17 research outputs found
Gesundheitsgewinne modellieren. Simulation kombinierter Effekte von Fettleibigkeit und Bewegungsmangel für NRW
No full textMensing M, Mekel OC. Gesundheitsgewinne modellieren. Simulation kombinierter Effekte von Fettleibigkeit und Bewegungsmangel für NRW. In: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung – der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie e.V. (DGEpi), – der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Soziologie e.V. (DGMS) und – der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sozialmedizin und Prävention e.V. (DGSMP). Das Gesundheitswesen. Vol 79. Stuttgart: Thieme; 2017
Quantitative health impact assessment: taking stock and moving forward: Table 1
No full textFehr R, Hurley F, Mekel OC, Mackenbach JP. Quantitative health impact assessment: taking stock and moving forward: Table 1. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 2012;66(12):1088-1091.Over the past years, application of health impact assessment has increased substantially, and there has been a strong growth of tools that allow quantification of health impacts for a range of health relevant policies. We review these developments, and conclude that further tool development is no longer a main priority, although several aspects need to be further developed, such as methods to assess impacts on health inequalities and to assess uncertainties. The main new challenges are, first, to conduct a comparative evaluation of different tools, and, second, to ensure the maintenance and continued availability of the toolkits including their data contents
Geologie des Pelmo-Gebietes in den Dolomiten von Cadore
No full textGeo-information and Land DevelopmentCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Welches Potenzial steckt im neuen Fahrrad- und Nahmobilitätsgesetz NRW? Modellierung möglicher Gesundheitsgewinne für die Bevölkerung
No full textThe geology of southwestern Uganda: With special reference to the stanniferous deposits
No full textCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Hardware of the Respiratory Simulator: Improving and stabilizing the lung simulator
No full textThe advanced technology of today has reduced the need of testing medical equipment on human patients. The invention of the lung simulator has made it possible to test ventilators without putting the condition of test patients in jeopardy. The device also allows medical staff to be trained in a safe and more rapid way. Several types of lung simulators are available. The digitally controlled variant is the most versatile one for simulations. This type has easily adjustable static and dynamic properties, which, in contrary to traditional passive mechanical simulators, make it possible to simulate different types of breathing. The available design of a digitally controlled lung simulator, however, has one major drawback. The system uses a motor-ball screw assembly to drive a piston in the air compartment. One of the properties of this assembly is that the motor shaft motion is negligibly affected (not ‘backdrivable’) by air pressure exerted on the piston by an external source. The result of this is a feedback system that needs to realize the entire dynamic response to pressure changes, by active control of the motor. Because of this, the system can easily become unstable for certain settings of the static and dynamic properties. The objective of this thesis is to determine what the best alternative actuator is for the lung simulator, to the end of making it more stable than the current version. By improving the existing lung simulator and improving its range of operation, and its performance, it can be made more effective and accurate, which will result in better healthcare. To reach this goal, firstly the desired requirements for the lung simulator will be obtained from the end user. After this, a literature study about alternative actuators shall be conducted. With the results of the literature study, a ranking of the alternative actuators are determined. From the literature study eight alternative actuators have come up. These are the moving coil actuator, moving iron actuator, permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), ironless core motor, piezoelectric actuator, pneumatic actuator, hydraulic actuator and wax motor. The most important requirements on which the different actuators are evaluated are backdrivability, force linearity, force, precision, speed and stroke length. Of the eight alternative actuators, except for the PMSM and the ironless core actuator, all the others have an insufficient score on one or more of the requirements. A comparison of the PMSM and the ironless core actuator shows that the backdrivability of the ironless core actuator is better, and that it has the best overall score. The conclusion is that the ironless core actuator is the most suitable alternative for the lung simulator. The use of the actuator should increase the stability of the lung simulator. However, no testing was possible because of malfunctioning hardware and time shortage. Therefore no practical confirmation could be obtained about the effects of the new actuator on the system. It is recommended to put the top-ranked actuators to the test in a prototype. From the test results it will be possible to confirm whether the instability of the original lung simulator was indeed caused by the actuator, and whether the ironless core motor is indeed the best suitable alternative actuator for the lung simulator.Delft Center for Systems and ControlMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Quality of life: The role of heritage
No full textSince the 19th century, the effect of the urban environment on the quality of life has been increasingly researched by spatial environment related disciplines. The discipline of urban planning has particularly focused on the negative values and the discipline of heritage on the positive values of the existing urban environment. Over the years this relationship has developed into a cooperation that aims at a right balance between preservation and progress within development projects. However, it still appears difficult to determine the right balance due to the lack of knowledge about the subjective values the urban environment contains. Within this research an exploration of the perception process shows that people turn their complex urban environment into a simplified scheme to become able to understand and easily act in it. The formation process of that scheme, which includes the fact that it takes time and effort to enlarge as well as to adjust this scheme, reveals that the less familiar a place is, the more disoriented and therewith uncomfortable people will feel. This means that in order to develop an urban design that will enhance life quality as good as possible, the subjectively most distinctive environmental elements should be conserved. Together with the fact that the objectively poor environmental elements should be enhanced up to contemporary standards in order to enhance the quality of life, this implies a right balance between preservation and progress. It implies a balance per single environmental element, due to the fact that each one of it will have a subjective as well as an objective value. A balance between preservation and progress based on these two principles will thus enable the urban designer to create urban designs that will not just enhance the appearance of the place, but that actually improve the quality of life at the location.Architecture and The Built EnvironmentUrbanis
Hidden Danger: Mapping consequences of underground water infrastructure failure to guide asset management
No full textContinuous functioning of sewer systems and water distribution networks is crucial for liveability, public health and economic prosperity in urban areas. Progressive deterioration of these underground water infrastructures leads to an increased probability of failure. Maintenance is needed to ensure a desired level of functioning. For municipalities and drinking water companies as asset owners, the trend is to develop risk-based asset management. A risk-based asset management strategy links the likelihood of failure with the consequences. Hence, knowledge is needed on the condition of the underground water infrastructure and the consequences in case of failure. Within this strategy, a risk assessment should be performed to prioritise the maintenance and renewal of underground water infrastructure. Based on their criticality, resources can be applied appropriately. The more critical a conduit segment, the more important it is to perform maintenance. To contribute to risk-based asset management, this study investigates the consequences of failure in sewer systems and water distribution networks. In this research, a methodology is developed for mapping consequences of underground water infrastructure failure to guide asset management. Including the consequences of underground water infrastructure failure in the risk determination may lead to a different prioritisation of maintenance activities. Three failure mechanisms are considered: structural sewer failure, hydraulic sewer failure and water distribution network failure. Structural sewer failure leads to partial or complete loss of the load-carrying capacity, whereas hydraulic sewer failure occurs when a system does not meet serviceability requirements for system performance. For water distribution networks, it is assumed that hydraulic failure (caused by overpressure) and structural failure occur simultaneously. Hence, no distinction is made between failure mechanisms in water distribution networks. Using a screening method, the consequences of underground water infrastructure failure are mapped. The consequences of failure are expressed as the affected area and the characteristics of the built environment. The affected area consists of the sinkhole area and the flood zone. The characteristics of the built environment are displayed by means of consequence categories. Within this study, five different consequence categories are taken into account, using hydraulic modelling and (open) classified data. The consequence categories are: 1) Damage to buildings 2) Traffic obstruction 3) Impact on human health 4) Costs of conduit reconstruction 5) Drinking water supply outage. A flat, typical Dutch study area in Tuindorp (Utrecht) is used to test the methodology. For these five consequence categories, findings are illustrated and compared with the results of the hydraulic network functioning according to the Graph Theory method (GTM). This GTM determines the effects of failure of individual conduits on the functioning of a system as a whole, based on a simplified network structure using links and nodes. Results of the analyses show a positive relation between the individual consequences in case of hydraulic sewer failure. For example, critical conduits in the category `damage to buildings', are critical for `impact on human health' as well. Besides, there is a positive relation between the consequence categories and the hydraulic network functioning. Conduits with large diameters are stated as critical for both methods, yet dead-end segments are only critical for hydraulic network functioning. Contradictory, individual consequences are uncorrelated for structural sewer failure and water distribution network failure. The consequences are independent and can not be linked. Besides, there is no relation between the hydraulic network functioning and the individual consequences of structural sewer failure and water distribution network failure.Water Managemen
