A Seasonal Analysis of Extreme Precipitation Trends in the Contiguous United States

The purpose of this paper is to examine extreme precipitation trends in the United States. The National Climate Assessment estimated that average precipitation in the United States has increased in the last 100 years, with variation occurring regionally. Some regions have experienced larger increases in average precipitation, while others have experienced decreases. However, this aggregate increase in average precipitation does not necessarily indicate an analogous trend in extreme precipitation. Statistically, average and extreme values are nearly independent. In this paper, a changepoint technique and extreme value statistical models will be used for estimation of trend and its uncertainty. A changepoint occurs when a station makes a change in location, equipment, etc., and can cause data to appear as if there has been a sudden, inexplicable shift in extreme precipitation. These shifts are attributed to changepoints. However, good records of when and where these changepoints occur are not always kept. Consequently, this paper will use changepoint estimation techniques in order to produce more accurate trend estimation for extreme precipitation

Seasonal Variations in Infiltration in Cold Climate Raingardens - A Case Study from Norway

Winter infiltration in cold climate raingardens is a key function for proper year round function. The Modified Phillip-Dunne Infiltrometers (MPD) procedure was used for measuring winter variation in infiltration capacity in a raingarden. The research was based on a case study approach, combining field measurements and simulations. The results were compared to publicized results from the raingarden at Risvollan and literature values addressing cold climate. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) provides a measure of infiltration capacity and is recommended to be above 10 cm/h in cold climate raingardens. The results show a seasonal variation in Ksat, from 1 cm/h (October) to 0.05 cm/h (November-April). Simulation of a raingarden in Trondheim, show a change from 75 % to 25 % in the amount of winter inflow the raingarden infiltrate or drain when Ksat goes from 1 cm/h to 0.05 cm/h. This paper presents a winter adaptation of the MPD-method. Few similar studies have been carried out in cold climates. Of these, few investigated the seasonal variations in infiltration capacity

Modelling and Analysis of Interdependencies between Financial, Communication and Power System Infrastructures in a Smart Grid Scenario

Samfunnet blir stadig mer sammenkoblet, og det samme blir infrastruk- turene som underbygger det. En av de viktigste truslene mot infrastruk- tursikkerhet er gjensidige avhengigheter som utvikles mellom dem. Den økende sammenkoblingen mellom infrastrukturer støtter de til å bli mer pålitelige, effektive og robuste. Imidlertid skaper en økning i avhengigeter et komplekst nettverk som kan skjule kritiske avhengigheter for infra- struktursystemenes funksjon. Denne avhandlingen undersøker hvilke gjensidige avhengigheter som kan utvikle seg mellom finans-, kommunikasjons- og kraftsysteminfrastruk- turen ved introduksjonen av 5G og Smart Grid teknologi i fremtiden. Tidligere arbeider har ikke adressert teknisk gjensidige avhengigheter i den finansiell infrastrukturen. Denne avhandlingen studerer de tekniske strukturer som er til stede i den økonomiske infrastrukturen, som danner grunnlaget for denne modellen. Ved å studere finansinfrastrukturen i sam- menheng med utviklingen av 5G og Smart Grid vil vi utvide forståelsen av hvilke gjensidige avhengigheter som kan oppstå i fremtiden. Ved bruk av en modell identifiserer vi gjensidig avhengighet mellom infrastruktur. Modellen er utviklet med en agentbasert tilnærming, og illustert ved å inkapsulere finans-, kommunikasjons- og kraftsysteminfra- strukturen på et systemnivå i et UML-diagram. Fra denne modellen er det utviklet en java-basert simulator i JADE-plattformen. Denne simulatoren muliggjør simulering av scenarier av katastrofale feil for å identifisere sammenfallende feil i og på tvers av infrastruktursystemene. Stead-state-simuleringen viser hvordan markedet er en eksponert og sårbar enhet i infrastruktursystemet. Simulering av katastrofale feil i datasentre viser hvordan feilen propagerer og skaper store utfordringer ved gjennopp- rettelse av kritisk Smart Grid-funksjonalitet. Simuleringsresultatene viser hvor tett infrastrukturene er koblet sammen, og hvordan hvert delsystem er kritisk for en annen.Society is becoming increasingly interconnected, and so is the infrastruc- tures that support it. One of the most significant threats to infrastructure security is interdependencies developed between them. The increas- ing interconnections between infrastructures support them to become more reliable, efficient and robust. However, the consequent increase in interdependencies creates a complex network which can hide critical interdependencies for the functioning of infrastructure systems. This thesis researches what interdependencies may develop between the financial, communications and power infrastructures in the migration towards a 5G and Smart Grid future. Previous works have failed to address financial infrastructure interdependencies in the technical domain. This thesis studies the technical structures present in the financial in- frastructure, which is part of the foundation for this model. Studying the financial infrastructure in the context of 5G and Smart Grid develop- ments will broaden the understanding of which interdependencies that may occur in the future. By developing a model, we identify interdependencies between infrastruc- tures. With the use of an agent-based approach, the model encapsulates the financial, communication and power system infrastructures on a sub- system level in a UML-diagram. From this model, we develop a java based simulator in the JADE platform. This simulator enables simulation of catastrophic failure scenarios to identify cascading failures inside and across the infrastructure systems. The steady-state simulation shows how the market is an exposed and vulnerable entity in the infrastructure systems. Simulations of catas- trophic failure in data centres shows how this causes a cascading failure that produces devastating recovery challenges for critical Smart Grid functionality. The simulation results prove how interconnected these infrastructure are, and how each subsystem is critical for the workings of another

The determination of crystal structure by means of X-rays

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Examining the Global Health Arena: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Convention Approach to Global Health Challenges

1-page key messages In June 2009 the Norwegian Directorate of Health commissioned the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services with compiling and analyzing available international research material on the strengths and weaknesses of a convention approach to global health challenges. The following report is a response to this commission. This purpose of the report is to contribute towards resolving the challenges related to poor health amongst the world’s poorest and least healthy population. As such, it represents an initiative from the Norwegian public administration towards informing national and international governmental bodies of strengths and weaknesses of a global health convention approach to structure the international work on global health. Key messages of the report: Increasing global interdependence makes the health of the world’s poorest and most marginalized people a pressing issue for all nations of the world. There are observable weaknesses in the current international frameworks to improve health for the world’s most marginalized people, including shortcomings in the human rights approach to health. A global health convention could provide an appropriate instrument to deal with some of the intractable problems of global health, especially: clearly define what are basic survival needs setting principles for cooperation, accountability, and allocation of resources between stakeholders structuring and coordinating the financing of global health investments granting rules for access to health services, including setting demands for national priorities with respect to the provision of health services Challenges might be to muster international support for supra-national health regulations, negotiate compromises between existing stakeholders in the global health arena, and to gain WHO’s support as a convener of the parties and as a facilitator of the adoption process

Forbudt kjærlighet Behandling av tyskerjenter i Norge etter andre verdenskrig på nasjonalt og lokalt nivå

Denne bacheloroppgaven handler om hvordan tyskerjenter fra Norge ble behandlet av norske myndigheter og lokalsamfunnet sitt i tiden rett etter andre verdenskrig. For å begrense oppgaven har hovedfokuset vært på å finne ut hvordan tyskerjentene ble behandlet på et nasjonalt plan, for å så sammenligne dette med hvordan tyskerjenter ble behandlet i Stjørdal og Lånke. Tyskerjenter brøt aldri med norsk lov, og ble derfor ikke straffet i en juridisk sammenheng. Likevel ble de strengt fordømt og straffet av en hevngjerrig befolkning som mente at tyskerjenter hadde opptrådt unasjonalt. De norske myndighetene var også med på å piske opp stemningen om at tyskerjenter ville bli straffet. Denne oppgaven redegjør på hvilke måter jentene ble straffet på, både fra befolkningen og myndighetenes sine. Deretter er det gjort sammenligninger som viser hvordan denne behandlingen står i kontrast til den som ble gitt på et lokalt plan. For å finne svar på problemstillingen har primærlitteratur blitt brukt og tolket, det er foretatt et intervju av et tidsvitne og leserinnlegg i en lokalavis er studert.This bachelor thesis is about how the Norwegian girls who had relationships with the German soldiers were treated by the Norwegian authorities and the community after the World War II. The main focus has been on finding out how these girls were treated on a national level, and then comparing this to how they were treated on a local level. To find out how the girls were treated on a local level, my focus has been on Stjørdal city and Lånke village. Even though the girls never violated the Norwegian law by having a relationship with a German soldier, they were punished by vengeful population who believed that the girls had acted un-national. The authorities supported the population and wanted to punish the girls one way or another. This paper explains how they were punished, both from the community and the Norwegian authorities, and then comparisons have been made to show how this treatment contrasts with punishment given on a local level

A long-term bibliometric analysis of journals influencing management accounting and control research

This paper explores which journals publish management accounting research and which sources are most cited in these journals. We apply bibliometric methods based on citation data from Web of Science and Scopus. Quantitatively, we examined the boundaries of management accounting by analysing 506,753 and 1,075,838 cited references from each respective database in the timespans 1945–2018 and 1960–2018 and found that the five most cited journals represent 6.5% and 4.7% of the total citations. The most cited journal in both Web of Science and Scopus is AOS, followed by MAR. The findings are discussed in light of diversity, and the article will claim that the boundaries of management accounting research are not subject to severe constraints. Google Scholar was initially chosen alongside Web of Science and Scopus, but, among other challenges, Google Scholar does not provide comparable citation data. Therefore, issues concerning using citation data and databases are also thoroughly discussed.publishedVersion© The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made

«Feil kropp eller rett kjønn» : diskursanalyse av Født i feil kropp, sesong 1 (2014)

I denne oppgaven analyserer jeg diskursiv praksis knyttet til kjønnsdysfori og kjønnsinkongruens i Norge, gjennom perspektiver hentet fra den kritiske diskursanalysen. Diskurs tilknyttet kjønn og kjønnsidentitet er i endring i vestlige samfunn, aktualisert og synliggjort gjennom tradisjonelle medietekster og nye medier. I Norge har dette blitt mest synlig gjennom dokumentarserien Født i feil kropp, hvis første sesong ble produsert av Merkur Film, og vist av TV2 høsten 2014. Serien fokuserer gjennom seks episoder på barn og unge som har fått eller søker å få diagnosen transseksualisme, som gir rett til kjønnsbekreftende behandling ved Rikshospitalet. Serien ble generelt godt mottatt da den ble vist, og den ble av mange ansett som et viktig og kunnskapsfremmende innblikk i tabubelagt tematikk. Samtidig ble den kritisert for å være lite representativ for det diskursive feltet, blant annet av talsmenn for organisasjonen Skeiv Ungdom. Dette feltet er i liten grad beskrevet tidligere i norsk kontekst, og i den grad det er gjort er det i tekster tilknyttet medisinsk eller helsevitenskapelig akademisk diskurs. Født i feil kropp er som populær dokumentarisk tekst spesielt interessant for diskursanalyse, all den tid dokumentarsjangeren gjerne oppfattes som virkelighetsnær og lite ideologisk. Jeg har i oppgaven forsøkt å finne ut i hvilken grad Født i feil kropps første sesong utfordret - og eventuelt endret - diskursiv og sosial praksis knyttet til kjønnsdysfori, kjønnsinkongruens og nonkonform kjønnsidentitet i Norge. For å besvare dette har jeg gjennomført en trestegs diskursanalyse av seriens første sesong, basert på Norman Faircloughs metodiske rammeverk. I en slik analyse inngår både analyse av tekst, analyse av diskursiv praksis (produksjon, distribusjon og mottagelse av teksten) og analyse av sosial praksis, altså tekstens relasjon til samfunnsstrukturen den er del av. Jeg har i analysen fokusert ekstra på diskursiv praksis som kan antyde ideologi, all den tid jeg identifiserer to delvis motstående ideologisk-diskursive formasjoner knyttet til dette sosiale feltet. Samtidig diskuterer jeg seriens innflytelse sett opp mot tilsvarende tekster innenfor juridisk og politisk diskurs i samme periode, da spesielt rapporten Rett til rett kjønn (2015), og den påfølgende Lov om endring av juridisk kjønn (2016). Analysen viser at serien legger seg nært opp mot diskursive normer tilhørende en av de to ideologisk-diskursive formasjonene, samtidig som den alternative formasjonens normer er utelatt fra seriens representasjon. Født i feil kropp må i så måte sies å ha vært en ideologisk tekst, jamfør Faircloughs definisjon. Samtidig må den sies å ha bidratt til å reprodusere en dikotomisk tokjønnsmodell, som er hegemonisk i den norske diskursordenen. Det er min konklusjon at serien i så måte bidro til relativt lite endring av dette diskursive feltet. Seriens innflytelse på tilstøtende sosial praksis innenfor feltet må også sies å ha vært begrenset, sammenlignet med blant annet rapporten Rett til rett kjønn, som synes å ha hatt langt større innflytelse, blant annet på utformingen av et nytt lovverk i Norge. Store deler av det diskursive feltet deltok i arbeidet med denne rapporten. Vinteren 2017 hadde seriens sesong 2 premiere, og mye tyder på at man i arbeidet med denne har tatt til seg noe av kritikken den første sesongen møtte. En eventuell oppfølgingsstudie ville kunne fokusert på en sammenligning av de to sesongene, i større detalj enn omfanget av denne oppgaven tillot. Den tredelte modellen for kritisk diskursanalyse er i mine øyne godt egnet for analyse av dokumentariske tekster, og bør derfor også være lett overførbar til studier av tekster med andre tema enn akkurat dette konkrete diskursive feltet

Development of the EORTC QLQ-CAX24, a questionnaire for cancer patients with cachexia

Context Cachexia is commonly found in cancer patients and has profound consequences; yet there is only one questionnaire that examines the patient's perspective. Objective To report a rigorously developed module for patient self-reported impact of cancer cachexia. Methods Module development followed published guidelines. Patients from across the cancer cachexia trajectory were included. In Phase 1, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) issues were generated from a literature review and interviews with patients in four countries. The issues were revised based on patient and health care professional (HCP) input. In Phase 2, questionnaire items were formulated and translated into the languages required for Phase 3, the pilot phase, in which patients from eight countries scored the relevance and importance of each item, and provided qualitative feedback. Results A total of 39 patients and 12 HCPs took part in Phase 1. The literature review produced 68 HRQOL issues, with 22 new issues arising from the patient interviews. After patient and HCP input, 44 issues were formulated into questionnaire items in Phase 2. One hundred ten patients took part in Phase 3. One item was reworded, and 20 items were deleted as a consequence of patient feedback. Conclusions The QLQ-CAX24 is a cancer cachexia-specific questionnaire, comprising 24 items, for HRQOL assessment in clinical trials and practice. It contains five multi-item scales (food aversion, eating and weight-loss worry, eating difficulties, loss of control, and physical decline) and four single items

What competence do software companies want from university graduates?

An important concern for study program design is the employability of candidates. This paper seeks to establish what competence is sought by employers of IT candidates, based on interviews with representatives from 120 Norwegian companies working with IT. The results have been analysed to identify what the IT industry expect from university candidates. For the whole sample, the most frequently mentioned characteristics were programming knowledge, adaptability, the willingness to learn new things and problem-solving skills. If we only consider the companies that develop software, the most frequently mentioned characteristics were programming knowledge, the willingness to learn new things and communication skills. The interviewees were also asked which characteristics that they were missing from university candidates. The most mentioned shortcomings were practical experience with coding and maintenance, adaptability and communication skills when relating to clients. Towards the end of the article, it is discussed how the university can improve in these respects. The industry’s focus on adaptability and the willingness to learn new things indicates that the time when it was considered important that graduates knew how to use specific tools is over. The IT-industry has come to realize that they cannot escape a future of frequent changes to tools and methods.publishedVersionThe Nordic Journal of STEM Education licenses all content of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means, among other things, that anyone is free to copy and distribute the content, as long as they give proper credit to the author(s) and the journal. For further information, see Creative Commons website for human readable or lawyer readable versions