Values in Water

Inaugural speech spoken in acceptance of the chair ‘Ethics of water engineering’ at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of Delft University of Technology on 16 November 2018

The OSCAR for Generalized Linear Models

The Octagonal Selection and Clustering Algorithm in Regression (OSCAR) proposed by Bondell and Reich (2008) has the attractive feature that highly correlated predictors can obtain exactly the same coecient yielding clustering of predictors. Estimation methods are available for linear regression models. It is shown how the OSCAR penalty can be used within the framework of generalized linear models. An algorithm that solves the corresponding maximization problem is given. The estimation method is investigated in a simulation study and the usefulness is demonstrated by an example from water engineering

Demand Driven Education: Report on the Education Innovation Project 'Design in Land and Water Management in a Demand Driven Learning Environment'

In the fifth period of the academic year 2008/2009 the chair groups Irrigation and Water Engineering (IWE) and Land Degradation and Development (LDD) organized a new course, i.e. Design in Land and Water Management 2 (IWE- 21312). The course is part of the BSc program International Land and Water Management (BIL). The decision to develop the course can be seen as a measure to ensure that BIL-graduates understand, can analyze, and are able to engage in and to advise on typical design processes as part of their professional practice as irrigation and soil- and water conservation experts

Wage Work for Women: The Menstrual Cycle and the Power of Water

We hypothesise that women's participation in wage (off-farm) work is reduced when their greater water needs due to the menstrual cycle are not met because their household has poor access to water. For testing, we use the data from rural villages in China. Controlling for village fixed effects, poor access to water is found to decrease the probability of wage work participation of affected (pre-menopause) women by about 10 percentage points, a large effect. As expected, there is no adverse causal impact of poor household access to water for women post-menopause, or for men, ceteris paribus.wage work, women, menopause, water engineering, rural development, China

The Gender Education Gap in China: The Power of Water

We investigate girls' school dropout rates, bringing forward a novel variable: access to water. We hypothesise that a girl's education suffers when her greater water need for female hygiene purposes after menarche is not met because her household has poor access to water. For testing we use data from rural villages in the China Health and Nutrition Survey. We find that menarche is associated with an increase in the school dropout rate, and indeed the effect is weaker for girls who have good access to water. Water engineering can thus contribute significantly to reducing gender education gaps in rural areas.education, gender gaps, menarche, water, China

Waarden in water

Intreerede In verkorte vorm uitgesproken op 16 november 2018 ter gelegenheid van de aanvaarding van het ambt van hoogleraar ‘Ethics of water engineering’ aan de faculteit Techniek, Bestuur en Management van de Technische Universiteit Delft

Floodopoly: enhancing the learning experience of students in water engineering courses

This study focuses on the utilisation of lab-based activities to enhance the learning experience of engineering students studying water engineering and geosciences courses. Specifically, the use of “floodopoly” as a physical model demonstration in improving the students’ understanding of the relevant processes of flooding, infrastructure scour and sediment transport, and improve retention and performance in simulation of these processes in engineering design courses, is discussed. The effectiveness of lab-based demonstration is explored using a survey assessing the weight of various factors that might influence students’ performance and satisfaction. It reveals how lab-centred learning, overall course success is linked with student motivation and the students’ perception of an inclusive teaching environment. It also explores the effectiveness of the implementation of student-centred and inquiry-guided teaching and various methods of assessment. The analysis and discussion are informed by students’ responses to a specifically designed questionnaire, showing an improvement of the satisfaction rates compared to traditional class-based learning modules. For example, more students (85%) reported that they perceived the lab-based environment as an excellent contribution to their learning experience, while less students (about 57%) were as satisfied for a traditional class-based course delivery. Such findings can be used to improve students’ learning experience by introducing physical model demonstrations, similar to those offered herein