159 research outputs found
Is There Market Power in the French Comte Cheese Market?
Full text linkAn NEIO approach is used to measure seller market power in the French Comté cheese market, characterised by government-approved supply control. The estimation is performed on quarterly data at the wholesale stage over the period 1985-2005. Three different elasticity shifters are included in the demand specification, and the supply equation accounts for the existence of the European dairy quota policy. The market power estimate is small and statistically insignificant. Monopoly is rejected, as well as weak forms of Cournot oligopoly. Results appear to be robust to the choice of functional form, and suggest little effect of the supply control scheme on consumer prices.Supply control, NEIO, protected designation of origin, Marketing,
Towards ex vivo repair of damaged donor kidneys
Full text linkThe shortage of donor kidneys is a worldwide problem. One possibility to increase the donor organ pool is to improve the quality of suboptimal donor kidneys. For this reason, an increasing amount of research is being performed on the subject of machine perfusion, a technique during which an organ is connected to a perfusion circuit. Apart from the fact that this technique can be used to bridge the period between donation and actual transplantation, it also provides the opportunity for active interventions to an isolated organ. The first part of my thesis focuses on a cellular intervention during normothermic (37 degrees) machine perfusion with mesenchymal stromal cells. The aim was to determine if it was technically feasible to administer mesenchymal stromal cells, cells with regenerative capacities, during normothermic machine perfusion and what effect these cells had on the donor kidney. It proved to be feasible to administer these cells in such way that a proportion remained detectable after machine perfusion. In a porcine autotransplantation model, mesenchymal stromal cells did not affect early graft function, but further research is necessary to determine if these cells could have a beneficial effect on longer term graft function of the donor kidney. The second part of my thesis focuses on the use of different perfusion solutions and oxygen carriers during normothermic machine perfusion. From these experiments it can be concluded that the composition of the perfusion solution, as well as the choice for a specific oxygen carrier, has a significant impact on kidney function and injury markers during normothermic machine perfusion
Dutch Author Recognition Test
No full textPaper version of the Dutch Author Recognition Test (DART) and the scoring for
"Equation missing" : A Cross-Platform Programming Framework for Quantum-Accelerated Scientific Computing
No full textThis paper introduces a new cross-platform programming framework for developing quantum-accelerated scientific computing applications and executing them on most of today’s cloud-based quantum computers and simulators. It makes use of C++ template meta-programming techniques to implement quantum algorithms as generic, platform-independent expressions, which get automatically synthesized into device-specific compute kernels upon execution. Our software framework supports concurrent and asynchronous execution of multiple quantum kernels via a CUDA-inspired stream concept.Accepted Author ManuscriptNumerical Analysi
BOSS Study tour 2002, Mexico
No full textThis report presents the experiences of students and staff during a study tour through Mexico City. This tour took place from June 28 till July 14, 2002, and has been organized by the Building Organization Student Society (BOSS). BOSS is the student’s organization of the Department of Real Estate and Project management of the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology. The aim of the study tour was to extend the education program with research abroad. The tour focused on six themes: Mexican architecture, urban (re)development, ground politics, infrastructure & logistics in building construction, investment, and actors and interactions. After a chapter with facts and figures, all themes are briefly discussed. The report ends with some concluding remarks.Report with findings from a study tourReal Estate Managemen
Optimizing the configuration of tidal turbines in storm surge barriers
No full textThe flow between bridge piers and through storm surge barriers and barrages is an untapped and promising source of water energy. This energy can be harvested with tidal or hydro turbines. In 2015, five turbines with a total capacity of 1.2 MW were retrofit in a flow opening of the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier (the Netherlands). These turbines form world's first commercial-scale tidal fence. However, there is still a major challenge to optimize the configuration of these turbines based on their energy yield and their possible environmental effects to the hinter-lying estuary.This thesis presents a model tool to optimize the energy yield and impact on the environment of installing turbines in flood defences by altering the turbine placing. Mapping out the effects of turbines on the flow is the central question. To answer this question, this research consists of three parts: (1) measuring the field situation, (2) testing a turbine in the laboratory and (3) setting up an analytical model that is coupled to a regional flow model.In the first part of this study (1), unique, high-resolution data of the flow through the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier and around the turbines were investigated. In particular, for the first time in the literature, commercial-scale turbines are used to determine the effect of tidal turbines on the water flow. The power output of the turbines is also quantified. The data is used to derive an analytical model of the flow around a turbine in a barrier. This model can calculate the power of tidal turbines and the resistance of the barrier and turbine for different forms of the installation and variable strength of the external flow.In the second part of this study (2), these insights were refined in laboratory tests, in which the configuration of the turbine and barrier was varied. This method is more representative of real turbines because it has a larger scale factor (1:9) than is usual in the literature. The tests show that the generated power strongly depends on the position of the turbine relative to the barrier. The data also show that the combined resistance of a barrier and turbine is lower than the sum of the individual resistances. These outcomes are used to successfully validate the previously developed analytical model.In the last part of this study (3), the developed analytical model was implemented in a larger-scale numerical flow model. In this larger-scale model, the small-scale flow around a barrier with turbines is linked in an efficient way to the large-scale water movement in a tidal basin. This makes it possible to optimize existing or new tidal power stations, both at the level of the entire barrier and at that of a single flow opening. The impact on the environment can therefore be determined with the model, even more accurately than was previously possible.The research in this thesis shows that the effect of the turbines on the flow at a larger distance is smaller than previously thought. This offers the possibility, for example, to install more turbines and harvest more energy without exceeding the acceptable environmental impact (e.g. ecological effects). This study has contributed to confidence in the technical and economic feasibility of turbine installations that can be built in hydraulic engineering works in the Dutch Delta. The developed calculation tool is freely available to investigate energy yield and environmental effects of tidal energy projects worldwide
Communicating Architecture: How a museum building becomes an explicit part of visitor experience
No full textThis research project aims to find a way for the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague to communicate about their museum building to its visitors. The museum building is to become an explicit part of the visitor experience. By means of design-based research a list of design requirements was composed and a web-based mobile application was designed as communication tool.Applied Sciences | Science Education and Communicatio
Contour Detection in Multi-Angle Time-Lapse Images of Growing Plants
No full textThe problem of quantifying the growth dynamics of plants from time-lapse images is important for determining variety-specific characteristics and subsequent breeding. The goal of this paper is to address this problem and reconstruct three-dimensional images such that growth becomes visible. To this end, data of growing plants were collected in the form of multi-angle time-lapse images. In each image separately, the plants' outline was detected with a GVF-Snakes algorithm. The success of this algorithm is ensured by pre-processing steps and placing the initial contour based on color specifics of the image.The two-dimensional contours are then combined to reconstruct a three-dimensional contour in the camera reference frame. To obtain this reconstruction, points along the contour are matched using a RANSAC-based algorithm to estimate the essential matrix. The three-dimensional reconstructions show information about size, height, leaf structure, and growth of the plant, but the stability of the method has to be improved. Finally, an attempt is made to combine the GVF-Snakes with the point-matching algorithm, however, the convexity of the coplanarity constraint should be explored further
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