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Trends in Norwegian adolescents’ substance use between 2014 and 2022: socioeconomic and gender differences
Get PDFBackground: Substance use is a global health concern and early onset among adolescents increases health risks. We explore national overall trends in prevalence and trends in socioeconomic inequalities in past year alcohol intoxication, cannabis use, and use of other illicit drugs among Norwegian adolescents (ages ∼ 15–19 years of age) between 2014 and 2022.
Method: The present study builds on data from a nationwide repeated cross-sectional survey collected in 2014–2016 (T1), 2017–2019 (T2), 2021 (T3) and 2022 (T4). In total 415,560 adolescents (50.3% girls) completed the questionnaire during the study period. Trends in socioeconomic inequalities were assessed using the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and the Relative Index of Inequality (RII).
Results: While the prevalence of alcohol intoxication remained fairly stable, the prevalence of cannabis and other illicit drug use increased between 2014 and 2022 among upper secondary school boys (13.3–17.6%, and 2.0–5.2%, respectively) and girls (8.8–12.8%, and 1.1–2.7%, respectively). Similar trends were observed among 10th-grade adolescents. Boys were more likely than girls to use cannabis or other illicit drugs, but the gender gap in cannabis use narrowed during the study period. Among upper secondary girls, use of cannabis and other illicit drugs was higher among those from less affluent backgrounds, with absolute and relative inequalities in cannabis use increasing between 2014 and 2022. Small inequalities in cannabis use and decreasing relative inequalities in the use of other illicit drug were observed among upper secondary boys.
Conclusions: The increasing use of cannabis and other illicit drugs among Norwegian adolescents is concerning. Future studies should explore the underlying causes of this rise and explore the complex factors influencing adolescent substance use behaviours. A comprehensive understanding of these factors is essential for developing targeted and effective interventions.publishedVersio
Forprosjekt - Samfunnssikkerhet Ørland
Get PDFDenne rapporten oppsummerer resultater fra et forprosjekt. Det er ikke en fullstendig
studie, men må bli sett på som en innledende oversikt over de utfordringer Ørland
kommune og Ørland flystasjon står ovenfor i dagens nye sikkerhetspolitiske situasjon.
ISBN: 978-82-14-07038-5publishedVersio
DeGas – 2D modelling of supersaturated water transport using a finite difference method
Get PDFSupersaturation due to hydropower development has become a significant focus in research and development as a threat to the ecosystem downstream of hydropower plant outlets. In the DeGas project a numerical model has been set up to model Total Dissolved Gas (TDG) transportation along open flows. Establishing and applying a generalized model that can be easily applied to different case studies is necessary for 1) characterizing the mixing and natural degassing of TDG in regulated rivers with different setups, and 2) discussing potential mitigation measures to reduce TDG content in rivers. Based on a previous DeGas product, a finite difference method was selected as the most applicable method for simulating TDG transport in Norwegian rivers. The current report focuses on the applicationDeGas – 2D modelling of supersaturated water transport using a finite difference methodpublishedVersio
Navigating Waves: A financial analysis of Norway’s seafood sector (2005-2020)
Get PDFIn this dive into Norway's seafood scene from 2005 to 2020, we analyzed the financial performance of seafood firms. An exploration of financial indicators reveals significant growth in value creation, paralleled by employment upsurge. However, localized shocks and global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic bring to the forefront the industry's adaptability. Crucially, the sector's position in the value chain emerges as a pivotal determinant of profitability, with upstream segments enjoying higher ratios and downstream segments facing occasional losses. Debt ratios exhibit a consistent trend— marginal average decreases with persistent high dispersion, highlighting heterogeneity in debt management across segments.publishedVersio
Climate change adaptation in Norwegian businesses - Awareness, integration and barriers
Get PDFPreventive measures adopted to protect buildings and infrastructure from extreme weather and natural hazard events may serve to mitigate extensive damage and thus avoid major expenditures to businesses and society. A survey of 1,001 representative companies across different sectors and regions in Norway reveals that most companies fail to prioritise the climate change adaptation of their buildings or infrastructure. Most respondents have not conducted risk assessments. The greatest focus is adopted by large companies, those that own their buildings and infrastructure, and businesses in the primary and energy sectors. Small companies, service sector businesses and companies that rent their buildings and infrastructure are the least well prepared. The largest perceived barrier to adaptation is costs, followed by a lack of knowledge and competence in the fields of climate change impacts and adaptation measures. The large majority state that they do not measure climate change adaptation at all. Less than 10 per cent use indicators or evaluate their climate change adaptation efforts. Survey results suggest that Norwegian businesses need stronger incentives and clearly defined responsibilities, combined with appropriate tools and guidelines relevant to the entire climate change adaptation cycle. These will include the performance of risk assessments, the tracking of their adaptation status, as well as the measurement and evaluation of their climate change adaptation actions with the help of indicators.publishedVersio
A framework for integrated resource planning in surgical clinics
Get PDFThe problem under study is based on the challenges faced by the Orthopaedic Clinic at St. Olav’s Hospital in Trondheim, Norway. Variations in demand and supply cause fluctuating waiting lists, and it is challenging to level the activities between the clinic’s two units, the outpatient clinic and the operating theater, to obtain short waiting times for all activities. Based on these challenges, we describe and present a planning problem referred to as the Long-term Master Scheduling Problem (LMSP), where the objective is to construct an integrated Long-term Master Schedule (LMS) that facilitates short waiting times in both units. The LMS can be separated into two schedules, one cyclic high-level schedule, and one non-cyclic low-level schedule. The demand for outpatient clinic consultations and surgeries is stochastic, as are the waiting lists. To account for this, we propose a planning framework consisting of an optimization model to solve the LMSP, and a two-level planning procedure. In the planning procedure, we first solve the LMSP to construct the LMS for the upcoming planning horizon. Then, to adjust to the fluctuating waiting lists, we periodically refine the low-level schedule by solving a constrained LMSP. We also develop a simulation-based evaluation procedure to evaluate the planning framework in a real-life setting and use this to investigate different planning strategies. We find that imposing flexible, dynamic and agile planning strategies improve waiting time outcomes and patient throughput. Furthermore, combining the strategies yields additive improvements.publishedVersio
Urea supplementation improves mRNA in vitro transcription by decreasing both shorter and longer RNA byproducts
Get PDFThe current letter to the editor describes the presence of RNA byproducts in small-scale in vitro transcription (IVT) reactions as evaluated by capillary gel electrophoresis, asymmetric flow field flow fractionation, immunoblotting, cell-free translation assays, and in IFN reporter cells. We compare standard T7 RNA polymerase (RNAP) based IVT reactions to two recently described protocols employing either urea supplementation or using the VSW3 RNAP. Our results indicate that urea supplementation yields considerably less RNA byproducts and positively affects the overall number of full-length transcripts. In contrast, VSW3 IVT reactions demonstrated a low yield and generated a higher fraction of truncated transcripts. Lastly, both urea mRNA and VSW3 mRNA elicited considerably less IFN responses after transfection in mouse macrophages.publishedVersio
A Framework Addressing Challenges in Cybersecurity Testing of IoT Ecosystems and Components
Get PDFThis paper describes challenges within IoT ecosystems from the perspective of cybersecurity testing along with a proposed approach to address them that will be investigated in a recently started Horizon Europe project named TELEMETRY. The key observations regarding the design of the framework are summarised as follows. There is a need to consider the full lifecycle of IoT components – at their design time, their integration into systems, and operation of those systems. Threats and risks can propagate when components are connected together in systems - vulnerabilities in one component can affect other components in a system. IoT devices present limitations to current testing and management due to geographical distribution, opacity and limited processing power. Risk assessment fulfils an important requirement because it enables assessment of what elements are important to the system’s stakeholders, how these elements may be compromised, and how the compromises may be controlled. Feedback from operational monitoring of IoT devices can inform firmware updates / patches to the devices but there is a significant challenge in rolling out these patches to multiple low-power devices geographically distributedacceptedVersio
Electrical Treeing in Fluoropolymer Cable Insulation
Get PDFThis paper examines the electrical treeing phenomenon in fluoropolymers under AC voltage. A specialised test setup was designed to evaluate two distinct fluoropolymers, fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) and perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), with cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) serving as the reference material, given its well-documented AC treeing characteristics. Tree growth in both fluoropolymers were found to follow a somewhat classical three-stage pattern, developing bush-like trees with insulating channels. In XLPE at the same growth voltage the trees were bush-branched with a higher propagation rate than in FEP and PFA. The lower propagation rate in fluoropolymers is likely related to the higher bond strength of the carbon-fluorine bonds compared to the carbon-hydrogen bonds in XLPE. Breakdown in the materials produced indications of carbonisation products in the breakdown channel.acceptedVersio