SMILES is an international project where six organisations from three countries are collaborating to develop and test innovative approaches to combating the spread of fake news. The project is led by KB, the National Library of the Netherlands and the other partners are the Institute of Sound and Vision and The Hague University of Applied Sciences from the Netherlands, Fundación Goteo/Platoniq from Spain, and Public Libraries 2030 and the Media and Learning Association both of whom will focus on the situation in Belgium. In this article I would like to report on the main results from the baseline study that was carried out in recent months regarding the spread of disinformation in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, and existing measures and interventions that have taken place in those countries in combating such disinformation. Detailed reports for each country can be found on the project website.
MULTIFILE
Numerous developements regarding Orthopaedic (Shoe) Technology takes place in the Netherlands and Belgium. A very close collaboration between FOntys, SVGB, KHKEmepen and NVOS-Orthobanda resulted in educational programs in Orthopaedic (Shoe) Technology.
DOCUMENT
Titel: The Exodus from the Netherlands or Brain Circulation: Push and Pull Factors of Remigration among Highly Educated Turkish Dutch Auteurs: Gürkan Çelik and Ton Notten In: European Review, 22 (3), 2014, pp. 403-413 The exodus from the Netherlands or brain circulation: Push and pull factors of remigration among highly educated Turkish-Dutch An increasing number of Turks, the Netherlands’ largest ethnic minority, are beginning to return to their country of origin, taking with them the education and skills they have acquired abroad, as the Netherlands faces challenges from economic difficulties, social tension and increasingly powerful right wing parties. At the same time Turkey’s political, social and economic conditions have been improving, making returning home even more appealing for Turkish migrants at large. This article gives explanations about the push and pull factors of return migration. The factors influencing return to one’s country of origin are “pulls”. It is assumed that remigration is more affected by positive developments in the country of origin than by negative developments in the country of residence. Civil society, business world and the Dutch government can develop policies to bind these capable people to the Netherlands, at least in the form of “brain circulation” so that they can serve as “bridge builders” between the two countries. Keywords Return migration, integration, Turkish-Dutch, Turkish migrants, brain circulation =============================================================================== SAMENVATTING De uittocht uit Nederland of breincirculatie: Push- en pull-factoren van remigratie onder hoogopgeleide Turkse Nederlanders. In Nederland zien we een lichte toename van het aantal Turken, de grootste etnische minderheidsgroep in Nederland, die terugkeren naar hun land van herkomst. Ze exporteren daarmee goede opleidingen en vaardigheden die ze in Nederland verwierven. De oorzaken: de economische neergang, sociale spanningen en de groeiende invloed van extreemrechtse partijen. Tegelijkertijd verbeteren in Turkije de politieke, sociale en economische omstandigheden die steeds meer aantrekkingskracht uitoefenen op immigranten in dat land. Dit artikel gaat in op de push- and pull-factoren voor remigranten. Pull-factoren beinvloeden iemands terugkeer naar zijn land van herkomst. Aangenomen wordt dat zo’n remigratie sterker wordt bevorderd door positieve ontwikkelingen in het land van herkomst dan door negatieve (push-factoren) in het land waar men op dat moment woont. De civil society, het bedrijfsleven en de Nederlandse overhead kunnen een beleid ontwikkelen dat verdienstelijke inwoners weet te behouden, hen op z’n minst kan inschakelen als bruggenbouwers en aldus kenniscirculatie mogelijk maakt tussen beide landen. Trefwoorden Retourmigratie, integratie, Turkse Nederlanders, Turkse migranten, kenniscirculatie, breincirculatie
DOCUMENT
The livability of the cities and attractiveness of our environment can be improved by smarter choices for mobility products and travel modes. A change from current car-dependent lifestyles towards the use of healthier and less polluted transport modes, such as cycling, is needed. With awareness campaigns, cycling facilities and cycle infrastructure, the use of the bicycle will be stimulated. But which campaigns are effective? Can we stimulate cycling by adding cycling facilities along the cycle path? How can we design the best cycle infrastructure for a region? And what impact does good cycle infrastructure have on the increase of cycling?To find answers for these questions and come up with a future approach to stimulate bicycle use, BUas is participating in the InterReg V NWE-project CHIPS; Cycle Highways Innovation for smarter People transport and Spatial planning. Together with the city of Tilburg and other partners from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and United Kingdom we explore and demonstrate infrastructural improvements and tackle crucial elements related to engaging users and successful promotion of cycle highways. BUas is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the project. To measure the impact and effectiveness of cycle highway innovations we use Cyclespex and Cycleprint.With Cyclespex a virtual living lab is created which we will use to test several readability and wayfinding measures for cycle infrastructure. Cyclespex gives us the opportunity to test different scenario’s in virtual reality that will help us to make decisions about the final solution that will be realized on the cycle highway. Cycleprint will be used to develop a monitoring dashboard where municipalities of cities can easily monitor and evaluate the local bicycle use.
Restoring rivers with an integrated approach that combines water safety, nature development and gravel mining remains a challenge. Also for the Grensmaas, the most southern trajectory of the Dutch main river Maas, that crosses the border with Belgium in the south of Limburg. The first plans (“Plan Ooievaar”) were already developed in the 1980s and were highly innovative and controversial, as they were based on the idea of using nature-based solutions combined with social-economic development. Severe floodings in 1993 and 1995 came as a shock and accelerated the process to implement the associated measures. To address the multifunctionality of the river, the Grensmaas consortium was set up by public and private parties (the largest public-private partnership ever formed in the Netherlands) to have an effective, scalable and socially accepted project. However, despite the shared long term vision and the further development of plans during the process it was hard to satisfy all the goals in the long run. While stakeholders agreed on the long-term goal, the path towards that goal remains disputed and depends on the perceived status quo and urgency of the problem. Moreover, internal and external pressures and disturbances like climate change or the economic crisis influenced perception and economic conditions of stakeholders differently. In this research we will identify relevant system-processes connected to the implementation of nature-based solutions through the lens of social-ecological resilience. This knowledge will be used to co-create management plans that effectively improve the long-term resilience of the Dutch main water systems.
‘Dieren in de dijk’ aims to address the issue of animal burrows in earthen levees, which compromise the integrity of flood protection systems in low-lying areas. Earthen levees attract animals that dig tunnels and cause damages, yet there is limited scientific knowledge on the extent of the problem and effective approaches to mitigate the risk. Recent experimental research has demonstrated the severe impact of animal burrows on levee safety, raising concerns among levee management authorities. The consortium's ambition is to provide levee managers with validated action perspectives for managing animal burrows, transitioning from a reactive to a proactive risk-based management approach. The objectives of the project include improving failure probability estimation in levee sections with animal burrows and enhancing risk mitigation capacity. This involves understanding animal behavior and failure processes, reviewing existing and testing new deterrence, detection, and monitoring approaches, and offering action perspectives for levee managers. Results will be integrated into an open-access wiki-platform for guidance of professionals and in education of the next generation. The project's methodology involves focus groups to review the state-of-the-art and set the scene for subsequent steps, fact-finding fieldwork to develop and evaluate risk reduction measures, modeling failure processes, and processing diverse quantitative and qualitative data. Progress workshops and collaboration with stakeholders will ensure relevant and supported solutions. By addressing the knowledge gaps and providing practical guidance, the project aims to enable levee managers to effectively manage animal burrows in levees, both during routine maintenance and high-water emergencies. With the increasing frequency of high river discharges and storm surges due to climate change, early detection and repair of animal burrows become even more crucial. The project's outcomes will contribute to a long-term vision of proactive risk-based management for levees, safeguarding the Netherlands and Belgium against flood risks.
