This research is a case study investigating the effect of participation in the development process of a network-based scientist-journalist recommender system on the mental model of digital innovation of a team of communication professionals from Delft University of Technology and Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Communication professionals at research institutes are tasked with connecting scientists and journalists. The recommender system supports this process by recommending scientist-journalist connections based on data from previous collaborations. A scientist collaboration network, a journalist collaboration network and a scientist-journalist collaboration network are combined into a multilayer network. A recommender system is designed based on centrality metrics in the scientist and journalist collaboration networks and distance metrics in the multilayer network. In contrast to traditional link prediction problems - which aim to predict what links are most likely to form in the network - the problem in this thesis is how to recommend the most likely link for a single node, i.e. the most likely scientist links for a given journalist or most likely journalist links for a given scientist. A novel evaluation method is created to evaluate the performance of the recommender system.

The development of this system is used as a vessel to research how participation in a digital development process affects the mental model of digital innovation. This research contributes to addressing the lack of understanding of how to develop a mental model that facilitates innovation in the context of digital transformation. Three themes were identified in their mental model change: The extent to which innovation requires involvement, the complexity of innovation processes and what outcomes can realistically be expected of a digital innovation process. The team went from a model of digital innovation as 'a mysterious black box' - something external, where they could hand in a list of requirements and walk away with a digital tool - to a 'super puppy' that can do remarkable things, but has to be trained and interacted with to get a desired effect. ... Read more

Transdisciplinary research can be a powerful means to achieve a change in society. This participatory form of research is becoming increasingly common in climate and energy research. However, transdisciplinary research can be challenging. Which role should a researcher adopt when collaborating with societal actors? This master thesis focuses on challenges around transdisciplinary researcher-roles at a specific academic research institute: the Center for climate and energy transformation (CET) at the University of Bergen in Norway. Through design-based research, the thesis developed a tool that can help starting researchers at CET (students and PhD-candidates) to reflect on these challenges. First, a descriptive case-study at CET analyzed which challenges researchers at CET face, using semi-structured interviews, logbooks and focus groups. Next, the research designed a reflection tool, using brainstorming techniques, prototype evaluations session and a test session. The resulting reflection tool is a card-game that makes CET-researchers exchange ideas about which roles to adopt in a playful way. Through the game, the CET-researchers learn a new language with which they can talk about researcher roles. They widen their repertoire to think and speak about what they want to contribute to transdisciplinary collaborations and how they can do that. This can help them when making role-divisions in researcher-teams and when discussing expectations with collaboration partners. Helping the academic changemaker reflect on their role in transdisciplinary collaboration – it is a crucial step towards creating more conscious and purposeful collaborations with the ability to transform society in the face of climate change. ... Read more

Throughout the work, the goal was to develop the physical layer of a quantum network stack. The layer of the network stack connected to the physical layer is the link layer. For entanglement-based quantum networks, we demonstrated the successful operation of a link layer and a physical layer. The physical layer’s entanglement generation procedure—implemented here using two NV center-based quantum network nodes—is abstracted by the link layer into a robust platform-independent service that can be utilized to run quantum networking applications. Other quantum network platforms using the approaches provided here (which are not unique to our diamond devices) will accelerate the development of large-scale and heterogeneous quantum networks.

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A vision is developed on how successful university-industry collaborations can be established in the field of quantum technology development. By looking at the stakeholders, purpose and type of collaboration, and influencing factors, a three-step model is developed to move from awareness to acceptance to collaboration. By overcoming the existing barriers, university-industry collaborations can be successfully realized. ... Read more

Research on the possibilities to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the Operating Room (OR) is rising, although there is no implementation yet. AI-assisted monitoring could provide support to anesthesia assistants in their task of patient monitoring, by making predictions on the future occurrence of deviating events in the vital parameter values of the patient. As AI-assisted monitoring would come close the profession of anesthesia assistants, this explorative, qualitative research investigates the attitude of anesthesia assistants towards the use of AI in their task of patient monitoring. Furthermore, it investigates the motivational factors that are important for their motivation in their monitoring task as well as the expected impact of AI on their motivation. This design-based research subsequently describes how these results are incorporated into the development of an educational module about AI and motivation for anesthesia assistants. Gaining as well as giving insight in the motivation of anesthesia assistants is important, as their motivation is of impact on their professional behaviour while their decisions and actions are directly related to the safety of the patient.

Through literature research and semi-structured interviews, it was found that among anesthesia assistants there is little knowledge on the possibilities of AI at the OR, but that their attitude towards AI-assisted monitoring is positive as long as only suggestions are given. Only two out of eight anesthesia assistants are cautiously positive towards the possibility of AI to automate the monitoring process. Furthermore, it was found that the motivational factors of autonomy, relatedness, competence, self-efficacy, and self-actualisation are all important to very important in the motivation of anesthesia assistants. Overall, none of these factors stands out in being most or least important. The expected impact of AI on these motivational factors among anesthesia assistants varies from negative to positive and is highly dependent on the form of AI-assisted monitoring. As various forms of interrelatedness between all these motivational factors are identified by the anesthesia assistants, specific to their working practice and environment, the impact on one motivational factor might indirectly also impact others.

These results on attitude and motivation are incorporated in the design of an educational module for anesthesia assistants. The module consists of two parts. One part regarding AI-assisted monitoring and one part regarding the motivational factors that are important for their motivation and the impact of AI on motivation. Design requirements by the anesthesia assistants, as well as an expert validation by an anesthesia educator, are used to finalise the design of the module. This module can help anesthesia assistants to develop awareness and understanding of how AI-assisted monitoring, in the form of giving suggestions, can support them in their patient monitoring task. Furthermore, it helps them to develop awareness and understanding on their own motivation and the impact that the use of AI-assisted monitoring may have on their motivation, guiding them towards becoming deliberate professionals. ... Read more

In this work, we studied future expansions of a synthetic cell with a dual perspective. For the Nanobiology part, we studied how the membrane surface area of a synthetic cell can grow, which is required for a synthetic cell to divide. Here, we combined growth strategies based on DNA and tension-mediated vesicle fusion. We found that 1 μM DNA and an osmotic shock optimise fusion efficiency, and we showcased the broad applicability of our fusion protocol. Furthermore, we observed indications of membrane growth, with a potential increase in membrane surface area sufficient for sustained synthetic cell division. For the Science Communication part, we studied the vision of the Synthetic Cell Initiative to build a European innovation ecosystem. The purpose of this innovation ecosystem is to develop synthetic cell applications through co-production. We propose that this innovation ecosystem should be formed through local synthetic cell hubs. By the promotion of bottom-up initiatives and the execution of top-down activities, responsible research and innovation can be internalised in the envisioned innovation ecosystem. ... Read more

Collaborative Innovation can serve to elevate the production potential of firms and organisations as well as preparing them for the future. This process of two organisations collaborating together is very complex and becomes even more difficult when organisations are large and very different in their organisational culture or function. This research describes the design of a tool to aid Collaborative Innovative Capacity in public - private organisational partnerships. The research is based on a case study within the Dutch national rail infrastructure management organisation and focuses on the relationship between this organisation and its maintenance contractors. Through literature research and semi-structured interviews the studied situation is found to consist of two parties trying to innovate together using an imperfect collaborative system. Their separate, struggling relationships with this system are not shared or understood by the other party. This gives rise to a wall of misunderstanding. The designed tool is based on the assumption that through better understanding of the barriers which are present in the other party’s struggling relationship with the collaborative system, the wall of misunderstanding can be lowered which in turn increases Collaborative Innovative Capacity in the public - private organisational partnership. This tool takes the form of a serious game which presents players with scenarios which (potentially) hinder them in their game objective. These scenarios are representations of real-world barriers to innovation. Through confronting players with scenarios which are related to another organisational role than the one they occupy in their professional life, they should gain new perspectives about the struggling relationship of the other party with the collaborative system. Thereby lowering the wall of misunderstanding and increasing Collaborative Innovative Capacity. The results of the design and preliminary testing show that the developed serious game does have an effect in the form of gained attitudes towards the importance of sharing different experienced barriers towards innovations with one another. However measurements show no actual newly gained insights into practical barriers which were not already known to the players. While further research, more extensive testing and measurements, and further specification and expansion of scenarios can be undertaken to increase the value of this tool, after reconsideration a revised design objective is formulated which focuses on the interaction between the participants and relaxes its rigid view on the wall between them. This could yield a tool which is more in tune with the essence of the problem which would also cause it to be much simpler in nature. ... Read more

Q\&A fora have developed into a precious tool for online knowledge exchange. Being community-driven, openly accessible and free, getting an answer to a complicated question can nowadays be a matter of minutes. This research investigates the specific case of gis.stackexchange, a technical Q&A forum used by Geographic Information Systems professionals. A central topic is the interaction between users. Based on existing research, an automated approach is elaborated and a big data analysis is performed. Also, a link between the outcomes and self-reflective behaviour found on the community meta forum is established. Factors positively influencing interaction as defined by the approach are identified (implication of the author(s), presence of images and code snippets). Furthermore, weaknesses such as the low share of interactions associated to an alteration (of the original post) are also discussed. These outcomes eventually lead to a series of recommendations for the forum itself and related formats. ... Read more

System identification techniques to analyse movement disorders are in development, but concrete clinical evidence to receive broad support from the clinical world is lacking. This master thesis proposes two ways to accelerate their development as part of the master’s programmes in Mechanical Engineering and Science Communication. The Mechanical Engineering part focuses on the development of system identification techniques themselves. For this study, an ensemble-based algorithm is developed to identify intrinsic and reflexive joint stiffness during voluntary movements. The algorithm combines two methods from previous research: the Parallel-Cascade method to separate intrinsic and reflexive stiffness and an instrumental variable approach to allow subjects to carry out voluntary movements and apply closed-loop identification. A simulation and experimental study are conducted with the human wrist joint in which a sinusoidal angle reference trajectory is followed using multiple realisations of the same trial. To elicit the modulation of intrinsic parameters, a torque field is applied that is linearly dependent on the wrist angle with a greater flexion resulting in a higher torque. In the simulation study, the intrinsic and reflexive pathways are separated and over 98% of the variance is explained. In the experimental study, the modulation of intrinsic stiffness is estimated with an explained variance of over 90%. Intrinsic stiffness is highest during the peaks of the trajectory and lower during the transition phase from one peak to another. However, the torque response of the experimental study shows that no significant extra torque is added during the reflexive EMG peak. The obtained results underline the promising potential of the algorithm and open up new possibilities once the algorithm is tested on an experimental task where more reflexes are elicited. The Science Communication part focuses on developing a shared mental model to transfer knowledge on the processes behind cross-disciplinary collaborations to mechanical engineers, as devoting time and effort to the metacognitive process helps in coping with it. However, most theories on cross-disciplinarity are written from a social sciences paradigm and are inherently difficult to interpret from a mechanical engineering paradigm. An analogy is developed to link concepts from both epistemologies together. This is done by assembling a theoretical framework containing concepts on the processes behind cross-disciplinary collaborations. These concepts are linked to analogous counterparts from mechanical engineering by relying on conceptual similarities between mechanical stiffness and collaborative pliability. As a result, knowledge of cross-disciplinary collaborations can be immersed with existing conceptual knowledge of mechanical stiffness. Collaboration theories become part of the primary discipline instead of being treated as a separate discipline. The model, called the Collaborative Pliability Model, is assessed by a group of six mechanical engineering students. The students considered the model to be an effective tool for learning about cross-disciplinary collaborations. By using the model, they came up with numerous new factors affecting the success of their collaborative process. This gives a promising outlook for the future and opens the door for new applications for developing an analogy used to transfer knowledge between specific target groups. ... Read more

This research project proposes a theoretical gamified design of a storytelling platform to engage TU Delft researchers into proactive submission of story ideas to co-create online storytelling for wide audiences. While universities have focused on improving communication with the general public in the past decades, researchers may still find barriers to engage in public communication of science. One of these barriers is proactive media contact, as the scientific community may perceive it as outside of the researchers’ role and subject the “transgressor” to informal peer-based sanctions. By assessing a sample of TU Delft researchers’ attitude towards an online TU Delft non-profit storytelling platform for internal and external communication similar to the target one, response efficacy proved to be the primary variable to motivate TU Delft researchers to engage in co-creation of online storytelling. The findings further confirm existing theories that younger and more intrinsically motivated researchers seem more willing to engage in online storytelling compared to older and more extrinsically motivated peers. The study translated these guidelines into a gamified design based on graph force models that challenge researchers to create tags related to their story, and form connections with peers within the TU Delft. To access these functionalities, TU Delft researchers must register to the platform by submitting a story idea, e.g. related to their researcher or field of study, and be willing to co-create online storytelling if their story is chosen. The design targets different groups of users by balancing the experience through the Octalysis framework, and implementing social points, competitions among faculties and badges. According to an evaluation with the case owner and a gamification expert of the first iteration of the design, rewarding the submission of stories with a network, seem effective in engaging TU Delft researchers to submit story ideas proactively and enhance collaboration and innovation with the TU Delft. ... Read more

Around the world, there are 58 Small Island Developing States (SIDS). What these SIDS generally have in common is that they are very susceptible to different natural hazards, among which coastal flooding. In order to address this issue, adaptation measures are needed. In order to prioritize adaptation efforts when considering these islands at a large scale, it is important to obtain an overview of which islands are most vulnerable to coastal flooding. This requires a large-scale assessment of coastal flooding for these islands. Such a large-scale assessment introduces different challenges, that were looked into in the hydraulic engineering part of this thesis. A first challenge is the availability op topography data for these islands. For most islands, only satellite-based DEMs are available. The accuracy of different satellite-based DEMs was assessed by comparing them to more accurate elevation data for 11 different islands. It could be concluded that in general, the TanDEM-X DEM is the most accurate for terrains with milder slopes, and the ALOS DEM for terrains with steeper slopes. Furthermore, the DEM error was found to be strongly correlated with forested and builded areas. Especially the DEM error in builded areas poses a problem for coastal flood assessments, as these are the main areas of interest in such assessments. Therefore, a building-correction method based on data from Open Street Map (OSM) was proposed and implemented. It could be concluded that the building-correction can both in- and decrease the DEM error, depending on the other error sources that are present in the DEM. A second challenge that is introduced when upscaling coastal flood assessments, is the used method for flood modelling. In the context of this thesis, a simple flood model (called the JBIW model) was developed. This model is a combination of the Janssen-Battjes model for short wave dissipation and the IW-method, which was originally developed for large-scale river flooding calculations. The JBIW model was tested in 1D and compared to other flood models. The results indicated that the simple flood model can be used to obtain a first estimate of coastal flooding, but is not accurate enough to predict exact values of the maximum water levels. Furthermore, the JBIW model was implemented in 2D for the island of Ebeye. The model was combined both with accurate elevation data and with building-corrected satellite-based DEMs. The results indicated that the error introduced by the use of the simple JBIW model were much smaller than the errors introduced by the use of the satellite-based DEMs. This indicates that further research focusing on the upscaling of coastal flood assessments for reef-fronted SIDS should focus on obtaining more accurate elevation data for these islands.
Apart from allocating resources to the SIDS in the most efficient way, it is important that the resources that are allocated to a certain island are used effectively. There are different ways to help these islands. An interesting approach is to focus on increasing the adaptive capacity of the SIDS. In the context of the science communication part of this thesis it was investigated whether the simple JBIW model could be used to increase the adaptive capacity to coastal flooding in the context of São Tomé. In order to do this, a theoretical framework was developed that aims to provide practical guidance in the assessment of the (barriers to the) adaptive capacity of a certain system. This framework was applied to the context of São Tomé to map the adaptive capacity to coastal flooding of the system and obtain an overview of the most important barriers to this adaptive capacity. Subsequently, it was assessed which barriers could be addressed with a tool based on the JBIW model. These barriers were used as the starting point for an initial design of the tool interface. ... Read more

This project has researched the consequences of blockchain technology on the
expected future role of banks. And furthermore, how banks can respond to these effects to improve the innovation strategy and remain their future relevance. ... Read more

This research project aims to find a way for the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague to communicate about their museum building to its visitors. The museum building is to become an explicit part of the visitor experience. By means of design-based research a list of design requirements was composed and a web-based mobile application was designed as communication tool. ... Read more

The goal of this graduation project, conducted for the master science communication at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), was to design a tool to help partners of diabetes type 1 patients to come closer to the patient, by conversations about diabetes, to gain more insights in how the patients feels and how to support. The project is part of the Integrated Care Program for Diabetes type 1 patients (INCAP) in which ultiple partners are involved (SERMAS, Medtronic, Universidad Politécnica Madrid, TU Delft).
... Read more

The goal of this thesis was to ‘develop a tool that offers insights in message framing for behaviour change to improve communication towards customers.’ By using an Design Based Research and Double Diamond approach constant iterations were made between theory and practice to develop a support tool that helps sustainable start-ups to design message frames that stimulate pro-environmental consumer behaviour change. Furture recommendations are to further develop the tool, test the effects, and stimulate more integrated research on the psychology of behaviour change, sustainable behaviour barriers, and framing designs. ... Read more

The study is the first to describe and model the dynamics and characteristics of communication during midstream modulation. A meta-model of seven communication traditions is deployed to frame the nature of communication. The study also validates the effectiveness of midstream modulation in the field of medical device technology. ... Read more

In the Netherlands, 2,5 million people are low-literate, which means they have trouble with reading, writing, numeracy or digital skills. As a result, they can experience difficulty with everyday tasks such as making a grocery list or taking public transport. Low-literacy negatively impacts both the individual as well as society. Despite efforts to address low-literacy, the percentage of low-literates is rising. It is not just the older generation, five percent of 16-24-year-olds are low-literate, and children of low-literate parents are three times more likely to become low-literate themselves than other children are. Two-thirds of low-literates in the Netherlands are natives, but in practice, they are the group reached less by literacy efforts. They are often ashamed and successful at hiding it because they are fluent speakers. Those in programmes are often already in mature adulthood, whereas for both the individual and society it would be beneficial if education is sought earlier in life. Therefore, this thesis tries to design an intervention reach and activate a younger group to want to address their literacy issues. The main research question is: “What are the barriers and enablers to reach and activate native Dutch low- literates, in particular, young parents?”Because low-literacy is a social problem, both the individual and societal perspective is explored: the individual perspective through interviews with the target group, the societal perspective through desk-research, and both through conversations with employees at Stichting Lezen & Schrijven who have much experience with the topic. These explorations resulted in ten design factors that serve as a basis for the intervention, as well as the insight that the low-literate’s dependency on those around him as well as the government, might be the core of the problem. As a result of this dependency, people’s self-efficacy can be diminished. A third perspective, a theoretical one, focussed on self-efficacy and related constructs, is taken. This perspective resulted in 18 extra design factors. At the same time of the theoretical exploration, the design of the intervention was started, in this way both influenced each other in the focus they had. The 19 theoretical factors go beyond the context of low-literacy and could, therefore, be applied to design projects that wish to increase self-efficacy. Resulting from insights based on context and theory, a design intervention is created that focusses on supporting young low-literate parents to engage with their children in the context of literacy through crafting. The design intervention is proposed to be offered as a promotional 11-week programme at a supermarket, available to all parents of young children, as a way to not single out those that are low-literate. The crafting instruction contains very little text, nevertheless the difficulty will slowly rise each week, the goal is to make the parent feel capable (self-efficacious) but at the same time show them they could benefit from improving their skills. The design is evaluated with professionals and users, showing that it is overall well-liked but the link to education could be improved. Due to time limitations, it was not possible to assess whether the intervention manages to increase self-efficacy, a pilot is proposed as a way to verify the effectiveness of the design. As a result of these evaluations, a final design is created that incorporates reading of the instruction even more fully. ... Read more

Following the perspective of the European Horizon 2020 project ‘NUCLEUS’, Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) should be brought to life in universities and scientific institutions. This study acts as one of the mobile nuclei of the NUCLEUS project, with the goal to operationalize RRI instead of building theories. The aim of this research is to stimulate reflexivity, one of the dimensions of RRI, amongst scientists in fundamental research within the TU Delft, using a simple tool or method. This is done using a self-developed co-design approach, based on design-based research. This research is the first attempt to create a tool together with the end-users, the fundamental scientists, to stimulate RRI.

In this study, the mirror tool is designed and tested. On micro-ethics level (first order) reflexivity was stimulated using the tool. Especially first year’s students mentioned that the mirror form would help guiding them when reflecting on large projects or when being stuck. However, macro-ethics (second order reflexivity) was not considered using the tool, and thus the socio-ethical and socio-economic aspects were not taken into account yet. Therefore, changes to the design are proposed assuring also macro-ethics will be considered.

Using the tool, not only reflexivity is stimulated, but also responsiveness is encouraged, due to the last question ‘So what?’. In this way, not only learning and thinking will change, but also adjustments can be made to the current way of working.

Implementation of the tool at the BN department of the TU Delft could be done via two ways: either via the graduate school or via the principle investigators. Furthermore, quantitative tests should be performed to statistically prove the effect of the tool, increasing its reliability. Besides, the tool could be more functional when digitalizing the mirror form, such that users are not limited by the amount of writing space and such that supplementary elements could be implemented.

Apart from using the mirror tool in their universities, the NUCLEUS consortium can additionally benefit from the new methodology to create a tool for RRI with and for scientists. Using the one page guideline (appendix 17), consortium members can conveniently create a tool for RRI for their specific target group and in their context. ... Read more