Policy goals, research needs and research regarding organic sector in Finland

The status of organic farming was established in Finland already in 1995 with the entry to EU, but in the Finnish food markets the share of the organic sector has remained modest. As a possible explanation the presentation examines the correspondence of the research needs and actual research dealing with the organic supply-value chain in Finland. The approach is that of policy impact research. The research needs are inferred from the direct and latent articulations present in the policy discourse It is captured by examining the goals and their justification in about 20 national policy documents from the past decennium; these deal either specifically with organic sector, with food and nutrition or with sustainable development, or they are more comprehensive and address several topics. The review on the concluded and still on-going research dealing with the organic sector over the past 15 years is based on a meta-study. The main information sources were the research data bases of the two main actors, University of Helsinki and MTT Agrifood Research Finland. This information is complemented with the relevant doctoral theses from all Finnish universities. Several bottle necks regarding the development of the organic supply chain are identified in the policy documents. These deal both with legislative and informative aspects as well as with various practical hinders. Preliminary results suggest that either the research design or communication of the research results to the relevant actors so as to open the bottle necks has not been very successful. Today the research is still very much biased towards primary production, and little attention is paid to the societal and policy aspects. The few studies focusing on the consumer attitudes and on the R&D aiming at promoting organic food within the public catering sector are also identified in the policy documents. Other important topics are formation, development and characteristics of the organic value chains and networks, and the prerequisites for their functioning, but research on these topics is modest. From 2013 on, the research has been coordinated by newly founded Finnish Institute for Organic Food, and the situation is likely to change. The institute stresses the need of science communication, adult education and co-operation with entrepreneurs in research. The transdisciplinary approach involving both the researchers and the practical actors enables designing the research so as to better respond to the needs of the organic sector and to the expectations of the society

An Evaluation Of The Relationships Between Safety Management Systems (SMS), Transformational Safety Leadership, Self-Efficacy, And Safety Performance Metrics In A 14 Code Of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 121 Airline: A Mediation Analysis

A concurrent-embedded mixed-method triangulation design evaluated observed safety outcomes at a U.S. 14 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 121 air carrier. A previously validated model that measures Safety Management Systems (SMS process engagement and SMS policy implementation), transformational safety leadership, self-efficacy, safety motivation (mediator), and safety behaviors (safety compliance and safety participation) was assessed using structural equation modeling/path analysis. Semi-structured interviews of SMS subject-matter experts and safety leaders were used to explore the impact of SMS implementation. Factual data from the carrier was examined to provide convergent or divergent information regarding the other portions of the study. The results indicated SMS policy implementation had a significant effect on safety compliance (SC) and safety participation (SP), but SMS process engagement impacted only safety compliance (SC). A moderate relationship was found between safety motivation and both SC and SP. The results also indicated a significant effect of transformational safety leadership on safety motivation and SP. Self-efficacy and SC were weakly related. The results point to the importance of transformational leadership, clear safety policy, and motivation on safety outcomes. Gender differences were noted in SC and safety-related events, while years at the carrier were impactful on SC. Role at the company impacted safety-related event scores. Practitioners might consider tailored training due to the differences noted in this study. Future research is required to explore the impact of experience, role, and gender on safety outcomes and safety-related events estimation

Demand for serviced office space

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-52).The work environment has experienced tremendous change in the past few decades. The need for global communication, enabled by technology, has been the prime catalyst to transform the traditional demand for office space from a historically inflexible asset into one that includes more flexible solutions. Serviced offices combines office space, technology and support into a global network of fully furnished, staffed and equipped offices and meeting rooms, that can be occupied or vacated on flexible terms, and tailored to the specific business needs of the users. This thesis explores the objectives of these users and the physical characteristics of their requirements for serviced office space. Two case studies further illustrate and verify the analysis. In the pursuit for greater flexibility, serviced office space plays a growing role in the corporate real estate portfolio. This is however an evolution rather than a revolution.by Philippe Troukens.S.M

Performance Analysis of Improved Component based Software Reliability Model

Software reliability engineering techniques focus on development and maintenance of software systems. This paper presents a improved component model. The model is used to estimate the reliability of software systems and the usage ration of each component. A component impact analysis which helps in focusing of testing is presented .The proposed method exhibits considerable improvement when compared against conventional methods

JAVA DESIGN PATTERN OBFUSCATION

Software Reverse Engineering (SRE) consists of analyzing the design and imple- mentation of software. Typically, we assume that the executable file is available, but not the source code. SRE has many legitimate uses, including analysis of software when no source code is available, porting old software to a modern programming language, and analyzing code for security vulnerabilities. Attackers also use SRE to probe for weaknesses in closed-source software, to hack software activation mecha- nisms (or otherwise change the intended function of software), to cheat at games, etc. There are many tools available to aid the aspiring reverse engineer. For example, there are several tools that recover design patterns from Java byte code or source code. In this project, we develop and analyze a technique to obfuscate design patterns. We show that our technique can defeat design pattern detection tools, thereby making reverse engineering attacks more difficult

Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document

DATA INSECURITY LAW

By broad consensus, data security laws have failed to stem a rising tide of data breaches. Lawmakers and commentators blame these failures on some combination of underenforcement and the laws failure to recognize the full range of data breach harms. Proposed solutions would augment or expand existing data security laws. These proposed solutions share a fatal flaw: they are rooted in traditional theories of deterrence by punishment. Data security laws come in three forms: duties to protect data, duties to notify consumers after a breach, and post-breach remedies. Almost every data security law is enforced through sanctions, most of which are applied after a company discovers a data breach. In theory, companies increase their data security efforts to avoid sanctions. While appropriate for companies that purchase software, this approach is ineffective when applied to companies that build and provide software as an online service. In the cloud context, improving cybersecurity practices increases expected sanctions. And the cloud context matters. Online data security implicates almost all personal data; online services hold the lion’s share of personal data and offline firms rely heavily on cloud software to operate their businesses. This Article calls for a new approach to data security regulation, founded on a systemic view of data security practice. By focusing on system-level incentives instead of individual outcomes, lawmakers can bring data security law back into harmony with policy goals

Leap Forward: Advancing LEAP's Land Use Goals

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110959/1/leap_forwardreduced.pd