Predicting the occurrence of sand banks in the North Sea

Sand banks have a wavelength between 1 and 10 km, and they are up to several tens of meters high. Also, sand banks may have an impact on large-scale human activities that take place in the North Sea like sand mining, shipping, offshore wind farms, etc. Therefore, it is important to know where sand banks occur and what their natural behavior is. Here, we use an idealized model to predict the occurrence of sand banks in the North Sea. The aim of the paper is to research to what extent the model is able to predict the occurrence of sand banks in the North Sea. We apply a sensitivity analysis to optimize the model results for a North Sea environment. The results show that the model correctly predicts whether or not sand banks occur for two thirds of the North Sea area

Evaluating and Improving the Predictive Performance of Risk Equalization Models in Health Insurance Markets

Several countries world-wide, including Belgium, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the U.S., use a risk equalization (RE) model to provide risk-adjusted payments to health insurers. The goal of RE is to mitigate financial incentives for risk selection and thereby to achieve a level playing field for health insurers. The extent to which an RE-model achieves this goal depends on the predictive performance of this model. In contrast to the vast amount of literature paying attention to improving the predictive performance of RE-models, evaluating model’s performance has been understudied. The first part of this thesis formulates general principles on how to evaluate model’s performance. These principles may assist researchers and policymakers by performing empirical evaluations and interpreting the results of these evaluations for decision-making. Despite RE-models have been developed over the past decades, a critical question for policymakers in all countries with RE is still how to further improve model’s predictive performance. The second part of this thesis examines three potentially relevant methods to improve the predictive performance of sophisticated morbidity-based RE-models

Self-rostering applied to case studies - An ILP method to construct a feasible schedule

We discuss the self-rostering problem, a concept receiving more and more attention from both theory and practice. We outline our methodology and discuss its application to a number of practical case studies

Een Positieve Kijk op Emoties van Docenten in het Voortgezet Onderwijs

 In het beroep van een docent is de emotionele betrokkenheid en de relatie met de leerlingen van groot belang. De emotionele betrokkenheid is enerzijds een motivatie voor dit beroep, anderzijds kan het ook voor stress zorgen. De huidige studie, onder 21 docenten in het voortgezet onderwijs, onderzoekt of en hoe sterk de voorkeur voor emotieregulatie, de emotieregulatiestrategie en de docent-leerling relatie samenhangen met de mate van bevlogenheid. De emotieregulatiestrategie reappraisal bleek een significante samenhang te vertonen met de bevlogenheid van docenten. Dit betekent dat interventies gericht op de emotieregulatiestrategie van docenten gevolgen zouden kunnen hebben voor de mate van bevlogenheid

General practitioners' explanation and advice on childhood eczema and factors influencing their treatment strategy:A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is common in children and the majority of children can be treated by the general practitioner (GP). Various factors can influence the GP's treatment strategy and may lead to less effective treatment. The objective is to gain insight into the treatment goal, treatment strategy, explanation and advice given by GPs when dealing with AD in children and to explore which factors play a role in the choice of pharmacological treatment. METHODS: Semi‐structured interviews in primary care in the Netherlands were audio‐recorded and transcribed. All data were analysed according to the six‐steps approach of inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: We interviewed 16 GPs. Treatment goals mainly focussed on the short term. GPs discussed the importance of emollient use and emphasised emollients as the basis of treatment. We found that several factors played a role in prescribing topical corticosteroids (TCS); severity of the AD, age of the child, skin type, corticophobia among parents and GPs, experience of side effects and dermatological experience. GPs reported giving limited advice about the use of TCS and prescribed medication that is not recommended by the guideline. CONCLUSION: Various factors seem to influence GPs' treatment strategy for AD in children. More attention and education about the use and safety of TCS in children during GP training, continuous medical education, probably improve treatment in line with guidelines and can lead to more confidence and knowledge about TCS among GPs, which ultimately may improve the education and self‐management of patients

Simian varicella virus infects enteric neurons and α4β7 integrin-expressing gut-tropic T-cells in nonhuman primates

The pathogenesis of enteric zoster, a rare debilitating complication of reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in the enteric nervous system (ENS), is largely unknown. Infection of monkeys with the closely related Varicellovirus simian varicella virus (SVV) mimics VZV disease in humans. In this study, we determined the applicability of the SVV nonhuman primate model to study Varicellovirus infection of the ENS. We confirmed VZV infection of the gut in latently infected adults and demonstrated th

Linguistic dual tasking reduces emotionality, vividness and credibility of voice memories in voice-hearing individuals:Results from a controlled trial

Dual taxation of the working memory during recall is an effective strategy to reduce the emotionality and vividness of visual intrusive memories and potentially changes dysfunctional beliefs associated with the memories. This study tested the hypothesis that dual tasking decreases emotionality, vividness and credibility of auditory intrusive images (i.e., memories of auditory hallucinations) with a two-level (time: pre and post; condition: dual tasking and recall only) within-subjects design. Thirty-seven voice-hearing participants selected two negative voice-hearing experiences. They recalled one of these experiences while performing a lingual dual task (i.e., language game on smartphone app) and recalled one memory without a dual task (in counterbalanced order). During the pre-test and post-test, emotionality and vividness of the voice-hearing memories were rated, as well as the credibility of the voice statements. There was a significantly greater decrease in emotionality, vividness and credibility during dual tasking than during recall only. This study provides proof of principle that the salience and credibility of the content of auditory hallucinations can be reduced by dual tasking; the clinical implications are also discussed

On EMDR: Measuring the working memory taxation of various types of eye (non-)movement conditions

Background and objective: A recent, large randomized controlled trial employing different forms of eye (non-)movements in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) showed that fixating the eyes either on a therapist's moving or non-moving hand led to equal reductions in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, numerous EMDR lab analogue studies found that eye movements produce larger memory effects than eyes stationary. These beneficial effects are typically explained by differences in working memory (WM) taxation. We tested the degree of WM taxation of several eye (non-)movement conditions used in the clinical trial. Methods: All participants (N = 40) performed: (1) eyes moving by following the experimenter's moving finger, (2) eyes fixed on the experimenter's stationary finger, (3) eyes closed, or (4) looking unfocused into the room. Simultaneously they performed a simple reaction time task. Reaction times are an objective index of the extent to which different dual attention tasks tax WM. Results: Eyes moving is more taxing than eyes fixed, while eyes fixed did not differ from eyes unfocused. All conditions were more taxing than eyes closed. Limitations: We studied WM taxation in a laboratory setting; no clinical interventions were applied. Conclusions: In line with previous lab studies, making eye movements was more taxing than eyes fixed. We discuss why this effect was not observed for reductions in PTSD symptoms in the clinical trial (e.g., differences in dependent variables, sample population, and intervention duration). For more comprehensive future insights, we recommend integration of mechanistically focused lab analogue studies and patient-oriented clinical studies