Inequity in the use of physician services in Norway. Changing patterns over time

We analyze and compare inequity in use of physician visits (GP and specialists) in Norway based on data from the Surveys of Living Conditions for the years 2000, 2002 and 2005. Within this period the Norwegian public health care system underwent two major reforms, both aimed at ensuring equitable access to health care services for the entire population. A list patient system was introduced in the primary health care sector in 2001, and in 2002 the ownership of hospitals was moved from the regional to the state level. At both care levels a real increase in public expenditures followed in the wake of the reforms. We apply the indirect standardization approach and estimate the relationship between health care use, need and other control variables by linear and nonlinear regression. We measure horizontal inequity in physician visits by concentration indices and investigate changes in inequity over time when decomposing the concentration indices into the contribution of its determinants. For specialist services we find pro-rich inequity in the probability of seeing an outpatient specialist in all three years. Estimated concentration indices are reduced in magnitude over time and no longer statistically significant in 2005. Inclusion of more information about need for medical care in 2002 and 2005, results in larger and statistical significant concentration indices. In sum, in a period with important changes in the health care system aimed at obtaining equity, inequity in medical specialist utilization has been reduced but not removed in Norway. §Analysis of Health Care Markets; Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

Preliminary results of Norwegian blue whiting survey northwest of Scotland in April 1979.

A brief report is given on the result from an acoustic survey with the R/V "Michael Sars'' to the blue whiting spawning area in second half of April 1979. Rather dense concentrations of blue whiting were found from west of Scotland to the Faroes. Length- and age- composition are given. The majority of the stock consisted of 3 - 8 year old fish. Length-weight relationship is found to be different from previous years, and half of the stock was either ripe or spent. A rough and preliminary figure of 4 mill. tonnes was calculated

Education and Fertility: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

In many developed countries a decline in fertility has occurred. This development has been attributed to greater education of women. However, establishing a causal link is difficult as both fertility and education have changed secularly. The contribution of this paper is to study the connection between fertility and education over a woman’s fertile period focusing on whether the relationship is causal. We study fertility in Norway and use an educational reform as an instrument to correct for selection into education. Our results indicate that increasing education leads to postponement of first births away from teenage motherhood towards having the first birth in their twenties and, for a smaller group, up to the age of 35-40. We do not find, however, evidence that total fertility falls as a result of greater education.Analysis of Education; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

The Game Theory of Penalty Kicks : A framework for approximating Nash equilibria

This paper presents a game-theoretic analysis of penalty kicks in football. There must exist a Nash equilibrium in penalty kicks, but the nature of it depends on the unique abilities of the penalty taker and the goalkeeper. Thus, this study introduces a flexible framework that approximates a Nash equilibrium, based on a user-inputted set of player-dependent assumptions. The study also seeks to improve our general understanding of the characteristics of Nash equilibria in penalty kicks. This is achieved by investigating a diverse set of playerdependent assumptions, as well as gradually adding new elements of complexity to the models, and observing the shifts in the equilibrium. In the most basic model, the players make a simultaneous choice, where the penalty taker decides where to aim, and the goalkeeper decides which area to cover. The penalty taker isn’t able to shoot with perfect accuracy, so the hit-coordinate will likely differ from the aimcoordinate. In later models, the penalty taker is also allowed to choose the velocity of the ball, which in turn impacts the area coverage of the goalkeeper. In the final model, an element of sequential choice is added, such that the penalty taker may pretend to shoot, and observe if the goalkeeper starts to move. The Counterfactual Regret Minimization algorithm is employed to locate the Nash equilibrium, while an enhanced Coordinate Search algorithm is developed for determining the optimal aimcoordinates for the penalty taker. The most complex and realistic model indicates that the penalty taker should abstain from aiming at the middle region of the goal, and rather either pretend to shoot, or shoot at one of the sides. This is because the goalkeeper needs to stay in the middle fairly often, to avoid revealing their intention in the case where the penalty taker pretends to shoot. It’s also viable for the goalkeeper to commit to diving to either side without waiting to observe the trajectory of the ball.nhhma

Waiting time and socioeconomic status - an individual–level analysis

Waiting time is a rationing mechanism that is used in publicly funded healthcare systems. From an equity viewpoint, it is regarded as preferable to co-payments. However, long waits are an indication of poor quality of service. To our knowledge, this analysis is the first to benefit from individual-level data from administrative registers to investigate the distribution of waiting time with respect to socioeconomic status. Furthermore, it makes use of an extensive set of medical information that serves as indicators of patient need. Differences in waiting time by socioeconomic status are detected. For men there is a statistically highly significant negative association between income and waiting time. More educated women, i.e., having an education above compulsory schooling, experience lower waiting time than their fellow sisters with the lowest level of education.Health

Modelling and Simulation of Grid Connected Electro-Thermal Microgrid with Utilization of Waste Heat from Power Transformer

Microgrid technology is a promising method to overcome technical challenges related to the integration of distributed intermittent renewable energy. However, effective energy storage for maintaining power balance is crucial to obtain independent operation from the utility grid. Electric heating dominates in Norway and heating purposes make up the largest share of households' total energy consumption. Substituting electricity with alternative heating methods could thereby free up electricity within microgrids. Thermal microgrids consist of low-temperature district heating networks and thermal energy storage, and could be such an alternative heating method. Furthermore, it enables better integration of low-temperature sources such as waste heat. Power transformers generate heat from stepping up and down voltage and may be such a waste heat source. This thesis examines if implementation of thermal microgrids can boost storage capacity and strengthen the reliability of microgrids. In addition, it investigates if heat recovery from a power transformer could be a valuable source for low-temperature district heating. To examine the presented, an electro-thermal microgrid model with both battery and water tank storage has been carried out in Simulink/Simscape, where the main objective was to study power and heat flows. For comparison, a fully electrical model was also created. Simulation results showed the power transformer could contribute greatly to the district heating network, and together with heat pump technology, the overall system performance was significantly improved compared to electricity heating. The power demand within the microgrid was significantly decreased, improving the time of running self-sufficiently by 12 %. Furthermore, it enabled the electro-thermal microgrid to netto export during the week, economically resulting in a difference of 100 000 NOK. During a grid failure scenario, the electro-thermal microgrid had more available storage capacity as the discharge rate was lower. Especially, the thermal energy storage showed it provided great flexibility and boosted the storage capacity as it could run independently for several hours. The overall conclusion is that implementation of thermal microgrids will extend storage capacity, improve reliability and resilience, provide flexibility and increase the energy systems' performance. Additionally, power transformers are found to be great contributors to low-temperature district heating. Appropriate planning of their location to easier utilize the heat for other interests should be considered. However, it will be necessary to create the model physically and not only based on power/heat flows for more accurate simulation results

Growth of the Barents Sea capelin of the year-classes 1967-70

Otoliths of the 1967-70 year-classes of the Barents Sea capelin have been analyzed. For otoliths with radius < 0,74 mm there was a close, linear relation between fish length and otolith radia. For larger otoliths the correlation was less strong. Radia of the first hyaline zones, measured in fish 1, 2 and 3 years old showed no significant differences between the year classes, although measurements made on 1 year old fish were significantly different if analyzed separately. The radia of the second and third zones were different at the 5 % level. Back-calculation showed that the 1967 and 1968 year-classes had a similar growth pattern. The 1969 year-class showed faster growth between age 1 and 2 years. The young fish of the 1970 year-class was similar to those of 1967 and 1968

Norwegian blue whiting investigation in April/May 1980.

An acoustic survey on the blue whiting stock was conducted from 8 April to 14 May 1980. The area west of the British Isles was covered twice and then the area around the Farces and further up to Shetland and the Norwegian coast covered once. Blue whiting was recorded in the area around the Faroes and along the slope continously south to the Porcupinebank, with densest concentrations found off the Hebrides. The hydrographical situation is presented and also the age and length compositions, maturity conditions and the length-weight relationships of the blue whiting in the area. Higher contributions of young fish were found to represent the blue whiting stock in the spawning area, than observed in recent years. Acoustic abundance estimate gave a figure of 5.4 mill.tonnes of blue whiting, which is 2,5 mill.tonnes lesser than the recalculated figure of 1979