Boar taint in very small organic entire male pigs - preliminary results

Very small entire male pigs can be part of a new concept of organic seasonal production of pigs. The concept includes outdoor production of small entire male pigs, very large female pigs and sows slaughtered after first litter. The entire males and the sows are slaughtered in the summer and the female pigs gilts in December. The purpose of the very small entire male pigs is to avoid castration and boar taint at the same time. In order to make the concept special regarding product quality and image, different crossbreeds are considered including a traditional Danish breed. Two seasons (2007 and 2008) are planned. Results of the 2007 season are presented

Testing DEA Models of Efficiency in Norwegian Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics

While measures of output in mental health care are even harder to find than in other health care activities, some indicators are available. In modelling productive efficiency the problem is to select the output variables that best reflect the use of resources, in the sense that these variables have a significant impact on measures of efficiency. The paper analyses cross-sectional data on the psychiatric outpatient clinics of Norway using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) non-parametric efficiency measurement method, and tests the variable specification using statistical tools recently introduced in the literature. In addition to outputs, the importance of different profession or educational groups on efficiency is examined, and results are compared for separate samples of clinics for children and youths (BUP) with clinics for adults (VP).Mental health care; efficiency; psychiatric outpatient clinics; DEA; Norway

Economies of scope in Norwegian hospital production - A DEA analysis

From 2002 the Norwegian hospital sector is to be transferred from county to state ownership, organised through regional semiautonomous companies. A major motivation for the reform is to allow for more specialised hospital production. If there are economies or diseconomies of scope, the production of hospital services in a region could become more efficient by exploiting any cost savings that may stem from an optimal division of service production between units. While the theory of economics of scope is well developed, applications have chiefly been concerned with testing for natural monopoly, and few studies of hospital production have been concerned with scope. This paper estimates a multiple output cost function from data on Norwegian hospitals using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The cost function is specified with total running costs as the only input, but with seven different outputs to focus on the properties of the output transformation frontier. To overcome the methodological assumption of convexity inherent in DEA, the sample is split into relative specialised and differentiated hospitals, before comparing costs. This partitioning is achieved through grouping as specialised the first and fifth quintiles of the hospitals ranked by the share of the relevant output, since in fact no hospital is fully specialised by producing only one output, or nothing of an output. Exploring scope economies of the best practice cost frontier along three different dimensions, strong economies are found for surgical and medical services, intermediate for inpatient and outpatient production, while elective and emergency care cases have only week economies of scope, which may not be statistically significant. Results for the output mix of individual observations, reveal both economies and diseconomies in the last of these three dimensions. Contrary to these results, average efficiencies are found to be lower for differentiated than specialised hospitals, in all of the dimensions mentioned, although the differences are not very large. Since the DEA method measures hospitals with the largest production of each output as efficient by default, the results for average efficiency may be due to the methods employed.Hospital performance; DEA; Economies of Scope

Stimulus-specific mechanisms of visual short-term memory

The retention of spatial information in visual short-term memory was assessed by measuring spatial frequency discrimination thresholds with a two-interval forced-choice task varying the time interval between the two gratings to be compared. The memory of spatial frequency information was perfect across 10-sec interstimulus intervals. Presentation of a “memory masker” grating during the interstimulus interval may interfere with short-term memory. This interference depends on the relative spatial frequency of the test and masker gratings, with maximum interference at spatial frequency differences of 1–1.5 octaves and beyond. This range of interference with short-term memory is comparable to the bandwidth of sensory masking or adaptation. A change of the relative orientation of test and masker gratings does not produce interference with spatial frequency discrimination thresholds. These results suggest stimulus-specific interactions at higher-level representations of visual form

Productivity growth in Norwegian psychiatric outpatient clinics A panel data analysis of the period 1996-2001

Norwegian government policy is to increase the supply of psychiatric services to children and young persons, both by increasing the number of personnel and by increasing productivity in the psychiatric outpatient clinics (BUP). Increased accessibility to services is observed for the last years, measured as the number of children receiving services every year. The question is to what extent this is related to increased productivity. The paper aims to estimate change in productivity among outpatient clinics. Questions whether change in productivity is related to the personnel mix of the clinics, growth in treatment capacity or change in financial incentives are analysed. We utilise a non-parametric method called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate a best-practise production frontier. The potential for efficiency improvement are estimated as the difference between actual and best-practice performance, while allowing for trade-offs between different staff groups and different mixes of service production. A Malmquist output-based productivity index is calculated, decomposed in technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and frontier shifts. The paper analyses panel data on the psychiatric outpatient clinics of Norway for the period of 1996-2001. Output is measured as number of direct and indirect patientrelated interventions (visits and consultations) while input is measured by usage of different types of personnel. The results indicate increased overall productivity, with important contribution from increased technical efficiency. Personell growth has a negative influence on productivity growth, while a growth in the share of university educated personell improves productivity. The financial reform of 1997 that gave greater weight for interventions per patient lead to lower productivity growth in the subsequent period for those that had an inital budgetary gain from the reform.Health Care; Mental health; Productivity; Data; Envelopment Analysis; Malmquist

Heterogenety in hospitals responses to a financial reform: A random coefficient analysis of the impact of activity-based financing on efficiency

The paper examines the heterogeneity with respect to the impact of a financial reform - Activity Based Financing (ABF) - on hospital efficiency in Norway. Measures of technical efficiency and of cost-efficiency are considered. The data set is from a contiguous ten-year panel of 47 hospitals covering both pre-ABF years and years after its imposition. Substantial heterogeneity in the responses, as measured by both estimated and predicted coefficients, is found. Rank correlations between the estimated/predicted coefficients of the ABF dummy and the pre-ABF/post-ABF efficiencies are examined. Overall, improvement seems to be more pronounced in technical efficiency than in cost-efficiency.Health econometrics; Panel data; Hospital efficiency; Activity-based financing; Random coefficients; Heterogeneity; Rank Correlation

The Effect of Activity-Based Financing on Hospital Efficiency: A Panel Data Analysis of DEA Efficiency Scores 1992-2000

Activity-based financing (ABF) was implemented in the Norwegian hospital sector from 1 July 1997. A fraction (30 to 50 per cent) of the block grant from the state to the county councils has been replaced by a matching grant depending upon the number and composition of hospital treatments. As a result of the reform, the majority of county councils have introduced activity-based contracts with their hospitals. This paper studies the effect of activity-based funding on hospital efficiency. We predict that hospital efficiency will increase because the benefit from cost-reducing efforts in terms of number of treated patients is increased under ABF compared with global budgets. The prediction is tested using a panel data set from the period 1992-2000. Efficiency indicators are estimated by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA) with multiple inputs and outputs. Using a variety of econometric methods, we find that the introduction of ABF has improved efficiency when measured as technical efficiency according to DEA analysis. Contrary to our prediction, the result is less uniform with respect to the effect on cost-efficiency. We suggest several reasons why this prediction fails. Keywords are poor information of costs, production-oriented drive, tight factor markets and soft budget constraints.Public Hospitals; Financing; Efficiency; DEA Scores; Panel Data; Norway

Kødkvalitet for sæson 2007 og 2008

Kødkvaliteten for sæsonproducerede økologiske små hangrise (ca. 25 kg slagtevægt), store sogrise (ca. 100, 90 og 70 kg) og søer slagtet efter første læg (ca. 130 kg) er undersøgt for to sotyper (Landrace x Yorkshire = LY og ren Sortbroget Dansk Landrace = SB) og tre krydsninger af han- og sogrise (LY x Duroc = LY-D, SB-D og SB-SB). De sortbrogede grise og i lidt mindre grad SB-D har rødere og mørkere kød end LY / LY-D grisene og kødfarven er mørkere end hos konventionelle og økologiske slagtesvin ved normal slagtevægt. De sortbrogede grise har lidt mindre mørt kød (undtagen for søernes skinkesteg). De sortbrogede grise har en speciel smag i fedtet karakteriseret som nøddeagtig og sød. Der er ikke konstateret specielt høj eller lav pH i kødet. De sortbrogede små hangrise ser ud til at have et højere indhold af skatol i spækket men har ikke mere hangriselugt og –smag eller griselugt og –smag end LY-D krydsningen. Der skal dog en væsentlig større stikprøve til at sige noget sikkert om forekomsten / frekvensen af hangriselugt for de enkelte krydsninger. Androstenon har også betydning for hangriselugt men er ikke analyseret i denne undersøgelse