The Oslo Health Study: A Dietary Index Estimating Frequent Intake of Soft Drinks and Rare Intake of Fruit and Vegetables Is Negatively Associated with Bone Mineral Density

Background. Since nutritional factors may affect bone mineral density (BMD), we have investigated whether BMD is associated with an index estimating the intake of soft drinks, fruits, and vegetables. Methods. BMD was measured in distal forearm in a subsample of the population-based Oslo Health Study. 2126 subjects had both valid BMD measurements and answered all the questions required for calculating a Dietary Index = the sum of intake estimates of colas and non-cola beverages divided by the sum of intake estimates of fruits and vegetables. We did linear regression analyses to study whether the Dietary Index and the single food items included in the index were associated with BMD. Results. There was a consistent negative association between the Dietary Index and forearm BMD. Among the single index components, colas and non-cola soft drinks were negatively associated with BMD. The negative association between the Dietary Index and BMD prevailed after adjusting for gender, age, and body mass index, length of education, smoking, alcohol intake, and physical activity. Conclusion. An index reflecting frequent intake of soft drinks and rare intake of fruit and vegetables was inversely related to distal forearm bone mineral density

Viva Voce: Jesper Alvær

Video recording of Jesper Alvær's viva voce at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, October 26, 2017. Supervisors: Angela Melitopoulos and Mike Sperlinger. Appraisal Committee: Dora Garcia, Carmen Mõrsch and Andreas Siekmann.The project Work, work: Staging dislocation in artistic and non artistic labour explores shifts in the conventions regulating artistic labour in the expanded field of art, responding to the radical shifts in artistic practice, related to its deskilling, distributed agency and blurred authorship. Over the course of his fellowship Alvær engaged the research topic in different ways - through exhibitions, covert performances, relational pieces, workshops - to test the contemporary limits of artistic labour, enhancing his study by applying methodologies of social sciences. Through employment, delegation and other forms of collaboration, Work, work... scrutinizes relation linking artists and other participants of artistic process, asking how much can one subtract from professional role of an artist and still be able to share artistic faculties with others? In other words, what is artistic competence after deskilling and how can it be mutualised

Staging dislocation: Notes on finished and unfinished work

Artikkel publisert i tidsskriftet "Vector - Critical Research in Context". Tidsskriftet utkommer årlig. Tittel på 2014-utgivelsen: "Critical Theories and Creative Practices of Research." Redaktør: Catalin Gheorge. Utgitt av Universitatea de Arte "George Enescu" Iasi, Romania, med økonomisk støtte fra The Administration of the National Cultural Fund, Romania. Støttet av Program for kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid, Norge

Staging dislocation: Notes on finished and unfinished work

Artikkel publisert i tidsskriftet "Vector - Critical Research in Context". Tidsskriftet utkommer årlig. Tittel på 2014-utgivelsen: "Critical Theories and Creative Practices of Research." Redaktør: Catalin Gheorge. Utgitt av Universitatea de Arte "George Enescu" Iasi, Romania, med økonomisk støtte fra The Administration of the National Cultural Fund, Romania. Støttet av Program for kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid, Norge.publishedVersio

Viva Voce: Jesper Alvær

The project Work, work: Staging dislocation in artistic and non artistic labour explores shifts in the conventions regulating artistic labour in the expanded field of art, responding to the radical shifts in artistic practice, related to its deskilling, distributed agency and blurred authorship. Over the course of his fellowship Alvær engaged the research topic in different ways - through exhibitions, covert performances, relational pieces, workshops - to test the contemporary limits of artistic labour, enhancing his study by applying methodologies of social sciences. Through employment, delegation and other forms of collaboration, Work, work... scrutinizes relation linking artists and other participants of artistic process, asking how much can one subtract from professional role of an artist and still be able to share artistic faculties with others? In other words, what is artistic competence after deskilling and how can it be mutualised

Forsikring mot boligprisfall : hvilke forsikringsløsninger mot et boligprisfall er mest aktuelle for det norske markedet?

For mange husholdninger er en boliginvestering den største finansielle investeringen som gjøres i livet, og dermed vil prisnivået på boliger være av betydning for mange husstander. De seneste årene har et høyt boligprisnivå, og en økende andel husholdninger med høy gjeldsgrad aktualisert behovet for en forsikring mot boligprisfall. Hovedproblemstillingen tar utgangspunkt i at formålet med oppgaven er å finne ut av hvilke typer boligprisforsikringer som er mest egnet for det norske markedet, sett fra et Oslo-perspektiv: Hvilke forsikringsløsninger mot boligprisfall vil være mest aktuelle for det norske markedet? For å belyse dette temaet tar masteroppgaven for seg et utvalg av teorier knyttet til forsikring mot boligprisfall, som er ikke knyttet opp mot boligprisderivater. Shiller og Weiss publiserte i 1999 en artikkel hvor de tar for seg to teoretiske former for forsikring mot boligprisfall, hvorav den ene kalles Life-event triggered insurance policy (livshendelse forsikring). Dette er en forsikring som utløses kun hvis man blir tvunget til å selge boligen man eier med tap, og flytter over 8 mil (Shiller & Weiss 1999). I 2014 utga Mian og Sufi (2014) boken House of debt, hvor de presenterer en type forsikring hvor boliglånet reduseres, dersom et boligprisfall inntreffer. Romstad og Loen har i sin artikkel i Dagens Næringsliv diskutert er en aktuarisk rett prising av boligprisfallforsikring. Størrelsen på forsikringspremien øker om man kjøper en overpriset bolig, hvor risikoen for prisfall er større. Prisen på forsikringen er et «barometer» på hvor stor «overprisingen» er (Loen & Romstad 2016). Shiller og Weiss publiserte sin artikkel om forsikring mot boligprisfall allerede i 1999. Siden da har ingen norske forsikringsselskaper eller banker åpnet opp for å åpent tilby boligprisforsikring til norske husholdninger. Dette indikerer i seg at det kan være utfordrende å få banker og forsikringsselskaper til å finne en ideell innretning for forsikringen som både gjør at de ikke taper på å tilby produktet, samtidig som produktet vil være etterspurt av husholdningene. Om dette hadde vært et produkt som hadde vært enkelt å prise og velge innretning på, ville det antageligvis allerede vært et eksisterende forsikringstilbud, som sammenfaller med min vurdering.To many households an investment in housing is the largest financial investment made in life, and hence the price level of housing will be of importance. Over the past years, the rise in price level of housing, and an increasing proportion of households with a large debt-income ratio have actualized the need for an insurance against reduction in housing prices. The purpose of the assignment is to find out which types of home equity insurance are most suitable for the Norwegian market, viewed from an Oslo perspective. The main question is: Which insurance solutions for home equity will be most relevant for the Norwegian market? To illustrate this theme, the Master's thesis deals with a range of theories related to home equity insurance, which are not linked to housing price derivatives. Shiller and Weiss published an article in 1999 covering two theoretical forms of insurance against a drop in housing prices, one of which is called a Life-Event triggered insurance policy, which is triggered if one has to sell the residence, and move beyond 50 miles (Shiller & Weiss 1999). In 2014, Mian and Sufi (2014) publish the book House of Debt, where they present another type of insurance, which propose that if there is a housing price drop, the mortgage will also be reduced. Romstad and Loen have discussed in their article in Dagens Næringsliv, an actuarially correct pricing of home equity insurance. The price of the insurance premium increases if one buys an overpriced housing, as the risk of a drop in prices is greater. The price of the insurance is a "barometer" of how much the "overpricing" is (Loen & Romstad 2016). Shiller and Weiss published their article on insurance against housing prices already in 1999. Since then, no Norwegian insurance companies or banks have opened up to offer home equity insurance to Norwegian households. This indicates that it may be challenging to get banks and insurance companies to find an ideal facility for the insurance. As they should both earn on offering the product, and the product have to be demanded by households. If this was a product that was easy to price and sell to households, it would most likely already have been an existing insurance offer to day.M-ECO

Vi kan ikke spise algoritmer

Industri 4.0 har blitt lansert som betegnelse på den neste teknologiske revolusjonen. Den aktuelle utviklingen innebærer at algoritmer bygges inn i det meste av våre materielle omgivelser. Alt blir digitalisert og kan styres via Internett, telefonsignaler eller ulike typer radiobølger. Robotisert produksjon, smarte produkter, smarte fabrikker, smarte byer og smarte statsapparat kan symbolisere hva vi har i vente. Men Industri 4.0 utvikles ikke i et vakuum. Industri 4.0 drives fram de neste desenniene parallelt med et unikt historisk bakteppe preget av befolkningseksplosjon, skjevfordeling i alderspyramider, økende ulikheter mellom mennesker og voksende klimatrusler. Industri 4.0 innebærer at produksjon vil foregå med betraktelig færre ansatte. Scenarioet basert på denne utviklingen kan bety arbeidsløshet i stor stil, deretter etterspørselsfall og påfølgende økonomiske nedgangstider. Mens noen ser Industri 4.0 som en forsterker av krise- og undergangsutvikling, ser andre for seg at dette blir redningsplanken som vil frambringe nye produkter, nye arbeidsmåter og nye forretningsmodeller og nytt håp. Hvilket scenario som realiseres, er resultat av overnasjonale, nasjonalpolitiske, kollektivt organiserte og bedriftsstrategiske valg, uansett vår tids mest skjellsettende utfordringer

Implementation of Company-Specific Production Systems (XPS) in Multinational Companies: A comparative case study concerning implementation of XPS in two subsidiaries of Elkem

In order for multinational manufacturing companies to strengthen their position in a competitive global market, continuous improvement of the companies’ operations has received an increasing focus since the 1990s. In order to develop a lasting culture for continuous improvement, an increasing number of companies have developed ‘improvement programs’ tailored towards the company’s specific operations. This type of improvement programs have been denoted as company-specific production systems (XPS), and are inspired by principles from Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System (TPS). In Norway, the multinational materials producer Elkem has been one of the pioneers within XPS with its Elkem Business System (EBS). Elkem’s EBS center has since the early 2000s implemented EBS in most subsidiaries within the company. There has been a heated debate in research over the transferability of TPS, as some argue that TPS is a universal set of management tools that can be transferred everywhere, while others deny the universal transferability of TPS, emphasizing the unique socio-economic context in which TPS exists. This study adopts the contingency perspective, believing TPS to be universally transferable but subject to organizational and external factors which influence the implementation at the recipient site. The contribution of this study is to increase the understanding of the conditions that influence implementation of XPS in the subsidiaries of a multinational company (MNC). In order to accomplish this, a comparative case study of two manufacturing units in Elkem is conducted, investigating one plant in Norway (Elkem Salten) and one plant in Iceland (Elkem Iceland). The two plants were chosen on the basis of their many similarities (production facilities, size, number of employees), which on a general basis should qualify the plants for an equal starting point when implementing XPS. However, while Elkem Salten appears to have experienced great success when implementing XPS, Elkem Iceland has experienced many challenges and relapses. Consequently, this case study seeks to examine why the implementation of EBS has varied to such a large extent between the two plants. In order to investigate this issue, the study first identifies i) factors influencing the local EBS implementation at each plant, ii) factors influencing the inter-unit EBS related sharing between the plants. As the research approach of this study is explanatory, and the investigated events are contemporary and possible to observe directly, a case study design was chosen to carry out the research. Drawing on the strengths of such a research design, the study employs multiple sources of evidence such as: focused and in-depth interviews, direct observation and several types of documentation. Further, in order to guide the selection of empirical data, the study uses theory from five streams of literature: absorptive capacity theory, change management, institutional theory, corporate socialization theory and agency theory. The choice of literature is based on a literature review conducted as a preliminary study during the autumn of 2011, within the field of ‘transfer of procedural knowledge within MNCs’. The background for the comparative case study was a perception that Elkem Salten had achieved a higher level of success with its XPS implementation compared to Elkem Iceland. However, the findings of this study create a more nuanced impression of the current situation: Although Elkem Salten can be said to have had a more efficient XPS implementation, resulting in a more systemized approach to XPS, Elkem Iceland has in recent years shown significant improvement. Still, the plant lacks a sufficient systemization of the XPS implementation, resulting in a lower efficiency of the implementation process. Further, past events in the plant’s history have influenced the implementation of XPS, giving the plant a difficult start. Yet, the findings show that both plants have some common areas of improvement potential, such as increasing the motivation and involvement related to XPS among employees at the operating level. The study identifies 19 factors through the reviewed literature that are believed to have an influence on the implementation and inter-unit sharing of XPS within MNCs. These factors can be classified according to three levels of analysis: subsidiary level, corporate level and national level. The expected influence of the factors are formulated in 13 theoretical propositions, which are tested based on the empirical data. Four of the propositions find strong support and are thus expected to be generalizable to other MNCs. Further, a holistic perspective is used to evaluate all the factors, showing that they intertwine and influence each other across the three levels of analysis, and across the five theoretical perspectives. Although the discussion suggests a complex interaction of the identified factors, some particular factors are identified as major determinants for the different outcomes of the two plants. Of the identified factors related to implementation of XPS, the discussion shows that the organizational inertia at Iceland has had a major influence on the outset of the plant’s XPS implementation, and left a challenging basis for further implementation. Further, the plant at Salten has had a major advantage over the plant at Iceland due to a higher level of prior related knowledge of the plant manager, and the plant management’s higher level of knowledge acquisition. This advantage has resulted in a more systemized approach to the implementation process, and a higher level of cross-functional communication. Of the identified factors related to inter-unit sharing of XPS, the discussion reveals that the lack of standardization in XPS implementation has been an important underlying factor, causing the existence of other barriers to sharing. Most importantly, the lack of standardization has complicated the use of corporate socialization mechanisms. Further, the sharing between units in the case company has mainly been facilitated by an XPS knowledge center, acting as an intermediary. The empirical findings reveal that this arrangement has been a bottleneck in the XPS sharing process. These factors have commingled, and led to a limited sharing of XPS related knowledge in the case company. Therefore, many valuable experiences related to XPS implementation have not been shared between units, contributing to the high variation in the level of XPS implementation. For managers of multinational companies, the findings imply that managing XPS in a multinational company is a complex undertaking. The findings show that providing subsidiaries with theoretical knowledge of XPS tools and methodology is not enough in itself. In order to achieve higher levels of implementation, local managers must possess a practical understanding of how to translate XPS related knowledge to the every-day situation of the plant. Further, focus should be on systemizing the intra-unit, cross-functional communication as well as the inter-unit knowledge sharing. In addition, managers of the parent company must communicate the importance of XPS related knowledge sharing, and promote a common corporate identity to strengthen inter-unit ties within the MNC. This study provides two main contributions to the theory. First, the study’s findings indicate a strong link between the field of procedural knowledge transfer and the implementation and sharing of XPS in MNCs. Based on this link, a set of propositions for investigating XPS implementation and sharing in MNCs is provided for future research. Second, the study proposes a theoretical model which explains how the investigated theories interact to explain XPS implementation and sharing in multinational companies