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Correction to: Why nature matters:A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values
Get PDFThis is a correction to: Austin Himes, Barbara Muraca, Christopher B Anderson, Simone Athayde, Thomas Beery, Mariana Cantú-Fernández, David González-Jiménez, Rachelle K Gould, A P Hejnowicz, Jasper Kenter, Dominic Lenzi, Ranjini Murali, Unai Pascual, Christopher Raymond, Annalie Ring, Kurt Russo, Aibek Samakov, Sanna Stålhammar, Henrik Thorén, EgleéZent, Why nature matters: A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental and relational values, BioScience, Volume 74, Issue 1, January 2024, Pages 25-43, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biad109 In the original publication of the manuscript, there was a typo- graphical error in the name of the 19th author. This should read: "Henrik Thorén." The emendation has been made in the article.</p
Manipulating the topological spin of Majoranas
Get PDFThe non-Abelian exchange statistics of Majorana zero modes make them interesting for both technological applications and fundamental research. Unlike their non-Abelian counterpart, the Abelian contribution , where is directly related to the Majorana's topological spin, is often neglected. However, the Abelian exchange phase and hence the topological spin can differ from system to system. For vortices in topological superconductors, the Abelian exchange phase is interpreted as an Aharonov-Casher phase arising from a vortex encircling an charge. In this work, we show how this fractional charge and hence the topological spin can be manipulated, introducing an additional knob for braiding operations in topological quantum computing. To probe this effect, we propose a vortex interference experiment that reveals the effect of this fractional charge through measurable shifts in the critical current
Techniek zoals het bedoeld is
No full textBoekbesprekingTitel: Technology and Christianity: Essays on the InterfaceSchrijver: E. SchuurmanUitgegever: Wordbridge Publishing te Aalten & Paideia Pres
A large-scale dataset for analysing remote working in urban and rural areas across Europe
Get PDFThis Data Descriptor presents the collected data on remote work among urban and rural workers, emphasizing differences in perceived flexibility, adaptability, preferences, career impacts, well-being, and productivity. The survey, conducted via Prolific between July and August 2024, captured data from 20,013 participants globally with European nationality, offering insights into the benefits and challenges faced by remote workers. Beyond its initial scope, the dataset can be reused to support a wide range of future studies and policy development initiatives. For instance, researchers can utilize this dataset to explore trends in work-life balance, productivity, and urban policy and planning related to remote work. Additionally, urban planners and policymakers can leverage the data to inform strategies for urban and regional development, infrastructure forecasting, planning, and community support in diverse geographic areas. The dataset’s granularity on socio-economic factors makes it an invaluable resource for developing targeted policies that address urban-rural disparities and foster sustainable remote working arrangements across Europe
In-depth analysis of current practice to improve engineering communication education across programmes
Get PDFTechnical challenges of today’s world require engineers from different traditional engineering disciplines to work together. Therefore, various global engineering communities underscore the importance of communicating engineering information across disciplines as an important professional skill for engineers to possess. Many bachelor engineering programs already include ‘collaboration, teamwork and communication’ as a separate intended learning outcome (ILO). A scoping review revealed that education in engineering communication has received little attention over the last decades. That is why the question was raised what the current status is of engineering communication education across the engineering programs of the University of Twente in the Netherlands. First, a desk-top analysis was performed of the course goals (CG) of all courses in year 2023-2024 of 12 BSc engineering programs. To this end, engineering communication was categorized into five ‘languages’: written, oral, graphic, equation/math, and programming communication, representing the distinct way in which engineers can communicate engineering information. Second eight lecturers from seven programmes and six students from five programmes were interviewed in focus groups. Lecturers were interviewed on associations they had with the five communication categories, their relative importance, and teaching and assessment methods for engineering communication. The students were asked to express their opinion via an interactive voting system after which the results were discuss. Topics were their associations regarding the five communication categories as these is novel approach, and their interpretation of these categories being offered sufficiently (5-point Likert scale). The desk top analysis showed that engineering communication is offered in 31% of the courses (min 24% and max 42%). Written communication has the largest share being present as CG in 51% of the courses (min 29% and max 79%), and programming has the lowest share being present as CG in 22% of the courses (min 4% and max 38%). The findings also showed that a) communication education is offered in projects which are monodisciplinary (within the BSc engineering program that students are enrolled in) and that b) descriptions of engineering communication CGs are generically formulated. Recognition of the five communication categories was confirmed by the associations made by the lecturers and students. In line with the prevalence of CG in the desk top results, lecturers indicated that written, graphic and oral are relevant categories for communication with all stakeholders, whereas equation and programming were relevant for communication amongst engineering peers. Noticeably, despite the focus on written communication, students feel less trained (score 3.00 of 5) in written communication compared to equation/mathematical communication (score 3.67 of 5). Lecturers indicate that individual assessment of writing skills is a huge challenge for large student groups. They suggest assessing progress in engineering communication competency in a learning line, which also stimulates the learning from the feedback they provide to students. In conclusion, to improve engineering education it is suggested to formulate engineering communication ILOs and GC SMART and work towards an overarching learning line across courses and programs to enhance true multidisciplinary training
Space-time data-driven modeling of wildfire initiation in the mountainous region of Trentino–South Tyrol, Italy
Get PDFWildfires are complex hazards occurring worldwide, leading to substantial economic losses, fatalities, and carbon emissions. The interplay of climate change, land use alterations, and socioeconomic pressures is expected to further increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires. In this context, developing reliable, dynamic prediction tools is essential for risk mitigation. This work presents a spatiotemporal wildfire prediction model for the Trentino-South Tyrol region (13,600 km²) in the northeastern Italian Alps. Leveraging generalized additive models, we integrate multitemporal wildfire records (2000--2023) with static and dynamic environmental controls (e.g., topography, land cover, daily precipitation, and temperature). The resulting model predictions change dynamically over space and time in response to static features, seasonal trends, and evolving meteorological conditions. Model outputs were evaluated using established performance metrics, enabling the derivation of dynamic spatial wildfire probability thresholds. These thresholds are illustrated for varying amounts of precipitation, temperature, and different combinations of static factors. Validation through multiple perspectives yielded performance scores generally exceeding 0.8, confirming the model strong generalization and transferability. To demonstrate the practical application, the model was used to hindcast past wildfire initiation between 1--15 July 2022--a period marked by elevated wildfire activity. By integrating static and dynamic environmental controls, this research advances the spatiotemporal prediction of wildfires in complex alpine regions, supporting the development of early warning systems
Limited additional value of dual-layer spectral 4DCT compared with conventional 4DCT for preoperative localization in primary hyperparathyroidism
Get PDFPurpose: Primary hyperparathyroidism, characterized by excessive parathyroid hormone secretion, is typically caused by solitary parathyroid adenomas or multiglandular disease. Accurate preoperative localization is critical for successful surgical parathyroidectomy. While four-dimensional CT (4DCT) is commonly used for this purpose, spectral-CT techniques have recently been introduced, offering improved tissue differentiation. Rapid kV switching and dual-source spectral-CT have been studied, however, this is the first study that evaluates the effectiveness of dual-layer-CT in preoperatively locating parathyroid adenomas in a larger population. Approach: From April 2020 to October 2023, patients with confirmed primary hyperparathyroidism underwent dual-layer spectral 4DCT before surgery. Spectral reconstructions (MonoE40keV, Iodine-Density, Z-effective, Iodine-no-Water, Virtual Non-Contrast) were analyzed alongside conventional CT reconstructions. Mean attenuation values were compared using one-way ANOVA. ROC curves with paired-sample analysis assessed the ability of different reconstructions to distinguish between thyroid and parathyroid tissue, and lymph nodes and parathyroid tissue. Results: Thirty-six patients with thirty-nine parathyroid adenomas were analyzed. Conventional CT reconstructions demonstrated significantly higher AUC values for differentiating thyroid from parathyroid tissue across all phases compared to spectral reconstructions (0.83–0.95 vs. 0.65–0.89, p-value 0.007-<0.001). No significant difference was found between conventional and spectral reconstructions in distinguishing lymph nodes from parathyroid tissue (0.64–0.96 vs. 0.58–0.96, p-value 0.070–0.957). Virtual non-contrast (VNC) reconstructions showed smaller attenuation differences and lower AUC values in arterial and delayed phases compared to true non-contrast (p = 0.031 and 0.034). Conclusions: Dual-layer spectral-CT is comparable or inferior to conventional CT in tissue differentiation. VNC reconstructions are not recommended as a substitute for true non-contrast due to inconsistent results. In this cohort, dual-layer spectral 4DCT did not demonstrate clear clinical advantage; further validation is warranted.</p
Information Problem Solving in Vocational Contexts:Designing a Simulation Game for Dutch Municipal Enforcement Officials
Get PDFWorkers in many vocations rely on a wide range of information to solve problems, including Dutch municipal enforcement officials (MEOs) who require this skill when planning surveillance routes. The present study focused on the development of a digital simulation game intended for assessing domain-specific information problem solving (IPS) in aspiring MEOs. Using a think-aloud method with five final-year MEO students, this study explored how well the IPS model—typically used in academic contexts—applied to planning surveillance routes. The findings suggest that the IPS model's constituent skills align with the process of planning a surveillance route, although differences were found in the underlying activities. The insights resulted in an adjusted IPS model for solving information problems in this vocational context. The adjusted IPS model could extend the simulation game to additional vocational contexts or even a generic game-based assessment of vocational IPS. Further investigation is needed to assess its generalisability
Constrained Markov decision processes for response-adaptive procedures in clinical trials with binary outcomes
Get PDFA constrained Markov decision process (CMDP) approach is developed to construct response-adaptive procedures in clinical trials with binary outcomes. The resulting CMDP class of Bayesian response-adaptive procedures can target a certain objective, such as maximizing expected treatment outcomes, while using constraints to control other operating characteristics such as the type I error rate. The constraints can be formulated under different priors, enforcing control of trial operating statistics given that the parameters lie in a specific part of the parameter space (e.g., following from a statistical hypothesis). A solution method is developed to find an optimal policy, while we propose a computationally efficient method based on a cutting plane algorithm that uses backward recursion at every iteration, yielding a feasible policy accompanied by a respective optimality gap. In three applications, we impose constraints on the Bayesian average (i.e., a priori expected) type I error rate, power, and mean-squared error, and a constraint on prior robustness. Comparison of the constructed CMDP procedures with the constrained randomized dynamic programming procedure shows a stronger frequentist type I error control and similar performance in the other operating characteristics when constraining the Bayesian average type I error rate, power, and mean-squared error, whereas CMDP additionally shows substantial outperformance in terms of expected treatment outcomes when only constraining the type I error rate and power. The third application shows that the CMDP approach provides a previously unexplored way to construct response-adaptive procedures with a desired degree of robustness to prior misspecification in terms of expected treatment outcomes
Turning the tables towards gender inclusivity in entrepreneurial ecosystems
Get PDFAlthough women entrepreneurs significantly contribute to economic and social progress, entrepreneurial ecosystems remain largely shaped by male-oriented approaches that insufficiently address women's needs. As a result, gender inequality in entrepreneurship persists, with women facing barriers to starting businesses, securing funding, and accessing networks. Drawing on Giddens’ (1984) theory of structuration, we explore how the cultural, social, and material attributes of entrepreneurial ecosystems interact to influence gender inclusivity. Through in-depth interviews with a diverse range of ecosystem actors, we demonstrate how entrepreneurial DNA, a tight-knit entrepreneurial community, and munificent state infrastructure function as structures that both constrain and enable women entrepreneurs. In response, women act as agents, reshaping these structures through advocacy and solidarity. This study contributes to research on entrepreneurial ecosystems by revealing how ecosystem attributes can simultaneously perpetuate exclusion and enable transformation. It also offers policy implications, calling for holistic, systemic strategies to address persistent gender disparities in entrepreneurship.</p