Studies on Wage Differentials and Labour Market Transitions

This thesis consists of four studies. The first study examines wage differentials between women and men in the Finnish manufacturing sector. A matched employer-employee data set is used to decompose the overall gender wage gap into the contributions of sex differences in human capital, labour market segregation, and residual within-job wage differentials. The topic of the second study is the relationship between the extended unemployment benefits and labour market transitions of older workers. The analysis exploits a quasi-experimental setting caused by a change in the law that raised the eligibility age of workers benefiting from extended benefits. Roughly half of the unemployed workers with extended benefits are estimated to be effectively withdrawn from labour market search. The risk of unemployment declined and the re-employment probability increased among the age groups directly affected by the reform. The third study provides an empirical analysis of a structural equilibrium search model. Estimation results from various model specifications are compared and discussed. The last study is a methodological study where the difficulties of interpreting the results of competing risks hazard models are discussed and a solution for a particular class of models is proposed. It is argued that a common practice of reporting the results of qualitative response models in terms of marginal effects is also useful in the context of competing risks duration models.

A deadline-constrained 802.11 MAC Protocol with QoS differentiation for soft real-time control

As one of the most widely used wireless network technologies, IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) have found a dramatically increasing number of applications in soft real-time networked control systems (NCSs). To fulfill the real-time requirements in such NCSs, most of the bandwidth of the wireless networks need to be allocated to high-priority data for periodic measurements and control with deadline requirements. However, existing QoS-enabled 802.11 medium access control (MAC) protocols do not consider the deadline requirements explicitly, leading to unpredictable deadline performance of NCS networks. Consequentially, the soft real-time requirements of the periodic traffic may not be satisfied, particularly under congested network conditions. This paper makes two main contributions to address this problem in wireless NCSs. Firstly, a deadline-constrained MAC protocol with QoS differentiation is presented for IEEE 802.11 soft real-time NCSs. It handles periodic traffic by developing two specific mechanisms: a contention-sensitive backoff mechanism, and an intra-traffic-class QoS differentiation mechanism. Secondly, a theoretical model is established to describe the deadline-constrained MAC protocol and evaluate its performance of throughput, delay and packet-loss ratio in wireless NCSs. Numerical studies are conducted to validate the accuracy of the theoretical model and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new MAC protocol.

Interview with Barbara Comber in "Chapter 3 : Critical Literacy" of "Making Literacy Real : Theories and Practices for Learning and Teaching [2nd. Ed.]"

One of the so-called ‘wicked problems’ confronting most nations is poverty, or the unequal distribution of resources. This problem is perennial, but how, where and with which physical, psychological, social and educational effects, and for which students (and their teachers), needs continual scrutiny. Poverty is relative. Entire populations may be poor or groups of people and individuals within nations may be poor. Poverty results from injustice. Not only the un- and under-employed are living in poverty, but also the ‘working poor’. Now we see affluent societies with growing pockets of persistent poverty. While there are those who dispute the statistics on the rise of poverty because different nations use different measures (for example see Biddle, 2013; http://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-poverty-on-the-rise-in-australia-17512), there seems to be little dispute that the gaps between the richest and the poorest are increasing (see http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/sotu/SOTU_2014_CPI.pdf)...

Find my office: Navigating real space from semantic descriptions

This paper shows that by using only symbolic language phrases, a mobile robot can purposefully navigate to specified rooms in previously unexplored environments. The robot intelligently organises a symbolic language description of the unseen environment and “imagines” a representative map, called the abstract map. The abstract map is an internal representation of the topological structure and spatial layout of symbolically defined locations. To perform goal-directed exploration, the abstract map creates a high-level semantic plan to reason about spaces beyond the robot’s known world. While completing the plan, the robot uses the metric guidance provided by a spatial layout, and grounded observations of door labels, to efficiently guide its navigation. The system is shown to complete exploration in unexplored spaces by travelling only 13.3% further than the optimal path.

Annual nitrogen dynamics and urea fertilizer recoveries from a dairy pasture using 15N; effect of nitrification inhibitor DMPP and reduced application rates

Direct nitrogen (N) losses from pastures contribute to the poor nitrogen use efficiency of the dairy industry, though the exact fate of applied N and the processes involved are largely unknown. Nitrification inhibitors such as DMPP can potentially increase fertilizer N use efficiency (NUE), though few studies globally have examined the effectiveness of DMPP coated urea in pastures. This study quantified the NUE of DMPP combined with reduced application rates, and the effect on N dynamics and plant–soil interactions over an annual ryegrass/kikuyu rotation in Queensland, Australia. Labeled 15N urea and DMPP was applied over 7 winter applications at standard farmer (45 kg N ha−1) and half (23 kg N ha−1) rates. Fertilizer recoveries and NUE were calculated over 13 harvests, and the contribution of fertilizer and soil N estimated. Up to 85% of the annual N harvested was from soil organic matter. DMPP at the lower rate increased annual yields by 31% compared to the equivalent urea treatment with no difference to the high N rates. Almost 40% of the N added at the conventional fertilizer application rate as urea was lost to the environment; 80 kg N ha−1 higher than the low DMPP. Combining the nitrification inhibitor DMPP with reduced fertilizer application rates shows substantial potential to reduce N losses to the environment while sustaining productivity in subtropical dairy pastures.

Company taxation and tax spillovers: Separate accounting versus formula apportionment

It is observed in the real world that taxes matter for location decisions and that multinationals shift profits by transfer pricing. The US and Canada use so-called formula apportionment (FA) to tax corporate income, and the EU is debating a switch from separate accounting (SA) to FA. This paper develops a theoretical model that compares basic properties of FA to SA. The focal point of the analysis is how changes in tax rates affect capital formation, input choice, and transfer pricing, as well as on spillovers on tax revenue in other countries. The analysis shows that a move from SA to FA will not eliminate such spillovers and will, in cases identified in the paper, actually aggravate them.

Project Energise: Using participatory approaches and real time computer prompts to reduce occupational sitting and increase work time physical activity in office workers

Objectives This efficacy study assessed the added impact real time computer prompts had on a participatory approach to reduce occupational sedentary exposure and increase physical activity. Design Quasi-experimental. Methods 57 Australian office workers (mean [SD]; age = 47 [11] years; BMI = 28 [5] kg/m2; 46 men) generated a menu of 20 occupational ‘sit less and move more’ strategies through participatory workshops, and were then tasked with implementing strategies for five months (July–November 2014). During implementation, a sub-sample of workers (n = 24) used a chair sensor/software package (Sitting Pad) that gave real time prompts to interrupt desk sitting. Baseline and intervention sedentary behaviour and physical activity (GENEActiv accelerometer; mean work time percentages), and minutes spent sitting at desks (Sitting Pad; mean total time and longest bout) were compared between non-prompt and prompt workers using a two-way ANOVA. Results Workers spent close to three quarters of their work time sedentary, mostly sitting at desks (mean [SD]; total desk sitting time = 371 [71] min/day; longest bout spent desk sitting = 104 [43] min/day). Intervention effects were four times greater in workers who used real time computer prompts (8% decrease in work time sedentary behaviour and increase in light intensity physical activity; p < 0.01). Respective mean differences between baseline and intervention total time spent sitting at desks, and the longest bout spent desk sitting, were 23 and 32 min/day lower in prompt than in non-prompt workers (p < 0.01). Conclusions In this sample of office workers, real time computer prompts facilitated the impact of a participatory approach on reductions in occupational sedentary exposure, and increases in physical activity.

A real-time algorithm for simulation of flexible objects and hyper-redundant manipulators

Flexible objects such as a rope or snake move in a way such that their axial length remains almost constant. To simulate the motion of such an object, one strategy is to discretize the object into large number of small rigid links connected by joints. However, the resulting discretised system is highly redundant and the joint rotations for a desired Cartesian motion of any point on the object cannot be solved uniquely. In this paper, we revisit an algorithm, based on the classical tractrix curve, to resolve the redundancy in such hyper-redundant systems. For a desired motion of the `head' of a link, the `tail' is moved along a tractrix, and recursively all links of the discretised objects are moved along different tractrix curves. The algorithm is illustrated by simulations of a moving snake, tying of knots with a rope and a solution of the inverse kinematics of a planar hyper-redundant manipulator. The simulations show that the tractrix based algorithm leads to a more `natural' motion since the motion is distributed uniformly along the entire object with the displacements diminishing from the `head' to the `tail'.

Real-time kinematic positioning over long baselines using triple-frequency BeiDou signals

The BeiDou system is the first global navigation satellite system in which all satellites transmit triple-frequency signals that can provide the positioning, navigation, and timing independently. A benefit of triple-frequency signals is that more useful combinations can be formed, including some extrawide-lane combinations whose ambiguities can generally be instantaneously fixed without distance restriction, although the narrow-lane ambiguity resolution (NL AR) still depends on the interreceiver distance or requires a long time to achieve. In this paper, we synthetically study decimeter and centimeter kinematic positioning using BeiDou triple-frequency signals. It starts with AR of two extrawide-lane signals based on the ionosphere-free or ionosphere-reduced geometry-free model. For decimeter positioning, one can immediately use two ambiguity-fixed extrawide-lane observations without pursuing NL AR. To achieve higher accuracy, NL AR is the necessary next step. Despite the fact that long-baseline NL AR is still challenging, some NL ambiguities can indeed be fixed with high reliability. Partial AR for NL signals is acceptable, because as long as some ambiguities for NL signals are fixed, positioning accuracy will be certainly improved.With accumulation of observations, more and more NL ambiguities are fixed and the positioning accuracy continues to improve. An efficient Kalman-filtering system is established to implement the whole process. The formulated system is flexible, since the additional constraints can be easily applied to enhance the model's strength. Numerical results from a set of real triple-frequency BeiDou data on a 50 km baseline show that decimeter positioning is achievable instantaneously.With only five data epochs, 84% of NL ambiguities can be fixed so that the real-time kinematic accuracies are 4.5, 2.5, and 16 cm for north, east, and height components (respectively), while with 10 data epochs more than 90% of NL ambiguities are fixed, and the rea- -time kinematic solutions are improved to centimeter level for all three coordinate components.

Variations in paediatric upper respiratory surgery rates within and between two Nordic countries

Lasten ylähengitystiekirurgia (kita-nielurisojen poisto ja tärykalvon putkitus) on länsimaissa erittäin yleistä. Leikkausten lukumäärät vaihtelevat niin kansallisesti kuin kansainvälisestikin, mutta selvää syytä näille eroille ei tiedetä. Hoitosuositusten merkitys käytäntöihin on kyseenalaistettu ja voi olla, ettei hoitosuosituksia noudateta. Leikkaukset saattavat aiheuttaa lapsipotilaille psykologisen vamman, ja lisäksi niihin sisältyy komplikaatioiden, jopa kuoleman, vaara. Jotta haittoja voidaan välttää, on tärkeää tunnistaa ne lapset, jotka hyötyvät leikkauksesta. Ongelma on paitsi lääketieteellinen, myös taloudellinen: ylähengitystiekirurgiasta aiheutuu merkittäviä kuluja. Leikkausmäärien arvioiminen on tärkeää, jotta leikkauskäytäntöjä voidaan järkeistää. Tässä väitöskirjatyössä tutkittiin ylähengitystieleikkausten määriä Suomessa ja Norjassa sekä näiden kahden maan välillä. Aiempaa tutkimusta aiheesta ei kummassakaan maassa ole tehty. Kitarisanpoiston, välikorvan putkituksen, tärykalvopiston, nielurisanpoiston ja kita- ja nielurisanpoiston leikkausmäärät saatiin kansallisista tietokannoista. Lukuja verrattiin ko. maan lasten lukumäärään, maantieteelliseen sijoittumiseen sekä lasten ikään ja sukupuoleen. Lisäksi leikkausmääriä arvioitiin suhteessa korva-, nenä- ja kurkkulääkäreiden sekä yleislääkäreiden määrään, maantieteelliseen sijoittumiseen ja lääkäreiden ikään ja sukupuoleen. Leikkausten määrissä havaittiin suurta vaihtelua niin Suomessa kuin Norjassa. Suomessa suurimmat erot leikkausmäärissä löydettiin läntisen ja itäisen miljoonapiirin välillä. Läntisessä piirissä tehtiin lähes kaksin kertaa enemmän leikkauksia kuin itäisessä piirissä. Norjassa suurimmat erot olivat pohjoisen ja itäisen piirin välillä. Pohjoisessa piirissä tehtiin kaksinkertainen määrä leikkauksia itäiseen piirrin verrattuna. Suomessa tehtiin tutkimuksen koko aikavälillä enemmän kitarisanpoistoja kuin Norjassa, mutta ko. leikkausten määrä oli maassamme selvästi laskussa. Vuonna 2002 Suomessa tehtiin 2,5 kertaa enemmän kitarisanpoistoja kuin Norjassa. (Kita)nielurisanpoistoja tehtiin kuitenkin Suomessa vähemmän kuin Norjassa. Näiden leikkausten määrät pysyivät tutkimuksen aikavälillä Suomessa samalla tasolla, kun Norjassa leikkausmäärät hieman nousivat. Suomalaisia lapsia leikattiin keskimäärin paljon nuorempina kuin norjalaisia lapsia. Tutkimuksessa ei löydetty selitystä ylähengitystieleikkausten määrän suurelle vaihtelulle Suomessa ja Norjassa tai maiden välillä. Kuitenkin Suomessa tehtyjen kitarisanpoistojen huomattavan vähenemisen myötä maiden ylähengitystieleikkausten määrät lähenivät toisiaan.

Conflict-Tolerant Real-Time Features

This paper addresses the problem of detecting and resolving conflicts due to timing constraints imposed by features in real-time systems. We consider systems composed of a base system with multiple features or controllers, each of which independently advise the system on how to react to input events so as to conform to their individual specifications. We propose a methodology for developing such systems in a modular manner based on the notion of conflict tolerant features that are designed to continue offering advice even when their advice has been overridden in the past. We give a simple priority based scheme for composing such features. This guarantees the maximal use of each feature. We provide a formal framework for specifying such features, and a compositional technique for verifying systems developed in this framework.

Attrition and success rates of accelerated students in nursing courses: A systematic review

Background There is a comprehensive literature on the academic outcomes (attrition and success) of students in traditional/baccalaureate nursing programs, but much less is known about the academic outcomes of students in accelerated nursing programs. The aim of this systematic review is to report on the attrition and success rates (either internal examination or NCLEX-RN) of accelerated students, compared to traditional students. Methods For the systematic review, the databases (Pubmed, Cinahl and PsychINFO) and Google Scholar were searched using the search terms ‘accelerated’ or ‘accreditation for prior learning’, ‘fast-track’ or ‘top up’ and ‘nursing’ with ‘attrition’ or ‘retention’ or ‘withdrawal’ or ‘success’ from 1994 to January 2016. All relevant articles were included, regardless of quality. Results The findings of 19 studies of attrition rates and/or success rates for accelerated students are reported. For international accelerated students, there were only three studies, which are heterogeneous, and have major limitations. One of three studies has lower attrition rates, and one has shown higher success rates, than traditional students. In contrast, another study has shown high attrition and low success for international accelerated students. For graduate accelerated students, most of the studies are high quality, and showed that they have rates similar or better than traditional students. Thus, five of six studies have shown similar or lower attrition rates. Four of these studies with graduate accelerated students and an additional seven studies of success rates only, have shown similar or better success rates, than traditional students. There are only three studies of non-university graduate accelerated students, and these had weaknesses, but were consistent in reporting higher attrition rates than traditional students. Conclusions The paucity and weakness of information available makes it unclear as to the attrition and/or success of international accelerated students in nursing programs. The good information available suggests that accelerated programs may be working reasonably well for the graduate students. However, the limited information available for non-university graduate students is weak, but consistent, in suggesting they may struggle in accelerated courses. Further studies are needed to determine the attrition and success rates of accelerated students, particularly for international and non-university graduate students.

Low-delay, high-rate, non-square STBCs from scaled complex orthogonal designs

Space-time block codes (STBCs) obtained from non-square complex orthogonal designs are bandwidth efficient compared to those from square real/complex orthogonal designs for colocated coherent MIMO systems and has other applications in (i) non-coherent MIMO systems with non-differential detection, (ii) Space-Time-Frequency codes for MIMO-OFDM systems and (iii) distributed space-time coding for relay channels. Liang (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 2003) has constructed maximal rate non-square designs for any number of antennas, with rates given by [(a+1)/(2a)] when number of transmit antennas is 2a-1 or 2a. However, these designs have large delays. When large number of antennas are considered this rate is close to 1/2. Tarokh et al (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 1999) have constructed rate 1/2 non-square CODs using the rate-1 real orthogonal designs for any number of antennas, where the decoding delay of these codes is less compared to the codes constructed by Liang for number of transmit antennas more than 5. In this paper, we construct a class of rate-1/2 codes for arbitrary number of antennas where the decoding delay is reduced by 50% when compared with the rate-1/2 codes given by Tarokh et al. It is also shown that even though scaling the variables helps to lower the delay it can not be used to increase the rate.