233 research outputs found
Overall synthesis and conclusions
No full textThis chapter first systematically summarizes the most important findings and policy implications of each of the chapters included in this book volume. Next it synthesizes the overall findings and policy implications, and discusses future avenues for policy making and research. A first conclusion is that the chapters make clear that the ranges in policy relevant implications of AVs, within the scope of each chapter/topic, are still relatively broad. Secondly we conclude that research that is conceptually rich is more valuable for policy making. Thirdly we hypothesize that context matters for the uptake, impacts, and specific system design characteristics of real world AV implementation. Fourth we conclude that research on the global south has been limited so far. Fifth we argue that AVs, shared vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs) might stimulate each other in a positive way, in all directions. Finally we conclude that AVs will have wider societal implications, such as in the area of land use, accessibility, social exclusion, governmental expenditures, the labor market, and the environment. The more indirect the effects of AVs are, the more difficult they are to understand. For policy making a first conclusion is that the issues of ethics, cyber security and data protection deserve way more attention than they currently get. We also conclude that future motorway network extensions might not be no-regret anymore, because of possible congestion reductions due to AVs, but also because of decreasing marginal values of time. Finally we argue that countries that introduce AVs later than other countries can learn a lot from the real world experiences elsewhere.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport and Logistic
Post hos nostra terra est: mapping the Late Roman ecumene with the Expositio totius mundi et gentium
No full textThis paper studies the landscape of the Late Roman ecumene as depicted by the Expositio totius mundi et gentium (Expos. mundi),1 written by an anonymous author in the middle of the 4th century CE. It will first contextualise the text and assess its structure, language and genre. The contribution will then focus on the distinction between Rome, the Sasanids and utopic societies in the east near Eden, the political and military organization of the Imperium Romanum as well as its economic framework and varying expressions of its culture. As
this paper will show, the anonymous author does not present detailed descriptions of Rome’s geographical landscape. Instead, the primary focus is on material resources of the Roman Empire, their potential for economic exploitation and the trading opportunities resulting from it. Rome’s cultivated landscapes are thereby regarded as important preconditions for its success on an economic, political and cultural level
On the nature of activity induced tissue oxygenation changes and blood flow responses in rat cerebellar cortex
No full textGesamtdissertationDie biologischen Grundlagen der neurometabolisch-neurovaskulären Kopplung des
Gehirns sind nicht hinreichend bekannt. Lokale Änderungen der
Nervenzellaktivität sind begleitet von regionalen Änderungen des zerebralen
Blutflusses (CBF) und bedienen die Bedürfnisse eines gesteigerten Metabolismus
in aktivierten Gehirnregionen und bilden zugleich die Grundlage funktionell-
bildgebender Verfahren des Gehirns. Es ist derzeit ein intensives Bestreben
die Mechanismen und die Art der neuronalen Aktivität zu klären, die diesen CBF
Anstieg vermitteln und die Frage nach den individuellen metabolischen Kosten
der an der Signaltransduktion beteiligten Prozesse und Zelltypen und die Art
ihrer Energiegewinnung zu klären. In welchem Umfang exzitatorische neuronale
Aktivierung zu einem gesteigerten Sauerstoffmetabolismus führt und in welcher
Relation zum CBF, wird ebenso kontrovers diskutiert wie die Frage nach dem
Regulationsprinzip und dem initialen Auslöser der Kopplungskaskade. Die
Bedeutung inhibitorischer Einflüsse auf Energieverbrauch und CBF wurde bisher
kaum untersucht. Ziel der vorgestellten Arbeiten war es, die
neurophysiologische Grundlage aktivitätsinduzierter metabolischer und
hämodynamischer Antworten im zerebellären Kortex der Ratte zu spezifizieren.
Es wurde die Bedeutung von Variationen der synaptischen exzitatorischer
Aktivität im Vergleich zur Veränderung der Aktionspotentialrate für die
Induktion der CBF Antworten und den Sauerstoffverbrauch untersucht, die
Relation der Antworten zueinander, sowie deren Beeinflussbarkeit durch
Veränderungen des synaptischen inhibitorischen Tonus. Die kombinierte,
dynamische Erfassung von Veränderungen des CBF, des
Gewebssauerstoffpartialdruckes (tpO2) und der neuronalen Aktivität (mittels
Laser-Doppler Flussmessung, Sauerstoff- und Glas-Mikroelektroden;
Kletterfaser-Stimulation) ermöglichte es, die Beziehung der Signalantworten
zueinander zu etablieren und die Abhängigkeit des tpO2 Signals von
Sauerstoffverbrauch und CBF Antwort zu demonstrieren. Durch pharmakologische
Disinhibition konnte gezeigt werden, dass im Zerebellum der Blutfluss
unabhängig von der spontanen Aktionspotentialrate in Purkinje-Zellen ist und
Aktionspotentialrate und hämodynamische Antwort in aktivierten Hirnregionen
somit nicht proportional sein müssen. Blutflussanstieg und Sauerstoffverbrauch
bedurften andererseits der postsynaptischen Aktivierung neuronaler ionotroper
Glutamatrezeptoren. Zugleich erfuhren die stimulationsinduzierten Anstiege im
CBF und Sauerstoffverbrauch eine gleichsinnige Modifikation bei Variation des
inhibitorischen synaptischen Tonus. Zusammen liefern diese Studien
experimentelle Evidenz für die hypothetisierte Vorwärts-vermittelte (engl.:
Feed-forward) Regulation der neurometabolischen und neurovaskulären Kopplung
und weisen auf eine in Folge der glutamatergen Signaltransduktion an
exzitatorischen Synapsen initiierte neuronale Signalkaskade hin, die letzten
Endes sowohl in der Steigerung des Blutfluss mündet, als auch im Anstieg des
Sauerstoffmetabolismus.In the normal brain, local variations in nerve cell activity are accompanied
by regional changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and serve to sustain
increased energy metabolism within activated brain regions. This neurovascular
and neurometabolic coupling ensures energy homeostasis of the brain and is the
basis of signals used in functional neuroimaging to map brain function non-
invasively. There is a great effort to elucidate the mechanisms mediating
activity induced blood flow increases and to determine the type of neuronal
activity underlying evoked haemodynamic responses and to clarify the
individual energetic costs of the different processes and cell types involved
in information transfer and processing. To which extend transient changes in
excitatory neurotransmission are associated with increases in oxygen
consumption is under debate and the exact relationship between increases in
blood flow and oxygen metabolism is unknown. Furthermore, there is a lack of
studies on the influence of neuronal inhibition on energy consumption and CBF.
Generally, the basic principle of neurovascular and neurometabolic coupling
and the initial trigger for CBF and oxygen consumption increases need to be
determined. Aim of the studies was to specify the neurophysiological basis of
activity induced metabolic and haemodynamic responses in rat cerebellar
cortex. The relevance of changes in synaptic excitatory input or spiking-
output for changes in CBF and tissue oxygenation was investigated and the
relation between activity induced changes in synaptic activity, blood flow and
tissue oxygenation was studied. Lastly, the effect of variations in GABAergic
tone on local oxygen consumption and blood flow evoked by synaptic excitation
was investigated. Concurrent measures of neuronal activity by glass
microelectrodes and changes in tissue oxygen partial pressure (tpO2) by
polarographic microelectrodes and CBF by laser-Doppler flowmetry were made and
response magnitudes for different levels of activation were calculated.
Thereby the interrelation of the signal responses could be established. TpO2
responses within the activated region were shown to be the result of a
temporally staggered interplay of oxygen consumption induced by synaptic
excitation and increased oxygen supply due to the rise in CBF. By
pharmacological disinhibition the studies showed that an isolated increase in
Purkinje cell spike activity is not sufficient to increase CBF and
demonstrated that changes in spike activity and CBF not necessarily have to be
proportional. Importantly, activity induced rises in CBF and oxygen
consumption were both shown to be dependent on postsynaptic excitatory
activity. Moreover, CBF and oxygen consumption underwent similar modification
by shifting inhibitory GABAergic tone. Taken together, the studies of this
work provide experimental evidence for the hypothesized feed-forward
regulation of neurometabolic and neurovascular coupling and support the idea
of glutamatergic neurotransmission as being a common trigger of signalling
cascades finally giving rise to blood flow and oxygen consumption increases
within activated brain regions
Walking as Do-It-Yourself Urbansim
No full textThis article develops a series of theoretical notions arising in the context of an urban art project that took place in London in the summer of 2004 under the title “Where do you breathe?”1 As a participatory urban intervention, the project challenged the notion of authorship in public space by casting the act of walking as a transformation of urban space, and examined the potentials for a practice of photography based on interaction rather than passive representation
Spinal anaesthesia for brachytherapy for carcinoma of the cervix a comparison of two dose regimes of hypebaric bupivacaine
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The main purpose of the study was to help establish the best dose regimen of hyperbaric bupivacaine, when combined with intrathecal fentanyl, for spinal anaesthesia for brachytherapy for carcinoma of the cervix. This procedure is performed as a day case at Groote Schuur Hospital
Principle neuron spiking: neither necessary nor sufficient for cerebral blood flow at rest or during activation in rat cerebellum
No full textPolicy implications of the potential carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emission and energy impacts of highly automated vehicles
No full textThis chapter explores the extent to which the adoption of highly automated vehicles (AVs) will lead to carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction in the future. Additionally, policy implications are given. Based on existing literature, this chapter shows that the adoption of AVs will result in a modest improvement of CO2 emission per kilometer traveled compared to non-autonomous vehicles in the future. Combined with the expectations that AVs will lead to a modest to, even, high growth in vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) compared to business as usual, the net energy and CO2 emission balance for AVs seems, at its best, to be neutral, but is probably negative. The potential accelerating role of AVs in relation to the uptake of electric vehicles might have the largest positive impacts on the CO2 emissions per kilometer driven, but this accelerating role of AV technology in relation to the uptake of electric vehicles is uncertain. For the time being the most useful policy implication to curb road transport CO2 emissions seems to be to continue with policies that promote the use of alternatives for fossil fuels, such as electricity.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport and Logistic
Creativity in co-Design for Physical Education: Comparing Contributions of Children and Professionals
No full textThis study is carried out within the context of a research and innovationproject Co-design with Kids that aims to support teaching of broad so-called ‘21stcentury’ skills. In this project, design toolboxes for use within primary educationare developed and studied, with real life clients and assignments. In the casedescribed in this paper, the assignment was to create new concepts for physicaleducation (PE). To be able to assess the value of design outcomes created in aco-design trajectory by children, we compared their design outcomes to thosecreated in a similar design process by professionals. Six teams of children (n=21,11-12 years old) and three teams of professionals (n=10, with a background indesign, sports or physical education) developed concepts in separate co-creationsessions. We present a first assessment of the differences and similarities increativity of the design outcomes of the two groups. This assessment of textualsummaries shows no remarkable differences between design outcomes ofchildren and those of professionals in terms of elaboration, originality andrelevance. This indicates that children could be involved as design partners.Further research is needed to gain insight into the specific value of involvingchildren as design partners.Accepted author manuscriptDesign Conceptualization and CommunicationScience Education and Communicatio
A biopolítica como a política da vida e da vitalidade humana : aproximações, discrepâncias, comensurabilidades e avanços conceituais nas propostas de Michel Foucault e Nikolas Rose
No full textThis Master's Dissertation proposes to analyze the notion of biopolitics and its derived concepts as conceptualized, in the 1970s, by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. At the same time, it also intends to analyze the same notion, biopolitics, proposed in the first decade of the 21st century, by the English sociologist Nikolas Rose. Both approaches have their own characteristics. Biopolitics theorized by Michel Foucault refers to the entry of life into the political strategies of States, which occurred between the 17th and 18th centuries, when sovereign power assumed the role of managing the life and vitality of man-species, aiming to, above all, to increase the population’s level of health. The conception of biopolitics formulated by Nikolas Rose concerns the politics of life that has taken shape in the last three decades. It is not delimited by the poles of health and illness, it is concerned with optimizing human vitality and is put into practice by social actors themselves in conjunction with medical authorities. Furthermore, 21st century biopolitics is related to the formation of social relations based on shared somatic statuses. This research seeks, through Content Analysis, to identify the approximations, discrepancies and advances in relation to these concepts from one author and the other, enabling us to draw a parallel between the biopolitics defined by both authors. The results point to the coexistence and specific complementarities between the two notions of biopolitics.A presente Dissertação de Mestrado busca analisar a noção de biopolítica tal como conceituada, na década de 1970, pelo filósofo francês Michel Foucault e, na primeira década do século XXI, pelo sociólogo inglês Nikolas Rose. Ambas as abordagens guardam características próprias. A biopolítica teorizada por Michel Foucault refere-se a entrada da vida nas estratégias políticas dos Estados, o que se deu entre os séculos XVII e XVIII, quando o poder soberano assume o papel de gerenciar a vida e a vitalidade do homem-espécie, objetivando, sobretudo, aumentar o nível de saúde da população. A concepção de biopolítica formulada por Nikolas Rose diz respeito à política da vida que tomou forma nas últimas três décadas. Ela não está delimitada pelos polos da saúde e da doença, está preocupada com a otimização da vitalidade humana e é posta em prática pelos próprios atores sociais em conjunto com autoridades médicas. Além disso, a biopolítica do século XXI está relacionada à formação de relações sociais a partir de status somáticos partilhados. Essa pesquisa busca, através da Análise de Conteúdo, identificar as aproximações, discrepâncias e avanços com relação a esses conceitos de um e de outro autor, possibilitando-nos traçar um paralelo entre a biopolítica definida por ambos os autores. Os resultados apontam para a coexistência e a complementaridades específicas entre as duas noções de biopolítica
A biopolítica como a política da vida e da vitalidade humana : aproximações, discrepâncias, comensurabilidades e avanços conceituais nas propostas de Michel Foucault e Nikolas Rose
No full textThis Master's Dissertation proposes to analyze the notion of biopolitics and its derived concepts as conceptualized, in the 1970s, by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. At the same time, it also intends to analyze the same notion, biopolitics, proposed in the first decade of the 21st century, by the English sociologist Nikolas Rose. Both approaches have their own characteristics. Biopolitics theorized by Michel Foucault refers to the entry of life into the political strategies of States, which occurred between the 17th and 18th centuries, when sovereign power assumed the role of managing the life and vitality of man-species, aiming to, above all, to increase the population’s level of health. The conception of biopolitics formulated by Nikolas Rose concerns the politics of life that has taken shape in the last three decades. It is not delimited by the poles of health and illness, it is concerned with optimizing human vitality and is put into practice by social actors themselves in conjunction with medical authorities. Furthermore, 21st century biopolitics is related to the formation of social relations based on shared somatic statuses. This research seeks, through Content Analysis, to identify the approximations, discrepancies and advances in relation to these concepts from one author and the other, enabling us to draw a parallel between the biopolitics defined by both authors. The results point to the coexistence and specific complementarities between the two notions of biopolitics.A presente Dissertação de Mestrado busca analisar a noção de biopolítica tal como conceituada, na década de 1970, pelo filósofo francês Michel Foucault e, na primeira década do século XXI, pelo sociólogo inglês Nikolas Rose. Ambas as abordagens guardam características próprias. A biopolítica teorizada por Michel Foucault refere-se a entrada da vida nas estratégias políticas dos Estados, o que se deu entre os séculos XVII e XVIII, quando o poder soberano assume o papel de gerenciar a vida e a vitalidade do homem-espécie, objetivando, sobretudo, aumentar o nível de saúde da população. A concepção de biopolítica formulada por Nikolas Rose diz respeito à política da vida que tomou forma nas últimas três décadas. Ela não está delimitada pelos polos da saúde e da doença, está preocupada com a otimização da vitalidade humana e é posta em prática pelos próprios atores sociais em conjunto com autoridades médicas. Além disso, a biopolítica do século XXI está relacionada à formação de relações sociais a partir de status somáticos partilhados. Essa pesquisa busca, através da Análise de Conteúdo, identificar as aproximações, discrepâncias e avanços com relação a esses conceitos de um e de outro autor, possibilitando-nos traçar um paralelo entre a biopolítica definida por ambos os autores. Os resultados apontam para a coexistência e a complementaridades específicas entre as duas noções de biopolítica
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