In dit (eerste) artikel gaan we in op de verschillende rollen waar onderscheid tussen gemaakt kan worden bij het tot stand komen van een beslissing en de onderliggende beslislogica
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Ontwikkeling van een digitaal ontwerp en fabricageproces ten behoeve van de op maat te maken EnkelVoetOrthesen voor patienten. Het gebruik van rapid modeling technieken en moderne "pre-preg" materialen staan hierbij centraal
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In the high-tech mechatronics world, aluminum and steel are well known materials, while carbon fiber is often neglected. In the RAAK project 'Composites in Mechatronics', the use of carbon fiber composites in mechatronics is investigated.
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Abstract Background: COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China. The virus quickly spread and was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. After infection, symptoms such as fever, a (dry) cough, nasal congestion, and fatigue can develop. In some cases, the virus causes severe complications such as pneumonia and dyspnea and could result in death. The virus also spread rapidly in the Netherlands, a small and densely populated country with an aging population. Health care in the Netherlands is of a high standard, but there were nevertheless problems with hospital capacity, such as the number of available beds and staff. There were also regions and municipalities that were hit harder than others. In the Netherlands, there are important data sources available for daily COVID-19 numbers and information about municipalities. Objective: We aimed to predict the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants per municipality in the Netherlands, using a data set with the properties of 355 municipalities in the Netherlands and advanced modeling techniques. Methods: We collected relevant static data per municipality from data sources that were available in the Dutch public domain and merged these data with the dynamic daily number of infections from January 1, 2020, to May 9, 2021, resulting in a data set with 355 municipalities in the Netherlands and variables grouped into 20 topics. The modeling techniques random forest and multiple fractional polynomials were used to construct a prediction model for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants per municipality in the Netherlands. Results: The final prediction model had an R2 of 0.63. Important properties for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants in a municipality in the Netherlands were exposure to particulate matter with diameters <10 μm (PM10) in the air, the percentage of Labour party voters, and the number of children in a household. Conclusions: Data about municipality properties in relation to the cumulative number of confirmed infections in a municipality in the Netherlands can give insight into the most important properties of a municipality for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants in a municipality. This insight can provide policy makers with tools to cope with COVID-19 and may also be of value in the event of a future pandemic, so that municipalities are better prepared.
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Development of novel testing strategies to detect adverse human health effects is of interest to replace in vivo-based drug and chemical safety testing. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether physiologically based kinetic (PBK) modeling-facilitated conversion of in vitro toxicity data is an adequate approach to predict in vivo cardiotoxicity in humans. To enable evaluation of predictions made, methadone was selected as the model compound, being a compound for which data on both kinetics and cardiotoxicity in humans are available. A PBK model for methadone in humans was developed and evaluated against available kinetic data presenting an adequate match. Use of the developed PBK model to convert concentration–response curves for the effect of methadone on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) in the so-called multi electrode array (MEA) assay resulted in predictions for in vivo dose–response curves for methadone-induced cardiotoxicity that matched the available in vivo data. The results also revealed differences in protein plasma binding of methadone to be a potential factor underlying variation between individuals with respect to sensitivity towards the cardiotoxic effects of methadone. The present study provides a proof-of-principle of using PBK modeling-based reverse dosimetry of in vitro data for the prediction of cardiotoxicity in humans, providing a novel testing strategy in cardiac safety studies.
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Proper decision-making is one of the most important capabilities of an organization. Therefore, it is important to have a clear understanding and overview of the decisions an organization makes. A means to understanding and modeling decisions is the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard published by the Object Management Group in 2015. In this standard, it is possible to design and specify how a decision should be taken. However, DMN lacks elements to specify the actors that fulfil different roles in the decision-making process as well as not taking into account the autonomy of machines. In this paper, we re-address and-present our earlier work [1] that focuses on the construction of a framework that takes into account different roles in the decision-making process, and also includes the extent of the autonomy when machines are involved in the decision-making processes. Yet, we extended our previous research with more detailed discussion of the related literature, running cases, and results, which provides a grounded basis from which further research on the governance of (semi) automated decision-making can be conducted. The contributions of this paper are twofold; 1) a framework that combines both autonomy and separation of concerns aspects for decision-making in practice while 2) the proposed theory forms a grounded argument to enrich the current DMN standard.
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Women want positive birth experiences with high quality maternity care that is neither too much, too soon, nor too little, too late. Research confirms the effectiveness of midwifery care, and the midwifery approach to birth as physiologic may counter the upward trend of the unnecessary medicalization of birth. The role of guardian of physiologic birth is seen as central to midwifery practice; however, medical hegemony has led to the subordination of midwives, which inhibits them in fulfilling the role as guardian of physiologic birth. Learning to become powerful advocates of physiologic birth creates midwives able to speak up for effective, evidence-based maternity care and challenge the unnecessary use of obstetric intervention. Midwifery education has a role to fulfil in molding midwives who are able to assume this role. This brief report describes the development of an educational prototype aimed at increasing student midwife agency as an advocate of physiologic birth. This was done using rapid prototyping (RP) methodology, in which important stakeholders gave input and feedback during the educational design and development process. Input from stakeholders led to the inclusion of persuasive communication strategies and discussion and debate as teaching methodologies in order to increase student midwife agency to argue for physiologic birth. Reflective evidence-based practice, using the Optimality Index-Netherlands, allowed students to reflect on their practice while providing a framework for discussion. Working with the RP methodology allowed for the development of a prototype that reflected the needs of midwifery stakeholders and was mindful of material and human resources.
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Atherosclerosis is the development of lipid-laden plaques in arteries and is nowadays considered as an inflammatory disease. It has been shown that high doses of ionizing radiation, as used in radiotherapy, can increase the risk of development or progression of atherosclerosis. To elucidate the effects of radiation on atherosclerosis, we propose a mathematical model to describe radiation-promoted plaque evelopment. This model distinguishes itself from other models by combining plaque initiation and plaque growth, and by incorporating information from biological experiments. It is based on two consecutive processes: a probabilistic dose-dependent plaque initiation process, followed by deterministic plaque growth.
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During recent years the world has seen rapid changes such as globalization, the Internet, and the rise of new economies. To survive these changes organizations need to be in control of their processes, and be able to continuously improve the process performance. Therefore many organizations are increasingly adopting Business Process Management (BPM). However, it is not clear if the implementation of BPM(S) is really adding value to an organization. Consequently, in this paper, we try to answer the following research question: 'Does adoption of Business Process Management lead to a higher process performance?' Based on quantitative research we show that there is dependence between the performance of processes within an organization and the BPM maturity of that organization. As a result we conclude that improvement in process performance can be attained by increasing the BPM maturity of an organization.
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The research presented in this thesis has highlighted (bio)geochemical, hydrological, and wetland ecological processes that interact and enhance ecosystem development on wetlands built on fine sediment. A combination of greenhouse and laboratory experiments were conducted. Some measured data from these experiments formed important input for subsequent analysis in a modeling environment. The findings presented in Chapters 2-6 can be divided into four topics: 1) Plant–soil interactions in the terrestrial zone, 2) wetland–terrestrial processes influencing nutrient availability in the land–water zone, 3) effects of plants on sediment consolidation in the terrestrial zone, and 4) effects of bioturbation on nutrient availability in the aquatic zone. The next sections give a summary of the results for these four topics. The last section summarizes the recommendations formulated for the Marker Wadden project.
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