Results of the workshop on comparative age reading on sprat from ICES Div. IIIa

The paper presents results from comparative age reading on sprat otoliths from various areas within Div. IlIa. Readers from fishery laboratories in Denmark, Norway and Sweden participated in the workshop. The reproducibility of the readings between the laboratories was tested by coefficient of variation and index of precision. The results are presented by length groups and the ageing in each of the subareas Skagerrak and Kattegat. Low consistency in the ICES IBTS 1- and 2-group sprat, as demonstrated by the ICES Herring Assessment Working Group, may be explained by great variation in age determination

\u3cem\u3e Ohio v. Clark \u3c/em\u3e

The heart of the debate over the purpose of the Confrontation Clause is the manner in which confrontation was intended to secure a defendant’s rights—either through procedural fairness or ensuring evidentiary reliability. The eventual direction the Supreme Court takes will depend, in large part, on which of these visions of the Confrontation Clause ultimately prevails. Michigan v. Bryant marked a potential step in the direction of the Ohio v. Roberts vision, and Ohio v. Clark does not appear to have departed from the course set in Bryant. Thus, while Crawford v. Washington marked a sea change in the Court’s confrontation jurisprudence, the Court’s recent decisions—including Clark—appear to have chipped away at Crawford’s categorical holding: testimonial statements offered by an unavailable declarant are inadmissible unless the defendant has had a prior opportunity for cross-examination. It remains to be seen how much of Crawford’s holding will ultimately survive

The Curious Case of \u3cem\u3eSeminole Rock\u3c/em\u3e: Revisiting Judicial Deference to Agency Interpretations of Their Ambiguous Regulations

Seminole Rock deference warrants reconsideration as it is based on questionable constitutional and pragmatic foundations. This Note argues that courts should provide a meaningful check on agency interpretations by engaging in de novo review of agency resolutions of regulatory ambiguities. Part I explores the development of the Seminole Rock doctrine, from its questionable doctrinal foundations and rapid expansion to the developing concerns regarding its continued validity. In addition, Part I explains the variety of forms that agency interpretations can take, including legal briefs, amicus briefs, and internal memoranda, and discusses their impact in expanding the scope of Seminole Rock deference. Part II considers the various justifications for, and concerns with, Seminole Rock deference. In particular, Part II looks at two primary arguments offered in support of Seminole Rock—the agency’s special insight and institutional competence—and assesses their merits in light of Seminole Rock’s primary concerns—separation of powers and agency gamesmanship. Finally, Part III considers the merits of Professor Manning’s argument that Seminole Rock should be replaced with Skidmore deference, and concludes, despite the potential efficiency costs, that the Court should abandon Seminole Rock and engage in de novo review of agency interpretations of their regulations

\u3cem\u3e Ohio v. Clark \u3c/em\u3e

The heart of the debate over the purpose of the Confrontation Clause is the manner in which confrontation was intended to secure a defendant’s rights—either through procedural fairness or ensuring evidentiary reliability. The eventual direction the Supreme Court takes will depend, in large part, on which of these visions of the Confrontation Clause ultimately prevails. Michigan v. Bryant marked a potential step in the direction of the Ohio v. Roberts vision, and Ohio v. Clark does not appear to have departed from the course set in Bryant. Thus, while Crawford v. Washington marked a sea change in the Court’s confrontation jurisprudence, the Court’s recent decisions—including Clark—appear to have chipped away at Crawford’s categorical holding: testimonial statements offered by an unavailable declarant are inadmissible unless the defendant has had a prior opportunity for cross-examination. It remains to be seen how much of Crawford’s holding will ultimately survive

Effect of plant-based feed ingredients on osmoregulation in the Atlantic salmon lens

Lenses of adult Atlantic salmon fed with a plant oil and plant protein-based diet (plant diet) were compared to lenses of fish fed a diet based on traditional marine ingredients (marine diet) with respect to biochemical composition and functionality ex vivo. After 12 months of feeding, plant diet-fed fish had smaller lenses with higher water contents and lower concentrations of histidine (His) and N-acetylhistidine (NAH) than fish fed with the marine diet. Cataract development in both dietary groups was minimal and no differences between the groups were observed. Lens fatty acid and lipid class composition differed minimally, although a significant increase in linoleic acid was observed. The lenses were examined for their ability to withstand osmotic disturbances ex vivo. Culture in hypoosmotic and hyperosmotic media led to increase and decrease of lens volume, respectively. Lenses from plant diet-fed fish were less resistant to swelling and shrinking, released less NAH into the culture medium, and accumulated His and NAH at higher rates than lenses from marine diet-fed fish. Culture in hypoosmotic medium resulted in higher cataract scores than in control and hyperosmotic medium. mRNA expression of selected genes, including glutathione peroxidase 4 and SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine), was affected by diet and osmotic treatment. It can be concluded that lenses of farmed Atlantic salmon are affected by the diet composition, both in biochemical composition and physiological functionality in relation to osmoregulation

Essays on public and private insurance of income shocks

Defence date: 16 June 2014Examining Board: Professor Árpád Ábrahám, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Jérôme Adda, European University Institute; Professor Claudio Michelacci, CEMFI Madrid; Professor Gianluca Violante, New York University.This thesis explores issues related to public and private insurance of income shocks, and the importance of human capital accumulation. The first chapter argues that the intertemporal elasticity of substitution of labor supply is a state-dependent variable which strongly depends on the return to human capital accumulation. Estimating a life cycle model I find that the average i.e.s. is low (0.35), and comparable with micro estimates, even in the presence of human capital. However, the average i.e.s. hides important heterogeneity: for college graduates the i.e.s. more than doubles over the life cycle, whereas it increases by about 58 percent for workers without a college degree. The second chapter argues that heterogeneous returns to human capital accumulation affects the degree to which search effort of unemployed deviates from the socially optimal level, and the reason behind the deviation. I find that (i) the main social costs associated with unemployment insurance are not due to moral hazard problems, but are due to distortionary effects of labor income taxes needed to finance the insurance. (ii) The magnitude of the moral hazard problem and the tax distortion problem differs substantially by age and education. And, (iii) the degree of tax progressiveness and benefit regressiveness has important effects on the deviation of search effort. The third chapter studies the relation between co-movement of income shocks and precautionary asset holdings. If households perceive spousal labor supply as an insurance mechanism, it is evident that this mechanism should work better the lower the co-movement of income shocks. We find that (i) households in which both spouses have the same education level or work in the same industry have a higher correlation of income shocks compared to couples with different education/industry. And, (ii) households who face larger co-movements of income shocks hold larger precautionary buffers

Hvordan kommuniseres vold og overgrep til barn på nettstedet Jeg vil vite?

Masteroppgave samfunnskommunikasjon KOM500 - Universitetet i Agder 2017This master thesis will analyse and evaluate how the website «Jeg vil vite» communicates violence and sexual abuse to children. The publisher of «Jeg vil vite» is Stine Sofie’s Foundation, and I have limited my analyses to the website’s front page and three selected texts, which deals with the three types of violence: physical violence, psychological violence and sexual abuse. In order to answer the issue of the master thesis, I will make a textual analysis with a social semiotic approach. I will put a special emphasis on the three meta functions by M.A.K Halliday, to see how the verbal language and the visual elements make the texts meaningful. Further, I will use the rhetoric, external pentagram to examine how the five constants of the pentagram adapt to each other in the texts. Violence and sexual abuse towards children is a very under-communicated and taboo ridden thematic, where one of the most important target groups is the children, who need knowledge to report, whether it is themselves or someone they know who is exposed. «Jeg vil vite» definitely try to prevent violence and sexual abuse through information texts and tests which are adapted to children, who is the primary target group of «Jeg vil vite». The results from the analysis, show that Stine Sofie’s Foundation uses verbal and visual elements to communicate violence and abuse to the children. Through a childish tone in the verbal language, and through simple, abstract visual illustrations, these elements are well adapted to the receivers. The visual elements appear to be used to specify or contrast the verbal language. Further, this evaluation will show that the five constants in the pentagram don’t match, which can result in a veiled and biased illustration of violence and sexual abuse towards children. This biased illustration is by a large degree due to Stine Sofie’s Foundation’s use of gender specific words and illustrations in certain parts of the text, which seems to make the communication not applying to all the children. The website also lacks a defined age group and a specific purpose, which can result in the weakening of the communication of violence and sexual abuse toward children, since it doesn’t clearly emerge how the children shall find the website, how they shall use it and also, which information is for children and which information is for adults, who are the secondary target group of the website. However, the results show that Stine Sofie’s Foundation also succeeds in communicating violence and sexual abuse to children through a childish and simple tone, which sometimes create a closeness between them and the children. Stine Sofie’s Foundation has a lot of knowledge on the thematics, which implies that they have a strong ethos and a clear knowledge on how to communicate it to childre