An Analysis of Bull and Bear Markets in the U.S. and Norway

Master's thesis Business Administration BE501 - University of Agder 2017There is no previous research on the dating of bull and bear cycles in the Norwegian stock market. Even for the U.S., few researchers have conducted a thorough analysis of the bull and bear markets. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an analysis of bull and bear markets in the U.S. and Norway from 1914 to 2016. Bull and bear markets are identi ed using a formal dating method. We divide our datasets into two sub-periods, to account for the robustness of our results. We nd that bull markets are longer and bear markets are shorter in the U.S. compared to Norway. We perform a structural break analysis and nd a major break in the growth rate in the U.S. and the Norwegian stock market. We see that the dominance of bull markets are almost identical for the U.S. and Norway post-structural break. Additionally, we test the return di erences between the rst (last) six months and the remaining months of bull and bear market states. These tests reveal evidence that returns are greater (smaller) in the rst (last) six months than the remaining for all bull and bear markets, except Norwegian bear markets. Finally, we test the investor overreaction hypothesis on the bull and bear market amplitude and nd that the dynamics of the U.S. stock market can partially be explained by investor overreaction

The Perceived Impact of the Agile Development and Project Management Method Scrum on Information Systems and Software Development Productivity

This research contributes to the body of knowledge in information systems development (ISD) with an empirical investigation in form of a case study that demonstrates the positive impact of the agile development and project management method Scrum on information systems and software development productivity and it provides a useful operationalization of the concept through seven identified indicators for productivity. Despite the fact that the case unit had challenges with the use of Scrum, the indicators identified the areas where the company had managed to exploit the potential of Scrum and its practices with regard to increasing productivity. The research results are discussed both with regard to the existing Scrum literature as well as to complex adaptive systems (CAS) as a foundation for ISD and agile development

Intestinal obstruction caused by a Meckel’s diverticulum adherent to an infected urachal cyst

Urachal remnant diseases are rare and frequently misdiagnosed, as the clinical presentation is similar to more common causes of intra-abdominal and pelvic disease. We report the rare case of a 1½-year-old boy with small-bowel obstruction caused by an adhesion band between a Meckel’s diverticulum and an infected urachal cyst. The condition was initially misdiagnosed and treated as a periappendiceal abscess on the basis of clinical examination and ultrasonography findings. In addition to the case report, we present an overview of urachal diseases

Creating business value through agile project management and information systems development: the perceived impact of scrum

Value creation through information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) is a major IS research topic. However there still exists an ambiguity and fuzziness of the \u27IS business value\u27 concept and a lack of clarity surrounding the value creation process. This also true for organizations that develop IS/IT and for development technologies like information systems development and project management methods that are applied in the production of IS/IT. The agile method Scrum is one such technology. In the research presented here we studied productivity, quality and employee satisfaction as supported by Scrum as value creating measures. Our positive assessment is built upon subjective perceptions and goes beyond hard measures and indicators. It provides insights into individual and organisational impacts and sheds light on the value generation process. The measures we present thus deal with some of the deficiencies in current IS business value research and contribute to filling existing gaps in an IS business value research agenda