Tests for price indices in a dynamic item universe

There is generally a need to deal with quality change and new goods in the consumer price index due to the underlying dynamic item universe. Traditionally axiomatic tests are defined for a fixed universe. We propose five tests explicitly formulated for a dynamic item universe, and motivate them both from the perspectives of a cost-of-goods index and a cost-of-living index. None of the indices satisfies all the tests at the same time, which are currently available for making use of scanner data that comprises the whole item universe. The set of tests provides a rigorous diagnostic for whether an index is completely appropriate in a dynamic item universe, as well as pointing towards the directions of possible remedies. We thus outline a large index family that potentially can satisfy all the tests

Seafood from Norway : food safety

Since Norway is a major supplier of seafood worldwide, monitoring the food safety of Norwegian fish products is a priority. This commentary gives a brief overview of the food safety of seafood from Norwegian waters. Several preventative measures during harvest/catch, processing and distribution have been established and are implemented regularly. Furthermore, comprehensive monitoring programmes to detect and quantify undesirable substances, such as heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in Norwegian seafood are carried out. Substances with health benefits, such as omega-3 fatty acids, are also analysed. In general, evidence shows the level of undesirable substances in seafood from Norway to be low. In fact, in the majority of samples analysed, levels of undesirable substances were reported to be below the maximum limit set by the European Union (EU). This leads to the conclusion that consumption of seafood originating from Norway involves a low risk of negative health effects and that consumers can have confidence in the products they purchase.peer-reviewe

Is labor mobility a channel for spillovers from multinationals? : evidence from Norwegian manufacturing

This paper documents labor mobility flows from multinationals (MNEs) to non-MNEs in Norwegian manufacturing during the 1990s. 14,400 workers in MNEs move to non-MNEs during this period. By the year 2000, 28 percent of the non-MNEs employed workers with experience from MNEs. Consistent with spillovers through mobility, I estimate a robust and significantly positive correlation between the share of workers with MNE-experience and the productivity of non-MNEs. Workers with MNE-experience contribute 20% more to the productivity of their plant than workers without experience from MNEs, even after controlling for differences in unobservable worker characteristics. The difference between the private returns to mobility and the productivity effect at the plant level suggests that labor mobility from MNEs to non-MNEs represents a true knowledge externality

Understorey species compositional dynamics in a boreal coniferous forest in SE Norway: does past logging matter?

Understorey vegetation changes between 1997 and 2005 were studied using 100 permanent plots (1 m2) in four boreal spruce forest stands situated within a National Nature Reserve in SE Norway. The stands differed with respect to former forest management performed 70–80 years prior to the study: natural old-growth forest, minor selectively cut forest, major selectively cut forest and clear cut forest. Based on repeated recording of species composition (vegetation gradients acquired by ordination axes) and tree-stand properties, as well as several environmental variables recorded in 1997, my aim was to assess if previous logging affected the understorey species composition and/or species abundance. No general patterns in species abundance change across stands were observed that could be directly ascribed to former management. Most of the change in abundance was interpreted as stochastic inter-annual fluctuations. Previous logging was a poor predictor of change in species composition, and the average positions of plots from a given stand along the tree influence gradient in species composition did not reflect average tree influence at stand scale. This was interpreted as an indication that the influence of trees on understorey species composition is local, at the scale of individual trees rather than stand-scale tree stand properties (including logging history). The vegetation in the major selectively cut stand (highly significant), the clear cut and the natural stand had, however, changed in direction of one typical of more open and moist forest in spite of the forest becoming generally denser. This was attributed to increased amounts of precipitation in the period prior to 2005 compared to the years preceding 1997, which favours spread of species typical of moist microsites and between trees towards tree bases. Some convergence in species composition changes towards that of the old-growth forest was observed for all formerly managed stands, along the two first ordination axes. This exemplifies the long-term nature of forest floor-successions, which evidently last for many decades after logging. A slight time-lag was also found (though, not significant) in the response of vegetation to tree influence, and in the response of species composition in 2005 to its’ surrounding environment relative to the species composition in 1997 and the environmental variables recorded the same year. Apparently, previous logging does not directly influence today's species abundances or species composition per se, although indirect effects via tree-layer properties seem to be traceable. Further insight into the complex dynamics of understorey vegetation in boreal post-logged forest require continued long-term monitoring of permanent plots

Mortensrud kirke - et samarbeidsprosjekt?

Avhandlingen er en bygningshistorisk studie av Mortensrud kirke i bydel 9, Søndre Nordstrand i Oslo. Kirken er bygget av Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor AS og ble vigslet i april 2002. Kirken har vakt mye oppmerksomhet både nasjonalt og internasjonalt og har allerede funnet sin plass i norsk arkitekturhistorisk litteratur på grunn av sin spesielle arkitektur og landskapsbehandling. Den blir betegnet som både nyskapende og tradisjonell. Kirken har en uvanlig planleggings- og prosjekteringsprosess. Det er denne prosessen og betydningen den har hatt for det arkitektoniske uttrykket det handler om i denne undersøkelsen. Dette har sin bakgrunn i nyere arkitekturhistorisk forskning som har begynt å interessere seg for ”hvordan” arkitektur skapes og hvilke aktører og beslutninger som er avgjørende for resultatet. Ved å se nærmere på historien rundt Mortensrud kirke ble det åpenbart at det var mye å hente ved å vinkle en studie mot prosessen. Ved å rekapitulere historien fra den frivillige menighetskomiteen ble stiftet i 1986 til kirken ble vigslet i 2002, har vi kunnet avdekke et komplisert og spennende samarbeid. Dette har vært mulig på grunn av tilgang til et omfattende arkivmateriale og intervjuer med nøkkelpersoner. En sterk og engasjert ung menighet fikk, på grunn av forskjellige omstendigheter, anledning til å forfølge sine visjoner. En uklarhet om EØS-reglene, da det skulle lyses ut arkitektkonkurranse om anlegget, førte til at det ikke ble noen konkurranse. Man måtte finne arkitekt på annen måte, og valgte å bruke Kirkelig Kulturverksted som rekrutteringsinstans. Dette skyldtes menighetens nære forbindelse til Kulturverkstedet, og tilliten til Kulturverkstedets evne til teambygging. Arkitekten ble valgt på grunnlag av intervju og tidligere verksliste, som viste en holdning til natur og omgivelser som kunne være svaret på kirketomtens utfordringer. Det viste seg å være et vellykket valg, Jan Olav Jensen er dristig og nytenkende, samtidig som han er lyttende og samarbeidsvillig. Det ble et nært og intenst samarbeid spesielt mellom menigheten, arkitekten og Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Men også andre personer og instanser har vært involvert. Det har vært uenighet og diskusjoner underveis, men dette har bidratt til å føre prosjektet fremover i stedet for å hemme det. Selv om menigheten i utgangspunktet nok hadde andre forestillinger om hvordan kirken skulle se ut, vant arkitekten frem med sitt grunnkonsept i form, materialer og landskapsbehandling. Han måtte gi etter for krav om endringer underveis, som har hatt betydning for det arkitektoniske men ikke rokket ved grunnkonsepet. Denne avhandlingen viser at Mortensrud kirke er resultat av et vellykket samarbeidsprosjekt

The Melodrama of Possessive Agency

In the last decades, streams within posthumanism and new materialism, have turned their attention to the phenomenon of agency. And they have done so in ways which open the phenomenon for social and cultural historical investigations, relevant for cultural studies and literary studies alike. This article uses a concrete case—the melodramatic novel Koloss by Norwegian author Finn Alnæs—in order to speculate on how a literary form can be seen to co-evolve—or in this case, clash—with fluctuations in the cultural history of agency. In the 1960s—the heydays of cybernetics—a discrepancy can be observed, between the nourishment of individualism in politics and advertisement, and the distribution of individual agency in the new emerging technologies of cybernetics, which pushed agency as a question in the forefront of a series of novels, Koloss included. However, the novel’s discussion of agency was ignored by the critics, as well as in the scholarly literature to follow. In an effort to get closer to the co-development of ideas of agency and aesthetic form, the article asks why this has been the case. Did the melodramatic form of the novel stand in the way of its aesthetic reflection on agency? And could the novel and its reception therefore be seen as an example of the existence of complex feedback-loops, between ideas of agency in a given culture and aesthetic form

Molecular mechanisms of sonoporation in cancer therapy : Optimization of sonoporation parameters and investigations of intracellular signalling

Background: Sonoporation, which is treatment with ultrasound (US) and microbubbles (MB), has shown great potential for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy in cancer therapy. However, there is still very little consensus regarding the mechanism or optimal experimental and therapeutic parameters. The original assumption was that pore formation in the cell membrane was responsible for the increased uptake of drugs, but it is currently understood that the mechanisms are far more complex. The field combines US physics, MB formulation and physics, (cell) biology, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and the biodistribution of both drugs and MBs. Hence, there is an almost endless range of experimental parameters and potential bioeffects. The current literature includes a plethora of experimental setups and parameters, which complicates the clinical translation of sonoporation. Aims and methodology: In this thesis, the effects of low-intensity US and MB parameters were investigated in vitro using custom-made ultrasound chambers and correlating commonly used measures as uptakes of impermeable dye (i.e. flow cytometry) and viability to detect intracellular signalling responses to sonoporation in different cell types. Intracellular signalling responses to sonoporation are largely unknown, and their influence on key proteins in important signalling pathways have been elucidated using phosphoflow cytometry. To gain the understanding and translatability of US + MB parameters, three commercially available MB formulations were characterized, and important parameters, such as dose and formulation, were investigated in vitro and the in vivo enhancement of chemotherapy in a mural model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Results and conclusions: Effective sonoporation was achieved using commercial microbubbles and low-intensity US in the diagnostic range, both in vitro and in vivo. In the low-intensity US regimen, effective sonoporation required MBs, and the efficacy increased as US intensity and MB concentrations increased. The choice of optimal MBs depended on the US parameters used, and must be carefully chosen based on the therapeutic context. The findings in vivo were correlated to those in the in vitro experiments and to simulations on MB behaviour. Sonoporation induced the immediate, transient activation of intracellular signalling (MAPK-kinases; p38, ERK1/2, CREB, STAT3, Akt) as well as changes in the phosphorylation status of the proteins involved in protein translation (i.e. ribosomal protein S6, 4E-BP1 and eIF2α). The intracellular signalling response resembles cellular recovery after pore formation by electroporation and pore-forming toxins. Based on this observation, we hypothesize that sonoporation induces a cellular stress response that is related to the membrane repair and restoration of cellular homeostasis, and it may be exploited therapeutically. Varying responses in different cell types better represent the variability within a tumour, and they indicate that the effects on the tumour microenvironment may be important for sonoporation efficacy. In the present work, cellular stress was induced using low-intensity US below the intensity limit approved for diagnostic imaging, and healthy blood peripheral cells were minimally affected