One of the aims of the TALENTS-project is to create (interdisciplinary) learning communities in which engineering professionals, students, teachers, and researchers can learn together and collaborate as equal partners, within the context of authentic challenges, starting from their individual learning goals. To what extent are partners willing to participate in this partnership and under which conditions do they consider it to have added value? We conducted individual interviews with engineering students (N=11), teachers (N=12) and professionals (N=10) about what they require to participate in the learning community, employing epistemic, spatial, instrumental, temporal, and social elements of learning environments. We also inquired which resources participants were willing to invest. Data were summarized on group level in a within-group matrix, following these elements. Next, we employed a cross-group analysis, focusing on commonalities and differences. The most striking results were found in the epistemic, social, and instrumental elements. Respondents have similar needs when it comes to improving dialogue to formulate a challenge. However, professionals prefer to have more influence on formulating this challenge and its output, whereas teachers wish to focus on students’ development. Students wish to co-create with partners and they place importance on matching students with a challenge that aligns with their educational background and personal interest. To create an environment based on equality, students need traditional roles of teachers, clients, and students to be less apparent. Ultimately, almost all respondents are willing to co-operate as equal partners in the learning community because they can see it leads to added value.
MULTIFILE
This systematic review describes and discusses three commercially available integrated systems for forensic DNA analysis, i.e., ParaDNA, RapidHIT, and ANDE. A variety of aspects, such as performance, time-to-result, ease-of-use, portability, and costs (per analysis run) of these three (modified) rapid DNA analysis systems, are considered. Despite their advantages and developmental progress, major steps still have to be made before rapid systems can be broadly applied at crime scenes for full DNA profiling. Aspects in particular that need (further) improvement are portability, performance, the possibility to analyze a (wider) variety of (complex) forensic samples, and (cartridge) costs. Moreover, steps forward regarding ease-of-use and time-to-result will benefit the broader use of commercial rapid DNA systems. In fact, it would be a profit if rapid DNA systems could be used for full DNA profile generation as well as indicative analyses that can give direction to forensic investigators which will speed up investigations.
MULTIFILE
Chemical preservation is an important process that prevents foods, personal care products, woods and household products, such as paints and coatings, from undesirable change or decomposition by microbial growth. To date, many different chemical preservatives are commercially available, but they are also associated with health threats and severe negative environmental impact. The demand for novel, safe, and green chemical preservatives is growing, and this process is further accelerated by the European Green Deal. It is expected that by the year of 2050 (or even as soon as 2035), all preservatives that do not meet the ‘safe-by-design’ and ‘biodegradability’ criteria are banned from production and use. To meet these European goals, there is a large need for the development of green, circular, and bio-degradable antimicrobial compounds that can serve as alternatives for the currently available biocidals/ preservatives. Anthocyanins, derived from fruits and flowers, meet these sustainability goals. Furthermore, preliminary research at the Hanze University of Applied Science has confirmed the antimicrobial efficacy of rose and tulip anthocyanin extracts against an array of microbial species. Therefore, these molecules have the potential to serve as novel, sustainable chemical preservatives. In the current project we develop a strategy consisting of fractionation and state-of-the-art characterization methods of individual anthocyanins and subsequent in vitro screening to identify anthocyanin-molecules with potent antimicrobial efficacy for application in paints, coatings and other products. To our knowledge this is the first attempt that combines in-depth chemical characterization of individual anthocyanins in relation to their antimicrobial efficacy. Once developed, this strategy will allow us to single out anthocyanin molecules with antimicrobial properties and give us insight in structure-activity relations of individual anthocyanins. Our approach is the first step towards the development of anthocyanin molecules as novel, circular and biodegradable non-toxic plant-based preservatives.
Ten gevolge van de klimaatverandering Nederland bedreigt. De Verenigde Naties benoemt ‘17 Gobal Goals for a Sustainable Development’ nader gespecificeerd. Goal 13:” versterk de veerkracht en het aanpassingsvermogen aan klimaatgerelateerde gevaren en natuurrampen”. Deze klimaatverandering vraagt om een continue inzicht in de waterafvoercapaciteit van Nederlandse water-infrastructuur. Autonome vaartuigen maken een continue bemeting en realtime informatie van de vaarwegen mogelijk op basis waarvan waar snel actie ondernomen kan worden. Diverse partijen zowel publiek als privaat hebben de wens om continue en autonoom te varen en zijn afzonderlijk hiermee bezig zoals onder andere Rijkswaterstaat, Saeport Groningen en Provincie Overijssel . Het lectoraat mechatronica, dat succesvol onderzoek doet naar ‘autonome systemen in ongestructureerde omgevingen’ heeft veel kennis en ervaring op het gebied van grond (2D navigatie) en lucht robots (3D navigatie). Deze ontwikkelde technologieën zijn potentieel zeer geschikt voor navigatie op het water (2D, 2.5D) en onderwater (3D). Tijdens de vraaginventarisatie bleek er reeds veel interesse van partijen om kennis te delen en samen door te ontwikkelen. Er zijn semi-autonome vaartuigen beschikbaar hiervoor, maar bij de partijen ontbrak een totaal overzicht van de huidige stand van der technologie. Daarom wil het lectoraat Mechatronica samen met Marinminds, Aquatic Drones en DronExpert een onderzoek uitvoeren naar de ‘State of the Art’ betreft autonoom varen. In dit project zal dit onderzoek worden uitgevoerd door specificatie van de gewenste functionele bouwblokken (WP1), een state-of-the art van beschikbare technische oplossingen (WP2), een Gap-analysis tussen deze beide (WP3), verkennende experimenten hiernaar met behulp van een demonstrator (WP4) en een nieuwe specifiek gemaakte projectaanvraag (WP5). Dit cross-over project van de topsector HTSM/SmartIndustry met de topsector Water & Maritiem versterkt al direct de kennispositie van alle betrokken partijen, waardoor deze consortia sneller de vaarwegen klimaat-adaptief kunnen maken, zodat daarmee de Nederlandse (water) veiligheid beter wordt geborgd.
The impacts of tourism on destinations and the perceptions of local communities have been a major concern both for the industry and research in the past decades. However, tourism planning has been mainly focused on traditions that promote the increase of tourism without taking under consideration the wellbeing of both residents and visitors. To develop a more sustainable tourism model, the inclusion of local residents in tourism decision-making is vital. However, this is not always possible due to structural, economic and socio-cultural restrictions that residents face resulting to their disempowerment. This study aims to explore and interpret the formal processes around tourism decision-making and community empowerment in urban settings. The research proposes a comparative study of three urban destinations in Europe (The Hague in the Netherlands, San Sebastian in Spain and, Ioannina in Greece) that experience similar degree of tourism growth. The proposed study will use a design-based approach in order to understand tourism decision-making and what empowers or disempowers community participation within the destinations. Based on the findings of primary and secondary data, a community empowerment model will be applied in one the destinations as a pilot for resident engagement in tourism planning. The evaluation of the pilot will allow for an optimized model to be created with implications for tourism planning at a local level that can contribute to sustainable destinations that safeguard the interests of local residents and tourists.
