Broilers with Taste - Sustainable chicken takes flight

Engelse versie van de brochure 'Pluimvee met smaak : duurzame kip krijgt vleugels', die laat zien waar kansen liggen voor de Nederlandse pluimveesector om te verduurzamen. Twee uiteenlopende concepten, de Som der Delen en de Windstreek, geven ieder op eigen wijze invulling aan duurzaamheid op het primaire bedrijf. Ze bevatten belangrijke elementen voor verduurzaming, die als geheel of in onderdelen, nu of later, in de praktijk gebracht kunnen worden. Duurzaamheid kent immers niet één, maar vele vormen, afhankelijk van de ondernemers, de markt en de omgeving

Group decision support using Toulmin argument structures

This paper addresses the need for sound science, technology, and management assessment relative to environmental policy decision making through an approach that involves a logical structure for evidence, a framed decision-making process, and an environment that encourages group participation. Toulmin-based logic possesses these characteristics and is used as the basis for development of a group decision support system. This system can support several user groups, such as pesticide policy-making experts, who can use the support system to state arguments for or against an important policy issue, and pest management experts, who can use the system to assist in identifying and evaluating alternatives for controlling pests on agricultural commodities. The resulting decision support system assists in improving the clarity of the lines of reasoning used in specific situations; the warrants, grounds, and backings that are used to support claims and specific lines of reasoning; and the contradictions, rebuttals, and arguments surrounding each step in the reasoning process associated with evaluating a claim or counterclaim. Experts and decisions makers with differing views can better understand each other`s thought processes. The net effect is enhanced communications and understanding of the whole picture and, in many cases, consensus on decisions to be taken

Ontwerpatelier Pluimvee met Smaak - Verslag van een expeditie naar integraal duurzame vleeskuikenhouderij

Powerpointpresentatie over het Ontwerpatelier Pluimvee met Smaak. Op weg naar duurzame vleeskuikenhouderij

Developing a digital informed consent app:opportunities and challenges of a new format to inform and obtain consent in public health research

Background: Informed consent procedures for large population-based cohort studies should be comprehensive and easy-to-use. This is particularly challenging when participants from different socio-economic groups and multicultural ethnic backgrounds are involved. Recently, more and more studies have tried to use multimedia in informed consent procedures. We describe the development and testing of a digital informed consent app and elaborate on whether this may contribute to a comprehensive and practical procedure to obtain informed consent for public health research. Methods: In a sample of parents with young children, we used a mixed method approach to study the user experience of an informed consent app and evaluate whether it can be used to adequately inform people and register their consent. Through semi-structured interviews we investigated participants’ experiences with and opinions about the app, with a special focus on comprehensibility of the content and the usability of the app. Information retention questions were asked to evaluate to what extent participants could recall key aspects of the provided study information. Results: The 30 participants in this study used the app between 4 and 15 min to give their consent. Overall, they found the app well-designed, informative and easy to use. To learn more about the study for which informed consent is asked, most of the participants chose to watch the animated film, which was generally found to convey information in a clear manner. The identification process was met with mixed reactions, with some feeling it as a secure way to give consent, while for others it contradicted their view of using data anonymously. Information retention questions showed that while all participants remembered various aspects of the study, fewer than half answered all four questions satisfactorily.Conclusion: Our study shows that a well-designed informed consent app can be an effective tool to inform eligible participants and to record consents. Still, some issues remain, including trust barriers towards the identification procedure and lack of information retention in some participants. When implementing consent procedures that incorporate digital formats, it may be beneficial to also invest in a complementary face-to-face recruitment approach.</p

Crossover between a displacive and an order-disorder phase transition

The phase transition in a three-dimensional array of classical anharmonic oscillators with harmonic nearest-neighbor coupling (discrete φ 4 model) is studied by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and by analytical methods. The model allows us to choose a single dimensionless parameter a determining completely the behavior of the system. Changing a from 0 to + ∞ allows to go continuously from the displacive to the order-disorder limit. We calculate the transition temperature T c and the temperature dependence of the order parameter down to T = 0 for a wide range of the parameter a. The T c from MC calculations shows an excellent agreement with the known asymptotic values for small and large a. The obtained MC results are further compared with predictions of the mean-field and independent-mode approximations as well as with predictions of our own approximation scheme. In this approximation, we introduce an auxiliary system, which yields approximately the same temperature behavior of the order parameter, but allows the decoupling of the phonon modes. Our approximation gives the value of T c within an error of 5% and satisfactorily describes the temperature dependence of the order parameter for all values of a

Brief of requirements of the broiler = Programma van eisen van het vleeskuiken

This report lists the brief of requirements of the broiler, based on her needs (also listed). The BoR indicates the actor’s needs with regards to the animal husbandry system. BoR of the main actors are incorporated in the redesign of a broiler husbandry system in the project Tasteful Broilers

Asymptotic analysis of Emden–Fowler type equation with an application to power flow models

Emden–Fowler type equations are nonlinear differential equations that appear in many fields such as mathematical physics, astrophysics and chemistry. In this paper, we perform an asymptotic analysis of a specific Emden–Fowler type equation that emerges in a queuing theory context as an approximation of voltages under a well-known power flow model. Thus, we place Emden–Fowler type equations in the context of electrical engineering. We derive properties of the continuous solution of this specific Emden–Fowler type equation and study the asymptotic behavior of its discrete analog. We conclude that the discrete analog has the same asymptotic behavior as the classical continuous Emden–Fowler type equation that we consider

Oncological drug discovery: AI meets structure-based computational research

The integration of machine learning and structure-based methods has proven valuable in the past as a way to prioritize targets and compounds in early drug discovery. In oncological research, these methods can be highly beneficial in addressing the diversity of neoplastic diseases portrayed by the different hallmarks of cancer. Here, we review six use case scenarios for integrated computational methods, namely driver prediction, computational mutagenesis, (off)-target prediction, binding site prediction, virtual screening, and allosteric modulation analysis. We address the heterogeneity of integration approaches and individual methods, while acknowledging their current limitations and highlighting their potential to bring drugs for personalized oncological therapies to the market faster.Medicinal Chemistr

A high tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) in colon tumours and its metastatic lymph nodes predicts poor cancer-free survival and chemo resistance

Purpose Despite known high-risk features, accurate identification of patients at high risk of cancer recurrence in colon cancer remains a challenge. As tumour stroma plays an important role in tumour invasion and metastasis, the easy, low-cost and highly reproducible tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) could be a valuable prognostic marker, which is also believed to predict chemo resistance. Methods Two independent series of patients with colon cancer were selected. TSR was estimated by microscopic analysis of 4 mu m haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained tissue sections of the primary tumour and the corresponding metastatic lymph nodes. Patients were categorized as TSR-low ( 50%). Differences in overall survival and cancer-free survival were analysed by Kaplan-Meier curves and cox-regression analyses. Analyses were conducted for TNM-stage I-II, TNM-stage III and patients with an indication for chemotherapy separately. Results We found that high TSR was associated with poor cancer-free survival in TNM-stage I-II colon cancer in two independent series, independent of other known high-risk features. This association was also found in TNM-stage III tumours, with an additional prognostic value of TSR in lymph node metastasis to TSR in the primary tumour alone. In addition, high TSR was found to predict chemo resistance in patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical resection of a TNM-stage II-III colon tumour. Conclusion In colon cancer, the TSR of both primary tumour and lymph node metastasis adds significant prognostic value to current pathologic and clinical features used for the identification of patients at high risk of cancer recurrence, and also predicts chemo resistance