Relating Water Quality and Age in Drinking Water Distribution Systems Using Self-Organising Maps

Understanding and managing water quality in drinking water distribution system is essential for public health and wellbeing, but is challenging due to the number and complexity of interacting physical, chemical and biological processes occurring within vast, deteriorating pipe networks. In this paper we explore the application of Self Organising Map techniques to derive such understanding from international data sets, demonstrating how multivariate, non-linear techniques can be used to identify relationships that are not discernible using univariate and/or linear analysis methods for drinking water quality. The paper reports on how various microbial parameters correlated with modelled water ages and were influenced by water temperatures in three drinking water distribution systems

Single-injection prime-boost vaccines based on biodegradable polymers

Many vaccines require multiple doses for optimal protection against the pathogen. Currently, these vaccines are administered by means of multiple injections, which often leads to a lower vaccination coverage. Such a vaccination schedule, also referred to as a prime-boost schedule, consists of the administration of a first dose (primer) followed by a second and sometimes even a third or fourth dose (booster) several weeks, months or years later. Vaccination coverage for the abovementioned vaccines could be improved by developing an alternative vaccine formulation that includes both the primer and the booster doses, so that a single injection is sufficient. The antigen must be released from the formulation in a controlled manner, for example by encapsulating the antigen in a matrix of a biodegradable polymer. In the research of Renée van der Kooij, different formulations were developed with both a pulsatile and a sustained release profile. Two different prototypes of a pulsatile-release implant were found to be suitable for the (biphasic) pulsatile release of a vaccine. However, the prototypes were too large for clinical application, so injectable microspheres were developed. Microspheres with a core-shell structure exhibited a delayed (pulsatile) release of a model antigen, where the lag time could be varied. Monolithic microspheres exhibited a sustained release, where the total release duration could be varied. These microspheres induced a strong antibody response in mice, similar to the immune response after a primer-booster injection of the model antigen. However, further research with a clinically relevant antigen and optimization of the developed formulations and associated release profiles is required

Measuring Behavior using Motion Capture

Motion capture systems, using optical, magnetic or mechanical sensors are now widely used to record\ud human motion. Motion capture provides us with precise measurements of human motion at a very high\ud recording frequency and accuracy, resulting in a massive amount of movement data on several joints of the\ud body or markers of the face. But how do we make sure that we record the right things? And how can we\ud correctly interpret the recorded data?\ud In this multi-disciplinary symposium, speakers from the field of biomechanics, computer animation, human\ud computer interaction and behavior science come together to discus their methods to both record motion and\ud to extract useful properties from the data. In these fields, the construction of human movement models from\ud motion capture data is the focal point, although the application of such models differs per field. Such\ud models can be used to generate and evaluate highly adaptable and believable animation on virtual\ud characters in computer animation, to explore the details of gesture interaction in Human Computer\ud Interaction applications, to identify patterns related to affective states or to find biomechanical properties of\ud human movement

Worldview and moral education: On conceptual clarity and consistency in use

Ruyter, D.J. de [Promotor]Miedema, S. [Promotor

Use of induced acceleration to quantify the (de)stabilization effect of external and internal forces on postural responses

Due to the mechanical coupling between the body segments, it is impossible to see with the naked eye the causes of body movements and understand the interaction between movements of different body parts. The goal of this paper is to investigate the use of induced acceleration analysis to reveal the causes of body movements. We derive the analytical equations to calculate induced accelerations and evaluate its potential to study human postural responses to support-surface translations. We measured the kinematic and kinetic responses of a subject to sudden forward and backward translations of a moving platform. The kinematic and kinetics served as input to the induced acceleration analyses. The induced accelerations showed explicitly that the platform acceleration and deceleration contributed to the destabilization and restabilization of standing balance, respectively. Furthermore, the joint torques, coriolis and centrifugal forces caused by swinging of the arms, contributed positively to stabilization of the center of mass. It is concluded that induced acceleration analyses is a valuable tool in understanding balance responses to different kinds of perturbations and may help to identify the causes of movement in different pathologies