Using actor networks in decision making during content-packaging development

In order to integrate sustainability in the development of content-packaging combinations, the consequences of decisions for the entire life cycle need to be analyzed in early stages of the development process. To adequately underpin these decisions, several aspects, for example the economic and the environmental impact, need to be assessed. A so-called actor network is developed to support designers in decision making. This publication examines practical use situations of this actor network tool based on information from research partners. Scenarios are written in order to depict requirements for the actor network tool, considering different users and functionalitie

Project-led education in packaging development and management

As an implicit subset of industrial design engineering, packaging development and management thereof has long been a changeling, because product and packaging development are usually regarded in a similar manner. At the same time, there is a clear difference between packaging design and product design. The packaging explicitly serves the content and, therefore, in most cases, packaging is of low economic value. For this reason, new packaging design is all too often subject to standard or existing packaging solutions. Besides this, packaging development has specific requirements, because it has to preserve and protect its content, which gives many technical requirements. Other important requirements are based on legislation, market acceptance, the environmental impact and usability.\ud \ud This implies that education in packaging development cannot be a carbon copy of the education in product development. Often, even more fields of expertise are involved, while having to meet all restrictions related to developing feasible and realistic packages in a shorter time-frame.\ud \ud This publication describes how project-led education is employed in an educational approach that allows students to adequately address the development of content-packaging combinations in a structured, effective and efficient manner. With this, the development efforts spent on product and packaging can become more in balance, not only doing justice to the separate life cycles of the two, but especially to the benefit of the combined life cycle of the content-packaging combination

Exploring Strategies To Promote Engagement And Active Learning Through Digital Course Design In Engineering Mathematics

This research explores the strategies and techniques used to foster and promote the engagement and active learning of engineering students within a digital course. This digital course has been developed to address the varying levels of understanding of fundamental mathematics among first-year engineering students, who often have disparate levels of prior knowledge at their high school completion. We observe an increasing need to bridge the widening gap between high school and university mathematics in order to prevent engineering students from being hindered in their academic successes due to a lack of prior mathematical understanding. With a team of engineers and mathematicians, both researchers and educators, we are developing a mathematics Bridging Course including the use of digital tools, such as videos, online interactions and technology-based assessments. These sources were created, investigated and/or modified to develop an engaging learning environment in which students are made aware of and guided through misconceptions and mistakes in their understanding of fundamental mathematics. In the development of this Bridging Course, we consider the importance of interactive learning and timely feedback for student learning. We investigate the impact of digital course design on students’ performance and learning outcomes using a qualitative approach. Students feedback within the first stage of the implementation of the course offered a positive assessment of the course, accentuating its inherent advantages and attributes. The students’ feedback proved to be an invaluable source of insights, specifically concerning the enhancement of question distractors, thus prompting revisions and augmentations in the assessment items employed

The Relationship between Nociceptive Detection Thresholds and Pressure-and Electrical Pain Thresholds:An Explorative Study in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Recently, methods have been developed enabling the characterization of the nociceptive function at the detection threshold level by measuring nociceptive detection thresholds (NDTs), rather than at the level of the pain threshold via pain threshold (PT) measurements. Both NDT and PT measurements aim to characterize (parts of) the nociceptive system. To date it is unclear if, and if so to what extent, the two outcomes relate to one another. In this study, the primary aim is to explore the relationship between the two measures in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). As secondary aim, we explore differences in NDT between these RA patients with age-and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) from a readily existing dataset. In total 46 RA patients have been recruited, whereby the pressure-(PPT; bilaterally at two locations) and electrical (EPT) pain threshold were evaluated, as well as the NDTs. Significant, positive correlations were found between the EPT and PPT (R=0.54-0.60), but not with the NDTs (R≤0.25). As compared to HC, higher NDTs were found in the RA group. As the presence of a statistically significant weak relationship can only be evaluated using a larger sample size, our results indicate that there is no moderate or stronger relation between PT and NDT outcomes. This implicates that the two outcomes are not strongly driven by the same (nociceptive) mechanism(s). Future research into NDTs and what factors and/or mechanisms affect the outcome, could yield relevant insights into how to use and interpret the results of this relatively new method.Clinical Relevance-The evaluation of nociceptive detection thresholds, in isolation or together with conventionally evaluated pain thresholds, might provide valuable and complementary insights into nociceptive (dis)function in man.</p

Hemichannel-mediated and pH-based feedback from horizontal cells to cones in the vertebrate retina

Background: Recent studies designed to identify the mechanism by which retinal horizontal cells communicate with cones have implicated two processes. According to one account, horizontal cell hyperpolarization induces an increase in pH withinthe synaptic cleft that activates the calcium current (Ca2+-current) in cones, enhancing transmitter release. An alternative account suggests that horizontal cell hyperpolarization increases the Ca2+-current to promote transmitter release through ahemichannel-mediated ephaptic mechanism.Methodology/Principal Findings: To distinguish between these mechanisms, we interfered with the pH regulating systems in the retina and studied the effects on the feedback responses of cones and horizontal cells. We found that the pH buffers HEPES and Tris partially inhibit feedback responses in cones and horizontal cells and lead to intracellular acidification ofneurons. Application of 25 mM acetate, which does not change the extracellular pH buffer capacity, does lead to both intracellular acidification and inhibition of feedback. Because intracellular acidification is known to inhibit hemichannels, the key experiment used to test the pH hypothesis, i.e. increasing the extracellular pH buffer capacity, does not discriminatebetween a pH-based feedback system and a hemichannel-mediated feedback system. To test the pH hypothesis in a manner independent of artificial pH-buffer systems, we studied the effect of interfering with the endogenous pH buffer, the bicarbonate/carbonic anhydrase system. Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase allowed for large changes in pH in the synapticcleft of bipolar cell terminals and cone terminals, but the predicted enhancement of the cone feedback responses, according to the pH-hypothesis, was not observed. These experiments thus failed to support a proton mediated feedback mechanism. The alternative hypothesis, the hemichannel-mediated ephaptic feedback mechanism, was therefore studied experimentally, and its feasibility was buttressed by means of a quantitative computer model of the cone/horizontal cellsynapse.Conclusion: We conclude that the data presented in this paper offers further support for physiologically relevant ephaptic interactions in the retina

A New Oxygen Uptake Measurement Supporting Target Selection for Endobronchial Valve Treatment

BACKGROUND: Adequate target lobe selection for endobronchial valve (EBV) treatment in patients with severe emphysema is essential for treatment success and can be based on emphysema destruction, lobar perfusion, lobar volume, and collateral ventilation. As some patients have >1 target lobe for EBV treatment, we were interested whether we could identify the least functional lobe. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between endoscopic lobar measurement of oxygen uptake, lobar destruction, and vascular volume, and whether this could help in identifying the least functional lobe and thus optimal target for EBV treatment. METHOD: We prospectively included patients who were scheduled for EBV treatment in our hospital. A customized gas analysis setup was used to measure lobar O2 uptake after lobar balloon occlusion. Quantitative CT analysis was performed to assess the degree of emphysematous destruction and lobar arterial and venous volumes. RESULTS: Twenty-one (5 male/16 female) patients with emphysema (median age 63 years, FEV1 25% of predicted, residual volume 234% of predicted) were included, and 49 endoscopic lobar measurements were performed. A lower O2 uptake significantly correlated with a higher degree of emphysematous lobar destruction (Spearman's ρ: 0.39, p < 0.01), and lower arterial and venous vascular volumes of the lobes (-0.46 and -0.47, respectively; both p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic measurement of lobar O2 uptake is feasible in patients with emphysema. Measurement of lobar O2 uptake helped to identify the least functional lobe and can be used as additional tool for EBV target lobe selection

De kwaliteit van de therapeutische relatie voorspelt uitkomst van psychotherapie bij depressie

Om een optimale afname in depressieve symptomen te bewerkstelligen is een goede therapeutische relatie van belang. Er wordt verwacht dat het vroeg meten van de kwaliteit van deze relatie tijdens behandeling de behandeluitkomst krachtiger kan voorspellen. Ook wordt verwacht dat waargenomen therapeutkenmerken gerelateerd zijn aan hoe de patiënt de therapeutische relatie waardeert. Matig tot ernstig depressieve patiënten werden volgens een toevalsprocedure toegewezen aan cognitieve gedragstherapie (cgt) of kortdurende psychoanalytische steungevende psychotherapie (kpsp). Meetmomenten waren er bij baseline, week 1, 2, 4 en 8 om de waargenomen betrouwbaarheid, expertise en attrac­tivi­teit van de therapeut, de kwaliteit van de therapeutische relatie en depressieve klachten te monitoren. De therapeutische relatie hangt vanaf de eerste week matig sterk samen met depressieve klachten later in behandeling (r’s -0,28 tot -0,42, p’s < 0,01). De voorspellende waarde is het grootst na twee weken (vier sessies). Ook is de kwaliteit van de vroege therapeutische relatie sterk voorspellend voor de therapeutische relatie later. Symptoomverandering in de eerste twee sessies van de behandeling is niet voorspellend voor de kwaliteit van de therapeutische relatie na twee sessies. Ten slotte wordt een matige tot sterke relatie gezien tussen waargenomen therapeutkenmerken bij aanvang en de therapeutische relatie. Het in een vroeg stadium monitoren en optimaliseren van de therapeutische relatie tijdens behandeling lijkt van belang voor sterkere symptoomreductie. Een afkapscore van de therapeutische relatie, het beste na twee weken, zou mogelijk antwoord kunnen geven op de vraag of de kwaliteit voldoende dan wel onvoldoende is. Aanbevolen wordt om waargenomen therapeutkenmerken mee te nemen in toekomstige analyses om meer te begrijpen van de invloed van de therapeutische relatie op symptoomverandering. Dit zou eventueel nog eerder in de behandeling interveniëren mogelijk maken