Reconsidering Journalist Safety Training

Safety training courses and manuals are designed to provide journalists with guidance to assess and mitigate risk. In this article, we ask whether content of such training and guidance is informed by actual threats and risks relevant to journalists working in the field. Departing from our own previous research about threats and dangers faced by journalists working in conflict zones or covering dangerous beats, and a review of the literature addressing the issue of safety manuals for journalists, we evaluate the content of five safety-training documents. Of these, two are descriptions of internationally-focused safety courses, two are safety manuals produced for a national audience, and one is a handbook focusing specifically on safety for women reporters in the Arab region. The purpose is to identify various aspects of safety addressed in training and manuals offered to locally and internationally-deployed journalists—and illuminate how they may differ in focus and approach. Through a comparison of the content of the selected manuals and course descriptions, we conclude that these trainings and manuals to some extent address specific variations in context, but that detailed attention towards gender differences in risk and other personal characteristics are not given equivalent weight. The international training focuses excessively on physical environment issues (such as those of a ‘hostile environment’), while the manuals with national or regional focus are practice-oriented and largely take a journalistic point of departure. We argue that training and manuals can benefit from considering both these aspects for risk assessment, but recommend that addressing journalistic practice and personal resources is fundamental to all journalist safety training since it is at the personal, practical, and media organisational levels that the mitigation encouraged by these trainings can happen

Framing the Covid-19 pandemic: A case study of the role of Norwegian public service broadcasting in times of crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused both a widespread public health crisis and a global economic crisis, disrupting every aspect of our lives, health, education, jobs, and social life. To provide the public with trustworthy and continuously updated information and stories during uncertain times, newsrooms have made pandemic coverage a priority. Conducting a content analysis of Norwegian news and debate programs on radio and television throughout 2020, we found that the frames most dominant in news broadcasts were the least used frames in debate programs, and vice versa. Overall, the five most common frames were societal consequences, economic consequences, medical risk, government measures, social behaviour, and risk. This suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic was contextualized as an economic and social crisis as well as a health crisis. However, the lack of politicization, conflict and responsibility frames, suggests media coverage missed a critical perspective.publishedVersio

Designing a Simulation showcasing the Pharmacological Effects of Beta-2-Agonists in Asthma Treatment; Virtual Reality as a supplement to traditional teaching methods

As educational technology evolves, there is a growing interest in applying VR in teaching complex scientific concepts that benefit from a visual and immersive learning environment. Motivated by the promising results of VR in medical education across multiple disciplines, we aimed to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of this technology in pharmacology education. This discipline, which involves understanding how drugs work within the human body, is often considered complex and challenging for students. However, it is a critical component of medical education and is essential in treating and preventing various diseases. The study was driven by two research inquiries. The primary inquiry aimed to explore the potential design possibilities of a virtual reality (VR) simulation for visualizing the pharmacological effects of beta-2-agonists in asthma treatment. The secondary question focused on evaluating the perspectives of students and educators regarding the efficacy of the VR application in learning pharmacology concepts compared to conventional teaching approaches. The application underwent two rounds of evaluation sessions with both students and teachers. Participants responded positively to the immersive learning experience, particularly appreciating the detailed visualizations and interactivity offered by the VR application. Their feedback highlighted the potential of VR to create a more intuitive understanding of complex pharmacological processes. Despite the evaluation phase featuring a limited number of participants, the received feedback suggested a promising potential for VR as an additional tool. The study, therefore, serves as a proof of concept, showcasing the possibilities of VR in enhancing pharmacology education and paving the way for future research and development in this area.Masteroppgave i Programvareutvikling samarbeid med HVLPROG399MAMN-PRO

Applying a life cycle approach to project management methods

Project management is increasingly important to organisations because projects are the method by which organisations respond to their environment. A key element within project management is the standards and methods that are used to control and conduct projects, collectively known as project management methods (PMMs) and exemplified by PRINCE2, the Project Management Institute’s and the Association for Project Management’s Bodies of Knowledge (PMBOK and APMBOK. The purpose of this paper is to apply the life cycle approach to PMMs, stimulate debate on the accuracy and merits of the life cycle approach and to facilitate the development of the life cycle in the future. Currently no life cycle process exists for PMMs. Developed from desk-based research and empirical evidence, a life cycle has been proposed consisting of five stages: Select, Embed, Tailor, Operate and Develop. The stages are explained and a call made for further research to develop and validate the life cycle model

Forholdet mellom løpende og grunnleggende etterretning - Roten til et problem eller nødvendig friksjon

Forholdet mellom løpende og grunnleggende etterretning er et omdiskutert tema internt i Etterretningstjenesten. Et tema som ikke er offisielt behandlet, men som til stadighet diskuteres på uoffisielle arenaer. Det eksisterer mengder med litteratur som belyser begrepene løpende og grunnleggende etterretning. Derimot har oppgavens forfatter til gode å finne litteratur som berører deres forhold direkte. Oppgavens formål er å konstatere om det finnes utfordringer i samspillet mellom løpende og grunnleggende etterretning. I oppgavens første del beskrives bakgrunn, problemstilling og metode. For å samle inn informasjon til oppgaven har det blitt gjennomført intervjuer av personell som ikke ønsker og å bli navngitt. Samtidig kan dette personellet også defineres som eksperter på det de gjør, hvilket medfører at det rent metodisk innebærer risiko ettersom forfatteren ikke er trent innen intervjuteknikk. Likeså er det en metodisk svakhet at personellet ikke ønsker at deres intervjuer skulle bli tatt opp. Oppgaven baserer seg derfor på ekspertintervjuer som ikke lar seg verifisere. I andre del av oppgaven drøftes tre ulike forskningsspørsmål: forholdet mellom løpende og grunnleggende etterretning i praksis, hvem og hvordan det prioriteres mellom løpende og grunnleggende etterretning samt avslutningsvis en diskusjon om selve organiseringen. Fra samtlige tre spørsmål fremkommer det at mennesket står i fokus og at prosesser og samhandling er personavhengige. Oppgaven utleder de potensielle konsekvensene dette kan ha innen de forskjellige forskningsspørsmålene. I siste del vises resultatet av oppgaven. Måten løpende og grunnleggende etterretning gjennomføres på i praksis skaper rom for menneskelig feil. Samtidig kan mye tyde på at produksjonspress samtbehovet for løpende informasjon gjør det naturlig å prioritere løpende fremfor grunnleggende etterretning. Selve organiseringen av et løpende fokus og grunnleggende fokus har en god intensjon. Dog knyttes det usikkerhet til om gjennomføringen er god nok, nettopp på grunn av det mulighetsrom som forholdet gir for menneskelig påvirkning. Denne påvirkningen kan komme fra toppledelse og på analytikernivå. Avslutningsvis konkluderer oppgaven med at dersom det ikke eksisterer en god balanse mellom prioritering av løpende og grunnleggende etterretning kan det gå utover Etterretningstjenestens evne til å ivareta varslingsoppdraget

Selective Serial Multi-Antibody Biosensing with TOPAS Microstructured Polymer Optical Fibers

We have developed a fluorescence-based fiber-optical biosensor, which can selectively detect different antibodies in serial at preselected positions inside a single piece of fiber. The fiber is a microstructured polymer optical fiber fabricated from TOPAS cyclic olefin copolymer, which allows for UV activation of localized sensor layers inside the holes of the fiber. Serial fluorescence-based selective sensing of Cy3-labelled α-streptavidin and Cy5-labelled α-CRP antibodies is demonstrated

Genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain DK1-NH57388A, a stable mucoid cystic fibrosis isolate

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen associated with chronic pulmonary infections and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of stable mucoid P. aeruginosa strain DK1-NH57388A, a CF isolate which has previously been used to establish chronic lung infections in an animal model