Concrete is the most widely used artificial material, and shapes the largest area of the built environment in the Netherlands. Its waste stream is responsible for the highest percentage of construction and demolition waste and fundamental knowledge for affordable high-grade applications from old concrete has already been introduced. More precisely, the development of technologies that can separate End-of-life (EoL) concrete into its constituents, facilitates its recycling and reuse into new building materials and not in low-quality applications. However, in terms of concrete recycling, there is insufficient communication of the novel technologies in the construction sector and supply chain systems are not introduced in real-world problems. The current research focuses on a closed-loop approach concerning the production of conventional concrete based on a supply chain design. Specifically, the conventional and closed-loop supply chain of the production of concrete are designed in accordance with the SCOR Model. The main differences are identified and a ‘Concrete-to-concrete Recycling Plant’ is proposed as a solution to the EoL problem. It argues to change completely the conventional supply chain of concrete, and therefore recommendations for its future location in an urban environment are given. Additionally, a calculation tool regarding the recycling plant is developed in order to evaluate the suggested solution. The present study demonstrates that for each category of concrete, either prefabricated or site-cast, a recycling plant should be located next to the prefabricated or mortar industry in order to diminish transportation and inventory costs, as well as take advantage of the operating speeds of the novel technologies that compose the plant. Results indicate that a recycling plant is in accordance with the current market conditions and constitutes an efficient solution to the EoL concrete treatment by making concrete a circular material. Further research is required on a laboratory scale in order to collect quantitative data, communicate the results, and consequently, increase the awareness and acceptance of recycled aggregates in the construction sector.

Controversial policies have always been subjected to severe social scrutiny and opposition. With the rise of megacities and complex transportation networks, there has been significant growth in the number of controversial policies in the field of transportation. There has been substantial research in the past regarding transport policies, their implementation and their acceptance. But most of these research focuses on particular factors that influence the acceptance of transport policies, and some of them focus on the acceptance levels before and after implementation of a policy. But, there is insignificant research that explains the acceptance of a controversial transport policy as a whole combining various factors from different domains and also focusing on the increase in acceptance after the implementation. This thesis aimed to fill the above-mentioned gap in research by systematically developing a theoretical list of factors influencing the acceptance of a controversial policy with the help of a thorough literature study, and furthermore observing the level of influence of these factors by performing a small-scale case study.

With the rise of globalisation, countries have become more connected financially and global cross-border investment flows have become more common. FDI is an important form of cross-border flow which is responsible for the spread of technology across countries and is the main source of external finance for emerging countries. In the last two decades, FDI has increased tremendously. But this has been accompanied by fears about outward FDI taking away production activities and jobs away from the home country. I look at how outward FDI affects home country investment. One can intuitively understand that a dollar of money spent abroad means a dollar less to invest in the domestic economy. Based on the theory of the financially constrained firm, I hypothesize that outward FDI reduces domestic fixed capital investment and R&D spending. I also develop a theoretical framework to distinguish the varying effects of outward FDI on domestic investment across traditional and R&D-intensive industries.By using industry-level panel data for 18 OECD countries covering the period 1995-2009, I regressed the shares of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and R&D spending separately on the share of outward FDI both for all industries as well as specifically for traditional and R&D-intensive industries. While, outward FDI had a negative effect on domestic capital investments at the aggregate level, it did not have any significant effect while looking at specific industry types. This could be because of the reduced sample size in the individual types. Outward FDI had a negative effect on domestic R&D spending at the aggregate level and for R&D-intensive industries, but it had a positive effect for traditional industries. Thus, while fears about outward FDI taking away domestic fixed capital investments are valid, outward FDI can have both a positive and negative effect on R&D expenditure, depending on the type of industry. These results can help MNCs make strategic investment decisions taking into account their effect on their home country industry. It can also help policymakers formulate tax and industrial policies to promote home country investments.

The information security (IS) risk assessment process is an essential part to organisation's their protection of digital assets. However, the fast changing IS environment causes for limited knowledge of eventualities, dependencies and values of systems and phenomena. Consequently, the IS risk assessment process is depending on the judgment of cybersecurity professionals to complement the incomplete knowledge. The outset of this research is to understand how cybersecurity professionals provide judgment when they experience uncertainty about the IS environment. First, the perception of uncertainty with cybersecurity professionals is analysed, guided by the theory on perceived environmental uncertainty. Second, the judgment operations of the cybersecurity professionals are analysed, guided by the theory on judgment heuristics. These two concepts are synthesised against the backdrop of the ISO27005 information security risk asessment methodology, that serves as different components of the information security environment. The results show that cybersecurity professionals perceive uncertainty about the IS environment in which it is difficult to: grasp the different interrelations in the organisation’s landscape of information and information systems, assign accurate values to the occurrence of changes/events in the IS environment and to determine the impact from changes/events to the organisation. This uncertainty is caused by the complexity and dynamism dimensions within the organisation’s IS environment. Indicated factors attributed to these dimensions are shadow IT, the innovation processes within an organisation and the organisational structuring. The judgment operations of the cybersecurity professionals are partly explained with the help from judgment heuristics. The data shows that the selective accessibility model is predominantly used to provide judgment about the IS environment during risk assessments. Thereby heavily relying on the information provided to them from different sources, consequently staying close to the initial values. The availability and representative heuristic are also identified but are referenced in fewer instances. This would suggest that the cybersecurity professional assess the information more on a case–by–case basis, rather than providing judgment based on similarity or the ease with which a scenario is retrieved from memory. Aside from the identified heuristics, the cybersecurity professional is observed not to be included in the final judgment. In such cases the uncertainty is then accepted because it is not part of their responsibility. Additionally, the security policy and philosophy paradigm shift from prevention to detection and response allow the cybersecurity professional to accept that not all IS incidents can be prevented. But that detection and response of IS incidents allow the impact to the organisation to be minimised. Finally the cybersecurity professional also judges the security awareness of the people involved when providing judgment operations during an IS risk assessment.

Biofuels are inextricably bound up with policy. Various drivers can be identified for the production and consumption of biofuels, such as environmental considerations, energy security and economic development. Therefore, biofuels may be an appealing option to policy makers. Biofuels are in general more expensive to produce than their fossil counterparts. Therefore, (support) policy is necessary to increase the competitiveness of biofuels. Policy makers can implement various measures to realize the potential benefits of biofuels, such as import- and export tariffs, imposing trade embargoes, offering subsidies, mandating blending targets and creating tax exemptions. However, the biofuel market is an international affair, because demand and supply of feedstock and biofuel are unequally distributed around the globe. In the past it appeared that domestic biofuel policies could have major unforeseen and unintended effects on the international bioenergy markets. The influence of policy measures on the global bioenergy markets is not extensively investigated. Lamers et al. [2011] found that trade volumes were largely influenced by import duties, whereas trade routes were mainly driven by tariff preferences. In other words, it is found that there is some interaction between policies and patterns of international trade flows (in terms of volumes and routes) of biofuels and feedstock. However, the study performed by Lamers et al. [2011] did not explain the underlying mechanism. The aim of this research is to fill this knowledge gap. With this knowledge, decision making by policy makers may become better informed and aforementioned effects of policies may be reduced or even prevented. The main research question addressed in this research is: Which mechanism can explain the effect of policies on emerging patterns in the international trade flows of liquid biofuels and feedstock? To answer this question, an agent-based model (ABM) of the international liquid biofuel markets is developed. If literature on international trade flows for bioenergy is reviewed, it appears that the models applied are usually general- or partial equilibrium models. Contrary to equilibrium models, ABM allows for heterogeneous actors with bounded rationality, the ability to learn and intrinsic behavioural traits. Above that, geographical aspects can be incorporated. It is hypothesized that these factors play an important role in international bioenergy trade. Therefore, this approach could be of added value to the current strand of literature in which equilibrium models are applied. To limit the scope of this research, a case study is performed. In this case study a number of key players in the international biodiesel market are considered: the European Union, Indonesia and Malaysia. Since the take-off of the biodiesel industry (around the year 2000), the European Union has been one of the largest producers and consumers of biodiesel in the world. In addition, the European biodiesel market has been targeted as an export market for biodiesel and feedstock (palm oil) by Indonesia and Malaysia. In view of the case study, the focus of this research is on first-generation liquid biofuels.

This thesis is about communication between the emergency services and the logistics sector by means of information technology (IT), during incidents with hazardous substances on the road. The Dutch emergency services need information to deal effectively with this kind of incidents. Some of this information is in the possession of logistics companies, i.e. carriers. The fire brigade (one of the emergency services) receives nowadays this information in the form of a paper bill of lading at the time of arrival at the scene of the incident. It would be an improvement if the paper bill were replaced by a digital one (eCMR). This eCMR should be available to the emergency services at the same time as the incident is reported to the (112) alarm centre. In this study, possible improvement options are researched. All these options make use of the existing IT infrastructures of the logistics companies and the emergency services. Moreover, they meet the requirements, set in the in 2020 published Guidelines for the use of RID/ADR/ADN 5.4.0.2 of the UNECE about this subject. Finally some recommendations are formulated, in particular to the ministry of Justice and Safety.

This book is about the morality of architecture. It is more precisely about moralizing buildings. People talk about architecture morally all the time – but it is not clear how and if architecture is moral. Nor is it clear what people mean most of the time when they talk about ‘the ethics’ or ‘the morality’ of architecture. Sometimes moral talk about architecture is about a building, sometimes about the architect – and at other times it is about something else yet. If the subject matter is incredibly diverse here, so is the role of such talk. Moral talk about building commissions decides their fate, sometimes significant amounts of public expenditure. Moral talk decides the public favour of architects, as it scandalizes some and glorifies others. Moral talk writes history. And most of all, moral talk sticks. We do not quite know how to parse it, or how to get rid of it. And we certainly do not know when it is valid. In fact, we have no idea if any of it ever is. We therefore need ways to test such talk more systematically. We need to understand what such statements are really about, when they are meaningful, what is behind them, and what the conditions for their truth are. We need to understand how to disarm such statements, when necessary – and how to back them up, when required. What we need, in short, is an ethics of architecture, and this book provides one. It tells us how to systematically test moral statements about architecture. And it explains how architecture can be moral, when it is. For otherwise we would not even know what to test for. spanning the works of Vitruvius, Cicero, Kant, Semper, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and others, this wide ranging study argues for the continuity of a moral outlook across twenty centuries of architectural production in the West. Drawing on State of the Art research in contemporary ethics and the philosophy of language, The Birth of Ethics from the spirit of Tectonics argues for a radical revision of where philosophy and architecture meet. @en