Ministry of Transport and Communications

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate factors associated with the outcome of vital pulp therapy (VPT) in dogs. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SAMPLE: 190 teeth in 138 dogs. PROCEDURES: Medical records were reviewed; radiographs obtained before, immediately after, and during the last available follow-up examination for VPT were evaluated. Treatment was categorized as successful (with radiographic evidence of continued secondary dentin production, continued root formation in immature teeth, and absence of clinical and radiographic signs of apical periodontitis and internal or external inflammatory root resorption), having no evidence of failure (with signs for success fulfilled except the width of the apical periodontal ligament space, which could be wider than but no more than double the width of the periodontal ligament space in other areas), or failed (with radiographic evidence of pulp necrosis, apical periodontitis, or inflammatory root resorption). Associations between diagnostic or treatment-related variables and outcome were assessed with multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: Overall, treatment was classified as successful for 162 of 190 (85%) teeth, including 23 (12%) teeth with no evidence of failure, and as having failed for 28 (15%) teeth. The overall success rate was 137 of 149 (92%) for teeth treated with mineral trioxide aggregate alone and 21 of 36 (58%) for teeth treated with Ca(OH)2 alone. Use of Ca(OH)2 and deep penetration of dressing material into the vital pulp were each significantly associated with increased odds of treatment failure. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results indicated that VPT with mineral trioxide aggregate was an effective option for use in crown reduction to treat malocclusion and for treatment of recent crown fractures in immature or mature permanent teeth.

ABSTRACT Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: This study explores the remuneration consultant–client relationship in a non‐Anglo‐American context, focusing on what consultants do under heavy political remuneration guidance. Research Findings/Insights: A qualitative social constructivist approach was adopted, drawing on interviews with the CEO and “independent” chairman of the board of 23 Finnish state‐owned enterprises, as well as four leading consultants. The research context considerably differs from that of the US, since the State takes an active role in providing remuneration guidelines. Finland also represents a country with a high level of corporate governance and low level of corruption. Nonetheless, our results strongly support the managerial entrenchment perspective fraught with problems and filled with game playing, where “specialized” consultants and CEOs play the major roles, resulting in increased salary levels, slack, an emphasis on share‐based incentives, and public outrage. The effectiveness of these guidelines would be hard, even impossible, to understand, without proper analysis of human interaction related to it. Theoretical/Academic Implications: The study questions the definition of consultant independence based on external data. Second, routine practices commonly bypass rules, leading to the unintended consequence of forced change. Third, the structure of consultancy markets and long consultant–client relationships play an important role in the services offered by consultants. Practioner/Policy Implications: The findings show that restrictive remuneration guidelines can be ineffective and lead to standardized pay designs without providing competitive advantage. Shareholders should request greater transparency concerning remuneration design. The role of consultants should be considered proactively in the guidelines, even by limiting the length of the consultant–client relationship or increasing their transparency.

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.

The grand challenges such as global warming, global markets, energy supply, ageing population, security, scarcity of financial resources and also new technologies necessitate new ways of system -level thinking, working and making decisions within transport systems. The potential measures or innovations to tackle the grand challenges in the transport sector are often systemic. System innovations are co-evolution processes, which involve technological changes, but require changes also in social, cultural, economic and legal dimensions. Because existing system is rsquo;locked in’ at multiple dimensions, it is stable and not easy to change, e.g. new technologies are not easily taken up. There are already noticeable signs of new ways of thinking and working or even paradigm shifts in transport and urban planning in many European countries, necessitated by the grand challenges. Some of the changes have even taken place. Based on theoretical approaches of transport planning and empirical material on policy documents and survey to European transport experts, this paper explores the current state-of-the art in strategic European transport and urban planning. Further, it discusses whether a paradigm shift in strategic planning is taking place and if so, which are the main areas of change and the main drivers.

The Euura amentorum species group is Holarctic, and in Europe it is most species-rich in the North. Their larvae develop entirely within the female catkins of Salix species: some species bore in the central stalk, whereas others live outside this and feed mainly on the developing seeds. Eight Palaearctic species are treated here as valid, and a key to these is provided. Males of five species are known. Two new species are described from northern Europe: Euura pohjola sp. n. and E. ursaminor sp. n. First records of E. itelmena (Malaise, 1931) from the West Palaearctic are presented. We propose seven new synonymies: Pontopristia montana Lindqvist, 1961 (junior secondary homonym in Euura) with Euura freyja (Liston, Taeger & Blank, 2009); Pontopristia brevilabris Malaise, 1921, Amauronematus fennicus Lindqvist, 1944, Pontopristia boreoalpina Lindqvist, 1961, Pontopristia punctulata Lindqvist, 1961, and Amauronematus pyrenaeus Lacourt, 1995 with Euura microphyes (Frster, 1854); and Pteronidea holmgreni Lindqvist, 1968 with Nematus umbratus Thomson, 1871. Lectotypes are designated for: Amauronematus fennicus Lindqvist, 1944, Nematus amentorum Frster, 1854, Nematus suavis Ruthe, 1859, Pontopristia brevilabris Malaise, 1921, Pontopristia itelmena Malaise, 1931, Pontopristia kamtchatica Malaise, 1931, Pontopristia lapponica Malaise, 1921, Pontopristia latiserra Malaise, 1921, Pontopristia romani Malaise, 1921, and Pristiphora amentorum var. nigripleuris Enslin, 1916. Many new host plant associations are recorded.

The most pronounced characteristics of rural development in Finland in the 1990s include the concentration of population in cities as well as changes in the industrial and production structure. Outlying areas of eastern, northern, and central Finland have experienced the most significant absolute and relative decreases in population in recent years. A 73% share of state-owned public roads and private roads (the lowvolume road network) is located in the areas of decreasing population. Traffic volumes will decline on low-volume roads as rural population decreases and will significantly affect the economy of low-volume road management in the future. In the areas of decreasing population, the greatest problem is to maintain the low-volume road network in adequate condition with reasonable costs to serve permanent residents and the transport needs of agriculture and forestry. The most important measures for meeting the challenges of decreasing population include the allocation of sufficient funding for the management of low-volume roads, which will provide for the basic level of service to meet the necessary needs of citizens and enterprises. Furthermore, a system of “just-for-need road management” should be adopted more widely in the management of low-volume roads. Through this system, the scarce financial resources of public low-volume road management would be allocated as efficiently as possible to meet demand by time and location. It should be noted, however, that savings through just-for-need road management are not necessarily significant, and in some cases costs may even increase. For this reason, each low-volume road segment should be examined separately.

Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen politischen Lage in Deutschland, die in hohem Maße von der „Herausforderung Linkspartei“ geprägt wird, bietet der Beitrag eine Darstellung verschiedener Kommunikationsstrategien. Dabei macht der Autor sehr deutlich, dass ein Paradigmenwechsel in der politischen Kommunikation ebenso nötig ist, wie in der Politik selbst.

Pohjoismaisen yhteistyön merkitys Pohjolassa ja kansainvälisesti on historiallisessa vaiheessa, kun Euroopassa käydään sotaa ja turvattomuus maailmalla jatkuu ja pahenee. Kaikki Pohjoismaat ovat Naton jäseniä, mikä avaa uusia mahdollisuuksia pohjoismaiselle yhteistyölle. Samaan aikaan maailmalla on edessään useita suuria haasteita, kuten luonnon monimuotoisuuden köyhtyminen ja ilmastonmuutos, tekoäly ja kyberturvallisuus sekä eriarvoisuuden lisääntyminen ja demokratiaan kohdistuvat uhat. Pohjoismainen yhteistyö ei ole koskaan ollut näin tärkeää, ja pohjoismaisen yhteistyön perustuslain – Helsingin sopimuksen – on käsiteltävä niitä haasteita ja mahdollisuuksia, jotka Pohjolalla on edessään. Meidän on annettava pohjoismaiselle yhteistyölle tilaa kehittyä ja vahvistua. Pohjoismaisen yhteistyön on oltava ajassa kiinni, kun pidetään mielessä tämän hetken ja tulevaisuuden haasteet. Kun mietitään kaikkia suuria muutoksia, joita Pohjolassa ja maailmalla on tapahtunut Helsingin sopimuksen edellisen päivittämisen jälkeen vuonna 1995, mieleen tulee kysymys, milloin sopimusta tulisi päivittää, jollei nyt?

The total length of the Finnish minor road network is about 345 000 km (214,373 mi). The Finnish National Road Administration is responsible for some 65 000 km (40,389 mi) of minor roads, which are called public roads. The remaining 280 000 km (173,984 mi) are private roads that are constructed and maintained mainly by property owners who usually form cooperative societies that take care of this in practice. The role of raw wood haulage is significant, representing about three-fourths of the transported tons if mainly short-distance gravel transportation is excluded. Annual rehabilitation and maintenance funding needs were estimated to be at the level of 750 million to 800 million FIM by using a network management system. The available funds should be allocated to locations where improvements lead to the widest possible positive effects for freight transportation and settlement. For freight transportation this means that frost-damaged road sections should be eliminated from locations that have the widest effects on the utilization of wood resources. To promote development in rural communities funds should be allocated for access roads to communities where other prerequisites for development also exist. The interface between public and private roads needs to be reassessed. The concept of private roads is a very inexpensive and effective way of maintaining low-volume roads.

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