La enseñanza de las construcciones condicionales no reales. Un análisis de errores en hablantes nativos noruegos

This master thesis presents an original investigation on Error Analysis on the L2 / L3 teaching of Spanish, specifically about the use of conditional structures involving subjunctive by a group of secondary school native Norwegian students. The research starts from a corpus consisting on a number of directed grammar activities done by the student group during one semester, and proposes a classification of errores that uses a mainly linguistic taxonomy. As usual in the Error Analysis methodology, follow-up activities aimed at solving the main errors identified by the research are proposed. Our main results show that (i) the most systematic types of error identified involve confusion in the subjunctive or the conditional forms, probably due to a lack of understanding of the communicative notions involved in each form and the lack of clarity about the subordinate or main clause status of each member in the conditional and (ii) there is a significant number of agreement or inflection fails, atypical of this type of student, which probably should be explained as due to the cognitive charge that identifying the right verbal forms in conditionals mean for these students

Preventing Accidents in Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: The U.S. Approach and Some Contrasting Features of the Norwegian Approach

This working paper deals with the U.S. approach for governing the safety of offshore oil and gas operations and preventing major accidents during exploratory drilling and production. It evaluates the statutory and regulatory framework, and agency implementation and reliance on industrial standards, and then suggests reforms to improve the efficacy of this governance system. References are made to the blowout at the drilling rig operated by British Petroleum to support the evaluation and reforms. References are also made to Norwegian laws and regulations governing oil and gas operations in the North Sea. As one of the world’s largest sources of offshore oil and natural gas, Norway has achieved a high level of safety and offers a proven alternative approach for consideration in the development of an improved U.S. approach. Several additional sections are being developed to complete this working paper