Over de vaardigheden voor een kwaliteitsmedewerker in de 21e eeuw
A damage estimation exercise has been carried out using the building stock inventory and population database of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and selected European earthquake loss estimation packages: KOERILOSS, SELENA, ESCENARIS, SIGE, and DBELA. The input ground-motions, common to all models, correspond to a “credible worst case scenario” involving the rupture of the four segments of the Main Marmara Fault closest to Istanbul in a Mw 7.5 earthquake. The aim of the exercise is to assess the applicability of the selected software packages to earthquake loss estimation in the context of rapid post-earthquake response in European urban centers. The results in terms of predicted building damage and social losses are critically compared amongst each other, as well as with the results of previous scenario-based earthquake loss assessments carried out for the study area. The key methodological aspects and data needs for European rapid post-earthquake loss estimation are thus identified.
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Live blogs are a popular format for covering crises, breaking news, politics, or sports events. Despite their popularity among journalists and the public, the format has also been subject to scholarly debate regarding the conflict between immediacy versus credibility, resulting in a high degree of uncertainty for producers and consumers. Journalists cope with this paradox by performing discourse: imposing valid and persuasive representations of the social world. One way to do so is by the use and representation of sources. In this paper, we uncover the performative discourse of live blogs through possible patterns of sourcing and discursive strategies among a range of live blogs and the way journalists cope with the mix of speed and uncertainty. Based on a quantitative content analysis of nine Dutch live blogs, we conclude that journalists follow the same conventions and routines as regular (online) articles. Despite the possibilities for polyvocality (more and different voices in live blogs) due to the accessibility by social media, journalists choose predominantly formal sources and report their speech predominantly in a direct way.
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In the past decade additive manufacturing has gained an incredible traction in the construction industry. The field of 3D concrete printing (3DCP) has advanced significantly, leading to commercially viable housing projects. The use of concrete represents a challenge because of its environmental impact and CO2 footprint. Due to its material properties, structural capacity and ability to take on complex geometries with relative ease, concrete is and will remain for the foreseeable future a key construction material. The framework required for casting concrete, in particular non-orthogonal geometries, is in itself wasteful, not reusable, contributing to its negative environmental impact. Non-standard, complex geometries generally require the use of moulds and subsystems to be produced, leading to wasteful, material-intense manufacturing processes, with high carbon footprints. This research proposal bypasses the use of wasteful scaffolding and moulds, by exploring 3D printing with concrete on reusable substructures made of sand, clay or aggregate. Optimised material depositing strategies for 3DCP will be explored, by making use of algorithmic structural optimisation. This way, material is deposited only where structurally needed, allowing for further reduction of raw-material use. This collaboration between Neutelings Riedijk Architects, Vertico and the Architectural Design and Engineering Chair of the TU Eindhoven, investigates full-scale additive manufacturing of spatially complex 3D-concrete printed components using multi-material support systems (clay, sand and aggregates). These materials can be easily shaped multiple times into substrates with complex geometries, without generating material waste. The 3D concrete printed full-scale prototypes can be used as lightweight façade elements, screens or spatial dividers. To generate waterproof components, the cavities of the extruded lattices can be filled up with lightweight clay or cement. This process allows for the exploration of new aesthetic, creative and circular possibilities, complex geometries and new material expressions in architecture and construction, while reducing raw-material use and waste.
Fluorescence microscopy is an indispensable technique to resolve structure and specificity in many scientific areas such as diagnostics, health care, materials- and life sciences. With the development of multi-functional instruments now costing hundreds of thousands of Euros, the availability and access to high-tech instrumentation is increasingly limited to larger imaging facilities. Here, we will develop a cost-effective alternative by combining a commercially available solution for high-resolution confocal imaging (the RCM from confocal.nl) with an open-hardware microscopy framework, the miCube, developed in the Laboratory of Biophysics of Wageningen University & Research. In addition, by implementing a recent invention of the applicant for the spectral separation of different emitters, we will improve the multiplexing capabilities of fluorescence microscopy in general and the RCM in particular. Together, our new platform will help to translate expertise and know-how created in an academic environment into a commercially sustainable future supporting the Dutch technology landscape.
