Exposing agricultural cooperatives to competition.

We examine the optimal regulation of agricultural markets when farmers have organized their activity in a cooperative which is the monopoly supplier of an upstream product and which competes with a single rival firm in selling a homogenous downstream product. The rival's marginal cost is private information and therefore the rival expects to earn an information rent. We show that the optimal access price discriminates against the private rival because rent is more valuable in the cooperative than in the private firm, and the regulator therefore sacrifices some cost efficiency in order to shift rents. Thus, while competition will benefit farmers, consumers and tax payers, the extent of competition should optimally be somewhat limited.Agricultural markets; cooperatives; regulation; access pricing.

Natural Gas Network and Access Pricing

Formålet med notatet er å utvikle en normative model for prising av gasstransport. Modellen tar utgangspunkt i nyere reguleringsteorier, der kontrakten mellom en regulator og en bedrift er preget av informasjonsasymmetri og kan beskrives v.h.a. prinsipal-agent modeller. Innledningsvis beskriver jeg gassmarkedet og behovet for regulering. Deretter utleder jeg en normativ prismodell. Til slutt evaluerer jeg ECP-regelen mot min normative modell

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF GOAL ALIGNMENT, INTERVENTIONS, AND MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS ON INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING DESIGN PROJECTS

Innovation has become an important facet of engineering design, both in industry and the academy. Many senior-level engineering design courses encourage students to develop innovative solutions to open design projects from industry sponsors. Like industry, these academic problems are tackled by teams of students. Student teams that function at the highest level are more likely to reach the innovative solutions for which they are searching. The research presented in this work focuses on two main areas: (1) understanding what motivates engineers when working on innovative design projects and (2) determining the effects of goal alignment interventions on design teams working on innovative design projects. An exploratory survey was developed, validated, and administered to students in the capstone course at Clemson University to determine which motivational factors engineering students perceive to be most effective when working on innovative design projects. The initial results show that (1) “passing the class”, (2) “impressing the industry sponsors”, and (3) “making an ‘A’ in the class” are the three factors that most effectively promoted innovative design. Conversely, (1) “cash prizes”, (2) “increased project budget”, and (3) “receiving patents” are the three factors that least effectively promoted innovative design. A second exploratory study was conducted to determine if the effects of setting common goals could be quantified. Five of eighteen design teams were selected and guided to set common goals as a team during week five of their design experience. It was found that the teams that received interventions had an immediate increase in level of performance (p-value = 0.14) and motivation (p-value = 0.19) when compared to teams that did not receive interventions

Sickness presenteeism among nurses

This thesis is the main product of a Masters degree in Health Science, written by a student at the Department of Social Work and Health Science at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The thesis discusses sickness presenteeism in general and sickness presenteeism among nurses in particular. Nursing is one of the occupations that are more exposed to sickness presenteeism. Despite this, very little research has yet been done on this correlation – in Norway, almost none. The thesis consists of two articles. The first article presents the concept of sickness presenteeism along with existing theories and research in general and concerning nurses. This is a theoretical article, in which the purpose is to identify why sickness presenteeism is not an ideal situation for nurses and which work-related factors that influence sickness presenteeism among nurses. The research question for this article is “What work-environmental factors have an influence on nurses sickness presenteeisem?” The second article is an empirical article and is done in connection with a survey of nurses’ sickness presenteeism within a Norwegian hospital. The survey examines the connection between sickness presenteeism and the use of substitutes, different working time arrangements and the influence of teamwork. The purpose of this article is to assess how the three work-environmental factors influences nurses’ sickness presenteeism, conducted with the help of three hypotheses. These are: H1: Working-time arrangements have an influence on sickness presenteeismH2: Low extent of using substitutes is related to higher level of sickness presenteeismH3: Good working relationship between co-workers is related to higher level of sickness presenteeism The empirical work for this master’s thesis has been conducted using a quantitative method. This method was chosen based on a desire to investigate the extent, distribution and differences within sickness presenteeism among nurses. A quantitative method gives an opportunity to investigate a larger group of nurses, and obtain results that can also be valid for other nurses. If a qualitative method were to be used, it would not have been possible to collect information from the same number of nurses and the results would most likely not represent nurses in general because of assumed differences between nurses. By using a qualitative method I was also able to compare the results with results from similar studies done in other countries. Still, the quantitative method has little room for a flexible approach to theory, and does not provide information about what might cause the sickness presenteeism. I still found this method to be the most suitable for what I wanted to achieve in this master’s thesis. A survey based on questions used by other researchers with an interest in the same field, was used to collect data. Using questions that others had already used made the results easier to compare, and also acted as some kind of quality control to the questions I first developed. The choices made concerning the survey, items and analysis is further described in chapter 2.0 Method of my empirical article. The strength and limitations of the method is discussed in chapter 4.1 Strengths and limitations of that same article

Heading estimation during motor-related magnetic disturbances

Kursvinkelestimering er en utfordrende oppgave i nærvær av forstyrrelser fra magnetiske materialer. For små kjøretøy med elektriske motorer, som for eksempel en slangerobot, blir kursvinkelestimering ekstra utfordrende på grunn av det induserte elektromagnetiske feltet fra motorene, foruten å nevne mulige magnetiske materialer i omgivelsene. Slangeroboten Boa, som for øyeblikket er under utvikling ved Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige universitet, ble bygget for å undersøke en ny metode for å estimere kontaktkrefter og kontaktpunkter for slangeroboter. Roboten har derfor en IMU på toppen av hvert robotledd med børsteløse likestrømsmotorer. Arbeidet i denne avhandlingen har undersøkt den magnetiske forstyrrelsen på IMU-en ombord slangeroboten, indusert fra motoren. Den magnetiske forstyrrelsen på magnetometeret ble modellert som en sinuskurve. Modellen ble videre testet og validert med ekstra belastning på motoren. I tillegg ble effekten av fysisk skjerming ved hjelp av ferrittskjermingsark og fysisk avstand testet og evaluert. Eksperimentene viste at fysisk avstand og skjermingsark ga omtrent samme magnetfeltredusering, men skjermingsark gjorde krysstalen mer kompleks og modellen mindre pålitelig. Til slutt ble en teknikk for å avvise magnetiske forstyrrelser ved hjelp av et adaptivt Kalmanfilter utforsket gjennom et enkelt dugelighetseksperiment for kursvinkelestimering. Eksperimentet viste at kursvinkelestimatene kan betydelig forbedres ved å bruke krysstalemodellen som en prediktor i en foroverkoblingssløyfe som korrigerer magnetometermålingene. Kursvinkelen kan estimeres ved hjelp av et Kalmanfilter som adaptivt endrer målekovariansmatrisen for å avvise magnetiske forstyrrelser. Avslutningsvis ble det foreslått en generell teknikk for å forbedre kursvinkelestimatene i nærvær av elektriske motorer og magnetisk støyende miljøer. Det foreslås at fremtidig arbeid tester teknikken på en flerleddet slangerobot som bruker hinderassistert forflytning, med full bevegelses- og posisjonsestimering.Heading estimation is a challenging task in the presence of magnetic disturbances. For small vehicles with electric motors, such as a snake robot, heading estimation becomes extra challenging due to the induced electromagnetic field from the motors and magnetic materials in the environment. The Boa snake robot, currently under development at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, was built to investigate novel methods for estimating contact forces and contact points for planar snake robots. To this end, the robot has an IMU fixed to each link. The magnetic cross-talk from the motors must therefore be addressed to enable accurate heading and attitude estimates. In this thesis, the magnetic disturbance on the onboard IMUs induced by the robots' motors was assessed. The rotating magnetic field induced by the motors was found to be accurately modeled by a sinusoidal signal. The model was further tested and validated with additional motor load. Additionally, the effect of physical magnetic shielding was explored using ferrite shielding sheets and physical distance between the IMU and the motor. The experiments showed that physical distance and shielding sheets provided approximately the same magnetic field attenuation, but shielding sheets made the cross-talk more complex and the model less reliable. Lastly, a magnetic disturbance rejection technique using an adaptive Kalman filter was explored by performing a simple proof-of-concept heading experiment. The heading experiment showed that the heading estimates could be significantly improved using a cross-talk model as a predictor in a feed-forward loop to correct the magnetometer measurements. The heading can be estimated using a Kalman filter with an adaptive measurement covariance matrix to reject magnetic disturbances. Hence, a general technique to improve heading estimates in the presence of electric motors and magnetically noisy environments was proposed. Future work includes testing the technique on a multi-link snake robot using obstacle-aided locomotion with full attitude and position estimation

Sustainable Mobility

This is the accepted version of a chapter from the following publication: Hall, Gössling, Scott, Hall, Michael C., Gössling, Stefan, & Scott, Daniel. (2015). The Routledge handbook of tourism and sustainability. London: Routledge.acceptedVersio

Navigating the Inflation Reduction Act : impacts on the battery industry, transatlantic trade and green transitions

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in August 2022, is a significant step towards climate and clean energy in the United States. While it aligns with domestic climate goals, concerns exist about its potential impact on global environmental initiatives and trade. The IRA's provisions targeting China's dominance in the battery supply chain could disrupt the European market and challenge the EU's competitive advantage in green industries. The thesis aims to analyse the IRA's impact on transatlantic cooperation in global climate governance and the green energy transition, examining its alignment or conflict with the European Green Deal. It also explores the IRA's protectionist approaches and their implications for a sustainable supply chain. The potential impact on transatlantic trade and the response of the EU are essential considerations. The research aims to contribute to understanding the global battery market and the IRA's effects on competition towards green transitions.M-IE

Five criteria for global sustainable development

A clear understanding of the global-level sustainable development concept is necessary before applying it to projects at a national, local or firm level. Such lower-level projects may concern managing production and consumption of energy, organization of cities and using land productively. However, the Sustainable development goals adopted at the United Nations Summit in September 2015 do not provide adequate guidance, even at the global level, because the goals are too many, too vague and often not quantified. Based on the 1987 report Our Common Future, we derive five criteria for the development of primary goals and corresponding indictors and quantified thresholds to be met.publishedVersionacceptedVersio

Troublesome Leisure Travel: The Contradictions of Three Sustainable Transport Policies

Sustainable passenger transport policies are most often directed towards everyday travel and ignore the large and expanding amount of leisure travel. The paper examines whether policies aimed at reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions for everyday travel may have the opposite effect on leisure travel by reviewing studies of three sustainable passenger transport policies: developing more compact cities, building pro-environment awareness and attitudes, and promoting the growth of information and communication technologies. We found that the policies may indeed have unintended effects and suggest several mechanisms that could explain why this opposite effect occurs. Consideration is also given to the implications for developing more comprehensive sustainable transport policies.publishedVersio