The concept of district heating (DH) involves centralised heat production where heat is distributed to consumers via a piping network. It is essential that benefits achieved from concentrated, large-scale production instead of local production in each building exceed the costs associated with heat distribution. Since the distribution cost per delivered kWh increases as the heat density of an area

This thesis examines the practice of haemodialysis and kidney transplantation, the two medical therapies available for persons with kidney failure, from a phenomenological perspective. A basic assumption made in the thesis is that contemporary biomedicine is deeply embedded in the cultural, historical, economic, and political circumstances provided by the particular local, national, and transnatio

This thesis contains four empirical macroeconomic studies and the papers may briefly be summarized as follows. In the first paper, we use both descriptive statistics and regression analysis to investigate whether movements in real exchange rates and money supply before and during fiscal contractions matter for the macroeconomic outcome. First we define fiscal contraction. Second, we label the cont

Symbolic politics is the degree to which political decision-making is motivated, not by the tangible aspects of the decision, but by the interpretation of what the decision represents symbolically. While symbolic politics is widely recognized as an important aspect of political decision-making, the phenomenon is insufficiently explored in political science. The first aim of the present dissertatio

Intraabdominal adhesions are formed after most operations and a limited number of studies have to examine the long-term spectrum of adhesion-related disorders and the cost associated with this. Only a few numbers of antiadhesive agents are available which, however, do not decrease the actual morbidity that follows intraabdominal adhesions, such as small bowel obstruction, infertility and pain. Fut

Several different hormones are released from the intestine following a meal. In this thesis we have focused on the so called incretin hormones, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). An important function of the incretin hormones is potentiation of insulin release from pancreatic beta-cells following a meal. This property has attracted a lot of inte

Similar policies may be found in different countries. This, in turn, is an indication that policies travel. But why are certain policies imitated while others are not? The author seeks to further our understanding of policy diffusion and its dynamics by investigating how foreign ideas are integrated and translated into new contexts, and how these imported ideas influence national policymaking and

The competition in the banking industry has during the last decades been intensified resulting in smaller interest margins. As a consequence, the resources spent on each credit customer have had to be decreased, resulting in less interaction and a perceived limited access to valuable information. This has especially been the case in the banks´credit management of small firms. Earlier research app

The aim of this thesis is to study effects of an extension of physical education/activity and motor training on motor skills, attention and cognition during a period of three years. Another aim is to develop a test, MUGI observationsschema, which could be useful in charting motor skills of school pupils. The study has two intervention groups (n=152) that have physical activity and motor training o

Type 2 diabetes is characterised by defects in insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion and increased endogenous glucose production. The relative contribution of each of these defects remains controversial. In order to characterise the metabolic defects in various stages of glucose tolerance, the insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion was measured in a large population based study in Finland and

The general objective of the research underlying this dissertation was to conduct clinical and basic scientific studies to further elucidate the hemophilia and the coagulation process, with the goal of improving the care of families with these disorders. More specific aims were to evaluate epidemiological, genetic, clinical, and biochemical aspects of the development of inhibitors (antibodies) aga

Selenium is a micronutrient that is essential for many important life processes due to the action of the specific selenoproteins containing one or more of the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine. Twenty-five selenoprotein genes have been found in the human genome but the function of many of them is not yet known. Some of the characterised selenoproteins have, however, antioxidant properties. Selenium