Strength development of concrete: balancing production requirements and ecological impact

The effective production of concrete structures requires adequate control of<br/>strength development in order to realise the scheduled production cycles. Demoulding of elements can take place only when sufficient strength is gained and the production cycle has to be maintained with seasonal changes of temperature. The use of Portland Cement...

Stimulating Public-Private Cooperation for the Strategic Replacement of Infrastructure in the Netherlands: The Role and Formulation of Public-Private Arrangements

At the dawn of a large infrastructure replacement program in the Netherlands the question rises whether current forms of public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects are sufficient to deal with the complexities involved in large scale replacement of water infrastructure objects. It is stated that the concept of public private...

Numerical optimization of alignment reproducibility for customizable surgical guides

Purpose Computer-assisted orthopedic surgery aims at minimizing invasiveness, postoperative pain, and morbidity with computer-assisted preoperative planning and intra-operative guidance techniques, of which camera-based navigation and patient-specific templates (PST) are the most common. PSTs are one-time templates that guide the surgeon...

Sustainability Assessment of Power Generation Systems by Applying Exergy Analysis and LCA Methods

The selection of power generation systems is important when striving for a more sustainable society. However, the results of environmental, economic and social sustainability assessments are subject to new insights into the calculation methods and to changing needs, economic conditions and societal preferences. Researchers active in the field of...

A decision model on grid replacement strategies for an energy distribution system operator

Dutch gas infrastructures are aged and need to be replaced in the next decades. Uncertainties surrounding the gas sector make it difficult to determine future requirements of the gas infrastructure. A decision model that analyses the performance of different replacement strategies under different scenarios of demand and supply is constructed....

(Re)claimed Land, Scenario of democratic landscape in contaminated territories

In the city of Taranto located in south Italy, industrial foul-up is one of the biggest contributors of the high percentage of cancer death. The case of Ilva factory in Taranto is an example of how a wrong interaction among stakeholders became the cause for ecological and social problem. The factory is an integral cycle steel plant, where all...

TiPi smartphone application: Designing with InterPersonal Informatics to support elderly rehabilitating from Total Hip Replacement

Designing a smartphone application for elderly rehabilitating from total hip replacement. The theoretical background of this project lies in the fields of Personal Informatics, InterPersonal Informatics, Persuasive Technology and Social Sciences. The product context, the ADL of elderly rehabilitating at home, has been researched with sensitizing...

A new drape for the total hip replacement surgery through the ASI approach

Before operation, the patient needs to be sterile draped. In a total hip replacement surgery through the anterior supine intermuscular approach, the surgical incision is made from the front side (anterior) of the hip, by which the patient lies down on the back on the operating table. During the surgery, both legs are maneuvred. Due to this, both...

Environmental impacts during the operational phase of residential buildings

To date, the focus in the field of sustainable building has been on new building design. However, existing residential buildings inflict great environmental burden through three causes: continuous energy consumption, regular building maintenance and replacements. This publication analyses and compares these three causes of environmental burden...

Environmental impacts during the operational phase of residential buildings

To date, the focus in the field of sustainable building has been on new building design. However, existing residential buildings inflict great environmental burden through three causes: continuous energy consumption, regular building maintenance and replacements. This publication analyses and compares these three causes of environmental burden...

Replacement or reuse? The choice between demolition and life cycle extension from a sustainable viewpoint

What is better: renovation or new construction? Following the plenary debate on the ENHR 2007 conference in Rotterdam we continued our search for the answer to this question. The choice between reuse and replacement of existing buildings is a vital but very difficult one, involving a wide range of aspects and affecting contradictory and often...

Evaluation of the surgical process during joint replacements