The Impact of Gender Equality in the Cybersecurity Sector

Nowadays, there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the sector and women are disproportionately underrepresented in the field. This exploratory study examines how organizations can retain and entice women in the cybersecurity industry, as well as how enhanced gender balance affects the work environment. Because the scope is limited, we will only look at gender equality between men and women, as well as apply the study in a Norwegian context. Furthermore, the study investigates why women are underrepresented in cybersecurity and identifies barriers preventing them from pursuing this career. The findings of our systematic literature review (SLR) identifies obstacles and already existing solutions for increasing the representation of female cybersecurity professionals. To gain a comprehensive understanding of respondents' experiences with gender equality and diversity in the industry, qualitative research using semi-structured interviews (SSI) was conducted. Our study contains fourteen respondents from organizations with cybersecurity from both private and public sectors, with varying positions. The primary metric that emerged from both the interviews and the literature was showing possibilities of cybersecurity and raising awareness of the subject. By analyzing our literature- and empirical findings we demonstrated that there is a correlation between the barriers preventing women from cybersecurity. According to our theory, stereotypes, disinformation, discrimination, lack of role models and lack of knowledge about the cybersecurity contributes to low self-efficacy, which causes low interest in the subject, which leads back to the first point. By understanding how this is connected, we were able to propose several recommendations to reduce the barriers and turn the vicious cycle into a virtuous one. Based on our results, we developed a list of recommendations for enticing and retaining more women in cybersecurity, which can be applied in both educational and organizational sector. The study's primary purpose is to help advance gender equality in the cybersecurity industry by identifying the barriers that keep women out of the field and providing long-term solutions for enticing and retaining more women. The recommendations are applicable to organizations outside of the cybersecurity industry as well, and this research can thus be applied to a variety of male-dominated sectors

The Impact of Gender Equality in the Cybersecurity Sector

Nowadays, there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the sector and women are disproportionately underrepresented in the field. This exploratory study examines how organizations can retain and entice women in the cybersecurity industry, as well as how enhanced gender balance affects the work environment. Because the scope is limited, we will only look at gender equality between men and women, as well as apply the study in a Norwegian context. Furthermore, the study investigates why women are underrepresented in cybersecurity and identifies barriers preventing them from pursuing this career. The findings of our systematic literature review (SLR) identifies obstacles and already existing solutions for increasing the representation of female cybersecurity professionals. To gain a comprehensive understanding of respondents' experiences with gender equality and diversity in the industry, qualitative research using semi-structured interviews (SSI) was conducted. Our study contains fourteen respondents from organizations with cybersecurity from both private and public sectors, with varying positions. The primary metric that emerged from both the interviews and the literature was showing possibilities of cybersecurity and raising awareness of the subject. By analyzing our literature- and empirical findings we demonstrated that there is a correlation between the barriers preventing women from cybersecurity. According to our theory, stereotypes, disinformation, discrimination, lack of role models and lack of knowledge about the cybersecurity contributes to low self-efficacy, which causes low interest in the subject, which leads back to the first point. By understanding how this is connected, we were able to propose several recommendations to reduce the barriers and turn the vicious cycle into a virtuous one. Based on our results, we developed a list of recommendations for enticing and retaining more women in cybersecurity, which can be applied in both educational and organizational sector. The study's primary purpose is to help advance gender equality in the cybersecurity industry by identifying the barriers that keep women out of the field and providing long-term solutions for enticing and retaining more women. The recommendations are applicable to organizations outside of the cybersecurity industry as well, and this research can thus be applied to a variety of male-dominated sectors

Ionic and electronic conductivity in the LaNbO4 - LaTaO4 system

Defect chemical investigations on the LaNbO4-LaTaO4 system are, except for investigations on the parent phases, LaNbO4 and LaTaO4, non-existent. Research on this system is required to understand the impact of tantalum-doping on the conductivity of LaNbO4. If Ta-doping is found to increase the conductivity of LaNbO4, it could, in turn, open interesting, new avenues relating to doping and solid solubility in solid oxide fuel cell materials research. In the work presented in this thesis, defect situations and conductivities for Ta-doped LaNbO4 were investigated as a function of Ta-content. Electrical characterization of several samples, containing concentrations of between 38 and 48 atomic-percent Tantalum, were carried through. Measurements were done in reducing and oxidizing atmospheres in a temperature range from 500°C to 1200°C. The phase transition between low-temperature monoclinic and high-temperature tetragonal LaNbO4 was seen to increase, with increasing tantalum content, to a limit of ~850°C with 48 atomic-percent Ta. This was also shown to be the highest Ta-doping attainable under present experimental conditions. Results showed that the defect model of pure LaNbO4 fit that of Ta-doped LaNbO4 rather well, with only a few alterations: Under wet, reducing conditions, proton conductivity dominated at any temperature. Under oxidizing conditions the low-temperature phase displayed decent proton conductivity. This changed over to oxygen ionic conductivity and later p-type electronic conductivity as temperature increased and the high-temperature phase was reached. It is possible that an observed increase in conductivity under reducing conditions, compared to oxidizing conditions, was due to a reduction of the samples. It was seen that none of the Ta-containing LaNbO4-samples had conductivities exceeding that of its parent pure Ca-doped LaNbO4-phase. The highest proton conductivity measured was 4.5•10-4 S•cm-1 for 48 atomic-percent Ta-doped LaNbO4 at 1100°C. XRD measurements on the sample containing 48 atomic-percent Ta showed three new phases in addition to LaNbO4; La0.33TaO3 (tetragonal), La(Ta3O9) (orthorhombic) and LaTaO4. The new phases did not appear to impact conductivity much, if anything

EGF increases expression and activity of PAs in preimplantation rat embryos and their implantation rate

BACKGROUND: Embryo implantation plays a major role in embryogenesis and the outcome of pregnancy. Plasminogen activators (PAs) have been implicated in mammalian fertilization, early stages of development and embryo implantation. As in-vitro developing embryos resulted in lower implantation rate than those developed in-vivo we assume that a reduced PAs activity may be involved. In the present work we studied the effect of EGF on PAs activity, quantity and embryo implantation. METHODS: Zygotes were flushed from rat oviducts on day one of pregnancy and grown in-vitro in R1ECM supplemented with EGF (10 ng/ml) and were grown up to the blastocyst stage. The control groups were grown in the same medium without EGF. The distribution and quantity of the PAs were examined using fluorescence immunohistochemistry followed by measurement of PAs activity using the chromogenic assay. Implantation rate was studied using the embryo donation model. RESULTS: PAs distribution in the embryos was the same in EGF treated and untreated embryos. Both PAs were localized in the blastocysts' trophectoderm, supporting the assumption that PAs play a role in the implantation process in rats. EGF increased the quantity of uPA at all stages studied but the 8-cell stage as compared with controls. The tissue type PA (tPA) content was unaffected except the 8-cell stage, which was increased. The activity of uPA increased gradually towards the blastocyst stage and more so due to the presence of EGF. The activity of tPA did not vary with the advancing developmental stages although it was also increased by EGF. The presence of EGF during the preimplantation development doubled the rate of implantation of the treated group as compared with controls

Erfaringsgjennomgang etter utvalgte utbrudd av covid-19 i Norge, desember 2020 – mars 2021

Source at https://www.fhi.no/Denne rapporten beskriver en erfaringsgjennomgang av utvalgte covid-19 utbrudd i Norge, desember 2020 – mars 2021. Rapporten har blitt ledet av en intern arbeidsgruppe ved Folkehelseinstituttet (FHI) og er gjennomført i samarbeid med Helsedirektoratet, utvalgte kommuner og tilhørende statsforvaltere våren 2021. Hensikten har vært å oppsummere erfaringer og lære underveis, særlig knyttet til håndtering av utbrudd med den engelske virusvarianten og bruk av forsterket TISK (testing, isolering, smittesporing og karantene). Denne prosessen har gitt relevant innsikt

Countrywide outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in hospitals caused by premoistened non-sterile washcloths, Norway, 2021-2022

Source at https://www.fhi.no/I november 2021 ble Folkehelseinstituttet varslet om at tre intensivpasienter hadde dødd av blodbaneinfeksjon med bakterien Pseudomonas aeruginosa ved Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge i Tromsø i løpet av kort tid. De hadde identiske isolater forenlig med et klonalt utbrudd. Helgenomsekvensering viste at det var en ny sekvenstype, ST3875, som ikke har vært påvist i Norge eller andre land. Nye tilfeller uten epidemiologiske sammenhenger, ble etter hvert funnet i flere andre sykehus, noe som indikerte en felles smittekilde. Den 17. januar 2022 var det påvist utbruddstilfeller i tre av fire helseregioner, og det ble 19. januar erkjent som et nasjonalt utbrudd. FHI overtok da koordinering av utbruddsarbeidet, og 20. januar ble det etablert en Sentral utbruddsgruppe med fagpersoner fra alle helseregionene. Den 21. januar var det 23 tilfeller i 9 sykehus i 3 regioner. Kasusdefinisjonen var en person med laboratoriebekreftet P. aeruginosa ST3875 fra oktober 2021 i sykehus i Norge, uavhengig av avdeling. Etter systematiske laboratorieundersøkelser av over 300 produkter påviste Oslo Universitetssykehus 18. mars 2022 utbruddsbakterien i pre-fuktede engangs vaskekluter av merket Oasis BedBath Unperfumed produsert i Lancashire, England. Sykehusene sluttet umiddelbart å bruke produktene. Vaskeklutene er definert som et kosmetisk produkt, og Mattilsynet er tilsynsmyndighet. Mattilsynet avdekket at produsenten og importøren ikke hadde full oversikt over produksjonslinjene og hvilke produkter som var forurenset. Det ble også avdekket at P. aeruginosa var blitt påvist i produkter under den interne kvalitetskontrollen i september 2021, uten at produktene var blitt stanset. Den 14. april tilbakekalte den engelske produsenten Vernacare produktene fra markedet både i Norge og internasjonalt. Per 14. juni 2022 omfattet utbruddet 388 tilfeller i 40 sykehus. Gjennomsnittsalder var 68 år og median alder 70 år (interkvartilområde 59- 79 år). Flertallet (63 %) av tilfellene var menn, og seks sykehus rapporterte Pseudomonas som sterkt medvirkende årsak til død hos totalt 8 tilfeller. Til sammen hadde 15 % av tilfellene ST3875 i blodkultur, 21 % i luftveier, 38 % i urin, 19 % i sår og 7 % i andre prøvematerialer, noe som tydet på flere mulige inngangsporter for bakterien. Antall nye tilfeller falt raskt etter at kilden var identifisert, og bruk av produktet ble stoppet i sykehus