Organisational design for an integrated oncological department

OBJECTIVE: The outcomes of a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) analysis of three Integrated Oncological Departments were compared with their present situation three years later to define factors that can influence a successful implementation and development of an Integrated Oncological Department in- and outside (i.e. home care) the hospital. RESEARCH DESIGN: Comparative Qualitative Case Study. METHODS: Auditing based on care-as-usual norms by an external, experienced auditing committee. RESEARCH SETTING: Integrated Oncological Departments of three hospitals. RESULTS: Successful multidisciplinary care in an integrated, oncological department needs broad support inside the hospital and a well-defined organisational plan

How to make complexity look simple? Conveying ecosystems restoration complexity for socio-economic research and public engagement

Ecosystems degradation represents one of the major global challenges at the present time, threating people’s livelihoods and well-being worldwide. Ecosystem restoration therefore seems no longer an option, but an imperative. Restoration challenges are such that a dialogue has begun on the need to re-shape restoration as a science. A critical aspect of that reshaping process is the acceptance that restoration science and practice needs to be coupled with socio-economic research and public engagement. This inescapably means conveying complex ecosystem’s information in a way that is accessible to the wider public. In this paper we take up this challenge with the ultimate aim of contributing to making a step change in science’s contribution to ecosystems restoration practice. Using peatlands as a paradigmatically complex ecosystem, we put in place a transdisciplinary process to articulate a description of the processes and outcomes of restoration that can be understood widely by the public. We provide evidence of the usefulness of the process and tools in addressing four key challenges relevant to restoration of any complex ecosystem: (1) how to represent restoration outcomes; (2) how to establish a restoration reference; (3) how to cope with varying restoration time-lags and (4) how to define spatial units for restoration. This evidence includes the way the process resulted in the creation of materials that are now being used by restoration practitioners for communication with the public and in other research contexts. Our main contribution is of an epistemological nature: while ecosystem services-based approaches have enhanced the integration of academic disciplines and non-specialist knowledge, this has so far only followed one direction (from the biophysical underpinning to the description of ecosystem services and their appreciation by the public). We propose that it is the mix of approaches and epistemological directions (including from the public to the biophysical parameters) what will make a definitive contribution to restoration practice

Aantalontwikkelingen van wadvogels in de Nederlandse Waddenzee in 1990-2008 : verschillen tussen oost en west (themanummer Waddenzee)

In het begin van de jaren negentig werd de Waddenzee getroffen door de grote schelpdiercrisis. Droogvallende mosselbanken verdwenen bijna allemaal en de kokkelbestanden bereikten een historisch dieptepunt. Sindsdien zijn de schelpdierbestanden op de droogvallende platen beter beschermd en heeft ook herstel plaatsgevonden. Je zou verwachten dat dit doorwerkt in de aantallen wadvogels die de Waddenzee bevolken. Maar is dat ook zo?. Een bijdrage van SOVON en IMARE

Aantalontwikkelingen van wadvogels in de Nederlandse Waddenzee in 1990-2008 : verschillen tussen oost en west (themanummer Waddenzee)

In het begin van de jaren negentig werd de Waddenzee getroffen door de grote schelpdiercrisis. Droogvallende mosselbanken verdwenen bijna allemaal en de kokkelbestanden bereikten een historisch dieptepunt. Sindsdien zijn de schelpdierbestanden op de droogvallende platen beter beschermd en heeft ook herstel plaatsgevonden. Je zou verwachten dat dit doorwerkt in de aantallen wadvogels die de Waddenzee bevolken. Maar is dat ook zo?. Een bijdrage van SOVON en IMARE

Glass transition and polymer dynamics in silver/poly(methyl methacrylate) nanocomposites

Dynamic mechanical-thermal analysis (DMTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC) and, mainly, broadband dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) were employed to investigate in detail glass transition and polymer dynamics in silver/poly(methyl methacrylate) (Ag/PMMA) nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were prepared by radical polymerization of MMA in the presence of surface modified Ag nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 5.6 nm dispersed in chloroform. The fraction of Ag nanoparticles in the final materials was varied between 0 and 0.5 wt%, the latter corresponding to 0.055 vol%. The results show that the nanoparticles have practically no effect on the time scale of the secondary ß and ¿ relaxations, whereas the magnitude of both increases slightly but systematically with increasing filler content. The segmental ¿ relaxation, associated with the glass transition, becomes systematically faster and stronger in the nanocomposites. The glass transition temperature T g decreases with increasing filler content of the nanocomposites up to about 10 °C, in good correlation by the four techniques employed. Finally, the elastic modulus decreases slightly but systematically in the nanocomposites, both in the glassy and in the rubbery state. The results are explained in terms of plasticization of the PMMA matrix, due to constraints imposed to packing of the chains by the Ag nanoparticles, and at the same time, of the absence of strong polymer-filler interactions, due to the surface modification of the Ag nanoparticles by oleylamine at the stage of preparation. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.JLGR acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through project No. EUI2008-00126 and funding in the Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe in the field of Regenerative Medicine through the collaboration agreement from the Conselleria de Sanidad (Generalitat Valenciana), and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministry of Science and Innovation).Pandis, C.; Logakis, E.; Kyritsis, A.; Pissis, P.; Vodnik, VV.; Dzunuzovic, E.; Nedeljkovic, JM.... (2011). Glass transition and polymer dynamics in silver/poly(methyl methacrylate) nanocomposites. EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL. 47(8):1514-1525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2011.06.001S1514152547