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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For many EU citizens, working across the border is the only way to make a living in the EU. The battle for cheap labour has now become a well-oiled machine, in which almost all Western European countries participate. Nevertheless, the employment situation of EU Mobile Citizens, workers of low-skilled and -paid jobs, is often substandard. Challenges are housing, health care and working conditions. In addition, due to the lack of registration in municipalities, it is impossible to have an overview of the numbers and to offer effective help. This is a problem in small to medium-sized cities, where many workers live to work in agriculture, transport, construction, meat industry and logistics. For this study, 32 interviews were conducted in eleven small to medium-sized towns (SMSTs) in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, and Spain. The study uses three different perspectives: EU representatives of participating regions, municipalities, and employers. The outcomes show that most SMSTs deal with a shortage of housing, and a lack of grip on the registration process of EU citizens. Although there are some success stories, most SMSTs are not in touch with each other to share these. The paper concludes with proposals for further action-research and collaborations to impact local policies.
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In a study commissioned by the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), the applied research group European Impact has compiled the results from interviews executed by approximately 240 European Studies students at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of this report is to compare and contrast the situation of intra-EU labor migrants (hereafter referred to as EU mobile citizens) in regard to registration, housing, and information flows in 12 different municipalities across the EU. Based on semi-structured interviews with municipal workers and individuals from employment agencies/companies from the selected municipalities, the picture that emerges is one of divergence. There are significant variations regarding the registration procedure and information flows for EU mobile citizens across the selected municipalities. For registration, differences include where the registration takes place, the amount of collaboration between municipalities and employment agencies/companies on registering EU mobile citizens, and the importance of addresses in the registration process. Regarding information flows across the selected municipalities, there are significant variations in the amount and type of information available to EU mobile citizens, the number of languages information is available in,as well as how the information is organized (i.e. in a centralized or decentralized way). Furthermore, while all the member states in which the selected municipalities are located provide information regarding registration on the Single Digital Gateway, not all provide information about renting housing. As for housing, the results revealed that most of the selected municipalities face issues with housing and that EU mobile citizens typically find housing either via their employers or personal network. Based on the results, a list of potential best practices and policy areas that could be improved was compiled. Furthermore, in order to have a stronger overview of policy developments in the field of EU mobile citizens among different municipalities, the VNG could consider hosting a Community of Practice with different municipalities across the EU as well as monitoring Interreg Europe projects focused on improving the situation of EU mobile citizens.
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In the dynamic environment of increasing regulations, increasing patient demand, decentralization of budgets and enforcement of efficiency, small sized healthcare institutions in the Netherlands are having a difficult time. Although these service providers are usually capable of flexibly delivering healthcare, the investment and overhead for implementing and executing on required quality management standards like ISO 9001 is difficult. In this paper we construct a method for the implementation of an IT-enabled quality management system for small sized healthcare institutions, which is applied through case study. The case organisation provides intra- and extramural care for mentally handicapped persons and young adults with a psychiatric disorder. The quality management system implementation is based on 1) a lightweight IT infrastructure (based at a secure data centre and accessible through remote login) implying secure storage of patients' medical and personal information. Furthermore, the Deming (Deming, 1982) cycle enabled processes and protocols are 2) described in an e-handbook and prototyped via an open source process management system which supports the quality regulation demanded for providing care to patients. The case study supports the validity of our method and the fact that small sized healthcare institutions are able to execute their care while adhering to ISO 9001-like standards, with limited initial costs and relatively low cost of ownership
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Recent years have seen a massive growth in ethical and legal frameworks to govern data science practices. Yet one of the core questions associated with ethical and legal frameworks is the extent to which they are implemented in practice. A particularly interesting case in this context comes to public officials, for whom higher standards typically exist. We are thus trying to understand how ethical and legal frameworks influence the everyday practices on data and algorithms of public sector data professionals. The following paper looks at two cases: public sector data professionals (1) at municipalities in the Netherlands and (2) at the Netherlands Police. We compare these two cases based on an analytical research framework we develop in this article to help understanding of everyday professional practices. We conclude that there is a wide gap between legal and ethical governance rules and the everyday practices.
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From the article: "ABSTRACT: The research group Supply Chain Redesign in the Built Environment of HU University of Applied Sciences is working on research that combines principles of the circular economy with open source architectural design & urban planning. The aim is finding new ways to re-use demolition waste and recycled materials in small scale urban area developments. And to “democratize” traditional processes in the built environment. Different recent studies have shown the potential benefits, such as a reduction of emissions. In “Hof van Cartesius”, a practical case-study in Utrecht, the ambitions and implications of this approach are being questioned, investigated and tested."
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In the Netherlands, like in many other developed countries, the care sector is facing challenges in a dynamic environment. Regulation is increasing, patients are becoming more critical, budget responsibility will be transferred from country- to municipality level in association with cuts in funding, and more and more emphasis is put on transparent execution of medical treatment procedures and protocols (cf. ActiZ, 2012; Zorgvisie, 2014). In this challenging environment also small healthcare organizations are urged to professionalize their management accounting and control practices (ActiZ, 2012). This paper describes, using the problem solving research approach derived from Mitroff et al. (1974), the introduction of a Management Accounting and Control System (MACS) and its effect in a young, fast growing, small care organization in the Netherlands. The MACS for this company consists of four components: cost and margin calculation per product; time registration facilities; budgeting and variance analysis; and ICT support. The introduction of the MACS has led to accurate, structurally available, and visible financial information for accounting and controlling, thus providing insight in the organization's current situation and into how to move the organization forward in its challenging environment. It is finally argued that similar care organizations may benefit as well from a comparable MACS.
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More and more municipalities are, fortunately, working on play-friendly public spaces. However, many policy visions and investments are still based on assumptions made by municipal officials or suppliers of play equipment.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) strives to assist and inspire cities to become more ‘age-friendly’ through the Global Age-Friendly Cities Guide. An age-friendly city offers a supportive environment that enables residents to grow older actively within their families, neighbourhoods and civil society, and offers extensive opportunities for their participation in the community. In the attempts to make cities age-friendly, ageism may interact with these developments. The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which features of age-friendly cities, both facilitators and hindrances, are visible in the city scape of the Dutch municipalities of The Hague and Zoetermeer and whether or not ageism is manifested explicitly or implicitly. A qualitative photoproduction study based on the Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities was conducted in five neighbourhoods. Both municipalities have a large number of visual age-friendly features, which are manifested in five domains of the WHO model, namely Communication and information; Housing; Transportation; Community support and health services; and Outdoor spaces and buildings. Age-stereotypes, both positive and negative, can be observed in the domain of Communication and information, especially in the depiction of third agers as winners. At the same time, older people and age-friendly features are very visible in the cityscapes of both municipalities, and this is a positive expression of the changing demographics. Original article at Sage: https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X19857216
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In ESSENCE (European Sustainable Solutions for Existing and New City Environments) "five European Higher Education Institutions and three municipalities worked together to train future professionals to overcome the complex challenges of achieving smart sustainable cities. Students worked on behalf of the three local governments on useful solutions to sustainability issues in the urban environment. New teaching methods were applied, such as blended learning and creative solution searching methods. "
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