Reflection on Life, in the Light of Mortality Awareness

Mortality is the fact of life, yet we as collective human species relate to it in (multidimensional) fearful ways (Cozzolino et al., 2013). Subsequently, in an attempt to proof ourselves from this death induced anxiety and fear, we have adapted to denying or avoiding our mortality to us, thus living in a death-buffer system. (Cave, 2013)However,...

Improving flood fatality risk assessment for river flooding in the Netherlands: Implications of alternative functions and model resolution variations on mortality and fatalities in the Bommelerwaard

The number of fatalities due to a potential flood event is traditionally determined utilizing 'mortality functions’. Data of recent large-scale flooding in the Netherlands are not available since the Netherlands was successful in flood prevention. Therefore, only data from the last coastal flood event in 1953 with 1795 direct fatalities are...

Hypoxemia diagnosis for rural India: Design a low-cost uniform solution (single-probe) to spot-check the SpO2 that fits children from 0 to 5 years old that is adequate for low-resource setting

Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of children’s deaths before they can celebrate their fifth birthday. The majority of pneumonia cases and deaths caused by it are concentrated on the poorest regions of the world; having India the burden of leading both lists. For this reason, UNICEF and the WHO, have made of this issue a priority on their...

Design of a breach retardant dike

Sand dikes have a sand core and a clay layer to protect the core against erosion. It is not unlikely that this layer fails due to several failure mechanisms, exposing the sand core to water. This can be catastrophically when water is overtopping the dike. In case the protective cover fails, water can flow over the core and erode the sand,...

Tachypnea diagnosis for low resource settings

More children under the age of five in developing countries die of pneumonia than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Pneumonia is responsible for 18% of the deaths of children under the age of five globally. The vast majority of deaths due to pneumonia are set in the poorest regions, resulting in the death of 1,4 million children from...