Scenicness model based on the British scenic-or-not data set for Switzerland, landscape beauty through the eyes of a computer

The importance of landscape preservation has been widely accepted. Experiencing landscape beauty has health benefits and enables the touristic economy sector in Switzerland to create a wide range of job opportunities. In order to better understand how people perceive landscape, this thesis aims at analyzing the Scenic-or-Not data set to build a machine learning model that predicts landscape beauty. The resulting model was tested on its accuracy through manual image evaluation on their scenic beauty and comparing the scores to the value the model predicted. Validation sites were visited around Switzerland to view how the scenic scores from the model represented the real world. Further the useability of the resulting scenic map in decision making processes was analyzed with the ultimate goal to use the model as a landscape preservation tool. Having a national scenic map could bring benefits when planning infrastructure projects like wind turbines or highway routes. Such a scenic map might capture public opinion on specific landscape scenes and enable precise landscape preservation and through this win public approval for large infrastructure projects

Achieving preferred customer status in the Dutch plastics recycling industry

The aim of this research is to gain insight into the aspects and processes in the Dutch plastic recycling industry which might lead to a preferred customer status and acquiring benefits once the status has been reached. The whole process of reaching preferred customer status goes through various phases in which customer attractiveness, supplier satisfaction, commitment and reinforcement play a role. The study used a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were held with suppliers, customers and traders in the plastic recycling industry in the Netherlands. The results show that during the customer attractiveness phase, a customer needs to convince the supplier that they are dealing with a trustworthy partner. Relational dimensions are not a priority for the supplier but do play a role if operational aspects are seen as more or less equal, which is often likely to be the case in a competitive market. In contrast, traders do attach importance to the personal relationship with customers from the start. A supplier will confer a preferential status to customers who (according to their feelings) will deliver the highest levels of satisfaction. Alternatives seem to come into question mainly where someone is significantly dissatisfied with the existing customer or if a significantly better alternative arises. The whole study is summarised in a reverse marketing model.Keywords: customer attractiveness, reinforcement, supplier satisfaction, commitment, preferred customer status, reverse marketing mode

Een onbekend ontwerp van Pieter Aaronsz. Noorwits: De toren van de Willibrorduskerk in Hulst (1663-1667)

In the night of 19 November 1663 the tower of the Willibrordus church in the city of Hulst burnt down because of a stroke of lightning. Immediately action was taken for restoration of the tower and other heavily damaged parts of the church. This resulted in putting up a completely new tower, because a reconstruction of the former one, where a small warning of 14 bells had hung - likewise destroyed - would not have enough room for two ringing bells and a new carillon of 28 bells, ordered from the famous Amsterdam bell founder François Hemony. During those years Hulst was part of the Generality land Dutch Flanders, a region directly governed by the States General in The Hague. That is why Pieter Noorwits, the architect of the States of Holland in The Hague, was assigned by the Generality to design the new tower. Noorwits' oeuvre has not been studied up to now. He is almost exclusively known as the architect of the spectacular New Church of The Hague (1656). His activities on behalf of Hulst have never even been mentioned, although a large amount of archival sources is available for a description of the building process of Noorwits' tower - which, by the way, burnt down in 1876 - and even for a qualitative comparison of his creation with the works of his contemporaries. It can be concluded that Noorwits' tower in Hulst bore characteristics typical of the works of the generation following Hendrick de Keyser: a classicist edifice of three stories, of which the liveliness was primarily caused by architectural and hardly by any sculptural features. This holds most of all for the second storey, which was given the unusual number of eight columns - other towers getting no more than four - crowned with Ionic capitals

Schenkingen van gebrandschilderde glazen in Holland in de zestiende en zeventiende eeuw. Ontwikkelingen in argumenten en methoden

Donations of stained-glass windows in the Northern Netherlands are referred to from the end of the fourteenth century, which is late from an international point of view. Frequently, such windows were donated by notables: members of the clergy, royal and noble administrators. Their motivation was primarily spiritual: performing a good deed, which according to the teachings of the Church of Rome contributed to the eternal salvation of the donor’s soul. The representations on the windows, for the most part placed during new construction, extension or restoration, were predominantly spiritual and didactic in character. They stimulated the observer to piety and a devout lifestyle. Simultaneously, the donors, depicted in the bottom part of the windows, became the subject of the prayers of the observers. In addition to this motivation, windows were sometimes also donated in order to legitimize government power, to serve the donor’s economic interests, and gradually to increase the latter’s honour and reputation as well. Since such windows in church buildings did not have any liturgical functions, the medieval windows inspired by Rome were not destroyed after the Reformation. On the contrary, glazing with such windows continued to be customary, notably in church buildings. However, the motivation changed, just as the composition of the donors’ group for that matter. Donation of windows was no longer a deed for the benefit of one’s own spiritual welfare, but in honour of the divine Word, preached from the pulpit. The windows kept a didactic meaning, but now linked with the New, Calvinist doctrine. Clergymen no longer acted as donors in this respect: formally, their role was played out. Now public authorities, as boards and as individuals, were becoming prominent. However, they also brought up different subjects. They emphasized the economic importance of their town, also among observers in other towns to which windows had been donated. Consequently, they especially donated windows to towns and villages in the region where their authority was large. Moreover, the public authorities stressed the legitimacy of their authority more frequently and stimulated civil obedience through representations on the windows – just as on organ shutters and paintings in public buildings. The phenomenon of pride in one’s town increasingly became an important factor. Still later also ‘ordinary’ citizens proved to be prepared to donate a window or part of a window, frequently also in honour of God. After a fierce war on Dutch territory within the framework of the Dutch Revolt many church buildings had to be restored. This took considerable time, particularly because the Calvinist church grew only slowly. Therefore most glazing activity took place between 1605 and 1665. One region was earlier in doing so than another because of differences in pace. After 1665, when church congregations had reached their largest size and building of churches became less frequent, donations of windows were diminishing. This was also due to economic stagnation. Moreover, the wish for clearer windows and more light in churches gradually began to prevail. The windows were getting out of fashion, they also got more and more damaged, and in many places they disappeared. But not everywhere. They were and still are cherished and well-preserved in various places, not so much because of their functions as regards content anymore, but chiefly as cultural heritage

Schenkingen van gebrandschilderde glazen in Holland in de zestiende en zeventiende eeuw. Ontwikkelingen in argumenten en methoden

Donations of stained-glass windows in the Northern Netherlands are referred to from the end of the fourteenth century, which is late from an international point of view. Frequently, such windows were donated by notables: members of the clergy, royal and noble administrators. Their motivation was primarily spiritual: performing a good deed, which according to the teachings of the Church of Rome contributed to the eternal salvation of the donor’s soul. The representations on the windows, for the most part placed during new construction, extension or restoration, were predominantly spiritual and didactic in character. They stimulated the observer to piety and a devout lifestyle. Simultaneously, the donors, depicted in the bottom part of the windows, became the subject of the prayers of the observers. In addition to this motivation, windows were sometimes also donated in order to legitimize government power, to serve the donor’s economic interests, and gradually to increase the latter’s honour and reputation as well. Since such windows in church buildings did not have any liturgical functions, the medieval windows inspired by Rome were not destroyed after the Reformation. On the contrary, glazing with such windows continued to be customary, notably in church buildings. However, the motivation changed, just as the composition of the donors’ group for that matter. Donation of windows was no longer a deed for the benefit of one’s own spiritual welfare, but in honour of the divine Word, preached from the pulpit. The windows kept a didactic meaning, but now linked with the New, Calvinist doctrine. Clergymen no longer acted as donors in this respect: formally, their role was played out. Now public authorities, as boards and as individuals, were becoming prominent. However, they also brought up different subjects. They emphasized the economic importance of their town, also among observers in other towns to which windows had been donated. Consequently, they especially donated windows to towns and villages in the region where their authority was large. Moreover, the public authorities stressed the legitimacy of their authority more frequently and stimulated civil obedience through representations on the windows – just as on organ shutters and paintings in public buildings. The phenomenon of pride in one’s town increasingly became an important factor. Still later also ‘ordinary’ citizens proved to be prepared to donate a window or part of a window, frequently also in honour of God. After a fierce war on Dutch territory within the framework of the Dutch Revolt many church buildings had to be restored. This took considerable time, particularly because the Calvinist church grew only slowly. Therefore most glazing activity took place between 1605 and 1665. One region was earlier in doing so than another because of differences in pace. After 1665, when church congregations had reached their largest size and building of churches became less frequent, donations of windows were diminishing. This was also due to economic stagnation. Moreover, the wish for clearer windows and more light in churches gradually began to prevail. The windows were getting out of fashion, they also got more and more damaged, and in many places they disappeared. But not everywhere. They were and still are cherished and well-preserved in various places, not so much because of their functions as regards content anymore, but chiefly as cultural heritage