Zoekresultaten

Reducing meat consumption: The influence of life course transitions, barriers and enablers, and effective strategies according to young Dutch adults

High consumption of animal-source foods, specifically meat, adversely affects human health and the environment. Dietary habits are shaped at younger ages and a reduction in meat consumption may be facilitated by the life course transitions in early adulthood, but studies are limited. This study among young Dutch adults aimed to describe their perceptions on the influence of life course transitions on meat consumption, barriers and enablers to reduce meat consumption, and strategies for reducing meat consumption. Barriers and enablers were grouped applying the COM-B model that includes capability, opportunity, and motivation. This quantitative cross-sectional study included a representative sample of 1806 young adults from two Dutch consumer panels who completed an online survey. Young adults frequently reported life course transitions, especially those related to moving house, to have decreased their meat consumption. Barriers and enablers to reduce meat consumption were identified for all three factors of the COM-B model. Important barriers included taste, perceived high prices of meat alternatives, and habits. In contrast, important enablers included care for the environment and animal welfare, enjoyment of smaller portions of meat and saving money. However, barriers and enablers largely differed by groups of meat consumption frequency. Self-perceived effective strategies for reducing meat consumption were price reduction of meat alternatives, recipes for vegetarian meals, and more attractive meat alternatives. The findings of this study are relevant for the development of targeted behaviour-change programmes including interventions in the physical and the social environment (like lowering prices and improving the offer of meat alternatives).

Sustainable LNG technology

On the 11th of may 2016 dr. ir. J. Dam officially started his professorship in Sustainable LNG Technology at the Hanze University of Applied Science. In this Inaugural speech he declared his hopes and plans for the Hanze University and it's Centre of Expertise - Energy.

Robotic Leakage Detection

Within our research on robotic gas detection, we have focused on making a prototype based on Boston Dynamics SPOT, because it takes a lot of difficulties out of prototyping. For instance, it has its own obstacle avoidance algorithm, good drivers are available for ROS2, and SPOT is meant for outdoor navigation. Being a legged robot means that it can easily traverse curbs, shrubberies, unstable soil and even stairs. For this document, we are going to use the insights that we used when looking for a solution for SPOT.

Sanitary systems

Global society is confronted with various challenges: climate change should be mitigated, and society should adapt to the impacts of climate change, resources will become scarcer and hence resources should be used more efficiently and recovered after use, the growing world population and its growing wealth create unprecedented emissions of pollutants, threatening public health, wildlife and biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of the challenges and risks for sewage systems, next to some opportunities and chances that these developments pose. Some of the challenges are emerging from climate change and resource scarcity, others come from the challenges emerging from stricter regulation of emissions. It also presents risks and threats from within the system, next to external influences which may affect the surroundings of the sewage systems. It finally reflects on barriers to respond to these challenges. http://dx.doi.org/10.13044/j.sdewes.d6.0231 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabineeijlander/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karel-mulder-163aa96/

A prediction model for the demand of charging stations for electric vehicles in the municipality of Amsterdam

Inkjet printing of functional materials on selectively plasma treated surfaces

In manufacturing of organic electronics, inkjet printing as an alternative technique for depositing materials is becoming increasingly important. Aside to the ink formulations challenges, improving the resolution of the printed patterns is a major goal. In this study we will discuss a newly developed technique to selectively modify the substrate surface energy using plasma treatment as a means to achieve this goal. First, we look at the effects of the μPlasma treatment on the surface energy for a selection of plastic films. Second, we investigated the effects of the μPlasma treatment on the wetting behaviour of inkjet printed droplets to determine the resolution of the μPlasma printing technique. We found that the surface energy for all tested films increased significantly reaching a maximum after 3-5 repetitions. Subsequently the surface energy decreased in the following 8-10 days after treatment, finally stabilizing at a surface energy roughly halfway between the surface energy of the untreated film and the maximum obtained surface energy. When μPlasma printing lines, an improved wetting abillity of inkjet printed materials on the plasma treated areas was found. The minimal achieved μPlasma printed line was found to be 1 mm wide. For future application it is important to increase the resolution of the plasma print process. This is crucial for combining plasma treatment with inkjet print technology as a means to obtain higher print resolutions.