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The paper industry is heavily using energy during all the phases of the manufacturing process. This is especially the case in Nordic mills where pressure ground wood is the source of fiber. The purpose of this case study is to show how energy consumption behaves on a monthly basis in a Finnish paper mill that has several paper machine lines. The research examines different categories of energy usage, as well as the overall costs. The results show that the monthly energy usage varies significantly. The electricity consumption of the case mill is rather steady, but there is significant monthly variation in steam and natural gas consumption. Moreover, steam and electricity unit costs increased significantly when coming to the end of the research period. The longitudinal case data shows that it is difficult to enhance energy consumption per produced unit at the paper mill. One reason for this is the bleak demand outlook for the end products, which often result in downsizing and closing operations inside the integrated unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open Dialogue is a need‐adapted approach to mental health care that was originally developed in Finland. Like other need‐adapted approaches, Open Dialogue aims to meet consumer's needs and promote collaborative person‐centred dialogue to support recovery. Need‐adapted mental health care is distinguished by flexibility and responsiveness. Fidelity, defined from an implementation science perspective as the delivery of distinctive interventions in a high quality and effective fashion is a key consideration in health care. However, flexibility presents challenges for evaluating fidelity, which is much easier to evaluate when manualization and reproducible processes are possible. Hence, it remains unclear whether Open Dialogue and other need‐adapted mental health interventions can be meaningfully evaluated for fidelity. The aim of this paper was to critically appraise and advance the evaluation of fidelity in need‐adapted mental health care, using Open Dialogue as a case study. The paper opens a discussion about how fidelity should be evaluated in flexible, complex interventions, and identifies key questions that need to be asked by practitioners working in need‐adapted mental health care to ensure they deliver these interventions as intended and in an evidence‐based fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to develop a better understanding of the contribution of materiality in a discourse between a creator (content producer) and an interface, dealing with analogue and digital artefacts. Focus is in the materiality of the two different art‐creation learning processes, acrylic painting and digital painting. The objective of this paper is to consider especially the affect and meaning of these two different content creation modalities and intra‐action within that. Through reflective autoethnographic consideration, the purpose is to consider the essences of materials manifesting and modulating the processes of content creation as a posthumanist phenomenon. It will be shown that the creation processes with paper are more experimental whereas the processes with digital screen are more playful. There is a growing need to deeper understand the cultural change of material cultures and the people's intra‐action with the materials also enabling arts creation. This paper will widen our limited understanding and deepen our theoretical perspectives of the essence of materials which then avails confronting analogue and digital when developing teaching and learning in the posthuman era especially in early education. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic There is a growing interest in the new materialism and posthuman thinking amongst educational technology research and development.Reading analogue versus digital is well‐documented.What this paper adds New materialist thinking offers a useful perspective in education for looking at the essence of analogue and digital materiality modulating content creation.Characterising the nuances in analogue and digital production can help in evaluating their educational potential.Implications for practice and/or policy As practitioners we should critically question the political vision of education digitalisation especially concerning early childhood education.There is a need to move beyond debates about analogue versus digital to look at more specific examples of their advantages (and disadvantages) in developing posthumanist education and intra‐active pedagogy especially for young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The retrieval of continuous snow water equivalent (SWE) directly from passive microwave observations is hampered by ambiguity, which can potentially be mitigated by incorporating knowledge on snow hydrological processes. In this paper, we present a data assimilation (DA)-based SWE retrieval framework coupling the QCA-Mie scattering (DMRT-QMS) model (a dense medium radiative transfer (RT) microwave scattering model) and a one-dimensional column-based multiple-layer snow hydrology model. The snow hydrology model provides realistic estimates of the snowpack physical parameters required to drive the DMRT-QMS model. This paper devises a strategy to specify those internal parameters in the snow hydrology and RT models that lack observational records. The modeled snow depth is updated by assimilating brightness temperatures (Tbs) from the X, Ku, and Ka bands using an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). The updated snow depth is then used to predict the SWE. The proposed framework was tested using the European Space Agency's Nordic Snow Radar Experiment (ESA NoSREx) dataset for a snow field experiment from 2009 to 2012 in Sodankylä, Finland. The achieved SWE retrieval root mean square error of 34.31 mm meets the requirements of NASA and ESA snow missions and is about 70% less than the open-loop SWE. In summary, this paper introduces a novel SWE retrieval framework that leverages the combined strengths of a snow hydrology model and a radiative transfer model. This approach ensures physically realistic retrievals of snow depth and SWE. We investigated the impact of various factors on the framework's performance, including observation time intervals and combinations of microwave observation channels. Our results demonstrate that a one-week observation interval achieves acceptable retrieval accuracy. Furthermore, the use of multi-channel and multi-polarization Tbs is preferred for optimal SWE retrieval performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of privatization on establishments/plants operating in Finland's manufacturing sector during 1988-2012, concentrating on operational efficiency (sales/ employment). Finland's privatizations allow considering a quasi-experimental design. Therefore, the paper utilizes standard and generalized event-study designs using a control group matched from similar private establishments. Additionally to the event where state ownership drops below 50 percent, the paper studies whether any reductions in state share affect productivity. The results suggest that privatization increases productivity due to a decrease in employment. • Privatization seems to have increased the productivity of manufacturing establishments in Finland. • The generalized event study approach suggests that clear reductions in state share raise productivity. • Productivity seems to rise because employment has decreased after privatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Open Dialogue is a resource‐oriented approach to mental health care that originated in Finland. As Open Dialogue has been adopted across diverse international healthcare settings, it has been adapted according to contextual factors. One important development in Open Dialogue has been the incorporation of paid, formal peer work. Peer work draws on the knowledge and wisdom gained through lived experience of distress and hardship to establish mutual, reciprocal, and supportive relationships with service users. As Open Dialogue is now being implemented across mental health services in Australia, stakeholders are beginning to consider the role that peer workers might have in this model of care. Open Dialogue was not, initially, conceived to include a specific role for peers, and there is little available literature, and even less empirical research, in this area. This discussion paper aims to surface some of the current debates and ideas about peer work in Open Dialogue. Examples and models of peer work in Open Dialogue are examined, and the potential benefits and challenges of adopting this approach in health services are discussed. Peer work in Open Dialogue could potentially foster democracy and disrupt clinical hierarchies, but could also move peer work from reciprocal to a less symmetrical relationship of ‘giver’ and ‘receiver’ of care. Other models of care, such as lived experience practitioners in Open Dialogue, can be conceived. However, it remains uncertain whether the hierarchical structures in healthcare and current models of funding would support any such models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the current waste management system at the pulp and paper mill complex of Stora Enso Oyj Veitsiluoto Mills at Kemi, Northern Finland. This paper covers examples of case studies carried out at the mill and describes how the wastes and by-products are utilized as a neutralizing agent for acidic wastewaters (i.e., green liquor dregs from the causticizing process), as a hardener in filling mine cavities (i.e., ash from the fluidized bed boiler), as a landscaping agent (i.e., ash as well as the fibre clay from chemical wastewater treatment plant), as a hydraulic barrier material for landfills (i.e., fibre clay), and as a soil enrichment agent (i.e., calcium carbonate from the precipitated calcium carbonate plant). In addition, the wood waste from the wood-handling plant, sawmill, packaging pallet plant and from the groundwood mill, as well as the biosludge from the biological wastewater treatment plant, are all incinerated in the fluidized bed boiler for energy production. Due to effective utilization of the solid wastes generated at the mills, the annual amount of waste to be disposed of in the landfill has decreased between 1994 and 2004 from 42,990 to 6083tonn (expressed as wet weight). The paper also gives an overview of the relevant European Union legislation on the forest industry and on waste management, as well as of the pulping process and of the generation of major solid wastes in the pulp and paper mills. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The propagation of broadband ultrasonic pulses in combined media that consist of printing paper of different porosity saturated with different liquids is studied. The experiments are performed with three types of paper, namely, Zoom Ultra (Stora Enso, Finland) with surface densities of 80 and 100g/m2 and Data Copy (Mo Do, Sweden) with a surface density of 160g/cm2, and with two types of saturating liquids: ethanol and transformer oil. To excite ultrasonic pulses and to detect them with a high time resolution, the laser optoacoustic spectroscopy method is used. For each type of liquid-saturated paper, the phase velocity of ultrasound is measured in the frequency range of 5–35 MHz. The absence of any noticeable frequency dispersion of the phase velocity is revealed. The possibility of measuring the porosity of printing paper on the basis of the theoretical model of a two-phase medium with the use of the corresponding experimental data is demonstrated. © 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that investigated the effects of pulp and paper industry wastewater treatment sludge composts on soil and cereal crops in Finland. Chemical characteristics of composts prepared using forest industry sludges and limit values for soil improvers used in agriculture; Details of crop yield and nutrient intake of compost.

Intensive parenting has become a key term for analysing the pressures and priorities of contemporary western parenting culture. For mobility studies it provides a discursive framework for understanding why children's leisure has shifted from free play and mobility towards various adult-led organised activities and why parents deem it necessary to control children's leisure journeys in an unprecedented manner. Most of the research on parenting and mobility has explained these trends with urban risks and safeguarding, but this paper highlights how parents also control, manage and enable children's mobility to resource and enrich them with various dispositions. We use children's mobility experiments and parents' interviews to explain two contrasting representations of children's mobility—intensive car-parenting and childhood velonomy—in a local community in Finland. The paper sheds new light on how community and place shape parents' notions of parenting, childhood and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study how sustainable fashion influencers (SFIs) conduct social-symbolic work in their efforts to purposefully transform their followers’ fashion consumption patterns. We conducted a netnographic study of the Finnish SFI scene, including observations of the SFIs’ social media content and complementary in-depth interviews with a subset of SFIs. We identified three types of social-symbolic work conducted by the SFIs: identity work (narrating, reflecting and balancing), community work (tightening, expanding and magnetizing) and practice work (shaping meanings, competences, and materials). Most of the SFIs studied were micro-influencers in Finland. The paper contributes to research on sustainable fashion by highlighting the role of SFIs as drivers of institutional and cultural change, the role of social media in this pursuit, and the way sustainable fashion consumption is interlinked with digital life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article evaluates the impacts of integrated environmental permits on the environmental performance of Finnish pulp and paper industry. It assesses the performance of the Finnish pulp and paper mills in relation to the EU best available techniques (BAT) associated emission levels and compares the emission limit values and product specific emissions of the mills with non-integrated permits to those of the mills with new integrated permits. A set of practical indicators for the assessment of BAT, local conditions and transboundary effects is presented and discussed. Moreover, the paper highlights some significant cross-media aspects in the Finnish pulp and paper industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Private sector engagement in infrastructure procurement and ownership can have benefits for both investors and society. However, a significant challenge for authorities is determining when private sector participation provides value for money. Private investors may demand high returns on their investments even in projects with seemingly low risks. Governments with good credit ratings and access to lower cost capital may view private investors overprice in comparison to the level of risk they take. This paper examines whether the financing premiums (in addition to the cost of state financing) of four public-private partnership road projects in Finland are reasonable relative to the risks borne by private partners, using long time series of actual data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to mostly use actual ex-post data on project costs over an extended period to evaluate whether the government overpays private investors. Our analysis indicates that the financing cost of the four projects is on average 201 basis points higher than the financing cost the government pays on its debt. We conclude that this premium is reasonable compensation for the risk the private investors bear in the projects. This finding has implications for selecting the most effective procurement policy for road projects. • We use long time series of actual financial data from PPPs to calculate the financing cost of PPPs. • We conclude that the extra financing cost of the PPPs is a justified compensation for the risk transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypes can be a significant contributor in the mainstreaming of sustainable products. Former research on hypes has been supplier oriented, and thus little is known of their effect on new market formation. Our paper contributes to this research gap by examining the establishment of the 'meat substitute' category in Finland using press articles, retailer interviews and consumer panel data. We show how the emergence and legitimation of the meat substitute category depended heavily on the hype arising around a single product, called Pulled Oats (PO). This hype was anchored in its association with trendy and socio-culturally relevant values and practices. We further discover that the hype had positive spill-over effects on other novel meat substitute products but not on longstanding vegetarian protein sources such as tofu or tempeh. We discuss the contribution of these findings to the literature on hypes and sustainability transitions, especially regarding socially constructed market boundaries and the fact that the hype on PO lacked a disappointment phase typical of hype cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To describe nurse managers' perceptions of interventions to support nurses as second victims of patient safety incidents and to describe the management of interventions and ways to improve them. Design: A qualitative study using interviews. Methods: A purposive sample of nurse managers (n = 16) recruited from three hospital districts in Finland was interviewed in 2021. The data were analysed using elements of inductive and deductive content analysis. Results: The study identified three main categories: (1) Management of second victim support, which contained three sub‐categories related to the nurse manager's role, support received by the nurse manager and challenges of support management; (2) interventions to support second victims included existing interventions and operating models; and (3) improving second victim support, based on the sub‐categories developing practices and developing an open and non‐blaming patient safety culture. Conclusion: Nurse managers play a crucial role in supporting nurses as second victims of patient safety incidents and coordinating additional support. Operating models for managing interventions could facilitate nurse managers' work and ensure adequate support for second victims. The support could be improved by increasing the awareness of the second victim phenomenon. Implications for the Profession and Patient Care: Mitigating the harmful effects of patient safety incidents can improve nurses' well‐being, reduce burden and attrition risks and positively impact patient safety. Impact: Increasing awareness of the second victim phenomenon and coherent operation models would provide equal support for the nurses and facilitate nurse managers' work. Reporting Method: COREQ checklist was used. What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community? Nurse managers' role is significant in supporting the second victims and coordinating additional support.Awareness of the second victim phenomenon and coherent operating models can secure adequate support for the nurses and facilitate nurse managers' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from a case study in Finland, the paper analyses the performative practice of urban development projects in order to win public support for the desired future. The role of famous architects as agents of urban change is pivotal. This raises the concern of how the performative trend in planning cuts down the public discussion of possible alternative futures. The analysis uses the concept techniques of futuring and follows the repetition of performative action. It is relevant to ask if the role of the public is to engage in the story presented instead of engaging in the planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To strengthen palliative care for children in the Nordic countries, an updated status of current needs, resources, clinical services, education, and research is necessary to align and consolidate future research. A Nordic research collaboration initiative for children with palliative care needs was assembled in 2023. Building on this initiative, this paper presents an overview of pediatric palliative care (PPC) in the Nordic countries' (a) population characteristics, (b) care models and setting of care, (c) education and training, and (d) research. Methods: The Nordic initiative researchers collaboratively gathered and assessed available data on the characteristics of PPC within Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, and Åland. Data were compiled in a matrix with population characteristics, models- and setting of care, education and training, and areas of research in a Nordic context. The findings are narratively and descriptively presented, providing an overview of Nordic PPC. Results: In total, the Nordic child population comprises around six million children (0–19 years), of which about 41.200 are estimated to be living with a life-limiting and/or life-threatening condition. Healthcare services are provided through various care models, ranging from specialized care to homecare settings. Overall, there remain few opportunities for education and training with some exceptions. Also, Nordic research within PPC has been shown to be a growing field although much remains to be done. Conclusion: This overview is the first outline of the current PPC in Nordic countries. Although some differences remain important to acknowledge, overall, the strengths and challenges faced within PPC in the Nordic countries are comparable and call for joint action to increase evidence, services, and education to better serve the children, families, and healthcare personnel within PPC. Despite the varying structural premises for PPC, research endeavors aiming to provide evidence in this field seem increasing, timely and relevant for the Nordic countries, as well as the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the first results of an experiment in northern Finland during winter 2022–2023 that aimed at studying seismic events caused by seasonal freezing in the so-called critical zone (CZ) of the Earth. These events have attracted public attention recently, as multiple reports about them from local inhabitants in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas appeared on social networks. To make an instrumental study of such events, to reveal the relationship between their occurrence and winter weather conditions, and to evaluate the possible hazard, we installed two high-resolution seismic arrays with co-located soil temperature stations at two sites in Finland, one of them being in the city of Oulu in the sub-Arctic area (65.04° N, 25.61° E) and the other one above the polar circle in the municipality of Sodankylä (67.36° N, 26.63° E). The equipment recorded continuous seismic and soil temperature data during November 2022–April 2023. Based on reports from the inhabitants of Talvikangas (Oulu) about the ground shaking and unusual noises on 6 January 2023 and their observations of new fractures on the roads there, we selected the time interval for the identification of frost quakes that originated during that day from continuous seismic records in Talvikangas and in Sodankylä. During the selected time interval, the extremely rapid air temperature drops of about -1.4 °C h -1 in Talvikangas and -0.88 °C h -1 in Sodankylä were observed. We identified and located two types of seismic events – namely, frost quakes with frequencies of about 10–20 Hz, with waveforms like those of tectonic events, and irregularly shaped frost tremors with frequencies of about 120–180 Hz. The sources of frost quakes in Talvikangas are mainly located on irrigated wetland, while in Sodankylä, about 50 % of registered frost quakes were caused by ice fracturing on the Kitinen River. However, several relatively strong events, with their origin in the wetlands, were also recorded. A significant number of sources of frost tremors are confined to wetland areas cut by irrigation channels and to roads cleaned from snow during winter both in Talvikangas and in Sodankylä. We calculated ground accelerations and ground velocities for the strongest events from both groups and compared them to equivalent properties of other seismic signals, like distant local earthquakes in the area, mining production blasts, and cargo train vibration. Our study shows that high-frequency frost tremors corresponding to surface fracture opening in the uppermost frozen surface layer of a thickness of up to 5 cm can directly damage infrastructure objects like roads and basements of buildings. Surface waves, produced by frost quakes and propagating inside the shallow soil layer, have large enough ground accelerations at epicentral distances of hundreds of metres. Therefore, frost quakes should be considered a phenomenon that can potentially damage infrastructures, and they have to be taken into account in seismic hazard assessments. Our research is the first instrumental study of seismic events originating from wetland areas. These events occur as a result of the interaction between the uppermost layer of the solid Earth's CZ and atmosphere processes that deserves further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussing time and temporality in care work is becoming more central as societies with growing proportions of older persons with care needs strive to arrange cost-effective eldercare. As resources become scarcer, the efficiency of care work is emphasised, and care is increasingly sorted into cost-per-minute units. In our paper, we will analyse the different ways care professionals themselves describe their temporal experiences and practices concerning care interactions in long-term dementia care. Our data consists of semi-structured interviews with care professionals (n = 25) working in round-the-clock service housing in Finland. Using thematic content analysis to analyse the data, we show that, along with a holistic understanding of temporality, good dementia care necessitates understanding alterity, which is insufficiently regarded in linear or quantitative understandings of time. By using concepts of temporal duration (Bergson), crip time (Kafer) and dementia time (Yoshizaki-Gibbons), it is possible to understand another person's alter-temporal experience, into which care can aim to enter and towards which it can attune itself. We argue that a concept of attunement is needed to fully make sense of the ideal temporal practices of dementia care. Our analysis presents attunement as understanding dementia time, receptive practices, and expressive practices, and describes limitations of attunement as temporal discordance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Veterinarians are at risk for numerous zoonotic infections. In this paper, we summarise descriptions of zoonotic infections from a questionnaire study and a series of work-related zoonotic cases, aiming to add to the knowledge on occupational zoonotic risks of veterinarians. We collected data on zoonotic infections contracted by veterinarians in Finland in two studies:1) using a questionnaire in 2009, and 2) inviting veterinarians who had encountered an occupational zoonosis to report it in structured interviews in 2019. In the questionnaire study in 2009, of 306 veterinarians several reported zoonotic bacterial skin infections (12%), dermatophytosis (ringworm; 4.2%), virus infections (3.9%), bacterial gastroenteritis (3.3%), other bacterial zoonoses (2.3%), and parasitic infections/infestations (2.3%). In the 2019 interviews, 16 occupational zoonosis cases were reported. Of them, seven were selected to the case series. The selected cases included Capnocytophaga canimorsus sepsis following a dog bite, cryptosporidiosis after a contact with calves, cutaneous listeriosis following calving assistance, Salmonella gastroenteritis contracted at laboratory, Trichophyton dermatophytosis after equine contact, Bacillus anthracis exposure at necropsy, and exposure to rabies through a horse bite. In four of the seven cases, the veterinarian disagreed or strongly disagreed with having had good knowledge of the zoonosis before the incident. The results from the questionnaire study and the case series illustrate the variety of zoonotic pathogens that veterinarians may encounter. There is a need to improve the occupational health of veterinarians and to increase awareness in the occupational health sector. We encourage addressing this need using a One Health approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finland adopted the "green mining" concept to reconcile an increase in mineral extraction with conservation needs. Ongoing academic discussions call attention to the social and political factors supporting or challenging new mining projects in the Global North. Particularly understudied are the struggles over existence and knowledge that emerge during environmental accountability processes. This paper is an ethnographic investigation into the onto-epistemological conflict involving the Anglo American Sakatti mine project in the protected Viiankiaapa mire of the Finnish Arctic. It uses material from interviews and stakeholder meetings to analyze how the company's environmental impact assessment is being challenged and how people affected by mining are articulating their claims against the extractive ontology of replaceability. The findings, with parallels drawn to the Global South, suggest that green mine projects become ontologically conflicted and reveal their inherent fragility when companies increasingly try to minimize impacts and legitimate inevitable harm through offsetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the experiential reality surrounding the Divine Liturgy, a Byzantine rite in Orthodox Christianity that has remained central to Eastern practice globally since Late Antiquity. The article draws on multi-sited ethnography in the glocal context of the Orthodox Church of Finland (OCF), a national church of minority and a site of multicultural interaction. Our analysis shows participants articulate their experiences with the Liturgy in an epistemology of interiority by which (1) they constantly, if unevenly, and agentically engage with the Liturgy in a form of individual, vernacular artistry. This interiority is (2) both sensorial and interpretative, and (3) ambivalently grounded in motifs of being "at home" and, at the same time, "on a journey." That is, participants from different backgrounds make a connection to the Liturgy both as a spiritual and a literal home, relating to different elements—Finnish, Karelian, Byzantine, and Church Slavonic—in its ritualistic aesthetics. At the same time, Liturgy emerges as a perpetual journey of new openings and glimpses, informed by past experiences and life trajectories, and participants relate to these two aspects simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In Finland, the new Decree on fertilizer products came into force on 13 September 2011. In this study, the forest fertilizer properties of bottom and fly ash fractions from two large-sized (246MW and 296MW) power plants of pulp and paper mills incinerating biomass-based fuels (i.e. peat, bark, woodchips and sawdust) were investigated. The concentrations of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni and Zn) in the bottom ashes and fly ashes were clearly lower that their current Finnish limit values, and therefore, these residues are potential forest fertilizers. However, the Ca concentration in the bottom ash from a 246MW power plant and the sum of phosphorous and potassium concentrations (P+K) in all ash fractions did not meet the requirements of the current limit values. In this study, we present the current and previous Finnish limit values for ash used as a forest fertilizer. We also present the literature values of nutrient and heavy metal concentrations in the Finnish biomass-based ashes reported by the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, which registers and controls power plants that produce ash for use as fertilizer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Several northern European countries have announced ambitious plans to become carbon neutral already before the year 2050. Recent research has, however, highlighted how potential bottlenecks in raw material and resource availability could significantly delay or hinder wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) expansion and continued biomass usage in parts of Europe. To address this issue, this paper assesses how exposed the national energy and climate plans (NECPs) of Finland, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark are to resource limitations and techno-economic risks by reviewing and analysing 2030 NECP targets compared to statistical energy use data in these countries. The results indicate that the NECPs of Denmark and Germany are particularly exposed to risks related to global raw material availability, as Denmark plans to rapidly grow the share of wind and solar PV in electricity generation to 81% and 13% by 2030, respectively, followed by Germany, which outlines a 39% and 16% share of wind and solar PV in its national climate strategy. The NECPs of Finland and Germany are also shown to be vulnerable to limitations in biomass availability, as there is a significant disparity between the projected biomass usage and legally binding European Union (EU) targets for land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector emissions in 2030 in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radar at high frequency is a promising technique for fine-resolution snow water equivalent (SWE) mapping. In this paper, we extend the Bayesian-based Algorithm for SWE Estimation (BASE) from passive to active microwave (AM) application and test it using ground-based backscattering measurements at three frequencies (X and dual Ku bands; 10.2, 13.3, and 16.7 GHz), with VV polarization obtained at a 50° incidence angle from the Nordic Snow Radar Experiment (NoSREx) in Sodankylä, Finland. We assumed only an uninformative prior for snow microstructure, in contrast with an accurate prior required in previous studies. Starting from a biased monthly SWE prior from land surface model simulation, two-layer snow state variables and single-layer soil variables were iterated until their posterior distribution could stably reproduce the observed microwave signals. The observation model is the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks 3 and Active (MEMLS3&a) based on the improved Born approximation. Results show that BASE-AM achieved an RMSE of ∼ 10 cm for snow depth and less than 30 mm for SWE, compared with the RMSE of ∼ 20 cm snow depth and ∼ 50 mm SWE from priors. Retrieval errors are significantly larger when BASE-AM is run using a single snow layer. The results support the potential of X- and Ku-band radar for SWE retrieval and show that the role of a precise snow microstructure prior in SWE retrieval may be substituted by an SWE prior from exterior sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with a quantitative assessment of the production efficiency of the forestry sector in EU countries, which is largely neglected in the literature. Only a few studies have been conducted so far, processing data mainly in the first half of the last decade. In contrast to these studies, in this article we focus on the period between 2016 and 2020. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to compare the efficiency of the forest sector to fill the gap. The empirical results of this study show that the leaders in this sector are Germany, Finland, and the Czech Republic. These countries are fully efficient throughout the period under review. In contrast, Bulgaria lags far behind, with an efficiency score typically around 35%. The results of the cluster analysis show that although countries have similar characteristics, their efficiency scores are not necessarily at the same level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between nature contact, wellbeing and belonging in the resettlement experiences of young refugees in Finland. Drawing on qualitative data, including participant-made artworks and semi-structured interviews, it explores the different ways refugees encounter nature in their past, present and (imagined) future. Using a relational wellbeing approach, the paper considers how subjective, material and relational dimensions of wellbeing arise and interrelate within refugees' encounters with nature and how these encounters link with refugees' developing sense of belonging to people and places in Finland. The paper describes how, in the context of refugee resettlement, nature encounters can foster a sense of belonging in three ways: through restoration and attachment in the present, through maintaining links with the past, and through shaping desires about a future in which to thrive. Considering refugees' sense of belonging in Finland as part of the relational wellbeing generated, in part, from their encounters with nature, these three aspects of belonging represent particular interrelations between subjective, material and relational dimensions of refugees' wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines newspaper cartels, a largely unoccupied field in media history, from the perspective of longevity. We analyse Finnish newspaper industry from the 1910s to 1970s and show that newspapers sought to regulate various aspects of competition, such as subscription prices, advertisement tariffs, and newsprint prices. Data indicates that political rivalry shaped the newspaper cartel collaboration until late 1950s: the cartel was set up by right-wing and centrist papers and, unlike in other Nordic countries, the Social Democratic press remained outside of the association until 1958. Political shocks of the Finnish Civil War in 1918 and the Second World War also changed the composition of the cartel. The era of private cartels in the newspaper industry gradually started to fade away as a result of anti-cartel laws in the 1960s and governmental anti-inflation measures in the 1970s. We conclude that the economics of newspaper industry and the cartelisation of the wider business environment, newsprint suppliers in particular, encouraged newspapers to co-operate with each other. The results of this article increase the understanding on the collaborative and competitive environment of newspaper companies, but also contributes to broader questions on cartels and their inner dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using revised bloom's taxonomy as a analysing framework for assessment of geography. • The cognitive processes of understanding, analysing and remembering are emphasised. • Conceptual and factual geographical knowledge is valued. • Minor differences between the paper-based and the digital forms of the tests. • Need for dialogue between institutions of the knowledge and skills assessed. This study examines the possible change in cognitive processes and geographical knowledge requirements during the digitalisation process of the Finnish Matriculation Examination in Geography (digitalised in the autumn of 2016). The theoretical background is derived from revised Bloom's taxonomy, which is applied as a framework for the content analysis of the questions (n = 331) of the geography tests between the autumn of 2013 and the spring of 2019. The results show that the questions mainly require an understanding of conceptual and factual knowledge. Because of the digitalisation, questions that require remembering have been reduced, whereas questions that require analysing have been increased. In addition, more comprehensive use and more extensive production of materials are required in the tests. Based on our research findings, we emphasise the need for a careful re-evaluation of the kind of cognitive processes and knowledge that should be assessed in geography tests, both nationally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health policy papers disseminate recommendations and guidelines for the development and implementation of health promotion interventions. Such documents have rarely been investigated with regard to their assumed mechanisms of action for changing behaviour. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT) Taxonomy have been used to code behaviour change intervention descriptions, but to our knowledge such "retrofitting" of policy papers has not previously been reported. This study aims first to identify targets, mediators, and change strategies for physical activity (PA) and nutrition behaviour change in Finnish policy papers on workplace health promotion, and second to assess the suitability of the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) approach for this purpose.Method: We searched all national-level health policy papers effectual in Finland in August 2016 focusing on the promotion of PA and/or healthy nutrition in the workplace context (n = 6). Policy recommendations targeting employees' nutrition and PA including sedentary behaviour (SB) were coded using BCW, TDF, and BCT Taxonomy.Results: A total of 125 recommendations were coded in the six policy papers, and in two additional documents referenced by them. Psychological capability, physical opportunity, and social opportunity were frequently identified (22%, 31%, and 24%, respectively), whereas physical capability was almost completely absent (1%). Three TDF domains (knowledge, skills, and social influence) were observed in all papers. Multiple intervention functions and BCTs were identified in all papers but several recommendations were too vague to be coded reliably. Influencing individuals (46%) and changing the physical environment (44%) were recommended more frequently than influencing the social environment (10%).Conclusions: The BCW approach appeared to be useful for analysing the content of health policy papers. Paying more attention to underlying assumptions regarding behavioural change processes may help to identify neglected aspects in current policy, and to develop interventions based on recommendations, thus helping to increase the impact of policy papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gambling causes important harms in societies. According to the public health approach, the most effective policies to reduce harms target full populations. Availability restrictions and mandatory precommitment are among the most effective measures. However, restrictions on the availability of some gambling products or channels may also be offset by increased consumption in other products. Substitution effects can have negative public health impacts due to differing harm potential across different gambling products. This paper uses longitudinal sales data (2019–2022) from the Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus. During the observation period, the availability of gambling was restricted in Finland due to subsequent waves of Covid-19-related restrictions. In addition, the gambling monopoly introduced mandatory precommitment to land-based EGMs. We focus on how these restrictive policy changes impacted the total consumption of gambling and possible substitution effects. Methods: The Finnish gambling monopoly provided weekly theoretical loss data per gambling product category and gambling channel (online, land-based) for the period of January 2019 – July 2022 based on a statutory obligation. We analysed the effects of availability restrictions and other public health measures on the consumption of different products using descriptive time series and regression analyses. We compared the sale of land-based products to online equivalents at product category level and included main policy change periods in the models. Results: Total consumption of gambling declined during 2019–2022 mainly due to reduced land-based electronic gambling machine (EGM) consumption. Declines in land-based EGM sales were not offset by online alternatives or other close substitutes in the long term. However, during the first wave of Covid-19, there was an observable substitution of land-based table games by online alternatives and land-based horse betting and possibly sports betting by online horse betting. Overall, the results also show that Covid-19 functioned as a boost to an already existing trend of increasing digitalisation of gambling. Conclusions: The study provides empirical support for the effectiveness of public health-oriented policies in reducing the total consumption of gambling. Availability restrictions and mandatory precommitment are therefore likely to also reduce the burden of harms of gambling to individuals and societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper probes the function of competition in society through an analysis of the affective landscape that competition creates. Our focus is on education and the connected process of subjectification. We argue that the analysis of competition in human geography needs to advance through abstractions of political economy to the entanglements and relations in which competition is internalised through embodied experience. We conceive competition as a process of organising power relations that work through affective subjectivation and knowledge-production. Those processes are efficiently at work in education, and hence, in young people's everyday lives. It is our suspicion that education is increasingly organised in a way that naturalises competition and marginalises or even closes horizons from other actual and possible modes of social relations and organisational principles. This organising frame links to ideas about learning as an individual endeavour, a linear process that can be pre-planned and measured with representational evidence. To challenge the harmful ethos of personal control and responsibility of young people for their own education and life-paths, we pursue a nonrepresentational analysis of the educational landscape of competition and approach the (learning) human subject as emergent and relationally agentive. Then, also young people's wellbeing needs to be mirrored against the landscape in which it is continually built. As a case for our argument, we discuss two documents linked to Finnish education: an OECD document on education and national competitiveness, and the newly revised curriculum for upper secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finland and Sweden are two countries with long histories of military non-alignment. In 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both countries swiftly decided to apply for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Why and how does such a drastic policy change come about? In this paper, I assess realist theory of threat and show that despite their apparent similarity, the reactions of the Nordic nonaligned to the Russian aggression differed significantly. Finland immediately sought protection from NATO, while Sweden attempted to continue non-alignment. Ultimately, the two countries reached the same alignment conclusion through different causal mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Finland, agriculture is practiced in variable growing conditions that are further challenged by climate change and under external pressure caused by international competition, changing consumer preferences and demands, and the renewal of the European Union Common Agriculture Policy and Paris Agreement climate targets. Futures studies in agriculture have focused on scenario building with expert panels, though usually without farmers' involvement. This study focuses on farmers' views of shaping the future of Finnish agriculture. It builds on the disaggregative Delphi method and combines interviews and a representative survey of Finnish farmers. The study is based on a bottom-up process in which a farmer panel of 20 farms defined their views of the future in a semi-structured thematic interview. The views were turned into statements in a structured survey sent to the second panel, which comprised all Finnish farmers who had received agricultural subsidies in 2016, with 4401 respondents. The results were analyzed using quantitative factor analysis, which produced five future images for Finnish agriculture. The images were shown to the original farmer panel for reflection. They considered the probability of each future image and their own role in it. Technology solves as a future image was most favored by farmers, followed by Ecological and specializing small-scale production image. Business-as-usual was the least likely future images according to the interviewed farmers. This paper describes the process and discusses both methodological benefits and pitfalls, as well as farmers' future views of the forthcoming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing worries over young people's lack of engagement in institutionalized political processes have been appeased by theories of young people's political preferences for alternative, more engaged political activities. However, young people's institutionalized participation is important for the quality of participation. Democratic innovations, institutions that are designed to increase citizen participation, have been suggested as one solution to bring young people back into institutionalized politics. However, in research, different forms of democratic innovations are often treated as a bulk measure and not examined separately—depriving us of knowledge of youth support for different types of participatory processes. This paper contributes to the literature by examining youth support for a direct versus talk‐centric democratic process in Finland. The results indicate that young people support both referendums and discussion forums more than older people do and that discussion forums are more popular than referendums. Additionally, democratic satisfaction has a reversed effect on support for discussion forums for young and old people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Futures workshop is a participatory futures research method for producing views on futures and facilitating transformation and empowerment. Since different workshop methods are generally considered to have many advantages, they are widely used in various futures contexts. However, there is little knowledge on how futures participation entails empowerment for thinking and acting on futures. This paper studies participants' futures thinking and action in relation to their workshop experience. As psychological constructs for engaging with futures, the concepts of human agency and futures consciousness are used for the analysis. The study examines two futures workshops organized in Finland for farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector using the futures consciousness scale pre-post survey, an open-ended follow-up survey, and thematic interviews. The results of the study show that although there was no statistically significant change in futures consciousness, the workshop experience is absorbed into participants' daily reality, provoking their uses of futures. By analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, it is thus concluded that the ways in which futures participation empowers futures thinking and action are not, and should not be held, evident. Therefore, it is proposed that regarding their empowerment assumptions, participatory futures methods should perform deeper self-consideration as anticipatory practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work clients often face complex financial problems. We have developed a financial social work intervention, FinSoc, to increase financial literacy and economic self-efficacy and reduce financial anxiety among parents with financial problems in Finland. The aim of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the intervention. This paper, a study protocol, describes the design and implementation of the trial. Study protocols are articles detailing a priori the research plan, rationale, proposed methods and plans for how a clinical trial will be conducted. This study is a pilot randomized controlled trial with a mixed methods approach applying both quantitative measures and qualitative interviews. Participating social work clients with children are randomly assigned to either the treatment or the waiting list control group at a ratio of 1:1. The treatment group receives the intervention and the control group receives services as usual. The quantitative data from social work clients are collected at three measurement points. Qualitative interviews are conducted post-intervention with both clients receiving, and professionals implementing the intervention. The feasibility is assessed through recruitment and retention rates and the interviews with social work professionals providing the intervention. Acceptability is assessed through feedback from participants on satisfaction with the intervention and usefulness of the specific intervention components. Potential effectiveness is measured by financial literacy, economic self-efficacy and financial anxiety. The intervention is hypothesized to increase financial literacy and economic self-efficacy and reduce financial anxiety among social work clients with children. The results of this pilot study will increase the evidence base of financial social work and offer new insights for developing interventions for clients experiencing financial difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) expands the more‐than‐human perspective on creativity and creative geographies, as new techno‐material relations and spatialities are formed when humans and AI create together. In this paper, we suggest the concept of 'co‐creative spatiality' to refer to the special sites, relations and processes of human–AI collaboration in artistic creative practice. Our study builds on interviews with 26 Finland‐based artists who have used AI in their artistic work. In our analysis, we focus on the questions of what, how, where, who and with of creativity, through which we study the spatialities of creativity and their links to AI. We discuss, how the emerging techno‐materialities of AI affect co‐creative spatiality by stretching the boundaries of (human) imagination and sparking creativity across new imaginative terrains. Co‐creative spatiality reveals novel and unfamiliar collaborations that constitute our material worlds and, therefore, we believe it invites geographical analysis from all those interested in the transformations of creative and artistic practices in the age of AI. In this paper, we suggest the concept of 'co‐creative spatiality' to refer to the special sites, relations, and processes of human–AI collaboration in creative practice. Our study builds on interviews with 26 Finland‐based artists who have used AI in their artistic work. We discuss, how the emerging techno‐materialities of AI affect co‐creative spatiality by stretching the boundaries of (human) imagination and sparking creativity across new imaginative terrains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ways an inter-municipality bus system for passengers improved its accessibility and affordability for end-users at regional level. Using archetype theory, we conducted a case-study in FÖLI, a not-for-profit organization tasked with collective transport of passengers by bus in Southwest Finland. We find that FÖLI implemented a radical revolutionary change by introducing a new framework for the carriage of passengers by bus at a regional level, in which a zone free and flat fare policy applies. The sequence of change became central; with a continuous reorientation linearity aiming to improve the accessibility and affordability of collective transport by bus for commuters. The paper contributes to archetype theory by examining the relevance of accessibility and affordability in the configuration process of designing and implementing change, and extending knowledge in this area. Specifically, for the first time, our research shows the way in which FÖLI used the accessibility and affordability policy as an interpretative scheme to design and implement the change process successfully. The practical implication is that municipalities understood the relevance of improving collective transport infrastructures (roads, systems and technologies) to attract commuters as a way of saving total costs to fund underperforming buslines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformative innovation policy (TIP) implies not only new directionality for innovation policy but also rethinking its means and scope. This requires further investigation into the role of horizontal and cross-sectoral policy programmes that may be relevant for upscaling innovation and destabilising regimes. This paper studies the national implementation, in Finland, of the European Union (EU) programme for COVID-19 recovery, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as an example of a cross-sectoral policy programme. It is of interest, because the EU has set certain conditions related to sustainability transitions for the RRF. Using a transformative policy mix approach, the paper finds that the Finnish RRF Programme lists many policy measures that can be regarded as having a transformative intent. These include upscaling innovative sustainability niches and destabilising existing practices. Yet, we also found that there is a risk that cross-sectoral programmes fail to find overall transformative visions and fund multiple potentially competing technological pathways instead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging debate on transnational populism has thus far mainly focused on cases, which have remained relatively inconsequential due to the weak institutionalisation of the political transnationalism arena. By bringing in a better-structured arena of migrant transnationalism, this paper introduces populist political parties mobilising transnational migrants to the debate and explores the resulting phenomenon of homeland populism. The paper investigates three populist parties that operate transnationally – Ecuadorian APAIS in Spain, Turkish AKP in Germany and Estonian EKRE in Finland. The analysis demonstrates that the phenomenon of homeland populism shares several distinct features despite the ideological, geographic, cultural and migratory differences between the three cases. The cases also sport differences: while the construction of 'the people' depends on migratory context, the construction of 'the antagonist' is more related to the ideational variations of populism. The study also suggests that the key target group of homeland populism are economic migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: From the utilization point of view, it is notable that the total element concentrations in the precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) waste were significantly lower than the maximal allowable heavy metal concentrations for fertilizers used in agriculture and in forestry, set on the basis of the EU and Finnish legislation. The easily soluble Ca concentration of 168.5gkg−1 (d.w.) in PCC waste was 105 times higher than the typical value of 1.6gkg−1 (d.w.) in the coarse mineral soil in Finland indicates that the PCC waste is a potential agent for soil remediation and for improving soil fertility if it is used as fertilizer. According to a five-stage sequential extraction procedure, the highest concentrations of most of the elements occurred either in HF+HNO3 +HCl or H2O2 +CH3COONH4 fraction. This means that the major part of the elements retained in the PCC waste are not easy to extract (leach) under conditions normally found in nature. This is beneficial since, if inorganic materials and by-products are utilized in earth construction, the content of harmful compounds must be low and the harmful components must be tightly bound to the matrix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents a study which examined perch and roach populations in a state of late vitellogenesis downstream of two pulp and paper mills and at upstream references in southern Lake Saimaa, Finland. Exposure of fish to pulp mile effluents; Vitellogenin concentrations in plasma and liver cytosol of roach; Growth and age at maturity of exposed perch and roach.

An organization's capability to build, handle and exploit relationships and learn from these relations, defined here as relational capabilities, is increasingly important in a networked economy and in innovation activities. The paper introduces a framework that helps understand and analyse the relational capabilities of various organizations engaged in innovation activities. Based on theoretical discussion and empirical analysis the paper argues that the literature on organizational level capabilities and relational capabilities would benefit from deeper integration with the systems of innovation perspective. The empirical findings from three Finnish regions indicate that relational capabilities become particularly relevant in research–business–government cooperation contributing to innovation in the field of bioeconomy. Relational capabilities embedded in an organization's capability configurations can boost the efficient use of that organization's resources, bring greater flexibility, a chance to create value in networks and support renewal and innovation. Missing or underdeveloped relational capabilities may also hinder an organization's ability to tap into the economic opportunities that arise leading to failures at the regional and system level thus hampering the transition towards a bioeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diseases, such as tuberculosis and Spanish flu, spread in industrial environments in the early decades of the 20th century, but increased knowledge of various pathogens, in particular the bacteriological breakthrough made in the late 19th century, helped in the fight against the infectious diseases. This paper examines the attempts made to establish more hygienic industrial environments in Northern Finland in the beginning of the 20th century. There were, for example, efforts made by employers to stop the workforce from spitting on floors and to improve their personal hygiene. These goals were also reflected in material culture as people became acclimatised to soaps and spittoons, for example. Eliminating pathogens from daily life was seen as the responsibility of all. Bringing together archaeological and archival data, this paper scrutinises the interplay between demands of companies and authorities and the habits of workers in achieving more hygienic industrial environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research question of the present paper is the following: to what degree (if any) is gender relevant as an explanatory factor in, firstly, the process of assimilation and later, the process of (re)vitalisation of indigenous and minority languages in northern Fenno-Scandia (the North Calotte)? The assimilation of the ethnic groups in question was a process initiated and lead by the authorities in the three different countries. Finland, Sweden and Norway. Nevertheless, members of the indigenous and minority groups also took part in practicing, though, not necessarily promoting, the official assimilation politics, for different reasons. (Re)vitalisation, on the other hand, was initially – and still is – mostly a process stemming from the minority groups themselves, though the authorities to a certain extent have embraced it. The paper thus addresses the question of whether gender played a role in the two different processes, assimilation and (re)vitalisation, and if that was the case, how and why. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working-class students often face more challenges in securing graduate-level jobs than their middle-class peers. This paper applies the concept of boundary crossing in studying the experience of Finnish business graduates from a working-class background (n = 27) and asks what types of boundaries they have faced and how they have managed them on their pathway through and after university studies. We identify three major boundaries: getting the actual study place, learning to be a student in university and graduating and getting a job in the graduate labour market. Our findings indicate that successful transitions are possible, as the Finnish higher education system enables them in many ways. However, successful boundary work demands socialising to the norms and values of the new social field as well as renewed relationships with one's social background. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for the development of inclusive policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of industrial symbiosis (IS) focus on the physical flows of materials and energy in local industrial systems. In an ideal IS, waste material and energy are shared or exchanged among the actors of the system, thereby reducing the consumption of virgin material and energy inputs, and likewise the generation of waste and emissions. In this study, the environmental impacts of an industrial ecosystem centered around a pulp and paper mill and operating as an IS are analyzed using life cycle assessment (LCA). The system is compared with two hypothetical reference systems in which the actors would operate in isolation. Moreover, the system is analyzed further in order to identify possibilities for additional links between the actors. The results show that of the total life cycle impacts of the system, upstream processes made the greatest overall contribution to the results. Comparison with stand-alone production shows that in the case studied, the industrial symbiosis results in modest improvements, 5% to 20% in most impact categories, in the overall environmental impacts of the system. Most of the benefits occur upstream through heat and electricity production for the local town. All in all it is recommended that when the environmental impacts of industrial symbiosis are assessed, the impacts occurring upstream should also be studied, not only the impacts within the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]