<p>Date: 12-June-2008</p><p>Authors: Muhammad Saeed – 760721</p><p>Västerås – Sweden</p><p>Mehmood Ziauddin – 830730</p><p>Västerås – Sweden</p><p>Title: A Structured Approach for Evaluating Risk Impacts in IT Projects</p><p>Introduction: Risk is an integral part of any project and it’s more appropriate to say for IT because it is changing with a very fast pace. Different surveys, reports and researches show astonishing statistics about the risks in IT projects. Through proper risk assessment techniques most of the uncertainties can be reduced while initiating, implementing and improving IT projects. Different authors talk about different risks and different strategies to respond to them. It becomes difficult at times to keep in check all the risks. Often risk management is over hyped, and often it’s totally neglected. Their needs to be a balanced approached in risk management.</p><p>Problem: How a structured approach will be beneficial for an organization in assessing risk impacts on IT Projects?</p><p>Purpose: The aim of this report is to develop and analyze a structured approach which will permit an organization in identifying & categorizing risks and measuring their impact on IT Projects.</p><p>Method: Exploratory research approach is used and data collection is done using secondary sources. Our thesis is qualitative research based. Qualitative research is the one which is not relying on statistical data as compared to quantitative research.</p><p>Besides our text books and study material, the main source of information was internet databases and university library from where we read different articles, thesis and books. Majority of the material studied was collected from Mälardalen University Library’s online databases like, Elin@Mälardalen, Compendex, Emerald and Ebrary. We also consulted some books which we got by inter-library loan from Mälardalen University.</p><p>Conclusion: With the help of Remenyi’s approach for categorizing risks and Applegate’s approach of measuring risk impact, we have managed to develop a structured approach and reached a conclusion that proper identification and categorizing of risks can be very beneficial for an organization in numerous ways. This systematic way assists top management, project managers, IT & non IT Personnel is taking preemptive measures for managing risks. The benefits it brings is that it gives an equal understanding within the organization and this structured approach gives an in-depth and clear understanding of the risks associated with IT projects.</p>

<p>Conformal field theories (CFT) constitute an interesting class of twodimensionalquantum field theories, with applications in string theoryas well as condensed matter physics. The symmetries of a CFT can beencoded in the mathematical structure of a conformal vertex algebra.The rational CFT’s are distinguished by the property that the categoryof representations of the vertex algebra is a modular tensor category.The solution of a rational CFT can be split off into two separate tasks, apurely complex analytic and a purely algebraic part.</p><p>The TFT-construction gives a solution to the second part of the problem.This construction gets its name from one of the crucial ingredients,a three-dimensional topological field theory (TFT). The correlators obtainedby the TFT-construction satisfy all consistency conditions of thetheory. Among them are the factorization constraints, whose implicationsfor boundary conditions are the main topic of this thesis.</p><p>The main result reviewed in this thesis is that the factorization constraintsgive rise to a semisimple commutative associative complex algebrawhose irreducible representations are the so-called reflection coefficients.The reflection coefficients capture essential information aboutboundary conditions, such as ground-state degeneracies and Ramond-Ramond charges of string compactifications. We also show that the annuluspartition function can be derived fromthis classifying algebra andits representation theory.</p>

This thesis consists of two parts: a synthesis of the theory of categories enriched in a quantaloid; and a weakening of this theory for it to include semicategories describing ordered sheaves on a quantaloid. A synthesis of, and supplements to, results in the literature concerning the theory of categories enriched in a quantaloid Q (as particular case of categories enriched in a bicategory) is contained in the first chapters. This theory is built with Q-categories, functors and distributors, and contains such notions as, for example, adjoint functors, weighted colimits, presheaves, Kan extensions, Cauchy completions and Morita equivalence, and so on. The literature does not provide an overview of these matters, so it was necessary to provide one here. Then the necessary theory is developed to arrive at an elementary description of ``ordered sheaves on a quantaloid Q', henceforth referred to as Q-orders. As there is no ``topos of sheaves on a quantaloid', Q-orders cannot be defined as ordered objects in such a topos. Instead a description of Q-orders as categorical structures enriched in the quantaloid Q is proposed. The well-known ordered sheaves on a locale L (i.e.~ordered objects in the topos of sheaves on L) should of course be a particular example of the general theory, taking Q to be the (one-object suspension of) L. Then it turns out that the theory of Q-categories has to be weakened to include ``categories without units', i.e. Q-semicategories. But for Q-semicategories to admit a convenient distributor calculus, a ``regularity' condition has to be imposed. And for those regular Q-semicategories to admit a reasonable theory of Cauchy completions and Morita equivalence, the even stronger condition of ``total regularity' has to be imposed. The former notion has been studied before for semicategories enriched in a symmetric monoidal closed category; the latter notion is new, and is introduced via the intuitively clear idea of ``stability of objects'. The point is then that precisely the Cauchy complete totally regular Q-semicategories are the Q-orders; for a locale L they are indeed the ordered objects in the topos of sheaves on L. A (bi)equivalent description of those Q-orders can be given in terms of categories enriched in the split-idempotent completion of the quantaloid Q: a totally regular semicategory enriched in Q corresponds in a precise sense to a category enriched in the split-idempotent completion of Q. Applying this once more to a locale L instead of a quantaloid Q, these results thus deepen the work of the Louvain-la-Neuve school, and reconcile it with that of the Sydney school, on the description of (ordered) sheaves on a locale as enriched categorical structures. The extended introduction gives a compact yet intuitive presentation of the developments contained in the thesis.

The purpose of this study was to explore how university department chairs, or equivalent, perceive leadership as it relates to the context of online curriculum delivery in higher education. Three research areas guided the study: (a) nature and context of online environment and how it impacts the leadership, (b) the ways in which leaders conceptualize leadership, and (c) challenges and tensions for leadership. The sample included four participants (chair, director, coordinator, and associate dean) from three Western-Canadian universities. Findings in this study revealed four salient themes and sub-themes: (a) Context The Setting (technology, model of learning, faculty categories, cost-recovery versus cost-sharing); (b) Leadership Preparation (removing barriers and improving leadership preparation); (c) Leadership in General (relational-oriented, vision and direction setting, organizational culture and cultural diversity, ethics); and (d) Challenges and Tensions (past, present, future, organizational realities). The study concludes with a discussion of the implications for practice that include: balance between administrator and scholar, leadership preparation, and degree proposals. Implications for theory include: leadership in the context of online curriculum delivery, cost-recovery, technology, cultural diversity, ethics and equity, as well as organizational change. Finally, based on the findings, conclusions, and implications, several questions that warrant future research into the phenomenon of leadership in higher education are shared. / Educational Administration and Leadership

We give a brief survey on some new developments on elliptic operators on manifolds with polyhedral singularities. The material essentially corresponds to a talk given by the author during the Conference “Elliptic and Hyperbolic Equations on Singular Spaces”, October 27 - 31, 2008, at the MSRI, University of Berkeley.

The background to this study is that there is no studies on youth and their transition to adulthood in preindustrial Sweden. The main objective of this thesis has therefore been to analyze young peoples transition to adulthood during the late 18th and 19th centuries in a region of the northern part of Sweden. The social context of the region was mainly agrarian during the investigated period despite the fact that in the later part of the 19th and beginning of 20th century, a development of a growing forest industry had started. The main questions is: How and when in life did different social categories of young people establish an independent and adult life? Where there any changes in transitional patterns and was the establishment smoother or more troublesome at different times during the investigated period ? Where there any changes regarding social norms related to the establishment of adult life? The transition to adult life is studied from a life-course approach and four key-transitions; The First Holy communion, leaving home, marriage and parenthood are regarded as significant steps within the process to a independent social position. Individual data related to keytransitions is mainly collected from cathectical examination records and comprised 2206 individuals born in six different cohorts between 1770 and 1900. The selected cohorts represents individuals that had to deal with different social conditions during their youth and transition to adult life. The main results regarding the transition to adult life can be summarized in two words, complexity and variance. Usually it was a "long" transition but the number of accomplished keytransitions and the order between them varied, as well as ages when taking the first Holy Communion, leaving home, marriage and entering parenthood varied. Transitional patterns varied between different categories of youth. A dividing line existed between the sexes, those from households strongly rooted in the agricultural structure and those with background in social categories that didn't own or was in possession of land. Social norms related to keytransitons changed along this dividing line during the investigated period of time, and became less permissive within landowning or land-possessing categories and less prescriptive in other categories. Transitional patterns were also influenced by the social situation at different historical times. The need for labor, war and years of famine directly intervened in timing and sequencing of keytransitions. A long term development was that the transition to adult life became more problematic in the later part of the 19th century, especially among young people who were less integrated in the social context and among socially stigmatized youth. Finally, young people were active and reflexive in seeking social space to make the transition to adult life, actions that sometimes caused tensions and conflicts between generations. / digitalisering@umu

Conformal field theories (CFT) constitute an interesting class of twodimensionalquantum field theories, with applications in string theoryas well as condensed matter physics. The symmetries of a CFT can beencoded in the mathematical structure of a conformal vertex algebra.The rational CFT’s are distinguished by the property that the categoryof representations of the vertex algebra is a modular tensor category.The solution of a rational CFT can be split off into two separate tasks, apurely complex analytic and a purely algebraic part. The TFT-construction gives a solution to the second part of the problem.This construction gets its name from one of the crucial ingredients,a three-dimensional topological field theory (TFT). The correlators obtainedby the TFT-construction satisfy all consistency conditions of thetheory. Among them are the factorization constraints, whose implicationsfor boundary conditions are the main topic of this thesis. The main result reviewed in this thesis is that the factorization constraintsgive rise to a semisimple commutative associative complex algebrawhose irreducible representations are the so-called reflection coefficients.The reflection coefficients capture essential information aboutboundary conditions, such as ground-state degeneracies and Ramond-Ramond charges of string compactifications. We also show that the annuluspartition function can be derived fromthis classifying algebra andits representation theory.

This dissertation examines the construction and evolution of categories of indigeneity within the context of the Oblate (Roman Catholic) apostolate at Île-à-Crosse in present-day north-western Saskatchewan between 1845 and 1898. While focusing on one central mission station, this study illuminates broad historical processes that informed Oblate perceptions and impelled their evolution over a fifty-three-year period. In particular, this study illuminates processes that shaped Oblate concepts of sauvage and métis. It does this through a qualitative analysis of missionary correspondence, mission records and published reports. In the process, this dissertation challenges the orthodox notion that Oblate commentators simply discovered and described a singular, empirically existing and readily identifiable Métis population. Rather, this dissertation contends that Oblates played an important role in the conceptual production of les métis.

Many piano teachers agree that suitable repertoire motivates their students to learn and practice their instrument. Asking students to learn different categories of repertoire might be a good approach for piano teachers to motivate and maintain their students’ musical interests. However, how do teachers evaluate what kinds of repertoire is presented in the teaching material that is available to them? The purpose of this study is to review the pieces found in North-American piano method books in order to provide an inventory of the different categories of repertoire found in each series and to calculate the proportion of piano repertoire belonging in each category. Consequently, this research will allow piano teachers to see more clearly which kinds of repertoire are in a method book and help select the most appropriate method books for their students.

This thesis explores the properties of adjectives and adverbs in Inuit (Eskimo-Aleut), with focus on the Inuktitut dialect group. While the literature on Eskimoan languages has claimed that they lack these categories, I present syntactic evidence for two classes of adjectives, one verb-like and another strictly attributive, as well as a class of adverbs. These categories are then employed to diagnose more general properties of the language including headedness, word-formation, adjunct licensing, and semantic composition. In the first half of Chapter 2 I demonstrate that verb-like adjectives can be differentiated from verbs insofar as only the former are compatible with a particular copular construction involving modals. Similarly, verb-like adjectives can combine with a negative marker that is incompatible with genuine verbs. This contrast is further corroborated by an inflectional distinction between verb-like adjectives and verbs in the Siglitun dialect. A second class of strictly-attributive adjectives is argued for on the basis of stacking, variable order, optionality, and compositionality. The second half of the chapter examines semantic restrictions on membership in the strictly-attributive class whereby only adjectives with subsective and privative denotations are attested. These restrictions are explained by the proposal that Inuit lacks a rule of Predicate Modification, with the result that only adjectives with semantic types capable of composing with nouns via Functional Application can compose directly with nominals. Furthermore, to explain why this restriction does not extend to verb-like adjectives it is proposed that when these modify nominals, they are adjoined DP appositives and compose via Potts’s (2005) rule of Conventional Implicature Application. In Chapter 3 I argue for a class of adverbs, presenting evidence including degree modification, variable ordering, speaker-oriented meanings, and the ability to modify additional categories. Finally, data from adverb ordering is used to compare syntactically oriented and semantically oriented approaches to adjunct licensing and verbal-complex formation. I present arguments in favour of a right-headed analysis of Inuit in which the relative position of adverbs inside polysynthetic verbal-complexes is primarily determined by semantics, supporting Ernst (2002), contra cartographic approaches such as Cinque (1999).