A low content of organic matter, which is largely refractory in nature, is characteristic of most sediments, meaning that aquatic deposit-feeders live on a very poor food source. The food is derived mainly from sedimenting phytodetritus, and in temperate waters like the Baltic Sea, from seasonal phytoplankton blooms. Deposit-feeders are either bulk-feeders, or selective feeders, which preferentially ingest the more organic-rich particles in the sediment, including phytodetritus, microbes and meiofauna. The soft-bottom benthos of the Baltic Sea has low species biodiversity and is dominated by a few macrobenthic species, among which the most numerous are the two deposit-feeding amphipods Monoporeia affinis and Pontoporeia femorata, and the bivalve Macoma balthica. This thesis is based on laboratory experiments on the feeding of these three species, and on the priapulid Halicryptus spinulosus. Feeding by benthic animals is often difficult to observe, but can be effectively studied by the use of tracers. Here we used the radioactive isotope 14C to label food items and to trace the organic matter uptake in the animals, while the stable isotopes 13C and 15N were used to follow feeding on aged organic matter in the sediment. The abundance of M. balthica and the amphipods tends to be negatively correlated, i.e., fewer bivalves are found at sites with dense populations of amphipods, with the known explanation that newly settled M. balthica spat are killed by the amphipods. Whether the postlarvae are just accidentally killed, or also ingested after being killed was tested by labelling the postlarvae with 14C and Rhodamine B. Both tracer techniques gave similar evidence for predation on and ingestion of postlarval bivalves. We calculated that this predation was likely to supply less than one percent of the daily carbon requirement for M. affinis, but might nevertheless be an important factor limiting recruitment of M. balthica. The two amphipods M. affinis and P. femorata are partly vertically segregated in the sediment, but whether they also feed at different depths was unknown. By adding fresh 14C-labelled algae either on the sediment surface or mixed into the sediment, we were able to distinguish surface from subsurface feeding. We found M. affinis and P. femorata to be surface and subsurface deposit-feeders, respectively. Whether the amphipods also feed on old organic matter, was studied by adding fresh 14C-labelled algae on the sediment surface, and using aged, one-year-old 13C- and 15N-labelled sediment as deep sediment. Ingestion of old organic matter, traced by the stable isotopes, differed between the two species, with a higher uptake for P. femorata, suggesting that P. femorata utilises the older, deeper-buried organic matter to a greater extent. Feeding studies with juveniles of both M. affinis and P. femorata had not been done previously. In an experiment with the same procedure and treatments as for the adults, juveniles of both amphipod species were found to have similar feeding strategies. They fed on both fresh and old sediment, with no partitioning of food resources, making them likely to be competitors for the same food resource. Oxygen deficiency has become more wide-spread in the Baltic Sea proper in the last half-century, and upwards of 70 000km2 are now devoid of macrofauna, even though part of that area does not have oxygen concentrations low enough to directly kill the macrofauna. We made week-long experiments on the rate of feeding on 14C-labelled diatoms spread on the sediment surface in different oxygen concentrations for both the amphipod species, M. balthica and H. spinulosus. The amphipods were the most sensitive to oxygen deficiency and showed reduced feeding and lower survival at low oxygen concentrations. M. balthica showed reduced feeding at the lowest oxygen concentration, but no mortality increase. The survival of H. spinulosus was unaffected, but it did not feed, showing that it is not a surface deposit-feeder. We conclude that low oxygen concentrations that are not directly lethal, but reduce food intake, may lead to starvation and death in the longer term.

This dissertation takes a step towards providing a better understanding of post-socialist welfare state development from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. The overall analytical goal of this thesis has been to critically assess the development of social policies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania using them as illustrative examples of post-socialist welfare state development in the light of the theories, approaches and typologies that have been developed to study affluent capitalist democracies. The four studies included in this dissertation aspire to a common aim in a number of specific ways. The first study tries to place the ideal-typical welfare state models of the Baltic States within the well-known welfare state typologies. At the same time, it provides a rich overview of the main social security institutions in the three countries by comparing them with each other and with the previous structures of the Soviet period. It examines the social insurance institutions of the Baltic States (old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, short-term benefits, sickness, maternity and parental insurance and family benefits) with respect to conditions of eligibility, replacement rates, financing and contributions. The findings of this study indicate that the Latvian social security system can generally be labelled as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models. The Estonian social security system can generally also be characterised as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models, even if there are some weak elements of the targeted model in it. It appears that the institutional changes developing in the social security system of Lithuania have led to a combination of the basic security and targeted models of the welfare state. Nevertheless, as the example of the three Baltic States shows, there is diversity in how these countries solve problems within the field of social policy. In studying the social security schemes in detail, some common features were found that could be attributed to all three countries. Therefore, the critical analysis of the main social security institutions of the Baltic States in this study gave strong supporting evidence in favour of identifying the post-socialist regime type that is already gaining acceptance within comparative welfare state research. Study Two compares the system of social maintenance and insurance in the Soviet Union, which was in force in the three Baltic countries before their independence, with the currently existing social security systems. The aim of the essay is to highlight the forces that have influenced the transformation of the social policy from its former highly universal, albeit authoritarian, form, to the less universal, social insurance-based systems of present-day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This study demonstrates that the welfare–economy nexus is not the only important factor in the development of social programs. The results of this analysis revealed that people's attitudes towards distributive justice and the developmental level of civil society also play an important part in shaping social policies. The shift to individualism in people’s mentality and the decline of the labour movement, or, to be more precise, the decline in trade union membership and influence, does nothing to promote the development of social rights in the Baltic countries and hinders the expansion of social policies. The legacy of the past has been another important factor in shaping social programs. It can be concluded that social policy should be studied as if embedded not only in the welfare-economy nexus, but also in the societal, historical and cultural nexus of a given society. Study Three discusses the views of the state elites on family policy within a wider theoretical setting covering family policy and social policy in a broader sense and attempts to expand this analytical framework to include other post-socialist countries. The aim of this essay is to explore the various views of the state elites in the Baltics concerning family policy and, in particular, family benefits as one of the possible explanations for the observed policy differences. The qualitative analyses indicate that the Baltic States differ significantly with regard to the motives behind their family policies. Lithuanian decision-makers seek to reduce poverty among families with children and enhance the parents’ responsibility for bringing up their children. Latvian policy-makers act so as to increase the birth rate and create equal opportunities for children from all families. Estonian policy-makers seek to create equal opportunities for all children and the desire to enhance gender equality is more visible in the case of Estonia in comparison with the other two countries. It is strongly arguable that there is a link between the underlying motives and the kinds of family benefits in a given country. This study, thus, indicates how intimately the attitudes of the state bureaucrats, policy-makers, political elite and researchers shape social policy. It confirms that family policy is a product of the prevailing ideology within a country, while the potential influence of globalisation and Europeanisation is detectable too. The final essay takes into account the opinions of welfare users and examines the performances of the institutionalised family benefits by relying on the recipients’ opinions regarding these benefits. The opinions of the populations as a whole regarding government efforts to help families are compared with those of the welfare users. Various family benefits are evaluated according to the recipients' satisfaction with those benefits as well as the contemporaneous levels of subjective satisfaction with the welfare programs related to the absolute level of expenditure on each program. The findings of this paper indicate that, in Latvia, people experience a lower level of success regarding state-run family insurance institutions, as compared to those in Lithuania and Estonia. This is deemed to be because the cash benefits for families and children in Latvia are, on average, seen as marginally influencing the overall financial situation of the families concerned. In Lithuania and Estonia, the overwhelming majority think that the family benefit systems improve the financial situation of families. It appears that recipients evaluated universal family benefits as less positive than targeted benefits. Some universal benefits negatively influenced the level of general satisfaction with the family benefits system provided in the countries being researched. This study puts forward a discussion about whether universalism is always more legitimate than targeting. In transitional economies, in which resources are highly constrained, some forms of universal benefits could turn out to be very expensive in relative terms, without being seen as useful or legitimate forms of help to families. In sum, by closely examining the different aspects of social policy, this dissertation goes beyond the over-generalisation of Eastern European welfare state development and, instead, takes a more detailed look at what is really going on in these countries through the examples of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In addition, another important contribution made by this study is that it revives ‘western’ theoretical knowledge through ‘eastern’ empirical evidence and provides the opportunity to expand the theoretical framework for post-socialist societies.

Seasonal changes in reproduction, recruitment, occurrence and growth of marine plant and animal species is a common phenomenon world-wide. This thesis investigates whether such seasonal changes could determine the succession in subtidal phytobenthic communities on free space in the Baltic Sea. My results showed circular seasonal patterns both in the settlement of species and in the annual appearance of communities. The circular seasonal pattern was also observed in the succession. Initial species assemblages were determined by the time space became available for colonisation. Although the succession seemed to be directed towards one site-specific final community structure determined by physical factors, the time of the year when space became available influenced the rate of the succession through species interactions. Rapid growth and timing of settlement and free space occurrence allowed early species to occupy all available space and prevent further colonisation, thereby slowing the succession. My results also showed that both settlement and community structure are influenced by substrate characteristics. Studying community development on vertical artificial structures revealed communities with few species and different composition compared to communities on vertical natural substrates. A field study showed that settlement and community structure changed significantly between 60º and 90º substrate slopes. This thesis shows that some differences in the final community structure are determined already at the settlement stage and that the succession pattern varies depending on when free space occurs. However, small inter-annual and site-specific differences in seasonal settlement periods and site-specific final communities mainly determined by physical factors, suggest that succession patterns are relatively predictable. Seasonal changes seem to cause a spiralling succession towards a final, seasonally undulating, state.

Opinions, rankings and evaluations of states’ development are proliferating. In the context of the transformation and EU accession of the Baltic States, there were many organizations involved in the scrutiny of their efforts to become accepted as modern and European. This scrutiny directed towards states can be seen as a new practice of transnational regulation. Especially in times of major transformation, as was the case in the Baltic States after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, monitoring and evaluation of achievements can be expected to shape how reforms were prioritized and how problems were perceived. In order to gain a better understanding of these transformations it is necessary to study the practice of organizations that scrutinize the states. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the role of scrutiny as a practice of transnational regulation. By analyzing how international organizations scrutinize states, this thesis adds knowledge to how transforming states are constructed in the everyday practices of scrutiny. A main argument is that by evaluating and reporting on states, international organizations can be seen as ‘auditors’ of transformations in states. The thesis compares three such ‘auditors’ and their respective relations to the states under scrutiny, namely: the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the NGO Transparency International. The thesis contributes to discussions about the role of transnational regulation in the transformation of states. By comparing the three cases of scrutiny it is concluded that scrutiny produces both comfort and critique for and about these transforming states. In addition, through processes of scrutinizing, states are constructed as auditable and comparable. Scrutiny also inscribes states into a story about progress, it thus offers hope about reforms and of a better future.

Summer blooms of filamentous, diazotrophic cyanobacteria are typical of the Baltic Sea Proper, and are dominated by Aphanizomenon sp. and the toxic Nodularia spumigena. Although occurring every summer, the blooms vary greatly in timing and spatial distribution, making monitoring difficult and imprecise. This thesis studies how the spatial variability of Baltic cyanobacterial blooms influences estimates of abundance, vertical and horizontal distribution and N2-fixation. Implications for sampling and monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms are also discussed. The results of the thesis confirm the importance of diazotrophic cyanobacteria in providing N for summer production in the Baltic Proper. It also highlights the large spatial and temporal variation in these blooms and argues that improved spatial coverage and replication could make monitoring data more useful for demonstrating time trends, and for identifying the factors regulating the blooms. The vertical distribution of Aphanizomenon and Nodularia was found to be spatially variable, probably as a combination of species-specific adaptations and ambient weather conditions. Vertical migration in Aphanizomenon was more important towards the end of summer, and is probably regulated by a trade-off between P-availability and light and temperature.

The aim of this thesis was to estimate and possibly quantify ocean flow by utilizing conventional and novel observational methods as well as model results. Motionally induced voltages, from a cable-based observational system in the Baltic Sea, were analysed to determine their utility for ocean monitoring. The data set was examined as regards the influence of single- and multi-layer flow. Correlation analyses undertaken in the first study showed that the geoelectric installation is capable of providing good estimates of the net flow across the Visby-Västervik transect. The second study focused on possible effects of multi-layer flow on the signal. Comparisons were made with tidal-gauge geostrophic flow estimates, and a good agreement was found, except for a few brief winter periods characterized by significant discrepancies. The velocity fields from a three-dimensional model showed that these events coincided with strong surface and bottom currents, and hence the attenuated voltage signal was suggested as being caused by the non-uniform velocity distribution. The third study dealt with the deep-water flow through the Understen-Märket trench. Observational data indicated that this flow could be described by applying hydraulic theory. Since the passage is narrow compared to the internal Rossby radius of deformation, rotational effects could be neglected to lowest order. The theoretical predictions proved to agree well with the observational results. The final study examined the effects of the heat flux and the wind forcing on the circulation in Bahía de Concepción, Chile, where three field surveys were undertaken during the extended austral summer 2002. Hydrographic and current measurements were compared to local tidal-gauge records. Rough estimates of the barotropic and the baroclinic flow across the transect indicated an unusual vortex circulation during periods of weak wind forcing and strong surface heating; results which were corroborated by numerical simulations.

Passagerarna behöver mera tid än säkerhetsinformation eftersom passagerarna har så bråttom att komma ombord, boka bord och handla tax-free. Därmed missar passagerarna viktig säkerhetsinformation som alltid ges vid avgång via fartygets högtalarsystem. Det finns klar och tydlig säkerhetsinformation ombord. Det viktiga är sättet att ge information än att ge mera information. Idag informeras passagerarna via videoskärmar, utrymningskartor på hyttdörrar, via högtalarsystemet ombord, säkerhetsbroschyrer i hytter och information, välutbildad besättning och det är väl skyltat ombord. Att överinformera om riskerna ombord kan skapa en oro bland passagerarna. Passagerarna är oftast ute på nöjeskryssningar och vill inte bli påminda om tidigare fartygskatastrofer eller om risker. Det är upp till varje passagerare att söka säkerhetsinformation och hur passagerarna tar till sig säkerhetsinformationen beror till viss del på deras attityd och intresse att ta till sig säkerhetsinformationen. Det finns säkerhetsinformation att tillgå ombord och detta ger passageraren ett väsentligt bättre utgångsläge att klara sig om det bli aktuellt att utrymma fartyget. Det är svårt att få information om säkerheten innan avgång, eftersom passageraren hänvisas till rederiernas hemsida. Rederierna skyltar inte med säkerhetsinformation på startsidan, utan passageraren måste själv leta sig vidare till denna information. Rederierna har en god säkerhetskultur och med detta menas, safety first och ständig förbättring.

FN har deklarerat år 2005 till år 2015 som ett decennium för utbildning om hållbar utveckling. Därför var det intressant att undersöka om det har fått någon genomslagskraft i den gymnasiala undervisningen. Syftet med den här undersökningen var att undersöka om ett skifte från traditionell miljöundervisning till undervisning för hållbar utveckling har skett. Det empiriska materialet består av sex kvalitativa intervjuer med två fysiklärare, två naturkunskapslärare och två samhällskunskapslärare. Resultatet av denna studie visade att kunskaperna för hållbar utveckling varierar bland lärarna och att det inte har skett ett skifte från traditionell miljöundervisning till undervisning för hållbar utveckling fullt ut. Den undervisning som idag bedrivs ligger inom den normativa miljöutbildningen. En slutledning som kan dras av den här undersökningen är att om vi skall få undervisning för hållbar utveckling inom skolvärlden krävs ett bättre stöd från skolledning och tydligare styrdokument.

The bioaccumulation of organic contaminants in aquatic ecosystems has been a key focus in environmental toxicology over the last decades. Bioaccumulation is a key concept in ecological risk assessments since it controls the internal dose of potential environmental contaminants. Information on the bioaccumulation of contaminants is used by regulatory authorities in the development of water quality standards, categorizing substances that are potential hazards and quantifying the risk of chemicals to human health. A basis for identifying priority chemicals has been the use of the octanol-water partition coefficient (KOW) as a criterion to estimate bioaccumulation potential. However, recognizing that the bioaccumulation process is not controlled by the hydrophobicity of a chemical alone, this thesis proposes a set of tools, incorporating chemical properties, environmental characteristics and physiological properties of organisms, to study the bioaccumulation of contaminants in aquatic ecosystems.  In striving to achieve this objective, a tool based on an equilibrium lipid partitioning approach was used in Paper I to evaluate monitoring data for bioaccumulation of organic contaminants. In Papers II and III, mechanistic based modelling tools were developed to describe bioaccumulation of hydrophobic compounds in aquatic food webs. In Paper IV, the bioaccumulation of organic compounds in aquatic food chains was studied using stable isotopes of nitrogen. The mechanistic fate and food web models developed in this thesis provide regulators and chemical manufacturers with a means of communicating scientific information to the general public and readily applicable mechanistic fate and food web models that are easily modified for evaluative assessments purposes.

The Baltic Sea was earlier identified as a highly polluted brackish water body and still is. The high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), p,p’-DDT and related compounds led to severe effects on several species in the Baltic region. However, the situation has improved significantly since the 1970’s resulting in lower exposures to a range of pollutants and healthier wildlife populations. Independent of this positive trend there are still new chemicals leaking into the Baltic Sea environment. The objective of this thesis is to improve the knowledge of sulfone containing compounds and pollutant metabolites in wildlife, with special interest in bis(4-chlorophenyl) sulfone (BCPS) distribution, temporal trend and exposure levels, and the methylsulfonyl-PCBs (MeSO2-PCBs). The latter are of particular interest for chiral MeSO2-PCBs. BCPS is used for the production of high temperature polymers and was detected as an environmental contaminant ten years ago. PCBs, p,p’-DDT and related compounds are still of scientific interest. BCPS is biomagnified and especially in the bird guillemot which has levels of up to 2000 ng BCPS/g fat compared to the grey seal with concentrations of about 60 ng/g fat. The seal levels are similar to the herring, the prey of the bird and seal, with concentrations of 30 ng BCPS/g fat. The guillemot concentration of BCPS has been similar over the last 30 years with a minimal, but significant, annual decline of 1.6%. The reason for the slow decline is not yet understood. Also MeSO2-PCBs and 3-MeSO2-DDE show a small decrease over time in guillemot egg (3 and 9%, respectively), which is less then for the parent compounds. This shows that the sulfone metabolites are more persistent than their precursors in the guillemot. Furthermore, all these sulfone containing compounds showed a specific retention to liver comparing different tissues in grey seal. The atropisomers of the chiral MeSO2-PCB were analysed in both the guillemot and the grey seal and showed to occur in a skewed relationship. This is particularly pronounced in seals where one atropisomer of each chiral congener is very dominating. The dominating atropisomers have been identified with an absolute R configuration, in both grey seal and guillemot. An enantioselective metabolism was indicated to occur when experimentally tested by CB-132 in rat. This thesis is stressing the high specificity in wildlife for one atropisomer in the pair of chiral PCB methyl sulfones being PCB metabolites, and the high BCPS concentrations in guillemot hatching in the Baltic proper.