Competitive tendering contracts: Why is Norway

The validity period of contracts regulating production of public transport in Scandinavia varies greatly, from one-year agreements to ten years plus options. For contracts of a certain duration there will – in most cases, at one time or another – occur a need to deviate from the original agreed-upon production contract. Many circumstances may cause a need for change in a contract to occur, for example budget changes, changes in political priorities or demographical issues causing traffic streams to change more or less permanently. The key question in this paper is as follows: How is the need for change in a signed contract for production of public transport services handled, in contracts entered into as a result of competitive tenders? Further; 1. What are the most common guidelines for contract amendments in public transport production? 2. What is common practice when a need for a contract amendment rises? 3. What are the usual results of negotiations concerning contract amendments in public transport? In order to answer these questions, we have examined competitive tendering contracts and the handling of contract amendments in 8 Scandinavian cases.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Competitive tendering contracts: Why is Norway

The validity period of contracts regulating production of public transport in Scandinavia varies greatly, from one-year agreements to ten years plus options. For contracts of a certain duration there will – in most cases, at one time or another – occur a need to deviate from the original agreed-upon production contract. Many circumstances may cause a need for change in a contract to occur, for example budget changes, changes in political priorities or demographical issues causing traffic streams to change more or less permanently. The key question in this paper is as follows: How is the need for change in a signed contract for production of public transport services handled, in contracts entered into as a result of competitive tenders? Further; 1. What are the most common guidelines for contract amendments in public transport production? 2. What is common practice when a need for a contract amendment rises? 3. What are the usual results of negotiations concerning contract amendments in public transport? In order to answer these questions, we have examined competitive tendering contracts and the handling of contract amendments in 8 Scandinavian cases.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Accessibility For All: Effects Of Measures In The Public Transport Field

Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Prøve og feile: Systematiske undersøkelser som en kvalitetsutviklingsprosess.: Norge: Omfattende undersøkelser innen kollektivtransporten.

Etter å ha bevilget midler til forsøk med kollektivtransport i en femårsperiode, besluttet Samferdselsdepartementet å konsentrere bevilgningene til et begrenset antall byer. I perioden 1996-98 fikk 8 byer midler til demonstrasjonsprosjekter. Byene gjennomførte selv forsøkene i samarbeid med Samferdselsdepartementet. Halvparten av pengene ble overført når departementet hadde mottatt lokale rapporter fra forsøkene. Slike forsøk, kombinert med felles evaluering, er enestående sett i internasjonalt perspektiv. De norske tiltakspakkene er først og fremst en læringsprosess basert på prøve- og feile-teknikk og sammenlignbare evalueringsmetoder. Undersøkelser gjøres for å samle verdifull informasjon om tiltak som har lykkes og mislykkes, og om selve prosessen. Vi presenterer her det nye norske tiltaket med demonstrasjonsprosjekter innen kollektivtransport og bakgrunnen for dette, samt erfaringer med den felles evalueringen. Vi fokuserer også på viktigheten av å lære av forsøkene samt evaluering av prosessen, som blir utført av Transportøkonomisk institutt

Decay spectroscopy of 253 No using the GABRIELA setup

Et av de mest spennende og minst kjente områdene innenfor eksperimentell kjernefysikk, er spektroskopi av kjerner som nærmer seg stabilitetsgrensen, som for eksempel for kjerner med høy masse og ladning. GABRIELA er et detektorsystem ved fokalplanet til VASSILISSA separatoren i FLNR, Dubna og benyttes til spektroskopi av transfermium elementer. I oppgaven presenters analysen av alpha henfallese av Nobelium 253 inn i Fermium 249

Survey on basic knowledge about exposure and potential environmental and health risks for selected nanomaterials

På basis af en litteraturundersøgelse gives en generel beskrivelse samt en miljø- og sundhedsprofil af 7 nanomaterialer. De undersøgte nanomaterialer er udvalgt på grund af forventet stor anvendelse eller særlige miljø- og sundhedsegenskaber. Fullerener, jern, sølv, nanoler samt titan-, cerium- og silicium dioksid har indgået i undersøgelsen. Det påpeges, at der er lille sandsynlighed for, at nuværende anvendelser af nano-jern og nanoler kan give uforudsete, nanorelaterede miljø- eller sundhedsproblemer. For de øvrige nanomaterialer, er der områder, hvor der kan være grund til opmærksomhed og til af skaffe mere viden, selvom der ikke er identificeret konkret risiko i forbindelse med nuværende anvendelser af nogen af de 7 undersøgte nanomaterialer.Based on a literature review this report provides a general description as well as an environmental and health profile of 7 nanomaterials. The examined nanomaterials are selected because of expected high use or specific environmental and health properties. Fullerenes, iron, silver, nanoclay and titanium-, cerium-, and silicondioxides were studied in the project. Based on current uses, it is concluded that current applications of nano-iron and nanoclay can not cause unexpected “nano-associated” health or environmental problems. Although no specific risk associated with current uses of any of the 7 other nanomaterials were identified, there are areas where there may be reason for attention and thus need for more knowledge

137,138,139^{137,138,139}La(nn, γ\gamma) cross sections constrained with statistical decay properties of 138,139,140^{138,139,140}La nuclei

The nuclear level densities and $\gamma$-ray strength functions of $^{138,139,140}$La were measured using the $^{139}$La($^{3}$He, $\alpha$), $^{139}$La($^{3}$He, $^{3}$He$^\prime$) and $^{139}$La(d, p) reactions. The particle-$\gamma$ coincidences were recorded with the silicon particle telescope (SiRi) and NaI(Tl) (CACTUS) arrays. In the context of these experimental results, the low-energy enhancement in the A$\sim$140 region is discussed. The $^{137,138,139}$La($n, \gamma)$ cross sections were calculated at $s$- and $p$-process temperatures using the experimentally measured nuclear level densities and $\gamma$-ray strength functions. Good agreement is found between $^{139}$La($n, \gamma)$ calculated cross sections and previous measurements

Whole exome sequencing of patients with varicella-zoster virus and herpes simplex virus induced acute retinal necrosis reveals rare disease-associated genetic variants

Purpose: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) are neurotropic human alphaherpesviruses endemic worldwide. Upon primary infection, both viruses establish lifelong latency in neurons and reactivate intermittently to cause a variety of mild to severe diseases. Acute retinal necrosis (ARN) is a rare, sight-threatening eye disease induced by ocular VZV or HSV infection. The virus and host factors involved in ARN pathogenesis remain incompletely described. We hypothesize an underlying genetic defect in at least part of ARN cases. Methods: We collected blood from 17 patients with HSV-or VZV-induced ARN, isolated DNA and performed Whole Exome Sequencing by Illumina followed by analysis in Varseq with criteria of CADD score &gt; 15 and frequency in GnomAD &lt; 0.1% combined with biological filters. Gene modifications relative to healthy control genomes were filtered according to high quality and read-depth, low frequency, high deleteriousness predictions and biological relevance. Results: We identified a total of 50 potentially disease-causing genetic variants, including missense, frameshift and splice site variants and on in-frame deletion in 16 of the 17 patients. The vast majority of these genes are involved in innate immunity, followed by adaptive immunity, autophagy, and apoptosis; in several instances variants within a given gene or pathway was identified in several patients.Discussion: We propose that the identified variants may contribute to insufficient viral control and increased necrosis ocular disease presentation in the patients and serve as a knowledge base and starting point for the development of improved diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic applications.</p

Anti-Müllerian Hormone and Its Clinical Use in Pediatrics with Special Emphasis on Disorders of Sex Development

Using measurements of circulating anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in diagnosing and managing reproductive disorders in pediatric patients requires thorough knowledge on normative values according to age and gender. We provide age- and sex-specific reference ranges for the Immunotech assay and conversion factors for the DSL and Generation II assays. With this tool in hand, the pediatrician can use serum concentrations of AMH when determining the presence of testicular tissue in patients with bilaterally absent testes or more severe Disorders of Sex Development (DSD). Furthermore, AMH can be used as a marker of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) in both Turner Syndrome patients and in girls with cancer after treatment with alkylating gonadotoxic agents. Lastly, its usefulness has been proposed in the diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and ovarian granulosa cell tumors and in the evaluation of patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism