Development of a Catch-damage-index to assess the quality of cod at landing

Quality and quality management are of increasing concern and importance in all parts of the fishery chain. Fishing gears and handling onboard the vessel have multiple impacts on fish quality, and damages caused during these operations may affect the product quality considerably, resulting in downgrading of the end products. The European fish sector consider measurement of quality defects and other quality factors as important, but methods for systematic evaluation of quality defects caused during catching operations have not been published to any extent.In this work cod caught by different fishing gears commonly used in the Norwegian coastal fisheries were examined for catch-related damages at landing. Other species like saithe and haddock may suffer the same damages, but due to being the economically most important specie in Norway, cod is chosen as model. The severities of the damages are described, and the influence of the damages on the quality of cod products is considered. Based on this, a Catch-damage-index (CDI) scheme is elaborated.     

Realized volatility and the influence of market measures on predictability: Analysis of Nord Pool forward electricity data

This is the first paper to utilize intra-daily high-frequency data and to apply known market measures for the prediction of volatility in the Nord Pool electricity forward market. The work is based on recent methods of separating realized volatility into two components: continuous and jump volatilities. In addition, the link between future price volatility and current observable economic variables is examined. The measures—trading volume, time-to-maturity, asymmetric effect from negative shocks, and intra-week seasonality—are assessed to identify improvements in day-ahead predictions. The model where the total variation is separated into its continuous and jump components is compared with the simpler heterogeneous autoregressive model of realized variation both in- and out-of-sample. The results show a strong degree of persistence in realized volatility, and significant impacts from the mentioned market measures when predicting Nord Pool forward price volatility. Hence, there is a clear preference for models accounting for the systematic impact of market measures to improve volatility assessment for tomorrow. Moreover, separating the total variation into continuous and jump components seems potentially useful when predicting day-ahead volatility.     

Real-time ultrasound simulation using the GPU

Ultrasound simulators can be used for training ultrasound image acquisition and interpretation. In such simulators, synthetic ultrasound images must be generated in real time. Anatomy can be modeled by computed tomography (CT). Shadows can be calculated by combining reflection coefficients and depth dependent, exponential attenuation. To include speckle, a pre-calculated texture map is typically added. Dynamic objects must be simulated separately. We propose to increase the speckle realism and allow for dynamic objects by using a physical model of the underlying scattering process. The model is based on convolution of the point spread function (PSF) of the ultrasound scanner with a scatterer distribution. The challenge is that the typical field-of-view contains millions of scatterers which must be selected by a virtual probe from an even larger body of scatterers. The main idea of this paper is to select and sample scatterers in parallel on the graphic processing unit (GPU). The method was used to image a cyst phantom and a movable needle. Speckle images were produced in real time (more than 10 frames per second) on a standard GPU. The ultrasound images were visually similar to images calculated by a reference method.     

Balanced environmental games

Focus is here on coalitional games among economic agents plagued by aggregate pollutions of diverse sorts. Any contracting player presumably pollutes less than if he defects. In addition, cooperation among some parties benefits the outsiders. Then, granted convex preferences and technologies, the core is proven nonempty. Also, under natural assumptions, a specific, computable core solution comes in terms of shadow prices on the said aggregates. Such prices may, in large part, support the cooperative treaty by clearing a competitive market for emissions.     

Co-integration of ICE Gas oil and Crude oil futures

In this paper, the relationship between Gas oil and Brent Crude oil futures prices is investigated. The analysis is based on daily price series for five different contract lengths traded on ICE Futures Europe. The price series and their first differences are tested for stationarity. Linear relationships between the pair-wise Gas oil and Crude oil contracts are then tested for co-integration. A co-integrated relationship is found for the 1 and 2 month contracts covering data from 1994 to 2009, and Error Correction Models are established to estimate the relationships. No co-integrated relationships are found for the 3, 6 and 12 month contracts covering the period 2002-2009, nor for the 1 and 2 month contracts for this period. The futures prices for this period are collected from a volatile market, including hurricane Katrina, the economic boom and the following financial crises which might explain these results. Thus, in such volatile periods the spread between Gas oil and Crude oil is likely to deviate, and it might take several years until it reverts to its equilibrium value. For energy traders and hedgers, this will imply that exposures to the crack spread should be treated with great care in such market environments.     

Enamel Matrix Derivative Promote Primary Human Pulp Cell Differentiation and Mineralization

Enamel matrix derivative (EMD) has been found to induce reactive dentin formation; however the molecular mechanisms involved are unclear. The effect of EMD (5–50 μg/mL) on primary human pulp cells were compared to untreated cells and cells incubated with 10⁻⁸ M dexamethasone (DEX) for 1, 2, 3, 7, and 14 days in culture. Expression analysis using Affymetrix microchips demonstrated that 10 μg/mL EMD regulated several hundred genes and stimulated the gene expression of proteins involved in mesenchymal proliferation and differentiation. Both EMD and DEX enhanced the expression of amelogenin (amel), and the dentinogenic markers dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSSP) and dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1 (DMP1), as well as the osteogenic markers osteocalcin (OC, BGLAP) and collagen type 1 (COL1A1). Whereas, only EMD had effect on alkaline phosphatase (ALP) mRNA expression, the stimulatory effect were verified by enhanced secretion of OC and COL1A from EMD treated cells, and increased ALP activity in cell culture medium after EMD treatment. Increased levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and monocyte chemoattractant proteins (MCP-1) in the cell culture medium were also found. Consequently, the suggested effect of EMD is to promote differentiation of pulp cells and increases the potential for pulpal mineralization to favor reactive dentine formation.     

The performance of the Norwegian carbon dioxide,capture and storage innovation system

In order to take up Norway's twin challenge of reducing CO₂ emissions, while meeting its growing energy demand with domestic resources, the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) plays an important role in Norwegian energy policies. This study uses the Functions of Innovation Systems approach to identify key policy issues that need to be addressed in order to prolong Norway's international leadership position in the development of CCS. The analysis shows that Norway has been successful in building an innovation system around CCS technology. The key determinants for this achievement are pinpointed in this article. However, the evolution of the innovation system seems to have entered a critical phase that is decisive for a further thriving development of CCS in Norway. The results provide a clear understanding of the current impediments in the CCS innovation system and stress the need to direct policy initiatives at the identified weak system functions—i.e. entrepreneurial activity and market formation—to improve the performance of the system. We discuss how policymakers can use these insights to develop a coherent set of policy instruments that would foster the deployment of CCS concepts related to power production and enhanced oil recovery in Norway.     

Exploration and taxation: Some normative issues

The paper is concerned with a model for optimal search developed by Weitzman [4]. This model is applied to show that the Norwegian system of tax and regulation on exploratory effort may distort the optimal order of search.