Observations of NO2/NOx volume ratio in three tunnels in Norway

Formålet med denne rapporten er å studere utviklinga av giftige gassar i bileksosen dei siste åra. Dette er nyttig kunnskap ved planlegging av ventilasjon i nye tunnelar og ved vurdering av konsekvensar for miljøet rundt tunnelportalane. Rapporten inneheld målingar av NO og NO2 i tre tunnelar i Region vest frå 2007 til 2013. Registreringane viser at utsleppet av støv og NO2 frå tunge køyretøy har gått ned etter innføring av partikkelfilter som oppfyller Euro 5-krava. Men det har vore ei negativ utvikling i NO2-utslepp frå personbilar på grunn av den sterke auken i talet på bilar med dieselmotor. I tunnelar med stor utfartstrafikk medfører dette høgt NO2-nivå fredag ettermiddag og søndag kveld. I bytunnelar kan det ventast høgst NO2-nivå i morgon- og ettermiddagsrushet.Statens Vegvesen Vegdirektorate

Foreign Direct Investment and Corruption. An econometric analysis of the multidimensional effects of corruption upon FDI inflow

The goal of this thesis is to estimate the effect of corruption upon the levels of FDI inflow and it poses the following research question: What effect does corruption have upon the level of foreign direct investment inflow to a country? Moreover, do internal types of corruption (e.g. bureaucratic corruption), and external contexts (e.g. level of development) affect the manner in which corruption affects foreign direct investment inflow to a country? The thesis attempts to clear up a contention in the literature in which the effect of corruption upon FDI inflow is contested. It does this in two ways. First, proposing a theoretical framework to understand the effects corruption can have by fusing together elements from political risk theory and the OLI-paradigm. Second, using a relatively unused econometric method, which allows one to use a random effects model to distinguish between the effects which key independent variables have: (1) across time within" countries and (2) between" countries. Panel data from 1995 - 2012 are employed with a global coverage. The dataset is compiled from three different original datasets. The findings of the thesis suggests that the effect of corruption is on average negative for FDI inflow. However, the thesis also finds that the effect of corruption is very dependent on context. In some contexts, corruption is found to have a positive effect on FDI inflow in this thesis. Unfortunately, the data for different types of corruption are not good enough to perform reliable estimations. The results show in a clear manner that the contention in the field is due to systematic differences produced by different estimation techniques, and an overly simplified view of what corruption is. The suggested theoretical framework is able to explain the results and incorporate the different findings of the literature and this thesis by focusing on corruption as a multidimensional phenomenon.Master i Sammenliknende politikkSAMPOL350MASV-SAP

Gjøken og hjemlandet: Sanger i russisk samtidspropaganda

Artikkelen bygger på hypotesen om at sanger, som multimodale ytringer, har spilt en viktig rolle i russisk propaganda og patriotisk oppdragelse. Med utgangspunkt i en diskusjon om hva som gjør den sanglyriske sjangeren velegnet til bruk i massepåvirkningskampanjer, utforsker jeg hvordan denne ressursen er blitt utnyttet i russisk samtidspropaganda. Primærkildene mine er patriotiske sanger slik de er blitt presentert på konserter og i russiske medier de siste par tiårene. Kildematerialet inneholder både nyere sanger med eksplisitt nasjonalpatriotiske motiver og eldre låter i ulike sjangere. Når det gjelder eldre sanger, argumenterer jeg for at noen, som Viktor Tsojs «Kukusjka» («Gjøken») fra 1990, er blitt rekontekstualisert og resemiotisert for bruk i propaganda. Undersøkelsene mine av dette sangmaterialet gir grunnlag for å hevde at patriotiske sanger har bidratt til en gradvis rekonseptualisering av begrepet Ródina (Hjemlandet) og til å etablere helte- og fiendebilder. Nøkkelord Russisk sanglyrikk, propaganda, patriotisk oppdragelse Abstract This article is based on the hypothesis that songs, as multimodal utterances, have played an important role in Russian propaganda and patriotic upbringing. Starting from a discussion about what makes the song lyrical genre suitable for use in mass influence campaigns, I explore how this resource has been utilised in contemporary Russian propaganda. My primary sources are patriotic songs as presented at concerts and in the Russian media over the last couple of decades. The source material contains both newer songs with explicitly national patriotic motifs, and older tunes within various genres. As for older songs, I argue that some, such as Viktor Tsoi’s “Kukushka” (“The Cuckoo”) have been recontextualised and resemiotisised for propaganda purposes. My investigations of the collected song material provide grounds for claiming that patriotic songs may have contributed to a gradual reconceptualisation of the term Ródina (the Homeland) and to establish conceptions of heroes and enemies. Keywords Russian song lyrics, Propaganda, Patriotic upbringingpublishedVersio

Advances in fatigue design of circumferential welds in offshore wind turbine monopile support structures

The increasing trend in size and thickness of offshore wind turbine monopile support structures necessitates the need for continued research to refine fatigue design methodologies by ensuring both structural integrity and cost-effectiveness. This study investigates fatigue life predictions at the circumferential welds in monopile foundations by performing a detailed analysis of the SLIC fatigue data, obtained from 50 mm thick as-welded specimens, and incorporating realistic weld geometries in the evaluations. Moreover, comparisons are drawn between the monopile-specific D curve introduced in the new edition of the DNV-RP-C203 standard, the generic D curve, and the processed SLIC data. The results show that, at a reference thickness of 25 mm, the new monopile-specific D curve mitigates the over-conservatism of the generic D curve, which is designed for a wide range of applications, resulting in 3.3 times increase in fatigue life at 107 cycles. Furthermore, the results from sensitivity analyses performed by accounting for variations in weld geometry demonstrate the critical importance of precise weld geometry characterisation in evaluating S-N fatigue data. Additionally, the findings from this research underscore the critical role of residual stresses in the fatigue design and life assessment of in-service monopiles. The advancements presented in this study contribute to better understanding of the fatigue life in large thickness monopile support structures. The findings from this study not only aid in re-evaluating the fatigue life of aging offshore wind turbine monopiles but also contribute to designing longer-lasting foundations for future installations

Profil som konkurransestrategi i norsk barnehage

Dei overordna problemstillingane er om profilering av barnehagar er meint som eit pedagogisk alternativ, som ledd i konkurranseleiinga i barnehagen. Korleis er profilane relatert til rammeplanen, og korleis vart profilen til? Problemstillingane vert drøfta mot intervju med styrarar i private barnehagar som har valt ein tydeleg profil, og som har dei vanlegaste profilane i norske barnehagar: friluftsbarnehage, gardsbarnehage, idrettsbarnehage, musikk- og kunstbarnehage og livssynsbarnehage. Dei fleste barnehagane oppfattar profilen sin som eit pedagogisk alternativ og har forsøkt å utvikla profilen til pedagogisk innhald og arbeidsmåtar. Dei meiner at dei representerer eit alternativ innanfor grensene rammeplanen set. Dei er ofte basert i lokale ressursar, men eigarane er i ferd med å bli viktigare. Profilar er ein viktig del av konkurranseleiinga i barnehagane.publishedVersio

Fra kollegafellesskap til ledelseshierarki? De pedagogiske lederne i barnehagens ledelsesprosess

In this article, it is argued that Early Childhood Education and Care management can be distributed on more persons than the director. Attention is directed towards the educational managers in the ECEC center departments in Norwegian ECEC, and their managerial responsibility. Interviews were conducted with 18 such managers in 10 different ECEC centers in order to examine their role in the managerial process of ECEC centers. The material seems to suggest that these department managers operate in a fairly hierarchical structure, and that they do not contribute in any collective management process for the entire center. They have a different management responsibility than the directors, and within a hierarchical framework, they exercise a significant management responsibility in their departments.Denne artikkelen argumenterer for at barnehageledelse kan være fordelt på flere personer enn styreren og fokuserer på ledelsesoppgavene til de pedagogiske lederne som leder de arbeidsgruppene som barnehagen har på grunnplanet. Dybdeintervjuer ble gjennomført med 18 pedagogiske ledere for å kaste lys over deres bidrag i barnehagens ledelsesprosess. Studien viser at som ledere er de plassert i en hierarkisk struktur og at de i liten grad er deltagere i kollektiv ledelse eller i barnehagens lederteam. De har en annen ledelsesprofil enn den vi finner i forskningen om styrere, og innenfor hierarkiske rammer har de et betydelig lederansvar på avdelingen.publishedVersio

Hvordan kan sykepleier bedre legemiddelhåndtering i sykehjem?

Hensikt: Hensikten med oppgaven er å undersøke hvordan sykepleier kan bedre legemiddelhåndtering i sykehjem. For å gjøre dette måtte vi avdekke hvorvidt dette var et stort problem, i hvilken grad, og ikke minst – hva kan vi som sykepleiere gjøre med det? Metode: Dette er en systematisk litteraturstudie basert på 8 primærkilder i form av forskningsartikler. Viktige resultater og konklusjon: Sykepleiere har et viktig individuelt ansvar for å holde seg faglig oppdatert. Dette personlige ansvaret beskrives i liten grad i forskningsartiklene, og hovedfokuset omhandler virksomhetens ansvar for å tilrettelegge for forsvarlig sykepleie. Det konkluderes med at sykepleiers personlige ansvar for nok kunnskap til å sikre riktig legemiddelhåndtering er svært viktig. Likevel er sykepleierne avhengige av at virksomheten legger til rette for at dette er mulig.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how nurses can improve medication administration in nursing homes. To do this we had to uncover whether this was a major problem, in what extent, and last but not least - what can we as nurses do about it? Method: This is a systematic literature study based on 8 primary sources in the form of research articles. Important results and conclusion: Nurses have an important individual responsibility to keep themselves professionally updated. This responsibility is described to a limited extent in the research article. The focus in the articles is mainly the institution’s responsibility to secure proper nursing. We conclude that the nurse's personal responsibility to have enough knowledge about proper medication administration is important. Nevertheless, the nurses are dependent on that the institutions makes this possible

Dissecting the Role of AXL in Cancer Immune Escape and Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibition

The development and implementation of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICI) in clinical oncology have significantly improved the survival of a subset of cancer patients with metastatic disease previously considered uniformly lethal. However, the low response rates and the low number of patients with durable clinical responses remain major concerns and underscore the limited understanding of mechanisms regulating anti-tumor immunity and tumor immune resistance. There is an urgent unmet need for novel approaches to enhance the efficacy of ICI in the clinic, and for predictive tools that can accurately predict ICI responders based on the composition of their tumor microenvironment. The receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) AXL has been associated with poor prognosis in numerous malignancies and the emergence of therapy resistance. AXL is a member of the TYRO3-AXL-MERTK (TAM) kinase family. Upon binding to its ligand GAS6, AXL regulates cell signaling cascades and cellular communication between various components of the tumor microenvironment, including cancer cells, endothelial cells, and immune cells. Converging evidence points to AXL as an attractive molecular target to overcome therapy resistance and immunosuppression, supported by the potential of AXL inhibitors to improve ICI efficacy. Here, we review the current literature on the prominent role of AXL in regulating cancer progression, with particular attention to its effects on anti-tumor immune response and resistance to ICI. We discuss future directions with the aim to understand better the complex role of AXL and TAM receptors in cancer and the potential value of this knowledge and targeted inhibition for the benefit of cancer patients.publishedVersio