Prioritizing Emerging Zoonoses in The Netherlands

Background: To support the development of early warning and surveillance systems of emerging zoonoses, we present a general method to prioritize pathogens using a quantitative, stochastic multi-criteria model, parameterized for the Netherlands. Methodology/Principal Findings: A risk score was based on seven criteria, reflecting assessments of the epidemiology and impact of these pathogens on society. Criteria were weighed, based on the preferences of a panel of judges with a background in infectious disease control. Conclusions/Significance: Pathogens with the highest risk for the Netherlands included pathogens in the livestock reservoir with a high actual human disease burden (e.g. Campylobacter spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Coxiella burnetii) or a low current but higher historic burden (e.g. Mycobacterium bovis), rare zoonotic pathogens in domestic animals with severe disease manifestations in humans (e.g. BSE prion, Capnocytophaga canimorsus) as well as arthropod-borne and wildlife associated pathogens which may pose a severe risk in future (e.g. Japanese encephalitis virus and West-Nile virus). These agents are key targets for development of early warning and surveillance.Infrastructures, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Vogelpootjes in Solleveld

In 2012 hebben de eerste twee auteurs een planteninventarisatie uitgevoerd in Solleveld in het kader van onderzoek door Dunea naar de effecten van begrazing in Solleveld. Eerdere inventarisaties vonden plaats in 1993, 1998 en 2005 (Vertegaal 1993, Hagen 1998 en Toetenel 2009). Tijdens de inventarisatie in 2012 werd op een aantal plekken Klein vogelpootje (Ornithopus perpusillus) aangetroffen, één van de soorten waarvan het voorkomen volledig in kaart gebracht is met behulp van GPS coördinaten

Applying Formal Software Requirements Specification in the Development of Control Applications

Observations regarding the development of embedded control systems show that software for these systems is developed by control engineers. Lack of understanding of the application domain prevents employment of software engineers in the controller development process. This is undesirable both for reasons of efficiency and quality of the resulting system. This observation motivated the research, described in this paper. It addresses the application of formal software requirements specification in the development of embedded control systems. An integrated development process based upon a formal specification language is discussed that enables multi-disciplinary system development. Additionally, application of formal software specification in controller development will also extend the capabilities regarding modeling and analysis of a control system. Future control systems will become more and more complex due to the increasing complexity of the control strategies applied and the use of th..

Transformation of UML specification to XTG

We use tuples of extended class, object and statechart UML diagrams as UML specifications of real-time systems. The semantics of the UML specification is defined by transformation to the eXtended Timed Graphs (XTG). The correctness of our transformation is demonstrated by showing that the XTG computation tree can be projected into the computation tree of the corresponding UML specification. The transformation opens the possibility to specify temporal-logic properties at the UML level and to verify them at the XTG level using the PMC model checker