In November 2021, the Lecturer Position at Institutes (L.INT) professorship was established by Saxion and Medical Spectrum Twente and as partners physiotherapy practice Pro-F and the Thoracic Centre Twente, with Sandra van Hogen-Koster as a professor. With this, the first Dutch professorship that focuses on the ideas of Positive Health has been launched.
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The COVID-19 global pandemic has raised once more the spectre of world governance, demonstrating in one fell swoop, the intricate entanglement of nation-states and the challenges they face when confronted with a global threat. The pandemic has produced an array of problems, from the deaths of millions, the desecration of health care systems all over the world, to the disruption of the economic and social lives of most of the worlds citizens and the emergence of vaccine politics. While not addressing the pandemic directly, this dossier examines the pandemic moment as both an opportunity and a crisis for the UN and the idea of global governance. The articles in this dossier, drawn from a selection of established academics and younger scholars, highlight the expanding array of issues and challenges the UN faces as its competencies increase in the face of multiplying threats to the global system. The organisation has gained new areas of expertise, consolidated its competencies in some areas while expanding its agency in others. In addressing global challenges, the UN has increased its relevance, normative power and connection to humanity but at the same time its lacklustre performance on a lot of issues has revealed that leadership is lacking, and the organisation has in many cases been found wanting. This dossier examines some of the new challenges facing the UN with a view towards assessing the ability of the organisation to effectively respond to global crises, and whether or not it has the capacity for institutional learning and adaptation in the face of adversity and anarchy. Originally published: https://nvvn.nl/governing-the-world-united-or-divided-nations/
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High Performance Organization (HPO) characteristics indicate why an organization is able to achieve significantly better results than other organizations and these characteristics can facilitate associations to optimize employees’ work outcomes. The independent professional (IP) is an increasingly occurring phenomenon in the labor market that fulfils an organizations’ need for flexibility in knowledge productivity. This study focuses on the contribution of HPO characteristics to the knowledge productivity of IP's. It was conducted among managers and HRM professionals in various Dutch knowledge-intensive organizations that frequently enlist the services of IPs. This study found a number of HPO attributes that appeared to contribute to the IPs' knowledge productivity, namely the quality of management, an open and actionfocused organizational culture, and continual improvement and innovation. We will use these results to look ahead and consider the future consequences for professional practice. Managers and HRM professionals should strive to contribute to the incorporation of these characteristics within the organization in order to safeguard and enhance knowledge productivity of independent professionals.
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In 2021, Citython editions were held for the European cities of Eindhoven (Netherlands), Bilbao and Barcelona (Spain), Hamburg (Germany), and Lublin (Poland). Within this project, BUAS contributed to the organization of CITYTHON Eindhoven in cooperation with CARNET (an initiative by CIT UPC) and City of Eindhoven – an event which gives young talent the opportunity to work with mentors and experts for the development of innovative urban solutions. Participants of CITYTHON Eindhoven worked on three challenges:- Traffic safety in school zones - Travel to the campus- Make the city healthy The event took place between 18 May and 2 June 2021 with various experts, for example from ASML, City of Eindhoven and University of Amsterdam, giving inspirational talks and mentoring students throughout the ideation and solutions development process. The teams presented their solutions during the Dutch Technology Week and the winners were announced by Monique List-de Roos (Alderman Mobility and Transport, City of Eindhoven) on 2 June 2021. The role of BUAS within this project was to assist City of Eindhoven with the development of the challenges to be tackled by the participating teams, and find relevant speakers and mentors who would be supporting the students for the development of their solutions and jury members who would determine the winning teams. The project ended with a round table “Green and Safe Mobility for all: 5 Smart City(thon) Case studies” on November 17 organized as part of Smart City Expo World Congress 2021 in Barcelona. This project is funded by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. EIT Urban Mobility acts to accelerate positive change on mobility to make urban spaces more livable. Learn more: eiturbanmobility.eu.Collaborating partnersCARNET (Lead organisation); Barcelona Institute of Technology for Habitat; Barcelona City Council; Bilbao City Hall; City of Hamburg; City of Eindhoven,; City of Lublin; Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg; Technical University of Catalonia, Tecnalia; UPC Technology Center.
The World Health Organization has pinpointed antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of increasing global concern, causing increased healthcare costs and threatening human health. Although AMR is a naturally occurring process, it is accelerated by misuse/overuse of antibiotics. Additionally, the development and production of antibiotics is becoming increasingly challenging and costly. These challenges underline the high demand for alternative microbial inhibitors (e.g. antibiotics) and their development. The chemical compound Allicin has been studied for its potential health benefits, including antimicrobial properties[1,2] and potential cardiovascular benefits[3]. It has been suggested that the antimicrobial effect of Allicin could be achieved indirectly by the imprint it leaves in surrounding water molecules, i.e. its hydration shell. Such imprints are known as time-crystals and possess unique properties. Since often biochemical reactions occur via water molecules and their hydrogen bonds, it is possible that a time-crystal imprint of a substance in water might have a similar effect as the substance itself, e.g. antimicrobial inhibition. A consortium of universities, knowledge institutes and companies was formed to test this hypothesis based on the antibacterial properties of Allicin, resulting in the project HyTimeCIA. The experiments involve attaching allicin onto a polymer surface (i.e. hybridization), thereby providing antibacterial properties. This surface is then exposed to bacteria to test the antimicrobial properties of the allicin/polymer surface. If proven feasible, HyTimeCIA could provide a novel alternative microbial inhibitor fixated to a surface, allowing for localized application of antibacterial effects and potentially reducing the requirement of antibiotics. This not only mitigates AMR, but also facilitates production of microbial inhibitors that are particularly difficult or expensive. From the partners perspective, HyTimeCIA provides opportunities for chemical-free alternative antimicrobial (water)treatment technology and gained knowledge on alternative microbial inhibitors, both aspects which are highly in demand due to AMR and antibiotic production challenges.
"Maar honing is toch wèl gezond?!"Het besef dat suiker, en vooral een teveel aan suiker, slecht is voor de gezondheid wordt steeds breder in de samenleving gedragen. Het nuttigen van voedsel met veel suiker is onlosmakelijk verbonden met de stijging van obesitas onder kinderen,[1] met grote gevolgen voor de gezondheid op latere leeftijd door het verhoogde risico op diabetes en hart- en vaatziekten. Een belangrijke oorzaak van het overmatige consumeren van suiker is de alom aanwezigheid van suiker in ons dagelijks leven: van ontbijtgranen, broodbeleg en snacks voor tussendoor, tot zoete dranken en traktaties bij feestjes. Volwassenen eten volgens berekeningen dagelijks wel 14 klontjes toegevoegd suiker. Hiermee wordt de aanbevolen dagelijkse maximale hoeveelheid van 5-10% van de totale benodigde calorieën ruim overschreden, zoals door de World Health Organization berekend.[2] Alarmerend genoeg is deze hoeveelheid bij kinderen nog groter: die krijgen naar schatting 18 klontjes extra toegevoegd suiker per dag binnen.[3]Om het tij te keren is de vermindering van suiker in producten opgenomen in het Nationaal Preventieakkoord (deelakkoord Overgewicht), en zijn er programma's gestart om scholen en kinderopvanglocaties bewuster te maken van gezonde voeding.[4] Van de vele manieren om suikerconsumptie te reduceren is het herformuleren van de productsamenstellingen één van de meest kansrijke.[5] Voedselproducenten brengen steeds meer producten op de markt waaraan '0% suiker toegevoegd' is, maar er is een belangrijke categorie die aan de aandacht ontsnapt: koek en gebak. Terwijl 11% van de dagelijks geconsumeerde suikers uit koekjes en gebak komt,[6] is het verrassend dat er nauwelijks suikervrije alternatieven op de markt zijn. Televisieprogramma's zoals Heel Holland Bakt (3,2 miljoen kijkers), Heel Holland Bakt Kids (376.000 kijkers) en CupcakeCup (143.000 kijkers) zijn razend populair,[7] ook onder kinderen, maar besteden geen aandacht aan de grote hoeveelheden suikers die in de baksels gaan. Het is ook niet eenvoudig om een echt suikervrije taart te bakken, omdat suikers - naast dat ze een zoete smaak geven - ook vocht vasthouden en textuur bepalen.[8] Daarbij wordt het consumenten lastig gemaakt om suikers te herkennen, want er bestaan meer dan 50 verschillende benamingen voor toegevoegde suikers.[9,10] Op dit moment leidt de grote aandacht voor gezonde voeding en suikervervangers zelfs tot verkeerde informatie in kookboeken en blogs, waar ingrediënten als kokosbloesemsuiker, agavesiroop en honing onterecht worden aangeprezen als 'gezonde suikers'.Het SlimSmullen-project rekent af met de mythe rondom gezonde suikers. Het project draait om het vergroten van de kennis van suikers, én het verkleinen van de handelingsverlegenheid om suikers te vervangen door een gezonder alternatief. Tot de primaire doelgroep van ons project behoren kinderen in de basisschoolleeftijd (4-14 jaar) die een op maat gemaakt lesprogramma krijgen. Aansluitend bij de belevingswereld van de kinderen leren ze over suikers en gaan ze zelf aan de slag met suikervrij bakken, met een heuse bakwedstrijd als bekroning. De secundaire doelgroep bestaat uit studenten die hun kennis en kunde vergroten middels het verzorgen van het lesprogramma. Op verschillende momenten worden ouders ook betrokken om de effectiviteit van ons project te verhogen. Hiermee legt dit project de basis waar kinderen en hun ouders op terug kunnen vallen als ze Slim willen Smullen. Na de succesvolle ontwikkeling in Noord-Nederland is het doel om het SlimSmullen-project in andere delen van Nederland aan te bieden.
