Social Protection of Digital Platform Workers under Norwegian Law

The main aim of this article is to investigate some encounters between the Norwegian system of economic risk-pooling for labour engaging individuals, and the emerging digital platform economy. The author argues that Norwegian labour and employment law, as well as social insurance law, may fall short in alleviating the economic strains of the typical digital platform worker in cases of loss of income. This is partly due to legal classification: Where Norwegian labour and employment law operates with two categories of labour engaging individuals: employees and non-employees, Norwegian social insurance law includes three categories: employees, freelancers, and self-employed persons. Employees are entitled to the most comprehensive and high-level coverage of income losses. The legal status of digital platform workers is basically unclear, and they may belong to each of the three categories, depending on contract terms. It is also argued that the Covid 19-pandemic has reinforced the differences between salaried, full-time, employees, and atypical workers such as digital platform workers. The compensation measures issued by the Norwegian state to cover income losses in relation to the pandemic did not meet the needs of the typical – freelance – digital platform worker to the same extent as those of undertakings and ‘traditional’ employees. The article suggests some measures to clarify the legal position and to give a better coverage for digital platform workers in cases of loss of income

An efficient system for the generation of marked genetic mutants in members of the genus Burkholderia

To elucidate the function of a gene in bacteria it is vital that targeted gene inactivation (allelic replacement) can be achieved. Allelic replacement is often carried out by disruption of the gene of interest by insertion of an antibiotic-resistance marker followed by subsequent transfer of the mutant allele to the genome of the host organism in place of the wild-type gene. However, due to their intrinsic resistance to many antibiotics only selected antibiotic-resistance markers can be used in members of the genus Burkholderia, including the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc). Here we describe the construction of improved antibiotic-resistance cassettes that specify resistance to kanamycin, chloramphenicol or trimethoprim effectively in the Bcc and related species. These were then used in combination with and/or to construct a series enhanced suicide vectors, pSHAFT2, pSHAFT3 and pSHAFT-GFP to facilitate effective allelic replacement in the Bcc. Validation of these improved suicide vectors was demonstrated by the genetic inactivation of selected genes in the Bcc species Burkholderia cenocepacia and B. lata, and in the non-Bcc species, B. thailandensis

Highly integrated workflows for exploring cardiovascular conditions: Exemplars of precision medicine in Alzheimer's disease and aortic dissection

For precision medicine to be implemented through the lens of in silico technology, it is imperative that biophysical research workflows offer insight into treatments that are specific to a particular illness and to a particular subject. The boundaries of precision medicine can be extended using multiscale, biophysics-centred workflows that consider the fundamental underpinnings of the constituents of cells and tissues and their dynamic environments. Utilising numerical techniques that can capture the broad spectrum of biological flows within complex, deformable and permeable organs and tissues is of paramount importance when considering the core prerequisites of any state-of-the-art precision medicine pipeline. In this work, a succinct breakdown of two precision medicine pipelines developed within two Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) projects are given. The first workflow is targeted on the trajectory of Alzheimer's Disease, and caters for novel hypothesis testing through a multicompartmental poroelastic model which is integrated with a high throughput imaging workflow and subject-specific blood flow variability model. The second workflow gives rise to the patient specific exploration of Aortic Dissections via a multi-scale and compliant model, harnessing imaging, computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) and dynamic boundary conditions. Results relating to the first workflow include some core outputs of the multiporoelastic modelling framework, and the representation of peri-arterial swelling and peri-venous drainage solution fields. The latter solution fields were statistically analysed for a cohort of thirty-five subjects (stratified with respect to disease status, gender and activity level). The second workflow allowed for a better understanding of complex aortic dissection cases utilising both a rigid-wall model informed by minimal and clinically common datasets as well as a moving-wall model informed by rich datasets

En fremstilling og vurdering av fornærmedes stilling i straffeprosessen

Ved en lovendring i juli 2008 ble fornærmedes stilling i straffeprosessen vesentlig endret. Fornærmede har i dag flere rettigheter både når det gjelder rett til bistandsadvokat og informasjons- og deltakerrettigheter. Fornærmede står også sterkere når det gjelder å få pådømt sivile krav sammen med straffesaken

Handlaus gjæte. Vern mot utstøting og diskriminering av arbeidstakere med helseproblemer eller funksjonsnedsettelse.

‘The handless can shepherd a crowd.’ Protection against the exclusion and discrimination of employees with health problems or functional impairments This thesis deals with the labour law protection afforded by current Norwegian legislation against exclusion and discrimination on the basis of functional impairment and state of health. This protection consists of several components: firstly, the requirements concerning the individual and general working environment are important as regards the extent to which employees with health problems or functional impairment can be employed. Secondly, the protection against dismissal on grounds of sickness absence or impaired working capacity due to medical reasons. Thirdly, there is protection throughout the employment period against discrimination on grounds of disability. Fourthly, restrictions on obtaining and using medical information in employment situations protect against such information being used as the basis for exclusion and discrimination. These components have different provenances. The working environment requirements and the protection against unfair dismissal mainly arose through the development of national legislation. The anti-discrimination regulations represent a new perspective and are for the most part a consequence of corresponding regulations at EC level. The restrictions on the use of medical information are partly a result of EC legal regulations and partly a consequence of national initiatives. Despite the fact that a great many of the regulations overlap with regard to the groups protected and the practical situations to which they apply, there is little coordination between them. The thesis contains a legal history chapter (Chapter III), in which the author follows the development of legal requirements for the working environment, protection against unfair dismissal, various instruments aimed at promoting the employment of persons with functional impairments (including prohibition against discrimination) and the development of restrictions on the right to obtain and use medical information in an employment relationship. The thesis also includes a general chapter (Chapter IV) which analyses and compares groups of persons who are covered by the protection and acts that are either proscribed or prescribed pursuant to the various regulations. Among other things, the prohibitions against direct and indirect discrimination of employees with disabilities are analysed. Chapters V-VII of the thesis deal with protection from exclusion and discrimination at the appointment stage, during the employment period and on termination. In Chapter V (appointment), restrictions on the communication of medical information and the prohibition against discrimination on grounds of disability are central. In Chapter VI (the employment period), the duty to accommodate pursuant to working environment regulations is compared with the duty to accommodate pursuant to anti-discrimination regulations. Chapter VI (termination) discusses whether an employee can be dismissed as a direct or indirect consequence of difficulties at work relating to functional impairment or health problems. Despite a great amount of legislative and other regulatory activity in the area of inclusive workplaces/discrimination protection during the last ten years, the practical results are meagre. Persons with functional impairments or health problems still have problems obtaining and keeping jobs, and the percentage of persons with self-assessed disabilities in employment has fallen slightly since 2001. Chapter VIII of the thesis considers the possible causes of this lack of concrete results and the potential that lies in more active use of discrimination protection regulations

The Influence of Polarization on the Wetting of Anodes in the Hall-Héroult Process

Improvements in the Hall Héroult process for aluminium electrolysis has lead to a reduction in energy consumption from 20-25 kWh/kg Al 70 years ago, down to around 13-14 kWh/kg Al on average today. In order to further reduce energy consumption, it is important to look into bubble formation on the anode surface, and the shielding effect caused by this. The shielding of surface by the bubbles is amongst others related to how well the cryolite wets the anode surface. In addition to reducing energy consumption, it is also necessary to look into reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases from the electrolysis process. One of the most important type of greenhouse gases produced in aluminium electrolysis is the perfluorocarbons. Perfluorocarbons are produced during anode effect, which may occur if the alumina concentration in the melt becomes too low. Though the exact mechanism causing anode effects is not known, it appears related to the ability of the electrolyte to wet the anode. In this project, a lab scale electrolysis cell with a weight sensor on the anode was used to investigate trends in wettability during and after polarization both at normal operating voltages and at anode effect inducing ones. The electrolyte consisted of a cryolite melt with a cryolite ratio of 2.3 and 1 wt% Al2O3. Various anode designs and carbon in the form of graphite, glassy carbon and industrial pitch and coke were used. It was found that both bubble coverage and average size of detaching bubbles decreased with increasing current density on the anode. This is believed to be mostly due to increased stirring of the melt caused by the extra bubbles formed. However, it is also possible that parts of the reduction came from improved wettability. In addition, it was found that the wettability of anodes improved during polarization for normal operating voltages. A sizable fraction of the improvement in wettability occurred in the first few seconds of polarization, but it still took several minutes of polarization to obtain the best wettability. For voltages inducing anode effect, the wettability dropped quickly and a stable poor wettability is obtained already after a few seconds. This change preceded any changes in surface roughness of the anode, suggesting that it was caused by creation of CF-bonds on the surface. Testing with graphite, glassy carbon and industrial coke mixture revealed much the same trends in wetting behavior, however glassy carbon was much more resistant to anode effects and regained good wettability more quickly when polarized at normal operating voltages

The Influence of Polarization on the Wetting of Anodes in the Hall-Héroult Process

Improvements in the Hall Héroult process for aluminium electrolysis has lead to a reduction in energy consumption from 20-25 kWh/kg Al 70 years ago, down to around 13-14 kWh/kg Al on average today. In order to further reduce energy consumption, it is important to look into bubble formation on the anode surface, and the shielding effect caused by this. The shielding of surface by the bubbles is amongst others related to how well the cryolite wets the anode surface. In addition to reducing energy consumption, it is also necessary to look into reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases from the electrolysis process. One of the most important type of greenhouse gases produced in aluminium electrolysis is the perfluorocarbons. Perfluorocarbons are produced during anode effect, which may occur if the alumina concentration in the melt becomes too low. Though the exact mechanism causing anode effects is not known, it appears related to the ability of the electrolyte to wet the anode. In this project, a lab scale electrolysis cell with a weight sensor on the anode was used to investigate trends in wettability during and after polarization both at normal operating voltages and at anode effect inducing ones. The electrolyte consisted of a cryolite melt with a cryolite ratio of 2.3 and 1 wt% Al2O3. Various anode designs and carbon in the form of graphite, glassy carbon and industrial pitch and coke were used. It was found that both bubble coverage and average size of detaching bubbles decreased with increasing current density on the anode. This is believed to be mostly due to increased stirring of the melt caused by the extra bubbles formed. However, it is also possible that parts of the reduction came from improved wettability. In addition, it was found that the wettability of anodes improved during polarization for normal operating voltages. A sizable fraction of the improvement in wettability occurred in the first few seconds of polarization, but it still took several minutes of polarization to obtain the best wettability. For voltages inducing anode effect, the wettability dropped quickly and a stable poor wettability is obtained already after a few seconds. This change preceded any changes in surface roughness of the anode, suggesting that it was caused by creation of CF-bonds on the surface. Testing with graphite, glassy carbon and industrial coke mixture revealed much the same trends in wetting behavior, however glassy carbon was much more resistant to anode effects and regained good wettability more quickly when polarized at normal operating voltages

Amatec : Pacific west coast market analysis : final report

The following report has been done for Amatec AS in order to analyze and provide solutions to the challenges of entering the North-American Pacific West Coast market. Amatec is a Norwegian company which produces industrial sewing machines which join and mount fish nets. Due to the company’s experience in the fish net industry, the main purpose of this report is to provide a market analysis and a strategic discussion regarding the fishing industry, including both the commercial fishing and aquaculture sectors. However, the report also looks at alternative markets such as the sports net industry, specifically the golf net industry, but this requires further research to create a more accurate picture of that particular industry. The initial part of this report contains a detailed company profile and internal analysis, the research problem and research objectives. These objectives include which factors that is most relevant to the development of this report, and the methods used to obtain the most accurate information in order to properly identify opportunities and threats for Amatec. Furthermore, this report includes a strategic problem definition that in turn leads to both short term and long term goals in which are the basis for the following strategic discussion

Agenda building in media coverage of food research

Concern has been raised about the rising influence of public relations on scientific news coverage and the potential role of institutional sources in shaping news reports. This study uses quantitative content analysis and qualitative interviews to explore the influence of public relations activities on newspaper coverage of “superfoods” and, in particular, to explore the transparency of reporting of the sources of research funding. Superfoods were chosen as a case study because the term is applied to a wide range of foods with potential health benefits (e.g. foods high in antioxidants). Furthermore, foods labelled as “superfoods” have seen sharp increases in sales, suggesting a potential commercial incentive for such labelling. Analysis of a sample of news articles reporting superfoods revealed a considerable influence for media releases in shaping the content of reports, while less than a third of reports discussing research studies funded by organisations with a commercial interest in the findings mentioned the funding sources. Qualitative interviews confirmed the role of press offices in promoting research, particularly from scientific conferences, and suggest that scientific societies are applying less stringent criteria to studies selected for publication than in the past