The results of the investment projects are dependent on the quality of project preparation in the pre-investment stage and well-executed implementation. High-quality preparation of the projects, their evaluation and selection of require key risk factors and uncertainties, the impact of these factors on the results of the project and consider measures on their elimination or reduction. The purpose of the risk management of the project is therefore in advance to know the sources of possible threats to the project and to prepare measures that would lead to a reduction in the potential impacts for the project to an acceptable value. The basic aim of project risks management is then increase the likelihood of their success and to minimize the risk of such failure, including their rejection of the venture project too, which could threaten the financial stability of the investor and lead to its decline. The thesis is focused on the examination of the different approaches to identification of risks and uncertainties and their subsequent evaluation on investment project of public corporations, including the impact of the preparation of the project on its own implementation and subsequent operation. At the same time they recommended possible measures to reduce the risk of this project in terms of their costs and the size of the risk reduction. Part of the work is also an analysis of the risks and benefits of the projects planned, realized and terminated by The South Moravian Region and the draft Project Risk Register and the Project Opportunities Register, where appropriate, the risk management process for The Regional Authority of The South Moravian Region.

Information classification is a prerequisite for carrying out risk management in information security, as the assets worth protecting are identified and the need for protection is determined by the classification categories. The information classification thus has a major impact on the security architecture of systems and organizations. Nevertheless, information classification leads a shadowy existence in the scientific literature, which is reflected in a limited number of scientific publications. This discrepancy between the relevance of information classification in risk management and its low scientific attention was the motivation to take a closer look at the topic. This thesis created an overview of the current state of research in information classification and shed some light on potential problems to stimulate new research questions. The results of the work include a current overview of the status of research on information classification in risk management of information security and its context to other academic disciplines and practical needs, particularly research on bias and systems engineering. This thesis also summarized a total of 109 individual research gaps in information classification research, derived from the evaluation of the scientific literature and on the conclusions of identified open questions. From the gaps identified, some suggestions for future research in the field of information classification could be made.

No description available.

This study was conducted to provide a quantitative risk assessment for road transportation, railway transportation, and storage of hazardous materials in Washington County, Tennessee. A roadside survey, railroad hazardous materials survey, and a chemical inventory were conducted. It revealed an estimated 267,858 HAZMAT shipments per year on primary and secondary roadways and an estimated total of 9.4 x 109 tons of HAZMAT shipped by rail per year. There are 49 facilities that store a daily average of 33,722,700 lbs of HAZMAT. The risk of a hazardous materials incident occurring in Washington County is highest for Interstate transportation. The risk for a HAZMAT incident within the county is lower or equal to similar locations in the United States for other roadways surveyed, rail transportation, and fixed storage. Low risk does not mean there is no risk. In order to be prepared for a future incident planning, training, and research should continue.

This research presents two approaches to determining the effects of natural variability and model uncertainty on the extents of computed floodplain boundaries. The first approach represents the floodplain boundary as a spatial map of flood probabilities -- with values between 0 and 100%. Instead of representing the floodplain boundary at a certain recurrence interval as a single line, this approach creates a spatial map that shows the probability of flooding at each point in the floodplain. This flood probability map is a useful tool for visualizing the uncertainty of a floodplain boundary. However, engineers are still required to determine a single line showing the boundary of a floodplain for flood insurance and other floodplain studies. The second approach to determining the effects of uncertainty on a floodplain boundary computes the annual exceedance probability (AEP) at each point on the floodplain. This spatial map of AEP values represents the flood inundation probability for any point on the floodplain in any given year. One can determine the floodplain boundary at any recurrence interval from this AEP map. These floodplain boundaries include natural variability and model uncertainty inherent in the modeling process. The boundary at any recurrence interval from the AEP map gives a single, definite boundary that considers uncertainty. This research performed case studies using data from Leith Creek in North Carolina and the Virgin River in southern Utah. These case studies compared a flood probability map for a certain recurrence interval with an AEP map and demonstrated the consistency of the results from these two methods. Engineers and planners can use floodplain probability maps for viewing the uncertainty of a floodplain boundary at a certain recurrence interval. They can also use AEP maps for determining a single boundary for a certain recurrence interval that considers all the natural variability and model uncertainty inherent in the modeling process.

A topology-based approach has been used to measure the resilience of a highway network to climatic events. Civil infrastructure systems are inarguably critical to the everyday functions of society. Because such systems are regionally distributed, their components undergo a wide range of hazard intensities, often dependent on their relative locations. The ability of an infrastructure system to withstand, adapt to, and rapidly recover from extreme events is paramount to its ability to continuously serve users. The topological properties of a network can provide a good means to assess the resilience of the system which is adequate to comprehend the preparedness and functionality of an infrastructure system in the face of various hazards. Hurricanes and storm surges are especially relevant on the eastern coast of the US, where they can cause widespread damage and destruction. Furthermore, the effects of climate change are proven to increase the intensity of climatic events, worsening the consequences to infrastructure networks. The vulnerability of the transportation network of New York City, the most populous urban area in the U.S., was underlined in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and for this purpose has been chosen as the test bed for this study. Reducing the highway system to a combination of nodes and links, the principles of graph theory are applied to quantify defining network properties. More specifically, by assessing and measuring the change in topological properties during extreme climatic events, the resilience of a transportation network can be succinctly evaluated.

En fungerande transportinfrastruktur skapar förbindelser som hela tiden är i rörelse, och på så sätt förbättras samhällsekonomin. Idag byggs infrastrukturen ut genom storskaliga projekt i en allt större utsträckning, vilket ökar intresset för planering, utförande och styrning. Sverige investerar i runda tal 100 miljarder kronor i byggande, drift och underhåll av infrastruktur varje år. För att effektivisera investeringarna är det viktigt att lösningar, samverkan och ledarskap går hand i hand. Stora infrastrukturprojekt innebär stora risker. Vid bygget av en väg ingår många anställda och arbetsområden med byggmaskiner, kranar och sprängämnen som kan påverka markförhållandena på plats. Därmed är identifiering, bedömning och prioritering av risker viktigt för att inte förlora greppet om säkerheten i projektet. Syftet med examensarbetet är att undersöka och beskriva riskhanteringen i ett pågående infrastrukturprojekt som utförs av NCC Infrastructure inom Förbifart Stockholm, Hjulsta Norra. Genom att samla data från litteratur och information på plats har problem och effektiviseringsmöjligheter sammanställts. Examensarbetet kan användas för att sprida förståelse för att risktänkande är en viktig del i strävan mot lönsamhet i ett projekt. Studien är utfört som ett examensarbete. Omfattningen är 30 högskolepoäng (motsvarar 20 veckors heltidsstudier) och begränsar därför omfattningen av studien i tid. De risker som valts ut från det pågående projektet Hjulsta Norra är ett begränsat antal som är prioriterade som de viktigaste. Som underlag till prioritering av risker i studien användes en litteraturundersökning samt intervjuer. Avgränsning av studien är produktionsskedet, vilket inriktar sig på de risker som uppkommer under byggprocessen i ett större infrastrukturprojekt. Det är hanterat ur entreprenörens perspektiv. De urval av intervjupersoner som har gjorts är en liten del av de som är inblandade i projektet och området. Därmed är det inte alltid möjligt att få med all information och erfarenhet som existerar. Utvald riskprocess och riskanalysmetod är förenklad och visar därför inte detaljerade faser som kan ha en extra verkan på resultatet. På grund av avgränsningar är det inte möjligt att identifiera och analysera alla risker i projektet. Studien visar att riskhantering är viktigt i stora infrastrukturprojekt. Det kan vara en avgörande faktor för hur lyckade inplanerade aktiviteter blir för slutresultatet. För att nå framgång behöver identifiering av miljömässiga, tekniska och organisatoriska risker göras. En annan viktig faktor är hur samarbetet mellan beställare och entreprenör fungerar i ett projekt och under produktionsskedet. En framtida utveckling av riskhanteringen i stora infrastrukturprojekt föreslås inriktas mot att skapa en bra organisation och samarbete mellan beställare och entreprenör i byggskedet. Riskhantering bör vara en naturlig del i projektstyrningen. Fortsatta studier bör därför inriktas mot att utveckla ett enkelt och produktionsanpassat system för riskhantering. / A functioning transport infrastructure creates connections that are constantly moving, thus improving the economy. Today, infrastructure is being expanded through large-scale projects to an increasing extent, which increases the interest in planning, execution and management. Sweden invests around 100 billion SEK in construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure each year. In order to make investments more efficient, it is important that solutions, collaboration and leadership go hand in hand. Large infrastructure projects involve major risks. When constructing a highway, many employees and work areas include construction machines, cranes and explosives that can affect soil conditions on site. Thus, identification, assessment and prioritization of risks are important in order not to lose the grip on the safety of the project. The purpose of the thesis work is to investigate and describe risk management in an ongoing infrastructure project conducted by NCC Infrastructure in Förbifart Stockholm, Hjulsta Norra. By collecting data from literature and on-site information, problems and efficiency opportunities have been compiled. The thesis work can be used to spread understanding that risk thinking is an important part of the pursuit of profitability in a project. The study is executed as a degree project. The scope is 30 credits (equivalent to 20 weeks full-time studies), thus limiting the scope of the study in time. The risks chosen from the ongoing project Hjulsta Norra are a limited number that are prioritized as the most important. As a basis for prioritizing risks in the study, a literature survey and interviews were used. Limitation of the study is the production phase, which focuses on the risks that arise during the construction process in a major infrastructure project. It is handled from the contractor's perspective. The selection of interviews that have been made is a small part of those involved in the project and the area. Thus, it is not always possible to include all the information and experience that exists. The selected risk process and risk analysis method are simplified and therefore do not show detailed phases that can have an additional effect on the result. Due to limitations, it is not possible to identify and analyze all risks in the project. The study shows that risk management is important in major infrastructure projects. This can be a determining factor in how successful planned activities will be for the end result. To achieve success, identification of environmental, technical and organizational risks needs to be done. Another key factor is how cooperation between the client and the contractor works in a project and during the production phase. A future development of risk management in major infrastructure projects is proposed to focus on creating a good organization and collaboration between clients and contractors in the construction phase. Risk management should be a natural part of project management. Continued studies should therefore focus on developing a simple and production-adapted risk management system.

Despite the critical importance of project completion timeliness, management practices in place today remain inadequate for addressing the persistent problem of project completion tardiness. Uncertainty has been identified as a contributing factor in late projects. This uncertainty resides in activity duration estimates, unplanned upsetting events, and the potential unavailability of critical resources. This research developed a comprehensive simulation based methodology for conducting quantitative project completion-time risk assessments. The methodology enables project stakeholders to visualize uncertainty or risk, i.e. the likelihood of their project completing late and the magnitude of the lateness, by providing them with a completion time distribution function of their projects. Discrete event simulation is used to determine a project's completion distribution function. The project simulation is populated with both deterministic and stochastic elements. Deterministic inputs include planned activities and resource requirements. Stochastic inputs include activity duration growth distributions, probabilities for unplanned upsetting events, and other dynamic constraints upon project activities. Stochastic inputs are based upon past data from similar projects. The time for an entity to complete the simulation network, subject to both the deterministic and stochastic factors, represents the time to complete the project. Multiple replications of the simulation are run to create the completion distribution function. The methodology was demonstrated to be effective for the on-going project to assemble the International Space Station. Approximately $500 million per month is being spent on this project, which is scheduled to complete by 2010. Project stakeholders participated in determining and managing completion distribution functions. The first result was improved project completion risk awareness. Secondly, mitigation options were analyzed to improve project completion performance and reduce total project cost.

Safety is an important topic for a wide range of disciplines, such as engineering, economics, sociology, psychology, political science and philosophy, and plays a central role in risk analysis and risk management. The aim of this thesis is to develop a concept of safety that is relevant for decision-making, and to elucidate its consequences for risk and safety research and practices. Essay I provides a conceptual analysis of safety in the context of societal decision-making, focusing on some fundamental distinctions and aspects, and argues for a more complex notion than what is commonly given. This concept of safety explicitly includes epistemic uncertainty, the degree to which we are uncertain of our knowledge of the situation at hand. It is discussed the extent to which such a concept may be considered an objective concept, and concluded that it is better seen as an intersubjective concept. Some formal versions of a comparative safety concept are also proposed. Essay II explores some consequences of epistemic uncertainty. It is commonly claimed that the public is irrational in its acceptance of risks. An underlying presumption in such a claim is that the public should follow the experts’ advice in recommending an activity whenever the experts have better knowledge of the risk involved. This position is criticised based on considerations from epistemic uncertainty and the goal of safety. Furthermore, it is shown that the scope of the objection covers the entire field of risk research, risk assessment as well as risk management. Essay III analyses the role of epistemic uncertainty for principles of achieving safety in an engineering context. The aim is to show that to account for common engineering principles we need the understanding of safety that has been argued for in Essays I-II. Several important principles in engineering safety are analysed, and it is argued that we cannot fully account for them on a narrow interpretation of safety as the reduction of risk (understanding risk as the combination of probability and severity of harm). An adequate concept of safety must include not only the reduction of risk but also the reduction of uncertainty. / QC 20101119

Covid-19 är en global pandemi som har haft en stark påverkan på världen och dess befolkning på många olika sätt. Arbetslivet, företagsamhet och således även revisionsbranschen har inte undkommit att drabbas. En normal vardag bestående av fysiska möten och interaktioner förändrades snabbt till att nästintill vara helt digitaliserad. De införda restriktionerna ledde till att berörda revisorer i följande studies empiri varit tvungna att arbeta hemifrån i syfte att minska smittspridningen av Covid-19. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur revision och revisorns arbetsprocess i form av granskningsarbete samt informationsinsamling har påverkats av de omständigheter som pandemin medfört. Metoden som använts gällande insamling av empiri, vilket skall ligga till grund till besvarandet av studiens frågeställning och syfte, är kvalitativ. Intervjuer med fyra olika revisorer har genomförts. Erfarenheten som dem medverkande respondenter har inom revisionsbranschen varierar men samtliga har arbetat som revisorer innan, under samt efter pandemin. Medverkande respondenter var anställda på bland annat Moore AB samt Grant Thornton. Utöver genomförda intervjuer har även en litteraturundersökning genomförts där tidigare forskning undersökts i form av vetenskapliga artiklar samt teorier. Vidare har även en dokumentstudie genomförts gällande de fyra största revisionsbyråerna i världen, vilket är KPMG, E&Y, PWC samt Deloitte. Information kopplat till studiens syfte har inhämtats genom offentliga uttalanden och rapporter från respektive revisionsbyrås hemsida. Analys av insamlad empiri ledde till ett resultat som påvisade både negativa samt positiva aspekter för både medverkande respondenter men även för revisionsbyråerna i dokumentstudien. De negativa konsekvenserna som nämns till följd av distansarbetet är brister i kommunikation och informationsinsamling, vilket påverkar revisionsprocessen negativt i sin helhet. Anledningen till detta är utebliven kommunikation med kund och mellan medarbetare, vilket har resulterat i utebliven och ibland felaktig informationsinsamling. Även komplikationer gällande legala och skattemässiga aspekter tas upp som en konsekvens, samt problem i att upprätthålla en trygg cybersäkerhet. Positiva aspekter som tas upp under analysen av empirin är ökad flexibilitet och mer effektiva arbetsprocesser efter att revisionsarbetet digitaliserats. Dessutom har distansarbetet lett till minskade resor och således minskade resekostnader. Detta är dock ingenting som skedde direkt, utan något som revisorer fått anpassa sig till samt utveckla under pandemins gång. / Covid-19 is a global pandemic that has had a strong impact on the world and its population in many different ways. Working life, enterprise and the audit profession has not been unaffected. Everyday life consisting of physical meetings and interactions instantly changed to being almost completely digitized. Following restrictions led to the auditors being concerned in the empirical study being forced to work from home in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The purpose of the study is to investigate how auditing and the auditor's work process in the form of review process and information gathering have been affected by circumstances brought about by the pandemic. The method used regarding the collection of empirical evidence, which must be the basis for preserving the study's question and purpose, is qualitative where interviews with four different auditors have been carried out. Participating respondents have varying lengths of experience, but have all worked as accountants within, during and after the pandemic. Furthermore, the respondents are employed at, among others, Moore AB and Grant Thorn. In addition to the interview, a literature survey was also conducted where previous research was examined in the form of scientific articles and theories. Moreover, a document study has also been carried out regarding the four largest audit organizations in the world, which are KPMG, E&Y, PWC and Deloitte. Information linked to the purpose of the study has been obtained through public statements and reports from the respective audit firm's website. Analysis of collected empirical evidence led to a result that demonstrated both negative and positive aspects for participating respondents as well as for the audit organizations in the document study. The negative consequences mentioned as a result of remote work are deficiencies in communication and information gathering, which negatively affects the audit process as a whole. The reason for this is a lack of communication both with the customer and between employees, which resulted in missed and sometimes incorrect information gathering. Complications regarding legal aid and tax aspects are also addressed as a consequence, as well as problems in maintaining secure cyber security. Positive aspects that are taken up during the analysis of the empirical evidence are increased flexibility and streamlined work processes after the companies have been digitized. Other positive aspects were reduced travel time and reduced travel costs. However, these happenings did not occur immediately, the companies had to adapt to them and developed them during the course of the movement.