The structure and financing of collective long-term care and support in the Netherlands changed dramatically with the introduction of the Social Support Act (WMO) the 1st of January 2015. This act arranged that municipalities assist people to live in their homes for as long as possible by providing various forms of aid and support. This aid and support however, is in addition to the help that people arrange for themselves and / or receive in the form of volunteer aid (mantelzorg) by family, friends and neighbours. Furthermore under this Act people only become eligible for state financed sheltered accommodation in the exceptional case of severe physical or mental illness. The fact that under the new regime of the Social Support Act municipal support is made additional to volunteer aid, it is important to understand what role family, friends and neighbours potentially can play and in fact do play. This is especially important in regions were unbalanced population decline through out-migration of young people, effectively changes social structures and accelerates the ageing of the population. For this reason we designed a limited pilot-study to test the possibilities and the necessity of a broader study focussing on potential and every day practice concerning volunteer aid for elderly in regions characterized by unbalanced population decline. In this pilot study we will focus on a rural municipality in the north of the Netherlands: Oldambt.Within the framework of this pilot-study we focussed on living arrangements and social network of two groups of senior citizens; one group of men and women aged 65-79 and one group aged 80 years and over. Based on demographic data kindly made available by the municipal office of Oldambt, in this paper we will draw a picture of these citizens living in the municipality. Going deeper into the material and the municipality’s structure we will than focus on one of the municipality’s communities, Finsterwolde, with its village, hamlets and surrounding rural area. For the purpose of this pilot-study we constructed a sample of 30 men and women aged 80+-elderly and asked them to fill in a questionnaire. Based on the outcomes of these questionnaires we than had five in-depth interviews with some of them. Finally, on the basis of the gathered material, we will draw some general conclusions while presenting some new questions for further research into the living conditions and social support systems for elderly in a region with unbalanced population decline and accelerated ageing.
The characteristics of comparative social research.
Since the first release of modern electric vehicles, researchers and policy makers have shown interest in the deployment and utilization of charging infrastructure. Despite the sheer volume of literature, limited attention has been paid to the characteristics and variance of charging behavior of EV users. In this research, we answer the question: which scientific approaches can help us to understand the dynamics of charging behavior in charging infrastructures, in order to provide recommendations regarding a more effective deployment and utilization of these infrastructures. To do so, we propose a conceptual model for charging infrastructure as a social supply–demand system and apply complex system properties. Using this conceptual model, we estimate the rate complexity, using three developed ratios that relate to the (1) necessity of sharing resources, (2) probabilities of queuing, and (3) cascading impact of transactions on others. Based on a qualitative assessment of these ratios, we propose that public charging infrastructure can be characterized as a complex system. Based on our findings, we provide four recommendations to policy makers for taking efforts to reduce complexity during deployment and measure interactions between EV users using systemic metrics. We further point researchers and policy makers to agent-based simulation models that capture interactions between EV users and the use complex network analysis to reveal weak spots in charging networks or compare the charging infrastructure layouts of across cities worldwide.
De 2SHIFT SPRONG-groep is een samenwerkingsverband van HAN University of Applied Sciences en Fontys Hogescholen. Onze ambitie is het vergroten van eerlijke kansen op gezond leven. Dit doen we door het vormgeven en versterken van gemeenschappen als fundament voor het creëren van eerlijke kansen op gezond leven. Vanuit deze gemeenschappen wordt in co-creatie gewerkt aan structuur (i.e. systeem), sociale en technologische innovaties. Deze ambitie sluit aan bij de centrale missie KIA Gezondheid en Zorg om bij te dragen aan goede gezondheid en het verkleinen van sociaaleconomische gezondheidsverschillen. Ook draagt het bij aan deelmissie 1. het voorkomen van ziekte, waarbij wij uitgaan van het concept Positieve Gezondheid en Leefomgeving. Én het zorgt voor het verplaatsen van ondersteuning en zorg naar de leefomgeving (deelmissie 2), doordat gemeenschappen hiervoor een stevig fundament vormen. De gemeenschap is geoperationaliseerd als een samenwerking tussen inwonersinitiatieven (i.e. informele actoren) én professionals vanuit wonen, welzijn, zorg en gemeenten (i.e. formele actoren) die bestuurlijk en beleidsmatig worden ondersteund. Toenemend wordt een belangrijke rol en meer verantwoordelijkheid toebedeeld aan inwoners en wordt de noodzaak van sectoroverstijgende, inclusieve samenwerking tussen deze actoren in lokale fieldlabs benadrukt. 2SHIFT start daarom in vier fieldlabs: twee dorpen en twee wijken in (midden-)stedelijke gebieden, waar in vergelijking met groot-stedelijk gebied (zoals Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag en Utrecht) andere dynamieken en mechanismen een rol spelen bij het creëren van eerlijke kansen op een gezond leven. Om impact in onderwijs en praktijk te realiseren werken we nauw samen met studenten, docenten én met inwoners, professionals, bestuurders en beleidsmakers uit wonen, welzijn, zorg en gemeenten én landelijke kennispartners (“quadruple helix”). 2SHIFT brengt transdisciplinaire expertise én verschillende onderzoeksparadigma’s samen in een Learning Community (LC), waarin bestaande kennis en nieuwe kennis wordt samengebracht en ontwikkeld. Over 8 jaar is 2SHIFT een (inter)nationaal erkende onderzoeksgroep die het verschil maakt.
Due to the existing pressure for a more rational use of the water, many public managers and industries have to re-think/adapt their processes towards a more circular approach. Such pressure is even more critical in the Rio Doce region, Minas Gerais, due to the large environmental accident occurred in 2015. Cenibra (pulp mill) is an example of such industries due to the fact that it is situated in the river basin and that it has a water demanding process. The current proposal is meant as an academic and engineering study to propose possible solutions to decrease the total water consumption of the mill and, thus, decrease the total stress on the Rio Doce basin. The work will be divided in three working packages, namely: (i) evaluation (modelling) of the mill process and water balance (ii) application and operation of a pilot scale wastewater treatment plant (iii) analysis of the impacts caused by the improvement of the process. The second work package will also be conducted (in parallel) with a lab scale setup in The Netherlands to allow fast adjustments and broaden evaluation of the setup/process performance. The actions will focus on reducing the mill total water consumption in 20%.
This project develops a European network for transdisciplinary innovation in artistic engagement as a catalyst for societal transformation, focusing on immersive art. It responds to the professionals in the field’s call for research into immersive art’s unique capacity to ‘move’ people through its multisensory, technosocial qualities towards collective change. The project brings together experts leading state-of-the-art research and practice in related fields with an aim to develop trajectories for artistic, methodological, and conceptual innovation for societal transformation. The nascent field of immersive art, including its potential impact on society, has been identified as a priority research area on all local-to-EU levels, but often suffers from the common (mis)perception as being technological spectacle prioritising entertainment values. Many practitioners create immersive art to enable novel forms of creative engagement to address societal issues and enact change, but have difficulty gaining recognition and support for this endeavour. A critical challenge is the lack of knowledge about how their predominantly sensuous and aesthetic experience actually lead to collective change, which remains unrecognised in the current systems of impact evaluation predicated on quantitative analysis. Recent psychological insights on awe as a profoundly transformative emotion signals a possibility to address this challenge, offering a new way to make sense of the transformational effect of directly interacting with such affective qualities of immersive art. In parallel, there is a renewed interest in the practice of cultural mediation, which brings together different stakeholders to facilitate negotiation towards collective change in diverse domains of civic life, often through creative engagements. Our project forms strategic grounds for transdisciplinary research at the intersection between these two developments. We bring together experts in immersive art, psychology, cultural mediation, digital humanities, and design across Europe to explore: How can awe-experiences be enacted in immersive art and be extended towards societal transformation?
