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Combining online and offline participatory processes for local policymaking::an analysis of three cases in the Netherlands
No full textWestern democracies have recently experienced a proliferation of various forms of democratic innovations such as the deliberative mini-public (hereafter: DMP). In a DMP, a small group of citizens provides policy recommendations after partaking in intensive and moderated deliberations. The advantage of DMPs is that they potentially offer epistemically better and socially more acceptable solutions, increase citizen involvement, and create more trust in and/or satisfaction with the democratic system. However, DMPs are criticized for bypassing the will of the broader society in public decision-making and for lacking outcome implementation. Adding a maxi-public to a DMP could potentially mitigate these issues. We studied three Dutch cases in which a DMP was preceded by an online maxi-public. We find that policymakers experienced that the recommendations of the hybrid participatory processes carried more weight in the decision-making process compared to only conducting a mini-public or a maxi-public. Policymakers particularly valued the high number of citizens participating in the maxi-public and the deliberated recommendations produced by the mini-public based on the insights derived from the maxi-public. However, we observe that the outcome implementation differs between the three case studies. In this chapter, we investigate how design choices can explain these differences
Shaping support, side by side:A multi-step approach toward digital inclusion interventions for households in poverty
No full textIt is difficult to imagine contemporary society without the internet. While many people benefit from the opportunities and possibilities offered by the online world, digital inequalities reinforce existing social inequalities. Poverty and digital exclusion are closely intertwined, creating a cycle in which limited access to digital resources can exacerbate social and economic disadvantage. Several studies have attempted to map existing digital inequalities and identify barriers to internet appropriation. However, the questions of how these barriers affect a person's life, why these barriers exist, and how they can be remedied appropriately remain largely unanswered. What is clear, however, is that adequate support requires an integrated approach addressing all elements of Internet appropriation: attitude and motivation, material access, skills, and usage. In turn, this will have a positive impact on the economic, social, cultural, and personal life domains. This dissertation takes a qualitative approach to explore these dynamics in depth. Its central goal is to understand how households experiencing poverty can be best supported to leverage internet use as a tool for improving their social position and overall life opportunities.This dissertation began with a systematic literature review that examined barriers to and outcomes of internet use for households experiencing poverty, followed by interviews with Dutch social workers who shared their experiences concerning digital inclusion and poverty. Building on these perspectives, we conducted interviews with Dutch parents living in poverty, residing in the municipality of Enschede. We asked the parents about their experiences with internet use, what barriers they encounter, and where they could use support. These insights were then translated into concrete support through a cocreation session and a focus group, resulting in the development of the digital inclusion intervention ‘Samen wegwijs op het internet’ (SWOI). SWOI was subsequently implemented and evaluated, with the lessons learned documented and analyzed in this dissertation. Through the multi-step qualitative approach, the dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of how effective and context-sensitive digital inclusion interventions can be designed, implemented, and sustained for households facing economic disadvantage. In conclusion, this dissertation offers insight into the complex dynamics of digital inclusion and poverty. The step-by-step, participatory approach —actively involving relevant stakeholders throughout the research process—proved essential in developing a nuanced understanding of these dynamics. The qualitative research led to the development of a digital inclusion intervention, which has been received very positively by participating parents. In addition, the connection between digital inequality and social inequality was strongly reflected. The SWOI intervention yielded positive outcomes, which were also reflected in the social and personal life domains. Parents demonstrated increased social bonding and self-confidence in using the internet. The ability to navigate and participate in the digital world has benefits that extend well beyond technology itself, enhancing overall social participation, empowerment, and well-being
Energy-stable port-Hamiltonian systems
Full text linkWe combine energy-stable and port-Hamiltonian (pH) systems to obtain energy-stable port-Hamiltonian (es-pH) systems. The idea is to extend the known energy-stable systems with an input–output port, which results in a pH formulation. One advantage of the new es-pH formulation is that it naturally preserves its es-pH structure throughout discretization (in space and time) and model reduction.</p
Mobility variability of favela residents of São Paulo based on mobile phone data
No full textAnalyzing intrapersonal variability in mobility patterns (i.e., how individuals’ daily travel behaviors, such as destination and route choice, change over time) requires multi-day datasets, which are not commonly available for transportation research. This paper presents a method for deriving mobility patterns from mobile phone data and examines their relationship with multiple socioeconomic indicators. Specifically, we used Call Detail Records (CDR) from 77 days in selected areas, representing individuals living in or near low-income areas (favelas). This allows us to compare the intrapersonal variability of different social groups. While CDR has been used in mobility inequality studies, this paper is the first to examine intrapersonal variability inequalities among favela dwellers using this data source, addressing gaps in multi-day studies in unequal contexts of the Global South. We developed a Poisson model with interaction variables to assess the influence of socioeconomic and land-use variables on mobility variability during weekdays. By controlling for these variables, we demonstrate that a lower income is associated with higher variability, which may be attributed to job informality, while higher-income groups exhibit more stable routines. Furthermore, favela dwellers exhibit lower variability between the weekdays despite economic precarity, suggesting that spatial constraints (e.g., limited transportation options or localized informal economies) override income effects. Our research shows that CDR can be a valuable source for multi-day analyses to examine mobility patterns to address urban inequalities, providing insights for improving urban transportation policies, such as including targeted interventions for informal workers and favela-specific mobility solutions
Performance Validity Testing in Patients with Substance Abuse in Addiction Care
No full textBackground: Low performances on neuropsychological tests are common in patients with substance use disorder (SUD), indicating potential cognitive impairments that may significantly impact treatment engagement and prognosis. While neuropsychological assessment is crucial for identifying these cognitive deficits, to date, data on the performance validity of individuals in addiction care is lacking. Performance validity testing (PVT) can be used to assess the accuracy of such test results. Objectives: This study examined the prevalence of suboptimal performance on different PVTs in a SUD inpatient population, their agreement in detecting poor performance validity, and their association with overall cognitive performance. Methods: Retrospective data were analyzed from 172 SUD inpatients (2017–2024) in an addiction care clinic. Three PVTs were examined: the Visual Association Test-Extended (VAT-E), the Amsterdam Short-Term Memory test (ASTM), and the WAIS-IV Digit Span Age-Corrected Scaled Score (DS ACSS). Failure rates were calculated, and correlations between PVT outcomes and between the PVT measures and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were computed. Results: Failure rates varied substantially across PVTs (from 1.3–36%). Agreement between PVTs was low (κ-values 0.019–0.397), with minimal correlations between ASTM, DS ACSS, and VAT-E scores. Weak to moderate positive correlations (ρ-values −0.024–0.403) were found between PVTs and the MoCA. Conclusions/Importance: The variability in failure rates suggests that different PVTs may not measure the same construct. Possibly, the ASTM may be too challenging for many patients and DS ACSS failures may reflect lower intellectual abilities rather than true non-credible performance. This stresses the importance of selecting appropriate PVTs in addiction care settings to avoid misclassification and ensure valid neuropsychological assessments.</p
Optimal Co-Design of Sensor Placement and State Observer for Lithography Applications
No full textThe state and output estimation accuracy depends on both the observer and the sensor locations. This paper focuses on this co-design problem in lithography applications. A theoretical formulation of this co-design problem is presented and solved for discrete-time linear stochastic models. We compare the optimal solution of two variants of the estimation problem. The first variant minimizes the transient estimation error whereas the second one minimizes the steady-state estimation error. In both cases, the Kalman filter is optimal. While solving these problems for a lithography application formulated as a 3D thermoelastic model, we observe a significant difference between the optimal sensor placements. Our results highlight the importance of designing a sensor layout in line with the desired transient or steady-state estimation performance.</p
Development of 780 nm Extended Cavity Lasers in Thin-Film Lithium Niobate
No full textWe present ongoing work on an integrated 780 nm extended cavity diode laser using thin-film lithium niobate, including ring-resonators, heaters, and semiconductor amplifiers, facilitating quantum computing and optical clock scalability and portability.</p
Non-Buoyant Microrobots Swimming with Near-Zero Angle of Attack
No full textIn the design of microrobots, a helical geometry is pivotal to overcome the time-reversal constraints of the scallop theorem. The helical geometry enables the microrobots to propel themselves forward in viscous fluids with a corkscrew like motion when they are allowed to rotate. It is physically advantageous for microrobots to swim with near-zero angle of attack much like buoyant microorganisms, allowing high thrust for forward propulsion. This type of propulsion is not possible as the non-buoyant microrobot drifts downward due to gravity. Here, we analyze the stability problem of controlling magnetically driven helical microrobots to achieve bounded straight runs without drift in a low-Reynolds-number regime. We demonstrate periodic active suspension solutions, that facilitate helical propulsion with minimal angle of attack and zero drift. We theoretically predict unique control inputs, for a given helical microrobot geometry and magnetic composition (i.e., 62% Ni and 24% Au Wt%), which can be generated with rotating field and field-gradient pulling. Usingmicrorobots fabricated of denser-than-water soft-magnetic body (4870 kg·m−3), we find that the microrobot is allowed to swim with near-zero angle of attack of 8.3°±5.2° (mean±s.d.), outperforming conventional gravity compensation methods
Integrated sales planning for in-store retail:A multi-stage stochastic optimization approach
Full text linkEffective sales planning is critical in the retail industry but is challenging to outline and implement. In fact, the future demand of new or existing products is complex to predict due to its intricate relationship with pricing strategies and consumer behaviors, whereas optimizing product assortment requires capturing inter-product effects and the impact on inventory management and costs. Tackling these interconnected challenges effectively remains a key issue in retail planning. In this paper, we focus on low-margin, high-volume brick-and-mortar retail businesses, in which the baseline product price is fixed by the supplier, but markdowns and promotions can be leveraged to steer sales. We develop a multi-stage stochastic linear program that accounts for demand uncertainty and jointly optimizes product assortment, inventory, and promotion decisions, while embedding a novel demand elasticity formulation. To define the input demand scenarios to the stochastic program, we consider historical sales data by an Italian electronics retailer aggregated by product category, calibrate a stochastic process to this data, and construct a scenario tree that captures the process dynamics. Extensive numerical experiments show that the model can be solved efficiently with a commercial optimization solver for instances at varying number of products, categories, and scenarios. Furthermore, we show that the expected profit from our stochastic program increases compared to a forecast-based reoptimization policy by 15%, an expert-based heuristic inspired by current practice by 22%, and a benchmark that neglects demand elasticity by 5%. Our approach can thus support in-store retail planners to enhance their competitiveness.</p
Translational insight into MASH:From mechanisms to medicine
Full text linkMetabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is an increasingly prevalent global health issue, characterized by hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. MASH can progress to end-stage liver diseases, including cirrhosis, end-stage liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma, if not treated. Its multifaceted pathology, driven by dysregulated lipid metabolism, chronic inflammation, and fibrotic remodeling, presents significant therapeutic challenges, necessitating the development of targeted interventions that address the disease’s complexity. This thesis explores innovative and translational therapeutic strategies by dissecting key pathways driving MASH progression, by contributing to the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving MASH progression and exploring the therapeutic potential of novel treatments by targeting steatosis, inflammation, and/or fibrosis