Do Dutch Musea Compete Or Cooperate?

This paper looks into the effect of distance on market shares of Dutch museums. To this end, we assume a generic distance decay function for all museums. In addition, we allow for spatial dependence between museums to account for local competition or synergy effects. Using a unique transaction database with the visiting behavior of 80,821 museum cardholders to 108 Dutch museums, we are able to calculate market shares of each museum in all 484 Dutch municipalities. To account for possible measurement error in the market shares, we adopt a spatial two error component model. Finally, we allow for additional heterogeneity by segmenting the 108 museums using a mixture approach. Without segmenting, preliminary results indicate positive spatial dependence between museums, which points to the conclusion that -- in general -- museums benefit from each others presence.

Signal processing for a laser-Doppler blood perfusion meter

Two signal processing methods for laser-Dopper perfusion velocimetry are presented. The methods are based on the calculation of the moments of the frequency power spectrum. The first uses Vω-filtering (ω is the frequency) with analogous electronics, the second uses signal autocorrelation with digital electronics. Comparison is made with a third instrument: a spectrum analyzer coupled to a computer, using Fourier transform tecniques. The performance of these setups (sensitivity, limit sensitivity and accuracy) are investigated. We propose a calibration standard for signal processors to be used for blood perfusion measurements. The analogous instrument proved to be the cheapest but the digital instrument had the best performance

SPINSMEDE: a transnational taining experience on soil protection

SPinSMEDE, acronym of Soil Protection in Sloping Mediterranean Agri- Environments, an Erasmus Intensive Programme, funded by the EC Lifelong Learning Programme, was designed and implemented following the policy context of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection in Europe. This document announced expectable demand for technical competences to meet increased requirements on the issue, most needed to cope with the specific soil degradation problems of Mediterranean hill-slopes. SPinSMEDE took place during three years (2008-2010), in three different places (Portugal, Greece and Spain), involving students and lecturers from five Universities. The presentation aims at reporting this transnational training experience on soil protection. The design, implementation and evaluation phases are described, outlining the main background elements, methodological approaches and outcomes of each phase. Namely, context-driven justification of the project, a description of the partnership and programme contents are included in the design phase. Programme implementation is addressed in terms of students profile, activities performed, assessment requirements, support material provided, and project deliverables. After describing the programme evaluation procedures developed and applied, the discussion focus on SPinSMEDE success, drawbacks, and problems arose and ways adopted to cope with them. Final remarks state main lessons learned and and programme follow-up activities envisaged

SPINSMEDE: first presentation of a transnational training experience on soil protection

SPinSMEDE, acronym of Soil Protection in Sloping Mediterranean Agri-Environments, an Erasmus Intensive Programme, funded by the EC Lifelong Learning Programme, was designed and implemented following the policy context of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection in Europe. This document announced expectable demand for technical competences to meet increased requirements on the issue, most needed to cope with the specific soil degradation problems of Mediterranean hill-slopes. SPinSMEDE took place during three years (2008-2010), in three different places (Portugal, Greece and Spain), involving students and lecturers from five Universities. The presentation aims at reporting, at a preliminary stage of data exploration, this transnational training experience on soil protection. The design, implementation and evaluation phases are described, outlining the main background elements, methodological approaches and outcomes of each phase. Namely, context-driven justification of the project, a description of the partnership and programme contents are included in the design phase. Programme implementation is addressed in terms of students profile, activities performed, assessment requirements, support material provided, and project deliverables. After describing the programme evaluation procedures developed and applied, the discussion focuses on SPinSMEDE success, drawbacks, and problems arose and ways adopted to cope with them. Final remarks state main lessons learned and and programme follow-up activities envisaged

//Rondje Zilverling: COMMIT/TimeTrails

Het TimeTrails-project3 gaat over data mining in grote hoeveelheden gegevens over gebeurtenissen in ruimte en tijd, d.w.z. met coördinaten en time-stamps. Dergelijke gegevens worden doorgaans vergaard door mensen, sensoren en wetenschappelijke observaties. Gegevensanalyse richt zich vaak op de vier W’s: Wie, Wat, Waar en Wanneer. Een belangrijke kwestie is het kunnen behappen van de grote hoeveelheden gegevens, d.w.z. "big data". Vanuit de UT werken we, d.w.z. de groepen EWI/DB en ITC/GIP, aan twee applicaties:\ud * Het in kaart brengen van de mening van het publiek bij grote infrastructuurproject zoals de aanleg van een nieuw stuk snelweg. Dit doen we met Twitter-analyse en data-visualisatie.\ud • Het vinden van goede vakantiebestemmingen. Hierbij spelen Social media, web harvesting en analyse van GPS-traces een rol

Microcirculatory Monitoring in Children with Congenital Heart Disease Before and After Cardiac Surgery

In this prospective observational study, we investigated whether congenital heart disease (CHD) affects the microcirculation and whether the microcirculation is altered following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Thirty-eight children with CHD undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB and 35 children undergoing elective, non-cardiac surgery were included. Repeated non-invasive sublingual microcirculatory measurements were performed with handheld vital microscopy. Before surgery, children with CHD showed similar perfused vessel densities and red blood cell velocities (RBCv) but less perfused vessels (p < 0.001), lower perfusion quality (p < 0.001), and higher small vessel densities (p = 0.039) than children without CHD. After cardiac surgery, perfused vessel densities and perfusion quality of small vessels declined (p = 0.025 and p = 0.032), while RBCv increased (p = 0.032). We demonstrated that CHD was associated with decreased microcirculatory perfusion and increased capillary recruitment. The microcirculation was further impaired after cardiac surgery. Decreased microcirculatory perfusion could be a warning sign for altered tissue oxygenation and requires further exploration

Microcirculatory Monitoring in Children with Congenital Heart Disease Before and After Cardiac Surgery

In this prospective observational study, we investigated whether congenital heart disease (CHD) affects the microcirculation and whether the microcirculation is altered following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Thirty-eight children with CHD undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB and 35 children undergoing elective, non-cardiac surgery were included. Repeated non-invasive sublingual microcirculatory measurements were performed with handheld vital microscopy. Before surgery, children with CHD showed similar perfused vessel densities and red blood cell velocities (RBCv) but less perfused vessels (p &lt; 0.001), lower perfusion quality (p &lt; 0.001), and higher small vessel densities (p = 0.039) than children without CHD. After cardiac surgery, perfused vessel densities and perfusion quality of small vessels declined (p = 0.025 and p = 0.032), while RBCv increased (p = 0.032). We demonstrated that CHD was associated with decreased microcirculatory perfusion and increased capillary recruitment. The microcirculation was further impaired after cardiac surgery. Decreased microcirculatory perfusion could be a warning sign for altered tissue oxygenation and requires further exploration. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].</p