Letterontwerp voor kinderen met een visuele functiebeperking

Due to the low quality level of visual input they receive in the form of printed text, beginning visually impaired readers are at a disadvantage in comparison to their peers. In the past, typography has often been looked upon as a useful instrument to improve the legibility of the printed reading material that is being offered to children with low vision. However, the legiblity research efforts that were at the base of this conception were not always of good quality. In cognitive science for example, many efforts were made that were methodologically correct, yet the test material (the used typefaces) had little to do with reality. Many typefaces that were supposed to improve legibility were also suggested by typographers themselves, but the reasoning behind them was hardly ever sufficiently methodologically supported. Moreover, most legibility research focused on people with low vision in general, ignoring the fac t that visually impaired children constitute a very particular group with specific issues. This doctoral research project in design seeks to shed a light on legibility in the context of visually impaired beginning readers. Starting from these findings and from a legibility research a first step is given to design a typeface that will be able to provide support for the target group of visually impaired children in the first stages of the reading process.LEI Universiteit LeidenResearch in and through artistic practic

Mathematical formulations for wood recycling optimization

12. Responsible consumption and production13. Climate action15. Life on lan

Designing digital texts for beginner readers: performance, practice and process

This illustrated chapter describes the role of research in typography and graphic communication and in information design, that is relevant to the design and use of materials for children’s reading. By ‘design’ in this context we mean ‘typography’ (which is the visual organisation of type and pictures on paper or screen), and ‘process’ (the ways in which design is developed in order to make sure that what is designed works for its intended reader group). We summarise issues that designers consider when they are producing reading materials for beginning and emerging readers, including the constraints imposed by technology. We suggest ways of engaging with users of e-books so that their needs can be considered. We conclude by summarising the typographic parameters that are likely to benefit children’s reading

Comparative efficacy of three bariatric surgery procedures in obese patients with type 2 diabetes

This retrospective work compares the efficacy of three procedures of bariatric surgery in obese patients with type 2 diabetes : gastric bypass (n = 22), sleeve gastrectomy (n = 18) and Magenstrasse & Mill gastroplasty (also known as reversible sleeve (n = 19). The three interventions result in a remarkable weight loss after one year, a better glycaemic control, with often a remission of diabetes, a reduction of blood pressure and an improvement of lipid profile, allowing an interruption or a dose reduction of concomitant medications. Overall, classical sleeve provides almost similar results as gastric bypass and appears slightly better than reversible sleeve. These results deserve confirmation in studies with more patients followed for a longer term

Diabetes and Ramadan : consequences of fasting and practical aspects of management

peer reviewedBeaucoup de patients Musulmans diabétiques choisissent de jeûner durant le Ramadan, en dépit de recommandations qui conseillent à certains patients de s’abstenir en fonction de facteurs de risque établis. Le jeûne expose, en effet, le sujet diabétique à des complications aiguës majeures, dont l’acidocétose diabétique et les hypoglycémies sévères. Les patients diabétiques devraient, dès lors, bénéficier d’une prise en charge individualisée dès avant le Ramadan comprenant, entre autres éléments, une évaluation du risque et une éducation spécifique. Il convient, en particulier, d’adapter le traitement pharmacologique en vue de limiter la survenue de ces complications aiguës

Pre-moral value-awareness and ordinary morality

By reflecting upon ordinary morality, Aurel Kolnai observed that the constituents of human life are already valued pre-morally. Asking himself how morality could be understood against this background, Kolnai implicitly reflected about the question what makes us moral. By developing a neo-Kolnaian conception of ordinary morality and by making use of the phenomenological method, I argue that man’s moral consciousness is built on the foundation of primordial positive values but that it takes on its proper negative and emphatic character only in the face of aggressive threat to those values. Ethical phenomenology, then, reveals that morality concerns the preservation, protection and improvement of this valuable mode of life. We emphatically experience the valuable when it is in need of protection. This also explains the primarily imperative or negative character of morality. Likewise, moral rules and principles primarily express the concern not to break or transgress them and this precisely because they say to uphold and thereby protect the existing good. Additionally, vice and virtue suitably fall within this view. As morality is about what we do and refrain from doing, thus about our actions and conduct, it is also about our moral character. Repeated compliance with the existing good results in the ascription of virtue, repeated noncompliance in vice. Thus, I argue, in the spirit of Kolnai, that ordinary morality should be, and earns to be, taken much more seriously and less sceptically. In particular, a (philosophical) phenomenology that tries to describe and learn from morality as it is, has much more to offer than is claimed by contemporary moral philosophy, all too often disregarding phenomenology and the search for relevant descriptions of ethical phenomena.status: publishe

Typefaces for Children's Reading

This article deals with the contrasting views of designers, educationalists and scientific legibility researchers concerning children’s typefaces. Guidelines about typefaces and their legibility for beginner readers remain inconclusive due to these different perspectives. The article first discusses the opinions of each of these parties on children’s typefaces. Educationalists’ views are often based on prejudices and forces of habit. Designers tend to follow the views of their potential clients and scientific legibility researchers often lack typographical knowledge for creating valid test material. To conclude, a new perspective on a need for collaboration between the different parties within typographic design research is suggested. This approach might be able not only to acquire a deeper understanding and explanation of the question which typefaces are best for children, but also for the development and design of concrete new, functional typefaces and/or guidelines

Letterontwerp voor kinderen met een visuele functiebeperking

Due to the low quality level of visual input they receive in the form of printed text, beginning visually impaired readers are at a disadvantage in comparison to their peers. In the past, typography has often been looked upon as a useful instrument to improve the legibility of the printed reading material that is being offered to children with low vision. However, the legiblity research efforts that were at the base of this conception were not always of good quality. In cognitive science for example, many efforts were made that were methodologically correct, yet the test material (the used typefaces) had little to do with reality. Many typefaces that were supposed to improve legibility were also suggested by typographers themselves, but the reasoning behind them was hardly ever sufficiently methodologically supported. Moreover, most legibility research focused on people with low vision in general, ignoring the fac t that visually impaired children constitute a very particular group with specific issues. This doctoral research project in design seeks to shed a light on legibility in the context of visually impaired beginning readers. Starting from these findings and from a legibility research a first step is given to design a typeface that will be able to provide support for the target group of visually impaired children in the first stages of the reading process.</p

Respiratory quotient based dynamic controlled atmosphere storage of apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) fruit

To ensure year-round availability, high quality pome fruit is commonly stored at low temperature and under controlled atmosphere (CA) conditions to slow down the biochemical process of respiration, which leads to quality loss and finally decay of the stored fruit. In order to meet the increasing demands of the consumers of today and to meet the market competition, post-storage quality needs to be preserved to a higher extent than with conventional storage and preferably in a nonchemical way. One way to achieve this, is storing fruit at lower O2 levels, closer to and preferably at the anaerobic compensation point (ACP) – the O2 level at which fruit respiration is minimal. This can be achieved by storing the fruit with dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) storage. With DCA storage, the O2 level in the storage room is gradually reduced until low O2 stress is detected, based on measurement of a bioresponse signal of the stored fruit. Subsequently, the O2 level is slightly increased until relief of low O2 stress, and the cycle restarts. The main objective of this work was to develop engineering solutions contributing to effective DCA storage based on the respiratory quotient (RQ) for pome fruit and to evaluate how DCA based on RQ affects post-storage quality of apple fruit. The research hypothesis was that RQ-DCA storage would lead to better firmness and color retention compared to regular CA storage and comparable to DCA based on chlorophyll fluorescence, without inducing storage related disorders or off-flavor. The technical hypothesis was that pressure driven leakage of the cool rooms used for storage of apple fruit may corrupt RQ measurement and that the effect of leak on measured RQ values could be taken into account by the development of a leakage model of the storage system. RQ is specific, biochemically well understood and shows a steep increase upon low O2 stress, making it a good indicator bioresponse signal. The principle of using RQ as a bioresponse to detect low O2 stress has been known for many years, yet until recently, RQ has only been measured off-line as leakage of storage rooms can corrupt its measurement. Lately, few commercial RQ based systems have been introduced to the market. These systems measure either gas composition changes in an entire cool room or in small containers to be positioned in a storage room in attempts to circumvent issues with room gas leakage. Besides increased cost and operational burdens, this implies the risk of storing a whole cool room at undesirable gas conditions that are only suitable for the sample of fruit in the measurement container. The idea of using leak corrected RQ estimates for automatic control of the CA gas composition in storage rooms has been patented by the MeBioS postharvest group, yet it had not been used for DCA control so far at the start of this PhD research. To evaluate the effect of DCA based on RQ (RQ-DCA) on post-storage quality of apple fruit, a pilot infrastructure consisting of lab scale storage containers and accompanying control units for automatic control of CA gas composition was built. Software algorithms for automatic RQ measurement based on measured changes in gas composition and dynamic control of the CA gas composition based on measured RQ values were developed. ‘Granny Smith’ apples were stored under RQ-DCA and the effect on fruit quality immediately after storage as well as during subsequent shelf life was investigated and compared to the effect of regular CA and regular CA storage with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment. Superficial scald, one of the major storage disorders in ‘Granny Smith’ leading to significant losses, was found to be controlled almost completely during storage with RQ-DCA and subsequent shelf life. Magness-Taylor firmness and skin background color (hue angle) were found to be significantly higher after RQ-DCA storage compared to conventional CA storage and were comparable to these of fruit stored with regular CA after 1-MCP treatment up to 7 d of shelf life at 18 °C. In-fruit ethanol concentrations were found to be very low (< 0.028 g L-1), indicating the RQ-DCA system managed to store the fruit close to the ACP, but fruit metabolism did not shift from aerobic respiration to fermentation. Although the RQ-DCA system managed to control O2 and CO2 partial pressures in the storage container in an autonomous way, difficulties to obtain reliable RQ measurements were observed at very low O2 levels due to reduced fruit respiration and when the pressure of the storage container increased due to leakiness. To improve the reliability of correct RQ measurements for the effects of gas exchange between storage room and environment, a leak correction method was developed to correct real-time measurements of the respiratory quotient (RQ) for gas leakage of a cool room. The method is based on a mathematical model of leakage of the room that was simplified by performing sensitivity analyses of the contribution of the pressure driven and concentration driven gas transport terms. It was shown that pressure driven leakage (time constant 1.17 s) was dominant over diffusive leakage (time constant 7.14 x 1013 s). The model was validated using an empty storage container at typical DCA conditions. The validated model was successfully implemented in the automated RQ-DCA control system for storage of ‘Braeburn’ apple fruit. RQ estimates without leakage correction were heavily biased when leakage of atmospheric air into the storage container occurred and would lead to erroneous control of the storage atmosphere composition. With the developed leakage correction, RQ measurements were found to be accurate under all circumstances. Finally, the developed RQ-DCA technology was compared to alternative common practice and current state of the art storage technologies. ‘Golden Delicious’ apples from two European orchards located in two different climate types, were stored under RQ-DCA, RQ-DCA + 1-MCP, DCA based on chlorophyll fluorescence (DCA-CF), regular CA and regular CA + 1-MCP during two subsequent storage seasons. The RQ-DCA technology was partially scaled-up to a semi-commercial cool room. Both RQ-DCA and DCA-CF technology had a similar and significantly positive effect on post-storage firmness and skin background color compared to regular CA storage, without inducing storage disorders. Fruit treatment with 1-MCP, prior to storage, influenced post-storage quality even more and was found to be the dominant factor above storage technology. Fruit stored under RQ-DCA and DCA-CF maintained similar firmness and color up to 7 d of shelf life, but were able to ripen further afterwards. No synergetic nor additive effect of RQ-DCA storage and 1-MCP treatment was observed. Fruit stored under RQ-DCA after 1-MCP treatment in the pilot room were found to have similar firmness and color to fruit stored under RQ-DCA after 1-MCP treatment in a small storage container. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that RQ-DCA significantly improved the post-storage quality of apple fruit compared to regular CA storage and to the same extent as chlorophyll based DCA. RQ-DCA completely controlled superficial scald, a major post-storage skin disorder, leading to significant economic losses. Post-storage quality after RQ-DCA storage was similar to post-storage quality after storage under regular CA after treatment with 1-MCP up to seven days of shelf life. Therefore RQ-DCA may be regarded as a substitute for 1-MCP and diphenylamine (DPA) in the organically grown apple fruit market. Although confined storage spaces are constructed as airtight as possible, it was concluded gas exchange between storage room and environment biased RQ measurement. Leak correction of gas concentration measurements for leaking of the storage facility was crucial to obtain reliable RQ measurements. The remaining challenge is to further upscale the technology and apply it to storage of apple fruit in commercial storage rooms, typically loaded with 100 - 500 tons of fruit. Hereto, the leakage model developed in this work should be validated for commercial rooms. More relevant criteria for airtightness should be developed as well as more precise and standardized measurement methods of the airtightness of storage rooms. In this work, gas composition of the storage atmosphere was measured every minute, while in a commercial storage environment gas composition can only be analyzed less frequently. This will have an effect on the accuracy of obtained RQ estimates which should be quantified and a minimum frequency of gas composition measurement should be determined.status: publishe

Universalizability in moral judgments: Winch's ambiguity

status: publishe