The role of Petroleum in Portraying and Perceiving Stavanger

This master thesis explores the influence of the petroleum industry on the place identity of Stavanger, a Western Norwegian coastal city frequently called ‘the oil capital’. Based on interviews and focus groups including petroleum workers and people involved with regional image building in Stavanger municipality, this thesis explores the role of the petroleum industry in narratives on the past, present and future identity of Stavanger. This is conceptualised through a merged framework, where place identity is seen as both being constructed by the perceptions, feelings and meanings humans attach to places (sense of place) as well as the more structural and institutional place branding strategies (constructed place identity). A stated objective is now to alter Stavanger’s image, from the oil capital to the energy capital. This thesis shows how the new image is failing to gain resonance in the narratives of the petroleum workers, and suggest two possible solutions: The depolitisation of the image change and the lack of novel content in the ‘energy capital’ identity. It also shows how the change in image is presented as non-conflictual, non-political and non-sacrificial.Masteroppgave i geografiGEO35

The smart city as mobile policy: Insights on contemporary urbanism

Under embargo until: 2021-12-19What can the smart city discourse tell us about contemporary urbanism? This discourse is arguably a key exemplar of the increasingly mobile and networked characteristic of urban policy-making, and can reveal important insights into the policy processes currently shaping cities. For that purpose, this paper empirically examines smart city networks funded by the European Union, in particular three so-called ‘Lighthouse cities’ for smart city development – Nottingham, Stavanger and Stockholm – and their contested local implementation. On the basis of these cases, we highlight three characteristics that emerge when smart city policies are made mobile: glossiness, fragmentation and randomness. We propose that with intensifying policy mobility these qualities may be increasingly important features of contemporary urban policy-making, that condition possibilities to govern cities in response to critical urban challenges.acceptedVersio

Use of information on disease diagnoses from databases for animal health economic, welfare and food safety purposes: strengths and limitations of recordings

Many animal health, welfare and food safety databases include data on clinical and test-based disease diagnoses. However, the circumstances and constraints for establishing the diagnoses vary considerably among databases. Therefore results based on different databases are difficult to compare and compilation of data in order to perform meta-analysis is almost impossible. Nevertheless, diagnostic information collected either routinely or in research projects is valuable in cross comparisons between databases, but there is a need for improved transparency and documentation of the data and the performance characteristics of tests used to establish diagnoses. The objective of this paper is to outline the circumstances and constraints for recording of disease diagnoses in different types of databases, and to discuss these in the context of disease diagnoses when using them for additional purposes, including research. Finally some limitations and recommendations for use of data and for recording of diagnostic information in the future are given. It is concluded that many research questions have such a specific objective that investigators need to collect their own data. However, there are also examples, where a minimal amount of extra information or continued validation could make sufficient improvement of secondary data to be used for other purposes. Regardless, researchers should always carefully evaluate the opportunities and constraints when they decide to use secondary data. If the data in the existing databases are not sufficiently valid, researchers may have to collect their own data, but improved recording of diagnostic data may improve the usefulness of secondary diagnostic data in the future

The Doctrine of Specific Etiology

Modern medicine is often said to have originated with nineteenth century germ theory, which attributed diseases to bacterial contagions. The success of this theory is often associated with an underlying principle referred to as the “doctrine of specific etiology.” This doctrine refers to specificity at the level of disease causation or etiology. While the importance of this doctrine is frequently emphasized in the philosophical, historical, and medical literature, these sources lack a clear account of the types of specificity that it involves and why exactly they matter. This paper argues that the nineteenth century germ theory model involves two types of specificity at the level of etiology. One type receives significant attention in the literature, but its influence on modern medicine has been misunderstood. A second type is present in this model, but it has been completely overlooked in the extant literature. My analysis clarifies how these types of specificity led to a novel conception of etiology that continues to figure in medicine today

Dynamisk modellering og analyse av flytebruer

Oppgaven tar for seg en dynamisk analyse av en generisk flytebru i frekvensplanet, med hovedvekt på vertikale svingninger. Miljølaster på bruen evalueres og de hydrostatiske og hydrodynamiske tilbakeføringskreftene introduseres, samt metoder for bestemmelse av disse.En modell for flytebrua etableres i et elementmetode format. De hydrodynamiske effekter er inkludert i elementmodellen via utviklede hydroelastiske elementer. Disse er introdusert i modelleringen av pantongene for å beskrive interaksjonen mellom konstruksjonen og vannet.Bølgelast vurderes som den dominerende ytre last på flytebrua og flere analysemetoder benyttes for å evaluere den dynamiske responsen. De ulike analysemetodene tar fortrinnsvis for seg ulike metoder for å modellere bølgelasten over konstruksjonen. Gyldigheten av disse modellen vurderes i lys av de teorier og antagelser som ligger til grunn for beskrivelsen av havoverflaten. De hydrostatiske og hydrodynamiske tilbakeføringskreftene anses å ha stor innflytelse på responsen til flytebrua for lave frekvenser. En bølgelastsituasjon på en flytebru er videre vurdert til å påvirke brukonstruksjonen mest i for lave frekvenser. Det er derfor tydelig at de hydrodynamiske effektene på en flytebru vil påvirke den dynamiske responsen i stor grad. Responsen fra de dynamiske analysene er i stor grad diktert av valgt metode for modellering av bølgefeltet, som igjen avgjør lastsituasjonen på flytebrua. En tilstrekkelig nøyaktig modellering av bølgesituasjonen på brua er videre vurdert å være av særdeles stor viktighet for å oppnå realistiske responser fra de dynamiske analysene

Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between smart cities and urban energy sustainability. Because achieving a “smart city” is a wide agenda rather than a specific set of interventions, smartness itself cannot easily be measured or quantifiably assessed. Instead, we understand smart cities to be a broad framework of strategies pursued by urban actors, and ask whether and how smart city projects catalyze urban energy sustainability. We use case studies of three cities (Nottingham, Stavanger, and Stockholm) funded by the Horizon 2020 Smart Cities and Communities program and examine how urban energy sustainability was advanced and realized through the smart city initiatives. We find first that while sustainability is not always a major objective of local implementation of smart city projects, the smartness agenda nevertheless increases the ambition to achieve energy sustainability targets. Second, the sustainability measures in smart cities are rarely driven by advanced technology, even though the smart city agenda is framed around such innovations. Third, there is significant sustainability potential in cross-sectoral integration, but there are unresolved challenges of accountability for and measurability of these gains

Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between smart cities and urban energy sustainability. Because achieving a “smart city” is a wide agenda rather than a specific set of interventions, smartness itself cannot easily be measured or quantifiably assessed. Instead, we understand smart cities to be a broad framework of strategies pursued by urban actors, and ask whether and how smart city projects catalyze urban energy sustainability. We use case studies of three cities (Nottingham, Stavanger, and Stockholm) funded by the Horizon 2020 Smart Cities and Communities program and examine how urban energy sustainability was advanced and realized through the smart city initiatives. We find first that while sustainability is not always a major objective of local implementation of smart city projects, the smartness agenda nevertheless increases the ambition to achieve energy sustainability targets. Second, the sustainability measures in smart cities are rarely driven by advanced technology, even though the smart city agenda is framed around such innovations. Third, there is significant sustainability potential in cross-sectoral integration, but there are unresolved challenges of accountability for and measurability of these gains

O artista enquanto marca, ou como o atual ‘Espírito do Tempo’ reconfigura antigas crenças

O presente artigo aborda relações entre o espírito do mercado e a produção de arte contemporânea, no sentido de buscar associações entre uma naturalização de preceitos econômicos em diversas esferas da vida atual e seus reflexos na forma como os artistas tem se posicionado profissionalmente e construído uma nova representação da identidade enquanto artista