Cointegration in the Norwegian Model for Wage Formation. Against the Backdrop of the 2004 EU Expansion and the 2001 Change to Inflation Targeting, Have Wage Levels in the Construction and Wholesale Undersectors Continued to Exhibit a Long-Run Relationship with Wage Levels in the Industry, Public and Private Sectors?

In this thesis, hourly wage rate data spanning 1978-2018 has been collected to investigate if the wage levels in the construction and wholesale sectors follow the wage levels in the industry, public, and private sectors. Against the backdrop of the EU expansion in 2004 and the 2001 implementation of inflation targeting monetary policy, there has been an interest in studying the stability of the dynamics of the Norwegian wage formation model. Anchored in data, the construction and wholesale undersectors have been selected to study the cointegrating dynamics of the Norwegian model. Testing for cointegration in the variables, the results show one cointegrating vector; implying the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the wage variables. The results thus show that, despite the EU expansion and the introduction of inflation targeting monetary policy, the Norwegian model ensures that the sector-wise wage levels never stray too far away from each other

An improved method to design QPSK Balanced Space-Time Trellis Codes

International audienceRecently, a new class of Space-Time Trellis Codes was proposed as having the best performance. These codes are 'balanced' because they use the points of the constellation with the same probability. In this correspondence, we propose a new and simpler method than exisiting method to design these class for QPSK modulation and several transmit antennas. New and better balanced codes for 3 and 4 transmit antennas are also proposed

Nouvelle méthode générale de construction des meilleurs codes temps-espace en treillis équilibrés

National audienceRecently, it has been established that the best space-time trellis codes (STTCs) belong to a specific class of codes. These codes are called "balanced STTCs" because they use the points of the MIMO constellation with the same probability. Therefore, the search of the best codes can be reduced to this class. This paper presents a new and general method to design 2^n-PSK balanced STTCs for any number of transmit antennas. This method is simpler than the first method, which was described only for 4-PSK modulation and can be generalized for any configuration of the space-time trellis encoder. Simulation results of new 4-PSK and 8-PSK balanced codes prove the importance of this class

Optimal Generation of Space-Time Trellis Codes via Coset Partitioning

International audienceCriteria to design good space-time trellis codes (STTCs) have been already developed in previous publications. However, the computation of the best STTCs is time-consuming because a long exhaustive or systematic computing search is required, especially for a high number of states and/or transmit antennas. In order to reduce the search time, an efficient method must be employed to generate the STTCs with the best performance. In this paper, a technique called coset partitioning is proposed to design easily and efficiently optimal 2^n-PSK STTCs with any number of transmit antennas. The coset partitioning is an improved extension to multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems of the set partitioning proposed by Ungerboeck. This extension is based on the lattice and coset Calderbank's approach. With this method, optimal blocks of the generator matrix are obtained for 4-PSK and 8-PSK codes. These optimal blocks lead to the generation of the STTCs with the best Euclidean distances between the codewords. Thus, new codes are proposed with 3 to 6 transmit antennas for 4-PSK modulation and with 3 and 4 transmit antennas for 8-PSK modulation. These new codes outperform the corresponding best known codes. Besides, the first 4-PSK STTCs with 7 and 8 transmit antennas and the first 8-PSK STTCs with 5 and 6 transmit antennas are given and their performance is evaluated by simulation

Improved Balanced 2n-PSK STTCs for Any Number of Transmit Antennas from a New and General Design Method

ISBN: 978-1-4244-2517-4International audienceRecently, it has been established that the best space- time trellis codes (STTCs) belong to a specific class of codes. The codes of this class are called "balanced STTCs" because they use the points of the MIMO constellation with the same probability. Therefore, the search of the best codes can be reduced to this class. This paper presents a new and general method to design 2n-PSK balanced STTCs for any number of transmit antennas. This method is simpler than the first method, which was described only for 4-PSK modulation and can be generalized for any configuration of the space-time trellis encoder. Simulation results of new 4-PSK and 8-PSK balanced codes prove the importance of this class

The effect of liver and brain tissue fixation on standard histological staining

Uvod: Dodavanje cinkovih (Zn) soli u fiksativ je uobičajeno kod fiksacije nekih posebnih tkiva (npr. bubreg), ali nije poznato kako bi utjecalo na druga tkiva, primjerice mozak i jetru. Cilj istraživanja: Kvantitativno i kvalitativno usporediti kvalitetu histološkog bojenja (jezgre, glikogena, lipida i željeza) uzoraka tkiva jetre i mozga, odnosno imunohistokemijskog bojenja mozga nakon perfuzijske ili imerzijske fiksacije s paraformaldehidom (PFA) ili PFA/Zn otopinom Nacrt studije: Studija je ustrojena kao istraživanje parova (tkivo životinja perfundiranih PFA fiksativom prema tkivu životinja perfundiranih s PFA/Zn fiksativom, zatim tkiva koja su bila fiksirana samo uranjanjem u fiksativ (imerzijski) prema tkivima koja su prvo perfundirana fiksativom, a zatim postfiksirana uranjanjem. Materijal i metode: U istraživanje je uključena tkiva jetre i mozga 15 štakora koji su podijeljeni u 5 grupa fiksiranih uranjanjem ili perfuzijom s/bez cinkovih soli. Primijenjena su histološka bojenja: hemalaun/eozin, Nissl, uljno crvena, toluidin, toluidin s dijastazom, toluidin s dijastazom i dodatnim odmašćivanjem, Perls-DAB. Imunohistokemijski su na tkivu mozga prikazani epitopi: NeuN, MAP2, IBA1, GT1b, GFAP i kolera toksin. Rezultati su analizirani računalnim programom Fiji te su statistički obrađeni. Rezultati: Perfuzija s dodatkom cinkovih soli doprinosi statistički značajno kvalitetnijoj cjelovitosti uzoraka. Statistički je značajno povezana fiksacija s dodatkom cinkovih soli i jače obojenje uzoraka standardnim histološkim bojenjima ukoliko cinkove soli ne utječu na kemijsku reakciju koja je podloga za određeno bojenje. Zaključak: U usporedbi sa rutinskom PFA fiksacijom, fiksacija uz dodatak cinkovih soli poboljšava kvalitetu osnovnih histoloških i imunohistokemijskih bojenja.Introduction: Adding Zinc-salts in fixatives is common with fixating special tissues, such as kidney. However, its effect on other tissues, for example, liver and brain, is still unknown. Objectives: Qualitative and quantitative comparison of the quality of histological staining (nuclei, glycogen, lipids, iron) on liver and brain samples. Comparison of immunohistochemical staining of the brain, after perfusion fixation or immersion fixation with paraformaldehyde (PFA) and/or PFA/Zn solution, is also included. Study design: This is a case-control study (tissues perfused with PFA fixative versus tissues perfused with PFA/Zn fixative, tissues fixated by immersion fixation versus tissues which are perfusion fixated and afterwards immersion fixated. Material and Methods: This study included the liver and brain tissues from 15 rats sorted into 5 groups which are immersion/perfusion fixated with/without zinc-salts. Histological staining used in this study is the following: Hemalaun/eosin, Nissl, oil red, toluidine, toluidine with diastase, toluidine with diastase and additional de-fatting, Perls-DAB. Brain epitopes demonstrated by immunohistochemical processing are the following: NeuN, MAP2, IBA1, GT1b, GFAP and cholera toxin. The results were analysed in computer program Fiji, and then statistically processed. Results: Perfusion with added zinc-salts contributes to increased quality of tissue integrity. There is a statistically significant link between fixation with added zinc-salts and more intensely histologically stained samples, if zinc-salts don't interfere with the chemical reaction as basis for a certain staining. Conclusion: In comparison with routine PFA fixation, fixation with added zinc-salts improves the quality of standard histological and immunohistochemical staining

Skandaler og tillit: Hvordan oppfattes pressens troverdighet og pålitelighet etter dekningen av Skandaleåret 2023?

I denne oppgaven har jeg sett på hvordan leserne oppfatter norsk presses troverdighet og pålitelighet etter dekningen av Skandaleåret 2023. For å få svar på dette, har jeg laget en spørreundersøkelse. 330 personer svarte på den. Alt i alt svarer majoriteten av respondentene at de har høy grad av medietillit: 78,2% oppgir at de har høy eller ganske høy tillit til norsk presse. Clickbait-artikler og dårlig samsvar mellom tittel og innhold er et gjennomgående svar når respondentene begrunner sin grad av tillit, og faktorer som påvirker den. Også blant respondentene som oppgir å ha høy tillit til pressen, blir dette nevnt som en faktor som svekker deres tillit. Majoriteten av respondentene oppfatter pressens prioriteringer av saker på dagsordenen som dårlig. En større andel av de eldre aldersgruppene er skeptiske til pressens prioriteringer. Det er samsvar mellom respondentenes eksponering til politikerskandalene i 2023, deres oppfatning av skandalenes alvorlighetsgrad og deres oppfatning av pressens prioriteringer. Dikotomiene Alder, Nyhetskonsum (frekvens og kilde), oppfatning av pressens nøytralitet og grad av tillit avdekker flere tendenser. Det er klare statistiske sammenhenger mellom flere av disse variablene. Likevel er det viktig å nevne at denne oppgavens formål ikke er å fastslå årsakssammenhenger mellom dem

QPSK super-orthogonal space-time trellis codes with 3 and 4 transmit antennas

International audienceIn this paper, we propose, for the first time, QPSK super-orthogonal space-time trellis codes (SO-STTCs) with 3 and 4 transmit antennas and with more than 4 states. In order to decrease drastically the search time of the best SO-STTCs with 3 and 4 transmit antennas, a matrix representation of codes and an adaptation of the coset partitioning are proposed. Thus, we obtain good SO-STTCs with more than 2 transmit antennas. We demonstrate by simulations that the new proposed SO-STTCs outperform the best corresponding STTCs

Codes temps-espace en treillis super-orthogonaux à grand nombre d'états pour 3 et 4 antennes d'émission

National audienceCe papier présente une nouvelle méthode efficace de construction des codes temps-espace en treillis super-orthogonaux (SO-STTCs). Basée sur une représentation matricielle et sur la méthode du coset partitioning, elle permet de réduire de manière conséquente le temps de recherche des SO-STTCs offrant les meilleures performances, particulièrement pour des codes ayant un grand nombre d'états et d'antennes d'émission. Ainsi, pour la première fois, des SO-STTCs avec 3 et 4 antennes d'émission et un grand nombre d'états sont proposés. Leurs performances sont comparées à celles des SO-STTCs existants, ainsi qu'à celles des codes temps-espace en treillis (STTCs) correspondants

Euclidean Distance Decomposition to Generate New 16-QAM and 64-QAM Space-Time Trellis Codes

International audienceIn this paper, the generation of 16-QAM and 64-QAM space-time trellis codes (STTCs) for several transmit antennas is considered. The main problem with an exhaustive search is the important time to find the best 2^{2n}-QAM STTCs, especially for great values of n and for great numbers of transmit antennas. In order to reduce this search time, an efficient method must be used to generate optimal 2^{2n}-QAM STTCs. Thus, a new method based on the decomposition of the Euclidean distance between 2 codewords is proposed to design the optimal STTCs. Thanks to this new method, the first 16-QAM STTCs with more than 2 transmit antennas and the first 64-QAM STTCs with 2 and 3 transmit antennas are proposed. The performance of these new codes is evaluated by simulation