Academic Ceremonies October 2010

“Facilitating Training Transfer Effects; the case of Vietnamese MBA programs”

“Will work for food; a behavioural economic analysis of overeating”

In today’s society it is difficult for many people to resist tasty fattening food. But not everyone is as sensitive to the temptation of, for example, a bar of chocolate. Studies in this dissertation show that people who often say they are following and/or have overweight, will work harder for energy high food (such as chocolate).  Snacks are therefore extra rewarding for these people, which contributes to their tendency to overeat. This dissertation also shows that imposing taxes on high calorie food can limit overconsumption, also for people with a tendency to overeat.

Key words:

psychology; eating; overweight; following a diet

“Aspecten van een beroepscultuur”

“Towards process-oriented care delivery in hospitals”

For years already, long waiting lists for hospital appointments and defective matching between health care providers have been important points for improvement in order to make hospital care more patient-friendly.  This dissertation states that working in a patient-friendly manner and offering good quality and affordable care can be realised if hospitals make the transition from the traditional organisation in specialised departments to a process-oriented organisation. This requires specialisation in a limited number of disorders, which is still an issue in the rules and legislation of health care. The current dbc structure, in which financing is process-oriented, probably does stimulate the cooperation between various specialisations. This research was commissioned by NIVEL.

Key words:

hospital care, patient-friendliness, organisation change

“De advocaat in het Burgerlijk Proces”

“Collusion and Price Wars; a dynamic approach to price competition”

“The regulation of architects kin Belgium and the Netherlands”

This thesis examines the regulation of architects in Belgium and the Netherlands and discusses who is allowed to use the title and practice the profession.  Also the contractual liability of architects is compared. The free movement of architects is analyzed in an EU context. Finally the book contains an economic analysis of the regulation of architects to determine whether the Dutch of Belgian regulation is necessary and proportional to reach the goals set. In this way the thesis aims to determine whether the Dutch or the Belgian combination of regulations and contract law provisions is most cost-efficient from an economic point of view.

Key words:

regulation, architects, Belgium, Netherlands, EU legislation

“HIV/AIDS; STIGMA as a factor that affects care seeking, care and support of PERSONS with HIV/AIDS in Port Harcourt Nigeria”

HIV/AIDS has been identified as one of the major problems facing the global community. This thesis examines the problems of ‘people living with HIV/AIDS’ (PLWHA) in Port Harcourt Nigeria. 
The first part of the study aimes at understanding the HIV-related stigma in Sub-Saharan Africa and the consequences of stigma for care seeking. The second part aimes at understanding stigma and other problems PLWHA in Port Harcourt, Nigeria face in seeking care and support in society and health care institutions. In addition, gender-related power differences in care given to PLWHA were also investigated. This study shows that the stigmatization of PLWHA is still overwhelmingly present and affects their quality of life. This has huge implications for HIV prevention, antiretroviral treatment adherence, care seeking, care and the support they receive. Effective policies backed with practical multi-faceted interventions are important.

Key words:

HIV/AIDS, stigma , gender, society, health care institutions

“Multimodal analysis of neuroimages in Alzheimer’s disease”

Several neuroimaging biomarkers have been identified to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease (AD) since the earliest stages, monitor its progression, and possibly predict its onset. This research shows that structural damage, functional alterations, and protein build-up, characterizing AD, are interrelated but neither concurrent nor co-localized phenomena. This research points out the need of multimodal analysis techniques to further assess the relationship between different biomarkers, in order to better understand the mechanisms that trigger the disease onset and drive its progression, to increase early diagnostic accuracy and to lead to the identification of novel targets for pharmaceutical intervention which could delay disease progression.

Key words:

Alzheimer’s disease, biomarkers, multimodal analysis

“VITALUM; development and evaluation of tailored print communication and telephone motivational interviewing to improve lifestyle behaviors among older adults”

To lower the risk of cardiovascular disease Dutch adults are recommended to eat at least 2 pieces of fruit and 200 grams of vegetables each day, and to exercise moderately intense for a minimum of 30 minutes per day at least 5 days per week.  However, over 80% of the adults eat too few vegetables and fruits, and 40% moves too little.  This dissertation describes the development and evaluation of telephone motivating interviewing and computer-generated tailor-made advice via letters to help adults between the age of 45 and 70 years realise these recommendations. Participants who received these letters, interviewing or a combination of both started to exercise more and eat more vegetables and fruits than participants who did not receive information. These methods can therefore be used to help people to live a healthier life.

Key words:

healthy lifestyle, motivating interviewing, tailor-made advice

“Celdood, een nieuw perspectief op leven”

“The Odyssey to Sustainability of the Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands”

This dissertation is the report of twenty years of practical experiments in HBO (higher vocational education) that were intended to not only provide students with knowledge about and insight in sustainable development, but also the skills and attitude to actually do something with those at a later stage. Roorda focused on various programmes and several aspects of sustainability and worked mainly with teachers, administrators and managers.  
One of the experiments concerned the development of ‘AISHE’, an assessment and policy instrument for sustainable development in HBO. AISHE is now used in seven countries; on the basis of AISHE the ‘Quality Mark Sustainable Higher Education’ was granted to over fifty programmes and schools.   
Each experiment used the change processes that took place at that time in HBO, among which a transition from teacher oriented to student- and competence-oriented education. Therefore, the dissertation also presents a historic overview of twenty years HBO history.

Key words:

sustainable development, higher education, hbo, change processes , transition

“Quality of life assessment in palliative care”

“Psychosocial needs of breast cancer patients and their relatives”

Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer may cause physical, psychological and social problems which may influence the patients' and their relatives' needs. This dissertation consists of three  quantitative studies on the psychosocial needs of patients and relatives during and after the patients treatment. The patients had unmet psychological needs whereas relatives needed help with access to information and health care professionals. Physical and social impairment, an impaired body image, distress, anxiety, a lack of support and conflicts in their interpersonal relationships were associated with the patients unmet needs. Distress, anxiety and conflicts in the relationships were associated with the relatives' unmet needs. These factors may help to identify patients with a higher need for help and to conduct target support to those who actually need it.

Key words:

breast cancer, psychosocial needs, relatives

“Molecular imaging in the combined modality treatment of lung cancer”

Patients with locally advanced lung cancer receive a combined treatment of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This dissertation studied how this treatment can be optimized by means of molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET). The results show that the radiation area of small-cell lung cancer can be diminished safely by using the PET scan. It is further shown that, 3 months after the treatment, a PET scan can determine the progression of the disease in a stage when re-treatment is still possible. Finally, 2 new PET tracers are evaluated, aimed at specific biological characteristics of cancer cells. The studies show that these tracers can be safely used. Future studies will be necessary to define the optimal imaging circumstances. 

This research received partial support from ‘KWF kankerbestrijding’.

Key words:

lung cancer, PET, radiotherapy

“Intestinal fat and eating behavior: role of the ileal brake”

“Metabolic and genetic aspects of thiopurine”

Side-effects from drugs often have a genetic background. The described PhD research focuses on the causes of side-effects from certain anti-inflammatory drugs, the thiopurines. These are often used to treat (auto) immune diseases. In the case of thiopurine use it is important to determine the activity of the enzymes  thiopurine-S-methyltransferase (TPMT) and inosine trifosfatase (ITPase) to prevent serious side-effects, such as bone marrow suppression and pneumonia and the involved hospitalisation. The research also shows that ITPase plays a role in the progression of pulmonary Langerhans’ cell histiocytosis (PLCH), a serious lung disease. 

Key words:

side-effects thiopurines, enzyme TPMT, enzyme ITPase

“Stock Market Manipulation”

Separation of ownership and management creates an agency conflict between the principal and the agent, who manages. This dissertation sheds new light on the ability of market participants to recognize information which is not equally dis-tributed in financial markets. Causes and consequences of shareholder litigation and their role in corporate governance are critically analyzed and newly inter-preted. Understanding the conflict between managers and shareholders and be-tween firms and financial intermediaries is important academically and profes-sionally. First, investors learn about effective control of managers. Second, the regulator understands the effects of regulation in financial markets and whether it yields expected benefits. The third group of beneficiaries is the managers themselves. They have to be aware of managerial leeway, the risks that they face and the externalities they impose on financial markets. The last group concerns financial intermediaries and their role in the primary securities market.

Key words:

asymmetric information, corporate governance, financial intermediar-ies, financial regulation, executive compensation, shareholder litigation.

“Agonist-induced modulation of glycocalyx barrier properties in the microcirculation”

This dissertation research studies the role of the glycocalyx, a gel layer on the inside of all blood vessels in the heart. The glycocalyx turns out to behave as a thick non-stick layer that prevents damaging parts to stick to the wall and as an extra space for blood when more oxygen needs to be transported from the blood to the heart. Temporary adjustments of this layer appear to positively influence the blood and oxygen supply, but when this layer is damaged, that does not happen. Repair of a damaged glycocalyx  could in the future be a possible therapy for patients suffering from chest pain.

Key words:

glycocalyx, blood vessels

“OxLDL-specific antibodies and neutrophils; their relevance in mouse atherosclerosis”

“Met meer menselijke maat naar een toekomstbestendige zorg voor chronische zieken”