An increase in positive Bordetella parapertussis tests among patients in a teaching hospital in the Netherlands resulted in enhanced infection control and microbiological surveillance. Further ...analysis revealed that batches of contaminated nasopharyngeal swabs were associated with a pseudo-outbreak, resulting in incorrect diagnoses, antimicrobial treatments, isolation precautions, and public health notifications.
An integrated system is studied to supply green hydrogen feedstock for ammonia production in the Netherlands. The system is modeled to compare wind and solar resources when coupled to Alkaline ...Electrolysis (AEL) and Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis (PEMEL) technologies with a compressed hydrogen storage system. The nominal installed capacity of the electrolysis plant is around 2.3 GW, with the most suitable energy source offshore wind, and the preferred storage technology pressurized tubes. For Alkaline Electrolysis and Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis technologies, the levelized cost of hydrogen is 5.30 €/kg H2 and 6.03 €/kg H2, respectively.
•Studied a novel system for green hydrogen in the Netherlands.•Offshore wind beats solar for the electrolysis process.•Pressurized tubes emerge as optimal hydrogen storage.•AEL produces hydrogen at a lower cost than PEMEL.•The model suggests a green route to ammonia production.
This book is a reprint of Jaap R. Bruijn’s 1993 book, The Dutch Navy, which offers an English-language overview of the history of the Dutch Navy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is ...divided into three chronological periods: the ‘old’, ‘new’, and ‘second-rate’ navy. Rather than presenting a history of naval conflict, this volume approaches Dutch naval history from the following four angles: operations, administration, officer duties, and sailor duties. It consists of a series foreword, a new introduction detailing recent developments in naval historiography, the original introduction providing a history of Dutch maritime history from the middle ages to the beginning of the seventeenth century, a conclusion, and a bibliography and index. It explores the astounding amount of naval power belonging to such a sparsely populated nation, plus the rapid rates of success and decline. It confirms that the Dutch navy - with its logic, innovation, and missteps alike - provides an excellent case study of both the development of European bureaucracy and armed forces in the Early Modern period.
Like many European countries, the Netherlands locked down in March 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19. Although government officials called for solidarity, the lockdown measures made it more ...difficult to help fellow citizens. In this study, we examine whether informal helping declined during the first lockdown in the Netherlands and to what extent changes depended on people's resources (time/health), motivation (solidarity/COVID concerns) and opportunities (social contact). In general, we expected an overall decline of informal helping, and this decline was expected to be smaller for people with more resources, motivation, and opportunities. We used data from the SOCON COVID-19 Panel survey that were collected through internet and telephone interviews before (February 2019/2020) and shortly after the first lockdown in the Netherlands (July 2020) (N = 522). We examine the impact of resources, motivation and opportunities for informal help provided to relatives, friends and neighbors separately. Indeed, results showed that people overall helped less during the lockdown than before. The decline in helping relatives was smaller among those who lost work, were worried about relatives, experienced solidarity with others or had more contact with relatives during the lockdown. People who contacted more with neighbors during the lockdown period provided more informal help to them during the lockdown than before.
•Diffusive PFAS contamination of soils is widespread in urban, industrialised areas.•Depth profiles of PFOA reflect the emission history from the nearby PFAS factory.•Occurrence of PFOS is comparable ...to that of PFOA but its source is more enigmatic.•An adjacent peat soil contains similar depth-integrated amounts.•Transport is modelled with HYDRUS using plausible values for soil properties.
PFOA and PFOS are widely found PFAS components in Dutch topsoils. PFOA was emitted to the atmosphere during 1970-2012 from a fluoropolymers factory, and was deposited mainly within a radius of 50 km. For the first time, detailed concentration-depth profiles of PFOA and PFOS were measured in undisturbed soils downwind of the factory. Three locations were selected with about 3 meters of sand soil and free infiltration of rain. An adjacent peat soil was selected for comparison. In the sand soils, concentration-depth profiles of PFOA showed a distinct bell-shaped pattern with the highest contents at 0.2-0.5 m below surface, and lower contents both at the surface and at further depth (up to 3.5 m below surface). This observation indicates that the highest atmospheric deposition has passed, and that PFOA gradually migrates towards groundwater. Concentrations of PFOS are highest near the surface and reach the detection limit at 1 m below surface, suggesting that its downward migration occurs much slower. HYDRUS was used to model PFAS transport in the vadose zone assuming steady-state infiltration. The PFOA depth profiles in the sand soils can be described assuming plausible historic, atmospheric emission of PFOA from the factory and Koc values within the literature range. However, the retention observed must be attributed to linear partitioning between water and both soil organic matter and the air-water interface. Somewhat stronger retention holds for PFOS, but PFOS cannot originate from the factory in the extent found. An alternative explanation is historic, rather parallel emissions from nearby sources such as waste incinerators. Based on measurements and modelling, this study illustrates that PFOA, and to a lesser extent PFOS, should not be treated as immobile contaminants in topsoil as is currently the case in Dutch soil policy, but rather as mobile contaminants of which the legacy amounts in soil will pollute groundwater for many decades.
Since the 1970s, the Dutch anti-radicalization strategy has been characterized by a close collaboration between police, welfare providers, community groups, and national and local governments. This ...comprehensive approach aims to identify individuals at risk of radicalization at an early stage, offering them alternative life paths and robustly responding to imminent threats. The comprehensive approach generally enjoys considerable support among professionals, politicians, and the populace at large. However, a swelling tide is asking for more evidence that this combination of “soft” and “hard” interventions is working. Parliament is asking the government to take more measures against emerging extremist threats, but also demands more proof that these measures are effective. Liberal parties in parliament are critical of the financial and societal costs of counter-terrorism and anti-radicalization measures, while right-wing parties worry the government is not tough enough. Over the past five years, the Dutch government has commissioned multiple evaluations. Specific incidents, such as the shooting in Utrecht on 18 March 2019, have been extensively evaluated. A more general review in 2015 examined the counter-terrorism policy as a whole, finding that the ideas for the comprehensive approach were sound; yet, that the investment of ministries in this approach fell apart in the perceived low-threat period, making the intended “comprehensive” strategy become a pick-and-choice approach. Currently, the national and local governments involved in anti-radicalization efforts keep asking for more evaluations. The Ministry of Social Affairs created an evaluation toolkit, which local governments can use to evaluate interventions. The City of Arnhem commissioned a review of its anti-radicalization efforts, which is mainly able to assess the plans and processes, but not yet the outputs of the interventions. Moving forward, more collaboration may be needed within or even between European countries to amass sufficient data to enable full effect evaluations.
In A History of Plague in Java,
1911-1942 , Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk
demonstrates how the official response to the 1911 outbreak of
plague in Malang led to one of the most invasive health
...interventions in Dutch colonial Indonesia. Eager to combat
disease, Dutch physicians and officials integrated the traditional
Javanese house into the "rat-flea-man" theory of transmission.
Hollow bamboo frames and thatched roofs offered hiding spaces for
rats, suggesting a material link between rat plague and human
plague. Over the next thirty years, 1.6 million houses were
renovated or rebuilt, millions more were subjected to periodic
inspection, and countless Javanese were exposed to health messaging
seeking to "rat-proof" their beliefs along with their houses.
The transformation of houses, villages, and people was
documented in hundreds of photographs and broadcast to overseas
audiences as evidence of the "ethical" nature of colonial rule,
proving so effective as propaganda that the rebuilding continued
even as better alternatives, such as inoculation, became available.
By systematically reshaping the built environment, the Dutch plague
response dramatically expanded colonial oversight and influence in
rural Java.
Melanocytic tumor of uncertain malignant potential (MELTUMP) and superficial atypical melanocytic proliferation of uncertain significance (SAMPUS) are descriptive and provisional terms for ...melanocytic tumors with ambiguous histopathological features that are not easily classified as either benign or malignant.
To investigate the incidence and clinical outcome of MELTUMP and SAMPUS in the Netherlands.
In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed all diagnoses of MELTUMP and SAMPUS from the Dutch Nationwide Pathology Databank from 1991 to October 1, 2021. Clinical outcome was studied for cases diagnosed until October 1, 2018.
A total of 1685 MELTUMP and 1957 SAMPUS were identified with an annual incidence of 150 to 300 cases. Metastatic behavior was seen in 0.7% of all initially diagnosed MELTUMP. All SAMPUS remained free of metastases.
Reassessment of pathology slides and confirmation of clonality between primary and metastatic lesions remained outside the scope of this study.
Despite the ‘uncertainty’ in the nomenclature, our results demonstrate a low malignant potential for MELTUMP and no malignant potential for SAMPUS. We emphasize the importance of consultation for ambiguous melanocytic lesions and to limit the MELTUMP/SAMPUS terminology to legitimately uncertain or unclassifiable cases.
