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In this paper we position sustainable tourism of the Wadden. The aim is to clarify the complex issues at stake and therewith provide a framework for future actions and policies.
pH-sensitive gels: By using a cyclohexane-based scaffold to which various amino acid based substituents can be connected, low-molecular-weight compounds were obtained that can gelate water at very low concentrations. Their modular design (see picture: AA = amino acid(s), X = hydrophilic substituent, dark purple = hydrophobic region, light purple = hydrophilic region), allows tuning of the thermally and pH-induced reversible gel-to-sol transition of their gels.
The book captures the response of the Northern Netherlands region to major socio-economic and technological challenges of our time.
We explore the role of restaurants and food events in promoting local and regional gastronomy in the Minho region in Northern Portugal. Interviews with restaurant owners and event organizers in this mainly rural region reveal that innovation is driven mainly by changing consumer tastes, but also con-strained by consumer expectations of low prices. Restaurants maintain a family-run structure, also due to a lack of human resources. The main thrust of innovation lies in creating a convivial atmosphere, but there is less emphasis on locally produced food ingredients. In the long run this may undermine the regional food culture and its authenticity, despite the perceived importance of tradition.
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Executive Summary - Temperatures across the Middle East region are predicted to increase by 3°C by 2050 - Warming will be felt more in cities because of the urban heat island (UHI) effect, causing heat-related health problems - City planning and management regimes are often disconnected from disaster risk and resilience building and legislation is lacking - Lacking data and information sharing across multiple levels of governance hamper heatwave warning systems - Urban building projects lead to a soaring demand for cooling systems - Traditional adaptations such as street grid design, wind catchers and mashrabiya screens could be used more - Policy response should include national Heat Health Action Plans that are translated into Local Heat Plans, coordinated and implemented by local governments
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Saxion is part of the Dutch system of universities for higher vocational training and applied sciences. In this paper a case study is presented to gain more insight in spin offs of these types of universities, and their effect on the regional economy. For this purpose a database of 152 spin offs has been developed and a first survey was analysed. Most spin offs are active in the ICT and business services sectors. We have compared the results with the spin offs University of Twente. We observed that the percentage of spin offs, which was located outside the surrounding region of Saxion (33%) was significantly higher, than the percentage of spin off of the University of Twente (22%). The spin offs outside the region also have employees than Saxion spin off in the region. There is however no difference in the way the spin off perceive the business climate of their location. Stimulating entrepreneurship at universities of applied seems a good strategy to support the development of the promising knowledge intensive service sector in the eastern part of the |Netherlands. On the other hand this strategy should be accompanied with policy instruments aiming at convincing alumni entrepreneurs to stay in the region.
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Due to fast and unpredictable developments, professional education is challenged with being responsive, which demands a rethinking of conventional curriculum development approaches. Yet, literature on curriculum development falls short in terms of recognising how to react rapidly and adequately to these new developments. This study focuses on curriculum development initiatives at the school level in a Dutch university of applied sciences. Open interviews were held with 29 curriculum developers to explore how they define and give substance to developing curricula for new, changing or unpredictable professions. These 29 participants were involved in seven curriculum development trajectories. Four themes were detected: (1) curriculum developers are in favour of open, flexible and authentic curricula; (2) the context in which the curriculum development takes place and the different roles and responsibilities of curriculum developers are challenging; (3) curriculum developers feel insufficiently equipped to carry out their tasks; and (4) involving stakeholders is necessary but results in a “viscous” social–political process. Responsive curriculum development requires a great deal of flexibility and adaptability from curriculum developers. Yet, in our study, “institutional concrete” is found to severely hinder responsive curriculum development processes. To be responsive, such processes need to be supported and institutional barriers need to be removed.
Challenges that surveys are facing are increasing data collection costs and declining budgets. During the past years, many surveys at Statistics Netherlands were redesigned to reduce costs and to increase or maintain response rates. From 2018 onwards, adaptive survey design has been applied in several social surveys to produce more accurate statistics within the same budget. In previous years, research has been done into the effect on quality and costs of reducing the use of interviewers in mixed-mode surveys starting with internet observation, followed by telephone or face-to-face observation of internet nonrespondents. Reducing follow-ups can be done in different ways. By using stratified selection of people eligible for follow-up, nonresponse bias may be reduced. The main decisions to be made are how to divide the population into strata and how to compute the allocation probabilities for face-to-face and telephone observation in the different strata. Currently, adaptive survey design is an option in redesigns of social surveys at Statistics Netherlands. In 2018 it has been implemented in the Health Survey and the Public Opinion Survey, in 2019 in the Life Style Monitor and the Leisure Omnibus, in 2021 in the Labour Force Survey, and in 2022 it is planned for the Social Coherence Survey. This paper elaborates on the development of the adaptive survey design for the Labour Force Survey. Attention is paid to the survey design, in particular the sampling design, the data collection constraints, the choice of the strata for the adaptive design, the calculation of follow-up fractions by mode of observation and stratum, the practical implementation of the adaptive design, and the six-month parallel design with corresponding response results.
Responsive public spaces use interactive technologies to adapt to users and situations. This enhances the quality of the space as a public realm. However, the application of responsive technologies in spatial design is still to be explored. What exactly are the options for incorporating responsive technologies in spatial designs to improve the quality of public spaces? The book Responsive Public Spaces explores and disentangles this new assignment for designers, and presents inspiring examples. A consortium of spatial designers, interaction designers and local stakeholders, headed by the Chair of Spatial Urban Transformation of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, carried out a two-year practice-based study of responsive public spaces. This book draws on those insights to provide a practical approach and a roadmap for the new design process for responsive public spaces.The study results are of signi¬icance for various professional fields. The book is intended for clients and stakeholders involved in planning and design of public spaces, spatial designers, interaction designers and students.
