278 research outputs found
Why life speeds up as you get older how memory shapes our past
No full text"In this book, Douwe Draaisma, author of the internationally acclaimed Metaphors of Memory, explores the nature of autobiographical memory. Applying a unique blend of scholarship, poetic sensibility and keen observation he tackles such extraordinary phenomena as deja vu, near-death experiences, the memory feats of idiots savants and the effects of extreme trauma on memory recall. Raising almost as many questions as it answers, this book will not fail to touch you at the same time as it educates and entertains."--BOOK JACKET
The effects of fire and grazing on the energy reserves of resprouting plants in Victoria's alpine grasslands
Get PDFDeposited with permission of the author. © 2002 Dr. Arn Douwe TolsmaSince European settlement, alpine and sub-alpine grasslands in Victoria have been grazed more intensively and wildfires have become more frequent. Alpine plants, however, have primarily evolved in the absence of fire and grazing, suggesting that they might be particularly sensitive to these factors. Little is known about the short-term physiological responses to defoliation of these predominantly resprouting plants, and this thesis investigates changes in the carbohydrate storage reserves of alpine plants during recovery from fire and/or grazing. (For complete abstract open document
The Role of Oxidative Stress in the Development of Systemic Sclerosis Related Vasculopathy
Get PDFSystemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare connective tissue disease characterized by autoimmunity, vasculopathy, and progressive fibrosis typically affecting multiple organs including the skin. SSc often is a lethal disorder, because effective disease-modifying treatment still remains unavailable. Vasculopathy with endothelial dysfunction, perivascular infiltration of mononuclear cells, vascular wall remodeling and rarefaction of capillaries is the hallmark of the disease. Most patients present with vasospastic attacks of the digital arteries referred to as 'Raynaud's phenomenon,' which is often an indication of an underlying widespread vasculopathy. Although autoimmune responses and inflammation are both found to play an important role in the pathogenesis of this vasculopathy, no definite initiating factors have been identified. Recently, several studies have underlined the potential role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of SSc vasculopathy thereby proposing a new aspect in the pathogenesis of this disease. For instance, circulating levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) related markers have been found to correlate with SSc vasculopathy, the formation of fibrosis and the production of autoantibodies. Excess ROS formation is well-known to lead to endothelial cell (EC) injury and vascular complications. Collectively, these findings suggest a potential role of ROS in the initiation and progression of SSc vasculopathy. In this review, we present the background of oxidative stress related processes (e.g., EC injury, autoimmunity, inflammation, and vascular wall remodeling) that may contribute to SSc vasculopathy. Finally, we describe the use of oxidative stress related read-outs as clinical biomarkers of disease activity and evaluate potential anti-oxidative strategies in SSc
Design of an Ecological Interface for Flow-Based Perturbation Management for Future Air Traffic Control: Interaction with an automated trajectory planning algorithm
No full textAir traffic demand is expected to increase, while the system is already working at its limits. New decision support tools with higher levels of automation that allow for four- dimensional (4D, i.e., space and time) trajectory-based operations are proposed to cope with the increase in traffic demand. This research presents a conceptual interface that allows for flow-based perturbation management in air traffic, based on the principles of Ecological Interface Design and by means of influencing a trajectory planning algorithm. A first evaluation of this interface, in which five participants were asked to structure a perturbed airspace as they saw fit, showed that the participants were able to influence the algorithm as they wanted in most cases and were supported by the ecological interface that visualized the workings of the algorithm. However, human influence predominantly did not improve the solution in terms of robustness and efficiency. Improvements to the interface are suggested and its use case needs further research.Aerospace Engineerin
Forgetting myths, perils and compensations
No full text"In his highly praised book The Nostalgia Factory, renowned memory scholar Douwe Draaisma explored the puzzling logic of memory in later life with humor and deep insight. In this compelling new book he turns to the "miracle" of forgetting. Far from being a defect that may indicate Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, Draaisma claims, forgetting is one of memory's crucial capacities. In fact, forgetting is essential. Weaving together an engaging array of literary, historical, and scientific sources, the author considers forgetting from every angle. He pierces false cliches and asks important questions: Is a forgotten memory lost forever? What makes a colleague remember an idea but forget that it was yours? Draaisma explores "first memories" of young children, how experiences are translated into memory, the controversies over repression and "recovered" memories, and weird examples of memory dysfunction. He movingly examines the impact on personal memories when a hidden truth comes to light. In a persuasive conclusion the author advocates the undervalued practice of "the art of forgetting"--a set of techniques that assist in erasing memories, thereby preserving valuable relationships and encouraging personal contentment"-
Skin autofluorescence in cardiovascular disease : a non-invasive Approach for assessing inflammatory and oxidative stress
Get PDFCardiovascular diseases are among the most important causes of death in The Netherlands. It is of great importance to be able to detect these diseases at an early stage. However, current methods that use classical risk factors such as cholesterol and blood pressure do not come up to the mark. We describe a novel method that assesses the cardiovascular risk in a simple manner. This refers to a device that has been developed in Groningen that allows the skin to fluoresce by using ultraviolet light, by which so called Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) can be measured: skin autofluorescence (AF). AGEs are formed at an high rate as a consequence of an excess in free oxygen radicals. This is generally referred to as oxidative stress and enhances the inflammatory process in the vascular wall that ultimately leads to cardiovascular disease.
In this thesis we demonstrate that skin AF indeed increases with the progression of atherosclerosis. Skin AF is strongly related to markers of inflammation of the vascular wall and appears already to be elevated in healthy subjects with early signs of atherosclerosis, but more marked in patients with coronary artery disease or an acute myocardial infarction. In the latter, skin AF appears to be of prognostic value in predicting future complications.
This thesis describes the role of skin AF in measuring oxidative stress and inflammation in patients with cardiovascular disease and in early detection and prevention of these conditions. By doing so, it might perhaps be possible to start therapy at an earlier stage in order to prevent complications in the future.
Servitization of Security Entrances
No full textServitization. It can be seen in all branches and it seems as if every company is shifting towards a business model where they do not only sell products, but offer service, financing and advice. The security branche is no different. With companies wanting to focus on their core business they do not longer want to buy security cameras, locks and gates. Their real need: the ability to work and store on a secure location. Part of this is having a secure entrance that fits with their needs. Boon Edam is a company that claims to be: ‘your entry expert’. Following the servitization trend they want to invest in a service for their clients and create a competitive advantage in the market. The goal of this thesis is to create a strategy for Boon Edam that creates this competitive advantage in the market. This strategy is based on a model for finding opportunities for security services, as designed by the author. This model is iterated several times during the thesis as more information is found from practice. The author uses customer driven design to create a service that fits with the demands and needs of Boon Edams client. First a research is conducted to provide a starting point for the graduation project. This also provides a general understanding in different aspects related to Boon Edam and security entrances, as well as a first view on requirements for the design. The research consists of various methods to understand and visualize the position of different stakeholders. After this, six stakeholders of Boon Edam are interviewed to provide qualitative insights in the customer needs. This results in reviewed thoughts on assumptions made in the research phase, as well as a framework for the design of the service. Using the framework and the information of the interviews a service is proposed which should provide Boon Edam with the competitive advantage. The service focusses on improving the customer relationship by offering them more support in their decision making and evaluating and improving their entrance solution. According to Baines et al. (2017) this can be seen as advanced services, which should lead to: - Growth in revenue and profit - Improved responses to customer needs - Improved product innovation - The building of new revenue streams - Increasing customer loyalty - Setting higher barriers to competition After the design of the proposed service is explained an implementation plan is written for Boon Edam to adopt the service within their portfolio. With this implementation plan it should be possible to have the service fully implemented at the end of 2019 latest
Improving the innovative mindset of engineers: An approach to help corporates build new innovations
No full textTo innovate requires people. People that know how to innovate. For engineers, it is not always easy to do that. They know a lot about technology (feasibility) but could lack knowledge about the business (viability) and the market (desirability). This report aims to help engineers create a more innovative mindset and thereby boost the innovation output of their organization.A case study into Croonwolter&dros (CWD) explores the problems they encounter with innovation. CWD is a system integrator specializing in engineering and installing technical systems. They have over 140 years of experience in this field and aim to launch three new product-market combinations (PMC’s) a year. Currently, they are working hard to achieve this but have not managed to do so.From several interviews with stakeholders, I learned that knowledge sharing between divisions and colleagues is one of CWD’s issues. CWD is divided into three divisions: Infrastructure, Utility, and Industry. All these divisions have to develop their own business. This causes them to form silos where there is little to no cross-departmental collaboration. Therefore this case study focuses on addressing the lack of knowledge sharing to boost the innovation output of CWD.To understand what knowledge is needed in the organization, I analyzed innovations that are under development at CWD. This analysis showed that CWD employees mainly focus on the feasibility of their innovations and do not pay as much attention to the viability and desirability of their innovations. Because of that, they fail to fully convince essential stakeholders of their innovations’ potential.To tackle this problem, I organized three ideation sessions with innovators to brainstorm ideas that could create a more complete story around their innovations. Three different concepts resulted from these brainstorms. All with the potential to boost the innovation output of CWD. I needed a clear reference frame to compare and decide between the three concepts. The initial plan was to see which concept fitted best to the innovation strategy of CWD, but the innovation strategy was, at that point, too vague andambiguous to decide between the concepts. Therefore I chose to set a clear starting point for innovation at CWD. This resulted in the six principles for innovation at CWD. Based on these principles, I decided to combine two concepts. These concepts are the foundations of IVI.IVI (Iedereen Voor Innovatie) is an approach to boost the innovation output of CWD by improving the innovative mindset of CWD’s innovators. IVI consist of a business development team that helps the innovators. Everyone at CWD with an idea can go to the development team and ask for help. Together they will make a smoke test. This smoke shows the idea to a broad audience via a web page. Everyone can leave comments, questions, or suggestions on this web page. The innovator can use this data to improve his or her innovation. The development team also collects this data for further analysis. From the data, the best performing innovations are invited to the innovation fair. All fair visitors can invest a number of hours into innovations they see potential in. The innovators can use these hours to progress their innovations. If the innovators fail to get enough engagement on their smoke test or to convince enough investors, they know they have to improve their innovation’s viability, desirability, and feasibility. The development team can help them with that.IVI was received positively in an early validation session, both by several stakeholders as well as by the CWD board. Further testing is needed to validate additional assumptions around IVI, but there are no major game stoppers at this time. IVI could be implemented by first putting together the development team. They can become the product owners of IVI and continue implementing IVI. The team should start by actively approaching CWD employees that have an idea to get the ball rolling and create the first smoke tests. From there, they can move on the organizing the first innovation fair. After a significant period, they can organize training and coaching sessions to further boost the innovative mindset of CWD’s innovators and engineers. This completes the implementation of IVI and should, in theory, help CWD to reach its goal of launching three new product- market combinations a year. IVI partly democratizes innovation, and future research might even find applications for this concept in a broader context.Strategic Product Desig
Skin autofluorescence in cardiovascular disease:a non-invasive Approach for assessing inflammatory and oxidative stress
Get PDFCardiovascular diseases are among the most important causes of death in The Netherlands. It is of great importance to be able to detect these diseases at an early stage. However, current methods that use classical risk factors such as cholesterol and blood pressure do not come up to the mark. We describe a novel method that assesses the cardiovascular risk in a simple manner. This refers to a device that has been developed in Groningen that allows the skin to fluoresce by using ultraviolet light, by which so called Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) can be measured: skin autofluorescence (AF). AGEs are formed at an high rate as a consequence of an excess in free oxygen radicals. This is generally referred to as oxidative stress and enhances the inflammatory process in the vascular wall that ultimately leads to cardiovascular disease. In this thesis we demonstrate that skin AF indeed increases with the progression of atherosclerosis. Skin AF is strongly related to markers of inflammation of the vascular wall and appears already to be elevated in healthy subjects with early signs of atherosclerosis, but more marked in patients with coronary artery disease or an acute myocardial infarction. In the latter, skin AF appears to be of prognostic value in predicting future complications. This thesis describes the role of skin AF in measuring oxidative stress and inflammation in patients with cardiovascular disease and in early detection and prevention of these conditions. By doing so, it might perhaps be possible to start therapy at an earlier stage in order to prevent complications in the future
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