945 research outputs found
Correction to: The ‘can do, do do’ concept in COPD; quadrant interpretation, affiliation and tracking longitudinal changes
No full textFollowing publication of the original article [1], the authors identified a mistake in the author names, as both forename and initials were stated. Initially published author names: A. J. Alex van ’t Hul, E. H. Noortje Koolen, H. W. Jeroen van Hees, B. Bram van den Borst and M. A. Martijn Spruit Correct author names: Alex J. van ‘t Hul, Noortje H. Koolen, Jeroen W. van Hees, Bram van den Borst, Martijn A. Spruit. The original article has been corrected.</p
Corrigendum: A Worm's World: Ecological Flexibility Pays off for Free-Living Nematodes in Sediments and Soils
No full textIn a recent article (doi:10.1093/biosci/biz086), the name of the second author was misspelled in the byline. It should have read Martijn Holterman. It is spelled correctly throughout the remainder of the manuscript.</p
Exercise training in diabetes
No full textType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing epidemic
carrying an important risk of micro- and macrovascular
disease.1 Multiple studies have demonstrated that exercise training has a favourable effect on metabolic parameters, such as insulin sensitivity and lipid profile, and on
endothelial function.1,2 These metabolic parameters and
endothelial dysfunction are important for the development of coronary artery disease and stroke.3 Kemps
et al.4 reviewed the literature on the role of different
exercise modalities for different targets in cardiovascular
prevention in patients with T2DM (Figure 1).The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
Optimizing district heating networks: Exploring the solution space: Transporting geothermal energy to consumers in Delft
No full textSociety is facing a huge challenge in switching the energy sectors dependence on fossil fuels into an energy sector using mostly renewable energy sources. The switch towards using more sustainable energy sources is known as the energy transition. The goal of the energy transition is to lower the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions emitted by the energy sector. Lowering the GHG emissions helps society limit the global warming caused by GHG [3]. 17.5 % of the global energy usage comes from the energy use in buildings [50]. It is thus very important that the energy use in buildings transitions towards using more sustainable energy sources. One of the renewable energy sources that is ought promising in the energy transition for energy use in buildings is geothermal energy [3]. Geothermal energy is energy that is captured in reservoirs of hot water in the earth’s crust. The hot water captured in the hot water pockets is pumped to the surface, to use it in spatial heating. The return pipe returns the cooled water to the geothermal well, where it can heat up again over a certain period of time [63] [23].In some cases, geothermal energy is applied using a district heating network. A district heating network is an example of a system that provides heating and/or cooling capacities to a group of buildings [65]. A district heating network is a network of pipelines that transport the hot water from the geothermal well to the buildings in the district. A geothermal well in combination with a district heating network is developed in Delft [27]. The district heating network will deliver energy to the TU Delft campus, two neighborhoods in Delft and industry at the Schieweg in Delft [28].Besides the district heating network in Delft, it is expected that district heating networks will be applied more often to accelerate the energy transition. Yun-Chao and Chen (2012) concluded that most optimization techniques optimize the whole system with its components. Less optimization techniques are applied to the sole components. Besides the fact that most optimization methods optimize the system as a whole, most optimization objectives only include optimizing the cost of the system. Also, effective optimization techniques are required as optimizing large graphs may be computationally time consuming [36]. In literature there are also clear signals that state that the trade-off between thermal comfort, and efficiency with respect to cost has to be tackled [53]. In this research, optimizing district heating networks for cost is compared to optimizing district heating to maximize thermal comfort or efficiency.In this research two models are developed: a model that calculates the cost of the district heating network, and a model that calculates the thermal losses of the district heating network. Both models are applied to a district heating networks that is developed in a street network. Furthermore, multiple heuristics are applied to come up with better district heating networks. The optimization technique is tested on 100 small, randomly generated district heating networks. After that, the district heating network in Delft is optimized. The differences in cost, efficiency, etc. will be evaluated. Besides, the performances of the district heating networks are evaluated by introducing energy deficits under different conditions.Optimizing the district heating networks for cost led to a very consistent result: When compared to their individual starting point, the district heating networks became cheaper and more efficient. A moderate-strong correlation is found between the the increase in efficiency and the decrease in cost while optimizing the district heating networks. In contrast to that, the networks that maximize efficiency are much more expensive than their cost optimized alternative, while the increase in efficiency is in most cases moderate. However, there are rare cases where the efficiency is increased much at a moderate increase in cost. This phenomenon is also found in Delft. Given the result that the efficient district heating network also performed much better than the cheapest alternative during energy deficits, in this research it is shown that choosing an objective function has a very large impact on the characteristics of the network. Therefore it is shown that for future district heating network optimization, it is important to trade off cost against efficiency.Complex Systems Engineering and Management (CoSEM
Outcome novelty in Exploratory Modellingand Analysis: A research into the value of novelty search for exploratory modelling
No full textNovelty search is a state-of-the-art approach focusing on behavioural novelty, rewarding diverging, as opposed to pursuing static objectives. This is relevant for exploratory modelling and analysis, which focuses on exploration of model through open exploration or directed search. Novelty search as an open exploration strategy is being tested against proven methods such as latin hypercube sampling. Using existing evolutionary algorithms and a developed novelty function, the experiments focus on comparisson, impact of the number of functional evaluations and the impact of the goals of the evolutionary algorithm. Finally it can be concluded that novelty search finds novelties in the lake problem, which makes it a relevant search strategy, but not suited for indiviual exploration. That means that it would still be advised to use latin hypercube sampling for earlier exploration.Engineering and Policy Analysi
Improving vario-scale implementation based on needs of Kadaster topographic data users
No full textVario-scale is a new mapping technique which automatically generalizes maps from a baselayer of faces. Applications of vario-scale are continuous, smooth zoom in web maps,multi-scale representation in one map and being able to generate maps at arbitrary scale. Also,this would only require having to maintain the dataset at the highest scale level, since all otherscales are derived from it.Potentially, vario-scale could be an alternative for current web maps and generalizationalgorithms. The Dutch national mapping agency, Kadaster, currently employs its owngeneralization process. However, they would like to know whether the users of theirtopographic datasets are interested in vario-scale. At this moment, there is a workingimplementation of vario scale (made by dr. ir. Martijn Meijers). This implementation,however, is still lacking in, for example, cartographic quality. Therefore the research questionin this project is: how can the implementation of vario-scale be improved to better meet theneeds for end users of Kadaster topographic data?This question is answered by questioning surveying users of Kadaster data on what theywould like to see improved about the existing implementation. Combining this with anexploration of the current software leads to an attempt at improving the currentimplementation. The project goal is set as enabling the road network visualization and mobilemap adaptation. Road network visualization is achieved by building the roads space scalecube and overlay with the background area at the front-end. Mobile map adaptation is realizedby creating the touch screen interaction between the device and the user. Finally, a validationsurvey is conducted to examine the difference between the original vario scaleimplementation and the adapted one.Synthesis Project 2018Geomatic
Hacking the city: making it more bikeable
No full textMartijn de Waal is a senior researcher at the lectorate of Play and Civic Media and a member of the Citizen Data Lab at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Het is the author of The City as Interface. How Digital Media Are Changing the City (2014), and the project leader of The Hackable City research project. He is also the co-founder of TheMobileCity.nl an international think tank that since 2007 addressed the relation between digital media and urbanism. His most recent book, co-authored with José van Dijck and Thomas Poell – only available in Dutch – is The Platform Society. The Struggle for Public Value in an Onlie World (2016)
Social policy and macroeconomics : the Irish experience
No full textThe remarkable performance of the Irish economy in recent years has attracted much attention. Within a 10-year period the economy went from an 18 percent unemployment rate to nearly full employment, while the ratio of debt to GDP fell from 120 percent to less than 50 percent. Inevitably, this success was also accompanied by problems, as infrastructure came under increasing stress, environmental difficulties became more evident, and a changing social structure resulted in some groups becoming increasingly marginalized. What worked and what did not? In particular, are there lessons that may be relevant for other countries facing similar difficulties, especially in Asia and Latin America? McCarthy focuses on three features of Ireland's economic achievements. Two of these features are external: the opening to Europe and the role of foreign direct investment. The third and perhaps most"exportable"feature is domestic: the role of a social pact. This pact was initially between employers, trade unions, and the government. Subsequent pacts were extended to include a variety of other groups. McCarthy discusses the far-reaching impact of this series of pacts on health, poverty, employment, education, and social welfare. Ireland now faces a number of challenges, including the slowdown in the global economy, a fall in resource transfers from the European Union, and the potential effects of the entry into the EU of Hungary and Poland.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Assessment,National Governance
The hidden motor:The psychology of cycling
No full textIn this superbly-researched and accessible book for fans of cycling, psychologist and cycling author Martijn Veltkamp gets to the heart of the supremely demanding and challenging sport of professional cycling, and the mental side of performance that drives success. He addresses fundamental questions in an easy-to-read way, including: what motivates riders and how does motivation affect performance? Where does a rider’s fear of descending originate from, and how do you get rid of it? Why do some cyclists succumb under pressure, whilst others do not? Why is cycling on your own mentally more challenging than when in a group?Written for connoisseurs of cycling, but equally rewarding for general readers, the book examines cycling from the viewpoint of classic psychological studies, and stage and race histories, as well as interviews with former professional riders. The Hidden Motor is a must-read book for anyone who wants to know all about this most exceptional of sports
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