Landscape painting adding a cultural value to the Dutch countryside

In this article it is argued that cultural values should be included in policy making on the Dutch countryside. Since the seventeenth century the Dutch landscape had been a valued subject for art painters. This inheritance provides our rural areas a unique cultural value. The focus of this article is the region surrounding The Hague, where painters from the so-called Hague School had brought a large number of sites to their canvases. This group of painters was mainly active in the second half of the nineteenth century. For this study, various sites have been located that had been painted by members of The Hague School. For these sites, the ancient paintings will be presented, as well as the views of the current situation. From comparing the scenery on the painting with current situation it follows that much of the nineteenth century rural landscapes of The Hague nowadays have been eroded by urbanisation. During the last few decades a lot of these sites have disappeared. However, some of the located sites have not changed much since the moment they have been painted, and a few are still virtually identical to the scenes in the old paintings. It follows that protecting this specific cultural aspect of the Dutch countryside is an urgent matter that should be put on the agenda of landuse policy-making as soon as possible

Are There Any Significant Differences in Terms of Age and Sex in Pedestrian and Cyclist Accidents?

This study has analyzed sex-specific differences in pedestrian and cyclist accidents involving passenger cars. The most frequently injured body regions, types of injuries, which show sex-specific differences and the general accident parameters of females and males were compared. Accident data from three different European countries (Austria, Netherlands, Sweden) were analyzed. The current analysis shows that for both, females and males, pedestrian and cyclist injuries are sustained mainly to the body regions head, thorax, upper extremities and lower extremities. The results show that the odds for sustaining skeletal injuries to the lower extremities (incl. pelvis) in females are significantly higher. It was observed in all datasets, that the odds of females being involved in a rural accident or an accident at night are lower than for males. Elderly pedestrian and cyclist (≥60YO) tend to sustain more severe injuries (AIS2+ and AIS3+) than younger pedestrian and cyclists

Do troublesome pupils impact teacher perception of the behaviour of their classmates?

The widely supported wish for more inclusive education places ever greater expectations on teachers’ abilities to teach all children, including those with special needs and challenging behaviours. The present study aimed at the question whether teachers judge pupil behaviour more negatively if there are more children with difficult behaviour in class. The teachers of 184 classes in 31 regular primary schools were asked to complete the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-L) for 3649 pupils. Six linear mixed models were carried out with as independent variable the number of pupils that teachers perceived to have ‘abnormal behaviour’, and the class mean without these pupils as the dependent variable. For all SDQ-L subscales – emotional problems, behavioural problems, problems with hyperactivity, problems with peers, poor prosocial behaviour and total problems – the number of pupils perceived as problematic was associated with less favourable teacher perceptions of the rest of the class. The results of this study are a plea for a contextual perspective on pupil behaviour in class, both where teachers are asked to report on individual pupils, as well as where interventions are done on emotional and behavioural problems in class

Teachers' perceptions of behavioral problems in Dutch primary education pupils:The role of relative age

A growing number of studies suggest that relatively young behavior of pupils gives them a much greater likelihood of being diagnosed with a disorder such as ADHD. This 'relative age effect' has also been demonstrated for special educational needs, learning difficulties, being bullied, and so on. The current study investigated the relationship between relative age of pupils in primary education and teachers' perception of their behavior. The study sample included 1973 pupils, aged between 6 and 12. Six linear mixed models were carried out with birth day in a year as predictor variable and 'total problem score', 'problems with hyperactivity', 'behavioral problems', 'emotional problems', 'problems with peers' and 'pro-social behavior' as dependent variables. Random intercepts were added for school and teacher level. Cluster-mean centering disaggregated between-school effects and within-school effects. We found no associations between relative age of pupils and teacher perceptions of their behavior. Several explanations are postulated to account for these findings which contradict prior studies on relative age effects

Verkenning potentiële bijdrage pacht natuurgrasland aan natuurinclusieve landbouw : Een modelmatige bedrijfseconomische analyse

In the context of the development towards nature-inclusive agriculture, the relationship between the costs and benefits of management of natural areas by Staatsbosbeheer (national forest service) in conjunction with nature-inclusive measures on individual farmland areas was investigated. The analysis was completed for two representative dairy farms and a sample farm for suckler cows. The analysis reveals that, when the proportion of nature-inclusive agriculture increases, it becomes economically attractive for beef farmers to lease a larger area of natural grassland in order to compensate for the decrease of individual roughage production as a result of the nature-inclusive agricultural measures. Additionally, the factors of success or failure in the management of a profitable business were outlined in a qualitative analysis. Interviews support the insights gained from the model analysis in that the lease costs, the agricultural utility value, and the absent need for investment play an important role from a business economy standpoint in the optimum size of leased natural grassland in conjunction with nature-inclusive agriculture

Mountain building in Taiwan: A thermokinematic model

The Taiwan mountain belt is classically viewed as a case example of a critical wedge growing essentially by frontal accretion and therefore submitted to distributed shortening. However, a number of observations call for a significant contribution of underplating to the growth of the orogenic wedge. We propose here a new thermokinematic model of the Taiwan mountain belt reconciling existing kinematic, thermometric and thermochronological constraints. In this model, shortening across the orogen is absorbed by slip on the most frontal faults of the foothills. Crustal thickening and exhumation are sustained by underplating beneath the easternmost portion of the wedge (Tananao Complex, TC), where the uplift rate is estimated to ~6.3 mm a^(−1), and beneath the westernmost internal region of the orogen (Hsueshan Range units, HR), where the uplift rate is estimated to ~4.2 mm a^(−1). Our model suggests that the TC units experienced a synchronous evolution along strike despite the southward propagation of the collision. It also indicates that they have reached a steady state in terms of cooling ages but not in terms of peak metamorphic temperatures. Exhumation of the HR units increases northward but has not yet reached an exhumational steady state. Presently, frontal accretion accounts for less than ~10% of the incoming flux of material into the orogen, although there is indication that it was contributing substantially more (~80%) before 4 Ma. The incoming flux of material accreted beneath the TC significantly increased 1.5 Ma ago. Our results also suggest that the flux of material accreted to the orogen corresponds to the top ~7 km of the upper crust of the underthrust Chinese margin. This indicates that a significant amount (~76%) of the underthrust material has been subducted into the mantle, probably because of the increase in density associated with metamorphism. We also show that the density distribution resulting from metamorphism within the orogenic wedge explains well the topography and the gravity field. By combining available geological data on the thermal and kinematic evolution of the wedge, our study sheds new light onto mountain building processes in Taiwan and allows for reappraising the initial structural architecture of the passive margin

Brief Report: Adults with Mild Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Scores on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and Comorbid Psychopathology

While knowledge about symptom presentation of adults with mild ASD, including comorbid psychopathology, is limited, referral of adults with suspected mild PDD is increasing. We report on pilot research investigating whether patients diagnosed with mild ASD (n = 15) and patients who were not diagnosed with ASD (n = 21) differed in terms of (a) AQ scores and (b) Axis I and II disorders, assessed by the SCAN and the IPDE. Additionally, AQ scores were compared with those from non-ASD patients referred to a general outpatient clinic (n = 369). The results showed very few differences between ASD patients and non-ASD patients. Self-report may not differentiate mild ASD patients from non-ASD patients and Axis I and II disorders seem equally prevalent among these two groups