While Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, the abundance of trees is skewed strongly towards relatively few ‘hyperdominant’species. In addition to their diversity, Amazonian trees are a key component of the global carbon cycle, assimilating and storing morecarbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. Here we ask, using a unique data set of 530 forest plots, if the functions of storing andproducing woody carbon are concentrated in a small number of tree species, whether the most abundant species also dominate carboncycling, and whether dominant species are characterized by specific functional traits.
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This overview can be regarded as an atlas or travel guide with which the reader can follow a route along the various professorships. Chapter 2 centres on the professorships that are active in the field of Service Economy. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the professorships that are focussed on the field of Vital Region. Chapter 4 describes the professorships operating in the field of Smart Sustainable Industries. Chapter 5 deals with the professorships that are active in the field of the institution-wide themes of Design Based Education and Design Based Research. Lastly, in Chapter 6 we make an attempt to discover one or more connecting themes or procedures in the approach of the various professorships. This publication is not intended to give a definitive answer to the question as to what exactly NHL Stenden means by the concept of Design Based Research. The aim of this publication is to get an idea of everything that is happening in the NHL Stenden professorships and to pique one’s curiosity to find out more.
Recycling of plastics plays an important role to reach a climate neutral industry. To come to a sustainable circular use of materials, it is important that recycled plastics can be used for comparable (or ugraded) applications as their original use. QuinLyte innovated a material that can reach this goal. SmartAgain® is a material that is obtained by recycling of high-barrier multilayer films and which maintains its properties after mechanical recycling. It opens the door for many applications, of which the production of a scoliosis brace is a typical example from the medical field. Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine and wearing an orthopedic brace is the common non-invasive treatment to reduce the likelihood of spinal fusion surgery later. The traditional way to make such brace is inaccurate, messy, time- and money-consuming. Because of its nearly unlimited design freedom, 3D FDM-printing is regarded as the ultimate sustainable technique for producing such brace. From a materials point of view, SmartAgain® has the good fit with the mechanical property requirements of scoliosis braces. However, its fast crystallization rate often plays against the FDM-printing process, for example can cause poor layer-layer adhesion. Only when this problem is solved, a reliable brace which is strong, tough, and light weight could be printed via FDM-printing. Zuyd University of Applied Science has, in close collaboration with Maastricht University, built thorough knowledge on tuning crystallization kinetics with the temperature development during printing, resulting in printed products with improved layer-layer adhesion. Because of this knowledge and experience on developing materials for 3D printing, QuinLyte contacted Zuyd to develop a strategy for printing a wearable scoliosis brace of SmartAgain®. In the future a range of other tailor-made products can be envisioned. Thus, the project is in line with the GoChem-themes: raw materials from recycling, 3D printing and upcycling.
Kunststoffen zijn onmisbaar in onze samenleving en het gebruik van kunststoffen heeft de afgelopen decennia een enorme vlucht genomen. Tegelijkertijd zorgen kunststoffen voor een behoorlijke milieudruk door het gebruik van fossiele grondstoffen, CO2-emissies, zwerfafval en microplastics. Een van de maatschappelijke opgaves is om het ontwerp van kunststof toepassingen circulair te maken en de beschikbare hoeveelheid plastics maximaal te recyclen. De SPRONG groep, bestaande uit de hogescholen NHL Stenden en Hanze vertegenwoordigen samen met Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en het Nationaal Testcentrum Plastics de kennisinstellingen in dit cluster. Deze organisaties verbinden kennis met zo’n 100 praktijkorganisaties en maatschappelijk organisaties. De SPRONG groep werkt al geruime tijd samen rond dit onderwerp en zit momenteel in ontwikkelingsfase 3. Met dit trajectvoorstel wil de SPRONG groep zich de komende jaren doorontwikkelen naar een Krachtige SPRONG groep. Dat betekent: • Versterken en doorontwikkelen inhoudelijk profiel en profilering • Sterkere coördinatie op onderzoeken en projecten, ontwikkeling doorlopende leerlijn in verbondenheid met onderzoek • Sterkere benutting van en dienstverlening in het netwerk, en doorontwikkeling van netwerk: nationaal en EU • Doorontwikkeling kwaliteitsverbetering en -borging voor groep en i.c.m. Design Based Research • Impact meten en vooral ook maken Om verder een SPRONG te maken stellen we de volgende functies aan: - Onderzoekscoördinator - Projectcoördinator en een - Projectontwikkelaar Met de lectoraten, het consortium en netwerk werken we de komende vier jaar aan een maatschappelijk relevant transdisciplinair onderzoeksprogramma op basis van Design Based Research, een actie- en investeringsagenda kwaliteitsanalyses en labfaciliteiten en aan een stevige interne en externe profilering. Daarnaast gaan we aan de slag met een PhD/Postdoc programma, verbinden we de beroepspraktijk en verkennen we de oprichting van een Practoraat. Ons kwaliteitsbeleid gaan we verder integreren en op SPRONG groep nivo komen we met kwaliteitsrichtlijnen waarmee we hoge kwaliteit garanderen en de integratie met DBR borgen.
Circular Economy is a novel disruptive paradigm redefining sustainability in the hospitality industry and addressing the environmental challenges set by this fast-growing impactful industry. To address these challenges, the creation of further knowledge on circular economy and its applications in the hospitality sector is fundamental, together with providing hoteliers and restaurateurs with proper skills and knowhow to tackle such challenges. Drawing on a on going pilot project on Circular Economy in Hotels in Amsterdam, the Friesland hospitality sector and the Professorship of Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences have set out to develop an innovative learning experimental environment in which Friesland hoteliers and restaurateurs can develop further knowledge and identify - together with students, researchers, and experts – possible key actions and strategies to implement regenerative circular processes of material up-cycling. To which extent this learning community of the Northern Netherlands contributes to develop wider knowledge on circular economy in hospitality and to identify, implement, and test innovative regenerative circular actions will be evaluated.
