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This paper is a call for educators to respond to the problematics that arise from reducing the Earth to a resource for human activities. The concept of 'Anthropocene' is a burning invitation to rethink education by putting the human to its place. We therefore argue for a spatial-embodied conceptualization of learning, which involves the more-than-human and nonrepresentational. In this effort, we use Latour's concept of 'geostory' to problematize the prevailing anthropocentrism in education. We discuss the power of experimentation by introducing a learning experiment that took place at a pop-up greenhouse in Helsinki. The idea was to encourage upper secondary geography students to playfully discard their human perspective and study the city from the viewpoint of plants: to probe the presumed human/nature divide through brief but moving encounters with 'others'. We argue that through affective encounters with nonhuman others, the Earth speaks: it tells stories with us. If humans let themselves be addressed by these encounters, geostories can temporarily re-place human-centred narrative storytelling practices (histories), voiced by the modernist 'I', and generate alternative forms of knowledge that emerge from our belonging together. These stories emerging from geographical experimentation entail potential to cultivate both knowing and care that exceed the human.

Purpose: This study explores whether the quality of parent-child interaction is associated with language abilities cross-sectionally and longitudinally up to preschool-age among children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: Participants were 97 monolingual children with DLD and their parents from the Helsinki Longitudinal SLI study, HelSLI (baseline, age in years;months, M = 4;3, SD = 0;10), of which 71 pairs were followed longitudinally (age in years;months, M = 6;6, SD = 0;5). Video recordings from three play sessions were scored for child, parent, and dyadic behavior using Erickson's sensitivity scale protocol and mutually responsive orientation at baseline. Children's expressive and receptive language and language reasoning ability were assessed at baseline, and expressive and receptive language were assessed at follow-up. Results: At baseline, engaged child behavior, parent's supportive guidance, and fluent and attuned dyadic behavior were associated with better receptive language ability, and engaged child behavior and dyadic synchrony were positively associated with language reasoning ability in 3- to 6-year-olds. The child's positive engagement and fluent and attuned dyadic behavior at baseline were associated with better expressive and receptive language abilities at follow-up in 6- to 7-year-olds, respectively. Conclusions: Fluent and attuned dyadic behavior is associated with better receptive language ability in preschool-age children. Parent behavior alone was not associated with language ability. A connected and mutually attuned parent--child relationship could be a protective factor for language development for children with DLD.

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is defined by persistent difficulties with language, but a growing body of evidence suggests that it is also associated with domain-general and nonverbal information-processing deficits. However, the interconnections between cognitive functions, both nonverbal and language related, are still unclear. With the aim of gaining more comprehensive insight into the cognitive deficits related to DLD, we investigated and compared the cognitive structure of children with DLD and typically developing (TD) children. Method: As a part of the Helsinki longitudinal SLI study, monolingual Finnish preschoolers (N = 154; TD group: n = 66, DLD group: n = 88) were assessed with 23 tasks measuring nonverbal and verbal reasoning, language processing, memory, visuomotor functions, attention, and social cognition. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed to examine latent constructs and to test measurement invariance between the TD and DLD groups. Results: Measurement invariance was not found across the TD and DLD groups. Best fitting structure for TD children included factors reflecting verbal abilities, processing speed/short-term memory, visuomotor functions, and visuoconstructive abilities/nonverbal reasoning. The DLD group's structure comprised nonverbal abilities, naming/expressive language, verbal comprehension, and verbal/declarative memory. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the structure of cognitive functions differs in TD children and children with DLD already at preschool age. Nonverbal functions seem more unified, whereas verbal functions seem more varying in preschoolers with DLD compared to TD children. The results can be used in future research for prognosis of DLD and planning interventions.

Background: The role of domain-general short-term memory (STM) in language development remains controversial. A previous finding from the HelSLI study on children with developmental language disorder (DLD) suggested that not only verbal but also non-verbal STM for temporal order is related to language acquisition in monolingual children with DLD. Aims: To investigate if a similar relationship could be replicated in a sample of sequentially bilingual children with DLD. In addition to the effect of age, the effect of cumulative second language (L2) exposure was studied. Methods & Procedures: Sixty-one 4-6-year-old bilingual children with DLD and 63 typically developing (TD) bilingual children participated in a cross-sectional study conducted in their L2. Children completed novel game-like tests of visual and auditory non-verbal serial STM, as well as tests of cognitive functioning and language. Interactions of STM for order with age and exposure to L2 (Finnish) were explored as explanatory variables. Outcomes & Results: First, the improvement of non-verbal serial STM with age was faster in sequentially bilingual TD children than in bilingual children with DLD. A similar effect was observed for L2 exposure. However, when both age and exposure were considered simultaneously, only age was related to the differential growth of non-verbal STM for order in the groups. Second, only in children with DLD was better non-verbal serial STM capacity related to an improvement in language scores with age and exposure. Conclusions & Implications: The results suggest that, as previously found in Finnish monolingual children, domain-general serial STM processing is also compromised in bilingual children with DLD. Further, similar to the monolingual findings, better non-verbal serial STM was associated with greater language improvement with age and exposure, but only in children with DLD, in the age range studied here. Thus, in clinical settings, assessing non-verbal serial STM of bilingual children could improve the detection of DLD and understanding of its non-linguistic symptoms.

Background: Language exposure is known to be a key factor influencing bilingual vocabulary development in typically developing (TD) children. There is, however, a lack of knowledge in terms of exposure effects in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and, especially, in interaction with age of onset (AoO) of second language acquisition. Aims: In the Helsinki longitudinal SLI study (HelSLI), we investigated the receptive and expressive second language (L2) vocabulary performance and cross-sectional vocabulary development of sequentially bilingual children with TD and DLD in order to resolve whether the groups could be differentiated based on their vocabulary performance. More importantly, we examined the effects of AoO and exposure in the vocabulary performance of these two bilingual groups. Methods & Procedures: A total of 70 children with DLD from a hospital clinic and 82 with TD from kindergartens were recruited. Children were 3-7 years old with different AoOs for the L2 and varying degrees of language exposure. Multiple regression analysis was used to compare the groups in two receptive and three expressive vocabulary tests while considering the effects of AoO and language exposure. Outcomes & Results: Children with TD outperformed children with DLD in both receptive and expressive vocabulary measures. Exposure predicted vocabulary but AoO did not. The effect of exposure was different in TD and DLD groups in receptive but not in expressive vocabulary. Additionally, the interaction of exposure and AoO was found for receptive vocabulary, but similarly in both groups. With increasing exposure, a difference in performance between the groups became more notable in receptive vocabulary compared with the expressive vocabulary. Conclusions & Implications: Bilingual children with TD and DLD can be differentiated by using L2 vocabulary tests when exposure is taken into consideration. Non-significant AoO effects in 3-7 year olds suggest flexibility in terms of when to start L2 immersion. However, exposure is important, and especially children with DLD would need a substantial amount of it relative to their TD peers, so that they would not fall even further behind over time. Differences in benefiting from exposure in receptive mode might offer clinicians and kindergarten personnel an insight for evaluating challenges in bilingual development. Severe challenges in vocabulary development in the DLD group also call for both individually targeted small-group activities for learning words as well as strategies for strengthening vocabulary in various environments and everyday life situations.

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are essential in atmospheric chemistry because of their chemical reactions that produce and destroy tropospheric ozone, their effects on aerosol formation and growth, and their potential influence on global warming. As one of the important BVOC groups, monoterpenes have been a focus of scientific attention in atmospheric research. Detailed regional measurements and model estimates are needed to study emission potential and the monoterpene budget on a global scale. Since the use of empirical measurements for upscaling is limited by many physical and biological factors, such as genetic variation, temperature and light, water availability, seasonal changes, and environmental stresses, comprehensive inventories over larger areas are difficult to obtain. We applied the boundary-layer-chemistry-transport model SOSA (model to Simulate the concentrations of Organic vapours and Sulphuric Acid) to investigate Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) monoterpene emissions in a boreal coniferous forest at the SMEAR (Station for Measuring forest Ecosystem-Atmosphere Relations) II site, southern Finland. SOSA was applied to simulate monoterpene emissions with three different emission modules: the semiempirical G95, MEGAN (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature) 2.04 with improved descriptions of temperature and light responses and including also carbonyl emissions, and a process-based model SIM-BIM (Seasonal Isoprenoid synthase Model - Biochemical Isoprenoid biosynthesis Model). For the first time, the emission models included seasonal and diurnal variations in both quantity and chemical species of emitted monoterpenes, based on parameterizations obtained from field measurements. Results indicate that modelling and observations agreed reasonably well and that the model can be used for investigating regional air chemistry questions related to monoterpenes. The predominant modelled monoterpene concentrations, α-pinene and Δ3-carene, are consistent with observations.

We investigated the millennial variability (1000 A.D.-2000 A.D.) of global biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions by using two independent numerical models: The Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN), for isoprene, monoterpene, and sesquiterpene, and Lund-Potsdam-Jena-General Ecosystem Simulator (LPJ-GUESS), for isoprene and monoterpenes. We found the millennial trends of global isoprene emissions to be mostly affected by land cover and atmospheric carbon dioxide changes, whereas monoterpene and sesquiterpene emission trends were dominated by temperature change. Isoprene emissions declined substantially in regions with large and rapid land cover change. In addition, isoprene emission sensitivity to drought proved to have significant short-term global effects. By the end of the past millennium MEGAN isoprene emissions were 634 TgC yr-1 (13% and 19% less than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively), and LPJ-GUESS emissions were 323 TgC yr-1(15% and 20% less than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively). Monoterpene emissions were 89 TgC yr-1(10% and 6% higher than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively) in MEGAN, and 24 TgC yr-1 (2% higher and 5% less than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively) in LPJ-GUESS. MEGAN sesquiterpene emissions were 36 TgC yr-1(10% and 4% higher than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively). Although both models capture similar emission trends, the magnitude of the emissions are different. This highlights the importance of building better constraints on VOC emissions from terrestrial vegetation.

We investigated the millennial variability (1000 A.D.-2000 A.D.) of global biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions by using two independent numerical models: The Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN), for isoprene, monoterpene, and sesquiterpene, and Lund-Potsdam-Jena-General Ecosystem Simulator (LPJ-GUESS), for isoprene and monoterpenes. We found the millennial trends of global isoprene emissions to be mostly affected by land cover and atmospheric carbon dioxide changes, whereas monoterpene and sesquiterpene emission trends were dominated by temperature change. Isoprene emissions declined substantially in regions with large and rapid land cover change. In addition, isoprene emission sensitivity to drought proved to have significant short-term global effects. By the end of the past millennium MEGAN isoprene emissions were 634 TgC yr-1 (13% and 19% less than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively), and LPJ-GUESS emissions were 323 TgC yr-1(15% and 20% less than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively). Monoterpene emissions were 89 TgC yr-1(10% and 6% higher than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively) in MEGAN, and 24 TgC yr-1 (2% higher and 5% less than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively) in LPJ-GUESS. MEGAN sesquiterpene emissions were 36 TgC yr-1(10% and 4% higher than during 1750-1850 and 1000-1200, respectively). Although both models capture similar emission trends, the magnitude of the emissions are different. This highlights the importance of building better constraints on VOC emissions from terrestrial vegetation.

We have modelled the total atmospheric OH-reactivity in a boreal forest and investigated the individual contributions from gas phase inorganic species, isoprene, monoterpenes, and methane along with other important VOCs. Daily and seasonal variation in OH-reactivity for the year 2008 was examined as well as the vertical OH-reactivity profile. We have used SOSA; a one dimensional vertical chemistry-transport model (Boy et al., 2011a) together with measurements from Hyytiälä, SMEAR II station, Southern Finland, conducted in August 2008. Model simulations only account for ∼30-50% of the total measured OH sink, and in our opinion, the reason for missing OH-reactivity is due to unmeasured unknown BVOCs, and limitations in our knowledge of atmospheric chemistry including uncertainties in rate constants. Furthermore, we found that the OH-reactivity correlates with both organic and inorganic compounds and increases during summer. The summertime canopy level OH-reactivity peaks during night and the vertical OH-reactivity decreases with height. © 2011 Author(s) .

Chemistry in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is controlled by complex processes of surface fluxes, flow, turbulent transport, and chemical reactions. We present a new model SOSA (model to simulate the concentration of organic vapours and sulphuric acid) and attempt to reconstruct the emissions, transport and chemistry in the ABL in and above a vegetation canopy using tower measurements from the SMEAR II at Hyytïal̈a, Finland and available soundings data from neighbouring meteorological stations. Using the sounding data for upper boundary condition and nudging the model to tower measurements in the surface layer we were able to get a reasonable description of turbulence and other quantities through the ABL. As a first application of the model, we present vertical profiles of organic compounds and discuss their relation to newly formed particles. © 2011 Author(s).

Information technology infrastructure (ITI) has gone through an exponential change due to the rapid evolution of digital technologies during the past few years. It is therefore relevant to identify the factors that push organizations towards the adoption of new technologies. This paper considers a specific case study of the higher education institutions (HEI) to present (i) the motivational factors that push HEIs toward the adoption of new technologies, and (ii) the key challenges HEIs face in the adoption of these technologies. The data was gathered after conducting 17 open-ended interviews with practitioners working at HEIs in Finland and Pakistan. Data analysis identified 10 motivational factors and 41 challenges faced by HEI in the adoption of the latest technologies. Furthermore, the data was further classified to identify broad themes and categories representing the challenges and motivation factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]