Exploratory study on Rwanda’s Seed Sector : Options for Dutch support

The exploratory study of Rwanda’s seed sector has been commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kigali (EKN-KIG), in support of its Food Security portfolio. The objectives of the study have been to: analyze the institutional landscape of Rwanda’s seed sector in terms of its capacities, governance and coordination; and advice EKN-KIG on policy issues, and potential activities to support Rwanda’s seed sector

Het 'VELD'-project, addendum : uitwerking juli en augustus 2003

In een gebied van 3x3 km rond het dorp Vragender in de Achterhoek zijn uitgebreid metingen van ammoniakconcentraties (NH3) gedaan en emissies berekend aan de hand van in detail geregistreerde agrarische activiteiten. Op basis van deze emissies zijn modelberekeningen gedaan met het OPS-STe (korte termijn) verspreidingsmode

Progress Report Integrated Seed Sector Development Myanmar: 2019

This report can also be downloaded from : http://www.d-portal.org

Optimising antimicrobial drug use in surgery : an intervention study in a Dutch university hospital

Contains fulltext : 25293___.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

A double blind, fixed blood-level study comparing mirtazapine with imipramine in depressed in-patients

Antidepressant effects of mirtazapine and imipramine were compared in a randomized, double blind, fixed blood-level study with in-patients in a single centre. Patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of major depression and a Hamilton (17-item) score of ≤ 18 were selected. After a drug-free and a placebo-washout period of 7 days in total, 107 patients still fulfilling the HRSD criterion of ≤ 18, started on active treatment. The dose was adjusted to a predefined fixed blood level to avoid suboptimal dosing of imipramine. Concomitant psychotropic medication was administered only in a few cases because of intolerable anxiety or intolerable psychotic symptoms. Eight patients dropped out and two were excluded from analyses because of non-compliance; 97 completed the study. According to the main response criterion (50% or more reduction on the HRSD score) 11/51 (21.6%) patients responded on mirtazapine and 23/46 (50%) on imipramine after 4 weeks' treatment on the predefined blood level. Such a dramatic difference in efficacy between antidepressants has not often been reported before. The selection of (severely ill) in-patients, including those with suicidal or psychotic features, may have significance in this respect. Optimization of treatment with the reference drug imipramine through blood level control, exclusion of non-compliance for both drugs, exclusion of most concomitant medication and a low drop-out rate may also have contributed. It is concluded that imipramine is superior to mirtazapine in the patient population studied

Affective Man-Machine Interface: Unveiling human emotions through biosignals

As is known for centuries, humans exhibit an electrical profile. This profile is altered through various psychological and physiological processes, which can be measured through biosignals; e.g., electromyography (EMG) and electrodermal activity (EDA). These biosignals can reveal our emotions and, as such, can serve as an advanced man-machine interface (MMI) for empathic consumer products. However, such a MMI requires the correct classification of biosignals to emotion classes. This chapter starts with an introduction on biosignals for emotion detection. Next, a state-of-the-art review is presented on automatic emotion classification. Moreover, guidelines are presented for affective MMI. Subsequently, a research is presented that explores the use of EDA and three facial EMG signals to determine neutral, positive, negative, and mixed emotions, using recordings of 21 people. A range of techniques is tested, which resulted in a generic framework for automated emotion classification with up to 61.31% correct classification of the four emotion classes, without the need of personal profiles. Among various other directives for future research, the results emphasize the need for parallel processing of multiple biosignals

Beta-Blocking Agents and Electroconvulsive Therapy

In this review we want to summarize the results of the placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials with betablocking adrenergic agents during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and review the effect on seizure duration and cardiovascular variables. We sea