Democracy in practice? The Norwegian public inquiry of the Alexander L. Kielland North-Sea oil platform disaster

In March 1980, the oil-platform Alexander L. Kielland capsized in the North Sea resulting in the death of 123 workers. The Norwegian inquiry into the disaster was closed to the public and the survivors' accounts of the disaster differed considerably from the official account. The inquiry was experienced as undemocratic by those who had been in the disaster. Many of them felt humiliated, claiming that their opinions were not given due weight. We argue that if the inquiry had been more transparent and inclusive, important information would have been made available that might have prevented subsequent disasters. Such transparency would be supported if disaster commissions used a critical realist version of knowledge acquisition based on a layered ontology and grounded in an epistemology that uses retroduction and judgemental rationality. In this article, critical realism is also used to justify the interdisciplinary nature of the research, which starts with historical methods.publishedVersio

A novel, optical, on-line bacteria sensor for monitoring drinking water quality

Today, microbial drinking water quality is monitored through either time-consuming laboratory methods or indirect on-line measurements. Results are thus either delayed or insufficient to support proactive action. A novel, optical, on-line bacteria sensor with a 10-minute time resolution has been developed. The sensor is based on 3D image recognition, and the obtained pictures are analyzed with algorithms considering 59 quantified image parameters. The sensor counts individual suspended particles and classifies them as either bacteria or abiotic particles. The technology is capable of distinguishing and quantifying bacteria and particles in pure and mixed suspensions, and the quantification correlates with total bacterial counts. Several field applications have demonstrated that the technology can monitor changes in the concentration of bacteria, and is thus well suited for rapid detection of critical conditions such as pollution events in drinking water

The Community of Førresfjorden and the Kielland disaster in 1980

Artikkelen belyser hvordan lokalsamfunnet Førresfjorden håndterte Kielland-ulykken 27. mars 1980. Det omkom 123 oljearbeidere i ulykken. Syv av dem kom fra Førresfjorden. Presten, menigheten, naboer og familie ga bistand og støtte etter ulykken. Det var ikke tradisjon for krisehjelp fra offentlige myndigheter og skolen. Artikkelens kildegrunnlag er intervjuer utført nesten 40 år etter supplert med skriftlige kilder. Metoden er polyfon og mikrohistorisk.publishedVersio

«Mayday mayday Kielland velter …» : Redning og arbeidersolidaritet

Kielland-ulykken, eller katastrofen, i 1980 er den største industrielle ulykken vi har hatt i Norge. Kantringen av plattformen er også den største maritime ulykken som har vært i Norge etter krigen og den som utløste den største internasjonale redningsaksjonen vi har hatt i Nordsjøen. Totalt døde det 123 menn i ulykken, 89 overlevde. Av de omkomne ble 30 aldri funnet. Ulykken avslørte mangelfullt redningsutstyr, manglende tilgjengelighet på sikkerhetsutstyr, svikt i beredskapen og mangelfull sikkerhetsopplæring. Men den viste også betydningen av god trening, vurderingsevne og profesjonalitet både blant redningsmannskapet og de som var om bord på Kielland. I artikkelen diskuterer vi betydningen av egeninnsatsen og samarbeidet mellom de som var om bord på Kielland og naboplattformen Edda. Det var en innsats der samarbeid var avgjørende viktig for at mange overlevde, men som også førte til at noen omkom under forsøk på å redde andre. Vi beskriver redningsaksjonen med utgangspunkt i erfaringer fra dem som var med på ulykken. Vi utdyper egeninnsatsen og samarbeidet, og analyserer mekanismene bak denne samhandlingen ut fra tenking rundt solidaritet og samhold. Informantene og perspektivet er fra de som overlevde ulykken, de som var med på redningsaksjonen og de som var vitner til den fra luften og fra skipene. Egeninnsatsen var avgjørende for at den redningskapasiteten som kom til med helikopter og skip hadde noen å redde. Det var helt avgjørende med samholdet og samarbeidet mellom de som havnet i ulykken. Den solidariteten som var mellom arbeiderne, var kraften i arbeiderfellesskapet og gjorde at 89 overlevde mot alle odds.publishedVersio

1. Forhandlingsemne: Skattesvik som kriminalpolitisk problem

Side 3-23: Høyesterettsdommer O. C. Gundersen, Oslo. Side 24-35: Politiadvokat Jørgen Smith, København Side 36-40: Docent Inkeri Anttila, Finland Side 41-53: Docent Hans Thornstedt, Stockhol

Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers

Funding Information: This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32101850, H.D.Z.; 32172125, Z.H.Z.), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2020QNRC001, H.D.Z.), the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U21A20218, Z.H.Z.) and the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-07-B-5, Z.H.Z.). Contributions from Dr. Ji Chen are funded by H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (No. 839806), Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF-E-2019-7-1), Danish Independent Research Foundation (1127-00015B), and Nordic Committee of Agriculture and Food Research. We thank the authors whose work is included in this meta-analysis. We also thank Beibei Xin and Zhen Qin for their assistance on high-performance computing and the High-performance Computing Platform of China Agricultural University.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An explorative analysis of ERCC1-19q13 copy number aberrations in a chemonaive stage III colorectal cancer cohort

BACKGROUND: Platinum-based chemotherapy has long been used in the treatment of a variety of cancers and functions by inducing DNA damage. ERCC1 and ERCC4 are involved in the removal of this damage and have previously been implicated in resistance to platinum compounds. The aim of the current investigation is to determine the presence, frequency and prognostic impact of ERCC1 or ERCC4 gene copy number alterations in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Fluorescent in situ hybridization probes directed at ERCC1 and ERCC4 with relevant reference probes were constructed. Probes were tested in a CRC cell line panel and in tumor sections from 152 stage III CRC chemonaive patients. Relationships between biomarker status and clinical endpoints (overall survival, time to recurrence, and local recurrence in rectal cancer) were analyzed by survival statistics. RESULTS: ERCC1-19q13 copy number alterations were observed in a single cell line metaphase (HT29). In patient material, ERCC1-19q13 copy number gains (ERCC1-19q13/CEN-2 ≥ 1.5) were detected in 27.0% of specimens, whereas ERCC1-19q13 deletions (ERCC1-19q13/CEN-2 < 0.8) were only detected in 1.3%. ERCC1-19q13 gain was significantly associated with longer survival (multivariate analysis, HR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.20-1.00, p = 0.049) in patients with colon tumors, but not rectal tumors. No ERCC4 aberrations were detected and scoring was discontinued after 50 patients. CONCLUSIONS: ERCC1-19q13 copy number gains occur frequently in stage III CRC and influences survival in patients with colon tumors. Future studies will investigate the effect of ERCC1-19q13 aberrations in a platinum-treated patient population with the aim of developing a predictive biomarker profile for oxaliplatin sensitivity in CRC

Mechanisms of topoisomerase I (<em>TOP1</em>) gene copy number increase in a stage III colorectal cancer patient cohort

BACKGROUND: Topoisomerase I (Top1) is the target of Top1 inhibitor chemotherapy. The TOP1 gene, located at 20q12-q13.1, is frequently detected at elevated copy numbers in colorectal cancer (CRC). The present study explores the mechanism, frequency and prognostic impact of TOP1 gene aberrations in stage III CRC and how these can be detected by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). METHODS: Nine CRC cell line metaphase spreads were analyzed by FISH with a TOP1 probe in combination with a reference probe covering either the centromeric region of chromosome 20 (CEN-20) or chromosome 2 (CEN-2). Tissue sections from 154 chemonaive stage III CRC patients, previously studied with TOP1/CEN-20, were analyzed with TOP1/CEN-2. Relationships between biomarker status and overall survival (OS), time to recurrence (TTR) in CRC and time to local recurrence (LR; rectal cancer only) were determined. RESULTS: TOP1 aberrations were observed in four cell line metaphases. In all cell lines CEN-2 was found to reflect chromosomal ploidy levels and therefore the TOP1/CEN-2 probe combination was selected to identify TOP1 gene gains (TOP1/CEN-2≥1.5). One hundred and three patients (68.2%) had TOP1 gain, of which 15 patients (14.6%) harbored an amplification (TOP1/CEN-20≥2.0). TOP1 gene gain did not have any association with clinical endpoints, whereas TOP1 amplification showed a non-significant trend towards longer TTR (multivariate HR: 0.50, p = 0.08). Once amplified cases were segregated from other cases of gene gain, non-amplified gene increases (TOP1/CEN-2≥1.5 and TOP1/CEN-20<2.0) showed a trend towards shorter TTR (univariate HR: 1.57, p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: TOP1 gene copy number increase occurs frequently in stage III CRC in a mechanism that often includes CEN-20. Using CEN-2 as a measurement for tumor ploidy levels, we were able to discriminate between different mechanisms of gene gain, which appeared to differ in prognostic impact. TOP1 FISH guidelines have been updated