Science, technology and society : a methodological perspective

Methodology offers a perspective on technology that differs from a historical or sociological one. It focuses on the scientific, technological and social factors that are to be taken into account in technological developments. Other approaches tend to focus on actors rather than factors. The (design) methodological approach is illustrated by the case study of the development Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays in a small Dutch company. It appears that problems emerge when this development is not dealt with according to the nature of the technologies that are involved. In technology education such insights can be used to prevent practices in which pupils are naively taught to work according to standardised design process prescriptions that do not take into account the nature of the product that is to be designed

Design matters, and so does philosophy of design:2003 John Eggleston Memorial Lecture

Why bother about philosophy of design?The theme of the 2003 DATA International Research Conference is ‘Design Matters’. If there is one country in the world that has shown this to be true for design and technology education, it is the UK. Design has had a well established place in general technology education for many years. This is demonstrated in the names of this subject: ‘Craft, Design and Technology’, and more recently ‘Design and Technology’. The particular emphasis on design becomes even more evident if one realises that internationally the name Technology Education is more common. This, of course, does not necessarily mean that in what is called ‘Technology Education’ design is always underestimated, but the fact that the word ‘design’ is an explicit element in the subject’s name in UK practice is meaningful

On the modelling of biological effects on morphology in estuaries and seas

Morphological modelling aims to explain and predict the changes in rivers, seas and estuaries due to these interaction. In recent history, a lot of progress has been made, especially with stability analysis approaches. However, so far only the physical interactions have been taken into account. It is known however, that biological factors are important to the dynamics of the water systems. In this paper a first step is made in the inclusion of biology into the morphodynamic models. This inclusion is based on the effect that benthic organisms have on the erodibility of the bed. This can easily be included by a change of the critical bed shear stress. These changes in the critical bed shear stress then influence the morphology. This idea has been applied to two cases. The results of the first case indicate that this approach can reproduce the influence of benthic organisms on the mud content of the bed in estuaries. The second case shows that even low numbers of organisms can influence the characteristics of large bed forms

Outdoor play among children in reletion to neighborhood characteristics. A cross-sectional neighborhood observation study.

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although environmental characteristics as perceived by parents are known to be related to children’s outdoor play behavior, less is known about the relation between independently measured neighborhood characteristics and outdoor play among children. The purpose of this study was to identify quantitative as well as qualitative neighborhood characteristics related to outdoor play by means of neighborhood observations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Questionnaires including questions on outdoor play behavior of the child were distributed among 3,651 parents of primary school children (aged 4–12 years). Furthermore, neighborhood observations were conducted in 33 Dutch neighborhoods to map neighborhood characteristics such as buildings, formal outdoor play facilities, public space, street pattern, traffic safety, social neighborhood characteristics, and general impression. Data of the questionnaires and the neighborhood observations were coupled via postal code of the respondents. Multilevel GEE analyses were performed to quantify the correlation between outdoor play and independently measured neighborhood characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Parental education was negatively associated with outdoor play among children. Neither the presence nor the overall quality of formal outdoor play facilities were (positively) related to outdoor play among children in this study. Rather, informal play areas such as the presence of sidewalks were related to children’s outdoor play. Also, traffic safety was an important characteristic associated with outdoor play.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study showed that, apart from individual factors such as parental education level, certain modifiable characteristics in the neighborhood environment (as measured by neighborhood observations) were associated with outdoor play among boys and girls of different age groups in The Netherlands. Local policy makers from different sectors can use these research findings in creating more activity-friendly neighborhoods for children.</p

PCV83 Cost-Effectiveness of Statins for Primary Prevention in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Patients in the Netherlands

Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of cardiovascular events, which can be reduced by statin treatment. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine if statin treatment for primary prevention started at the time of type 2 diabetes diagnosis is cost-effective, taking non-adherence and different age groups into account. Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis has been performed using a Markov model with a time horizon of 10 years. The 10-years cardiovascular risk was estimated in a Dutch population of primary prevention patients with newly diagnosed diabetes from the GIANTT database (Groningen Initiative to Analyse Type 2 Diabetes Treatment) using the UKPDS risk engine. Statin adherence of a Dutch type 2 diabetes population was measured as pill days covered (PDC) in the IADB pharmacy research database. PDC of ≥ 80% and ≤ 20% were associated with full and no efficacy of the treatment. Cost-effectiveness was measured in costs per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) from the healthcare payers perspective, also stratified for cardiovascular risk and age. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed. Results: Characteristics of 4,683 primary prevention type 2 diabetes patients were inserted into the UKPDS risk engine. The mean 10-years risk of the population was 23% for coronary heart disease (CHD), 14% for fatal CHD, 10% for stroke and 2% for fatal stroke. PDC in the type 2 diabetes population was 81%, 77% and 75% in years one, two and three, respectively. In general, statin treatment was highly cost-effective at around €2,500 per QALY. Favorable cost-effectiveness was robust in sensitivity analysis. Differences in age and 10-years cardiovascular risk showed large differences in cost-effectiveness ranging from more than €800,000 per QALY to being cost saving. Conclusions: Statin treatment for primary prevention in patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is costeffective. Due to large differences in cost-effectiveness according to different risk groups, the efficiency of the treatment could be increased by focusing on patients with higher cardiovascular risk and higher ages