the peat and biomass fuel cycles are of CHP type, generating electricity and heat for the district heating systems of two cities. Their fuels are of domestic origin. The estimated health damages allocated to electricity generation were about 5 and 6 mECU/kWh, respectively. The estimates were case-specific and thus an generalisation of the results to the whole electricity generation in Finland is unrealistic. Despite the uncertainties and limitations of the methodology, it is a promising tool in the comparison of similar kinds of fuel cycles, new power plants and pollution abatement technologies and different plant locations with each other. (orig.)

Towards low energy consumption in Finland - An ecological change in economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sairinen, R.; Jaervilehto, P.

1994-01-01

Per capita energy consumption in Finland is twice the OECD average. Could Finland become a society with low energy consumption? What would that mean and why we need lower energy consumption and higher efficiency? These are questions dealt with in this article. The authors suggest that ecological goals could and should be considered in connection with the necessary changes in the economic structures resulting from the present economic depression. (orig.)

Geological mapping of investigation Trench OL-TK13 at the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Talikka, M.

2007-04-01

Geological mapping of investigation trench OL-TK13 was carried out by the Geological Survey of Finland at the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, as a part Posiva Oy's site investigation programme for the development of an underground repository for nuclear waste. The east-west striking, ca. 250 m long trench is located in the vicinity of boreholes OL-KR23 and OL-KR27, ca. 250 m east of the ONKALO research facility. The mapping was performed from washed bedrock surface and rock types were determined macroscopically. The main rock types in OL-TK13 are diatexitic gneiss, veined gneiss, pegmatitic granite and K-feldspar porphyry. Mica gneiss and granite/granitized mica gneiss exist to a lesser extent. The diatexitic gneiss is the dominant rock type in the western part and the veined gneiss in the eastern part of the trench. The veined gneiss consists of pelitic mica gneiss paleosome and pegmatitic granite leucosome veins that are parallel to the foliation. In the diatexitic gneiss, the proportion of the leucosome veins and patches is over 50 % and the rock has an ambiguous texture. The pegmatitic granite also occurs as wider sections in the western part of the trench. The K-feldspar porphyry is characterized by potassium feldspar phenocrysts (diameter 4 deformation phase. The migmatitic gneisses were folded during the D 3 deformation phase resulting in small scale, tight and asymmetrical F 3 folds plunging moderately to the NE. During the fracture mapping, all fractures longer than one metre and all fractures intersecting the central thread were investigated. Measurements including orientation, length, fillings, Jr-value, Ja-value and undulation were recorded for a total of 860 fractures. The mean fracture density is 3.5 fracture/m. From the orientation data, three fracture sets were identified: (1) fractures parallel to the foliation, (2) subvertical N-S trending factures and (3) fractures dipping steeply to the N. ∼45 % of all fractures are 0.5-1.5 m in length and �

A natural example of fluid-mediated brittle-ductile cyclicity in quartz veins from Olkiluoto Island, SW Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Marchesini, Barbara; Garofalo, Paolo S.; Viola, Giulio; Mattila, Jussi; Menegon, Luca

2017-04-01

Brittle faults are well known as preferential conduits for localised fluid flow in crystalline rocks. Their study can thus reveal fundamental details of the physical-chemical properties of the flowing fluid phase and of the mutual feedbacks between mechanical properties of faults and fluids. Crustal deformation at the brittle-ductile transition may occur by a combination of competing brittle fracturing and viscous flow processes, with short-lived variations in fluid pressure as a viable mechanism to produce this cyclicity switch. Therefore, a detailed study of the fluid phases potentially present in faults can help to better constrain the dynamic evolution of crustal strength within the seismogenic zone, as a function of varying fluid phase characteristics. With the aim to 1) better understand the complexity of brittle-ductile cyclicity under upper to mid-crustal conditions and 2) define the physical and chemical features of the involved fluid phase, we present the preliminary results of a recently launched (micro)structural and geochemical project. We study deformed quartz veins associated with brittle-ductile deformation zones on Olkiluoto Island, chosen as the site for the Finnish deep repository for spent nuclear fuel excavated in the Paleoproterozoic crust of southwestern Finland. The presented results stem from the study of brittle fault zone BFZ300, which is a mixed brittle and ductile deformation zone characterized by complex kinematics and associated with multiple generations of quartz veins, and which serves as a pertinent example of the mechanisms of fluid flow-deformation feedbacks during brittle-ductile cyclicity in nature. A kinematic and dynamic mesostructural study is being integrated with the detailed analysis of petrographic thin sections from the fault core and its immediate surroundings with the aim to reconstruct the mechanical deformation history along the entire deformation zone. Based on the observed microstructures, it was possible to

Glacial rebound and crustal stress in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lambeck, K.; Purcell, A.

2003-11-01

The last ice age of Fennoscandinavia continues to have geological repercussions across Finland despite the last ice having retreated almost 10,000 years ago: land uplift, shoreline retreat, and the stress state of the crust continues to evolve. This report focusses on the glacial rebound signals for Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia and explores the consequences of the ongoing deformation. The rebound signals include the geological evidence as well as instrumental observations: the tide gauge and lake-level measurements of the past century, the changes in geodetic levels recorded in the repeat levelling surveys of the region and the direct measurement of crustal deformation (radial and horizontal) using high-precision space-geodesy measurements. These signals provide constraints on the Earth's rheology, its elasticity and viscosity, and the glacial history of the region. Once observationally constrained, the rebound models are used to predict both the ongoing evolution of shorelines and the changing state of stress within the crust. This report covers: (i) A review of glacial rebound modelling for Scandinavia (Sections 2 and 3). (ii) Review of observational evidence relating to sea-level change and crustal rebound (Section 4). (iii) New earth and ice-sheet model results from the inversion of the geological evidence for sea-level change, including models of shoreline evolution (Sections 5 and 6). (iv) Earth-model results from the inversion of the geodetic evidence for sea-level change (Section 7). (v) Development of crustal stress models for past and present stress states (Section 8). (vi) Conclusions and recommendations (Section 9). Specific conclusions reached pertain to: (i) Thickness of ice cover over Scandinavia since the Last Glacial Maximum, particularly for the Lateglacial period. (ii) Sea-level change and shoreline evolution for the Baltic area since the time the region became ice-free for the last time. (iii) The predicted rates of present-day crustal

Internal radiation doses of people in Finland after the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suomela, M.; Rahola, T.

1997-01-01

After the reactor accident in Chernobyl radionuclides carried by airstreams reached Finland on April 27, 1986. The radioactive cloud spread over central and southern Finland and to a lesser extent over northern Finland. In Helsinki the maximum radionuclide concentrations in air were measured in late evening of April 28. The radioactive cloud remained over Finland only a short time and within a few days the radionuclide concentrations in the air decreased to one-hundredth of the maximum values. Most radionuclides causing deposition were washed down by local showers, resulting in very uneven deposition of radionuclides on the ground. In a addition minor amounts of radioactivity were deposited on Mav 10-12. For internal and external dose estimations Finland was divided into five fallout regions (1-5) according to the increasing 137 Cs surface activity. At first, the short-lived radionuclides as well as 134 Cs and 137 Cs contributed to the external dose rate. Only the long-lived isotopes, 134 Cs and especially 137 Cs, later determined the external dose rates. The regions and corresponding dose rates and deposition categories on October 1, 1987, are shown.To estimate the total dose of the Finnish population from the radionuclides originating at Chernobyl the effective external and internal doses were calculated; the external doses were estimated using the data given. Groups of Finnish people representing the five fallout regions were whole-body counted annually during 1986-1990. The results of these measurements and those of the reference group were used to estimate the internal body burdens and radiation doses from 134 Cs and 137 Cs to the population

Unravelling the role of SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo-Betancor, Sofia; Gansicke, Boris; Long, Knox; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo

2005-08-01

SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables whose properties contradict all predictions made by the current CV evolution theories. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assessment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. There is one particular behavior of the SW Sex stars that can allow us to overcome this problem: SW Sex stars exhibit low states during which accretion onto the white dwarf decreases or shuts off completely. Only during this rare occasions we can directly observe the white dwarf and the donor star in these systems, and measurements of the white dwarf temperature, spectral type of the donor, mass and distance to the system can be carried out. With this aim in mind, we have set up a long-term monitoring of a group of five SW Sex stars using the 1.3 m telescope at CTIO. Here we propose to activate follow-up TOOs to obtain optical spectra of the low states to accurately determine the fundamental properties of these systems.

Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Pellinen, Terhi; Huuskonen-Snicker, Eeva; Olkkonen, Martta-Kaisa; Eskelinen, Pekka

2014-05-01

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been used in Finland since 1980's for civil engineering applications. First applications in this field were road surveys and dam inspections. Common GPR applications in road surveys include the thickness evaluation of the pavement, subgrade soil evaluation and evaluation of the soil moisture and frost susceptibility. Since the 1990's, GPR has been used in combination with other non-destructive testing (NDT) methods in road surveys. Recently, more GPR applications have been adopted, such as evaluating bridges, tunnels, railways and concrete elements. Nowadays, compared with other countries GPR is relatively widely used in Finland for road surveys. Quite many companies, universities and research centers in Finland have their own GPR equipment and are involved in the teaching and research of the GPR method. However, further research and promotion of the GPR techniques are still needed since GPR could be used more routinely. GPR has been used to evaluate the air void content of asphalt pavements for years. Air void content is an important quality measure of pavement condition for both the new and old asphalt pavements. The first Finnish guideline was released in 1999 for the method. Air void content is obtained from the GPR data by measuring the dielectric value as continuous record. To obtain air void content data, few pavement cores must be taken for calibration. Accuracy of the method is however questioned because there are other factors that affect the dielectric value of the asphalt layer, in addition to the air void content. Therefore, a research project is currently carried out at Aalto University in Finland. The overall objective is to investigate if the existing GPR technique used in Finland is accurate enough to be used as QC/QA tool in assessing the compaction of asphalt pavements. The project is funded by the Finnish Transport Agency. Further research interests at Aalto University include developing new microwave asphalt

Dynamics of positional warfare malaria: Finland and Korea compared.

Science.gov (United States)

Huldén, Lena; Huldén, Larry

2008-09-08

A sudden outbreak of vivax malaria among Finnish troops in SE-Finland and along the front line in Hanko peninsula in the southwest occurred in 1941 during World War II. The common explanation has been an invasion of infective Anopheles mosquitoes from the Russian troops crossing the front line between Finland and Soviet Union. A revised explanation is presented based on recent studies of Finnish malaria. The exact start of the epidemic and the phenology of malaria cases among the Finnish soldiers were reanalyzed. The results were compared with the declining malaria in Finland. A comparison with a corresponding situation starting in the 1990's in Korea was performed. The malaria cases occurred in July in 1941 when it was by far too early for infective mosquitoes to be present. The first Anopheles mosquitoes hatched at about the same time as the first malaria cases were observed among the Finnish soldiers. It takes about 3-6 weeks for the completion of the sporogony in Finland. The new explanation is that soldiers in war conditions were suddenly exposed to uninfected mosquitoes and those who still were carriers of hypnozoites developed relapses triggered by these mosquitoes. It is estimated that about 0.5% of the Finnish population still were carriers of hypnozoites in the 1940's. A corresponding outbreak of vivax malaria in Korea in the 1990's is similarly interpreted as relapses from activated hypnozoites among Korean soldiers. The significance of the mosquito induced relapses is emphasized by two benefits for the Plasmodium. There is a synchronous increase of gametocytes when new mosquitoes emerge. It also enables meiotic recombination between different strains of the Plasmodium. The malaria peak during the positional warfare in the 1940's was a short outbreak during the last phase of declining indigenous malaria in Finland. The activation of hypnozoites among a large number of soldiers and subsequent medication contributed to diminishing the reservoir of malaria

How to Apply Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Regional Developments (Case: Ostrobothnia Region of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takala Josu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Nowadays companies concern more about how to survive and extend their own business in future in their current marketplace. However, developing and prospering a region of the country is becoming more crucial question. Successful cooperation and partnership between different sectors of economy (for instance, between companies, public and academic sectors leads to the flourishing and prosperity of the region and consequently of a country. European Commission established smart specialization platform, which is a strategic approach to economic development of a region. By defining and developing of vision, competitive advantages and strategic preferences, region will determine knowledge-based potential. The purpose of this paper is to assign and define the collaboration/relations existed, how strong these relations are and what the expectations are between 3 sectors of economy: public, academic and business. Area of carrying out this research is Ostrobothnia region, however, connections in other regions of Finland and internationally is also presented. There have been chosen 3 industrial peaks from Ostrobothnia region: Energy, Fur and Boat industrial peaks. Analysis is conducted by implementing two core methods: Sense & Respond (S&R and Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA. The goal of this research is also to use S&R method so as to allocate efficiently resources, and to define competitive priorities in cooperation. The main results show that the most tight collaboration and partnership is observed between companies and companies in all around Finland and internationally. While concerning other relationships, companies expect to have tighter cooperation especially in Ostrobothnia and other regions of Finland.

Forest energy project in Central Finland; Keski-Suomen metsaeenergia -projekti

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahokas, M [Association of Central Finland, Jyvaeskylae (Finland); Kuitto, P J [VTT Energy, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

1997-12-31

The Forest Energy Project of Central Finland is one of the topleading regional demonstration project in Finland for testing and studying of the complete energy wood delivery chains and energy wood utilization. It is a large development and technology transfer venture concentrated primarily on practical needs. Total delivery chains are formed of the best machine and method alternatives, and they are also demonstrated. The project offers hence a wide test field for regional and national techno/economical wood fuel development. The target of this provincial project is to collect and demonstrate the most promising energy wood procurement technologies and methods for utilization of energy producers, forest industry and small and medium sized industries co-operating with forest owners, contractors and forest organizations. An essential target of the project is to direct the know-how, concentrated in the project, to development of the energy field. The project is directed to international information delivery, to concrete widening of cooperation, on transfer of testing and training activities and utilization experiences in the field of wood energy. The Forest Energy Project of Central Finland is a demonstration project supervised by the Regional Council of Central Finland. The project is a part of the national Bioenergy Research Programme. A large number of provincial partners interested in wood fuels, e.g. energy wood suppliers, energy producers, communes, forest industry, forestry boards, forestry associations, wood delivery contractors, and equipment producers, take part in the project

Forest energy project in Central Finland; Keski-Suomen metsaeenergia -projekti

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahokas, M. [Association of Central Finland, Jyvaeskylae (Finland); Kuitto, P.J. [VTT Energy, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

1996-12-31

The Forest Energy Project of Central Finland is one of the topleading regional demonstration project in Finland for testing and studying of the complete energy wood delivery chains and energy wood utilization. It is a large development and technology transfer venture concentrated primarily on practical needs. Total delivery chains are formed of the best machine and method alternatives, and they are also demonstrated. The project offers hence a wide test field for regional and national techno/economical wood fuel development. The target of this provincial project is to collect and demonstrate the most promising energy wood procurement technologies and methods for utilization of energy producers, forest industry and small and medium sized industries co-operating with forest owners, contractors and forest organizations. An essential target of the project is to direct the know-how, concentrated in the project, to development of the energy field. The project is directed to international information delivery, to concrete widening of cooperation, on transfer of testing and training activities and utilization experiences in the field of wood energy. The Forest Energy Project of Central Finland is a demonstration project supervised by the Regional Council of Central Finland. The project is a part of the national Bioenergy Research Programme. A large number of provincial partners interested in wood fuels, e.g. energy wood suppliers, energy producers, communes, forest industry, forestry boards, forestry associations, wood delivery contractors, and equipment producers, take part in the project

Visions on energy production technologies for Finland up to 2030

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kara, Mikko

2003-01-01

The energy sector will face major challenges in the coming decades. Global demand for primary energy is continuously increasing, as are its related environmental effects. On the other hand, the limited resources of especially oil and gas will lead to increasing price instability. Deregulation of energy markets is a challenge for the infrastructure. This deregulation is leading to restructuring of the energy market. States and owners of energy companies and energy policy decision-makers will find it difficult to play this double role. At European level and in Finland the biggest challenge is the attainment of the Kyoto target and then further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Renewables, nuclear power and growing imports of natural gas from Russia will play a crucial role in Finland. This presentation focuses on the development of the energy production technologies that are most important for Finland's energy supply and energy technology exports. In order to analyse the possible role of various emerging and evolving technologies in the future energy system of Finland, three scenarios has been created for a comprehensive energy system model. The model is based on a bottom-up, technology oriented representation of the energy system, including both the supply and end-use sector. Mathematically, the model is a quasi-dynamic linear optimisation model that stimulates the behaviour of energy-economic decision-making by minimising the total present value of all costs and other expenditures in the energy system during the entire time horizon under consideration. (BA)

The formation of lipid droplets favors intracellular Mycobacterium leprae survival in SW-10, non-myelinating Schwann cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Song-Hyo; An, Sung-Kwan; Lee, Seong-Beom

2017-06-01

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that is caused by the obligate intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium leprae (M.leprae), which is the leading cause of all non-traumatic peripheral neuropathies worldwide. Although both myelinating and non-myelinating Schwann cells are infected by M.leprae in patients with lepromatous leprosy, M.leprae preferentially invades the non-myelinating Schwann cells. However, the effect of M.leprae infection on non-myelinating Schwann cells has not been elucidated. Lipid droplets (LDs) are found in M.leprae-infected Schwann cells in the nerve biopsies of lepromatous leprosy patients. M.leprae-induced LD formation favors intracellular M.leprae survival in primary Schwann cells and in a myelinating Schwann cell line referred to as ST88-14. In the current study, we initially characterized SW-10 cells and investigated the effects of LDs on M.leprae-infected SW-10 cells, which are non-myelinating Schwann cells. SW-10 cells express S100, a marker for cells from the neural crest, and NGFR p75, a marker for immature or non-myelinating Schwann cells. SW-10 cells, however, do not express myelin basic protein (MBP), a marker for myelinating Schwann cells, and myelin protein zero (MPZ), a marker for precursor, immature, or myelinating Schwann cells, all of which suggests that SW-10 cells are non-myelinating Schwann cells. In addition, SW-10 cells have phagocytic activity and can be infected with M. leprae. Infection with M. leprae induces the formation of LDs. Furthermore, inhibiting the formation of M. leprae-induced LD enhances the maturation of phagosomes containing live M.leprae and decreases the ATP content in the M. leprae found in SW-10 cells. These facts suggest that LD formation by M. leprae favors intracellular M. leprae survival in SW-10 cells, which leads to the logical conclusion that M.leprae-infected SW-10 cells can be a new model for investigating the interaction of M.leprae with non-myelinating Schwann cells.

Distributed power-law seismicity changes and crustal deformation in the SW Hellenic ARC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Tzanis

2003-01-01

Full Text Available A region of definite accelerating seismic release rates has been identified at the SW Hellenic Arc and Trench system, of Peloponnesus, and to the south-west of the island of Kythera (Greece. The identification was made after detailed, parametric time-to-failure modelling on a 0.1° square grid over the area 20° E – 27° E and 34° N–38° N. The observations are strongly suggestive of terminal-stage critical point behaviour (critical exponent of the order of 0.25, leading to a large earthquake with magnitude 7.1 ± 0.4, to occur at time 2003.6 ± 0.6. In addition to the region of accelerating seismic release rates, an adjacent region of decelerating seismicity was also observed. The acceleration/deceleration pattern appears in such a well structured and organised manner, which is strongly suggestive of a causal relationship. An explanation may be that the observed characteristics of distributed power-law seismicity changes may be produced by stress transfer from a fault, to a region already subjected to stress inhomogeneities, i.e. a region defined by the stress field required to rupture a fault with a specified size, orientation and rake. Around a fault that is going to rupture, there are bright spots (regions of increasing stress and stress shadows (regions relaxing stress; whereas acceleration may be observed in bright spots, deceleration may be expected in the shadows. We concluded that the observed seismic release patterns can possibly be explained with a family of NE-SW oriented, left-lateral, strike-slip to oblique-slip faults, located to the SW of Kythera and Antikythera and capable of producing earthquakes with magnitudes MS ~ 7. Time-to-failure modelling and empirical analysis of earthquakes in the stress bright spots yield a critical exponent of the order 0.25 as expected from theory, and a predicted magnitude and critical time perfectly consistent with the figures given above. Although we have determined an approximate location

Factors Associated with Occupational Stress among University Teachers in Pakistan and Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naima Akhtar Malik

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The study examines the interplay of psychosocial factors and works conditions on occupational stress among 531 university teachers in Pakistan and Finland with the help of a web-based questionnaire. Results from an MANOVA revealed that good working conditions, social support at work, and promotion and development opportunities were rated as significantly better by the Finnish sample. Workplace bullying occurred considerably less often in Finland than in Pakistan. Male Pakistani teachers reported significantly higher levels of workplace bullying than any other group. Although the working conditions, social support, and promotion and development opportunities were better, and less bullying appeared in Finland than in Pakistan, but the difference in stress symptoms between the two countries was not significant.

Business models of heat entrepreneurship in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okkonen, Lasse; Suhonen, Niko

2010-01-01

This paper presents the business models of small-scale heat energy production in Finland. Firstly, the development of heat entrepreneurship in the country is presented, including the remarkable growth of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the last 15 years. Secondly, the concept of business model (business architecture of product/service flows and earning logics) is modified to the framework of wood heat production. The business model concept, and its sub-concepts, is applied in a brief review of current heat energy businesses in Finland. We arrive at a business model of heat entrepreneurships that are public companies/utilities, public-private partnerships, private companies and cooperatives, Energy Saving Company (ESCO), network model of large enterprise and franchising. Descriptive cases of these models are presented. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion on the applicability of the business models in different operational environments and geographical contexts.

Business models of heat entrepreneurship in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Okkonen, Lasse [North Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Yliopistokatu 6, FI-80100 Joensuu (Finland); Suhonen, Niko [University of Eastern Finland, Department of Law, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu (Finland)

2010-07-15

This paper presents the business models of small-scale heat energy production in Finland. Firstly, the development of heat entrepreneurship in the country is presented, including the remarkable growth of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the last 15 years. Secondly, the concept of business model (business architecture of product/service flows and earning logics) is modified to the framework of wood heat production. The business model concept, and its sub-concepts, is applied in a brief review of current heat energy businesses in Finland. We arrive at a business model of heat entrepreneurships that are public companies/utilities, public-private partnerships, private companies and cooperatives, Energy Saving Company (ESCO), network model of large enterprise and franchising. Descriptive cases of these models are presented. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion on the applicability of the business models in different operational environments and geographical contexts. (author)

Sweden, Finland and the German energy policy turnaround; Schweden, Finnland und die deutsche Energiewende

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fjaestad, Maja [Royal Institute for Technology (KTH), Stockholm (Sweden); Hakkarainen, Petri [Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam (Germany)

2013-03-15

After the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima Finland and Sweden have chosen completely different paths compared to Germany: both countries plan to build new nuclear power plants. The contribution discusses the historical development of nuclear power in these countries. In Sweden a political polarization exists between those who want to use renewable energies and those who expect increasing greenhouse gas emissions in case of nuclear power phaseout. In Finland no important anti-nuclear movement has been formed. The authors do not expect a change of policy in Sweden and Finland.

Impact of sea-level rise on earthquake and landslide triggering offshore the Alentejo margin (SW Iberia)

Science.gov (United States)

Neves, M. C.; Roque, C.; Luttrell, K. M.; Vázquez, J. T.; Alonso, B.

2016-12-01

Earthquakes and submarine landslides are recurrent and widespread manifestations of fault activity offshore SW Iberia. The present work tests the effects of sea-level rise on offshore fault systems using Coulomb stress change calculations across the Alentejo margin. Large-scale faults capable of generating large earthquakes and tsunamis in the region, especially NE-SW trending thrusts and WNW-ESE trending dextral strike-slip faults imaged at basement depths, are either blocked or unaffected by flexural effects related to sea-level changes. Large-magnitude earthquakes occurring along these structures may, therefore, be less frequent during periods of sea-level rise. In contrast, sea-level rise promotes shallow fault ruptures within the sedimentary sequence along the continental slope and upper rise within distances of failures may either increase (if triggered by shallow fault ruptures) or decrease (if triggered by deep fault ruptures) as a result of sea-level rise. Moreover, observations of slope failures affecting the area of the Sines contourite drift highlight the role of sediment properties as preconditioning factors in this region.

State-Based Curriculum-Making: Approaches to Local Curriculum Work in Norway and Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Mølstad, Christina Elde

2015-01-01

This article investigates how state authorities in Norway and Finland design national curriculum to provide different policy conditions for local curriculum work in municipalities and schools. The topic is explored by comparing how national authorities in Norway and Finland create a scope for local curriculum. The data consist of interviews with…

Limited differences in fish and benthic communities and possible cascading effects inside and outside a protected marine area in Sagres (SW Portugal).

Science.gov (United States)

Gil Fernández, C; Paulo, D; Serrão, E A; Engelen, A H

2016-03-01

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a relatively recent fisheries management and conservation tool for conservation of marine ecosystems and serve as experimental grounds to assess trophic cascade effects in areas were fishing is restricted to some extent. A series of descriptive field studies were performed to assess fish and benthic communities between two areas within a newly established MPA in SW Portugal. We characterized benthic macroalgal composition and determined the size, density and biomass of the main benthic predatory and herbivorous fish species as well as the main benthic herbivorous invertebrates to assess indications of top-down control on the phytobenthic assemblages. Fish species were identical inside and outside the MPA, in both cases Sarpa salpa was the most abundant fish herbivore and Diplodus spp. accounted for the great majority of the benthic predators. However, size and biomass of D. spp. were higher inside than outside the MPA. The main herbivorous invertebrate was the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, which was smaller and predominantly showing a crevice-dwelling behaviour in the MPA. In addition, P. lividus size frequency distribution showed a unimodal pattern outside and a bimodal pattern inside the MPA. We found significant differences in the algal assemblages between inside and outside the MPA, with higher abundance of turf and foliose algae inside, and articulated calcareous and corticated macrophytes outside the MPA, but no differences in the invasive Asparagopsis spp. The obtained results show differences in predatory fish and benthic community structure, but not in species richness, inside and outside the MPA. We hypothesize these differences lead to variation in species interactions: directly through predation and indirectly via affecting sea urchins behavioural patterns, predators might drive changes in macroalgal assemblages via trophic cascade in the study area. However due to non-biological differences between the two areas it

The ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of prisons: Carceral geography and home visits for prisoners in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominique Moran

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper argues that the burgeoning sub-discipline of carceral geography needs to pay particular attention to context when theorising carceral space, and that the specific context of Finland offers a new and valuable perspective. Much of the work within this new area of human geography originates in or pertains to the highly incarcerative, or ‘hypercarcerative’ contexts of the US, the UK and the Russian Federation, raising questions over the transferability of theorisations of the carceral to other less carcerative, or actively ‘de-carcerative’ settings. By focussing specifically on one such setting, the low imprisonment context of Finland, this paper discusses Goffman’s ‘total institution’ thesis with reference to the system of ‘furloughs’ or home visits for prisoners. In this paper we explore the extent to which this practice destabilises the inside/outside binary of the ‘total institution’, through the notion of heterotopia.

Japanese tourists in Finland, Estonia and Latvia – a literature review

OpenAIRE

Suvanto, Hannele; Sudakova, Lea; Kattai, Kaili; Grīnberga-Zālīte, Gunta; Bulderberga, Zane

2017-01-01

Based on the results of this literature survey, it can be concluded that the following points are especially interesting from the perspective of rural tourism in Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Characteristics of Japanese tourists Most spend a lot of money but have a short time to spend it. Men have especially short holidays, staying around three nights. The location of Finland is crucial (airport in Helsinki and stopovers) and proximity to Estonia and Latvia convenient. Travel is mainly...

Compaction and evolution of rock properties and rock physics diagnostics of Albatross discovery, SW Barents Sea

OpenAIRE

Butt, Arif

2012-01-01

The Albatross discovery is located approximately 140 km northwest of Hammerfest (city of midnight sun), Norway in the central part of Hammerfest Basin, SW Barents Sea. The Albatross discovery included within Snøhvit field development project (the first gas development project in the Barents Sea) with two other discoveries, Snøhvit and Askeladd, in the area. The reservoirs contain gas and condensate in the Lower and Middle Jurassic sandstones of the Stø Formation. The study focuses compaction ...

Different Labelling of Obstructive Airway Diseases in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pallasaho, Paula; Meren, Mari; Raukas-Kivioja, Aet; Roenmark, Eva

2005-01-01

Large differences in prevalence of asthma have been reported between westernised countries and the former Eastern European countries, and still no consensus about the reasons for the differences exists. The aim of this study was to assess diagnostic labelling of obstructive airway diseases, comparing subjects with respiratory symptoms and the diagnoses obtained in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden. A postal questionnaire was sent to population-based random samples, and 44,483 (76%) answers were obtained from the 58,661 invited in 1996. Among men, current smoking was most common in Estonia, 60%, followed by Finland, 39%, and Sweden, 28%. In all three countries, 30% of women were current smokers. Most respiratory symptoms including wheezing were most common in Estonia, also among non-smokers. The prevalence of asthma was 2.0% and chronic bronchitis 10.7% in Estonia, while the opposite was found in Sweden with an asthma prevalence of 7.8% and a chronic bronchitis prevalence of 3.1%. The pattern in Finland was similar to that of Sweden. The same differences between the three countries were found also among young subjects. The total proportion of diagnosed obstructive lung diseases in subjects with respiratory symptoms was similar, but the diagnosis of asthma was considerably more common in Finland and Sweden. Chronic bronchitis was favoured in Estonia, also among young adults irrespectively of what symptoms were present. In a multivariate model with correction for confounders, the risk (OR) for having a diagnosis of asthma was 5.65 (95% CI: 4.86-6.56) when living in Sweden, and 3.51 (95% CI: 3.00-4.12) in Finland, whereas risk for chronic bronchitis was 0.28 (0.25-0.31) and 0.22 (0.19-0.25), respectively, compared to Estonia. The study indicates differences in diagnostic practices of obstructive lung diseases between the three countries

Green energy products in the United Kingdom, Germany and Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Hast, Aira; McDermott, Liisa; Järvelä, Marja; Syri, Sanna

2014-12-01

In liberalized electricity markets, suppliers are offering several kinds of voluntary green electricity products marketed as environmentally friendly. This paper focuses on the development of these voluntary markets at household level in the UK, Germany and Finland. Since there are already existing renewable energy policies regulating and encouraging the use of renewable energy, it is important to consider whether voluntary products offer real additional benefits above these policies. Problems such as double counting or re-marketing hydropower produced in existing plants are identified. According to our study, the demand varies between countries: in Germany the number of green electricity customers has increased and is also higher than in the UK or Finland. Typically the average additional cost to consumer from buying green electricity product instead of standard electricity product is in the range of 0-5% in all studied countries, although the level of price premium depends on several factors like electricity consumption. Case study of Finland and literature show that the impacts of green energy are not solely environmental. Renewable energy can benefit local public policy.

Economic and social aspects of the Chernobyl accident in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blomqvist, L.; Mustonen, R.; Paakkola, O.

1991-01-01

After the Chernobyl accident at no stage did the radiation situation in Finland require actual protective action, such as taking shelter indoors or in civil defence shelters. Civil defence plans for emergency situations include a warning level at 200 μSv/h (population has to stay indoors) and an alarm level at 2000 μSv/h (populaiton has to seek shelter immediately). Both levels are 'at the latest' levels, given as guidance in case regional or local authorities have to make the decision. The highest confirmed gamma radiation reading in Finland was 5 μSv/h. During the first days of the Chernobyl fail-out it also became evident that no large scale restrictions for use of foodstuffs were needed in the Nordic countries. Various mitigating actions were adopted in the days and weeks following Chernobyl, but mostly in the form of recommendations. The situation in Finland can serve to explain the various types of mitigating actions considered, how they were adopted, and to some extent give information on how efficient and how expensive the mitigating actions were

Vectors and transmission dynamics for Setaria tundra (Filarioidea; Onchocercidae, a parasite of reindeer in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuusela Jussi

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent studies have revealed expansion by an array of Filarioid nematodes' into the northern boreal region of Finland. The vector-borne nematode, Setaria tundra, caused a serious disease outbreak in the Finnish reindeer population in 2003–05. The main aim of this study was to understand the outbreak dynamics and the rapid expansion of S. tundra in the sub arctic. We describe the vectors of S. tundra, and its development in vectors, for the first time. Finally we discuss the results in the context of the host-parasite ecology of S. tundra in Finland Results Development of S. tundra to the infective stage occurs in mosquitoes, (genera Aedes and Anopheles. We consider Aedes spp. the most important vectors. The prevalence of S. tundra naturally infected mosquitoes from Finland varied from 0.5 to 2.5%. The rate of development in mosquitoes was temperature-dependent. Infective larvae were present approximately 14 days after a blood meal in mosquitoes maintained at room temperature (mean 21 C, but did not develop in mosquitoes maintained outside for 22 days at a mean temperature of 14.1 C. The third-stage (infective larvae were elongated (mean length 1411 μm (SD 207, and width 28 μm (SD 2. The anterior end was blunt, and bore two liplike structures, the posterior end slight tapering with a prominent terminal papilla. Infective larvae were distributed anteriorly in the insect's body, the highest abundance being 70 larvae in one mosquito. A questionnaire survey revealed that the peak activity of Culicidae in the reindeer herding areas of Finland was from the middle of June to the end of July and that warm summer weather was associated with reindeer flocking behaviour on mosquito-rich wetlands. Conclusion In the present work, S. tundra vectors and larval development were identified and described for the first time. Aedes spp. mosquitoes likely serve as the most important and competent vectors for S. tundra in Finland. Warm summers

The Swedish "People's School" in Finland and the Language Question: Homogenization and Differentiation

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Sven-Erik

2004-01-01

This paper presents an historical overview of issues around the language of instruction and the curriculum of mother-tongue education for the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland during the half-century after the establishment of the public school in 1866. In a linguistic- and culturally-diverse society like that of Finland it has not been…

Estimation of external costs of energy production in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Estlander, A.; Otterstroem, T.

1994-01-01

The goal of the project is to develop a method for estimation of external costs of energy production in Finland. The purpose of the method is to take into account all the most important impacts on health, materials and the environment. The study will assess environmental effects of emissions from Finnish energy production on people and the environment locally (population centres), nationally (Finland) and globally. The different energy production forms to be included in the study are heat and electric energy generated with coal, natural gas, fuel oil and peat (not industry's energy production). Local and national environmental impact assessment is carried out within the Finnish borders. The economic influence of emissions (in particular greenhouse gases) originating outside Finland but with global impact will also be assessed, as far as Finland is concerned. When studying the amounts of emissions the whole fuel chain is taken into account: production, processing or transport, storage in the different stages of the chain of use, and end use. The main components under review are SO 2 , NO x , CO 2 , H x C y , CO, particulates and a couple of heavy metals. In addition. the study considers ozone (O 3 ), which is formed in the atmosphere. The primary monetary valuation method used is the indirect monetarization. which is based on dose-response functions and the use of both market prices and willingness-to-pay assessments. The method to be developed during the project for monetary valuation of effects caused by emissions on health, materials and the environment can be utilized in further monetarization studies. The results of the work can used to assess the profitability of energy production plants and energy companies from the economic point of view

The nucleus in Finland - The second report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aurela, Jorma; Korteniemi, Virpi; Halme-Tapanainen, Kristina

1993-01-01

The Finnish Nuclear Society (FNS) started the distribution of the Nucleus bulletin at the beginning of 1988. The volume of distribution has been extended since, including today nearly 1,000 persons. Both the English and the Finnish version of the bulletin is sent to various opinion leaders of society, i.e. the members of the parliament, ministries, the media, representatives of industry and other decision-makers of the energy field. After the five-year history of the Nucleus in Finland, it is time to look back and sum up the present status of the Nucleus. This report gives a short summary concerning the present distribution and its efficiency, the experiences gained and the influence of the bulletin in Finland. The first questionnaire was sent in November 1988, and the survey was repeated among the Finnish readers of the Nucleus in autumn 1992. The results of the latter survey are given in this report

Image of Finland as a Destination for the Mainland Chinese Tourist

OpenAIRE

Aihaiti, Maierhaba

2014-01-01

China is one of the biggest countries in the world which has a population of nearly 1.4 million people. With help of a steady growth economy, the outbound tourism of China has dramatically increased. Finland as gateway for Chinese tourists to Europe has become a unique destination for them. However, Finland is still relatively unknown and mysterious for most of the Chinese tourists. The aims of this study were to examing how the destination image affects the decision making of mainland Chines...

Viruses and their significance in agricultural and horticultural crops in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. TAPIO

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the plant viruses and virus vectors that have been detected in agricultural and horticultural crop plants and some weeds in Finland. The historical and current importance of virus diseases and the methods used for controlling them in cereals, potato, berry plants, fruit trees, ornamental plants and vegetables are discussed. Plant viruses have been intensely studied in Finland over 40 years. Up to date, 44 plant virus species have been detected, and many tentatively identified virus-es are also reported. Control of many virus diseases has been significantly improved. This has been achieved mainly through changes in cropping systems, production of healthy seed potatoes and healthy stocks of berry plants, fruit trees and ornamental plants in the institutes set up for such production, and improved hygiene. At the present, barley yellow dwarf luteovirus, potato Y potyvirus and potato mop-top furovirus are considred to be economically the most harmful plant viruses in Finland.

Forecasting forest chip energy production in Finland 2008-2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linden, Mikael

2011-01-01

Energy policy measures aim to increase energy production from forest chips in Finland to 10 TWh by year 2010. However, on the regional level production differences are large, and the regional estimates of the potential base of raw materials for the production of forest chips are heterogeneous. In order to analyse the validity of the above target, two methods are proposed to derive forecasts for region-level energy production from forest chips in Finland in the years 2008-2014. The plant-level data from 2003-2007 gives a starting point for a detailed statistical analysis of present and future region-level forest chip production. Observed 2008 regional levels are above the estimated prediction 95% confidence intervals based on aggregation of plant-level time averages. A simple time trend model with fixed-region effects provides accurate forecasts for the years 2008-2014. Forest chip production forecast confidence intervals cover almost all regions for the 2008 levels and the estimates of potential production levels for 2014. The forecast confidence intervals are also derived with re-sampling methods, i.e. with bootstrap methods, to obtain more reliable results. Results confirm that a general materials shortfall is not expected in the near future for forest chip energy production in Finland.

Sterilization in Finland: from eugenics to contraception.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemminki, E; Rasimus, A; Forssas, E

1997-12-01

The purpose of this paper was to describe the transition of sterilization in Finland from an eugenic tool to a contraceptive. Historical data were drawn from earlier reports in Finnish. Numbers of and reasons for sterilizations since 1950 were collected from nationwide sterilization statistics. Prevalence, characteristics of sterilized women, and women's satisfaction with sterilizations were studied from a 1994 nationwide survey (74% response rate). Logistic regression was used for adjustments. In the first half of the 20th century, eugenic ideology had influence in Finland as in other parts of Europe, and the 1935 and 1950 sterilization laws had an eugenic spirit. Regardless of this, the numbers of eugenic sterilizations remained low, and in practice, family planning was the main reason for sterilization. Nonetheless, prior to 1970 not all sterilizations were freely chosen, because sterilizations were sometimes used as a precondition for abortion. Female sterilizations showed remarkable fluctuation over time. Male sterilizations have been rare. The reasons stipulated by the law did not explain the numbers of sterilizations. In a 1994 survey, 9% of Finnish women reported they were using sterilization as their current contraceptive method (n = 189). Compared to women using other contraceptive methods, sterilized women were older, had had more births and pregnancies, and came from lower social classes. Sterilized women were satisfied with their sterilization, but there were women (8.5%) who regretted it. In conclusion, sterilizations have been and are likely to continue to be an important family planning method in Finland. The extreme gender ratio suggests a need for promoting male sterilizations, and women's expressed regrets suggest consideration of a higher age limit.

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Hüsamlar coal seam, SW

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The Ören and Yatağan Basins in SW Turkey host several Miocene coal deposits currently under exploitation for power generation. The present study aims to provide insight into the palaeoenvironmental conditions, which controlled the formation of the Hüsamlar coal seam located in Ören Basin. The coal seam displays ...

Building a new nuclear power plant in Finland? Studies performed. Annex 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patrakka, E.

2002-01-01

The electricity consumption per capita is high in Finland due to the country's industrial structure and to the climatic conditions. Industry consumes 55% of the electricity in Finland. The demand of electricity is expected to grow at a rate of 1.5% a year until 2010, and further at a yearly rate of 1% until 2015. This will require 3800 MW of new generating capacity by 2015. A recent study indicates that in base-load power production in Finland the generating costs of a nuclear plant are the lowest in comparison with generation using coal, natural gas or peat. The difference to coal would be 9%, to gas 18% and to peat 40%. The target for Finland to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the EU burden sharing is 0%. In comparison with business as usual scenarios, however, the reduction need is of the magnitude of 20%, one of the hardest in the EU. Finland already has taken into use the methods, which now are considered essential within the EU for reducing the CO 2 releases. Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) submitted on 15 November 2000 to the Council of State an application for a decision in principle concerning the construction of additional nuclear capacity. The submission of the application is reasoned by the shareholders' need for additional electricity. Furthermore, nuclear power, together with renewable energy sources, makes it possible to comply with the Kyoto protocol commitments. The actual investment decision can be made first after a positive decision in principle has been received from the Council of State and the Parliament. The submission of the application was preceded by a number of studies, the contents of which are summarised. (author)

Tissue N content and {sup 15}N natural abundance in epilithic mosses for indicating atmospheric N deposition in the Guiyang area, SW China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu Xueyan [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002 (China); Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)], E-mail: liuxueyan@vip.skleg.cn; Xiao Huayun [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002 (China)], E-mail: xiaohuayun@vip.skleg.cn; Liu Congqiang [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002 (China); Li Youyi; Xiao Hongwei [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002 (China); Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)

2008-09-15

Tissue N contents and {delta}{sup 15}N signatures in 175 epilithic mosses were investigated from urban to rural sites in Guiyang (SW China) to determine atmospheric N deposition. Moss N contents (0.85-2.97%) showed a significant decrease from the urban area (mean = 2.24 {+-} 0.32%, 0-5 km) to the rural area (mean = 1.27 {+-} 0.13%, 20-25 km), indicating that the level of N deposition decreased away from the urban environment, while slightly higher N contents re-occurred at sites beyond 30 km, suggesting higher N deposition in more remote rural areas. Moss {delta}{sup 15}N ranged from -12.50 per mille to -1.39 per mille and showed a clear bimodal distribution (-12 per mille to -6 per mille and -5 per mille to -2 per mille ), suggesting that there are two main sources for N deposition in the Guiyang area. More negative {delta}{sup 15}N (mean = -8.87 {+-} 1.65 per mille ) of urban mosses mainly indicated NH{sub 3} released from excretory wastes and sewage, while the less negative {delta}{sup 15}N (from -3.83 {+-} 0.82 per mille to -2.48 {+-} 0.95 per mille ) of rural mosses were mainly influenced by agricultural NH{sub 3}. With more negative values in the urban area than in the rural area, the pattern of moss {delta}{sup 15}N variation in Guiyang was found to be opposite to cities where N deposition is dominated by NO{sub x}-N. Therefore, NH{sub x}-N is the dominant N form deposited in the Guiyang area, which is supported by higher NH{sub x}-N than NO{sub x}-N in local atmospheric deposition. From the data showing that moss is responding to NH{sub x}-N/NO{sub x}-N in deposition it can be further demonstrated that the variation of moss {delta}{sup 15}N from the Guiyang urban to rural area was more likely controlled by the ratio of urban-NH{sub x}/agriculture-NH{sub x} than the ratio of NH{sub x}-N/NO{sub x}-N. The results of this study have extended knowledge of atmospheric N sources in city areas, showing that urban sewage discharge could be important in cities co

Finland as a Film-Induced Tourism Destination for Chinese Outbound Tourists

OpenAIRE

Shao, Jiayan

2017-01-01

A new form of cultural tourism called film-induced tourism has developed in the 1990s as a new special travel form. Research shows that film can have a strong influence in tourist decision-making behaviour and films do not only provide short-term tourism revenue but long term prosperity to the destinations. In recent years, the number of Chinese visitors has increased rapidly in Finland. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to explore the poten-tial of Finland as a film location and the o...

Cloud effects on the SW radiation at the surface at a mid-latitude site in southwestern Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Salgueiro, Vanda; João Costa, Maria; Silva, Ana Maria; Lanconelli, Christian; Bortoli, Daniele

2017-04-01

This work presents a study of cloud radiative effects on shortwave (CRESW) radiation at the surface in Évora region (southwestern Europe) during 2015 and a case study is analyzed. CRESW (in Wm-2) is defined as the difference between the net shortwave irradiance (downward minus upward shortwave irradiance) in cloudy and clear sky conditions. This measure is usually used to translate changes in the SW radiation that reaches the surface due to changes in clouds (type and/or cover). The CRESW is obtained using measured SW irradiance recorded with a Kipp&Zonen CM 6B pyranometer (broadband 305 - 2800 nm) during the period from January to December 2015, and is related with the cloud liquid water path (LWP) and with cloud ice water path (IWP) showing the importance of the different type of clouds in attenuating the SW radiation at the surface. The cloud modification factor, also a measure of the cloud radiative effects (CMF; ratio between the measured SW irradiance under cloudy conditions and the estimated SW irradiance in clear-sky conditions) is related with the cloud optical thickness (COT; obtained from satellite data). This relation between CMF and COT is shown for different cloud fractions revealing an exponential decreasing of CMF as COT increases. Reductions in the SW radiation of the order of 80% (CMF = 0.2) as well enhancements in the SW radiation larger than 30% (CMF = 1.3) were found for small COT values and for different cloud fractions. A case study to analyse the enhancement events in a cloudy day was considered and the cloud properties, COT and LWP (from satellite and surface measurements), were related with the CRESW.

An approach to quality classification of deep groundwaters in Sweden and Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laaksoharju, M.; Smellie, J.; Ruotsalainen, P.; Snellman, M.

1993-11-01

In Sweden and Finland high quality groundwater samples are required in the site characterization programmes relating to safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel. SKB (Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co.) and TVO (Teollisuuden Voima Oy, Finland) initiated a cooperative task to critically evaluate the quality of the earlier sampling programmes and to further develop the understanding of quality or representativeness of the groundwater samples. The major aim in this report has been, therefore, to make an attempt to classify groundwaters from site investigations in Sweden and Finland based on quality. Different classification systems have been tested and developed. These can be divided in two main groups; manual methods and computer-based mathematical methods. Manual, statistical, mixing ratio and scoring systems have all been used to illustrate the difficulty in judging groundwater quality. (28 refs., 19 figs., 11 tabs.)

Energy and sustainable development in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

The U.N. World Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 was the origin of the international framework for sustainable development. As a basis for joint, sustainable action by governments, organizations, industries, and the public, the participating countries signed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and drafted the associated action program, Agenda 21. Sustainable development comprises these three determinant factors: - Economy. - Ecology. - Social aspects. This is where entrepreneurial responsibility for society comes in. If industries want to generate overall positive effects, they must be efficient, competitive, and profitable on a long-term basis. Power supply systems meeting the criteria of sustainable development must be reliable, economically viable, socially acceptable, and environmentally compatible. The power supply in Finland is meeting these sustainability requirements in many ways. Finland's electricity supply is decentralized, using a variety of energy sources. Electricity can be generated and made available at low cost. The Finnish power industry is an important employer and a major factor in the economy. Moreover, electricity is generated in advanced types of power plants. In this way, the structure of the Finnish power supply system incorporates important factors of sustainable development. (orig.)

Case study in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santaholma, J.

1993-01-01

The Nuclear Energy act of Finland 1988 provides for the permits and licenses (decision in principle by the government on a new nuclear power plant-project, construction permit by the government, fuel permits by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, operating license by the government) for major nuclear installations. Political consideration from the point of view of the general interest of the society is made by the Government in the decision in Principle. If the decision in Principle is positive, it is subject to ratification by the parliament. In other words, democracy through representation, but not through referendum, is applied

Joint 1D inversion of TEM and MT data and 3D inversion of MT data in the Hengill area, SW Iceland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arnason, Knutur; Eysteinsson, Hjalmar; Hersir, Gylfi Pall [ISOR-Iceland GeoSurvey, Grensasvegi 9, 108 Reykjavik (Iceland)

2010-03-15

An extensive study of the resistivity structure of the Hengill area in SW Iceland was carried out by the combined use of TEM and MT soundings. Joint inversion of the collected data can correct for static shifts in the MT data, which can be severe due to large near-surface resistivity contrasts. Joint 1D inversion of 148 TEM/MT sounding pairs and a 3D inversion of a 60 sounding subset of the MT data were performed. The 3D inversion was based on full MT impedance tensors previously corrected for static shift. Both inversion approaches gave qualitatively similar results, and revealed a shallow resistivity layer reflecting conductive alteration minerals at temperatures of 100-240 C. They also delineated a deep conductor at 3-10 km depth. The reason for this deep-seated high conductivity is not fully understood. The distribution of the deep conductors correlates with a positive residual Bouguer gravity anomaly, and with transform tectonics inferred from seismicity. One model of the Hengill that is consistent with the well temperature data and the deep conductor that does not attenuate S-waves, is a group of hot, solidified, but still ductile magmatic intrusions that are closely associated with the heat source for the geothermal system. (author)

Factors Associated with Occupational Stress among University Teachers in Pakistan and Finland

OpenAIRE

Naima Akhtar Malik; Kaj Björkqvist; Karin Österman (correspondence author)

2017-01-01

The study examines the interplay of psychosocial factors and works conditions on occupational stress among 531 university teachers in Pakistan and Finland with the help of a web-based questionnaire. Results from an MANOVA revealed that good working conditions, social support at work, and promotion and development opportunities were rated as significantly better by the Finnish sample. Workplace bullying occurred considerably less often in Finland than in Pakistan. Male Pakistani teachers repor...

Behaviour of Chernobyl fallout radionuclides deposited on peat and urban surfaces in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reponen, A.

1992-10-01

In the thesis the impact of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident on Finland was studied in three aspects: (1) the areal distribution of Chernobyl fallout in Finland was determined by measuring peat samples, (2) the behaviour of fallout radionuclides was investigated in the combustion of peat in power plants, and (3) the removal rates of fallout radionuclides on urban surfaces were resolved

Surveillance of environmental radiation in Finland. Annual Report 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustonen, R.

2005-07-01

The main goal of the surveillance of environmental radioactivity is to be always aware of levels of artificial radiation in the environment to which the public is exposed. Another goal is to detect all remarkable changes in levels of environmental radiation and radioactivity. Compliance with the basic safety standards laid down for protection of health of the general public against dangers arising from ionising radiation can be ensured with environmental radiation surveillance. Running of surveillance programmes on continuous basis also maintains and develops competence and readiness to respond to radiological emergencies. Surveillance of environmental radiation contains surveillance of artificial radiation and artificial radioactive elements in the environment. Natural radiation and natural radioactive elements are not associated with the surveillance programme, although the greater part of the public exposure to radiation is caused by natural radiation. Exposure to natural radiation is controlled separately if there is reason to suspect that natural radioactive elements cause unusual high exposure to the public (e.g. indoor radon and natural radionuclides in drinking water). Surveillance of environmental radioactivity in Finland is one of the official obligations of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). This obligation is based on the national and the European Communities' legislation. The Finnish radiation protection legislation appoints STUK as the national authority responsible for surveillance of environmental radioactivity, and the Euratom Treaty assumes continuous monitoring of levels of radioactivity in the air, water and soil in the Member States. In Finland, also the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Defence Forces are monitoring environmental radiation at their own stations. This report summarises the results of environmental radiation surveillance in 2004. The report also contains some comparisons with results from the

Drinking, Everyday Life Situations and Cultural Norms in Denmark, Finland and West Germany

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simpura, J.; Fahrenkrug, H.; Hyttinen, M.

1990-01-01

A method called nonactive role-playing, originally developed in social psychology, is applied to illustrate cultural differences with respect to drinking between Denmark, Finland and West Germany. West Germany and Denmark have clearly higher levels of alcohol consumption than Finland, whereas......, heavy-drinking Finns, and ritualistic Germans. Deeper, it seemed that drinking has greatest expressive power in Finland where references to drinking are more frequent and they are used effectively as social markers in the process of events described. In Denmark and Germany, drinking is more self......- evident and is less remarkably used as a carrier of specific cultural meanings. The findings are of interest in considering the nature of the debate on alcohol-related issues in different cultures. Udgivelsesdato: 1990...

Establishment of a Clothing Company in Finland Based on a University Brand Case: LAMK Apparel Company

OpenAIRE

Biliba, Arsenii; Mishchenko, Nikita

2017-01-01

This thesis aims to assist LAMK Apparel Company in its entry into the clothing market, in Finland. Based on country analysis of the two target countries (Russia and Finland), its original business idea is developed together with innovative concepts. Accordingly, the business plan is created to describe an applicable development way for the idea. The authors focus on the process of establishing a clothing company in Finland based on a university brand through the implementation of a business p...

Dental anomalies associated with cleft lip and palate in Northern Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehtonen, V; Anttonen, V; Ylikontiola, L P; Koskinen, S; Pesonen, P; Sándor, G K

2015-12-01

Despite the reported occurrence of dental anomalies of cleft lip and palate, little is known about their prevalence in children from Northern Finland with cleft lip and palate. The aim was to investigate the prevalence of dental anomalies among patients with different types of clefts in Northern Finland. Design and Statistics: patient records of 139 subjects aged three years and older (with clefts treated in Oulu University Hospital, Finland during the period 1996-2010 (total n. 183) were analysed for dental anomalies including the number of teeth, morphological and developmental anomalies and their association with the cleft type. The analyses were carried out using Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. Differences between the groups were considered statistically significant at p values dental anomaly was detected in 47% of the study population. Almost one in three (26.6%) subjects had at least one anomaly and 17.9% had two or three anomalies. The most common type of anomaly in permanent teeth were missing teeth followed by supernumerary teeth. Supernumerary teeth were significantly more apparent when the lip was involved in the cleft compared with palatal clefts. Missing teeth were less prevalent among those 5 years or younger. The prevalence of different anomalies was significantly associated with the cleft type in both age groups. Dental anomalies are more prevalent among cleft children than in the general population in Finland. The most prevalent anomalies associated with cleft were missing and supernumerary teeth.

Special requirements of aquaponics in Finland

OpenAIRE

Soppela, Olli

2016-01-01

This thesis brings together observations about special features that should be taken into consideration when designing the technical aspects of aquaponics practices and production units in Finland. Market demands, water purification and facility temperature control methods; sources of healthy feed and the needs for artificial lighting vary significantly around the globe. The unique combination of climate conditions, legislation and zoological conditions should be taken into consideration whe...

sw-SVM: sensor weighting support vector machines for EEG-based brain-computer interfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Jrad, N; Congedo, M; Phlypo, R; Rousseau, S; Flamary, R; Yger, F; Rakotomamonjy, A

2011-10-01

In many machine learning applications, like brain-computer interfaces (BCI), high-dimensional sensor array data are available. Sensor measurements are often highly correlated and signal-to-noise ratio is not homogeneously spread across sensors. Thus, collected data are highly variable and discrimination tasks are challenging. In this work, we focus on sensor weighting as an efficient tool to improve the classification procedure. We present an approach integrating sensor weighting in the classification framework. Sensor weights are considered as hyper-parameters to be learned by a support vector machine (SVM). The resulting sensor weighting SVM (sw-SVM) is designed to satisfy a margin criterion, that is, the generalization error. Experimental studies on two data sets are presented, a P300 data set and an error-related potential (ErrP) data set. For the P300 data set (BCI competition III), for which a large number of trials is available, the sw-SVM proves to perform equivalently with respect to the ensemble SVM strategy that won the competition. For the ErrP data set, for which a small number of trials are available, the sw-SVM shows superior performances as compared to three state-of-the art approaches. Results suggest that the sw-SVM promises to be useful in event-related potentials classification, even with a small number of training trials.

Interrelationship between core interventions and core competencies of forensic psychiatric nursing in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Tenkanen, Helena; Tiihonen, Jari; Repo-Tiihonen, Eila; Kinnunen, Juha

2011-03-01

The importance of core competencies (CC) and their relationship to core interventions in clinical practice guidelines on schizophrenia (CPGS), and the abilities to master these competencies were studied among registered nurses (RN) and practical mental nurses (PMN) in a forensic psychiatric setting. Data were collected from RNs, PMNs, and managers of all five forensic psychiatric facilities in Finland. The research material was obtained by using a 360-degree feedback method. The response rate was 68% (N = 428). The differences between the nurse groups were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) regarding the importance of and ability to master the following CCs: (1) pharmacotherapy, (2) knowledge in forensic psychiatry and violent behavior, (3) the treatment of violent patients, (4) processing patient's and own emotion, and (5) need-adapted treatment of the patient. Overall, RNs exceeded PMNs in mastering the CCs, however the principles of the CPGS were not achieved within the current resources in Finland. In summary, RNs, rather than PMNs, should be recruited for work in forensic psychiatric nursing, although a considerable amount of specific training would still be required to achieve competence. Implications of our research indicate that all nurses working in this area need to receive further education in forensic psychiatry and in forensic psychiatric nursing. © 2011 International Association of Forensic Nurses.

How Finland Serves Gifted and Talented Pupils

Science.gov (United States)

Tirri, Kirsi; Kuusisto, Elina

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the ways gifted and talented pupils are served in Finland. The trend toward individualism and freedom of choice as well as national policy affecting gifted education are discussed. Empirical research on Finnish teachers' attitudes toward gifted education with respect to the national…

Airborne mapping of radioactive contamination. Results from a test in Finland, RESUME95

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roenning, S.; Smethurst, M.A. [Geological Survey of Norway (Norway)

1997-12-31

The Geological Survey of Norway participated in the exercise RESUME95 (Rapid Environmental Surveying Using Mobile Equipment 95) in Finland, during August 1995. The purpose of the exercise was to 1) test preparedness in the Nordic countries for accidents involving the release and dispersal of radioactive material, 2) compare results from the different teams participating in the exercise, 3) establish routines for the exchange of data and 4) investigate the possibility of international assistance in the event of nuclear accidents. The Geological Survey of Norway carried out a survey over three test areas (area I, II and III). All three areas were contaminated with man made radionuclides in the days following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. The Cesium-137 contamination level was reported to be about 50 kBq/m{sup 2} in area I, and this area was used for calibration. In area II mapping of Cesium-137 ground concentration was carried out. Detection of hidden artificial radiation sources were the main purpose in area III. This report describes the exercise - RESUME95, field operations, calibration, mapping of Cesium-137 ground concentration and detection of hidden point sources. Results are presented as colour maps. (au).

Airborne mapping of radioactive contamination. Results from a test in Finland, RESUME95

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roenning, S; Smethurst, M A [Geological Survey of Norway (Norway)

1998-12-31

The Geological Survey of Norway participated in the exercise RESUME95 (Rapid Environmental Surveying Using Mobile Equipment 95) in Finland, during August 1995. The purpose of the exercise was to 1) test preparedness in the Nordic countries for accidents involving the release and dispersal of radioactive material, 2) compare results from the different teams participating in the exercise, 3) establish routines for the exchange of data and 4) investigate the possibility of international assistance in the event of nuclear accidents. The Geological Survey of Norway carried out a survey over three test areas (area I, II and III). All three areas were contaminated with man made radionuclides in the days following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. The Cesium-137 contamination level was reported to be about 50 kBq/m{sup 2} in area I, and this area was used for calibration. In area II mapping of Cesium-137 ground concentration was carried out. Detection of hidden artificial radiation sources were the main purpose in area III. This report describes the exercise - RESUME95, field operations, calibration, mapping of Cesium-137 ground concentration and detection of hidden point sources. Results are presented as colour maps. (au).

Upwelling characteristics in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) as revealed by Ferrybox measurements in 2007-2013

Science.gov (United States)

Kikas, Villu; Lips, Urmas

2016-07-01

Ferrybox measurements have been carried out between Tallinn and Helsinki in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) on a regular basis since 1997. The system measures autonomously water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a fluorescence and turbidity and takes water samples for further analyses at a predefined time interval. We aimed to show how the Ferrybox technology could be used to study the coastal upwelling events in the Gulf of Finland. Based on the introduced upwelling index and related criteria, 33 coastal upwelling events were identified in May-September 2007-2013. The number of events, as well as the frequency of their occurrence and intensity expressed as a sum of daily average temperature deviations in the 20 km wide coastal area, were almost equal near the northern and southern coasts. Nevertheless, the wind impulse, which was needed to generate upwelling events of similar intensity, differed between the northern and southern coastal areas. It is suggested that the general thermohaline structure adapted to the prevailing forcing and the estuarine character of the basin weaken the upwelling created by the westerly to southwesterly (up-estuary) winds and strengthen the upwelling created by the easterly to northeasterly (down-estuary) winds. Two types of upwelling events were identified - one characterized by a strong temperature front and the other revealing gradual decrease in temperature from the open sea to the coastal area, with maximum temperature deviation close to the shore.

Finland: construction of the first geological storage of the world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia Neri, E.

2015-01-01

Finland has become the first country in the world granting a construction license for a store deep geological (AGP) for radioactive waste, as reported last November 12 Posiva, the agency management of these materials in the Baltic country. After more than 40 years of research, Posiva begin construction of this facility in Olkiluoto, which will house so end spent fuel generated in power stations Olkiluoto and Loviisa and could start operating in 2023. As noted Janne Mokka, president of Posiva, this pioneering project is not only important for Finland, but for everyone because it is the first AGP enters under construction in the world. (Author)

Mortality and life expectancy of people with alcohol use disorder in Denmark, Finland and Sweden

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Westman, J; Wahlbeck, K; Laursen, T M

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To analyse mortality and life expectancy in people with alcohol use disorder in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. METHOD: A population-based register study including all patients admitted to hospital diagnosed with alcohol use disorder (1 158 486 person-years) from 1987 to 2006 in Denmark......, Finland and Sweden. RESULTS: Life expectancy was 24-28 years shorter in people with alcohol use disorder than in the general population. From 1987 to 2006, the difference in life expectancy between patients with alcohol use disorder and the general population increased in men (Denmark, 1.8 years; Finland......, 2.6 years; Sweden, 1.0 years); in women, the difference in life expectancy increased in Denmark (0.3 years) but decreased in Finland (-0.8 years) and Sweden (-1.8 years). People with alcohol use disorder had higher mortality from all causes of death (mortality rate ratio, 3.0-5.2), all diseases...

Estimation of climate change impacts on hydrology and floods in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Veijalainen, N.

2012-07-01

Climate scenarios project increases in air temperature and precipitation in Finland during the 21st century and these will results in changes in hydrology. In this thesis climate change impacts on hydrology and floods in Finland were estimated with hydrological modelling and several climate scenarios. One of the goals was to understand the influence of different processes and catchment characteristics on the hydrological response to climate change in boreal conditions. The tool of the climate change impact assessment was the conceptual hydrological model WSFS (Watershed Simulation and Forecasting System). The studies employed and compared two methods of transferring the climate change signal from climate models to the WSFS hydrological model (delta change approach and direct bias corrected Regional Climate Model (RCM) data). Direct RCM data was used to simulate transient hydrological scenarios for 1951- 2100 and the simulation results were analysed to detect changes in water balance components and trends in discharge series. The results revealed that seasonal changes in discharges in Finland were the clearest impacts of climate change. Air temperature increase will affect snow accumulation and melt, increase winter discharge and decrease spring snowmelt discharge. The impacts of climate change on floods in Finland by 2070-2099 varied considerably depending on the location, catchment characteristics, timing of the floods and climate scenario. Floods caused by spring snowmelt decreased or remained unchanged, whereas autumn and winter floods caused by precipitation increased especially in large lakes and their outflow rivers. Since estimation of climate change impacts includes uncertainties in every step of the long modelling process, the accumulated uncertainties by the end of the process become large. The large differences between results from different climate scenarios highlight the need to use several climate scenarios in climate change impact studies

Sulfur and lead isotope characteristics of the Pontes e Lacerda gold deposits, SW Amazonian Craton Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geraldes, M.C.; Tassinari, C.C.G.; Babinski; M; Iyer, S

2001-01-01

This work deals with the characterization of the S and Pb isotope signatures in sulfides from the Pontes e Lacerda mesothermal gold deposits located in the SW sector of Amazonian craton. Stable and radiogenic isotopes have played an important role in the study of ore deposited and hydrothermal processes and they are most useful when can be used together. The purpose of this study is to constrain the sources and the mechanisms of gold deposition in Pontes e Lacerda region which may be a helpful contribution to an exploratory model in the area (au)

Checklist of the family Simuliidae (Diptera of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jari Ilmonen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available A checklist of the family Simuliidae (Diptera is provided for Finland and recognizes 56 species. One new record has been added (Simulium latipes and one name sunken in synonymy (Simulium carpathicum. Furthermore, Simulium tsheburovae is treated as a doubtful record.

Deep-Sea Mega-Epibenthic Assemblages from the SW Portuguese Margin (NE Atlantic Subjected to Bottom-Trawling Fisheries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sofia P. Ramalho

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bottom-trawling fisheries are a common threat to the health of continental margins worldwide. Together with numerous environmental and biological processes, physical disturbance induced by trawlers can largely shape the benthic habitats and their associated assemblages. At the SW Portuguese Margin, crustacean bottom trawlers have exploited deep-sea habitats for a few decades, but its effects on the benthic biodiversity are practically unknown. During the spring-summer of 2013 and 2014, several Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV video transects were used to investigate mega-epibenthic abundance, composition, and diversity in soft-sediment areas subjected to varying trawling pressures off Sines and Setúbal (200–800 m. Differences in mega-epibenthic assemblages were linked with environmental changes (depth, grain size, primary productivity and trawling disturbance. The effect of trawling was assessed between segments with similar habitat characteristics, i.e., muddy-sand bottoms between 300 and 500 m. Areas subjected to intensive trawling pressure showed a generally flattened seabed, with abundant recent trawl marks (up to 3 scars.100 m−1, indicating that the seabed physical integrity was compromised. Significant negative correlations were detected between various mega-epibenthic diversity indices [S, H′, and ET(20] and trawling pressure (h.cell−1.y−1. Furthermore, the distinct mega-epibenthic assemblages and absence of several sessile erect morphospecies at both low and highly disturbed locations by trawling off Sines, namely all seapen morphospecies found in non-trawled areas, demonstrates the negative influence of trawling fisheries on the benthic component of the study area. Also, low dissimilarity between assemblages from the main fishing grounds and the adjacent low-disturbance locations, suggests that the potentially negative influence of trawling can extend beyond the targeted areas (e.g., by the plumes of re-suspended sediments. The

On the SW Sex-type eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS0756+0858

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tovmassian, Gagik; Hernandez, Mercedes Stephania; González-Buitrago, Diego; Zharikov, Sergey; García-Díaz, Maria Teresa, E-mail: gag@astro.unam.mx [Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Apdo. Postal 877, Ensenada, Baja California 22800 (Mexico)

2014-03-01

We conducted a spectroscopic and photometric study of SDSS J075653.11+085831. X-ray observations were also attempted. We determined the orbital period of this binary system to be 3.29 hr. It is a deep eclipsing system, whose spectra show mostly single-peaked, Balmer emission lines and a rather intense He II line. There is also the presence of faint (often double-peaked) He I emission lines as well as several absorption lines, Mg I being the most prominent. All of these features point toward the affiliation of this object with the growing number of SW Sex-type objects. We developed a phenomenological model of an SW Sex system to reproduce the observed photometric and spectral features.

On the SW Sex-type eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS0756+0858

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tovmassian, Gagik; Hernandez, Mercedes Stephania; González-Buitrago, Diego; Zharikov, Sergey; García-Díaz, Maria Teresa

2014-01-01

We conducted a spectroscopic and photometric study of SDSS J075653.11+085831. X-ray observations were also attempted. We determined the orbital period of this binary system to be 3.29 hr. It is a deep eclipsing system, whose spectra show mostly single-peaked, Balmer emission lines and a rather intense He II line. There is also the presence of faint (often double-peaked) He I emission lines as well as several absorption lines, Mg I being the most prominent. All of these features point toward the affiliation of this object with the growing number of SW Sex-type objects. We developed a phenomenological model of an SW Sex system to reproduce the observed photometric and spectral features.

77 FR 14733 - Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland and the Netherlands: Extension of Time Limit for...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-13

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [A-405-803, A-421-811] Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland and the Netherlands: Extension of Time Limit for Preliminary Results of Antidumping... carboxymethylcellulose from Finland and the Netherlands covering the period July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011. See...

Number of radiological examinations in Finland in 2000

CERN Document Server

Hakanen, A

2002-01-01

STUK (Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority) collected the number of radiological examinations in Finland in 2000. The work was based on a decree of the ministry of social affairs and health on the medical use of radiation. The work was done in cooperation with the Finnish work group of nomenclature of radiological examinations and procedures and professor Seppo Soimakallio. In 2000, ca. 4.1 million x-ray examinations were made in Finland. In 1984 and in 1995, the numbers were ca. 4.6 million and 4.2 million, respectively, indicating that the total number of x-ray examinations has remained nearly unaltered. The proportions of conventional x-ray examinations, computed tomography examinations, angiographic and interventional procedures were ca. 93.5 %, 5.0 %, 0.9 % and 0.6 %, respectively. The reported number of ultrasound examinations was ca. 0.5 million. The reported number of MRI examinations was ca. 0.1 million.

A review of the seismotectonics of Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saari, J.

1992-12-01

Recent major improvements in our knowledge about seismicity, crustal structure, primary stress field and tectonics together with other extensive geophysical and geological investigations have provided a good basis for a review of the seismotectonic setting of Finland. Correlations have been found to be present for the seismicity in Finland with the seismotectonic zones inside the Baltic Shield and with the seismicity of the North Atlantic Ridge. The current stress field in the Fennoscandian Shield seems to be dominated by ridge push forces. This conclusion is based on earthquake focal mechanisms, in-situ stress measurements and geodetic information. The report discusses the possible block movements induced by future glaciation. Location of the seismotectonic zones, duration of the glaciation and the presence of locally anomalous shear stresses seem to relate to the distribution of the discovered post-glacial faults in Fennoscandia. Special attention is paid to local seismotectonics. Potential direct or indirect effects on underground openings are possible due to local earthquakes or the creep. The importance of slow deformation processes in the bedrock is emphasized. (orig.)

An Orbital Stability Study of the Proposed Companions of SW Lyncis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. C. Hinse

2014-09-01

Full Text Available We have investigated the dynamical stability of the proposed companions orbiting the Algol type short-period eclipsing binary SW Lyncis (Kim et al. 2010. The two candidate companions are of stellar to substellar nature, and were inferred from timing measurements of the system’s primary and secondary eclipses. We applied well-tested numerical techniques to accurately integrate the orbits of the two companions and to test for chaotic dynamical behavior. We carried out the stability analysis within a systematic parameter survey varying both the geometries and orientation of the orbits of the companions, as well as their masses. In all our numerical integrations we found that the proposed SW Lyn multi-body system is highly unstable on time-scales on the order of 1000 years. Our results cast doubt on the interpretation that the timing variations are caused by two companions. This work demonstrates that a straightforward dynamical analysis can help to test whether a best-fit companion-based model is a physically viable explanation for measured eclipse timing variations. We conclude that dynamical considerations reveal that the proposed SW Lyncis multi-body system most likely does not exist or the companions have significantly different orbital properties from those conjectured in Kim et al. (2010.

Quantifying landscape-level methane fluxes in subarctic Finland using a multiscale approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartley, Iain P; Hill, Timothy C; Wade, Thomas J; Clement, Robert J; Moncrieff, John B; Prieto-Blanco, Ana; Disney, Mathias I; Huntley, Brian; Williams, Mathew; Howden, Nicholas J K; Wookey, Philip A; Baxter, Robert

2015-10-01

Quantifying landscape-scale methane (CH4 ) fluxes from boreal and arctic regions, and determining how they are controlled, is critical for predicting the magnitude of any CH4 emission feedback to climate change. Furthermore, there remains uncertainty regarding the relative importance of small areas of strong methanogenic activity, vs. larger areas with net CH4 uptake, in controlling landscape-level fluxes. We measured CH4 fluxes from multiple microtopographical subunits (sedge-dominated lawns, interhummocks and hummocks) within an aapa mire in subarctic Finland, as well as in drier ecosystems present in the wider landscape, lichen heath and mountain birch forest. An intercomparison was carried out between fluxes measured using static chambers, up-scaled using a high-resolution landcover map derived from aerial photography and eddy covariance. Strong agreement was observed between the two methodologies, with emission rates greatest in lawns. CH4 fluxes from lawns were strongly related to seasonal fluctuations in temperature, but their floating nature meant that water-table depth was not a key factor in controlling CH4 release. In contrast, chamber measurements identified net CH4 uptake in birch forest soils. An intercomparison between the aerial photography and satellite remote sensing demonstrated that quantifying the distribution of the key CH4 emitting and consuming plant communities was possible from satellite, allowing fluxes to be scaled up to a 100 km(2) area. For the full growing season (May to October), ~ 1.1-1.4 g CH4  m(-2) was released across the 100 km(2) area. This was based on up-scaled lawn emissions of 1.2-1.5 g CH4  m(-2) , vs. an up-scaled uptake of 0.07-0.15 g CH4  m(-2) by the wider landscape. Given the strong temperature sensitivity of the dominant lawn fluxes, and the fact that lawns are unlikely to dry out, climate warming may substantially increase CH4 emissions in northern Finland, and in aapa mire regions in general. © 2015 The

A HW-SW Co-Designed System for the Lunar Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Breadboarding

Science.gov (United States)

Palomo, Pedro; Latorre, Antonio; Valle, Carlos; Gomez de Aguero, Sergio; Hagenfeldt, Miguel; Parreira, Baltazar; Lindoso, Almudena; Portela, Marta; Garcia, Mario; San Millan, Enrique; Zharikov, Yuri; Entrena, Luis

2014-08-01

This paper presents the HW-SW co-design approach followed to tackle the design of the Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA) system breadboarding for the Lunar Lander ESA mission, undertaken given the fact that novel GNC technologies used to promote autonomous systems demand processing capabilities that current (and forthcoming) space processors are not able to satisfy. The paper shows how the current system design has been performed in a process in which the original HDA functionally validated design has been partitioned between SW (deemed for execution in a microprocessor) and HW algorithms (to be executed in an FPGA), considering the performance requirements and resorting to a deep analysis of the algorithms in view of their adequacy to HW or SW implementation.

Cumulative Risk of Bovine Mastitis Treatments in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden

OpenAIRE

Valde, JP; Lawson, LG; Lindberg, A; Agger, JF; Saloniemi, H; Østerås, O

2004-01-01

Data from the national dairy cow recording systems during 1997 were used to calculate lactation-specific cumulative risk of mastitis treatments and cumulative risk of removal from the herds in Denmark, Finland Norway and Sweden. Sweden had the lowest risk of recorded mastitis treatments during 305 days of lactation and Norway had the highest risk. The incidence risk of recorded mastitis treatments during 305 days of lactation in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden was 0.177, 0.139, 0.215 and...

JOB SATISFACTION AMONG FOREIGN NURSES IN A PRIVATE NURSING HOME, SOUTHERN FINLAND

OpenAIRE

Wanjohi, Nelius; Maringi, Peris

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to find out the experience of the foreign nurses working in Southern Finland and the factors that influence their job satisfaction. The aim was to provide information that could help improve job satisfaction. The research was carried out in a private nursing home in Southern Finland. The methodology used in this study was qualitative research method. Data was obtained by conducting interviews. A qualitative analysis of the data was applied to identify the fac...

Communicable disease policy development in response to changing European political frontiers in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernitz, Brita Kaltenbrunner

2008-11-01

The European Union (EU) enlargement of 2004 brings both opportunities and challenges for public health. It is believed that further integration will bring direct health benefits, mainly through improved socioeconomic conditions, but there are also risks associated with the EU expansion, in particular cross-border health risks, such as the impact of the internal EU market policy of free movement and migration on communicable disease patterns. Against this background, this article examines communicable disease policy development in Finland, Norway and Sweden in response to changing European political frontiers, in particular the EU accession of the Baltic States. The emphasis is on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The study is based on a qualitative and quantitative approach, using two complementary methods: documentary analysis and stakeholder analysis. The article identifies a distinct pattern in communicable disease policy development between 1990 and 2005. The turn of the new millennium saw a sharp increase in national attention and the priority assigned to communicable diseases in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The article argues that this development is likely to be related to the rising national, regional and European awareness of the public health challenges associated with communicable diseases in today's borderless Europe. It also shows that the Baltic health situation is a particular concern for Finland. Although there is increasing national and regional activity within the communicable disease area, there is a need for a more effective European approach to tackle the future communicable disease challenges that may follow in an increasingly interdependent and integrated Europe.

Cold War and the environment: the role of Finland in international environmental politics in the Baltic Sea region.

Science.gov (United States)

Räsänen, Tuomas; Laakkonen, Simo

2007-04-01

The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area signed in 1974 in Helsinki is probably the most important environmental agreement consummated in the Baltic Sea region. This article is the first study that explores the history of this agreement, also known as the Helsinki Convention, by using primary archival sources. The principal sources are the archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. We examine the role of Finland in the process that led to the signing of the Helsinki Convention from the perspective of international politics. The study focuses primarily on Finnish, Swedish, and Soviet state-level parties from the end of the 1960s to 1974. We show that Cold War politics affected in several ways negotiations and contents of the Helsinki Convention. We also argue that the Soviet Union used the emerging international environmental issues as a new tool of power politics.

Scale dependence of biotic homogenisation by urbanisation: a comparison of urban bird communities between central Argentina and northern Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leveau Lucas M.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Recent studies showed contrasting results about the homogenising force of urbanisation on bird community composition at large and regional scales. We studied whether urbanisation promotes the homogenisation of wintering bird communities and if this varies when comparing towns located within a specific region and towns located in two different biomes of two countries. We used both similarity indices based on the presence/absence data and the abundance data in comparing communities. Processes governing bird community dissimilarity between urbanisation levels were examined with the partitioning of Sörensen index in species turnover and nestedness. We made bird surveys in town centres and suburban habitats of three cities located in the Pampean region of Argentina and in the boreal region of Finland using a single-visit study plot method. Rarefacted species richness did not differ amongst the town centres between the countries, but it was higher in the suburban areas of Argentina than in Finland. At the country-level comparison, we found a higher similarity amongst the town centres than amongst the suburban areas; whereas at the regional comparison, similarity between town centres was comparable to the similarity between suburban areas. The use of an abundance-based index produced a higher similarity between town centre communities of both countries than when using a presence-based index. The dissimilarity between habitats in Argentina was related to nestedness and to species turnover in Finland. Our results indicate that urban-based biotic homogenisation of bird communities is dependent on the scale used, being more evident when comparing cities of different biomes where the same and abundant bird species, such as sparrows and doves, dominate. At the regional scale, quite a high beta-diversity can still be found within urban habitats. Processes of community dissimilarity between urban habitats may differ according to the regional pool of species

Fertility and Public Policies - Evidence from Norway and Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2004-05-01

Full Text Available The relatively high and rising fertility rates of Nordic countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s sparked a renewed research interest in the possible pronatalistic effects of generous family policy programs. Several studies have addressed this issue, but few have tried to model policy effects explicitly. The existing evidence so far is mainly from Sweden, where policy indicators have been incorporated in economic fertility models that also control for female wages. This paper complements previous Swedish analyses with evidence from Norway and Finland. The results corroborate earlier findings of a negative effect of female wages. There are also indications of a positive policy impact, as maternity leave extensions are estimated to raise birth rates, although mainly higher parity births and mainly in Finland.

Factors associated with active aging in Finland, Poland, and Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Perales, Jaime; Martin, Steven; Ayuso-Mateos, Jose Luis; Chatterji, Somnath; Garin, Noe; Koskinen, Seppo; Leonardi, Matilde; Miret, Marta; Moneta, Victoria; Olaya, Beatriz; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata; Haro, Josep Maria

2014-08-01

Continuous population aging has raised international policy interest in promoting active aging (AA). AA theoretical models have been defined from a biomedical or a psychosocial perspective. These models may be expanded including components suggested by lay individuals. This paper aims to study the correlates of AA in three European countries, namely, Spain, Poland, and Finland using four different definitions of AA. The EU COURAGE in Europe project was a cross-sectional general adult population survey conducted in a representative sample of the noninstitutionalized population of Finland, Poland, and Spain. Participants (10,800) lived in the community. This analysis focuses on individuals aged 50 years old and over (7,987). Four definitions (two biomedical, one psychosocial, and a complete definition including biomedical, psychosocial, and external variables) of AA were analyzed. Differences in AA were found for country, age, education, and occupation. Finland scored consistently the highest in AA followed by Spain and Poland. Younger age was associated with higher AA. Higher education and occupation was associated with AA. Being married or cohabiting was associated with better AA compared to being widowed or separated in most definitions. Gender and urbanicity were not associated with AA, with few exceptions. Men scored higher in AA only in Spain, whereas there was no gender association in the other two countries. Being widowed was only associated with lower AA in Poland and not being married was associated with lower AA in Poland and Finland but not Spain. Associations with education, marital status, and occupation suggest that these factors are the most important components of AA. These association patterns, however, seem to vary across the three countries. Actions to promote AA in these countries may be addressed at reducing inequalities in occupation and education or directly tackling the components of AA lacking in each country.

Changing Drinking Styles in Denmark and Finland. Fragmentation of Male and Female Drinking Among Young Adults

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Demant, Jakob Johan; Torronen, Jukka

2011-01-01

A traditional heavy intoxication-oriented drinking style, “heroic drinking,” is a central drinking practice in Denmark and Finland, especially among men. However, it seems that another drinking style leading to intoxication, “playful drinking,” has become more prevalent in Denmark as well......, especially among men. However, it seems that another drinking style leading to intoxication, "playful drinking", has become more prevalent in Denmark as well as in Finland. Playful drinking is characterized by self-presentations in diverse forms of game situations where you need to play with different...... and Finland by analyzing how they discuss these two drinking styles in focus groups (N = 16).Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10826084.2011.569965 A traditional heavy intoxication-oriented drinking style, "heroic drinking", is a central drinking practice in Denmark and Finland...

Uranium and radon in wells drilled into bedrock in Southern Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juntunen, R.

1991-01-01

More than 1000 samples of groundwater were taken from drilled wells in Southern Finland in 1982-1986 and submitted to chemical analyses that included the determination of uranium and radon abundances in the water. The waters were divided into eight groups by dominant rock type to establish the influence of the geological environment of the water. The median radon abundance for the total data on the drilled wells in southern Finland was 210 Bq/l, and that of uranium 5 ppb. The maximum uranium abundance was 20 000 ppb and that of radon about 50 000 Bq/l

Trace element partitioning and soil particle characterisation around mining and smelting areas at Tharsis, Riotinto and Huelva, SW Spain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chopin, E.I.B. [School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: edith.chopin@univ-reims.fr; Alloway, B.J. [School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading (United Kingdom)

2007-02-15

Trace elements may present an environmental hazard in the vicinity of mining and smelting activities. However, the factors controlling trace element distribution in soils around ancient and modern mining and smelting areas are not always clear. Tharsis, Riotinto and Huelva are located in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in SW Spain. Tharsis and Riotinto mines have been exploited since 2500 B.C., with intensive smelting taking place. Huelva, established in 1970 and using the Flash Furnace Outokumpu process, is currently one of the largest smelter in the world. Pyrite and chalcopyrite ore have been intensively smelted for Cu. However, unusually for smelters and mines of a similar size, the elevated trace element concentrations in soils were found to be restricted to the immediate vicinity of the mines and smelters, being found up to a maximum of 2 km from the mines and smelters at Tharsis, Riotinto and Huelva. Trace element partitioning (over 2/3 of trace elements found in the residual immobile fraction of soils at Tharsis) and soil particles examination by SEM-EDX showed that trace elements were not adsorbed onto soil particles, but were included within the matrix of large trace element-rich Fe silicate slag particles (i.e. 1 mm o at least 1 wt.% As, Cu and Zn, and 2 wt.% Pb). Slag particle large size (1 mm o) was found to control the geographically restricted trace element distribution in soils at Tharsis, Riotinto and Huelva, since large heavy particles could not have been transported long distances. Distribution and partitioning indicated that impacts to the environment as a result of mining and smelting should remain minimal in the region.

Sea urchins, their predators and prey in SW Portugal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuno Mamede

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Sea urchins play a key role structuring benthic communities of rocky shores through an intense herbivory. The most abundant sea urchin species on shallow rocky subtidal habitats of the SW coast of Portugal is Paracentrotus lividus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea. It is considered a key species in various locations throughout its geographical distribution by affecting the structure of macroalgae communities and may cause the abrupt transformation of habitats dominated by foliose algae to habitats dominated by encrusting algae - the urchin barrens. The removal of P. lividus predators by recreational and commercial fishing is considered a major cause of this phenomenon by affecting the trophic relationships between predators, sea urchins and algae communities. Marine protected areas (MPAs usually lead to the recovery of important predator species that control sea urchin populations and restore habitats dominated by foliose macroalgae. Therefore, MPAs provide a good opportunity to test cascading effects and indirect impacts of fishing at the ecosystem level. The ecological role of P. lividus was studied on rocky subtidal habitats of the SW coast of Portugal (Alentejo considering three trophic levels: population of P. lividus, their predators (fish and shellfish and their prey (macroalgae communities. Several studies were conducted: (1 a non-destructive observational study on the abundance and distribution patterns of P. lividus, their predators and preys, comparing areas with different protection; (2 a manipulative in situ study with cages to assess the role of P. lividus as an herbivore and the influence of predation; (3 a descriptive study of P. lividus predators based on underwater filming; (4 and a study of human perception on these trophic relationships and other issues on sea urchin ecology and fishery, based on surveys made to fishermen and divers. Subtidal studies were performed with SCUBA diving at 3-12 m deep. Results indicate that in the

Seminar.net with special issue from Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yngve Nordkvelle

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Most of the world has learned to ”see to Finland” over the last decade, beacuse of its reputation as a leading nation in educational achievement, as well as its many creative and diligent approaches in technology. Since 1990 Finnish researchers in media, technology and education have met annually to discuss research matters and further advances in the area. For the conference of 2016, held 13-15th April in Hämeenlinna, Finland, we were asked to have the best papers published in Seminar.net. After a rigourous review process we will print six papers, four in this issue and two in the next.Antti Syvänen, Jaana-Piia Mäkiniemi, Sannu Syrjä, Kirsi Heikkilä-Tammi and Jarmo Viteli, all of the University of Tampere, present the paper “When does the educational use of ICT become a source of technostress for Finnish teachers?» This interesting paper is based on the analysis of questionnaires filled in by 2741 Finnish teachers. It provides significant insight into what causes teachers to experience stress and alienation when using information and communication technologies (ICT in their classrooms.Tuulikki Keskitalo and Heli Ruokamo of Lapland University present a paper dealing with “Students’ Expectations and Experiences of Meaningful Simulation-Based Medical Education». Simulation in nursing education is a very rapidly developing area, and the students – as well as their teachers – have high expectation. This project is about student’s expectations and the very positive result from this study was that their experiences were even higher than their expectations.Hanna Vuojärvi, of the University of Lapland and Miikka Eriksson, of the University of Eastern Finland, have written the article «Using Mobile Tools to Support Meaningful Work-based Learning in Vocational Education» together. Their case study focused on meaningful work-based learning (WBL and the pedagogical use of mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs

Light-Time Effect and Mass Transfer in the Triple Star SW Lyncis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-Hwey Kim

1999-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper all the photoelectric times of minimum for the triple star SW Lyn have been analyzed in terms of light-time e ect due to the third-body and secular period decreases induced by mass transfer process. The light-time orbit determined recently by Ogloza et al.(1998 were modi ed and improved. And it is found that the orbital period of SW Lyn have been decreasing secularly. The third-body revolves around the mass center of triple stars every 5y.77 in a highly eccentric elliptical orbit(e=0.61. The third-body with a minimum mass of 1.13M may be a binary or a white dwarf. The rate of secular period-decrease were obtained as ¡âP/P = -12.45 x 10^-11, implying the mass-transfer from the massive primary star to the secondary. The mass losing rate from the primary were calculated as about 1.24 x 10^-8M /y. It is noticed that the mass-transfer in SW Lyn system is opposite in direction to that deduced from it's Roche geometry by previous investigators.

Environmental aspects of Greenfield NPP site in northern Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopisto, L.

2015-01-01

Fennovoima will build a nuclear power plant of 1200 MW at Hanhikivi headland in Pyhaejoki, Northern Finland on the shore of the Baltic Sea. According to the target schedule the plant will produce electricity in 2024. The plant supplier is Rusatom Overseas, subsidiary of the Russian Rosatom. No industrial activity is practiced in the immediate surroundings of the site area and the headland and its surroundings are sparsely populated. The area is in its natural state. This means that all the preparatory and infrastructure works needs to be done before the construction of NPP can start. The environmental and nature conservation aspects have to be taken into consideration in planning, construction and operation of the NPP. Northern location sets some challenges to the design of the power plant. The sea area is normally covered with ice almost half of the year which has to be taken into account in the design of the power plant. But there are also advantages: in winter when the cooling water is cold the efficiency of electricity production is estimated to be exceptionally good, approximately 39 %. Since 2008, Fennovoima has carried out several environmental studies and surveys in the site area and has collected information about the nature conditions on land and in the sea area. The collected environmental data has been utilized in land use planning, environmental impact assessment procedure and in applying for conventional permits. The environmental data can also be used as baseline data. The document is composed of an abstract and the presentation slides

Differential RNA-seq analysis comparing APC-defective and APC-restored SW480 colorectal cancer cells.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Lauren E; Love, Christopher G; Sieber, Oliver M; Faux, Maree C; Burgess, Antony W

2016-03-01

The adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumour suppressor gene is mutated in about 80% of colorectal cancers (CRC) Brannon et al. (2014) [1]. APC is a large multifunctional protein that regulates many biological functions including Wnt signalling (through the regulation of beta-catenin stability) Reya and Clevers (2005) [2], cell migration Kroboth et al. (2007), Sansom et al. (2004) [3], [4], mitosis Kaplan et al. (2001) [5], cell adhesion Faux et al. (2004), Carothers et al. (2001) [6], [7] and differentiation Sansom et al. (2004) [4]. Although the role of APC in CRC is often described as the deregulation of Wnt signalling, its other biological functions suggest that there are other factors at play that contribute to the onset of adenomas and the progression of CRC upon the truncation of APC. To identify genes and pathways that are dysregulated as a consequence of loss of function of APC, we compared the gene expression profiles of the APC mutated human CRC cell line SW480 following reintroduction of wild-type APC (SW480 + APC) or empty control vector (SW480 + vector control) Faux et al. (2004) . Here we describe the RNA-seq data derived for three biological replicates of parental SW480, SW480 + vector control and SW480 + APC cells, and present the bioinformatics pipeline used to test for differential gene expression and pathway enrichment analysis. A total of 1735 genes showed significant differential expression when APC was restored and were enriched for genes associated with cell polarity, Wnt signalling and the epithelial to mesenchymal transition. There was additional enrichment for genes involved in cell-cell adhesion, cell-matrix junctions, angiogenesis, axon morphogenesis and cell movement. The raw and analysed RNA-seq data have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database under accession number GSE76307. This dataset is useful for further investigations of the impact of APC mutation on the properties of colorectal cancer cells.

Work–Family Interference: Nurses in Norway and Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bente Abrahamsen

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate the level of work–family inter-ference (WFI for part-time nurses in Norway and Finland. Part-time work is usually cited as a desirable way in which to facilitate work and family harmony. However, the opportunity to work part-time in professions may be associated with greater difficulties and challenges than commonly presumed. Part-time professionals are often stigmatized as being less committed to work and report fewer job rewards than colleagues in full-time positions. This study challenges the notion of the desir-able consequences of work hour flexibility concerning the integration of work and family. Part-time nurses in Norway and Finland report an equal level or even higher levels of interference than nurses in full-time positions. A disproportional distri-bution of inconvenient work schedules appears to be a central explanation for the results reported by Norwegian nurses, but to a lesser degree by Finnish nurses.

Data Mining Thesis Topics in Finland

OpenAIRE

Bajo Rouvinen, Ari

2017-01-01

The Theseus open repository contains metadata about more than 100,000 thesis publications from the different universities of applied sciences in Finland. Different data mining techniques were applied to the Theseus dataset to build a web application to explore thesis topics and degree programmes using different libraries in Python and JavaScript. Thesis topics were extracted from manually annotated keywords by the authors and curated subjects by the librarians. During the project, the quality...

Renewable Energy Policy Fact sheet - Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-09-01

The EurObserv'ER policy profiles give a snapshot of the renewable energy policy in the EU Member States. By 2014 Finland already surpassed its 2020 target for renewable energy use under the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive. The current feed-in premium system will be discontinued and is expected to be replaced with a competitive technology-neutral tendering scheme, in line with the requirements set in the 2014 State Aid guidelines

swLORETA: a novel approach to robust source localization and synchronization tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmero-Soler, Ernesto; Dolan, Kevin; Hadamschek, Volker; Tass, Peter A

2007-01-01

Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) is a widely used technique for source localization. However, this technique still has some limitations, especially under realistic noisy conditions and in the case of deep sources. To overcome these problems, we present here swLORETA, an improved version of sLORETA, obtained by incorporating a singular value decomposition-based lead field weighting. We show that the precision of the source localization can further be improved by a tomographic phase synchronization analysis based on swLORETA. The phase synchronization analysis turns out to be superior to a standard linear coherence analysis, since the latter cannot distinguish between real phase locking and signal mixing

Climate change and employment. A case study of Finland; Changement climatique et emploi. Cas de la Finlande

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-15

The study has been carried out by a consortium led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Social Development Agency (SDA), which includes Syndex, the Wuppertal Institute and ISTAS. It was commissioned by the European Commission, DG environment, as a contribution to improve current understanding of the relationship between climate change and employment. The study was also supported financially by seven public bodies: Ministries of Environment of Belgium, Spain, Finland, Italy, United-Kingdom; ADEME and DIAC in France. The first part of the study examines the potential consequences for employment of global warming in Europe - which has already begun and will continue. The main finding is that even moderate climate change will affect economic activity and employment in Europe, with some regions and economic sectors being particularly vulnerable. Increased warming will be likely to have very damaging consequences. The second half of the report considers the challenge for employment of the transition towards a lower CO2 European economy at the horizon 2030, in four key economic sectors: energy production, transport, steel and cement industries, construction/housing. The study considers a number of scenario for a reduction of 40% in CO2 emissions by the year 2030 and what the effects can be on European employment and skills. Case studies of eleven European countries are also analysed. This report is about Finland. [French] La Finlande est le 5e pays europeen en superficie, avec un total de 338.145 km{sup 2}, pour une population de 5,2 millions d'habitants. Le climat finlandais est le plus froid d'Europe, avec des besoins en chauffage pratiquement toute l'annee et des besoins en eclairage tres importants les mois d'hiver, en raison de la duree tres courte du jour. L'industrie est dominee par l'exploitation forestiere et le papier, ainsi que la metallurgie et la chimie, ces industries etant hautement energie-intensives. Ces

Evaluation of thermal performance in fields subjected to steam injection (SW-SAGD mode), Orinoco oil belt, Venezuela

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Armas, F.; Mago, R.; Franco, L.; Rodriguez, J.; Gil, E. [PDVSA EandP (Venezuela)

2011-07-01

The first well to operate the SW-SAGD process in the Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela was built in 2006 by Petroleos de Venezuela S.A (PDVSA). SW-SAGD is a thermal recovery process consisting in the injection of steam through a horizontal well pipe insulation. In order to follow the behavior of steam and the movement of heated fluids in such a process better, PDVSA installed a monitoring system composed of high temperature fiber optic and thermocouple type sensors. The aim of this paper is to assess the thermal behavior of reservoirs in wells under the SW-SAGD process. A pilot test has been conducted over the last 3 years. Results show an increase in production and estimations show a recovery factor twice as high as in other wells. This study demonstrated that SW-SAGD is an excellent alternative solution to stimulate reservoirs in the Orinoco oil belt and valuable information on the reservoir's thermal behavior was established.

The Effects of NDRG2 Overexpression on Cell Proliferation and Invasiveness of SW48 Colorectal Cancer Cell Line.

Science.gov (United States)

Golestan, Ali; Mojtahedi, Zahra; Ghalamfarsa, Ghasem; Hamidinia, Maryam; Takhshid, Mohammad Ali

2015-09-01

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death in the world. The expression of N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) is down-regulated in CRC. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of NDRG2 overexpression on cell proliferation and invasive potential of SW48 cells. SW48 cells were transfected with a plasmid overexpressing NDRG2. After stable transfection, the effect of NDRG2 overexpression on cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay. The effects of NDRG2 overexpression on cell migration, invasion and cell motility and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) activities were also investigated using matrigel transwell assay, wound healing assay and gelatin zymography, respectively. MTT assay showed that overexpression of NDRG2 caused attenuation of SW48 cell proliferation. Transwell and wound healing assay revealed that NDRG2 overexpression led to inhibition of migration, invasion, and motility of SW48 cells. The overexpression of NDRG2 also reduced the activity of secreted MMP-9. The results of this study suggest that NDRG2 overexpression inhibits proliferation and invasive potential of SW48 cells, which likely occurs via suppression of MMP-9 activity.

Economic hardship and suicide mortality in Finland, 1875-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Korhonen, Marko; Puhakka, Mikko; Viren, Matti

2016-03-01

We investigate the determinants of suicide in Finland using annual data for consumption and suicides from 1860 to 2010. Instead of using some ad hoc measures of cyclical movements of the economy, we build our analysis on a more solid economic theory. A key feature is the habit persistence in preferences, which provides a way to measure individual well-being and predict suicide. We estimate time series of habit levels and develop an indicator (the hardship index) to describe the economic hardship of consumers. The higher the level of the index, the worse off consumers are. As a rational response to such a bad situation, some consumers might commit suicide. We employ the autoregressive distributed lags cointegration method and find that our index works well in explaining the long-term behavior of people committing suicide in Finland.

Nuclear Power Plant Control and Instrumentation activities in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Wahlstroem, B.

1990-01-01

Finland has achieved some remarkable achievements in nuclear power production. Existing four plants have some of the best operating records in the world - high capacity factors, low occupational doses and short refuelling outages. Although public opinion was strongly turned against nuclear power after Chernobyl accident, and no decisions for new nuclear plants can be made before next elections in 1991, the nuclear option is still open. Utility companies are maintaining readiness to start new construction immediately after a positive political decision is made. One important component of the good operation history of the Finnish nuclear power plants is connected to the continuous research, development, modification and upgrading work, which is proceeding in Finland. In the following a short description is given on recent activities related to the I and C-systems of the nuclear power plants. (author). 2 tabs

Seafloor mapping at Olkiluoto western coast of Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ilmarinen, K.; Leinikki, J.; Oulasvirta, P.

2009-02-01

The objective of the study was to investigate the seafloor of shallow areas around Olkiluoto island, western Finland. The surveys were carried out by Alleco Ltd. Posiva will use the data for modeling purposes. The investigations included bathymetric surveys, sediment sampling and assessment of benthic macrophytes and macrozoobenthos in the underwater parts of six pre-defined survey transects extending from land to the sea. Sediment sampling and the assessment of benthic organisms were done by SCUBA diving. The study area showed a great variation in environmental conditions. Olkiluoto stands between almost open sea and extremely sheltered river mouth area of Lapinjoki. Two of the transects were more than 7 meters deep and included both hard and soft sand bottom. Whereas rest of the transects were shallow with mostly soft clay, mud and silt bottom. Altogether 27 species of algae including five species of stoneworts (Charophyta), one species of water moss (Bryophyta) and 16 species of vascular plants (Tracheophyta) were found. The most abundant group was vascular plants, between the other groups of macroalgae big differences in the abundance were not seen. Furthermore altogether 43 species of macrozoobenthos (Invertebrata) were found, of which six species were sessile bottom fauna (permanently attached fauna). The most abundant groups in the bottom samples were bivalves (Lamellibranchiata) (996 individuals per m 2 ), snails (Gastropoda) (739 individuals per m 2 ) and polychaetes (Polychaeta) (542 individuals per m 2 ). The total abundance of macrozoobenthos on all transects was 2 899 individuals per m 2 . The biggest groups by biomass were bivalves (fresh weight 87 054 mg per m 2 ) and polychaetes (fresh weight 12 983 mg per m 2 ). Transect 1 was the richest in number of species of the deep and exposed transects 1 and 2. The transect 5 had the highest diversity of all the shallow soft bottom transects 3, 4, 5 and 5a. The high diversity of the transect 1 and 5 may be

Seafloor mapping at Olkiluoto western coast of Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ilmarinen, K.; Leinikki, J.; Oulasvirta, P. (Alleco Oy, Helsinki (Finland))

2009-02-15

The objective of the study was to investigate the seafloor of shallow areas around Olkiluoto island, western Finland. The surveys were carried out by Alleco Ltd. Posiva will use the data for modeling purposes. The investigations included bathymetric surveys, sediment sampling and assessment of benthic macrophytes and macrozoobenthos in the underwater parts of six pre-defined survey transects extending from land to the sea. Sediment sampling and the assessment of benthic organisms were done by SCUBA diving. The study area showed a great variation in environmental conditions. Olkiluoto stands between almost open sea and extremely sheltered river mouth area of Lapinjoki. Two of the transects were more than 7 meters deep and included both hard and soft sand bottom. Whereas rest of the transects were shallow with mostly soft clay, mud and silt bottom. Altogether 27 species of algae including five species of stoneworts (Charophyta), one species of water moss (Bryophyta) and 16 species of vascular plants (Tracheophyta) were found. The most abundant group was vascular plants, between the other groups of macroalgae big differences in the abundance were not seen. Furthermore altogether 43 species of macrozoobenthos (Invertebrata) were found, of which six species were sessile bottom fauna (permanently attached fauna). The most abundant groups in the bottom samples were bivalves (Lamellibranchiata) (996 individuals per m2), snails (Gastropoda) (739 individuals per m2) and polychaetes (Polychaeta) (542 individuals per m2). The total abundance of macrozoobenthos on all transects was 2 899 individuals per m2. The biggest groups by biomass were bivalves (fresh weight 87 054 mg per m2) and polychaetes (fresh weight 12 983 mg per m2). Transect 1 was the richest in number of species of the deep and exposed transects 1 and 2. The transect 5 had the highest diversity of all the shallow soft bottom transects 3, 4, 5 and 5a. The high diversity of the transect 1 and 5 may be explained by

Principals' Perceptions for Finnish- and Swedish-Language Schools in Finland: An Analysis of School-Level Indices from Programme for International Student Assessment 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Harju-Luukkainen, Heidi; Vettenranta, Jouni; Kanervio, Pekka; Pulkkinen, Seppo

2014-01-01

The Finnish educational system is known for its equality. However, in many key areas in national and international assessments, Swedish-language schools in Finland have lagged behind their Finnish-language counterparts. So far there is little research into the underlying reasons for this discrepancy. In this article, in order to illuminate the…

Estimating potentials of solid wood-based fuels in Finland in 2020

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, Kalle; Raesaenen, Tapio; Pajuoja, Heikki (Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)), e-mail: kalle.karha@metsateho.fi; Elo, Juha; Lahtinen, Perttu (Poeyry Energy Oy, Espoo (Finland))

2010-07-15

In the context of the Long-term Climate and Energy Strategy, it is estimated that the primary use of woodbased fuels in Finland will be 93 to 97 TWh by the year 2020. The overall target set for forest chips is 12 million m3, i.e. around 24 TWh. The objective of the research carried out by Metsaeteho Oy and Poeyry Energy Oy was to produce as realistic as possible a total analysis of the possibilities of increasing the usage of wood-based fuels in Finland by 2020. The research showed that the growth objective set in the Long-term Climate and Energy Strategy can be attained through the supply and demand of wood-based fuels. However, realizing this potential would require major investments in the entire forest chip production system, because the competitiveness of wood-based fuels in energy generation is currently not at a sufficient level. Considering the huge resources required by the forest chip production system and the current low competitiveness of forest chips, it is estimated that the use of forest chips in Finland will reach the level of 20 TWh at the earliest by the year 2020

Strategies to improve performance od SW-SAGD (Single Well-Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage); Estrategias para melhor desempenho do SW-SAGD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moreira, Richard Douglas Ribeiro [Norse Energy do Brasil S/A, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Trevisan, Osvair Vidal [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), SP (Brazil)

2008-07-01

The present work presents an extensive numerical study, using a commercial reservoir simulator, on the recovery of heavy oil by steam injection assisted by gravity drainage in single horizontal wells. The goal is to study several strategies to improve performance of the Single Well - Steam Assisted Drainage Gravity (SW-SAGD), a new but promising thermal recovery technique aimed at exploitation of heavy oils. The strategies are basically made up of two measures: cyclic steam injection prior to the main injection-production process; and well bore splitting into injection and production zones by packer settings. The measures are scrutinized when used separately or together. Cyclic injection is varied according to cycle duration. Comparisons are made between the performance of oil recovery for the developed strategies and the performance of the traditional dual well SAGD technique with similar operating parameters and field conditions. The results point out the best strategy regarding key parameters such as the oil recovery factor and the steam oil ratio. Results were also verified for variations of rock and fluid properties in the range of a typical heavy oil reservoir. As a result, a new strategy for the SW-SAGD process is presented, providing oil recovery, which is higher than that yielded by the equivalent DW-SAGD. (author)

Amateur observations of exoplanets in Finland: History and recent activities

Science.gov (United States)

Mäkelä, V.; Haukka, H.; Oksanen, A.; Kehusmaa, P.; Hentunen, V.-P.

2017-09-01

Exoplanet have been observed by Finnish amateur astronomers already 17 years. Recently there are two active observers, but the interest to photometric observations on exoplanet transits is increasing in Finland.

The Texts of the Instruments connected with the Agency's Assistance to Finland in Establishing a Research Reactor Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1961-01-24

The texts of the Supply Agreement between the Agency, the Government of Finland and the Government of the United States of America, and of the Project Agreement between the Agency and the Government of Finland, in connection with the Agency's assistance to the Government of Finland in establishing a research reactor project, are reproduced in this document for the information of all Members of the Agency. These agreements entered into force on 30 December 1960.

The Texts of the Instruments connected with the Agency's Assistance to Finland in Establishing a Research Reactor Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1961-01-01

The texts of the Supply Agreement between the Agency, the Government of Finland and the Government of the United States of America, and of the Project Agreement between the Agency and the Government of Finland, in connection with the Agency's assistance to the Government of Finland in establishing a research reactor project, are reproduced in this document for the information of all Members of the Agency. These agreements entered into force on 30 December 1960

The primary role of the SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Manuel; Gaensicke, Boris; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo; Long, Knox; Marsh, Tom; Steeghs, Danny; Munoz-Darias, Teodoro; Shahbaz, Tariq; Schmidtobreick, Linda; Schreiber, Matthias

2009-02-01

SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables (CVs) which plays a fundamental role in our understanding of CV structure and evolution. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assesment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. We are monitoring the brightness of a number of SW Sex stars and request here Gemini/GMOS-N ToO time to obtain orbital phase-resolved spectroscopy if one of them enters a low state, since this is the only opportunity for studying the stellar components individually. These data will be used to accurately measure the binary parameters, white dwarf temperature, and distance to the system for a SW Sex star for the first time. The measured stellar masses and radii will especially be a precious input to the theory of compact binary evolution as a whole.

Unravelling the role of the SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Manuel; Steeghs, Danny; Gaensicke, Boris; Marsh, Tom; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo; Schmidtobreick, Linda; Long, Knox; Schreiber, Matthias

2007-08-01

SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables (CVs) whose properties contradict all predictions made by the current CV evolution theories. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assesment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. We are monitoring the brightness of a number of SW Sex stars and request here Gemini/GMOS-N ToO time to obtain orbital phase-resolved spectroscopy if one of them enters a low state, since this is the only opportunity for studying the stellar components individually. These data will be used to accurately measure the mass ratio of the system which, combined with the orbital inclination derived from modelling of either the disc eclipses in the high state or the ellipsoidal modulation in the low state, will eventually provide the first detailed system parameters for any SW Sex star.

Teaching Russian as a Heritage Language in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Protassova, Ekaterina

2008-01-01

Originating from many different sources, Russian as a heritage language in Finland displays a spectrum of developmental tendencies: both attrition and maintenance can be observed in various degrees. The Finnish educational system allows for the organization of bilingual pre-schools and schools when there are sufficient numbers of potential pupils.…

Problematizing Finland's Pursuit of Intercultural (Kindergarten) Teacher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Layne, Heidi; Dervin, Fred

2016-01-01

The argument that teachers should become ethical intercultural teachers is increasingly recognized as legitimate. This article presents a case study in kindergarten teacher education in Finland, a country that has been at the center of global discussions about quality education. The authors question the agenda for studying and teaching in an…

Deposition of atmospheric 210Pb and total beta activity in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jussi Paatero; Murat Buyukay; Juha Hatakka; Kaisa Vaaramaa; Jukka Lehto

2015-01-01

The seasonal and regional variation of the atmospheric 210 Pb deposition in Finland was studied. The 210 Pb activity concentration in precipitation shows a decreasing trend from southeastern Finland north-westwards. An average deposition of 40 Bq/m 2 during a 12 months period was observed. The deposition of 210 Pb shows a seasonal variation with minimum in spring and maximum in autumn and winter. The specific activity of 210 Pb (activity of 210 Pb per unit mass of stable lead) in the atmosphere has returned to the level prior to World War II owing to the reduced lead emissions into the atmosphere. (author)

Small-Sized Whole-Tree Harvesting in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, Kalle [Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)

2006-07-15

In Finland, there are two mechanized harvesting systems used for small diameter (d{sub 1.3}= 10 cm) thinning wood: 1) the traditional two-machine (harvester and forwarder) system, and 2) the harwarder system (i.e. the same machine performs both felling and haulage to the roadside). At present, there are more than 20 energy wood harwarders in use in Finland. However, there have been no comprehensive studies carried out on the energy wood harwarders. This paper looks into the productivity results obtained with energy wood harwarders. In addition, the energy wood harvesting costs for harwarders are compared with those of the two-machine system. The results clearly indicated what kind of machine resources can be profitably allocated to different whole-tree harvesting sites. The energy wood harwarders should be directed towards harvesting sites where the forwarding distances are small, the trees harvested are relatively small, and the total volume of energy wood removed is quite low. Respectively, when the stem size removed is relatively large in young stands, and the forest haulage distances are long, the traditional two-machine system is more competitive.

Ore potential of basic rocks in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reino, J.; Ekberg, M.; Heinonen, P.; Karppanen, T.; Hakapaeae, A.; Sandberg, E.

1993-02-01

The report is associated with a study programme on basic rocks, which has the aim to complement the preliminary site investigations on repository for TVO's (Teollisuuden Voima Oy) spent nuclear fuel. The report comprises a mining enterprise's view of the ore potential of basic plutonic rocks in Finland. The ores associated with basic plutonic rocks are globally known and constitute a significant share of the global mining industry. The ores comprise chromium, vanadium-titanium-iron, nickel-copper and platinum group element ores. The resources of the metals in question and their mining industry are examined globally. A review of the use of these metals in the industry is presented as well. General factors affecting the mining industry, such as metal prices, political conjunctures, transport facilities, environmental requirements and raw material sources for the Finnish smelters have been observed from the point of view of their future effect on exploration activity and industrial development in Finland. Information on ores and mineralizations associated with Finnish basic rocks have been compiled in the report. The file comprises 4 chromium occurrences, 8 vanadium-titanium-iron occurrences, 13 PGE occurrences and 38 nickel-copper occurrences

Electricity statistics for Finland 1997; Saehkoetilasto 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kangas, H; Savolainen, T [Adato Energia Oy, Helsinki (Finland)

1998-12-01

Until 1995 the electrical statistics information has according to the law about electric utilities and facilities been collected and handled by the Electrical Inspectorate. In 1996 the work was done by the Finnish Electricity Association and it was commissioned by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Since 1996 the collection and handling of the information is based on the Electricity Market Act. The information is mainly submitted by the producers and distributors of electricity and processed since 1997 in Adato Energia Oy owned jointly by Finnish Energy Industries Federation, Finnish District Heating Association and Finnish Electricity Association. This action is based on a mutual contract of the Statistics Finland, Adato Energia Oy, Finnish Energy Industries Federation and Finnish Electricity Association. The Electricity Statistics for Finland 1997 contains several summaries about the consumption and the production. There is also summaries about the networks, the effects of electricity, the capacities of electricity, the fuels used in production and the dwellings heated by electric power. Like before a list of names, addresses, persons and telephone numbers is available. Additionally a list comprising the power consumption in all Finnish communes and a glossary in three languages (Finnish, Swedish and English) are included

Machinery and labour force requirements for forest chip production in Finland in 2020

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, K.; Strandsroem, M. (Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)), Email: kalle.karha@metsateho.fi, Email: markus.strandstrom@metsateho.fi; Lahtinen, P.; Elo, J. (Poeyry Energy Oy, Espoo (Finland)), Email: perttu.lahtinen@poyry.com, Email: juha.elo@poyry.com

2009-07-01

The research carried out by Metsaeteho Oy and Poeyry Energy Oy estimated how much machinery and labour would be needed for large-scale forest chip production if the use of forest chips increases extensively in Finland during the coming decade. If the production and consumption of forest chips are 25 to 30 TWh in Finland 2020, then 1,900 to 2,200 machinery units, i.e. machines and trucks, would be needed. This would mean total investments in production machinery of 530 to 630 million euro (VAT 0 %). The labour demand would be 3,400 to 4,000 machine operators and drivers, and 4,200 to 5,100 labour years including indirect labour. Respectively, if the production and consumption of forest chips is 15 to 20 TWh in Finland in 2020, then the production machinery requirement would be 1,100 to 1,500 machines and trucks. The total machinery investment cost would be 320 to 420 million euro (VAT 0 %) and the calculated labour demand 2,000 to 2,700 machine operators and drivers (2,500 to 3,400 labour years). The results of the study indicated that forest chip production resources will be a major bottleneck in reaching the consumption target of 12 million m3, i.e. around 24 TWh of forest chips in Finland by 2020. (orig.)

Total energy consumption in Finland increased by one percent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timonen, L.

2000-01-01

The total energy consumption in Finland increased by less than a percent in 1999. The total energy consumption in 1999 was 1310 PJ corresponding to about 31 million toe. The electric power consumption increased moderately by 1.6%, which is less than the growth of the gross national product (3.5%). The final consumption of energy grew even less, only by 0.5%. Import of electric power increased by 19% in 1999. The import of electric power was due to the availability of low-priced electric power on the Nordic electricity markets. Nuclear power generation increased by 5% and the consumption of wood-based fuels by 3%. The increment of the nuclear power generation increased because of the increased output capacity and good operability of the power plants. Wind power production doubles, but the share of it in the total energy consumption is only about 0.01%. The peat consumption decreased by 12% and the consumption of hydroelectric power by 15%. The decrease in production of hydroelectric power was compensated by an increase import of electric power. The consumption of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas remained nearly the same as in 1998. The gasoline consumption, however, decreased, but the consumption of diesel oil increased due to the increased road transport. The share of the fossil fuels was nearly half of the total energy consumption. The consumption of renewable energy sources remained nearly the same, in 23% if the share of peat is excluded, and in 30% if the share of peat is included. Wood-based fuels are the most significant type of renewable fuels. The share of them in 1999 was over 80% of the total usage of the renewable energy sources. The carbon dioxide emissions in Finland decreased in 1999 by 1.0 million tons. The total carbon dioxide emissions were 56 million tons. The decrease was mainly due to the decrease of the peat consumption. The final consumption of energy increased by 0.5%, being hence about 1019 PJ. Industry is the main consumer of energy

seasonal variation in water quality of orle river basin, sw nigeria.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

LUCY

The seasonal variation of water quality of Orle River and its tributatries in S.W. Nigeria was investigated forthnightly or two ... KEYWORD: water quality, river basin, wet and dry seasons; pollution. ..... Environmental Modeling and Software,.

Np-237 in peat and lichen in Finland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salminen, S.; Paatero, J.; Roos, Per

2009-01-01

Activity concentrations of 237Np in peat and lichen samples in Finland were determined and contributions from nuclear weapons testing in 1950–1960s and the Chernobyl accident were estimated. 237Np was determined with ICP-MS using 235Np as a tracer. Activity concentrations of 237Np in peat samples...

Parental experiences and attitudes regarding the management of acute otitis media--a comparative questionnaire between Finland and The Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Tähtinen, Paula A; Boonacker, Chantal W B; Rovers, Maroeska M; Schilder, Anne G M; Huovinen, Pentti; Liuksila, Pirjo-Riitta; Ruuskanen, Olli; Ruohola, Aino

2009-12-01

Both treatment guidelines and the amount of antibiotics used for acute otitis media (AOM) vary across western countries. Parental expectations and their awareness of antimicrobial use and resistance, which may also be influenced by the guidelines, are not yet completely known. To compare parental experiences and opinions regarding the management of AOM in children with AOM in Finland and The Netherlands. We sent the questionnaires via public day care in Turku, Finland, and Utrecht, The Netherlands. We asked about family background, child's history of AOM and parental experiences and attitudes about AOM treatment and antimicrobial resistance. Of 1151 participants, 83% in Finland and 49% in The Netherlands had had at least one episode of AOM. Antibiotics were used more frequently in Finland than in The Netherlands, 99% versus 78%, respectively. More Finnish parents reported to believe that antibiotics are necessary in the treatment of AOM as compared to Dutch parents. Use of analgesics for AOM was similar (80% in Finland and 86% in The Netherlands). One-third of the parents had discussed resistance with their doctor. According to parental experiences, antimicrobial resistance had caused more problems in Finland than in The Netherlands (20% versus 2%). Finally, 88% of parents in Finland and 65% in The Netherlands were worried that bacteria could become resistant to antibiotics. Treatment practices and parental expectations seem to interact with each other. Therefore, if we aim to change AOM treatment practices, we have to modify both guidelines and parental expectations.

Atmospheric mercury in Sweden, Northern Finland and Northern Europe. Results from national monitoring and European research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waengberg, Ingvar; Munthe, John

2001-01-01

Atmospheric mercury concentrations and mercury fluxes measured during the period 1995 to 1999 at the AMAP master station of Pallas, a remote station in Northern Finland, and at Roervik an EMEP station located on the west coast of Sweden are reported. The results are discussed and compared with atmospheric mercury data generated within the EU-project, Mercury over Europe (MOE). Total particulate mercury exhibit a strong south to north gradient with the highest concentrations in the south, near source areas in Central Europe. Mercury in precipitation also exhibits a south to north gradient.

Geoquímica e Geocronologia do Plutonismo Granítico Mesoproterozóico do SW do Estado de Mato Grosso (SW do Cráton Amazônico)

OpenAIRE

Mauro Cesar Geraldes

2000-01-01

O objetivo deste trabalho é o estudo geocronológico e da composição química dos granitóides da porção SW do estado do Mato Grosso. A abordagem deste projeto tem relevância para o entendimento da evolução geológica através da identificação, na área de estudo, de eventos de acresção crustal durante o Paleo e Mesoproterozóico que vieram a compor significativa fração do SW Cráton Amazônico. Na região do Terreno Jauru, tonalitos, vulcânicas ácidas e gnaisses analisados pelo método U/Pb em zircões ...

Subcontracting, Posted Migrants and Labour Market Segmentation in Finland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lillie, Nathan

Using evidence from the shipbuilding and construction industries in Finland, this article shows how trade union responses to the introduction of migrant workers can be conditioned by product markets. Growing numbers of posted workers, or intra-European Union work migrants employed via transnational

Fear of AIDS and suicide in Finland: a review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aro, A R; Henriksson, M; Leinikki, P

1995-01-01

health care contacts than the others. Suicidal fear and underlying depression were not being properly identified and treated. Despite recent improvement in media reporting, health education and identification of depression, clinical experience, help line calls and population surveys indicate that AIDS......This review presents data on HIV epidemiology and suicide mortality, and summarizes studies on fear of AIDS in completed suicides in Finland. Finland has a low prevalence of HIV and a high suicide mortality. A 12-month nationwide suicide population, 1987-88 (n = 1397, all HIV negative) at the time...... of a sensational media campaign against HIV included 28 (2%) cases with fear of AIDS as a contributing factor. Triggers of fear could be classified in 20 cases: persistent symptoms in 10, casual sex contacts in eight, and a TV programme in two. The AIDS fear cases were younger, had more major depression and more...

Finland, Sweden and Austria doubled the share of hydroelectric power in EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kangas, H.

1996-01-01

New EU countries Finland, Sweden and Austria increased the amount of hydroelectric power produced in EU in 1995 by more than 50 % compared to the year 1994. Especially Sweden and Austria are very dependent on hydroelectric power; the share of hydroelectric power is in Austria more than 70 % and even in Sweden it was nearly 50 %. The share of hydroelectric power in 1995 the EU region was 14 % of the total power demand. Due to the new EU countries the share of hydroelectric power of the total electric power demand, which would have decreased, increased by over 3 %. The increase of the electric power demand in Finland was lowest in the EU region, about 1.0 %, while it was in Greece 5.0 % and in Spain about 4.6 %. The share of nuclear power in the EU region was about 35 % in 1995. The most nuclear power dependent country in the EU was France there the share of nuclear power of the total electric power demand was 89 %. Both Finland and Sweden increased the production of back-pressure power generation in 1995. The share of back-pressure power generation in EU in 1995 was about 50 TWh which corresponds to some 1.5 % of the total electric power demand. About 50 % of the total electric power generation in EU was produced by condensing power generation. This production increased by 10 % compared to 1994. The netimport of electric power of EU increased by 80 % in Finland and Sweden, which are large importers of electric power outside the EU region

Verbascum lindae (Scrophulariaceae), a new species from SW Anatolia, Turkey

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parolly, Gerald; Tan, Kit

2007-01-01

Verbascum lindae, a taxonomically isolated limestone chasmophyte from the vilayet of Isparta in SW Anatolia is described as a species new to science and illustrated. Its affinities with other Anatolian Verbascum species, which have either a chasmophytic habit or at least a woody base, are discussed....

Socio-Ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work: Protocol and Baseline Findings of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minna Aittasalo

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Active commuting to work (ACW is beneficial to traffic, environment and population health. More evidence is needed on effective ways to promote ACW. This paper describes the protocol and baseline findings of a cluster-randomized controlled study, which aims to promote ACW with multilevel strategies in two large workplace areas in Tampere, Finland. In Phase 1, the impacts of environmental strategies (trail improvements were evaluated in 11 workplaces within Area 1. In Phase 2, five more workplaces were recruited from Area 2 to evaluate the impacts of social and behavioral strategies customized for each workplace. For this purpose, the workplaces in both areas were randomly assigned into experimental group (EXP, n = 6 + 2, which promoted ACW with social and behavioral strategies or into comparison group (COM, n = 5 + 3, which participated in the data collection only. The primary indicator in both phases is the change in employees’ ACW. Secondary indicators are e.g., changes in employees’ self-rated health, wellbeing at work, restrictions to and motivation for ACW, adverse effects due to ACW and the use and quality of the main walking and cycling trails. Also process, efficiency and environmental evaluation is included. The study is the first one in Finland to combine interdisciplinary collaboration between practitioners and researchers working in the fields of transportation, urban design, physical activity and sustainable development to promote ACW. The findings benefit all stakeholders interested in promoting ACW in urban context.

Life cycle assessment of peat utilisation in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maelkki, H.

1997-01-01

Environmental issues related to the production of peat and its use in energy generation have been the subject of public debate and research over the past few years in Finland. Peat is both an indigenous and a locally utilised fuel. Finland has no fossil fuel resources, and the transportation distances of imported fuels into Finland are normally long. In Finland the large peat resources can be utilised locally and peat-burning power plants are situated near the peatlands. Peat production and energy conversion methods are being continuously developed to make use of the environmentally and technically best available technology. In Finland peat formation exceeds peat utilisation and an increase in peat utilisation is therefore sustainable. The life cycle assessment concept gives an opportunity to evaluate and improve the environmental quality of peat utilisation options. The study focuses on an inventory analysis, but some of the most common methods of impact assessment with valuation are also included. The study also includes a comparison of fossil fuels and a discussion part. All the calculated results are based on net emissions. The background emissions of natural peatland are subtracted from the emissions of the utilisation phases. Milled peat and sod peat are reported in this study. Horticultural peat is studied simultaneously, but it will be reported later. The Sod Wave, Haku and Tehoturve methods are studied for the production of peat. The power plants of the study are Kempele heating plant and Rauhalahti cogeneration plant. The functional unit is 1 MWh produced total energy. The temporal boundaries vary from 112 to 128 years, depending on the peat production methods used. The restoration time is 100 years in all options. The emissions of greenhouse gases are based on the reports of The Finnish Research Programme on Climate Change. The water emissions are based on control monitoring reports from 1994 and 1995. The water emissions of the restoration phase are

Income-related and educational inequality in small-for-gestational age and preterm birth in Denmark and Finland 1987-2003.

Science.gov (United States)

Mortensen, Laust H; Lauridsen, Jørgen T; Diderichsen, Finn; Kaplan, George A; Gissler, Mika; Andersen, Anne-Marie N

2010-02-01

In this paper, we examine income- and education-related inequality in small-for-gestational age (SGA) and preterm birth in Denmark and Finland from 1987 to 2003 using concentration indexes (CIXs). From the national medical birth registries we gathered information on all births from 1987 to 2003. Information on highest completed maternal education and household income in the year preceding birth of the offspring was obtained for 1,012,400 births in Denmark and 499,390 in Finland. We then calculated CIXs for income- and education-related inequality in SGA and preterm birth. The mean household income-related inequality in SGA was -0.04 (95% confidence interval: -0.05, -0.04) in Denmark and -0.03 (-0.04, -0.02) in Finland. The maternal education-related inequality in SGA was -0.08 (-0.10, -0.06) in Denmark and -0.07 (-0.08, -0.06) in Finland. The income-related inequality in preterm birth was -0.03 (-0.03, -0.02) in Denmark and -0.03 (-0.04, -0.02) in Finland. The education-related inequality in preterm birth was -0.05 (-0.07, -0.04) in Denmark and -0.04 (-0.05, -0.03) in Finland. In Denmark, the income-related and education-related inequity in SGA increased over time. In Finland, the income-related inequality in SGA birth increased slightly, while education-related inequalities remained stable. Inequalities in preterm birth decreased over time in both countries. Denmark and Finland are examples of nations with free prenatal care and publicly financed obstetric care of high quality. During the period of study there were macroeconomic shocks affecting both countries. However, only small income- and education-related inequalities in SGA and preterm births during the period were observed.

Nuclear safety culture in Finland and Sweden - Developments and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reiman, T.; Pietikaeinen, E.; Kahlbom, U.; Rollenhagen, C.

2011-02-01

The project aimed at studying the concept of nuclear safety culture and the Nordic nuclear branch safety culture. The project also aimed at looking how the power companies and the regulators view the current responsibilities and role of subcontractors in the Nordic nuclear safety culture as well as to inspect the special demands for safety culture in subcontracting chains. Interview data was collected in Sweden (n = 14) and Finland (n = 16) during 2009. Interviewees represented the major actors in the nuclear field (regulators, power companies, expert organizations, waste management organizations). Results gave insight into the nature and evaluation of safety culture in the nuclear industry. Results illustrated that there is a wide variety of views on matters that are considered important for nuclear safety within the Nordic nuclear community. However, the interviewees considered quite uniformly such psychological states as motivation, mindfulness, sense of control, understanding of hazards and sense of responsibility as important for nuclear safety. Results also gave insight into the characteristics of Nordic nuclear culture. Various differences in safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were uncovered. In addition to the differences, historical reasons for the development of the nuclear safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were pointed out. Finally, results gave implications that on the one hand subcontractors can bring new ideas and improvements to the plants' practices, but on the other hand the assurance of necessary safety attitudes and competence of the subcontracting companies and their employees is considered as a challenge. The report concludes that a good safety culture requires a deep and wide understanding of nuclear safety including the various accident mechanisms of the power plants as well as a willingness to continuously develop one's competence and understanding. An effective and resilient nuclear safety culture has to foster a constant sense of

Three-dimensional geologic modeling and groundwater flow modeling of the Töllinperä aquifer in the Hitura nickel mine area, Finland – providing the framework for restoration and protection of the aquifer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sami Saraperä

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Elevated concentrations of sulphate, chloride, and nickel were discovered in water samples taken from the Töllinperä aquifer in western Finland. The area is located adjacent to the tailings area of the Hitura nickel mine. Earlier studies revealed that the groundwater contamination resulted from tailings-derived mine waters leaking from a tailings impoundment area. The tailings area directly overlies the Weichselian esker system, part of which is the Töllinperä classified groundwater area. The observed groundwater and surface water contamination resulted in a need to characterize the subsurface geology in the whole area of the contaminated esker aquifer. The primary sedimentary units were introduced into a three-dimensional (3-D geologic model of the aquifer made with EarthVision geologic modeling software. The information obtained from the 3-D geological model was then introduced into a numerical groundwater flow model made with MODFLOW code, which was calibrated with MODFLOWP code.The results of this study were used to guide the sealing of the tailings impoundment in order to prevent the further contamination of the Töllinperä aquifer. The groundwater flow model was used to interpret and simulate the flow system, and to provide a plan to safely continue water supply to local inhabitants from the unpolluted parts of the aquifer.

Perturbative determination of c{sub SW} with Symanzik improved gauge action and stout smearing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horsley, R. [Edinburgh Univ. (United Kingdom). School of Physics; Perlt, H.; Schiller, A. [Leipzig Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Rakow, P.E.L. [Liverpool Univ. (United Kingdom). Theoretical Physics Dept., Dept. of Mathematical Sciences; Schierholz, G. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

2007-10-15

We determine the improvement factor c{sub SW} in one-loop lattice perturbation theory for the plaquette and Symanzik improved gauge actions. The fermionic action is O(a) clover improved with one-time stout smearing. c{sub SW} is derived from the one-loop correction to the quark-quark-gluon vertex in the off-shell regime. We give a first numerical value for the one-loop contribution to the non gauge-invariant improvement coefficient c{sub NGI} for the quark field using the plaquette action. A discussion of mean field improvement is included. (orig.)

Economic Growth Rate May Be High in Spite of a Decreasing Working-age Population in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pekka Parkkinen

2004-01-01

Full Text Available This article examines the possibilities for the growth of real income in Finland in a situation where the population is aging at a record rate. In contrast to other European countries, no larger age groups were born in Finland after the 1940s. Therefore, the labor force will decrease in long run, even though an abundant amount of labor reserves still exist in Finland after the exceptionally deep economic depression experienced in the previous decade. Finlands real income has been calculated as the product of the labor input and productivity per hour worked. The rate of change in productivity has been estimated on the basis of the historical development of labor productivity. On the basis of an analysis of labor input and productivity per hour worked, the real income of Finland per capita could rise to one-and-a-half times what it is now in one decade and a half, even if the working-age population decreased markedly and even if the number of hours worked per employed person declined at the traditional rate. Increasing immigration is not the only solution to the challenges of an aging and diminishing working-age population. By employing domestic labor reserves and improving productivity, reasonable economic growth rate can be achieved and at the same time the problems caused by uncontrolled immigration can be avoided.

When Finland was lost. Background, Course of Events and Reactions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrik Edgren

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Since 1809 the loss of Finland has been discussed in different ways in Swedish history research. In the early 20th century the burst of the state was seen in a nationalistic perspective. It was said that the people in Sweden, or the “public opinion”, with despair and in a “nationalistic trauma” received the news bulletins from the peace agreement in Fredrikshamn 1809, which was interpreted the worst defeat ever in Swedish history. Nowadays researchers argue whether the loss of Finland really was seen as a nationalistic trauma in the early 19th century. The article first summarises the background of the war and the most important war episodes and then discusses the apprehension of a Sweden in national chock after the burst of the state.

Rapid identification of tomato Sw-5 resistance-breaking isolates of Tomato spotted wilt virus using high resolution melting and TaqMan SNP Genotyping assays as allelic discrimination techniques.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina di Rienzo

Full Text Available In tomato, resistance to Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV is conferred by the dominant gene, designated Sw-5. Virulent Sw-5 resistance breaking (SRB mutants of TSWV have been reported on Sw-5 tomato cultivars. Two different PCR-based allelic discrimination techniques, namely Custom TaqMan™ SNP Genotyping and high-resolution melting (HRM assays, were developed and compared for their ability to distinguish between avirulent (Sw-5 non-infecting, SNI and SRB biotypes. TaqMan assays proved to be more sensitive (threshold of detection in a range of 50-70 TSWV RNA copies and more reliable than HRM, assigning 25 TSWV isolates to their correct genotype with an accuracy of 100%. Moreover, the TaqMan SNP assays were further improved developing a rapid and simple protocol that included crude leaf extraction for RNA template preparations. On the other hand, HRM assays showed higher levels of sensitivity than TaqMan when used to co-detect both biotypes in different artificial mixtures. These diagnostic assays contributed to gain preliminary information on the epidemiology of TSWV isolates in open field conditions. In fact, the presented data suggest that SRB isolates are present as stable populations established year round, persisting on both winter (globe artichoke and summer (tomato crops, in the same cultivated areas of Southern Italy.

Climate change and Finland. Summary of the Finnish research programme on climate change (SILMU)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-12-31

Anthropogenic impacts on the Earth`s atmosphere are expected to cause significant global climate changes during the next few decades. These changes will have many consequences both in nature and on human activities. In order to investigate the implications of such changes in Finland, a six-year multidisciplinary national research programme on climate and global change, the Finnish Research Programme on Climate Change (SILMU), was initiated in 1990. The key research areas were: (1) quantification of the greenhouse effect and the magnitude of anticipated climate changes, (2) assessment of the effects of changing climate on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and (3) development of mitigation and adaptation strategies

Climate change and Finland. Summary of the Finnish research programme on climate change (SILMU)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

Anthropogenic impacts on the Earth's atmosphere are expected to cause significant global climate changes during the next few decades. These changes will have many consequences both in nature and on human activities. In order to investigate the implications of such changes in Finland, a six-year multidisciplinary national research programme on climate and global change, the Finnish Research Programme on Climate Change (SILMU), was initiated in 1990. The key research areas were: (1) quantification of the greenhouse effect and the magnitude of anticipated climate changes, (2) assessment of the effects of changing climate on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and (3) development of mitigation and adaptation strategies

Soils in an agricultural landscape of Jokioinen, south-western Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. YLI-HALLA

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Eleven pedons in an agricultural landscape at elevations 80-130 m above sea level in Jokioinen, south-western Finland were investigated and classified according to Soil Taxonomy, the FAO-Unesco system (FAO, and the World Reference Base for Soil Resources system (WRB. The soils were related to geomorphology of the landscape which is characterized by clayey fields and forested bedrock high areas covered with glacial till. A Spodosol/Podzol was found in a coarse-sandy soil in an esker while the sandy loam in a bedrock high area soils did not have an E horizon. A man-made mollic epipedon was found in a cultivated soil which had a sandy plow layer while clayey plow layers were ochric epipedons. Cambic horizons, identified by structure and redox concentrations, were common in cultivated soils. In a heavy clay soil, small slickensides and wedge-shaped aggregates, i.e., vertic characteristics, were found. Histosols occurred in local topographic depressions irrespective of the absolute elevation. According to the three classification systems, the following catenas are recognized: Haplocryods - Dystro/Eutrocryepts -Haplocryolls - Cryaquepts - Cryosaprists (Soil Taxonomy, Podzols - Regosols - Cambisols - Histosols (FAO-Unesco, and Podzols - Cambisols - Phaeozems - Gleysols - Histosols (WRB.;

Antibiofilm activity of Bacillus pumilus SW9 against initial biofouling on microfiltration membranes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ying; Yu, Xin; Gong, Song; Ye, Chengsong; Fan, Zihong; Lin, Huirong

2014-02-01

Membrane biofouling, resulting from biofilm formation on the membrane, has become the main obstacle hindering wider application of membrane technology. Initial biofouling proves to be crucial which involves early stages of microbial adhesion and biofilm formation. Biological control of microbial attachment seems to be a promising strategy due to its high efficiency and eco-friendliness. The present study investigated the effects of a bacterium Bacillus pumilus SW9 on controlling the initial fouling formed by four target bacterial strains which were pioneer species responsible for biofouling in membrane bioreactors, using microfiltration membranes as the abiotic surfaces. The results suggested that strain SW9 exhibited excellent antibiofilm activity by decreasing the attached biomass of target strains. The production of extracellular polysaccharides and proteins by four target strains was also reduced. A distinct improvement of permeate flux in dead-end filtration systems was achieved when introducing strain SW9 to microfiltration experiments. Scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy were performed to further ascertain significant changes of the biofouling layers. A link between biofilm inhibition and initial biofouling mitigation was thus provided, suggesting an alternatively potential way to control membrane biofouling through bacterial interactions.

Vanhan Suomen arkistot : arkiven från Gamla Finland / Kari Takiainen

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Tarkiainen, Kari, 1938-

2013-01-01

Arvustus: Vanhan Suomen arkistot: arkiven från Gamla Finland, toimittaneet Eljas Orman, Jyrki Paaskoski, Arkistolaitoksen yleiluettelo VI, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden seuran toimituksia, 1385 (Porvoo 2012), 400 lk.

Operational safety related human engineering research in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Wahlstroem, B.

1984-01-01

Human errors contribute considerably to the total risk of the nuclear power plants as was clearly demonstrated at the TMI-accident in 1979. This fact was recognized early in Finland and a comprehensive research program was established in the second half of the 1970s. This paper gives a short description of some research projects in this program. (author)

Type 1 diabetes epidemic in Finland is triggered by zinc-containing amorphous silica nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Junnila, S K

2015-04-01

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), an autoimmune disease, breaks out in some of the children who has genetic susceptibility to T1D. Besides genetic susceptibility some environmental factor(s) are required to trigger the disease. The incidence of T1D in Finland is highest in the world, so we must seek an environmental factor, that is typical for Finland and can declare many aspects of T1D epidemiology and biology. In the literature most popular trigger has been enterovirus infections. It is difficult however to find why enteroviruses would be in this role in Finland in contrary to neighbouring countries e.g. Sweden. Colloidal amorphous silica (ASi) is typical for Finnish environment in consequency of the geohistory of Finland, great part of Finland is an ancient lake and sea bottom. ASi concentrations in natural waters are high in April-June and in November, only traces can be found in the rest of months. Pure colloidal ASi is not a strong trigger for T1D, but ASi particle which has surface adsorbed tetrahedrally coordinated zinc (ASiZn) is probably the trigger which has kept it's secret up to date. Zn functions as address label which conducts the ASiZn particle to the beta cell, whose content of zinc is highest in the body. ASi particle adheres to membrane proteins distorting their tertiary structure revealing new epitopes. If the fetus has not met these epitopes at proper time during intrauterine development, the consequence is that the negative selection of lymphocytes in the thymus and bone marrow and fetal liver is not perfect. When a child later in postnatal life becomes predisposed to ASiZn particles the immune system reacts to these as to nonself proteins. As a consequence the insulin producing beta cells are destroyed. Many observations from diabetes research support the hypothesis, some to mentioned. 1. Three common autoantigens (ZnT8, ICA512/IA-2, GAD65) are membrane proteins whose function zinc regulates. 2. Geographical variation in Finland is convergent with

Incidence of Savant Syndrome in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Saloviita, T; Ruusila, L; Ruusila, U

2000-08-01

The general incidence of Savant Syndrome was assessed in Finland. First, a survey was made of all 583 facilities which served people with mental retardation. Second, letters asking for information regarding people with Savant Syndrome were published in two key Finnish journals of the field. We received reports of 45 cases of Savant Syndrome. This makes an incidence rate of 1.4 per 1,000 people with mental retardation. The most common form of exceptional skills was calendar calculation, followed by feats of memory.

Country policy profile - Finland. December 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-12-01

Electricity biogas, biomass, and wind is supported through a premium tariff. Furthermore, Finland promotes RES through two subsidy schemes. A state grant for investment in RES supports sustainable energy research projects as well as renewable energy production facilities. A second subsidy scheme provides investment support to farmers investing in facilities producing heat from RES. A price-based mechanism, the so-called 'Heat bonus' that is a fixed payment per MWh, promotes cogeneration of heat and electricity from biogas and biomass (RES LEGAL Europe, 2014)

Country policy profile - Finland. August 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-08-01

Electricity biogas, biomass, and wind is supported through a premium tariff. Furthermore, Finland promotes RES through two subsidy schemes. A state grant for investment in RES supports sustainable energy research projects as well as renewable energy production facilities. A second subsidy scheme provides investment support to farmers investing in facilities producing heat from RES. A price-based mechanism, the so-called 'Heat bonus' that is a fixed payment per MWh, promotes cogeneration of heat and electricity from biogas and biomass (RES LEGAL Europe, 2014)

Concentrations of {sup 137}Cs in summer pasture plants that reindeer feed on in the reindeer management area of Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anttila, Annukka [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority-STUK, Laehteentie 2, Rovaniemi, FIN 96400 (Finland); Leppaenen, Ari-Pekka, E-mail: ari.leppanen@stuk.fi [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority-STUK, Laehteentie 2, Rovaniemi, FIN 96400 (Finland); Rissanen, Kristiina; Ylipieti, Jarkko [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority-STUK, Laehteentie 2, Rovaniemi, FIN 96400 (Finland)

2011-07-15

Samples of summer pasture plants that reindeer feed on were collected in order to study {sup 137}Cs concentrations in different plant species and in species nested in certain site types, and to study the regional distribution of {sup 137}Cs in the Finnish reindeer management area. Plant species were categorized by the site types of mineral soil forest (xeric heath forest and mesic heath forest) and peatland. A third category called 'other plant species' included plants with various site types, poorly determined species and species with poor statistics. The {sup 137}Cs concentrations in different site types differed significantly. The mean {sup 137}Cs concentrations of the whole reindeer management area in the xeric heath forest plant species was 44 {+-} 27 Bq/kg dw, in the mesic heath forest plant species 75 {+-} 59 Bq/kg dw and in the peatland plant species 219 {+-} 150 Bq/kg dw. The peatland species uptake {sup 137}Cs more efficiently than plant species of mineral soil forests. A particularly efficient collector of {sup 137}Cs was Trichophorum sp. It is suggested that Trichophorum sp. could be used as an indicator species for reindeer summer fodder plants. The highest concentrations of {sup 137}Cs were found in Southern Lapland and the lowest in Northern Lapland. Today, the concentrations of {sup 137}Cs in summer pasture plants that reindeer feed on in Finland are at such a level that there is no need to avoid any plant species. In the case of future nuclear fallout, reindeer grazing in peatlands would increase concentrations of {sup 137}Cs in reindeer meat. - Highlights: > The {sup 137}Cs concentrations were found to be higher in the plants of peatlands. > There was also a decreasing trend {sup 137}Cs concentrations in the plants of peatlands when moving northwards while xeric heath and mesic heath forest did not show clear spatial pattern. > No significant difference was found between plants species from xeric and mesic heath forest plants. > The

Groundwater and quaternary geological studies of potential peat production areas - useful tool for sustainable peat production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valpola, S.E.; Paalijaervi, M. (Geological Survey of Finland, Kokkola (Finland)), Email: samu.valpola@gtk.fi, Email: miikka.paalijarvi@gtk.fi

2009-07-01

Potential peat production areas in Finland are often situated in vicinity of eskers or other quaternary (glaciofluvial) formations. Frequently these formations are also important groundwater resources and it is essential for sustainable peat production to assure that these resources will not be endangered. The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has concluded several quaternary geological studies on potential peat production areas, which are connected to locally important groundwater areas. These studies have been made using mainly ground penetrating radar (GPR) and light drilling equipment. The main objective of these studies has been to establish the local groundwater flow directions and the quality and extent of quaternary deposits. The increasing need of peat production areas has created an evident demand of cost-effective and fast research methods which can be used for providing reliable information for planning of new production areas. (orig.)

The development of climatic scenarios for Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carter, T; Tuomenvirta, H [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland); Posch, M [National Inst. of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven (Netherlands)

1997-12-31

One of the main objectives of the Finnish Research Programme on Climate Change (SILMU) has been to assess the possible impacts of future changes in climate due to the enhanced greenhouse effect on natural systems and human activities in Finland. In order to address this objective, it was first necessary to specify the types of climate changes to be expected in the Finnish region. Estimates of future climate are conventionally obtained using numerical models, which simulate the evolution of the future climate in response to radiative forcing due to changes in the composition of the atmosphere (i.e. of greenhouse gases and aerosols). However, there are large uncertainties in the model estimates because current knowledge and understanding of atmospheric processes remains incomplete. Since accurate predictions of climate change are not available, an alternative approach is to develop scenarios. These are plausible projections which reflect the best estimates to the future conditions but at the same time embrace the likely uncertainties attached to these estimates. In order to obtain expert opinion on the most appropriate methods of providing scenarios for SILMU, an International Workshop was organised in 1993. The recommendations of the Workshop formed the basis of the present project, initiated in 1994, to develop standard climatic scenarios for Finland

The development of climatic scenarios for Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carter, T.; Tuomenvirta, H. [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland); Posch, M. [National Inst. of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven (Netherlands)

1996-12-31

One of the main objectives of the Finnish Research Programme on Climate Change (SILMU) has been to assess the possible impacts of future changes in climate due to the enhanced greenhouse effect on natural systems and human activities in Finland. In order to address this objective, it was first necessary to specify the types of climate changes to be expected in the Finnish region. Estimates of future climate are conventionally obtained using numerical models, which simulate the evolution of the future climate in response to radiative forcing due to changes in the composition of the atmosphere (i.e. of greenhouse gases and aerosols). However, there are large uncertainties in the model estimates because current knowledge and understanding of atmospheric processes remains incomplete. Since accurate predictions of climate change are not available, an alternative approach is to develop scenarios. These are plausible projections which reflect the best estimates to the future conditions but at the same time embrace the likely uncertainties attached to these estimates. In order to obtain expert opinion on the most appropriate methods of providing scenarios for SILMU, an International Workshop was organised in 1993. The recommendations of the Workshop formed the basis of the present project, initiated in 1994, to develop standard climatic scenarios for Finland

School, a Miniature of Society: Life Stories about Well-being, Education and Career Plan of Young Iranians in Finland

OpenAIRE

HAGHSERESHT, ARMAN

2011-01-01

This thesis examines the role of the Finnish education system in education and career plan of young Iranians with refugee background in Finland. Since the influential factors that affect their education and education plans are similar to other young immigrants in Finland, it indirectly involves the future education and career of many thousand potential fresh labour forces in Finland. The goal is to realise the influence of education system and school experiences on life, and education and...

Historical theses on nursing and caring sciences in Finland: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lukana, Anne; Leena, Salminen; Marjo, Kaartinen; Helena, Leino-Kilpi

2013-12-01

The purpose of this literature review was to review the theses (masters, licentiate and doctoral theses) on the history of nursing and caring sciences in Finland. The research questions were as follows: 1.What is the number and characteristics of these historical theses (target groups, methods and sources) on nursing and caring sciences have been produced in Finland? 2.What periods of time have been under investigation in these theses? 3.What topics have been investigated in these theses? The theses on the history of nursing and caring sciences were retrieved from the theses index of the universities that offer education in nursing and caring sciences in Finland. The literature search covered the time period 1979-2010. Altogether, 58 theses were reviewed and analysed via content analysis. Of all of the theses (n = 3969) produced in nursing and caring sciences, 58 of them focused on historical topics (theses examined the history of the 1900s, whereas only a few of them examined time periods before that. The four main topics of the theses were nursing practice, nursing education, nursing management and philosophy of nursing. The most common topic was nursing practice, especially psychiatric nursing. Research on the history of nursing and caring sciences in Finland has received only marginal attention from researchers. This literature review offers a description of the historical research produced on nursing and caring sciences and the topics of interest. In future, it will be necessary to more closely examine several historical topics that have been neglected in the study of nursing and caring sciences. © 2012 The Authors Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Fethiye-Burdur Fault Zone (SW Turkey): a myth?

Science.gov (United States)

Kaymakci, Nuretdin; Langereis, Cornelis; Özkaptan, Murat; Özacar, Arda A.; Gülyüz, Erhan; Uzel, Bora; Sözbilir, Hasan

2017-04-01

Fethiye Burdur Fault Zone (FBFZ) is first proposed by Dumont et al. (1979) as a sinistral strike-slip fault zone as the NE continuation of Pliny-Strabo trench in to the Anatolian Block. The fault zone supposed to accommodate at least 100 km sinistral displacement between the Menderes Massif and the Beydaǧları platform during the exhumation of the Menderes Massif, mainly during the late Miocene. Based on GPS velocities Barka and Reilinger (1997) proposed that the fault zone is still active and accommodates sinistral displacement. In order to test the presence and to unravel its kinematics we have conducted a rigorous paleomagnetic study containing more than 3000 paleomagnetic samples collected from 88 locations and 11700 fault slip data collected from 198 locations distributed evenly all over SW Anatolia spanning from Middle Miocene to Late Pliocene. The obtained rotation senses and amounts indicate slight (around 20°) counter-clockwise rotations distributed uniformly almost whole SW Anatolia and there is no change in the rotation senses and amounts on either side of the FBFZ implying no differential rotation within the zone. Additionally, the slickenside pitches and constructed paleostress configurations, along the so called FBFZ and also within the 300 km diameter of the proposed fault zone, indicated that almost all the faults, oriented parallel to subparallel to the zone, are normal in character. The fault slip measurements are also consistent with earthquake focal mechanisms suggesting active extension in the region. We have not encountered any significant strike-slip motion in the region to support presence and transcurrent nature of the FBFZ. On the contrary, the region is dominated by extensional deformation and strike-slip components are observed only on the NW-SE striking faults which are transfer faults that accommodated extension and normal motion. Therefore, we claim that the sinistral Fethiye Burdur Fault (Zone) is a myth and there is no tangible

Sedimentological characteristics and seafloor failure offshore SW Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chih-Chieh Su

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, analysis results reveal two main deposition zones are located at the flank of upper Gaoping Submarine Canyon and Lower Fangliao Basin offshore SW Taiwan. The non-event related sediments deposited in past 150 years (i.e., 632 Mt km-2 was delivered and transported from Gaoping River by suspension process with tides and coastal currents and gradually spread out offshore. Meanwhile, the total mass of accumulation sediments is 1922 Mt km-2, accounting for 40% Gaoping River’s sediment load and suggesting that the deposition process is mainly controlled by natural hazards. Sedimentation rates in much of the study area, except in the main deposition zones, are less than 0.5 cm yr-1 (5 m kyr-1. Compared with the studies at the instability seafloor caused by high sedimentation rates (~30 m kyr-1, the offshore southwestern Taiwan is relatively stable. In this study, we also discovered a series of sediment waves located on the upper continental slope between Gaoping and Fangliao Submarine Canyons, which is related to the creeping process on seafloor. In summary, our results reveal the fluid activities, existence of weak layers and earthquake triggering are potential factors which might induced seafloor failures offshore southwestern Taiwan.

Greenfield nuclear power for Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saarenpaa, Tapio

2010-09-15

In Finland, licensing for new nuclear power is ongoing. The political approval is to be completed in 2010. Fennovoima's project is unique in various ways: (i) the company was established only in 2007, (ii) its ownership includes a mixture of local energy companies, electricity-intensive industries and international nuclear competence through E.ON, and (iii) it has two alternative greenfield sites. There are five prerequisites for a successful nuclear power project in a transparent democracy of today: (1) need for additional power capacity, (2) actor prepared to invest, (3) established competence, (4) available site, (5) open communications, and (6) favorable public opinion.

Effects of toxic cyanobacteria on plankton assemblage : community development during decay of Nodularia spumigena

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Engström-Öst, J.; Koski, Marja; Schmidt, K.

2002-01-01

We studied the development of the plankton community in an artificially created toxic Nodularia spumigena bloom during a 2 wk enclosure study at the SW coast of Finland in the Baltic Sea. We measured bacterial abundance, dominant phytoplankton groups and ciliates, as well as concentrations of phy...

COCA-COLA FINLAND – KALUSTESUUNNITELMA UUSIIN TOIMITILOIHIN

OpenAIRE

Luoti, Emilia

2010-01-01

Coca-Cola Finland muutti vanhoista tiloistaan Helsingistä Sinebrychoffin tehtaalle Keravalle. Uusista tiloista haluttiin tyylikkäät ja brandin mukaiset, sillä tiloissa vierailee myös asiakkaita. Coca-Cola Finlandin uusien toimitilojen suunnittelussa yrityksen brandin huomioiminen onkin ollut tärkeää. Suunnitelmassa on keskitytty mittatilaus kalusteiden suunnitteluun, mutta työ sisältää myös visuaalisien elementtien suunnittelua. Suunnitteluprosessin aikana on tutkittu Coca-Colaa yritykse...

National funding for mental health research in Finland, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Science.gov (United States)

Hazo, Jean-Baptiste; Gandré, Coralie; Leboyer, Marion; Obradors-Tarragó, Carla; Belli, Stefano; McDaid, David; Park, A-La; Maliandi, Maria Victoria; Wahlbeck, Kristian; Wykes, Til; van Os, Jim; Haro, Josep Maria; Chevreul, Karine

2017-09-01

As part of the Roamer project, we aimed at revealing the share of health research budgets dedicated to mental health, as well as on the amounts allocated to such research for four European countries. Finland, France, Spain and the United Kingdom national public and non-profit funding allocated to mental health research in 2011 were investigated using, when possible, bottom-up approaches. Specifics of the data collection varied from country to country. The total amount of public and private not for profit mental health research funding for Finland, France, Spain and the UK was €10·2, €84·8, €16·8, and €127·6 million, respectively. Charities accounted for a quarter of the funding in the UK and less than six per cent elsewhere. The share of health research dedicated to mental health ranged from 4·0% in the UK to 9·7% in Finland. When compared to the DALY attributable to mental disorders, Spain, France, Finland, and the UK invested respectively €12·5, €31·2, €39·5, and €48·7 per DALY. Among these European countries, there is an important gap between the level of mental health research funding and the economic and epidemiologic burden of mental disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Heliotropium thermophilum (Boraginaceae), a new taxon from SW Anatolia, Turkey

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tan, Kit; Celik, Ali; Gemici, Yusuf

2008-01-01

Heliotropium thermophilum Kit Tan, A. Çelik & Y. Gemici (Boraginaceae), is described as a species new to science and illustrated. Its diploid chromosome number of 2n = 16 is a first report. It is restricted to the province of Aydin bordering on Denizli in SW Anatolia and is of interest on account...

Suffering What They Must: The Shifting Alliances of Romania and Finland in World War II

Science.gov (United States)

2015-05-01

17 Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918 -1945, 485. 18 Ronald D. Bachman and Eugene K. Keefe, Romania : A Country...Suffering What They Must: The Shifting Alliances of Romania and Finland in World War II A Monograph by MAJ Edward M. Kaspar United States Army...Must: The Shifting Alliances of Romania and Finland in World War II 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6

The Impacts of Internationalization on Quality Assurance Policy: A Comparative Study of Finland and Taiwan

OpenAIRE

LIU, PO-YUN

2008-01-01

Internationalization and quality assurance have become the central considerations of higher education development currently. The aim of this research is to explore and compare the impacts of internationalization on quality assurance policy in Finland and Taiwan. To achieve this aim, the general impacts of internationalization on quality assurance policy have been discussed first. Next, the empirical research of Finland and Taiwan are conducted by qualitative interviews of higher education pol...

Solving Business Problems Together Case: A Master's Degree Programme in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Jakubik

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This descriptive, single, intrinsic case study seeks to answer the following questions: Why should business practitioners and educators work together in solving business problems? How are the business problems of companies handled in a master's degree programme in Finland? The case study is based on multiple sources of documents collected and developed during the ten years of the programme. It demonstrates that solving authentic business problems in a learning community of business practitioners, i.e. students, as well as educators, i.e. teachers and thesis advisors, leads to solutions that satisfy practitioners, educators, and the business community. This case is an example of how solving business problems together contributes to the better performance of businesses and a better society in Finland.

Studies of quaternary deposits of investigation trench OL-TK13 at the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huhta, P. [Geological Survey of Finland, Espoo (Finland)

2007-05-15

The Quaternary deposits in investigation trench OL-TK13 were studied by the Geological Survey of Finland in autumn 2006. The investigations were carried out in three phases as the excavation progressed. Samples for grain size determinations were taken from vertical profiles, placed 25 m apart along the trench. The profiles extended from the soil surface down to bedrock or, if the bedrock was covered with water, to the water table. Between 6 and 7 kg of sediment was taken in a bucket with a shovel and placed in plastic bags for transport to the laboratory. The samples were first dried in the laboratory after which they were sieved. In addition, grain size distribution of the < 63 {mu}m fraction was analyzed with the Sedigraph 5100 instrument. Sedimentological observations of the sampling profiles were documented in field by drawing on a field observation form and the profiles were photographed using a digital camera except profiles 7 and 8. In addition, the excavated section was photographed along their whole length. The length of OL-TK13 is approximately 250 m and 11 profiles were studied. The height of the profiles varied from 7.3 m to 2.3 m, with an average of 4.6 m. The till cover in OL-TK13 consist of two parts. The upper till has three layers. Surface layer is oxidized, brown sandy till, which is underlain by grayish brown intermediate layer of sandy till. This layer represents the grounwater table, which is moving up and down. The lower layer is unoxidized, grey sandy till. The thickness of the upper till varies from 2.3 to 5.5 meters. The upper till in OL-TK13 is classified as having a normal amount of cobbles and boulders with the size of the larger clasts varying from 6 to 60 cm. The edges of clasts have been eroded and rounded. The upper till has normal compactness. The lower till has been spared in bedrock depressions. Part of it's material has ascended the upper till. The lower till is compact, dark grey silty till with over 15 % of fine material

Studies of quaternary deposits of investigation trench OL-TK13 at the Olkiluoto study site, Eurajoki, SW Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huhta, P.

2007-05-01

The Quaternary deposits in investigation trench OL-TK13 were studied by the Geological Survey of Finland in autumn 2006. The investigations were carried out in three phases as the excavation progressed. Samples for grain size determinations were taken from vertical profiles, placed 25 m apart along the trench. The profiles extended from the soil surface down to bedrock or, if the bedrock was covered with water, to the water table. Between 6 and 7 kg of sediment was taken in a bucket with a shovel and placed in plastic bags for transport to the laboratory. The samples were first dried in the laboratory after which they were sieved. In addition, grain size distribution of the < 63 μm fraction was analyzed with the Sedigraph 5100 instrument. Sedimentological observations of the sampling profiles were documented in field by drawing on a field observation form and the profiles were photographed using a digital camera except profiles 7 and 8. In addition, the excavated section was photographed along their whole length. The length of OL-TK13 is approximately 250 m and 11 profiles were studied. The height of the profiles varied from 7.3 m to 2.3 m, with an average of 4.6 m. The till cover in OL-TK13 consist of two parts. The upper till has three layers. Surface layer is oxidized, brown sandy till, which is underlain by grayish brown intermediate layer of sandy till. This layer represents the grounwater table, which is moving up and down. The lower layer is unoxidized, grey sandy till. The thickness of the upper till varies from 2.3 to 5.5 meters. The upper till in OL-TK13 is classified as having a normal amount of cobbles and boulders with the size of the larger clasts varying from 6 to 60 cm. The edges of clasts have been eroded and rounded. The upper till has normal compactness. The lower till has been spared in bedrock depressions. Part of it's material has ascended the upper till. The lower till is compact, dark grey silty till with over 15 % of fine material (under 0

Radiation risk in Finland due to the nuclear power plant at Sosnovyj Bor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ilvonen, M.; Rossi, J.; Salonoja, M.

1994-06-01

The present study is an application of the long range transport and dose model TRADOS developed jointly by the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Technical Research Centre of Finland. The aim of the study is to assess the radiation risk in Finland due to the nuclear power plant at Sosnovyj Bor near St. Petersburg in Russia. Probabilities of reaching different parts of the country, transport time and time spent over Finland by the trajectories are presented. Also breadth of the radioactive cloud and incidence of rain are estimated. The calculated radiation doses are based on one single hypothetical release, in which all noble gases are released, together with 10 % of easily vaporizing elements and 1 % of others. All results are based on the assumption that the probability of the release is 100 %. The dose pathways calculated are cloud gamma, fallout gamma, inhalation, and ingestion of milk, meat, green vegetables, grain and roots. External dose rates have been calculated. The necessity of countermeasures and the ratio of the avertable dose to the costs are also assessed. (13 refs., 156 figs., 12 tabs.)

Adaptation of SW-846 methodology for the organic analysis of radioactive mixed wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griest, W.H.; Schenley, R.L.; Tomkins, B.A.; Caton, J.E. Jr.; Fleming, G.S.; Harmon, S.H.; Wachter, L.J.; Garcia, M.E.; Edwards, M.D.

1990-01-01

Modifications to SW-846 sample preparation methodology permit the organic analysis of radioactive mixed waste with minimum personal radiation exposure and equipment contamination. This paper describes modifications to SW-846 methods 5030 and 3510-3550 for sample preparation in radiation-zoned facilities (hood, glove box, and hot cell) and GC-MS analysis of the decontaminated organic extracts in a conventional laboratory for volatile and semivolatile organics by methods 8240 and 8270 (respectively). Results will be presented from the analysis of nearly 70 nuclear waste storage tank liquids and 17 sludges. Regulatory organics do not account for the organic matter suggested to be present by total organic carbon measurements. 7 refs., 5 tabs

TGF-{beta}1 increases invasiveness of SW1990 cells through Rac1/ROS/NF-{kappa}B/IL-6/MMP-2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Binker, Marcelo G. [Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8 (Canada); CBRHC Research Center, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Binker-Cosen, Andres A. [CBRHC Research Center, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Gaisano, Herbert Y. [Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8 (Canada); Cosen, Rodica H. de [CBRHC Research Center, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Cosen-Binker, Laura I., E-mail: laura.cosen.binker@utoronto.ca [Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8 (Canada); CBRHC Research Center, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2011-02-04

Research highlights: {yields} Rac1 mediates TGF-{beta}1-induced SW1990 invasion through MMP-2 secretion and activation. {yields} NADPH-generated ROS act downstream of Rac1 in TGF-{beta}1-challenged SW1990 cells. {yields} TGF-{beta}1-stimulated ROS activate NF-{kappa}B in SW1990 cells. {yields} NF{kappa}B-induced IL-6 release is required for secretion and activation of MMP-2 in SW1990 cells. -- Abstract: Human pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis have been found to correlate with increased levels of active matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2). The multifunctional cytokine transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-{beta}1) has been shown to increase both secretion of MMP-2 and invasion by several pancreatic cancer cell types. In the present study, we investigated the signaling pathway involved in TGF-{beta}1-promoted MMP-2 secretion and invasion by human pancreatic cancer cells SW1990. Using specific inhibitors, we found that stimulation of these tumor cells with TGF-{beta}1 induced secretion and activation of the collagenase MMP-2, which was required for TGF-{beta}1-stimulated invasion. Our results also indicate that signaling events involved in TGF-{beta}1-enhanced SW1990 invasiveness comprehend activation of Rac1 followed by generation of reactive oxygen species through nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase, activation of nuclear factor-kappa beta, release of interleukin-6, and secretion and activation of MMP-2.

TGF-β1 increases invasiveness of SW1990 cells through Rac1/ROS/NF-κB/IL-6/MMP-2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binker, Marcelo G.; Binker-Cosen, Andres A.; Gaisano, Herbert Y.; Cosen, Rodica H. de; Cosen-Binker, Laura I.

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → Rac1 mediates TGF-β1-induced SW1990 invasion through MMP-2 secretion and activation. → NADPH-generated ROS act downstream of Rac1 in TGF-β1-challenged SW1990 cells. → TGF-β1-stimulated ROS activate NF-κB in SW1990 cells. → NFκB-induced IL-6 release is required for secretion and activation of MMP-2 in SW1990 cells. -- Abstract: Human pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis have been found to correlate with increased levels of active matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2). The multifunctional cytokine transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) has been shown to increase both secretion of MMP-2 and invasion by several pancreatic cancer cell types. In the present study, we investigated the signaling pathway involved in TGF-β1-promoted MMP-2 secretion and invasion by human pancreatic cancer cells SW1990. Using specific inhibitors, we found that stimulation of these tumor cells with TGF-β1 induced secretion and activation of the collagenase MMP-2, which was required for TGF-β1-stimulated invasion. Our results also indicate that signaling events involved in TGF-β1-enhanced SW1990 invasiveness comprehend activation of Rac1 followed by generation of reactive oxygen species through nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase, activation of nuclear factor-kappa beta, release of interleukin-6, and secretion and activation of MMP-2.

Research councils facing new science and technology : the case of nanotechnology in Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Most, F.V.

2009-01-01

This thesis investigates how research funding organizations (RFOs) respond to a new emerging field of science and technology. It takes nanoscience and nanotechnology (nanotechnology for short) as its case and compares the responses of RFOs in Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland.

School Autonomy, Leadership and Student Achievement: Reflections from Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Saarivirta, Toni; Kumpulainen, Kristiina

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide national information on school autonomy, leadership and student achievements in Finland. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a literature review on Finnish studies focusing on school autonomy, leadership and student achievement. The studies have been reviewed on the basis of a content…

Direct Numerical Simulations of Dynamic Drainage and Imbibition to Investigate Capillary Pressure-Saturation-Interfacial Area Relation

Science.gov (United States)

Konangi, S.; Palakurthi, N. K.; Karadimitriou, N.; Comer, K.; Ghia, U.

2017-12-01

We present results of pore-scale direct numerical simulations (DNS) of drainage and imbibition in a quasi-two-dimensional (40µm thickness) porous medium with a randomly distributed packing of cylindrical obstructions. The Navier-Stokes (NS) equations are solved in the pore space on an Eulerian mesh using the open-source finite-volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, OpenFOAM. The Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method is employed to track the evolution of the fluid-fluid interface; a static contact angle is used to account for wall adhesion. From the DNS data, we focus on the macroscopic capillary pressure-saturation (Pc-Sw) relation, which is known to be hysteretic, i.e., this relation is flow process (such as drainage, imbibition and scanning curves) and history dependent. In order to overcome the problem of hysteresis, extended theories of multiphase flow hypothesized that the inclusion of specific interfacial area as a state variable will result in a unique relation between capillary pressure, saturation and interfacial area (Pc-Sw-awn). We study the role of specific interfacial area on hysteresis in the macroscopic Pc-Sw relation under non-equilibrium (dynamic) conditions. Under dynamic conditions, capillary pressure depends on the rate of change of the wetting phase saturation, and the dynamic Pc-Sw relation includes the changes caused by viscous effects. Simulations of drainage and imbibition are performed for two capillary numbers by controlling the flow rate of the non-wetting (polydimenthlysiloxane oil) and wetting (water) fluids. From these simulations, the Pc-Sw curves will be estimated; the Pc-S-awn surface will be constructed to determine whether the data points from drainage and imbibition processes fall on a unique surface under transient conditions. Different macroscopic capillary pressure definitions based on phase-averaged pressures and interfacial area will be evaluated. Understanding macroscopic capillary pressure definitions and the uniqueness

Security Policy at Road’s End? The Roles of Sweden and Finland in the Nordic-Baltic Defence Cooperation Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Winnerstig Mike

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article addresses a number of questions related to Nordic and to an extent also Nordic-Baltic defence cooperation. First of all, how far has Nordic and Nordic-Baltic defence cooperation come today? Secondly, what are the differences in the approaches of Sweden and Finland when it comes to defence cooperation, especially regarding NATO, in the Nordic-Baltic area? As a first analytical result, it is apparent that the rhetorical standing of the Nordic and Nordic-Baltic defence cooperation process is greater than its real achievements, especially in terms of defence integration. Secondly, it seems also to be clear that the defence and security policy debates of Sweden and Finland are quite different. Some problems identified in the debates within the two countries, respectively, are very similar although the suggested solutions vary very remarkably. Regarding the key issue of NATO membership, the developments of the last few years suggest that the Swedish political establishment, as well as the general public, might be closer to a substantial discussion of NATO membership than their Finnish equivalents.

Identifying and Intervening in Child Maltreatment and Implementing Related National Guidelines by Public Health Nurses in Finland and Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kayoko Suzuki

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Aim. This study aimed to investigate how public health nurses identify, intervene in, and implement the guidelines on child maltreatment in Finland and Japan and to compare the data between the two countries. Method. This study employed a cross-sectional design. Public health nurses’ knowledge and skills with respect to child maltreatment prevention were assessed using a questionnaire consisting of three categories: identification, intervention, and implementation of guidelines. Public health nurses working in the area of maternal and child health care in Finland (n=193 and Japan (n=440 were the participants. Results. A significantly higher percentage of Japanese public health nurses identified child maltreatment compared to Finnish public health nurses, while Finnish nurses intervened in child maltreatment better than their Japanese counterparts. In both countries, public health nurses who had read and used the guidelines dealt with child maltreatment better than those who did not. Conclusion. The results suggest that effective training on child maltreatment and the use of guidelines are important to increase public health nurses’ knowledge and skills for identifying and intervening in child maltreatment.

Poliitkabaree "Mental Finland" torgib kõike, mis valu teeb / Andres Laasik

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Laasik, Andres, 1960-2016

2009-01-01

19. veebr. Brüsselis Flaami Kuninglikus Teatris esietendunud Kristian Smedsi lavastusest "Mental Finland", milles osalevad üheteistkümne rahvuse esindajad , sealhulgas eesti näitlejad Juhan Ulfsak ja Eva Klemets

Influence of radioactive fallout on water supply and sewerage in Finland; Radioaktiivisen laskeuman vaikutukset vesihuoltoon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rantavaara, A; Saxen, R; Puhakainen, M [Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, Helsinki (Finland); Hatva, T; Ahosilta, P; Tenhunen, J [National Board of Waters and the Environment, Helsinki (Finland)

1995-09-01

The report reviews the practices and organization of water supply and sewerage in Finland and is related to their response to radioactive fallout situations. The contribution of drinking water to the internal radiation dose caused by radioactive fallout has earlier been small in Finland. However, in a wide-scale fallout situation, the decreasing of collective dose received from water may be justified, if the dose can be reduced at a reasonable cost, for instance by a temporary change of the raw water source. Efficient exchange of information between radiation protection and water supply experts is important for successful dose reduction measures. In Finland waterworks deliver tap water to 4.2 million people. Half of the water is ground water, and generally very well protected against fallout radioactivity. The other half is treated surface water. (6 figs., 5 tabs.).

Changes in rates of arthroscopy due to degenerative knee disease and traumatic meniscal tears in Finland and Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Mattila, Ville M; Sihvonen, Raine; Paloneva, Juha; Felländer-Tsai, Li

2016-02-01

Knee arthroscopy is commonly performed to treat degenerative knee disease symptoms and traumatic meniscal tears. We evaluated whether the recent high-quality randomized control trials not favoring arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee disease affected the procedure incidence and trends in Finland and Sweden. We conducted a bi-national registry-based study including all adult (aged ≥18 years) inpatient and outpatient arthroscopic surgeries performed for degenerative knee disease (osteoarthritis (OA) and degenerative meniscal tears) and traumatic meniscal tears in Finland between 1997 and 2012, and in Sweden between 2001 and 2012. In Finland, the annual number of operations was 16,389 in 1997, reached 20,432 in 2007, and declined to 15,018 in 2012. In Sweden, the number of operations was 9,944 in 2001, reached 11,711 in 2008, and declined to 8,114 in 2012. The knee arthroscopy incidence for OA was 124 per 10(5) person-years in 2012 in Finland and it was 51 in Sweden. The incidence of knee arthroscopies for meniscal tears coded as traumatic steadily increased in Finland from 64 per 10(5) person-years in 1997 to 97 per 10(5) person-years in 2012, but not in Sweden. The incidence of arthroscopies for degenerative knee disease declined after 2008 in both countries. Remarkably, the incidence of arthroscopy for degenerative knee disease and traumatic meniscal tears is 2 to 4 times higher in Finland than in Sweden. Efficient implementation of new high-quality evidence in clinical practice could reduce the number of ineffective surgeries.

Changes in rates of arthroscopy due to degenerative knee disease and traumatic meniscal tears in Finland and Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Mattila, Ville M; Sihvonen, Raine; Paloneva, Juha; Felländer-Tsai, Li

2016-01-01

Background and purpose Knee arthroscopy is commonly performed to treat degenerative knee disease symptoms and traumatic meniscal tears. We evaluated whether the recent high-quality randomized control trials not favoring arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee disease affected the procedure incidence and trends in Finland and Sweden. Patients and methods We conducted a bi-national registry-based study including all adult (aged ≥18 years) inpatient and outpatient arthroscopic surgeries performed for degenerative knee disease (osteoarthritis (OA) and degenerative meniscal tears) and traumatic meniscal tears in Finland between 1997 and 2012, and in Sweden between 2001 and 2012. Results In Finland, the annual number of operations was 16,389 in 1997, reached 20,432 in 2007, and declined to 15,018 in 2012. In Sweden, the number of operations was 9,944 in 2001, reached 11,711 in 2008, and declined to 8,114 in 2012. The knee arthroscopy incidence for OA was 124 per 105 person-years in 2012 in Finland and it was 51 in Sweden. The incidence of knee arthroscopies for meniscal tears coded as traumatic steadily increased in Finland from 64 per 105 person-years in 1997 to 97 per 105 person-years in 2012, but not in Sweden. Interpretation The incidence of arthroscopies for degenerative knee disease declined after 2008 in both countries. Remarkably, the incidence of arthroscopy for degenerative knee disease and traumatic meniscal tears is 2 to 4 times higher in Finland than in Sweden. Efficient implementation of new high-quality evidence in clinical practice could reduce the number of ineffective surgeries. PMID:26122621

Assessing the Influence of Fashion Clothing Advertising on Women's Consumer Behaviour in Finland; a case study of H&M

OpenAIRE

Hamed Abu Adab, Sari

2012-01-01

This study will provide a framework for analysing the current advertising and marketing patterns in women’s consumer behaviour in Finland. Swedish clothing retailer Hennes&Mauritz (H&M) was chosen as a case study since it is considered to be well-known in Finland; in 2010 average sales were astonishingly around 243million euros (H&M 2012). As this research is considered to be a broad topic, this study will focus on women in Finland aged 16-35 and above. This study will use various research m...

Activation of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase α and Extracelluar Signal-Regulated Kinase Mediates CB-PIC-Induced Apoptosis in Hypoxic SW620 Colorectal Cancer Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sung-Yun Cho

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Here, antitumor mechanism of cinnamaldehyde derivative CB-PIC was elucidated in human SW620 colon cancer cells. CB-PIC significantly exerted cytotoxicity, increased sub-G1 accumulation, and cleaved PARP with apoptotic features, while it enhanced the phosphorylation of AMPK alpha and ACC as well as activated the ERK in hypoxic SW620 cells. Furthermore, CB-PIC suppressed the expression of HIF1 alpha, Akt, and mTOR and activated the AMPK phosphorylation in hypoxic SW620 cells. Conversely, silencing of AMPKα blocked PARP cleavage and ERK activation induced by CB-PIC, while ERK inhibitor PD 98059 attenuated the phosphorylation of AMPKα in hypoxic SW620 cells, implying cross-talk between ERK and AMPKα. Furthermore, cotreatment of CB-PIC and metformin enhanced the inhibition of HIF1α and Akt/mTOR and the activation of AMPKα and pACC in hypoxic SW620 cells. In addition, CB-PIC suppressed the growth of SW620 cells inoculated in BALB/c athymic nude mice, and immunohistochemistry revealed that CB-PIC treatment attenuated the expression of Ki-67, CD34, and CAIX and increased the expression of pAMPKα in CB-PIC-treated group. Interestingly, CP-PIC showed better antitumor activity in SW620 colon cancer cells under hypoxia than under normoxia, since it may be applied to chemoresistance. Overall, our findings suggest that activation of AMPKα and ERK mediates CB-PIC-induced apoptosis in hypoxic SW620 colon cancer cells.

Respiratory diphtheria in an asylum seeker from Afghanistan arriving to Finland via Sweden, December 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Sane, Jussi; Sorvari, Tiina; Widerström, Micael; Kauma, Heikki; Kaukoniemi, Ulla; Tarkka, Eveliina; Puumalainen, Taneli; Kuusi, Markku; Salminen, Mika; Lyytikäinen, Outi

2016-01-01

In December 2015, an asylum seeker originating from Afghanistan was diagnosed with respiratory diphtheria in Finland. He arrived in Finland from Sweden where he had already been clinically suspected and tested for diphtheria. Corynebacterium diphtheriae was confirmed in Sweden and shown to be genotypically and phenotypically toxigenic. The event highlights the importance of early case detection, rapid communication within the country and internationally as well as preparedness plans of diphtheria antitoxin availability.

Nuclear safety culture in Finland and Sweden - Developments and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reiman, T.; Pietikaeinen, E. (Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT (Finland)); Kahlbom, U. (RiskPilot AB (Sweden)); Rollenhagen, C. (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) (Sweden))

2011-02-15

The project aimed at studying the concept of nuclear safety culture and the Nordic nuclear branch safety culture. The project also aimed at looking how the power companies and the regulators view the current responsibilities and role of subcontractors in the Nordic nuclear safety culture as well as to inspect the special demands for safety culture in subcontracting chains. Interview data was collected in Sweden (n = 14) and Finland (n = 16) during 2009. Interviewees represented the major actors in the nuclear field (regulators, power companies, expert organizations, waste management organizations). Results gave insight into the nature and evaluation of safety culture in the nuclear industry. Results illustrated that there is a wide variety of views on matters that are considered important for nuclear safety within the Nordic nuclear community. However, the interviewees considered quite uniformly such psychological states as motivation, mindfulness, sense of control, understanding of hazards and sense of responsibility as important for nuclear safety. Results also gave insight into the characteristics of Nordic nuclear culture. Various differences in safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were uncovered. In addition to the differences, historical reasons for the development of the nuclear safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were pointed out. Finally, results gave implications that on the one hand subcontractors can bring new ideas and improvements to the plants' practices, but on the other hand the assurance of necessary safety attitudes and competence of the subcontracting companies and their employees is considered as a challenge. The report concludes that a good safety culture requires a deep and wide understanding of nuclear safety including the various accident mechanisms of the power plants as well as a willingness to continuously develop one's competence and understanding. An effective and resilient nuclear safety culture has to foster a constant

Viraalimarkkinointi web-sivustoilla : Case: Sony Music Finland

OpenAIRE

Kerminen, Satu

2010-01-01

Tekijät Satu Kerminen Ryhmä tai aloitusvuosi 2007 Opinnäytetyön nimi Viraalimarkkinointi web-sivustoilla Case: Sony Music Finland Sivu- ja liitesivumäärä 37 + 7 Ohjaaja Mirja Jaakkola Tämä raportti on Haaga-Helia Ammattikorkeakoululle tehty opinnäytetyö. Opinnäytetyö on osa IT-tradenomin tutkintoa. Tämän opinnäytetyön aiheena on viraalimarkkinointi web-sivustoilla. Aihetta tutkittiin suunnittelemalla ja toteuttamalla viraalimarkkinointisivusto Sony ...

Correlation between the Ship Grounding Accident and the Ship Traffic – A Case Study Based on the Statistics of the Gulf of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arsham Mazaheri

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Ship traffic is one of the factors that is presented in almost all of the existing grounding models, and is considered as one of the affecting factors on the likelihood of grounding accident. This effect in grounding accident is mostly accepted by the experts as a common sense or simply by just generalizing the ship-ship collision cases to grounding accidents. There is no available research on the actual causal link between the ship traffic and grounding accident in the literature. In this paper, authors have utilized the statistical analysis on historical grounding accident data in the Gulf of Finland between the years 1989 and 2010 and the AIS data of the same area in year 2010, as the source of ship traffic data, to investigate the possible existence of any correlation between the ship traffic and the grounding accident. The results show that for the studied area (Gulf of Finland there is no correlation between the traffic density and the grounding accident. However, the possibility of the existence of minor relation between the traffic distribution and grounding accident is shown by the result. This finding, however, needs further investigation for more clarification.

Sediment microbial activity and its relation to environmental variables along the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline

Science.gov (United States)

Polyak, Yulia; Shigaeva, Tatyana; Gubelit, Yulia; Bakina, Ludmila; Kudryavtseva, Valentina; Polyak, Mark

2017-07-01

Sediment microbial activity and its relationship with the main environmental factors and pollutants were examined in the coastal area of the eastern Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea. The activity of two common oxidoreductase enzymes: dehydrogenase (DA) and catalase (CA) varied significantly between 13 study sites. In the Neva Bay the highest microbial activities (DA: 2.64 mg TFF (10 g- 1) day- 1, CA: 6.29 mg H2O2 g- 1) were recorded, while in the outer estuary the minimum values of dehydrogenase and catalase were measured. DA, CA, and abundances of culturable heterotrophic bacteria (CHB) were positively correlated with each other, while biomass of green opportunistic algae was independent of both microbial activities and CHB. Enzymatic activity was found to be strongly positively correlated with sediment particle size and organic matter content, but unrelated to the other studied environmental parameters (temperature, pH, and salinity). Principal components analysis (PCA), controlling for environmental variables, supported direct effects of metal and oil contamination on sediment microbial activity. Also it had shown the similar patterns for algal biomass and metals. Our results suggest that copper and hydrocarbons are the main anthropogenic variables influencing enzyme distribution along the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline.

210Po and 210Pb in Forest Soil and in Wild Berries in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaaramaa, Kaisa; Lehto, Jukka; Solatie, Dina; Aro, Lasse

2008-01-01

The behaviour of 210 Po and 210 Pb was investigated in forests in the Southern Finland site and in the Northern Finland site. Sampling sites were in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests. Maximum activities of 210 Po and 210 Pb in soil columns were found in organic layers. According to preliminary results of wild berry samples, the lowest 210 Po concentrations were found in berries. The highest concentration of 210 Po was found in stems of the blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and the lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) samples

Biodiversity Hotspots and Visitor Flows in Oulanka National Park, Finland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lyon, K.; Cottrell, S.P.; Siikamaki, P.; Marwijk, van R.B.M.

2011-01-01

Oulanka National Park, Finland aims to ensure nature conservation while providing high quality visitor experiences. The growth of outdoor recreation and nature tourism, however, has fueled concern about consequent pressures on the natural resources of the park. This analysis assessed the spatial

ALTENER - Biomass event in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-12-31

The publication contains the lectures held in the Biomass event in Finland. The event was divided into two sessions: Fuel production and handling, and Co-combustion and gasification sessions. Both sessions consisted of lectures and the business forum during which the companies involved in the research presented themselves and their research and their equipment. The fuel production and handling session consisted of following lectures and business presentations: AFB-NETT - business opportunities for European biomass industry; Wood waste in Europe; Wood fuel production technologies in EU- countries; new drying method for wood waste; Pellet - the best package for biofuel - a view from the Swedish pelletmarket; First biomass plant in Portugal with forest residue fuel; and the business forum of presentations: Swedish experiences of willow growing; Biomass handling technology; Chipset 536 C Harvester; KIC International. The Co-combustion and gasification session consisted of following lectures and presentations: Gasification technology - overview; Overview of co-combustion technology in Europe; Modern biomass combustion technology; Wood waste, peat and sludge combustion in Enso Kemi mills and UPM-Kymmene Rauma paper mill; Enhanced CFB combustion of wood chips, wood waste and straw in Vaexjoe in Sweden and Grenaa CHP plant in Denmark; Co-combustion of wood waste; Biomass gasification projects in India and Finland; Biomass CFB gasifier connected to a 350 MW{sub t}h steam boiler fired with coal and natural gas - THERMIE demonstration project in Lahti (FI); Biomass gasification for energy production, Noord Holland plant in Netherlands and Arbre Energy (UK); Gasification of biomass in fixed bed gasifiers, Wet cleaning and condensing heat recovery of flue gases; Combustion of wet biomass by underfeed grate boiler; Research on biomass and waste for energy; Engineering and consulting on energy (saving) projects; and Research and development on combustion of solid fuels

ALTENER - Biomass event in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

The publication contains the lectures held in the Biomass event in Finland. The event was divided into two sessions: Fuel production and handling, and Co-combustion and gasification sessions. Both sessions consisted of lectures and the business forum during which the companies involved in the research presented themselves and their research and their equipment. The fuel production and handling session consisted of following lectures and business presentations: AFB-NETT - business opportunities for European biomass industry; Wood waste in Europe; Wood fuel production technologies in EU- countries; new drying method for wood waste; Pellet - the best package for biofuel - a view from the Swedish pelletmarket; First biomass plant in Portugal with forest residue fuel; and the business forum of presentations: Swedish experiences of willow growing; Biomass handling technology; Chipset 536 C Harvester; KIC International. The Co-combustion and gasification session consisted of following lectures and presentations: Gasification technology - overview; Overview of co-combustion technology in Europe; Modern biomass combustion technology; Wood waste, peat and sludge combustion in Enso Kemi mills and UPM-Kymmene Rauma paper mill; Enhanced CFB combustion of wood chips, wood waste and straw in Vaexjoe in Sweden and Grenaa CHP plant in Denmark; Co-combustion of wood waste; Biomass gasification projects in India and Finland; Biomass CFB gasifier connected to a 350 MW{sub t}h steam boiler fired with coal and natural gas - THERMIE demonstration project in Lahti (FI); Biomass gasification for energy production, Noord Holland plant in Netherlands and Arbre Energy (UK); Gasification of biomass in fixed bed gasifiers, Wet cleaning and condensing heat recovery of flue gases; Combustion of wet biomass by underfeed grate boiler; Research on biomass and waste for energy; Engineering and consulting on energy (saving) projects; and Research and development on combustion of solid fuels

Keurmerk voor sociaal aannamebeleid. Prestatieladder Socialer Ondernemer ook bruikbaar voor SW

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, A.

2012-01-01

De Prestatieladder Socialer Ondernemen (PSO) geeft bedrijven die meer dan gemiddeld bijdragen aan werkgelegenheid voor personen met een afstand tot de arbeidsmarkt een erkenning. De PSO is 14 juni gelanceerd door TNO en ontwikkeld in samenwerking met onder andere zeven SW-bedrijven.ln dit artikeì de

Plans to expand nuclear power production in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laaksonen, J.

2002-01-01

The Finnish Government made in January 2002 a Decision in Principle which concludes that constructing of a new nuclear power plant in Finland is in line with the overall good of the society. The Finnish Parliament ratified the decision in May 2002. Based on this decision, the electricity generating company TVO is authorised to continue preparations for the construction of a new nuclear power plant unit

Tentative novel lyssavirus in a bat in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Nokireki, T; Tammiranta, N; Kokkonen, U-M; Kantala, T; Gadd, T

2018-06-01

A tentative novel member of the genus Lyssavirus, designated as Kotalahti bat lyssavirus, was detected in a Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii) in Finland. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the virus differs from other known lyssaviruses, being closely related to Khujand virus, Aravan virus, Bokeloh bat lyssavirus and European bat lyssavirus 2. © 2018 The Authors. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases Published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Greenhouse gases embodied in the international trade and final consumption of Finland: An input-output analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maeenpaeae, Ilmo; Siikavirta, Hanne

2007-01-01

The estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with international trade and final consumption gives a more complete and balanced picture of the responsibilities of various countries for the emissions that cause the climate change. The aim of this study was to look at the impact of the coverage of the GHGs and their sources and assumptions regarding the emissions of imports on the results of GHG emissions associated with international trade and final consumption of Finland. In addition to a single year study, a trend covering years 1990-2003 was produced for Finland to study the development of the GHG emissions associated with domestic consumption and the reasons behind the development. According to our results Finland was in 1999 a net exporter of CO 2 from fossil fuel combustion, CO 2 from all sources and GHGs of 4(4.2), 5 or 7 Gkg, respectively. The impact of different assumptions concerning the emissions embodied in imports in the case of Finland was tested by using the domestic emission intensities and the ratios of embodied emissions in imports in relation to domestic products by utilizing the data from the study by (OECD, 2003b. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Embodied in International Trade of Goods, STI Working Paper 2003/15, OECD, Paris). In the case of Finland, the differences of results calculated with these two methods remained rather small. The total emissions embodied in the imports changed from 33.8 to 34.4 Gkg and consequently the net export of CO 2 from fossil fuel combustion changed from 4.2 to 3.6 Gkg. The results for 1990-2003 show that the GHG emissions embodied in the exports have exceeded the GHG emissions embodied in the imports from early 1990s. The reason for the increasingly positive GHG trade balance in the case of Finland has been the change in the magnitude of trade rather than the changes in its structure. The results show also that the impact of international transport on the emission intensity of imports is significant and

Environmental effects of fuel peat use in Finland. An LCA-based Decision Analysis Impact Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leijting, J.

1998-02-01

Finland is a country where the main domestic energy sources are restricted to hydroelectric power, wood and peat from which hydropower is practically utilized fully. The use of peat as energy source has increased drastically since the oil crisis in the beginning of the seventies and the peat exploitation industry is nowadays a significant supplier of labour in Finland. Peat is, in contrast to fossil energy sources, exploited and used as an energy source within the country's borderline. Therefore, all direct extractions and emissions takes place in Finland.The influence of the processes, which occur during the life cycle of fuel peat, on the environment as a whole is yet somewhat unclear. The aim of the study is to map and assess the overall environmental impacts of production and use of fuel peat in Finland and to bring these impacts in relation with total environmental impacts in Finland caused by anthropogenic emissions. The results should be comparable with the impacts of other product life cycles (for instance other fuels). Furthermore, the detection of data gaps which are present is an important element of the study. Research questions are (1) What are the contributions of the different stressors which are emitted during the life cycle of fuel peat in Finland to global and regional environmental impacts? The environmental impacts involved are global impacts like the greenhouse effect as well as regional environmental impacts, e.g.acidification, eutrophication, toxic effects, ozone formation and effects on biodiversity; and (2) What are the contributions expressed per functional unit? Emissions released during the life cycle of fuel peat were inventorized. The emissions were characterized into the various impact categories and a valuation of the various impacts was performed, based on the Decision Analyses Impact Assessment (DAIA). In DAIA, country specific values were applied for estimating the potential of the stressors to cause adverse environmental effects

Assessment of atmospheric mercury emissions in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee; Melanen; Ekqvist; Verta

2000-10-02

This paper is part of the study of atmospheric emissions of heavy metals conducted by the Finnish Environment Institute in collaboration with the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) under the umbrella of the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. The scope of our study is limited solely to anthropogenic mercury that is emitted directly to the atmosphere. This article addresses emission factors and trends of atmospheric mercury emissions during the 1990s and is based mainly on the database of the Finnish Environmental Administration. In addition, data based on the measurements taken by the VTT regarding emission factors have been used to estimate emissions of mercury from the incineration of waste. The study indicates that the total emission of mercury has decreased from 1140 kg in 1990 to 620 kg in 1997, while industrial and energy production have been on the increase simultaneously. The 45% emission reduction is due to improved gas cleaning equipment, process changes, automation, the installation of flue gas desulfurization process in coal-fired power plants and strict pollution control laws. In the past, some authors have estimated a higher mercury emission in Finland. In this study, it is also observed that there are no big changes in the quality of raw materials. Estimated emission factors can be of great help to management for estimating mercury emissions and also its risk assessment.

KRAS exon 2 mutations influence activity of regorafenib in an SW48-based disease model of colorectal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Camaj, Peter; Primo, Stefano; Wang, Yan; Heinemann, Volker; Zhao, Yue; Laubender, Ruediger Paul; Stintzing, Sebastian; Giessen-Jung, Clemens; Jung, Andreas; Gamba, Sebastian; Bruns, Christiane Josephine; Modest, Dominik Paul

2015-01-01

To investigate the impact of KRAS mutation variants on the activity of regorafenib in SW48 colorectal cancer cells. Activity of regorafenib was evaluated in isogenic SW48 KRAS wild-type (WT) and mutant cells. Subcutaneous xenografts (KRAS WT and G12C mutant variants) in NOD/SCID mice were analyzed to elucidate the effect of regorafenib treatment in vivo. Compared with KRAS WT cells, all mutant variants seemed associated with some degree of resistance to regorafenib-treatment in vitro. In vivo, activation of apoptosis (TUNEL) and reduction of proliferation (Ki67) after treatment with regorafenib were more pronounced in KRAS WT tumors as compared with G12C variants. In SW48 cells, exon 2 mutations of the KRAS gene may influence antitumor effects of regorafenib.

The Castleisland radon Survey (Sw Ireland)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Organo, C. [Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, Dublin (Ireland); O' sullivan, F. [London Univ. College, Dept of Geomatic Engineering, London, (United Kingdom)

2006-07-01

Full text: In September 2003, following the identification of a house near Castleisland in County Kerry (Sw Ireland) with a seasonally adjusted annual average radon concentration of 49,000 Bq/m{sup 3}, the Radiological Protection of Ireland (R.P.I.I.) undertook to carry out a localised radon survey, the so-called 'Castleisland Radon Survey' (C.R.S.). The aim was to investigate the possibility that similarly extreme radon concentrations could be present in other houses in the surrounding area. A studied area of 400 km{sup 2} was designated around the town of Castleisland, divided in four 10 x 10 km{sup 2} grid squares, and all of the approximately 2,500 householders living in this area were invited to participate. Four hundred and eighteen householders responded to the invitation (17% response rate) but only 383 completed the survey. Fourteen percent of these 383 homes were found to have an annual average radon concentration above the Irish national Reference Level for domestic dwellings of 200 Bq/m{sup 3} while 2% were found to be above 800 Bq/m{sup 3}. An arithmetic mean of 147 Bq/m{sup 3} and a geometric mean of 70 Bq/m{sup 3} were calculated for the four studied grid squares. These can be compared with the respective values of 98 and 56 Bq/m3 calculated for the same area by the Irish National Radon Survey (N.R.S.). Similar trends are observed on a grid square by grid square basis where in one of them in particular, the C.R.S. allowed us to predict that 21% of all houses would have radon concentrations in excess of 200 Bq/m{sup 3}, against 6% predicted by the N.R.S.. This clearly indicates that the extent of the radon problem in the area has been underestimated by the N.R.S.. Two of the four grid squares investigated are currently designated as High Radon Areas (where 10% or more of all houses are predicted to exceed 200 Bq/m{sup 3}) based on the results from the N.R.S.. If one was to use predictions based on the results from the C.R.S., all four grid

Chlamydia trachomatis Genotypes and the Swedish New Variant among Urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis Strains in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suvi Niemi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Our aims were to genotype Chlamydia trachomatis strains present in urogenital samples and to investigate the occurrence of the Swedish new variant of C. trachomatis in Finland. We genotyped 160 C. trachomatis positive samples with ompA real-time PCR and analyzed 495 samples for the new variant. The three most prevalent genotypes were E (40%, F (28%, and G (13%. Only two specimens containing bacteria with the variant plasmid were detected. It seems that in Finland the percentage of infections due to genotypes F and G has slightly increased during the last 20 years. Genotypes E and G appear to be more common, and genotypes J/Ja and I/Ia appear to be less common in Europe than in the USA. Although the genotype E was the most common genotype among C. trachomatis strains, the new variant was rarely found in Finland.

Research needs on the natural gas field in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rutanen, V.

1992-01-01

This report deals with the research needs on natural gas sector in Finland during the next 5-10 years. 0n that ground it has also been drafted a proposal for organization of the research and on which fields the research should be directed. The basis and criterium in this study has been on the other hand, the improvement of the possibilities in international trade of finnish companies and on the other hand the improvement of the efficiency and the reduction of the environmental impacts of energy use and production in Finland. As a result of the study it is proposed that a research entireness, which will direct extensively towards the gaseous fuels (gasification of coal and biomass, natural gas, LPG, hydrogen), will be formed. The key topics of the research would be: Production of the gases (gasification), high-efficient power and heat generation with gaseous fuels, improvement of efficiency and reduction of environmental impacts of energy use in industry with direct use of gaseous fuels and gaseous fuels in vehicles

Effect of nitrogen sources on biomass, lipid and docosahexanoic acid production by Aurantiochytrium sp. SW1

Science.gov (United States)

Auma, Khairunnisa; Hamid, Aidil Abdul; Yusoff, Wan Mohtar Wan

2018-04-01

A local isolate, Aurantiochytrium sp. SW1 has been verified to have high content of docosahexanoic acid (DHA). However, the effect of different nitrogen sources on biomass, lipid concentration and DHA content in Aurantiochytrium sp. SW1 is still unknown. Hence, this study is focused in using six different organic and inorganic nitrogen sources to grow Aurantiochytrium sp. SW1 in optimized Burja medium. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) gave the highest biomass concentration of 15.97 g/L followed by ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) with 13.37 g/L at 96 hr. These two nitrogen sources had significant effect on the biomass concentration (pDHA content in lipid showed cultivation using MSG reached 47.9% (4.95 g/L). Statistical analysis using least significant difference (LSD) showed significant lipid production (pDHA productivity (0.052 g/L hr-1) was obtained in medium containing MSG. This study proves that nitrogen component in the medium significantly affects the biomass concentration, lipid and DHA content.

Woody debris transport modelling by a coupled DE-SW approach

Science.gov (United States)

Persi, Elisabetta; Petaccia, Gabriella; Sibilla, Stefano

2016-04-01

The presence of wood in rivers is gaining more and more attention: on one side, the inclusion of woody debris in streams is emphasized for its ecological benefits; on the other hand, particular attention must be paid to its management, not to affect hydraulic safety. Recent events have shown that wood can be mobilized during floodings (Comiti et al. 2008, Lange and Bezzola 2006), aggravating inundations, in particular near urban areas. For this reason, the inclusion of woody debris influence on the prediction of flooded areas is an important step toward the reduction of hydraulic risk. Numerical modelling plays an important role to this purpose. Ruiz-Villanueva et al. (2014) use a two-dimensional numerical model to calculate the kinetics of cylindrical woody debris transport, taking into account also the hydrodynamic effects of wood. The model here presented couples a Discrete Element approach (DE) for the calculation of motion of a cylindrical log with the solution of the Shallow Water Equations (SW), in order to simulate woody debris transport in a two-dimensional stream. In a first step, drag force, added mass force and side force are calculated from flow and log velocities, assuming a reference area and hydrodynamic coefficients taken from literature. Then, the equations of dynamics are solved to model the planar roto-translation of the wooden cylinder. Model results and its physical reliability are clearly affected by the values of the drag and side coefficients, which in turn depend upon log submergence and angle towards the flow direction. Experimental studies to evaluate drag and side coefficients can be found for a submerged cylinder, with various orientations (Gippel et al. 1996; Hoang et al. 2015). To extend such results to the case of a floating (non-totally submerged) cylinder, the authors performed a series of laboratory tests whose outcomes are implemented in the proposed DE-SW model, to assess the effects of these values on the dynamic of woody

Effector-driven marker development and cloning of resistance genes against Phytophthora infestans in potato breeding clone SW93-1015

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lenman, Marit; Ali, Ashfaq; Mühlenbock, Per

2016-01-01

different P. infestans effectors, containing the conserved motif RXLR (for Arg, any amino acid, Leu, Arg), revealed a specific response to Avr2, which suggests that SW93-1015 might contain a functional homolog of the R2 resistance gene. We cloned eight R2 gene homologs from SW93-1015, whereof seven have...

Does SW Monsoon Influence Total Suspended Matter Flux into the Arabian Sea?

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Raghavan, B.R.; Chauhan, O.S.

Seasonal enhancement in the flux of total suspended matter (TSM) has been attributed to climatology of the SW monsoon (SWM) in time-series trap experiments conducted in the Arabian Sea. To determine the influence of climate on TSM flux, synoptic...

Evaluating the Quality of the Child Care in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Hujala, Eeva; Fonsen, Elina; Elo, Janniina

2012-01-01

In this study we examine parents' and teachers' perceptions of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality in Finland. The study is based on the paradigm of inclusionary quality and the assessment is based on the quality evaluation model. The parents and teachers assess the quality to be good. The strength of the quality was the effect…

Radioactivity of foodstuffs in Finland in 1987-1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rantavaara, A.

1991-06-01

Radiocesium and radiostrontium in foodstuffs of agricultural origin were surveyed in Finland in 1987 - 1988. The nationwide survey was a continuation to an earlier foodstuff monitoring programme, which was extended both areally and by the types of foodstuffs after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The purpose of the programme was to give information for dose assessment and on temporal changes and regional differences in the contents of fallout radionuclides in foodstuffs

Defining Marketing Strategies For Vihreä Tekno Finland

OpenAIRE

Manzari, Mohammad

2016-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to define marketing strategies for Vihreä Tekno, a company in Vantaa, Finland. The company runs several businesses such as providing IT services, website designing, business/loyalty cards, professional logo design, PC repairs and installations, mobile application development, translation services, cleaning services, advertising and distribution services, billing/invoicing systems and so forth. In this thesis, the author analyzed the company’s current s...

Late Pleistocene Climate Events and The Origin of Agriculture In SW Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Rossignol-Strick, M.

In the Eastern Mediterranean sea, the climate succession of the last deglaciation is documented and dated in marine cores by the d18-O variation of foraminiferal cal- cite and pollen records. The Last Glacial Maximum is identified by a large abundance of grass pollen from a prairie-type vegetal cover with low annual precipitation in the mountainous north and east borderlands of the sea, where the pollen mainly origi- nates. During the first phase of the last deglaciation, the Bolling/Allerod chronozone, the moisture availability increases and makes possible the spread of a deciduous for- est, as shown by the increasing pollen abundance of the deciduous oak. The cold and arid Younger Dryas is identified by a reversal to semi-desert conditions, with the in- crease of sage-brush (Artemisia) and the saline-tolerant Chenopodiaceae. The climate of the earliest Holocene is Optimum for at least 3000 years (9000-6000yr BP), with the largest spread of the deciduous forest at low-middle elevations signalling wet sum- mers and of the Pistacia woodland at low elevations signalling mild, no-frost winters. This is the time when the most recent sapropel deposited in the eastern Mediterranean under anoxic bottom conditions generated by a surface lid of lower salinity due to the concomitant largest floods of the Nile River fed by the strongest African monsoon rains in the Ethiopian Highlands. In SW Asia, the pollen records of lakes and marshes have been correlated with those of the marine cores, thereby obtaining a robust time-frame. In that area, the archaeo- logical data of human settlements are independently dated by 14C. Thus the archaeo- logical succession can be securely set against the well-dated climatic succession. The Late Palaeolithic populations of SW Asia were wandering hunter-gatherers in the prairies of the Last Glacial Maximum, where they already collected wild wheat, barley and fruit. With the Bolling/Allerod wetter and warmer climate, they began to settle in

Human Factors Engineering: Current Practices and Development Needs in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savioja, Paula; Norros, Leena; Liinasuo, Marja; Laarni, Jari [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland (Finland)

2011-08-15

This paper describes initial findings from a study concerning the practices and development needs of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in Finland. HFE is increasing in importance as the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority Finland (STUK) is renewing the regulatory guidelines and the intention is to include requirements concerning HFE. The motivation for the paper is to discover how HFE is conducted currently in order to envision what should be aimed at when modifying requirements for design practices. In an interview with STUK it was discovered that current HFE practices encompass mainly activities related to control room modifications and as such namely verification and validation of new designs. The adoption of the entire HFE process in design and modification projects requires changes that include better integration of technical and Human Factors Engineering approaches. Boundary objects that mediate between different design disciplines are needed in order to enforce the stronger integration. Concept of operations (CONOPS) is suggested as a such boundary object.

Melitofilia em Canavalia rosea (Sw. DC. (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fábio Verçoza

2010-11-01

Abstract. This work aimed to study the floral biology and the pollination’s ecology of Canavalia rosea (Sw. DC. (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae by bees in the sandbank vegetation of the Grumari Environmental Protection Area (EPA , located in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro’s city. The study was developed between the months of June of 2008 to June of 2009. Sampling on morphology, color and odor of the flowers of the species were made. The number of open flowers per day in each individual was recorded, as well as the opening steps, determining the period of anthesis. The occurrence of floral visitors was recorded through the observation of the visit’s time, of the adaptability for pollination, of the ease of access to the reward and of the intra-floral behavior played. C. rosea occurs in psamophily communities and in post-beach sandbank of Grumari’s EPA. It presents typical characteristics of mellitophily (pollination by bees and the flowers are pollinated by Xylocopa frontalis Oliver. It also receives visits from Tetragonisca angustula Latreille, Trigona spinipes Fabricius and Apis mellifera Linnaeus, which collects pollen without pollinating the flowers. X. frontalis proved to be the only effective pollinator of C. rosea in the Grumari sandbank, making the plant directly dependent on this species for fruit and seed’s production in this location.

Transformation by stealth: the retargeting of home care services in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Kröger, Teppo; Leinonen, Anu

2012-05-01

This paper analyses the trends and changes that home care services for older people have undergone during the last two decades in Finland. The data used come from national social care statistics, covering the time period from 1990-2010. The results show that, in contrast to many other European nations that have expanded their home care provisions, the coverage levels in Finland have dropped dramatically during this period. Those with the highest needs do receive increased amounts of support, but others have become excluded from publicly funded home care provisions and often need to rely on family members. In most localities, public service provision is focused on personal care, and no longer covers household tasks. This major change of the character of the service is connected to three other recent trends that structure current provisions: the amalgamation of home-based social and healthcare services, the marketisation and emerging privatisation of care and the integration of informal family care into the formal care system. Overall, the changes represent weakening defamilisation, that is, decreasing public responsibility for the needs of many older people and, correspondingly, an increasing reliance on family carers. This full-scale transformation of home care has taken place without any real policy debate or major modification of legislation. No actual decision was ever made to thoroughly alter the character of home care in Finland: the transformation happened by stealth. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Availability and use of wood-based fuels in Finland in 2020

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaerhae, K.; Raesaenen, T.; Pajuoja, H. (Metsaeteho Oy, Helsinki (Finland)), Email: kalle.karha@metsateho.fi, Email: tapio.rasanen@metsateho.fi, Email: heikki.pajuoja@metsateho.fi; Elo, J.; Lahtinen, P. (Poeyry Energy Oy, Espoo (Finland)), Email: juha.elo@poyry.com, Email: perttu.lahtinen@poyry.com

2009-07-01

In Finland the overall usage target set for forest chips is 12 million m3, i.e. around 24 TWh by the year 2020. The objective of the research carried out by Metsaeteho Oy and Poeyry Energy Oy was to produce a total analysis as realistic as possible of the possibilities of increasing the use of wood-based fuels in Finland by 2020. The research shows that the growth objective set in the long-term Climate and Energy Strategy can be attained through the supply and demand for wood-based fuels. However, realizing this potential would require major investments in the entire forest chip production system, because the competitiveness of wood-based fuels in energy generation is currently not at a sufficient level. The emission trading has a strong influence on the competitiveness of wood-based fuels and the use of such fuels in energy plants. Increasing the proportion of wood-based fuels is very difficult at the current price level of the EU emission allowances (10 euro/t CO{sub 2}). A strong increase in the use of wood-based fuels would require a price level of over 25 euro/t CO{sub 2} of emission allowances. Considering the huge resources required by the forest chip production system and the current low competitiveness of forest chips, it is estimated that the use of forest chips in Finland will reach the level of 20 TWh at the earliest by the year 2020. (orig.)

Somali Parents' Experiences of Bringing up Children in Finland: Exploring Social-Cultural Change within Migrant Households

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filio Degni

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Approximately 5,000 to 6,000 Somalis arrived in Finland between 1990 and 1995 through Russia. Currently, 8,096 have settled permanently in the country. The data reported here is from a 1998-1999 research survey carried out in the Finish cities of Helsinki and Turku. The survey of 117 married Somalis explored the social-cultural determinants of contraception use. The paper presented here focuses upon one particular aspect of the survey. We selected 21 Somali parents (11 women and 10 men to look in-depth at the experiences of Somali migrants raising children in Finland. All of the respondents selected have more than 5 children in their family and all were asked to describe their experiences of raising children in Finland and, more generally, in establishing and maintaining family structures. Unlike their experiences in Somali, bringing up large families (by Westerns standards is not a collective matter in Finland where biological parents are left to manage the family for themselves. A number of challenges also accompany this shift in family norms: first, and most notably, there is the need to re-establish control over one's life in an alien environment; second, intergenerational conflict between adult migrants and their adolescent children is often heightened. The findings indicate that Somalis' experiences of raising children in Finland raise important parenting challenges associated with changing generational, gender and family relations within the migrant household. Importantly, this case study of large Somali families shows how migrants' lives are intricately linked to the household dynamic between home and host country. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs060388

Geophysical investigations of the Romuvaara area, Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saksa, P.; Paananen, M.

1991-06-01

In the study area of Romuvaara, investigations have been carried out during 1987 - 90 with the aim of finding out whether the polyphasically deformed Precambrian gneiss complex is suitable for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. The bedrock has been studied by geological, geophysical, geohydrological and geochemical methods. Airborne, ground and borehole geophysical surveys were used in studying the rock type distribution, fracturing and hydraulic conductivity of the bedrock to a depth of one kilometre. Airborne surveys (magnetic, radiometric and two electromagnetic methods) and ground surveys (VLF and VLF-R, magnetic and soil radar methods) were useful in distinguishing the metadiabases, amphibolites and granodiorites from the less magnetized migmatites. The electromagnetic and seismic refraction surveys were used in locating crushed and fractured zones. The rock type distribution was studied by single-hole logging of susceptibility, natural γ radiation and radiometric γ-γ -density. Electrical and acoustic logging served the mapping of fractures and the interpretation of water injection tests. The flow conditions in the boreholes were studied by fluid logging and tube-wave sounding. The rock volume surrounding the boreholes was mapped by borehole radar with a frequency of 22 MHz. The upper parts of the boreholes were also studied by vertical radar profiling (VRP). Larger volumes of rock were mapped by vertical seismic profiling (VSP) using 4 - 5 transmitter shotholes per borehole

Integrated modeling of agricultural scenarios (IMAS) to support pesticide action plans: the case of the Coulonge drinking water catchment area (SW France).

Science.gov (United States)

Vernier, Françoise; Leccia-Phelpin, Odile; Lescot, Jean-Marie; Minette, Sébastien; Miralles, André; Barberis, Delphine; Scordia, Charlotte; Kuentz-Simonet, Vanessa; Tonneau, Jean-Philippe

2017-03-01

-economic conditions for developing alternative agricultural systems or targeting mitigation measures. Our integrated assessment of these scenarios combines the calculation of spatialized environmental indicators with integrated bio-economic modeling. The latter is achieved by a combined use of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeling with our own purpose-built land use generator module (Generator of Land Use version 2 (GenLU2)) and an economic model developed using General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) for cost-effectiveness assessment. This integrated approach is applied to two embedded catchment areas (total area of 360,000 ha) within the Charente river basin (SW France). Our results show that it is possible to differentiate scenarios based on their effectiveness, represented by either evolution of pressure (agro-environmental indicators) or transport into waters (pesticide concentrations). By analyzing the implementation costs borne by farmers, it is possible to identify the most cost-effective scenarios at sub-basin and other aggregated levels (WFD hydrological entities, sensitive areas). Relevant results and indicators are fed into a specifically designed database. Data warehousing is used to provide analyses and outputs at all thematic, temporal, or spatial aggregated levels, defined by the stakeholders (type of crops, herbicides, WFD areas, years), using Spatial On-Line Analytical Processing (SOLAP) tools. The aim of this approach is to allow public policy makers to make more informed and reasoned decisions when managing sensitive areas and/or implementing mitigation measures.

Trends in self-reported sleep duration and insomnia-related symptoms in Finland from 1972 to 2005

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kronholm, Erkki; Partonen, Timo; Laatikainen, Tiina

2008-01-01

A hypothesis concerning habitual sleep reduction and its adverse consequences among general population in modern societies has received wide publicity in the mass media, although scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis is scarce. Similarly, there is an extensively distributed belief, at least...... in Finland, that the prevalence of insomnia-related symptoms is increasing, but evidence for this is even sparser. These issues are important because of the known increased risk of mortality and health risks associated with sleep duration deviating from 7 to 8 h. To reveal possible trends in self......-reported sleep duration and insomnia-related symptoms, we reanalyzed all available data from surveys carried out in Finland from 1972 to 2005. The main results were that a minor decrease of self-reported sleep duration has taken place in Finland, especially among working aged men. However, the size...

Larger foraminifera distribution on a mesotrophic carbonate shelf in SW Sulawesi (Indonesia)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renema, W.; Troelstra, S.R.

2001-01-01

Larger symbiont bearing foraminifera typically live in shallow tropical seas. In this study the fauna composition of patch reefs scattered over the Spermonde Shelf (SW Sulawesi, Indonesia), a mesotrophic carbonate shelf, is examined. The foraminiferal fauna of the Spermonde Shelf is characterised by

First encounter of European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) in a bat in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Jakava-Viljanen, M; Lilley, T; Kyheröinen, E-M; Huovilainen, A

2010-11-01

In Finland, rabies in bats was suspected for the first time in 1985 when a bat researcher, who had multiple bat bites, died in Helsinki. The virus isolated from the researcher proved to be antigenically related to rabies viruses previously detected in German bats. Later, the virus was typed as EBLV-2b. Despite an epidemiological study in bats 1986 and subsequent rabies surveillance, rabies in bats was not detected in Finland until the first case in a Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) was confirmed in August 2009. The bat was paralysed, occasionally crying, and biting when approached; it subsequently tested positive for rabies. The virus was genetically typed as EBLV-2. This is the northernmost case of bat rabies ever detected in Europe. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the EBLV-2b isolate from the human case in 1985 and the isolate from the bat in 2009 were genetically closely related, demonstrating that EBLV-2 may have been circulating in Finland for many years.

Parenting educational styles in Slovenia and Finland

OpenAIRE

Sevčnikar, Kaja

2015-01-01

In everyday life the subject of parenting and child upbringing is often discussed among people who find themselves in the role of parents, babysitters and grandparents striving for best results (Peček Čuk and Lesar, 2009). My thesis focuses on parenting styles of mothers and fathers in Slovenia and in Finland. In the first, theoretical part, I have explained the concepts of socialization and parenting. I have defined the meaning of the term family and different family types. I have also c...

An energy handbook for teachers in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lavonen, J.

1994-01-01

The purpose of this handbook for teachers is to provide an introduction to the principles and practices of energy education. It is composed of three sections plus commercial materials from energy companies. Part 1 discusses important aspects of energy and teaching methods. Part 2 provides graphical information showing how energy is produced and consumed in Finland. Part 3 is an introduction to energy from various aspects. One focus in the handbook is nuclear energy. Workshops on energy are also proposed to teachers. 8 figs., 2 refs

76 FR 3159 - Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-19

... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 731-TA-1084-1087 (Review)] Purified Carboxymethylcellulose From Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Sweden AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission. ACTION: Revised schedule for the subject reviews. DATES: Effective Date: January 7, 2011. FOR FURTHER...

Towards Strengths-Based Planning Strategies for Rural Localities in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rönkkö Emilia

2017-09-01

benefiting from a case study approach, mixed methods research and participatory action research. Being critical-emancipatory by nature, the exploratory and normative perspectives of Future Studies have also provided methodologies to explore future alternative paths and the available, yet possibly hidden, resources of people, commodities and skills in new ways. Through these case studies, we have identified an urgent need for capacity building and preparedness for sustainable resource management in Finnish rural localities, including natural and cultural heritage protection, climate change management and human well-being. There is a need to start thinking creatively ‘outside-the-box‘ and create strategic alliances between civil society, business and government, and most importantly, between urban and rural areas. Now is the time to start innovating a range of policy options and strategic objectives for addressing rural localities as places where a sustainable future can be developed in Finland.

Evaluation of ethical position in eight CEE countries and Finland – results of an empirical research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

József Poór

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to explore the ethical perspectives of respondents in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia and Finland, and, to this end, to show the similarities and differences among these nine, mainly Central and Eastern European countries. Their ethical positions are defined by examining the related cultural dimensions. The obvious differences in national history and culture may well suggest that ethical positions will differ in these countries, but we believe that our findings do contribute to a better understanding of moral standards in relation to business in the Central and East European (CEE area.

Forensic age assessment of asylum seekers in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Metsäniitty, Mari; Varkkola, Olli; Waltimo-Sirén, Janna; Ranta, Helena

2017-01-01

In Finland, forensic age assessment is strictly regulated by legislation. According to the Aliens Act (301/2004) and the amendment of the Act (549/2010), the police authorities, the frontier guard authorities, and the immigration authorities have the right to refer asylum seekers to the University of Helsinki, Department of Forensic Medicine, for age assessment. These assessments are especially performed to solve if the person is of major age, the cutoff being 18 completed years. The forensic age assessment is largely based on dental development, since the special permit of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) to the Department of Forensic Medicine of the University of Helsinki, allowing the use of ionizing radiation for non-medical purposes, includes dental and hand X-rays. Forensic age assessment is always performed by two forensic odontologists. In 2015, the total number of forensic age assessment examinations was 149, and the countries of origin of the asylum seekers were most commonly Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The current legislation on forensic age assessment has been well received and approved. Radiological and other examinations can be performed in different parts of Finland, but the forensic odontologist at the University of Helsinki is always involved in the process and ensures joint quality standards for the forensic age assessment.

Mental disorders and the use of primary health care services among homeless shelter users in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Stenius-Ayoade, Agnes; Haaramo, Peija; Erkkilä, Elisabet; Marola, Niko; Nousiainen, Kirsi; Wahlbeck, Kristian; Eriksson, Johan G

2017-06-21

Homelessness is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and health care use. The aim of this study was to examine the role of mental disorders in relation to the use of 1) daytime primary health care services and 2) after hours primary health care emergency room (PHER) services among homeless shelter users in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. The study cohort consists of all 158 homeless persons using the four shelters operating in the study area during two selected nights. The health records were analyzed over a period of 3 years prior to the sample nights and data on morbidity and primary health care visits were gathered. We used negative binomial regression to estimate the association between mental disorders and daytime visits to primary health care and after hours visits to PHERs. During the 3 years the 158 homeless persons in the cohort made 1410 visits to a physician in primary health care. The cohort exhibited high rates of mental disorders, including substance use disorders (SUDs); i.e. 141 persons (89%) had a mental disorder. We found dual diagnosis, defined as SUD concurring with other mental disorder, to be strongly associated with daytime primary health care utilization (IRR 11.0, 95% CI 5.9-20.6) when compared with those without any mental disorder diagnosis. The association was somewhat weaker for those with only SUDs (IRR 4.9, 95% CI 2.5-9.9) or with only other mental disorders (IRR 5.0, 95% CI 2.4-10.8). When focusing upon the after hours visits to PHERs we observed that both dual diagnosis (IRR 14.1, 95% CI 6.3-31.2) and SUDs (11.5, 95% CI 5.7-23.3) were strongly associated with utilization of PHERs compared to those without any mental disorder. In spite of a high numbers of visits, we found undertreatment of chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. Dual diagnosis is particularly strongly associated with primary health care daytime visits among homeless persons staying in shelters, while after hours visits to primary

Decision on the fifth nuclear unit in Finland - 17 years of decision-making

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santaholma, Juhani [Perusvoima Oy (Finland)

1993-07-01

This paper shows the process of decision making on the fifth nuclear power plants in Finland that took 17 years. The opinion polls show that about 50% of the Finns are opposing the construction of the fifth NPP, 30% are in favour and 20% don't know or have no firm opinion. This situation has lasted for more than two years. The opinion of the Finnish industry and power utilities is, however, that if the decision makers have courage to make positive decision it will not lead to a revolution in Finland. The industry and the utilities have for many years done systematic work with the media, both the press and the electronic. The media debate has been rather low key reporting, but any incidents get a lot of space, especially events at the Russian and Baltic plants near the Finnish borders. There is a constant flow of reporting from Chernobyl and Chelyabinsk and other questionable Russian facilities in the Finnish media. The five Swedish reactors shut-down for repair have been widely reported. It also seems that false reports and articles in the leading international media, press and TV, find their way to Finnish media, as well. In other respects, the media climate in Finland is rather businesslike. It is evident that the sensational TV programmes have an effect on the Finnish nuclear opinion, both within the public and the political decision makers. The antinuclear lobbying in Finland is rather low key. There has been no big demonstrations as the ordinary people do not participate in them. The nuclear opponents have, however, a well working and sympathy arousing organization within the political parties and to a limited extend within the media. They also work in a very professional way in the environmental voluntary organizations. The politically, the industry is waiting for positive signals from the Government. The nuclear decision is considered as one of the most important in this respect. the situation is rather complex, but the industry and the utilities are

Decision on the fifth nuclear unit in Finland - 17 years of decision-making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santaholma, Juhani

1993-01-01

This paper shows the process of decision making on the fifth nuclear power plants in Finland that took 17 years. The opinion polls show that about 50% of the Finns are opposing the construction of the fifth NPP, 30% are in favour and 20% don't know or have no firm opinion. This situation has lasted for more than two years. The opinion of the Finnish industry and power utilities is, however, that if the decision makers have courage to make positive decision it will not lead to a revolution in Finland. The industry and the utilities have for many years done systematic work with the media, both the press and the electronic. The media debate has been rather low key reporting, but any incidents get a lot of space, especially events at the Russian and Baltic plants near the Finnish borders. There is a constant flow of reporting from Chernobyl and Chelyabinsk and other questionable Russian facilities in the Finnish media. The five Swedish reactors shut-down for repair have been widely reported. It also seems that false reports and articles in the leading international media, press and TV, find their way to Finnish media, as well. In other respects, the media climate in Finland is rather businesslike. It is evident that the sensational TV programmes have an effect on the Finnish nuclear opinion, both within the public and the political decision makers. The antinuclear lobbying in Finland is rather low key. There has been no big demonstrations as the ordinary people do not participate in them. The nuclear opponents have, however, a well working and sympathy arousing organization within the political parties and to a limited extend within the media. They also work in a very professional way in the environmental voluntary organizations. The politically, the industry is waiting for positive signals from the Government. The nuclear decision is considered as one of the most important in this respect. the situation is rather complex, but the industry and the utilities are

A regional model for sustainable biogas production. Case study: North Savo, Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huopana, T.; Niska, H.; Jaeskelaeinen, A.; Loonik, J.; Den Boer, E.; Song, H.; Thorin, E.

2012-11-15

This report is one of the outputs from the REMOWE (Regional Mobilizing of Sustainable Waste-to-Energy Production) project. REMOWE is one of the projects within the Baltic Sea Region Programme. The overall objective of the REMOWE project is, on regional levels, to contribute to a decreased negative effect on the environment by reduction of carbon dioxide emission by creating a balance between energy consumption and sustainable use of renewable energy sources. Reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and use of renewable energy sources are broad areas and this project will focus on energy resources from waste and actions to facilitate implementation of energy efficient technology in the Baltic Sea region within the waste-to-energy area. The focus is to utilize waste from cities, farming and industry for energy purposes in an efficient way. The problem addressed by the project concerns how to facilitate the implementation of sustainable systems for waste-to-energy in the Baltic Sea region and specifically, in a first step, in the project partner regions. The project partnership consists of the Maelardalen University, with the School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology coordinating the project, and The County Administrative Board of Vaestmanland in Sweden, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for North Savo, and University of Eastern Finland (UEF) in Finland, Marshal Office of Lower Silesia in Poland, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Wolfenbuettel in Germany, Klaipeda University in Lithuania, and Estonian Regional and Local Development Agency (ERKAS) in Estonia. This report is based on the modelling work performed in the work package 5 ('Model of sustainable regional waste-to-energy production') of the REMOWE project. The key objective has been on developing a regional model based on available geographic information for

Cross-cultural comparison of long-term care in the United States and Finland: Research done through a short-term study-abroad experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Tina M; Gilland, Sarah; Frank, Jacquelyn B; Murphy, Bridget C; English, Courtney; Meade, Jana; Morrow, Kaylee; Rush, Evan

2017-01-01

In May 2014, a short-term study-abroad experience was conducted in Finland through a course offered at Indiana State University (ISU). Students and faculty from ISU and Eastern Illinois University participated in the experience, which was created to facilitate a cross-cultural comparison of long-term-care settings in the United States and Finland. With its outstanding system of caring for the health and social needs of its aging populace, Finland is a logical model to examine when considering ways to improve the quality of life for older adults who require care in the United States . Those participating in the course visited a series of long-term-care facilities in the region surrounding Terre Haute, Indiana, then travelled to Lappeenranta, Finland to visit parallel sites. Through limited-participation observation and semistructured interviews, similarities and differences in experiences, educations, and policies affecting long-term care workers in the United States and Finland were identified and are described here.

Evaluating private security sector market perceptions in Finland

OpenAIRE

Santonen, Teemu; Paasonen, Jyri

2015-01-01

The role and signifi cance of private security services have grown in many countries, since traditional tasks of security authorities are being outsourced. The goal of this study is to empirically evaluate the perceptions of the private security market in Finland. As a result, we identifi ed three different future scenarios for the Finnish private security market, including(1) international success via innovations, (2) success via domestic markets, and (3) pessimistic success vision. It appea...

The Feasibility of Solar Panel Leasing in Finland

OpenAIRE

Nyberg, Nico

2016-01-01

The aim of this thesis was to analyse the feasibility of solar panel leasing in Finland. The research was conducted using the exploratory research design, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. The data was collected from secondary sources, e.g. industry reports, government publications, and newspaper articles. During the literature review, methods for answering the thesis question were recognized. The chosen method was to analyse the market and industry feasibility, product or ser...

Investigating Teacher Leadership in ECE Centres in Finland

OpenAIRE

Heikka, Johanna; Halttunen, Leena; Waniganayake, Manjula

2016-01-01

This study was aimed at investigating the enactment of teacher leadership in early childhood education (ECE) centres in Finland. Theoretically, the study was informed by the emerging scholarship of early childhood distributed pedagogical leadership and school based research on teacher leadership as well as classical theorizing of ECE leadership. Staff from three ECE centres participated as a purposive sample of informants in this study. The study involved participative observations of ECE sta...

Geologic and geophysical maps and volcanic history of the Kelton Pass SE and Monument Peak SW Quadrangles, Box Elder County, Utah

Science.gov (United States)

Felger, Tracey J.; Miller, David; Langenheim, Victoria; Fleck, Robert J.

2016-01-01

The Kelton Pass SE and Monument Peak SW 7.5' quadrangles are located in Box Elder County, northwestern Utah (figure 1; plate 1). The northern boundary of the map area is 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south of the Utah-Idaho border, and the southern boundary reaches the edge of mud flats at the north end of Great Salt Lake. Elevations range from 4218 feet (1286 m) along the mud flats to 5078 feet (1548 m) in the Wildcat Hills. Deep Creek forms a prominent drainage between the Wildcat Hills and Cedar Hill. The closest towns are the ranching communities of Snowville, Utah (10 miles [16 km] to the northeast) (figure 1), and Park Valley, Utah (10 miles [16 km] to the west).The Kelton Pass SE and Monument Peak SW 7.5' quadrangles are located entirely within southern Curlew Valley, which drains south into Great Salt Lake, and extends north of the area shown on figure 1 into Idaho. Curlew Valley is bounded on the west by the Raft River Mountains and on the east by the Hansel Mountains (figure 1). Sedimentary and volcanic bedrock exposures within the quadrangles form the Wildcat Hills, Cedar Hill, and informally named Middle Shield (figure 1). Exposed rocks and deposits are Permian to Holocene in age, and include the Permian quartz sandstone and orthoquartzite of the Oquirrh Formation (Pos), tuffaceous sedimentary rocks of the Miocene Salt Lake Formation (Ts), Pliocene basaltic lava flows (Tb) and dacite (Tdw), Pleistocene rhyolite (Qrw) and basalt (Qb), and Pleistocene and Holocene surficial deposits of alluvial, lacustrine, and eolian origin. Structurally, the map area is situated in the northeastern Basin and Range Province, and is inferred to lie within the hanging wall of the late Miocene detachment faults exposed in the Raft River Mountains to the northwest (e.g., Wells, 1992, 2009; figure 1).This mapping project was undertaken to produce a comprehensive, large-scale geologic map of the Wildcat Hills, as well as to improve understanding of the volcanic and tectonic evolution of

GPR studies over the tsunami affected Karaikal beach, Tamil Nadu, south India.

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Loveson, V.J.; Gujar, A.R.; Barnwal, R.P.; Khare, R.; Rajamanickam, G.V.

and the Ancylus Lake phases of the Baltic Basin, SW Finland; Sedim. Geol. 158 25–56. Maurya D M, Patidar A K, Mulchandani N, Goyal B, Thakkar M G, Bhandari S, Vaid S I, Bhatt N P and Chamyal L S 2005 Need for initiating ground penetrat- ing radar studies along...

Understanding parental gender preferences in advanced societies: Lessons from Sweden and Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andres Vikat

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Extending recent research on parental gender preferences in the Nordic countries, this study uses unique register data from Finland and Sweden (1971-1999 that provide us with the opportunity to compare childbearing dynamics and possible underlying sex preferences among natives and national minorities, namely Finnish-born immigrants in Sweden and members of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. Moreover, our Swedish data allow us to investigate regional and educational differences in child-sex specific fertility behavior of two-child mothers in 1981-1999. For Finland, we observe a continuous boy preference among the national majority and the Swedish-speaking minority as reflected in higher third-birth rates of mothers of two girls than of mothers of two boys. Evidence of similar preferences is found for Finnish-born migrants in Sweden, where the native-born population appears to have developed a girl preference, though. In all cases, we also observe clear indications of a preference for having at least one child of each sex. Generally speaking, our findings support an interpretation of parental gender preferences as a longstanding cultural phenomenon, related to country of childhood socialization rather than language group. Our analysis of regional and educational differentials in Sweden reveals no evidence which supports diffusion theories of persistence and change in parents' sex preferences for children.

Risk Assessment in Finland: Theory and Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannu Anttonen

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The Finnish risk assessment practice is based on the Occupational Safety and Health Act aiming to improve working conditions in order maintain the employees' work ability, and to prevent occupational accidents and diseases. In practice there are hundreds of risk assessment methods in use. A simple method is used in SME's and more complex risk evaluation methods in larger work places. Does the risk management function in the work places in Finland? According to our experience something more is needed. That is, understanding of common and company related benefits of risk management. The wider conclusion is that commitment for risk assessment in Finland is high enough. However, in those enterprises where OSH management was at an acceptable level or above it, there were also more varied and more successfully accomplished actions to remove or reduce the risks than in enterprises, where OSH management was in lower level. In risk assessment it is important to process active technical prevention and exact communication, increase work place attraction and increase job satisfaction and motivation. Investments in occupational safety and health are also good business. Low absenteeism due to illness or accidents increases directly the production results by improved quality and quantity of the product. In general Finnish studies have consistently shown that the return of an invested euro is three to seven-old. In national level, according to our calculations the savings could be even 20% of our gross national product.

Energy efficiency rating of districts, case Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedman, Åsa; Sepponen, Mari; Virtanen, Mikko

2014-01-01

There is an increasing political pressure on the city planning to create more energy efficient city plans. Not only do the city plans have to enable and promote energy efficient solutions, but it also needs to be clearly assessed how energy efficient the plans are. City planners often have no or poor know how about energy efficiency and building technologies which makes it difficult for them to answer to this need without new guidelines and tools. An easy to use tool for the assessment of the energy efficiency of detailed city plans was developed. The aim of the tool is for city planners to easily be able to assess the energy efficiency of the proposed detailed city plan and to be able to compare the impacts of changes in the plan. The tool is designed to be used with no in-depth knowledge about energy or building technology. With a wide use of the tool many missed opportunities for improving energy efficiency can be avoided. It will provide better opportunities for sustainable solutions leading to less harmful environmental impact and reduced emissions. - Highlights: • We have created a tool for assessing energy efficiency of detailed city plans. • The energy source is the most important factor for efficiency of districts in Finland. • Five case districts in Finland were analyzed. • In this paper one residential district has in-depth sensitivity analyses done

Hot topics in modern cosmology - SW6 - Slides of the presentations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Starobinsky, A.A.; Gorbunov, D.; Reverberi, L.; Arbuzova, E.; Arbuzov, A.; Maeda, K.; Borowiec, A.; Moschella, U.; Karshenboim, S.; Tinyakov, P.; Watanabe, Y.; Deffrayet, C.; Pilo, L.; Rham, C. de; Fasiello, M.; Tolley, A.; Chernodub, M.; Kunze, K.; Berezhiani, Z.; Kamyshkov, Y.

2014-01-01

This spontaneous workshop (SW) brings together specialists on recent insights in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. The aim is to stimulate debates on common topics in views of providing the scientific community with innovating ideas. The main topics are gravity, dark matter and cosmological models. This document is made of the slides of the presentations.

Advanced energy systems and technologies research in Finland. NEMO 2 annual report 1994-1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-12-31

Advanced energy technologies were linked to the national energy research in beginning of 1988 when energy research was reorganised in Finland. The Ministry of Trade and Industry set up many energy research programmes and NEMO was one of them. Major objectives of the programme were to assess the potential of new energy systems for the national energy supply system and to promote industrial activities. Within the NEMO 2 programme for the years 1993-1998, research was focused on technological solutions. In the beginning of the 1995, the national energy research activities were passed on to the Technology Development Centre TEKES. The NEMO 2 programme is directed towards those areas that have particular potential for commercial exploitation or development. Emphasis is placed particularly on solar and wind energy, as well as supporting technologies such as energy storage and hydrogen technology. Resources has been focused on three specific areas: Arctic wind technology, wind turbine components, and the integration of solar energy into applications (including thin film solar cells). It seems that in Finland the growth of the new energy technology industry is focused on these areas. The sales of the industry have been growing considerable due to the national research activities and support of technology development. The sales have increased 6 - 7 times compared to the year 1987 and is now over 200 million FIM. The support to industries and their involvement in the program has grown more than 15 times compared to 1988. The total funding of the NEMO 2 program me was 30 million FIM in 1994 and 21 million FIM in 1995. The programme consists of 20 research projects, 15 joint development projects, and 5 EU projects. In this report, the essential research projects of the programme in 1994-1995 are described. The total funding for these projects was about 25 million FIM, of which the TEKES`s share was about half. When the research projects and joint development projects are

Radioactivity of people in Finland after the Chernobyl accident in 1986

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahola, T.; Suomela, M.; Illukka, E.; Puhakainen, M.; Pusa, S.

1987-06-01

After the reactor accident at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986 radioactive fallout was carried by air currents to most parts of Europe. The radioactive air currents reached Finland on April 27. Immediately after the arrival of such air in Finland, contamination of people by radioactive nuclides began via inhalation of this air. The ingestion route become important later, when radionuclides were transported via different foodchains to man. To determine the level of radionuclides in the body and to estimate the internal radiation doses caused by the Chernobyl accident, whole-body counting measurements were performed. The results of whole-body counting of six different groups of Finnish people measured during 1986 after the accident at Chernobyl are reported. Three were reference groups measured routinely once or twice annually, two groups were comprised of workers at nuclear power stations and one group consisted of 262 persons not belonging to any other group. The total number of whole-body counting measurements of persons in these groups in 1986 from the end of April to the end of December was 624. In April and May small amounts of 131 I were detected in the thyroid. In June the first signs of 134 Cs in the body were noticed. At the end of 1986 the mean 134 Cs body burden for women and men in the Helsinki reference group was 730 Bq. The mean 137 Cs body burden in women and men increased from 150 Bq in June to 1500 Bq in December. The differences in the deposition levels in the five fallout regions into which Finland was divided were reflected in the activity levels of the measured people. The weighted annual mean body burden for people in Finland at the end of 1986 was 370 Bq 134 Cs and 820 Bq 137 Cs. The maximum body burdens of 134 Cs and 137 Cs found in Finns in 1986 were 6300 Bq and 13000 Bq, respectively. The mean internal committed effective dose equivalent 0.06 mSv from 134 Cs and 137 Cs in the body of Finnish people in 1986 was calculated using the whole

Ten Years After - Welfare Effects of the Application of the CAP in Austria, Finland and Sweden

OpenAIRE

Niemi, Jyrki S.; Fahlbeck, Erik; Hofreither, Markus F.

2005-01-01

Ten years ago, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU. The application of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) caused major repercussions on the agricultural sectors of the entering countries. This article analyses the welfare effects of accession to the EU on the agricultural markets in Austria, Finland and Sweden in a simple supply and demand framework, which is kept strictly identical across all three countries. The quantitative results of the study are derived by using standard partia...

Comparison of SW and TW non-synchronous accelerating cavities as used in electron beam storage rings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zolfaghari, A.; Demos, P.T.; Flanz, J.B.; Jacobs, K.

1991-01-01

The authors relate the parameters of detuned standing wave (SW) and non-synchronous beam travelling wave (TW) accelerating cavities of equivalent equilibrium performance when used to compensate for radiation and parasitic energy losses by electrons circulating in a high energy electron storage ring. The relationship is expressed in terms of the coupling parameter β and cavity tuning angle ψ of the TW accelerator's equivalent SW system. A given TW cavity corresponds to a standing wave system possessing specific settings of β and ψ. This is shown for the constant impedance TW waveguide, for which β and ψ can be expressed as explicit functions of TW cavity length 1, attenuation factor I, RF electric field phase velocity V p , and shunt impedance r. Coupling parameter β depends additionally on SW cavity shunt impedance R. The basis they have used for formulating the equivalence of the two systems follows Travelling Wave Cavity Non-Synchronous Beam Loading theory developed by G.A. Loew and Standing Wave Circuit Analysis theory as described by P.B. Wilson

Black carbon concentration and deposition estimations in Finland by the regional aerosol–climate model REMO-HAM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. I. Hienola

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The prediction skill of the regional aerosol–climate model REMO-HAM was assessed against the black carbon (BC concentration measurements from five locations in Finland, with focus on Hyytiälä station for the year 2005. We examined to what extent the model is able to reproduce the measurements using several statistical tools: median comparison, overlap coefficient (OVL; the common area under two probability distributions curves and Z score (a measure of standard deviation, shape and spread of the distributions. The results of the statistics showed that the model is biased low. The local and regional emissions of BC have a significant contribution, and the model tendency to flatten the observed BC is most likely dominated by the lack of domestic burning of biofuel in the emission inventories. A further examination of the precipitation data from both measurements and model showed that there is no correlation between REMO's excessive precipitation and BC underestimation. This suggests that the excessive wet removal is not the main cause of the low black carbon concentration output. In addition, a comparison of wind directions in relation with high black carbon concentrations shows that REMO-HAM is able to predict the BC source directions relatively well. Cumulative black carbon deposition fluxes over Finland were estimated, including the deposition on snow.

Finland – Russia Business cooperation 2014 - 2015

OpenAIRE

Kononova, Polina

2015-01-01

During the years of 2014 and 2015 a lot of changes have happened in Russia’s and Fin-land’s foreign policy. It could really affect the business cooperation between those two countries, so in my thesis I want to take a look into this situation, since this is a really hot topic to-day. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze changes in cooperation between Finland and Russia during embargo on products and to find out how companies keep their positions on Russian market. Another purpose was...

A comparative study of educational inequality in the risk of stillbirth in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden 1981-2000

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rom, Ane L; Mortensen, Laust Hvas; Cnattingius, Sven

2010-01-01

Background The stillbirth rates in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are among the lowest in the world, but socioeconomic disparities in stillbirth still exist. This study examined the educational patterns in the risk of stillbirth in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden from 1981 to 2000. Methods...... From the national birth registries, all singleton live births and stillbirths with a gestational age of at least 28 weeks were selected in Denmark (n=1¿182¿888), Finland (n=419¿729), Norway (n=1¿006¿767) and Sweden (n=1¿974¿101). The births were linked with individual data on parental...

Distributions of dissolved monosaccharides and polysaccharides in the surface microlayer and surface water of the Jiaozhou Bay and its adjacent area

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan-Ping; Yang, Gui-Peng; Lu, Xiao-Lan; Ding, Hai-Bing; Zhang, Hong-Hai

2013-07-01

Sea surface microlayer (SML) samples and corresponding bulk surface water (SW) samples were collected in the Jiaozhou Bay and its adjacent area in July and November 2008. The average concentrations of dissolved monosaccharides (MCHO) and polysaccharides (PCHO) revealed similar temporal variability, with higher concentrations during the green-tide period (in July) than during the non-green-tide period (in November). Average enrichment factors (EF) of MCHO and PCHO, defined as the ratio of the concentration in the SML to that in the SW, were 1.3 and 1.4 in July, respectively, while those values in November were 1.9 and 1.6. Our data also showed that the concentrations of MCHO and PCHO in the SML were strongly correlated with those in the SW, indicating that most of the organic materials in the SML came from the SW. The total dissolved carbohydrate concentrations (TDCHO) in the bulk surface water were closely correlated with salinity during the cruises (July: r=-0.580, n=18, P=0.01; November: r=-0.679, n=26, P<0.001), suggesting that riverine input had an important effect on the distribution of TDCHO in surface seawater of the study area.

Traffic mortality of four ungulate species in southern Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milla Niemi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Ungulate–vehicle collisions are intensively studied in many countries. However, limited knowledge exists on how many animals struck actually die due to collisions and whether differences in traffic mortality occur between species living in the same area. In this study, we estimated a kill rate (the proportion of individuals killed/struck and, in relation to their winter population sizes, the collision and traffic mortality rates for four ungulate species (moose Alces alces, white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, roe deer Capreolus capreolus, and fallow deer Dama dama. We used an unofficial collision register collected between 2001 and 2012 (a total of 12 years by voluntary hunters from the Hyvinkää Game Management Area (323 km2 located in southern Finland. The population estimates used were based on annual snow track censuses. A total of 497 ungulates were involved in collisions during the study period. Of these, 76% were killed directly or put down afterwards. Roe deer had the highest kill rate; 95% of struck individuals died. White-tailed deer had the highest collision and traffic mortality rates (8.0% and 6.5% of the winter population, respectively, followed by moose (6.5 % and 4.5%, roe deer (3.9% and 3.7%, and fallow deer (3.2% and 2.1%. As we found the collision and traffic mortality rates to be unequal between species, we recommend separately reporting all ungulate species when compiling collision statistics. We additionally suggest that local managers should be aware of ungulate collision and traffic mortality rates in their areas and should use this knowledge when planning annual harvest.

National Evaluation of Bologna Implementation in Finland: Procedures and Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Ahola, Sakari

2012-01-01

Finland has performed, as one of the first Bologna countries, a national evaluation of the outcomes of the implementation of the Bologna process. The evaluation was organized by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council and performed by an independent expert group during 2010. In general, the reform was conceived as a significant development…

Licoricidin inhibits the growth of SW480 human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo by inducing cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ji, Shuai [State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191 (China); Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Drug Research and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Xuzhou Medical University, 209 Tongshan Road, Xuzhou 221004 (China); Tang, Shunan; Li, Kai; Li, Ziwei; Liang, Wenfei; Qiao, Xue; Wang, Qi [State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191 (China); Yu, Siwang, E-mail: swang_yu@bjmu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191 (China); Ye, Min, E-mail: yemin@bjmu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191 (China)

2017-07-01

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.) possesses significant anti-cancer activities, but the active ingredients and underlying mechanisms have not been revealed. By screening the cytotoxic activities of 122 licorice compounds against SW480 human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells, we found that licoricidin (LCD) inhibited SW480 cell viability with an IC{sub 50} value of 7.2 μM. Further studies indicated that LCD significantly induced G1/S cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in SW480 cells, accompanied by inhibition of cyclins/CDK1 expression and activation of caspase-dependent pro-apoptotic signaling. Meanwhile, LCD promoted autophagy in SW480 cells, and activated AMPK signaling and inhibited Akt/mTOR pathway. Overexpression of a dominant-negative AMPKα2 abolished LCD-induced inhibition of Akt/mTOR, autophagic and pro-apoptotic signaling pathways, and significantly reversed loss of cell viability, suggesting activation of AMPK is essential for the anti-cancer activity of LCD. In vivo anti-tumor experiments indicated that LCD (20 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly inhibited the growth of SW480 xenografts in nude mice with an inhibitory rate of 43.5%. In addition, we obtained the glycosylated product LCDG by microbial transformation, and found that glycosylation slightly enhanced the in vivo anti-cancer activities of LCD. This study indicates that LCD could inhibit SW480 cells by inducing cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy, and is a potential chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agent against colorectal cancer. - Highlights: • Molecular mechanisms for cytotoxic activity of licoricidin (LCD) were investigated. • LCD promoted autophagy of SW480 cells through AMPK and Akt/mTOR signaling pathways. • Both LCD and its glucoside showed in vivo anti-colorectal cancer activities.

Adapting Bioretention Construction Details to Local Practices in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Outi Tahvonen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Bioretention is a method of storm water management that includes several processes following the natural hydrological cycle. Bioretention, or variations of it, include rain gardens and bioswales, infiltrates, filtrates, evapotranspirates, and help to store and manage storm water run-off. A bioretention cell retains water, removes pollutants, and provides water elements for urban green areas. Although bioretention is a promising method for multifunctional storm water management, its construction details should not be copied from other climatic areas. A direct application may dismiss local conditions, materials, and construction practices. This study aimed to adapt construction details for bioretention to Finnish local practices and conditions and to formulate bioretention constructions that balance water, soil, and vegetation. First, construction details were reviewed, then local adaptations were applied, and finally, the application and two variations of growing media in two construction depths were tested in a test field in Southern Finland. Sandy growing media allowed the efficient retention of water during the first year, but failed to provide vital growth. The use of topsoil and compost in the growing media improved growth, but held high electrical conductivity after infiltration. All the experimental cells in the test field showed activity during the melting periods, both during winter and spring. If bioretention plays a multifunctional role in urban design and engineered ecology, the design parameters should not only focus on storm water quantity, but also on quality management and vegetation growth.

The Impact of Mobile Offloading on Energy Consumption and Capacity of Radio Access Networks – Case of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michail Katsigiannis

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The Finnish Mobile Operators face two main challenges: (i mobile data subscriptions penetration and traffic are experiencing rapid growth; and (ii government intervenes in the market to attain contradictory goals related to extensive high-speed mobile networks and energy consumption reduction. The mobile operators have to increase the capacity in their networks, taking energy efficiency into account. The reduction of energy consumption in mobile networks results to the reducing carbon emissions, and possibly to cost savings. The purpose of this study is to investigate the wide-to-local area offloading in urban regions in Finland and examine the impact of such a network on the wide area access network in terms of energy and capacity. The results show that the capacity relief ranges from 9.7 to 38.7 %, depending on the penetration of local area service, but the energy savings in macro cellular network are negligible.

Self-evaluation on Capacity Building in Finland: Report of the Committee for Nuclear Energy Competence in Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Isotalo, Jaana; Aurela, Jorma

2014-01-01

Lessons learned: • In Finland the most important result of the CB self-evaluation was the process itself. Commitment to this work and results by the experts and organizations are very important. • There should be a broad cooperation in the national capacity building work. • Complicated queries end in thin catch - also endless patience is needed. • All definitions should be agreed and the rules should be clear (plans of the organizations). Quality takes time. • Reserve enough time and resources. In the Finnish case the national effort forced MEE to leave important international projects aside. • It pays to be active with media also during the Self-Assessment