InfoInternet for Education in the Global South: A Study of Applications Enabled by Free Information-only Internet Access in Technologically Disadvantaged Areas (authors' version)

This paper summarises our work on studying educational applications enabled by the introduction of a new information layer called InfoInternet. This is an initiative to facilitate affordable access to internet based information in communities with network scarcity or economic problems from the Global South. InfoInternet develops both networking solutions as well as business and social models, together with actors like mobile operators and government organisations. In this paper we identify and describe characteristics of educational applications, their specific users, and learning environment. We are interested in applications that make the adoption of Internet faster, cheaper, and wider in such communities. When developing new applications (or adopting existing ones) for such constrained environments, this work acts as initial guidelines prior to field studies.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, under review for a journal since March 201

Expert opinions on making GDPR usable

We present the results of a study done in order to validate concepts and methods that have been introduced in (Johansen and Fischer-Hubner, 2020. "Making GDPR Usable: A Model to Support Usability Evaluations of Privacy." in IFIP AICT 576, 275-291). We use as respondents in our interviews experts working across fields of relevance to these concepts, including law and data protection/privacy, certifications and standardization, and usability (as studied in the field of Human-Computer Interaction). We study the experts' opinions about four new concepts, namely: (i) a definition of Usable Privacy, (ii) 30 Usable Privacy Goals identified as excerpts from the GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation), (iii) a set of 25 corresponding Usable Privacy Criteria together with their multiple measurable sub-criteria, and (iv) the Usable Privacy Cube model, which puts all these together with the EuroPriSe certification criteria, with the purpose of making explicit several aspects of certification processes such as orderings of criteria, interactions between these, different stakeholder perspectives, and context of use/processing. The expert opinions are varied, example-rich, and forward-looking, which gives a impressive list of open problems where the above four concepts can work as a foundation for further developments. We employed a critical qualitative research, using theory triangulation to analyze the data representing three groups of experts, categorized as 'certifications', 'law', and 'usability', coming both from industry and academia. The results of our analysis show agreement among the experts about the need for evaluations and measuring of usability of privacy in order to allow for exercising data subjects' rights and to evaluate the degree to which data controllers comply with the data protection principles.Comment: 33 pages, with appendix and 1 figur

Studying the Transfer of Biases from Programmers to Programs

It is generally agreed that one origin of machine bias is resulting from characteristics within the dataset on which the algorithms are trained, i.e., the data does not warrant a generalized inference. We, however, hypothesize that a different `mechanism', hitherto not articulated in the literature, may also be responsible for machine's bias, namely that biases may originate from (i) the programmers' cultural background, such as education or line of work, or (ii) the contextual programming environment, such as software requirements or developer tools. Combining an experimental and comparative design, we studied the effects of cultural metaphors and contextual metaphors, and tested whether each of these would `transfer' from the programmer to program, thus constituting a machine bias. The results show (i) that cultural metaphors influence the programmer's choices and (ii) that `induced' contextual metaphors can be used to moderate or exacerbate the effects of the cultural metaphors. This supports our hypothesis that biases in automated systems do not always originate from within the machine's training data. Instead, machines may also `replicate' and `reproduce' biases from the programmers' cultural background by the transfer of cultural metaphors into the programming process. Implications for academia and professional practice range from the micro programming-level to the macro national-regulations or educational level, and span across all societal domains where software-based systems are operating such as the popular AI-based automated decision support systems.Comment: 40 pages of which 7 pages of Appendix, 26 Figures, 2 Table

Nicaragua

I en allt mer globaliserad värld ökar betydelsen för ett lands ekonomi att stora konkurrenskraftiga bolag växer fram. First North är en handelplats som erbjuder små och medelstora företag en möjlighet att tillgå externa investerares kapital, vilket kan möjliggöra en omfattande expansion som annars ej hade varit genomförbar. För bolag listade på en handelsplats, är investerares förtroende något avgörande för att kunna växa. Något som dock skett under de senaste åren, är att ett starkt misstroende riktats mot handelsplatsen First North från affärsmedia och investerare. Kritikerna menar att bolagen på First North handlar girigt, och den svaga reglering som omfattar bolagen, inte garanterar en trovärdig förvaltning. Detta har lett till att börsvärdena för bolagen på First North har rasat, vilket försvårat möjligheterna för företagen att växa, samt att det hindrar nya bolag från att etablera sig på listan. Mot bakgrund av detta, har studiens syfte skapats, ”Genom empiriska studier öka förståelsen för oberoende analytikers åsikter till bolag listade på First North. Med denna information ska vi visa på vilka ageranden bolagen på First North kan göra för att stärka sitt förtroende gentemot investerare.” Undersökningen har genomförts via telefonintervjuer med fem stycken oberoende analytiker som följer bolag på First North. Oberoende analytiker har valts, då dessa inte sitter på dubbla stolar, och samtidigt hjälper företagen listade på First North med rådgivning. Orsaken till att valet föll på analytiker, är att dessa publicerar material som investerare läser, och därför har de en stor påverkan på vilken syn investerare har till bolagen på First North. Vi har använt oss av teorier gällande övergripande bolagsstyrning. Detta för att uppsatsen ska beröra samtliga bolag på First North. Teorierna har behandlat hur företagen ska agera gentemot olika intressenter, samt hur styrelsen föredras att se ut. Det vår forskning har kommit fram till, är att oberoende analytiker önskar se att företag listade på First North ska utöva affärsverksamhet utifrån ett brett förhållningssätt. Där flertalet intressenter tas i beaktande när beslut fattas. Flera målsättningar sågs inte som något motsättande, utan istället som något kompelementärt. Dock så framkom det att detta inte var motiverat med att företagen har något ansvar gentemot dessa, utan att företagets primära mål enligt analytikerna, är att uppnå uthållig tillväxt, vilket är bäst sammankoppalt med detta förhållningssätt. Gällande hur styrelsen ska se ut, ansåg analytikerna att det viktigaste var att minst en person gjort resan från litet till stort bolag tidigare, men också att styrelsens kompetenser ska vara diversifierade. Då företagen behöver hantera flertalet områden, är det nödvändigt att styrelsemedlemmarna besitter olika kunskaper. Med en mix av olika kunskaper, menar analytikerna att ett större förtroende finns, och att en bättre möjlighet finns för att skapa tillväxt än om en mer homogen styrelse existerar

Lithiated carbon fibres for structural batteries characterised with Auger electron spectroscopy

Structural batteries are multifunctional devices that store energy and carry mechanical load, simultaneously. The pivotal constituent is the carbon fibre, which acts as not only structural reinforcement, but also as electrode by reversibly hosting Li ions. Still, little is known about how Li and carbon fibres interact. Here we map Li inserted in polyacrylonitrile based carbon fibres with Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). We show that with slow charge/discharge rates, Li distributes uniformly in the transverse and longitudinal direction of the fibre, and when fully discharged, all Li is virtually expelled. With fast rates, Li tends to be trapped in the core of the fibre. In some fibres, Li plating is found between the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and fibre surface. Our findings can guide AES analysis on other carbonaceous electrode materials for Li-ion batteries and be used to improve the performance of structural batteries

Privacy Labelling and the Story of Princess Privacy and the Seven Helpers

Privacy is currently in 'distress' and in need of 'rescue', much like princesses in the all-familiar fairytales. We employ storytelling and metaphors from fairytales to make reader-friendly and streamline our arguments about how a complex concept of Privacy Labeling (the 'knight in shining armour') can be a solution to the current state of Privacy (the 'princess in distress'). We give a precise definition of Privacy Labeling (PL), painting a panoptic portrait from seven different perspectives (the 'seven helpers'): Business, Legal, Regulatory, Usability and Human Factors, Educative, Technological, and Multidisciplinary. We describe a common vision, proposing several important 'traits of character' of PL as well as identifying 'undeveloped potentialities', i.e., open problems on which the community can focus. More specifically, this position paper identifies the stakeholders of the PL and their needs with regard to privacy, describing how PL should be and look like in order to address these needs. Throughout the paper, we highlight goals, characteristics, open problems, and starting points for creating, what we define as, the ideal PL. In the end we present three approaches to establish and manage PL, through: self-evaluations, certifications, or community endeavors. Based on these, we sketch a roadmap for future developments.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure

Predator–prey overlap in three dimensions: cod benefit from capelin coming near the seafloor

Spatial overlap between predator and prey is a prerequisite for predation, but the degree of overlap is not necessarily proportional to prey consumption. This is because many of the behavioural processes that precede ingestion are non-linear and depend on local prey densities. In aquatic environments, predators and prey distribute not only across a surface, but also vertically in the water column, adding another dimension to the interaction. Integrating and simplifying behavioural processes across space and time can lead to systematic biases in our inference about interaction strength. To recognise situations when this may occur, we must first understand processes underlying variation in prey consumption by individuals. Here we analysed the diet of a major predator in the Barents Sea, the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, aiming to understand drivers of variation in cod's feeding on its main prey capelin Mallotus villosus. Cod and capelin only partly share habitats, as cod mainly reside near the seafloor and capelin inhabit the free water masses. We used data on stomach contents from ~2000 cod individuals and their surrounding environment collected over 12 years, testing hypotheses on biological and physical drivers of variation in cod's consumption of capelin, using generalized additive models. Specifically, effects of capelin abundance, capelin depth distribution, bottom depth and cod abundance on capelin consumption were evaluated at a resolution scale of 2 km. We found no indication of food competition as cod abundance had no effect on capelin consumption. Capelin abundance had small effects on consumption, while capelin depth distribution was important. Cod fed more intensively on capelin when capelin came close to the seafloor, especially at shallow banks and bank edges. Spatial overlap as an indicator for interaction strength needs to be evaluated in three dimensions instead of the conventional two when species are partly separated in the water column.publishedVersio

Utbygging av Follobanen - Overvåking av vannkvalitet - Årsrapport 2022

På oppdrag fra Bane NOR har NIBIO overvåket vannkvalitet i resipienter som kan motta avrenning fra anleggsarbeider i forbindelse med utbygging av Follobanen. NIBIO har driftet opptil 10 målestasjoner utstyrt med multiparametersensorer for automatisk overvåking av vannkvalitet. I tillegg har det blitt tatt ut vannprøver ved opptil 15 stasjoner og utført biologiske undersøkelser ved opptil seks stasjoner. Overvåkingen har pågått i vannforekomster nedstrøms riggområdet på Åsland og i Alna i Oslo, i bekker sør for stasjonsområdet på Ski, langs anleggsområdet mellom Ski og Langhus, samt ved Sagdalsbekken i Langhus. Årsrapporten omfatter alle resultater samlet inn på disse stasjonene i 2022 og har blitt sammenlignet med tidligere resultater.Utbygging av Follobanen - Overvåking av vannkvalitet - Årsrapport 2022publishedVersio

Utbygging av Follobanen. Overvåking av vannkvalitet - Årsrapport 2021

publishedVersio

A Practical Approach to T-Cell Receptor Cloning and Expression

Although cloning and expression of T-cell Receptors (TcRs) has been performed for almost two decades, these procedures are still challenging. For example, the use of T-cell clones that have undergone limited expansion as starting material to limit the loss of interesting TcRs, must be weighed against the introduction of mutations by excess PCR cycles. The recent interest in using specific TcRs for cancer immunotherapy has, however, increased the demand for practical and robust methods to rapidly clone and express TcRs. Two main technologies for TcR cloning have emerged; the use of a set of primers specifically annealing to all known TcR variable domains, and 5′-RACE amplification. We here present an improved 5′-RACE protocol that represents a fast and reliable way to identify a TcR from 105 cells only, making TcR cloning feasible without a priori knowledge of the variable domain sequence. We further present a detailed procedure for the subcloning of TcRα and β chains into an expression system. We show that a recombination-based cloning protocol facilitates simple and rapid transfer of the TcR transgene into different expression systems. The presented comprehensive method can be performed in any laboratory with standard equipment and with a limited amount of starting material. We finally exemplify the straightforwardness and reliability of our procedure by cloning and expressing several MART-1-specific TcRs and demonstrating their functionality