An Approach to Select Cost-Effective Risk Countermeasures Exemplified in CORAS

Risk is unavoidable in business and risk management is needed amongst others to set up good security policies. Once the risks are evaluated, the next step is to decide how they should be treated. This involves managers making decisions on proper countermeasures to be implemented to mitigate the risks. The countermeasure expenditure, together with its ability to mitigate risks, is factors that affect the selection. While many approaches have been proposed to perform risk analysis, there has been less focus on delivering the prescriptive and specific information that managers require to select cost-effective countermeasures. This paper proposes a generic approach to integrate the cost assessment into risk analysis to aid such decision making. The approach makes use of a risk model which has been annotated with potential countermeasures, estimates for their cost and effect. A calculus is then employed to reason about this model in order to support decision in terms of decision diagrams. We exemplify the instantiation of the generic approach in the CORAS method for security risk analysis.Comment: 33 page

Semiotiske systemlyder

Denne oppgaven studerer den semiotiske betydningen som ligger i systemlydene til Microsoft Windows. Lyder fra tre utgaver av Windows blir analysert: Windows 2000, Windows XP og Windows Vista. Formålet med analysen er å se hvordan betydningen har utviklet seg fra et system til et annet, og om lyddesignet er styrt av konvensjoner eller basert på kreative  tilfeldigheter. I et bredere perspektiv forsøker oppgaven å besvare hvordan betydningen i lyd forhandles fram til brukeren opp mot samtidige inntrykk som skrift og bilde, og det drøftes hvilken rolle systemlyder kan spille for å gjøre et brukergrensesnitt mer forståelig. Det teoretiske utgangspunktet for oppgaven ligger i at vi oppfatter lyd som objekter i bevegelse, og at bevegelsesinntrykkene kan knyttes opp mot en bestemt handling som har skjedd i brukergrensesnittet. Fra dette bevegelsesinntrykket kan det utledes en betydning i systemlyden, men denne betydningen eksisterer også multimodalt opp mot andre samtidige inntrykk

Interval probability propagation

AbstractBelief networks are tried as a method for propagation of singleton interval probabilities. A convex polytope representation of the interval probabilities is shown to make the problem intractable even for small parameters. A solution to this is to use the interval bounds directly in computations of the propagation algorithm. The algorithm presented leads to approximative results but has the advantage of being polynomial in time. It is shown that the method gives fairly good results

Integrated missions: the challenge of planning and command

Civil-Military Integration is a growing trend in modern peace operations. Most leading nations and international organisations are developing integrated structures at strategic levels and have started to change their doctrines to include a broader spectrum of tools disposable to the national as well as the international community. The UN has established and is implementing their concept of Integrated Missions which aims to link the long term development and short term peacekeeping effort into their peace-building strategy. This thesis is analysing this concept, focusing on the planning and structuring of Integrated Missions and exploring what consequences it will have to the military component. First the thesis reviews some of the important historical developments toward civil-military integration and multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping during the 1990s. The Military Force Commander became a military adviser to a political leader, and the UN operations became more civil in form and function and the military’s task portfolio widened to include an increasingly number of non-military tasks. Further the thesis is establishing a theoretical model of an integrated mission in a wider peace building context involving the humanitarian sector, the UN country team and the non-governmental organisations. Planning and structure of a mission is focused. This model is then brought to the practical level by doing a single case study of the ongoing UN Mission in Sudan, focusing on the planning, the establishment and structure as mandated in Security Resolution 1590. This mission seems to be well integrated already from the beginning involving the UN Country Team in the strategy and planning. The mission has a unified plan coordinated with the humanitarian work plan for Sudan. The concept of Integrated Mission implies that the military component must share their planning,information, staff and logistics with the civilian sector in the operations. The UN is focusing on implementation of the concept in their future missions, establishing more integrated structures at mission HQ level and more integrated processes at all levels. The military must provide more expertise in form of intelligence and joint level staff experiences in order to establish the new integrated structures. Further the humanitarian sector of the UN (OCHA) and the peacekeeping sector (DPKO) seem to focus on coordination of their policy documents and de-confliction of roles especially when it comes to the military involvement in humanitarian efforts. Integration is much about understanding roles; avoiding duplication of effort and trying to bring synergies in a comprehensive strategy

Compatibility of dual methodologies : Examining and exploring the different sociological epistemics implied and produced by combining Grounded Theory Method and Ethnography in a Ph.D. project on drug users

Purpose: The overarching aim of this course paper is to discuss the compatibility of ethnography with grounded theory. More specifically the aim is to show how ethnographers can apply grounded theory as an analytical tool to construct theory from data and link the discussion on the different traditions within grounded theory (and the criticism towards these positions) to my own doctoral thesis in sociology.In the introductory part of the paper, I first give a brief summary of my own Ph.D. project, along with the ethnographic approach I am using to collect data, with methods including documents, participant observations and open-ended interviews. Background: Since its discovery by Glaser and Strauss in the sixties(Glaser & Strauss, 1967),grounded theory has evolved,and today, three ‘main’ perspectives dominate its influence. These three consists of Glaser’s approach, Strauss and Corbin’s approach and a later version, called constructivist grounded theory, with Charmaz being one of its most prominent figures(Annells, 1996). Embarking on the journey of discussing these scholars viewsand different perspectives on grounded theory , it is important to clarify that dividing grounded theory into three ‘main camps’,as I have, is a way of simplifying a complex methodology, done in the interest of making a meaningful discussion possible within the scope of this course paper. Therefore,continuing on, I do not set out to cover all the extensive questions and concerns that can arise when combining grounded theory with ethnography, or try to give a complete view on this methodology as a whole. Originality/value: This paper, written with the ambition of exploring methodological questions found within the philosophy of science, contributes to my project by offering critical and important reflections on how ethnography and grounded theory might be compatible. Further, I investigate how combining the two methodologies might be effective in my research project, and I discuss arguments and views made by the most prominent members of the different grounded theory ‘camps’, related to disadvantages and advantages of applying one of the variants of grounded theory for my specific research project. However, despite delimiting the discussion to focus on arguments related to methodological challenges within my own project, the paper will still be written with the wider methodological context in mind, implying that I will draw on empirical research and perspectives of notable scholars,both from the field of grounded theory and of ethnography.publishedVersio

The Nested Affordance Process Model: Bridging Technology Use and Societal-Level Impact

This paper reports on an ongoing research endeavor in The Gambia. The study develops a nested affordance process model to make sense of the strengthening of the national education management information system. Distinguishing lower-level technology use affordances from mid- and higher-level affordances, the three-layered nested affordance process model guides the research and contributes to illuminating findings, explaining the implementation of the Gambian education management information system. The contribution of the paper is twofold. The paper contributes with the elaboration of a stepwise framework for affordance categorization in terms of granularity levels. Second, the paper illustrates how the actualization of mid-level affordances play a key role in an organization’s quest for societal-level changes, thus bridging the gap between technology use and societal-level impact

On the verge of entering the field : Addressing the methodological issues of using ethnographic observation and biographical in-depth interviews when following young drug users in processes of rehabilitation

The paper will discuss reflections on certain methodological aspects and ethical dilemmas related to ethnographic fieldwork on Young drug users and the qualitative tools used to obtain data, including: sampling procedures, participants roles and data collection strategies, dilemmas related to observer roles and observer interference, implications of adding video as an instrument for obtaining data, researcher ethics concerning the study of marginalised groups and the handling of sensitising material. The paper is written in conjunction With a Ph.D. course given at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Educational Science, 6th – 7th of November 2017.publishedVersio

Chunks in the classroom: An experiment on the use of Cognitive Linguistic principles in academic vocabulary instruction among Norwegian upper secondary ESL-students

Ordsekvensar, også kalla ‘chunks’ på engelsk, er ein viktig del av det engelske vokabularet. Denne masteroppgåva undersøkjer mogelege effektar av å bruka læringsstrategiar inspirert av kognitiv lingvistikk i undervisning av akademiske ordsekvensar. Forsking frå kognitiv lingvistikk viser at dei semantiske og strukturelle eigenskapane ved mange ordsekvensar ikkje er tilfeldige. Dei kan forklarast med utgangspunkt i prinsipp om likskap eller nærleik som dannar grunnlag for til dømes metaforar, rim og allitterasjonar. Lingvistiske studiar viser også at undervisningsmetodar som fører til auka forståing av desse mekanismane, og auka evne til å kjenna igjen ordsekvensar i språket, er pedagogisk effektive. For å undersøkja desse effektane nærmare, vart det gjennomført eit eksperiment med to eksperimentgrupper og ei kontrollgruppe. Deltakarane gjennomførte fire ulike oppgåver. Masteroppgåva måler bruk, evne til gjenkjenning og forståing av ordsekvensar. Den same testen vart nytta som pre-test og post-test før og etter eit undervisningsopplegg. Dette undervisningsopplegget nytta didaktisk metode basert på teori om ‘chunks’. Testresultata blei analysert med ein ANCOVA-test, som presenterte blant anna sannsynsverdiar (p-verdiar) og verdiar for effektstorleik, samt statistisk deskriptive mål i form av gjennomsnittsverdi og standardavvik. Studien fann at læringsopplegget hadde ein liten, positiv effekt på gjenkjenning av ordsekvensar, men at opplegget ikkje hadde signifikant effekt på eksperimentdeltakarane sin bruk og forståing av ordsekvensar. Analysen indikerte også at akademiske idiom er særleg eigna i undervisning inspirert av kognitiv lingvistikk. Funn i oppgåva tyder også på at høgt-presterande og homogene klassar får større utbyte av undervisningsopplegg basert på kognitiv lingvistisk teori.Engelsk mastergradsoppgåveMPENGLZMPHFFAKMAHF-ENGMAHF-LÆFRENG35