38 research outputs found
De circulaire stad van morgen: aandachtspunten bij het droombeeld van de circulaire economie
No full textCirculaire economie moet dé pijler worden van een bloeiend en veerkrachtig Vlaanderen. De omslag naar een circulaire economie is sinds enkele jaren een prioriteit van de Vlaamse regering. De aandacht neemt niet af. De Europese, gewestelijke en federale politieke agenda's zullen de komende jaren dankbaar gebruik blijven maken van het adjectief 'circulair' om nieuw beleid voor te stellen, of bestaand beleid te updaten.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.Spatial Planning and Strateg
The impact of STI test results and face-to-face consultations on subsequent behavior and psychological characteristics.
No full textAcknowledgments The authors would like to thank Maarten Schipper at the Biostatistics Department at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who provided assistance with the statistical analyses. Furthermore, the authors are grateful to the staff at the SHC of Amsterdam, Kennemerland, Hollands Noorden, Twente (especially Karin Westra, Anne de Vries, and Karlijn Kampman) who were involved in the recruitment and data collection of participants at baseline and to Marlous Ratten and Klazien Visser from Soapoli-online, who coordinated the laboratory testing of the home-based test kits at six-month follow-up. The authors would also like to thank the staff at the STI department at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, especially Birgit van Benthem.Peer reviewe
Handle with care: navigating the pluriformity of power to enable actionable knowledge for transitions in informal settlements in the global south
No full textThis is a research paper on Handle with care: navigating the pluriformity of power to enable actionable knowledge for transitions in informal settlements in the global south.This Perspective positions urban challenges in informal settlements in the Global
South as a question of how to coproduce actionable knowledge for sustainability transitions, and how this relates to power issues. The aim is to inform those who are actively working on sustainability transitions in practice how to navigate the pluriform ways power matters in transitions. Also as a way to reflect on one’s doings and as a starting point to develop research and/or policy programs that enable alternative solutions. This Perspective is based on fieldwork in three informal settlements in Kampala and focusses specifically on sustainability issues related to gaining access to, maintenance and control of water services. We highlight the importance of challenging dominant frames of places and communities, coproducing dynamic maps of power relations and interdependencies related to a specific urban challenge and taking into account the contextualized understanding of power relations within a political system
Beach development in Oranjestad Bay, St. Eustatius: A study of the morphological system and possible coastal solutions for the creation of a beach
No full textSint Eustatius is a Caribbean island located in the north of the Lesser Antilles. The coastline west of the capital, Oranjestad Bay, is of vital importance to the island as it is here where tourism, recreation, the harbour and historical ruins are located. On the other hand, Oranjestad Bay has a heavily fluctuating beach, which is undesirable. The Public Entity of St. Eustatius is investigating the possibility of a coastal solution that could preserve and extend this beach. However, there is insufficient knowledge of the hydrodynamic processes and morphology available to design a solution. By analysing the morphological system, this study aims to advise the Public Entity of St. Eustatius on the decision for a coastal solution to create a beach in Oranjestad Bay. A literature study was performed to obtain basic knowledge of the coastal system of Oranjestad Bay. A two-dimensional numerical Delft3D model was then developed to gain more in-depth knowledge of the wave, current and sediment patterns. The result of both findings is combined in a conceptual model, where the cause of the beach fluctuations along Oranjestad Bay was analysed. Based on the system knowledge and stakeholders’ demands and regulations, three alternatives to create a beach at Oranjestad Bay are proposed. The alternatives are qualitatively verified and evaluated with a multi-criteria analysis and cost-value ratio. The literature review shows that Oranjestad Bay has the characteristics of a wave-dominated coast. The seasonal wave climate has a strong influence on the beach fluctuations that occur in Oranjestad Bay. The influence of tides and wind on sediment dynamics is expected to be minimal. The modelling study concluded that the wave climate can be described by three main wave conditions, namely a sea condition, a storm condition and a swell condition. The different hydrodynamic and morphodynamic characteristics of these conditions provide a reasonable simulation of the coastal processes in Oranjestad Bay. The model results give an impression of the seasonal wave climate and a net northward sediment transport capacity is found. These results are consistent with the expected coastal morphodynamics found in the literature study. The effect of a storm is less well represented in the modelling study. This limitation is caused by the modelling approach. In addition, there are some uncertainties in the model due to the lack of detailed coastal data in the nearshore. The conceptual model indicates that the coast of Oranjestad Bay may experience seasonal gradientsin alongshore sediment transport leading to beach fluctuations. From April to September, beaches are likely to erode due to net northward sediment transport. In addition, beaches erode due to periodic storm conditions that occur from June to November. It has been found that the recovery of beaches after a storm varies along Oranjestad Bay. Scubaqua beach recovers much faster than the beach at Smoke Alley. This is due to the larger sediment transport capacity in the alongshore direction at Smoke Alley beach, the amount of larger cobbles on the shoreline of Smoke Alley and the lack of sediment north of Smoke Alley...Civil Engineering | Hydraulic Engineering | Coastal Engineerin
The development of a decision-support tool for the performance optimisation of the operating room: Creating a holistic view of the operating room performance for the healthcare professionals by defining the objectives and assessment criteria of optimisation on the performance of the operating room.
No full textThe operating rooms (OR) in hospitals is a complex system, with a high number of innovations every year. Therefore the healthcare professionals (HCPs) are required to choose between the several aspects and innovations for the OR. Decision-making requires a mutual vision (Littlejohn et al., 2017) and should be based on evidence (Turner et al., 2017). To improve the well-informed decision-making, the main research question is: “How can a decision-support tool for optimisation in the operating room help a healthcare professional to select the objectives and the assessment criteria for performance optimisation of the operating room and the optimisation impact?”. The evidence for the tool consists of the 223 relations between the objectives and the assessment criteria (metrics) and 253 causalities of metrics that express the impact. There is a high heterogeneous perspective on the objectives of the optimisation of the performance of the OR and the criteria of assessing the quantification of (the optimisation of) the OR performance, which makes it harder to create a mutual vision on the OR performance. To achieve a mutual vision, a holistic view and consider all the perspectives, including the impact of optimisations, the HCPs should all share their perspectives on the objectives and the situation should be considered in its whole (Leinonen et al., 2008; Littlejohn et al., 2017). Therefore, the decision-making process could benefit of a decision-support tool. In this study a new tool is developed, namely the Performance Operating Room Counselling (PORC-)tool. This tool provides a holistic view of the OR performance (optimisation), by displaying evidence of the relations between objectives and metrics and the causalities. It also supports a conversation, which could lead to a mutual vision (Littlejohn et al., 2017). The tool is based on the concepts flowchart, matrix table and Microsoft Excel, for respectively the roadmap, the information display and the running-programme. The PORC-tool consists of an Excel file, a brochure and a manual with a more elaborated version of the functionality and the steps. The PORC-tool provides a clear and structural overview with evidence, to gather information more easily, provides multiple perspectives on the OR performance and supports to gather more insight into the OR organisation and goals before the decision-making of the HCP. The PORC-tool should be validated in practice and the functionality should be approved by HCPs. In the future, the tool can also be extended on perspectives, field of interest, aesthetics and functionality. To conclude, the answer to the main research question is that the HCPs should be facilitated to consider the whole complex system in their decision-making process, and support the decision-making based on evidence and with a mutual vision. double degree in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Sciences | Communication Design for InnovationBiomedical EngineeringApplied Sciences | Communication Design for Innovatio
The attitude of anesthesia assistants towards Artificial Intelligence-assisted patient monitoring in the Operating Room: Using the knowledge on their attitude and motivation to create an educational module that supports anesthesia assistants in their awareness and understanding of the impact of AI-assisted monitoring
No full textResearch on the possibilities to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the Operating Room (OR) is rising, although there is no implementation yet. AI-assisted monitoring could provide support to anesthesia assistants in their task of patient monitoring, by making predictions on the future occurrence of deviating events in the vital parameter values of the patient. As AI-assisted monitoring would come close the profession of anesthesia assistants, this explorative, qualitative research investigates the attitude of anesthesia assistants towards the use of AI in their task of patient monitoring. Furthermore, it investigates the motivational factors that are important for their motivation in their monitoring task as well as the expected impact of AI on their motivation. This design-based research subsequently describes how these results are incorporated into the development of an educational module about AI and motivation for anesthesia assistants. Gaining as well as giving insight in the motivation of anesthesia assistants is important, as their motivation is of impact on their professional behaviour while their decisions and actions are directly related to the safety of the patient. Through literature research and semi-structured interviews, it was found that among anesthesia assistants there is little knowledge on the possibilities of AI at the OR, but that their attitude towards AI-assisted monitoring is positive as long as only suggestions are given. Only two out of eight anesthesia assistants are cautiously positive towards the possibility of AI to automate the monitoring process. Furthermore, it was found that the motivational factors of autonomy, relatedness, competence, self-efficacy, and self-actualisation are all important to very important in the motivation of anesthesia assistants. Overall, none of these factors stands out in being most or least important. The expected impact of AI on these motivational factors among anesthesia assistants varies from negative to positive and is highly dependent on the form of AI-assisted monitoring. As various forms of interrelatedness between all these motivational factors are identified by the anesthesia assistants, specific to their working practice and environment, the impact on one motivational factor might indirectly also impact others. These results on attitude and motivation are incorporated in the design of an educational module for anesthesia assistants. The module consists of two parts. One part regarding AI-assisted monitoring and one part regarding the motivational factors that are important for their motivation and the impact of AI on motivation. Design requirements by the anesthesia assistants, as well as an expert validation by an anesthesia educator, are used to finalise the design of the module. This module can help anesthesia assistants to develop awareness and understanding of how AI-assisted monitoring, in the form of giving suggestions, can support them in their patient monitoring task. Furthermore, it helps them to develop awareness and understanding on their own motivation and the impact that the use of AI-assisted monitoring may have on their motivation, guiding them towards becoming deliberate professionals.Applied Sciences | Science Communicatio
The Effect of Complementing Haptic Shared Control with Visual Feedback on Driving Behaviour during Overtake Manoeuvres
No full textDriving with driver assistance systems utilising haptic shared control (HSC) can lead to annoyance, or even disuse, when the intent of both entities differs. In order to increase compliance and acceptance of these systems, this study explores two types of visual information projected onto the outside scenery. One visualisation portrays only the intended trajectory of the HSC system, whereas the other visualisation complements this by showing the manoeuvring boundaries of the car. These visualisations were evaluated in a human-in-the-loop simulator study focused on supporting an early and late car overtake manoeuvre, initiated by HSC. Although most participants reported a preference for visualisation of both the intended trajectory as manoeuvring boundaries, results in terms of torque conflicts and position conflicts indicated no significant differences between the visualisations. Subsequent analysis, however, indicated that this was probably caused by the variability in how participants used the visualisations in combination with their apparent preferences in performing the overtake manoeuvre. In conclusion, supporting HSC with visual information does not improve compliance, but shows an improvement in acceptance. For future work it is recommended to further investigate the impact of visualisations on intra-driver variability.Mechanical Engineering | BioMechanical Desig
Data assimilation, Geomechanical parameter estimation in the Groningen hydrocarbon reservoir from PS-InSAR measurements with a particle filter
No full textThis thesis explores the usage of the particle filter as a data assimilation technique to estimate subsurface processes, such as reservoir volume change from space-geodetic PS-InSAR surface measurements. The specific research area is Groningen, where subsidence is induced by hydrocarbon and salt production.The satellite radar PS-InSAR technique is used for observing subsidence values in the line-of-sight for a Radarsat-2 descending and a TerraSAR ascending set of measurements. A geomechanical model, the Mogi point source, translates subsurface volume changes to surface deformation. The geomechanical model parameters are estimated by the data assimilation technique particle filter from the observed surface measurements.The particle filter is tested on synthetic data in a couple of test situations with an identical twin experiment. In addition the knowledge of the synthetic data experiments is used in the particle filter application on the PS-InSARmeasurements of the Groningen gas field. A workflow is created in how to apply the steps of the particle filter on the PS-InSAR measurements in Groningen. Several solutions are developed for improving the fit between measurements and model
Surgical team’ sustainable employability in minimally invasive surgery: To achieve a balanced employability to counteract waste of talent and skills in a sustainable way
No full textTechnological developments in the medical world introduce a shift in responsibilities of the surgical team members which might result in waste of talent and skills. The latter might result in disengagement and decreased productivity and thus in illness-related absenteeism. The people pillar of sustainability aims to create a healthy workplace and thus to manage illness-related absenteeism. The objective of this research was to optimise the responsibilities of the surgical team members in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in order to achieve a balanced and sustainable employability of the surgical team to counteract waste of talent and skills. Empirical data was collected in two different steps. In the first place, an overview of the surgical phases during the MIS procedure and an overview of the tasks performed by the perioperative nurses were made. In the second place, two different methods were used to obtain data. First, seven video recordings of a laparoscopic gynaecological procedure were analysed to obtain the distribution of the responsibilities and the percentage of (technical) tasks for each phase and the entire MIS procedure. Second, interviews with fourteen perioperative nurses were conducted to map the peak moments of a MIS procedure and to evaluate the impact of the technological developments on the nurse's workload. As a result, a fluctuation of the total duration of all tasks during the procedure was shown. A percentage higher than 70% was measured in the start phase. The perioperative nurses experienced low peak moments during 66% of the entire surgical procedure. A high impact of the technological developments was experienced by the nurses. The physical activity for MIS and robot-assisted surgery (RAS) was lower than a conventional open procedure (OS). The total duration of the technical tasks was highest in the second phase of the MIS procedure. The nurses indicated that this phase took longer compared to the same phase in OS procedures because of the amount of equipment that has to be connected. In conclusion, an unbalanced employability was recognised during MIS and technological developments had a high impact on the activities of the perioperative nurses. This research has several recommendations. First, a more sustainable employability will be achieved when two perioperative nurses will be scheduled for three surgical procedures during 66% of the MIS procedure. Second, deployment of a technical perioperative nurse will decrease the amount of workload. Last, by giving the perioperative nurses more responsibilities in MIS, the talent and skills will not be wasted leading to a more balanced employability of the surgical team members.Biomedical Engineerin
