Alter ego, state of the art on user profiling: an overview of the most relevant organisational and behavioural aspects regarding User Profiling.

This report gives an overview of the most relevant organisational and\ud behavioural aspects regarding user profiling. It discusses not only the\ud most important aims of user profiling from both an organisation’s as\ud well as a user’s perspective, it will also discuss organisational motives\ud and barriers for user profiling and the most important conditions for\ud the success of user profiling. Finally recommendations are made and\ud suggestions for further research are given

Acrylamides with hydrolytically labile carbonate ester side chains as versatile building blocks for well-defined block copolymer micelles via RAFT polymerization

En route towards improved delivery systems for targeted chemotherapy, we propose a straightforward approach for the hydrophobic modification of the acrylamide N-(2-Hydroxyethyl) acrylamide (HEAm). An ethyl or benzyl group was introduced via a hydrolytically sensitive carbonate ester yielding HEAm-EC and HEAm-BC, respectively. Block copolymers of HEAm, respectively PEG and HEAm-EC or HEAm-BC were successfully synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, obtaining a library of well-defined block copolymers with different degrees of polymerization (DP). To further explore the versatility of our approach in terms of polymer synthesis, self-assembly, drug solubilization and in vitro cell interaction, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyHEAm as hydrophilic polymer blocks were compared. The block copolymers formed micellar nanoparticles (10-100 nm) in PBS and could efficiently solubilize hydrophobic dyes and anti-cancer drugs. Benzyl carbonate ester side chains increased micellar stability and drug loading capacity. Moreover, PEG as hydrophilic block showed in comparison to HEAm more promising results concerning both colloidal stability and drug loading capacity. Confocal microscopy showed that the micelles could efficiently deliver a hydrophobic dye inside the cells. Finally, we also demonstrated efficient formulation of the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel with an in vitro cancer cell killing performance comparable or even better than the two commercial PTX nano-formulations Abraxane and Genexol-PM at equal drug dose. In conclusion, modification of HEAm through carbonate linkages offers a versatile platform for the design of degradable polymers with potential for biomedical applications

Concurrentie bevordert onderwijsrendement niet

Keuzevrijheid bestaat al jaren in het voortgezet onderwijs en maakt dat scholen onderling concurreren. Door de beschikbaarheid van meer informatie kunnen ouders en leerlingen steeds beter kiezen. Concurrentie tussen scholen leidt echter niet tot meer onderwijsrendement in termen van cijfers of slagingspercentages

School Choice and Competition

The literature suggests that competition among schools might increase quality. However, not much empirical evidence is present as only a few countries allow competition at a large scale. One exception is the Netherlands. Free parental choice is the leading principle of the Dutch education system since the beginning of the 20th century. Based on panel data for the Netherlands we show that there is a relation between competition and student achievement in upper secondary education, but that it is negative. In addition, private schools have higher quality levels

Effect of centralization and regionalization of pancreatic surgery on resection rates and survival

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