Academy of Finland

About: Academy of Finland is a government organization based out in Helsinki, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 286 authors who have published 419 publications receiving 15304 citations. The organization is also known as: Finlands Akademi & Suomen Akatemia.

Inductive systematization: Definition and a critical survey

Abstract: In 1958, to refute the argument known as ‘the theoretician's dilemma’, Hempel suggested that theoretical terms might be logically indispensable for inductive systematization of observational statements. This thesis, in some form or another, has later been supported by Scheffler, Lehrer, and Tuomela, and opposed by Bohnert, Hooker, Stegmuller, and Cornman. In this paper, a critical survey of this discussion is given. Several different putative definitions of the crucial notion ‘inductive systematization achieved by a theory’ are discussed by reference to the properties of inductive inference. The consequences of the following differences between deductive and inductive inference are emphasized: the lack of simple transitivity properties (even in a modified sense) of inductive inference, and the failure of the inductive analogue of the converse of The Deduction Theorem. The main conclusions are: (i) Hempel's original thesis may very well be right but his argument for it is unsatisfactory, (ii) theoretical terms can be logically indispensable for a non-Hempelian kind of inductive systematization, relative to both Craigian and Ramseyan elimination, (iii) Lehrer's attempt to prove the indispensability of theoretical terms for inductive-probabilistic systematization is, as a modification of Hempelian kind of inductive-deterministic systematization, unsatisfactory, and (iv) there does not seem to be much hope of escaping the conclusion (ii), if it is true, by extending the Craigian replacement programme along the lines suggested by Cornman.

Equity in the use of IVF in Finland in the late 1990s.

Abstract: Scand J Public Health 2004; 32: 203-209 Aims: The purpose of this study was to describe equity in the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF; including micro-injections and frozen-embryo transfers), and compare its use with that of other assisted reproduction technologies (other ARTs; including ovulation inductions with or without inseminations). Methods: The women who received IVF (n~9, 175) and other ARTs (n~10,254) between 1996 and 1998 were identified from the reimbursement records of the Social Insurance Institution (SII) covering all Finns. Population controls, matched by age and municipality, were selected for IVF women (n~9,175). Information concerning background characteristics came from the Central Population Register and the SII's reimbursement files. The sector (public vs. private) was defined using prescribing physicians' codes. IVF use was studied by the proportions of women treated and the frequency of treatment. Results: The age-standardized IVF incidence per thousand 20-to-49-year- old women was 8.8 in urban and 7.3 in rural areas, but the use of other ARTs did not vary correspondingly (9.2, 9.3). The regional incidence of IVF and other ARTs varied considerably. In the private sector, women in the highest socioeconomic position were over-represented (29% private, 18% public, 16% controls). During the mean 1.5 years of the study period, the IVF women had somewhat more treatment cycles in the private than in the public sector (mean 3.3, 2.7), and those in the highest socioeconomic position had more cycles than others (3.5, 3.2); the frequency was not age-dependent. In the public sector the number of cycles did not differ by socioeconomic group (mean 2.7 - 2.8 per woman), and women aged 25 to 39 had more cycles than others. Conclusion: There were socioeconomic differences in use of IVF services, but they were small because of the equitable use of public services.

International CO2 Taxation and the Dynamics of Fossil Fuel Markets

Abstract: International CO2 taxation may have major implications for fossil fuel markets. These effects must be taken into account in calculating the net gain from CO2 taxation. The paper assumes that buyers have formed an agency that applies a CO2 tax and sellers are competitive or constitute a resource cartel. When sellers are competitive, buyers' agency may use monopsony power by applying an import tariff. At the resulting time-consistent equilibrium, the sellers lose their resource rent. In contrast, the solution where the sellers' cartel maximizes its profits is time inconsistent. At the time-consistent Nash feedback equilibrium, the seller's monopoly power vanishes asymptotically. The sellers' export fee reduces the buyers' pollution tax. At this equilibrium, the buyers' pollution tax includes an import subsidy, and the tax falls below the present value of the marginal pollution damage. In the Nash feedback equilibrium, higher pollution damage may imply higher initial producer prices, although this effect is always the reverse in the Pareto optimum.

Impact of the dopamine receptor gene family on temperament traits in a population-based birth cohort.

Abstract: Although the genetic determinants of personality have been intensively investigated especially since Cloninger proposed his psychobiological model of temperament and character, findings to date remain inconclusive and very few studies have addressed the topic in large population cohorts. In the current study we investigated one gene family in its entirety by addressing the role of all known dopamine receptor genes, DRD1-DRD5, on Cloninger's temperament traits in a Finnish population-based birth cohort. The study sample (n = 1,434) was ascertained from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 with over 5,000 study individuals tested at the age of 31 years. We utilized the genetic homogeneity and genealogical structure of this population to uncover putative effects of these genes on temperament traits at the population level. Our strategy utilizing a large birth cohort and its well established genealogical structure represents an optimal design for studying normally distributed traits. We also wished to provide a comprehensive view to one biologically relevant gene family instead of testing single candidate genes. We report evidence of association of several SNPs at the 5' end of dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) with Novelty seeking (low) and Harm avoidance (high), and at the 3' end of DRD2 with Persistence. The strongest evidence of association emerged from females. Our study supports the involvement of the dopamine pathway in temperament traits, in particular underlining the role of DRD2 in Novelty seeking, Harm avoidance and Persistence.