6,038 research outputs found
Development of bioinformatic tools and application of novel statistical methods in genome-wide analysis
Get PDFEen genoom-brede associatie studie is een methode die genen betrokken bij complexe fenotypes identificeert door het hele genoom te scannen. Deze studies leggen over het algemeen de nadruk op kwantiteit in plaats van kwaliteit: eenvoudige statistische methodes worden toegepast op genetische data van een grote groep mensen. In dit proefschrift onderzochten wij methodes om de kwaliteit van deze methoden te verbeteren. Ten eerste ontwikkelden we software voor het uitvoeren van een automatische en volledige kwaliteitscontrole over de resultaten van zulke analyses. Ten tweede pasten we survival-analyse toe op zowel time-to-event fenotypes (in dit geval: de leeftijd waarop iemand cannabis gaat gebruiken) en biomarkers met een detectielimiet. Ten derde gebruikten we een nieuwe, volledigere referentie van het genoom waarmee we 10 nieuwe genen voor nierziekte hebben gevonden. Het tweede deel van dit proefschrift richtte zich op het ontleden van de erfelijkheid. Hiertoe onderzochten wij voor 32 complexe fenotypes (waaronder lengte, bloeddruk en cholesterol niveau) hoeveel erfelijkheid verklaard wordt door reeds bekende genetische varianten, en hoeveel er maximaal verklaard kan worden door alle veelvoorkomende genetische varianten. Dit onthulde, onder andere, dat zelfs up-to-date genetische voorspellingen van complexe fenotypes nog niet accuraat genoeg zijn voor gepersonaliseerde medische voorspellingen. Ook probeerden wij de erfelijkheid van neuroticisme te verhelderen door het op verschillende nieuwe manieren te analyseren. Concluderend: de in dit proefschrift beschreven en toegepaste methodes staan toe om kwalitatief betere genoom-brede analyses en erfelijkheidsanalyses uit te voeren
INCOME DISTRIBUTION POLICY IN THE NETHERLANDS: A PARADIGM SHIFT
Get PDFThis paper investigates which different views have occurred on the main lines of the Dutch incomes policy. To this end the implications of the incomes policies pursued by different cabinets have been analyzed, mainly since 1973. It appears that distributive policies are heavily influenced by a paradigm shift. In the 1970s, the Dutch government replaced its keynesian oriented economic policy making with a neoclassical framework. As a result, the government not only moved from an interventionist approach in the 1970s to a restrained attitude in the 1980s and 1990s, but also altered the institutional framework of its distributive policies by abolishing a number of policy instruments that had been created to influence the size distribution of incomes.Incomes policy, Netherlands
Music for classical guitar by South African composers : a historical survey, notes on selected works and a general catalogue
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-309).This is the first comprehensive investigation of music for, or including, the classical guitar by South African composers. The focus of this research has been, firstly, to uncover as much of the repertoire as possible, and, secondly, to collate, study, catalogue and report on the information. A brief historical survey of the guitar in South Africa provides the context within which this study was conducted. The primary sources of quantitative data collection were through the archival catalogues of the South African Music Rights Organisation and through personal contact with guitarists, composers and guitar teachers. Other sources consulted were publishers, broadcasting corporations, recording companies, libraries and the internet. The body of the dissertation comprises biographical sketches, background notes, analyses and technical notes on 17 selected solo and chamber works dating from 1947 to 2007 by some of South Africa's most prominent composers and guitaristcomposers. The repertoire ranges in style from the traditional and ethnically inspired to the experimental and abstract. As this is an empirical survey, each selected entry includes details on instrumentation, duration, level of difficulty, number of pages, scordatura, commissions or requests, sources or publishers, premières and recordings. A biography of each composer is provided as well as background notes which offer an overview of the selected work. The notes discuss historical, cultural, musical and extra-musical influences, and frequently include references to interview material. The commentaries on the selected works, with musical examples, include an analytical component describing structure, form, stylistic and compositional elements, while the technical observations include performance suggestions and a grading for each work
Revolt, Religion, and Dissent in the Dutch-American Atlantic: Francis Adrian van der Kemp's Pursuit of Civil and Religious Liberty
Get PDFabstract: This project explores the histories of the Dutch Republic and the United States during the Age of Revolutions, using as a lens the life of Francis Adrian van der Kemp. Connections between the Netherlands and the United States have been understudied in histories of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Yet the nations' political and religious histories are entwined both thematically and practically. Van der Kemp's life makes it possible to examine republicanism and liberal religion anew, as they developed and changed during the era of Atlantic revolutions. The project draws on numerous archival collections that house van der Kemp's voluminous correspondence, political and religious writings, his autobiography, and the unpublished records of the Reformed Christian Church, now the Unitarian Church of Barneveld. With his activity in both countries, van der Kemp offers a unique perspective into the continued role of the Dutch in the development of the United States. The dissertation argues that the political divisions and incomplete religious freedom that frustrated van der Kemp in the Dutch Republic similarly manifested in America. Politically, the partisanship that became the hallmark of the early American republic echoed the experiences van der Kemp had during the Patriot Revolt. While parties would eventually stabilize radical politics, the collapse of the Dutch Republic in the Atlantic world and the divisiveness of American politics in those early decades, led van der Kemp to blunt his once radically democratic opinions. Heavily influenced by John Adams, he adopted a more conservative politics of balance that guaranteed religious and civil liberty regardless of governmental structure. In the realm of religion, van der Kemp discovered that American religious freedom reflected the same begrudging acceptance that constituted Dutch religious tolerance. Van der Kemp found that even in one of the most pluralistic states, New York, his belief in the unlimited liberty of conscience remained a dissenting opinion. The democracy and individualism celebrated in early American politics were controversial in religion, given the growing authority of denominations and hierarchical church institutions.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. History 201
Quantification and modelling of organic micropollutant removal by reverse osmosis (RO) drinking water treatment
Get PDFReverse osmosis (RO) is the most promising membrane technology in organic micropollutants (MPs) removal of drinking water treatment. For 78 MPs, passage and removal were evaluated with an ESPA3 RO membrane and the robustness of RO against MPs was studied. The MPs were classified according to their charge and hydrophobicity. The results showed that the size of neutral compounds was negatively correlated with their passage. This correlation was weaker for neutral hydrophobic MPs than neutral hydrophilic MPs. The lowest passage (0.2%–4%) was displayed by anionic MPs because of electrostatic repulsion between the negatively charged solute and negatively charged membrane surface. Cationic MPs showed a higher passage (around 0.4%–40%) due to electrostatic sorption and Donnan exclusion. The relationship between physical-chemical properties of MPs and their passage was evaluated by the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). We performed a qualitative analysis of variables using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in order to examine the physical-chemical properties of compounds that affect the membrane removal of MPs. After analysis with Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), we concluded that properties such as molecular width, equivalent molecular width, pKa and solubility can be considered as significant descriptors for prediction of the membrane removal. The influence of feed water temperature on MPs passage was also assessed. The results revealed that a rise of water temperature from 5 to 19 °C, increases the average passage of MPs by 6.5%.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.Sanitary Engineerin
Zechariah 9-14 as the substructure of 1 Peter’s eschatological program
No full textThe principal aim of this study is to discern what has shaped the author of 1 Peter to regard Christian suffering as a necessary (1.6) and to-be-expected (4.12) component of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ. Most research regarding suffering in 1 Peter has limited the scope of inquiry to two particular aspects—its cause and nature, and the strategies that the author of 1 Peter employs in order to enable his addressees to respond in faithfulness. There remains, however, the need for a comprehensive explanation for the source that has generated 1 Peter’s theology of Christian suffering. If Jesus truly is the Christ, God’s chosen redemptive agent who has come to restore God’s people, then how can it be that Christian suffering is a necessary part of discipleship after his coming, death and resurrection? What led the author of 1 Peter to such a startling conclusion, which seems to runs against the grain of the eschatological hopes and expectations of Jewish restoration ideology?
This thesis analyzes the appropriation of shepherd and fiery trials imagery,
and argues that the author of 1 Peter is dependent upon Zechariah 9-14 for his
theology of Christian suffering. Said in another way, the eschatological program of
Zechariah 9-14, read through the lens of the Gospel, functions as the substructure
for 1 Peter’s eschatology and thus its theology of Christian suffering.
In support of this hypothesis, this study highlights the fact that Zechariah 9-
14 was available and appropriated in early Christianity, in particular in the Passion
Narrative tradition; that the shepherd imagery of 1 Pet 2.25 is best understood
within the milieu of the Passion Narrative tradition, and that it alludes to the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that the fiery trials imagery found in 1
Peter 1.6-7 and 1 Pet 4.12 is distinct from that which we find in Greco-Roman and OT
wisdom sources, and that it shares exclusive parallels with some unique features of
the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that Zechariah 9-14 offers a more
satisfying explanation for the modification of Isa 11.2 in 1 Pet 4.14, the transition
from 4.12-19 to 5.1-4, why Peter has oriented his letter with the term διασπορά,
and why he has described his addresses as οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ; and finally that 1 Peter
contains an implicit foundational narrative that shares distinct parallels with the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14.
We can conclude that 1 Peter offers a unique vista into the way in which at
least one early Christian witness came to understand and to communicate the fact
that Christian suffering was a necessary feature of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ
The university as entrepreneur: the ingredients for valorization strategies
No full textValorization of research results is becoming increasingly important today. Since academic research should not only contribute to our "quest for fundamental understanding," but it also needs to "consider use" (Stokes, 1997); these dual goals give rise to tension in academic institutes that need to carefully balance research and its exploitation (Ambos, Mäkelä, Birkenshaw, & D' Este, 2008). Nevertheless, valorization, commercialization, technology transfer, knowledge exploitation or exploitation of research are different labels for a similar activity and have become part and parcel of academic life. Most universities own the intellectual property rights of their research, meaning they have the legal rights (in some countries the legal obligation) to exploit it in a way they see fit. Research (e.g., Van der Heide, S., Van der Sijde, P. & Terlouw, C. (2010). Exploring 'transnational' university cooperation in technology transfer: A European perspective. Industry & Higher Education, 24(1), 17-27) shows that universities have different objectives (e.g. regional development, spin-off creation) for engaging in this process and every university has developed its own approach to deal with this in the sense of funding and support. On an abstract level, there are two scenarios for commercialization (Derksen, J. T. P. (2000). De Ondernemende Onderzoeker: Paradox of Pleonasme [The entrepreneurial researcher: Paradox or pleonasm]. Nijmegen: UBC). In the first scenario the university takes the role of "entrepreneur" and in the second scenario it is the researcher (or the research group) who is involved in research that takes this role with the university being the context in which entrepreneurship takes place. In this contribution our focus is on the university as entrepreneur and we regard valorization as an entrepreneurial process. In order to visualize how the activities of different actors associated with the university contribute to the entrepreneurial process of a university, we will build on ideas postulated by Wakkee and Van der Sijde (2010) regarding the fluid and moldable nature of opportunities. We conceptually elaborate the consequences of their approach for bringing knowledge (and technology) from university to the market. Copyright © 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Factors determining a successful socioeconomic introduction of horticulture in foreign countries - Academic Consultancy Training Report
No full textCourse: Academic Consultancy Training (YMC 60809) Project: Sustainable development of greenhouse horticulture in developing countries (756) Commissioner: Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture Contact person: Ir. C.J.M. van der Lans Coach: Dr. Ir. J.W. Hofstee Expert: Prof. Dr. O. van Kooten A lot of capital is attracted in the initiation of Dutch horticulture businesses abroad. There is however a lack of knowledge about what is known about the critical factors determining success or failure of a horticultural initiative in a foreign country. The goal of this project is to achieve socio-economic sustainability of the greenhouse horticulture in foreign countries. Therefore a model is presented which contains all the necessary factors that an entrepreneur should keep in mind to achieve socio-economic sustainability. In order to get an overview of all the important factors literature was studied and interviews were conducted. This led to a detailed description of all the issues that should be considered when setting-up businesses abroad. Those factors are represented in a ‘dial’ model pointing out what issues an entrepreneur should consider. The model is subdivided in three topics: market, production and trade & logistics. Important factors related to the market are whether there is a market and how to influence the whole production chain. Important factors for the production are the physical place and the employees. A very important factor of the trading is the legalization and the bureaucracy of the country you are producing in
Thermal Energy Recovery from Wastewater at the TU Delft Campus
No full textIn order to reduce the emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses, sustainable development is gaining in importance in the recent years. This is also the case for TU Delft. The sustainable advancement requires renewable energy sources that do not require fossil fuels. The wastewater flow is currently not utilised as a renewable energy source at the TU Delft campus. Thermal energy is 80% of the total energy embedded in wastewater. In order to increase the amount of green energy that is produced on campus, it is useful to analyse the possibilities regarding the thermal energy recovery from wastewater.This study aims to give substantiated recommendations towards TU Delft, about how this currently dissipated flow can be used to generate energy. The main research question this research aims to answer is: “How can thermal energy recovery from wastewater contribute to the TU Delft campus?”This main research question could be answered through literature reviews and three case studies, whereafter and implementation followed. First, an understanding of energy recovery from wastewater should be gained. Based on the conclusion that thermal energy carries the most potential in a wastewater flow, different technologies on different scales were defined. This lead to a toolkit that could be used in further analyses. It was used in the three case studies that followed. This provided further insight into how the technologies on different scales on university campuses can be implemented. Locations at the TU Delft campus have then been reviewed and potential interventions have been pointed out. The results showed that small and medium scale interventions at selected locations are possible. Projects on a larger scale would not be feasible on the campus.Further research could be conducted to extend the toolkit and make a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Installation and maintenance costs should be evaluated in order to make the recommendations economically feasible.Civil Engineerin
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