Academic Ceremonies November 2014

“Global Governance in the Management of Natural Resources: The Case of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)”

The research focuses on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a soft law instrument aiming to increase transparency in the management of revenues from natural resources. More specifically, the dissertation explores the conditions under which countries are more likely to adopt the EITI, how and why specific countries carry out an ambitious or “extensive” implementation of the instrument, and how the configuration of stakeholder positions (government, companies, and civil society) impacts the type of implementation activities in the selected critical cases (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan).

Key words:

law, transparency, natural resources, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan

“Four Essays in Financial Econometrics”

The advances in finance have facilitated the interaction between financial markets and the elaboration of advanced financial instruments and new risk management techniques. In particular, the academic research in financial econometrics has focused on the inherent progress of the econometric theory and the successful research topics in financial modeling and economic forecasting. Besides, new academic research has been conducted on financial risk measures. The first part of this dissertation addresses issues related to econometric modeling and forecasting procedures on both systemic risk and high-frequency risk measures. The second part tackles the need to improve the estimation/prediction of volatility by directly including high-frequency data or realized measures of volatility.

Key words:

finance, econometrics

“Predicting the unpredictable; electrocardiographic parameters associated with ischemic ventricular fibrillation”

“The colorectal response to butyrate in health and IBS”

“Paediatric asthma, obesity, and exercise: secondary Prevention of asthma by a weight reduction intervention”

Children with asthma and obesity are frequently seen patients at consultations with paediatricians. This dissertation shows that the relationship between obesity and asthma is strongest in girls. In addition, it appears that Dutch children (with and without asthma) exercise much less than is recommended. Therefore, children with asthma are specifically advised to exercise. To investigate whether weight loss has positive effects on asthma, children with asthma and obesity took part in a weight loss programme. After 18 months, they showed a small weight reduction and an improvement in lung function and asthma symptoms. However, the same improvements were also seen in the control group. A qualitative study found that the lack of expectations among intervention participants and the difficulty of combining the programme with daily activities were reasons for the relatively high drop-out rate and low level of effectiveness. 

Key words:

obesity, asthma, exercise

“Cijfers en beelden”

“Alloreactive Natural Killer cell therapy for Multiple Myeloma”

Key words:

Killer cell ; Immunotherapy ; Multiple Myeloma

“Breaking Down Schizophrenia into phenes, genes and environment”

Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating diseases, but the exact cause is unknown. Genetic testing is being used to search for clues that could lead to better treatments. However, given that there appears to be no defined concept of schizophrenia, searching for the genetic cause makes little sense. This PhD dissertation concludes that it is useful to research genetic factors that influence individual disease characteristics and/or explain why some people become psychotic after exposure to environmental factors that are less harmful for others. This conclusion was s¬¬upported by a test run of some applicable research methods. Some of its findings were that genetic variation combined with cannabis use influences on the age of first psychosis or partly explains why someone may react with suspicion in social situations.

Key words:

schizophrenia, psychosis, genetics, endophenotypes, gene-environment interaction

“Supervision, compliance and societal effects: IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE TOBACCO LEGISLATION. Effects of the Workplace-smoking ban and the tobacco sales ban to minors”

In the Netherlands, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death. This thesis evaluates the policy measures taken to reduce active and passive smoking. After the introduction of smoke-free workplaces in 2004, employers’ compliance with the smoke-free workplace policy has increased to 96% (2008). Although exposure to tobacco smoke decreased among all employees, exposure remained higher among semi- and unskilled as well as male employees. Tobacco use among employees decreased as a result of the introduction of smoke-free workplaces together with increased excise taxes. Setting the minimum legal purchase age for tobacco products at 16 years in 2003 resulted in fewer tobacco purchases among young people.
Supervisors monitor the compliance with laws. Improving and accounting for supervision has become increasingly important over the last few decades, though. This thesis describes the role of supervisors and how they handle evaluation in practice. 

Key words:

supervision, effect of evaluation, Tobacco Act, smoke-free workplace, age limit 

“Surgical aspects of low rectal cancer treatment”

“Different aspects regarding the surveillance of surgical site infections”

“Ethnic segregation in housing, schools, and neighbourhoods in the Netherlands”

This thesis looks at a West European country’s unintended transformation into an ‘immigrant nation’, specifically the causes and effect of ethnic segregation. One of the studies finds that native Dutch students in predominantly non-western minority primary schools experience a higher likelihood of high school dropout later in their lives. Using restricted-access administrative data for all primary schools in Amsterdam, the study predicts an increase of 5.4 percentage points to 8.0 percent in school dropout probability for native Dutch students who did not change schools frequently and were enrolled in primary schools with more than 77.7 percent non-western minority students.

Key words:

immigrant nations, ethnic segregation, housing, neighbourhoods, schools

“Working time preferences”

This PhD dissertation is about the number of hours per week working people want to work. It devotes attention to two aspects: 1) the difference between the number of hours that people work and the number of hours they want to work and 2) how these preferences for working hours are formed. Among other things, it appears that people who work relatively few hours usually want to increase their working hours, while people who work relatively many hours more often want to reduce their working hours. Somewhere between these two extremes, there is a number of hours per week at which people on average do not want to work more or fewer hours. That ‘balance’ appears to depend on background characteristics. Potential mechanisms that could influence this balance include habit formation and dependence on colleagues’ behavioural preferences.

Key words:

working hours, preferences

“Elke dag telt!”

“An Evaluation of Tax-Benefit Systems Impact on the welfare of Frontier Workers: the case of Luxembourg and Belgium”

“In vitro Toxicogenomics; unravelling the Mechanisms Underlying Drug-Induced Hepatotoxicity”

Although the current screening of new drugs relies heavily on animal testing, drugs considered to be safe based on the results of animal tests often turn out to be toxic to humans. The liver, which is the primary site of drug degradation and elimination, is particularly vulnerable to damage caused by drugs. The results of this study show that alternative methods instead of animal tests can be used to distinguish hepatotoxic from non-hepatotoxic substances. Furthermore, it is shown that more relevant information about underlying mechanisms of drug-induced hepatotoxicity can be obtained by combining several research techniques.

Key words:

Liver, toxicity, alternatives to animal tests

“The Changing Role of the Central Planning Offices in Latin America; a comparative historical Analysis perspective (1950-2013)”

“Bestuursaansprakelijkheid bij de ondernemende stichting”

The number of foundations in the Netherlands is increasing significantly. Between 2011 and 2014, for example, the number of foundations grew from 160,000 to 202,000. A foundation is a legal entity. This means that a director's actions create rights and obligations for a foundation. Under certain circumstances, directors can be held personally liable to both the foundation and third parties for damages resulting from their actions. Supervisors may also be held personally liable if they have clearly failed in their supervision of the board. Research has been conducted on whether directors and supervisors liability, applicable to companies with shared capital, is also being implemented in foundations and whether the limited legal provisions for foundations form an obstacle in this regard. This research has shown that a lack of legislation considerably limits the extent to which board members and members of a foundation's supervisory board can be held liable.

Key words:

foundation, legal provisions, directors liability 

“Reshaping the Big Agenda: transnational Politics and Domestic Resistance; financial crisis and social protection  reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina”

“Moving Back or Moving Forward; return migration After conflict”

This thesis examines the idea that ‘when migrants return home after conflict, they will contribute to development and peace-building’. Therefore countries throughout the European Union, including the Netherlands, promote the return of failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants by assigning Official Development Assistance budgets to ‘Assisted Voluntary Return (and Reintegration)’ programmes, which consist of financial and in-kind assistance for those who return. The thesis concludes that there is a mismatch between the allocation of development budgets and the development potential of return migrants: while the expectations on which Migration and Development policies are based are only true for a small minority of voluntary returnees, this is not the group that is targeted by policy. While providing an incentive for the return of unwanted migrants is in the interest of host countries, it is unjustified to use development budgets for this purpose.

Key words:

return migration, policy, incentives

“Multimodal modelling of the human brain”

The thesis explores the quantification of human brain connectivity using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We first show that, using machine learning techniques, we can distinguish between human subject’s genotypes for some genes based solely on their brain connectivity pattern (or connectome). Next, we demonstrate a novel method capable of detecting early-stage changes in the white matter of patients with Parkinson’s disease. This approach could lead to earlier, even pre-symptomatic diagnosis. Finally, the thesis focuses on merging two neuroimaging modalities in order to provide both high spatial and temporal resolution when analyzing electrical brain activity recorded on the scalp. This work was financed by the EU FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network “NEUROPHYSICS”, and is in collaboration with the University of Liège, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, and GlaxoSmithKline Ltd.

Key words:

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), human brain, connectome, Parkinson’s disease

“Metachoice and Metadata; innovating with environmental Policy analysis in Europe”

Europe can boast of generally good environmental quality and that is at least partly down to stringent environmental standards and consistently smart policy design. That the continent might maintain that lead in the environmental sector is scarcely guaranteed though. This thesis looks at three distinct routes to sustained improvements in environmental policy design and analysis in Europe. The first is an innovation with a form of economic analysis popularly used in environmental policy. The second is scrutiny of the human capital invested in policy analysis. The last explores the potential of the emergent phenomenon of Big Data to advance 21st century environmental policy analysis.

Key words:

Environmental Policy, Policy Analysis, European Union, Big Data

“Simultaneity in transnational migration research:links between migrants’ host and home country orientation”

This dissertation explores the integration of Afghan, Burundian, Ethiopian and Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands, and their economic and social contacts with their family and friends in their home country. The research reveals that better integrated migrants maintain more economic contact with their home country by sending financial remittances. Plus, contrary to public opinion, stronger social contacts with family and friends in the home country do not hinder sociocultural integration in the Netherlands. Consequently, it is important to recognize that more and more people live their lives simultaneously here and there, and integration succeeds as long as migrants have the ability to choose the way they make their lives.

Key words:

integration, migrants, home country engagement, remittances

“Peritoneal carcinomatosis of gastro-intestinal origin”

Peritoneal carcinomatosis originates from various types of cancer, including intestinal and gastric cancer. This thesis shows that depending on the tumour type, 5 to 14% of patients develop peritoneal carcinomatosis. This type of metastasis is associated with a considerably reduced chance of survival, which does not seem to be affected by chemotherapy. Patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis of intestinal origin have the best chance of being cured. They undergo extensive surgery that involves the removal of all tumour masses and metastases, followed by the administration of intraperitoneal chemotherapy. This treatment method, which young, fit and motivated patients are eligible for, is currently the only chance of cure.

Key words:

cancer, metastases, peritoneum

“Dieper graven voor effectievere toepassing”
 

“Voedingswetenschappen; vereeuwigd met de erfenis van Hippocrates”

“Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: exploring prevention and management”

“Biomolecular engineering in the design of novel therapies to treat coagulation disorders and inflammatory diseases”

Activated protein C (APC) and heparin are biomolecules with both cell protective and anticoagulant characteristics. This thesis describes the use of APC and heparin variants with considerably reduced anticoagulant activity in in vitro as well as in vivo models. These variants reduce the extent of infarction in a model of acute myocardial infarction. Furthermore, they reduce organ damage and increase the chance of survival in three different inflammation models. Due to a reduced bleeding risk, these variants have the advantage of allowing the administered dose to be increased, resulting in an improved effectiveness. In the future, these variants can be tested in clinical studies in order to improve the current treatment of sepsis and other diseases associated with inflammation.

Key words:

activated protein C (APC), heparin, coagulation, myocardial infarction, sepsis

“The Geographic dimensions of growth and development”

“Patient payments and health behavior: stick or carrot?”

“The entanglement of thrombus formation: systems biology as a novel key”

This thesis provides new information on thrombus formation, particularly the role of various platelet receptors and proteins stored in platelets. It describes, among other things, the development of an innovative test method, the so-called flow chamber test, which is able to measure the process of thrombus formation in healthy controls and patients by using small amounts of blood under flow conditions (microfluidics). Furthermore, this thesis provides a meta-analysis of studies described in the literature on the thrombotic tendency in genetically modified mice. Results show that the flow chamber test can provide a good alternative to in vivo animal tests. This analysis also shows several new platelet proteins which are likely to be involved in thrombus formation. Therefore, it can be concluded that the flow chamber test is not only of clinical importance, but may also offer an alternative to experiments using live laboratory animals.

Key words:

thrombus formation, proteins, flow chamber test

“Clinical psychological and economic aspects of pregnancy care in women with a history of preeclampsia or HELP syndrome”

In preeclampsia (PE), pregnant women not only experience high blood pressure but also experience protein loss through their urine. PE can also have serious consequences for the child, such as premature birth. PE can develop into HELLP syndrome, but HELLP syndrome may also occur suddenly. Women with a history of PE/HELLP are at increased risk during subsequent pregnancies.  
The PreCare study explored whether it is cost effective to offer recurring-risk guided care to women with a history of PE/HELLP. A total of 311 women were included.  
The results of the study show that the prediction model used was only moderately accurate in predicting which woman would develop a recurrence and which would not. Recurrence-risk guided care also proved not to be cheaper than standard care. These results offer no reason to continue with this new health care approach for pregnant women with a history of PE/HELLP. 

Key words:

Preeclampsia (PE), HELLP syndrome, health care, cost-effective

“Caring for community-dwelling frail older people: a responsive evaluation”

“Strategies for Optimization of Aminoglycoside and Vancomycin Therapies”

In an era of increasing resistance to first-line antibiotics, it is expected that the use of “older” antibiotics will increase. To ensure efficacy and prevent the development of side effects and resistance, we need better insight into the usage of these sometimes life-saving antibiotics. This PhD dissertation describes a search for strategies that would lead to better treatment outcomes with the “older” reserve antibiotics: aminoglycosides and vancomycin. An optimal exposure to these antibiotics was the starting point. The studies were conducted in newborns, patients with cystic fibrosis and patients admitted to intensive care. The results show that the introduction of new dosing schedules and a modification of the first choice agent can lead to better treatment results. This PhD dissertation thus contributes to a safer and more effective use of the current antibiotic arsenal.

Key words:

antibiotics, side effects, resistance