Radboud Educational Repository (Radboud Univ.)
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From Concept to Practice: Exploring barriers and opportunities adopting and scaling clay-in-sand in the Achterhoek
No full textThis thesis investigates the barriers and opportunities for implementing and scaling clay-in-sand as a drought mitigation and adaptation measure, using a practice-based framework that focuses on materials, meanings, and competences. Based on case studies in Haarlo-Olden-Eibergen and ’t Klooster and interviews with farmers, contractors, and governmental actors, the research shows that these elements interact in complex ways and jointly determine the scaling potential of the measure.
Material conditions are particularly influential. The study shows that the main issue lies in the organisation and matching of clay supply and demand rather than in actual availability. Other material barriers include the absence of machinery designed for clay spreading, and high implementation costs. Despite these constraints, farmers generally regard clay-in-sand as a worthwhile long-term investment.
Meanings attached to clay-in-sand differ but reinforce one another. Farmers emphasise yield improvement and drought resilience, while water boards and provincial actors frame the measure as a hydrological intervention and a climate adaptation and mitigation strategy. However, historically dominant Dutch water-management discourses focused on rapid water discharge still limit wider acceptance.
Competence development mainly occurs through learning-by-doing and pilot projects. Scaling up requires improved supply coordination, investment in suitable machinery, regulatory alignment, and more structured, cross-regional knowledge exchange
Verbinden of verdelen? Politieke verschillen in vriendschappen van jongeren
No full textDit onderzoek richt zich op de wijze waarop jonge mannen (20-25 jaar) uit Nijmegen en Groesbeek omgaan met politieke polarisatie binnen hun vriendschappen en welke strategieën zij toepassen om wederzijds begrip te bevorderen. De onderzoeker voerde tien semi-gestructureerde interviews uit met twee groepen respondenten: vijf stedelijke studenten en vijf jeugdvrienden uit het dorp. Via een insider/participant-benadering werden de gesprekken getranscribeerd en geanalyseerd door middel van open en axiaal coderen.
De resultaten tonen dat beide groepen de harmonie binnen vriendschappen centraal stellen. In de dorpsgroep worden politieke discussies grotendeels vermeden, terwijl stedelijke jongen dergelijke gesprekken wel voeren. Echter blijkt ook daar sprake van sociale druk en loyaliteit aan groepsnormen. Respondenten vermijden vaak het delen van afwijkkende standpunten om niet buiten de groep te vallen. Opvallend is dat dorpsjongeren veronderstellen dat er een gedeelde consensus bestaat, terwijl stedelijke jongeren juist verschillen ervaren en sommige overtuigingen dominanter aanwezig zijn. Beide groepen erkennen dat hun vriendengroepen functioneren als filterbubbels.
De studie benadrukt de rol van sociale identiteit, cognitieve dissonantie, groepscohesie en mediagebruik in de omgang met politieke verschillen. Hoewel de steekproef klein en uitsluitend mannelijk is, biedt dit onderzoek waardevolle inzichten in de spanningsvelden tussen persoonlijke overtuiging en groepsloyaliteit binnen vriendschappen
The role of housing corporations in shaping healthy living environments
No full textThis master’s thesis focuses on the role of housing corporations in the policy and practice of creating a healthy living environment. In recent years, the concentration of vulnerable groups within the social rental sector has increased, making poverty, and physical and mental health challenges more visible. Although health is not formally a core task of housing corporations, they play an important signaling role in neighborhoods with significant health disparities. Through their presence in the local environment, corporations can not only detect problems early but also stimulate behavioral change by influencing the built and social environment.
Based on case studies, including initiatives in municipalities such as Zwolle, Doetinchem, and Winterswijk, the research examines how housing corporations – in collaboration with municipalities, public health services, and social partners – contribute to preventive health policy. Their contributions include connecting stakeholders, leveraging networks, and supporting initiatives that encourage residents to adopt healthier lifestyles, without overstepping their primary housing responsibilities.
The thesis demonstrates that housing corporations, due to their unique position within neighborhoods, play a key role in creating a healthy living environment. Their engagement illustrates that health and housing are increasingly intertwined, with integrated collaboration being essential to reduce health inequalities and promote well-being in vulnerable communities
The Impact of Language and Language-Product Congruence on Attention and Advertising Effectiveness.
No full textThis study provides empirical evidence for the influence of language (mixed versus native) and language-product congruence (congruent versus incongruent) on attention and advertisement effectiveness. A 2 x 2 mixed-design experiment with 56 Dutch participants was conducted. Participants viewed one of two versions of Volkskrant Magazine, each containing eight advertisements that varied systematically by language and congruence. Attention was measured using an eye-tracker. Advertisement effectiveness was assessed through a questionnaire measuring brand recall, brand recognition, product attitude, and purchase intention. The results showed that neither foreign language use nor language-product congruence influenced attention. However, congruent mixed-language advertisements resulted in more positive product attitudes and higher purchase intentions, whereas incongruent mixed-language advertisements increased brand recognition. Brand recall was unaffected. These findings suggest that congruence can influence the effectiveness of mixed-language advertisements
Next stop: integrated and future-proof mobility hubs in Eindhoven
No full textThis thesis has investigated and explored the implementation of integrated and future-proof mobility hubs in the city of Eindhoven. This has been investigated through multi-level dynamics based on the MLP framework by Geels (2006). This MLP framework consists of three levels: landscape, regime and niche. The thesis aimed to answer the main research question: Which challenges and opportunities shape the transition towards the implementation of integrated and future-proof mobility hubs in Eindhoven through an understanding of Multi-Level dynamics? At the landscape level, dynamics such as climate change, digitalisation and overarching societal challenges were studied. The regime level has investigated the interactions and cooperation between governmental levels involved in the implementation of mobility hubs. These governmental levels are national, provincial and municipal. The users and inhabitants are also part of the regime level. They are influenced by the dominant top-down planning. At the niche level, technologies such as the further electrification of vehicles as well as the implementation of shared mobility options will contribute to the future-proofness of mobility hubs. This analysis has revealed that Eindhoven is very well positioned, however, the governmental barriers and the needs and behaviour of users and inhabitants remain obstacles in the implementation process
Temperature traps: the influence of the built environment on the nocturnal Heat Island Effect in Oss
No full textThis quantitative research explores the influence of the built environment on the nocturnal
Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) in Oss, the Netherlands. The nocturnal UHI refers to elevated
temperatures in urban areas during the night. Nocturnal temperature data were collected over
the course of three nights in Oss and spatially linked to urban characteristics using spatial joins
in ArcGIS Pro 3.1. Subsequent analysis was conducted in R 4.4.0, using a Spatial Lag
(regression) Model (SLM). The findings indicate that the Community neighbourhood typology
shows the most pronounced warming effect, with a statistically significant nocturnal
temperature increase of +0.1647 °C compared to Pre-war residential. The Post-war garden low-
rise typology follows with a smaller, yet also significant, increase of +0.0894°C compared to
Pre-war residential. Apart from neighbourhood typology, one-unit increase in aspect ratio (ratio
building height/street width) in a 30-metre buffer corresponds to a +0.01236 °C rise in nocturnal
temperature. Tree count within a 10-metre buffer shows a small and non-significant warming
effect (+0.00225 °C per additional tree). Between trees and aspect ratio, aspect ratio exhibits
the strongest effect, 1.6 times greater than that of tree count. Distance to the city centre (in
metres) was included as a control variable. Although it showed a slight cooling effect, this effect
was not statistically significant. This study highlights that built environment characteristics,
particularly aspect ratio and neighbourhood typology, play a decisive role in shaping the
nocturnal UHI, underscoring the need to account for microclimatic variation in urban planning.
Future research can build on the relationship between the built environment and the nocturnal
UHI by incorporating additional parameters or by further enhancing this research.
Keywords
Nocturnal temperatures, Urban Heat Island effect, Neighbourhood typology, Trees, Urban
geometry, Aspect ratio, Spatial planning, Heat mitigation, Microclimate
Opening the black box: where does throughput legitimacy hide? A case study research on the National Energy and Climate Plans of Austria and Ireland to examine whether the European Union safeguards and guarantees the democratic legitimacy
No full textDemocratic legitimacy within the topic of climate change in the European Union is a major concern for institutions and individuals. National Energy and Climate Plans of Member States need to measure up to the requirements which the European Commission set up. The goal of this research was to analyse whether the European Union’s governance system allows for citizen representation that operates responsively and responsible with creating proper outcomes effectively through the criteria of accountability, transparency, inclusiveness, and openness. The research used literature on input, output, and throughput legitimacy as theoretical framework. Throughput legitimacy can be divided into two discourses, namely the coordinative discourse and the communicative discourse which can be linked to respectively output legitimacy and input legitimacy. The legitimising mechanisms of input, output and throughput are also divided between the level of the EU and the national level which is called split-level legitimacy (Schmidt, 2020, p. 56). The central question of this research is ‘How does the European Union guarantee and safeguard the democratic legitimacy and solve the split-level legitimacy problem in the context of the National Energy and Climate Plans?’. To answer the central question, this research executed a content analysis with two case studies being the NECPs of Austria and Ireland. The analysis revealed that the European Union guarantees and safeguards the democratic legitimacy by thoroughly monitoring the Member States and giving them recommendations on how they should improve and implement the National Energy and Climate Plans. We gained more insight into democratic legitimacy within the split-level legitimacy design, but it is complex to draw a strict conclusion on how the European Union will solve the split-level legitimacy problem. This research showed that it is important to uncover throughput legitimacy in order to comprehend the split-level legitimacy
DETERMINANTS OF TURNAROUND The impact of Financial Resilience, ESG Performance and the moderating role of Reputation
No full textDrawing on legitimacy theory, this research investigates the effect of financial resilience and ESG
performance on the likelihood of turnaround. To do so, this research uses a sample of 706 firms in the
software and R&D industry with a total of 2132 observations in the period 2006-2023. This research
argues that financial resilience and ESG performance increase the likelihood of turnaround; this
relationship is moderated by reputation. Partial support is found for the former, which shows that
financial resilience lagged 2 years increases the chance of turnaround; however, results indicate a
curvilinear relationship, meaning that the effect accelerates at the ends of financial resilience. In terms
of the latter, no support is found. Similarly, reputation is found to moderate the relationship between
turnaround and financial resilience lagged 2 years, but not financial resilience lagged 1 year and ESG
performance. This research provides new insights relevant to the literature on financial resilience, ESG
performance, reputation, turnaround, and legitimacy theory
De Impact van Leegstandsbeleid op Winkelleegstand: Een Vergelijkende Analyse van Doesburg en Westervoort
No full textWinkelleegstand vormt in Nederland een groeiend probleem door de opkomst van e-commerce, demografische veranderingen en het verdwijnen van traditionele winkelketens. Deze scriptie onderzoekt hoe twee middelgrote gemeenten, Doesburg en Westervoort, omgaan met deze uitdaging en hoe lokale context de effectiviteit van beleid beïnvloedt. Op basis van een kwalitatieve vergelijkende case study zijn interviews, beleidsdocumenten en mediaberichten geanalyseerd. De resultaten laten zien dat Doesburg een proactieve en bottom-up benadering hanteert, waarin lokale betrokkenheid, een Bedrijveninvesteringszone (BIZ) en pragmatische oplossingen centraal staan. Hierdoor blijft het centrum relatief vitaal en wordt leegstand snel ingevuld. Westervoort daarentegen kent een meer reactieve, top-down aanpak, sterk afhankelijk van de eigenaar van het winkelcentrum en projectontwikkelaars. Pas bij toenemende leegstand werd gekozen voor een grootschalige herstructurering waarbij winkels werden verplaatst en woningen werden toegevoegd. De vergelijking toont aan dat beleidskeuzes sterk samenhangen met lokale omstandigheden, zoals historische identiteit, eigendomsstructuren en de mate van samenwerking tussen actoren. Daarmee onderstreept dit onderzoek het belang van contextgevoelig en flexibel leegstandsbeleid. De bevindingen dragen niet alleen bij aan de wetenschappelijke literatuur over adaptive reuse en place-based benaderingen, maar bieden ook praktische lessen voor andere gemeenten die geconfronteerd worden met toenemende winkelleegstand
The influence of L1 and L2 on narrative engagement and reading preferences among Dutch readers.
No full textThis study looks at why Dutch readers prefer to read in English and how L1 and L2 influence narrative engagement in fantasy stories. The study uses an experiment to measure the narrative engagement among Dutch readers in an English and Dutch fantasy story. The study uses a survey to answer questions about Dutch readers' reading preferences in Dutch and English. The study concludes that L1 or L2 do not influence narrative engagement and that Dutch readers prefer reading in English due to other factors like availability, genre, and a preference for reading original work