Mega-nourishments and aeolian developments: Lessons learned six years into the sandmotor pilot project

In 2011 a multifunctional peninsula-shaped nourishment project (the Sandmotor) was implemented on the West coast of the Netherlands. Its objectives included an increase in sediment supply towards the dunes to maintain their function as a flood defense on the longterm as well as the development of (temporary) new dune area for nature and recreational purposes. In this contribution we will present an overview of the observed developments related to aeolian processes at the Sandmotor in the first six years after implementation of the nourishment, as well as discuss the relation of these developments to specific characteristics of the design and management of the Sandmotor

Emotional functioning of parents of children with cancer: The first five years of continuous remission after the end of treatment

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate parental emotional functioning during the first five years of continuous remission after the end of their child's treatment and to identify predictors of parental emotional functioning. Methods: Psychological distress and situation-specific emotional reactions were assessed in 122 mothers and 109 fathers from 130 families. Longitudinal mixed model analyses were performed to investigate to what extent generic and disease-related coping, family functioning and social support were predictive of parental emotional functioning over time. Results: Initial elevated levels of distress, disease-related feelings of uncertainty and helplessness returned to normal levels during the first two years after the end of treatment. Being more optimistic about the further course of the child's disease (predictive control) was correlated with lower psychological distress and less negative disease-related feelings, while more passive reaction patterns were correlated with higher psychological distress and more negative disease-related feelings. Conclusions: Although in general the parents of children with successfully treated cancer showed adequate emotional resilience, support for these parents should not stop when treatment ends. Parents in need of help can be identified on the basis of their coping abilities

Linkages between sediment composition, wave climate and beach profile variability at multiple timescales

The paper analyses, compares and contrasts cross-shore morphodynamic behaviour of four diverse beaches that have very different regional settings, wave climates and sediment characteristics, with the aid of rarely available long term measurements of beach profiles and incident waves. The beaches investigated are Narrabeen Beach, New South Wales, Australia; Milford-on-Sea Beach, Christchurch Bay, UK; Hasaki Coast, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan; and Joetsu-Ogata Coast, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. A statistical analysis, equilibrium beach profile analysis and Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis are used to investigate, compare and contrast spatial and temporal variability of cross shore beach profiles of the selected beaches at short-, medium- and long-term timescales. All beaches show evidence of multi-timescale morphodynamic change. Narrabeen Beach profile has the highest sensitivity to local weather patterns. Milford-on-Sea, Joetsu-Ogata and Hasaki profiles are sensitive to seasonal variation of the wave climate however, they also show some correlations with regional climate variabilities. The nature of sediment exchange across the profile, which contributes to profile shape change with time, is found to be related to sediment characteristics across the profile. At Milford-on-Sea and Joetsu-Ogata, both of which have composite profiles, sediment exchange between the upper beach and the inter-tidal zone dominates profile change, irrespective of the distinct differences in sediment composition found in the two beaches. On the other hand in Narrabeen and Hasaki where beach sediment comprises medium to find sand, sediment exchange and hence profile change occur mainly in intertidal and subtidal zones

State of the art of aeolian and dune research on the Dutch and Belgian coast

Five years ago, at the previous anniversary of the NCK days, an overview was presented of the state of the art of “Measuring and modelling coastal dune development in the Netherlands” (De Groot et al., 2012). At that moment, new coastal-dune research had sprung up in the Netherlands after a relatively quiet period of about two decades, and the individual research projects were just starting to interconnect. Since then, research has blossomed. A large number of PhD students, postdocs and staff of many institutes are involved, and coastal aeolian processes have become a permanent topic of recent NCK days. Young researchers are meeting a couple of times per year to discuss their work informally, and several PhD theses were defended

Consumer Participation in FMCG Crowdsourcing Contests

Thesis purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing literature on co-creation, specifically regarding the phenomenon of consumer participation in crowdsourcing contests. By taking a consumer perspective, it is our ambition to improve the conceptualization of the phenomenon of participants motives, experiences, attitudes and feelings, in general and related to the brand, in crowdsourcing contests. Methodology: An interpretive epistemology and social-constructionist ontology led us to a phenomenological method in which we conducted qualitative research. By following an abductive approach and conducting qualitative interviews rich respondent data was gathered and systematically analyzed as inspired by the hermeneutic circle approach. Theoretical perspective: The theoretical departure of the study starts out with theories relating to crowdsourcing contests as part of co-creation. The aspect of value co-creation and consumer characteristics is explained through the application of Consumer Culture Theory and Social Production in the Ethical Economy. Moreover, consumer motivation and experience theories were described to create a theoretical lens. Empirical data: Semi-structured instant messaging interviews were conducted with seven participants of the ‘Mein Burger 2012’ FMCG crowdsourcing ideation-contest of McDonalds Germany Inc. Conclusion: Our conclusion is that consumers show a mixture of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, wherein intrinsic motives are more dominant. The intrinsic motive of ‘Fun’ is expressed by all the interviewees and is therefore the strongest motive. However, as well other intrinsic motives were found like ‘Co-determination’ and ‘Joining the Mainstream’. We also found the extrinsic motives of ‘Prize’ and ‘For His Own Community’. When it comes to the effect of the crowdsourcing experience on the consumers attitude towards the brand we found that the participants tended to distinguish between the encountered experience of the crowdsourcing contest and the conducting brand and did not change their initial attitude. Within the encountered experience participants were mainly involved through the elements of Personal Relevance and Engagement