When patients die relatives and healthcare professionals may appreciate the quality of the dying phase differently, but comparisons are rare. In a cross-sectional study (June 2009–July 2012) the experiences of bereaved relatives, physicians, and nurses concerning the quality of dying in a large Dutch …

Background: To improve the quality of end-of-life care, hospitals increasingly appoint palliative care nurse champions.

Purpose of review: To summarize the latest research on the risks and consequences of the burden that may be imposed on informal carers of persons living and dying with advanced heart failure. Recent findings: A systematic search in PubMed over the period 2013–2014 ultimately revealed 24 original articles …

High-tech horticulture production methods (such as vertical farming, hydroponics and other related technology possibilities), combined with evolving market side possibilities (consumer’s willingness to pay for variety, food safety and security), are opening new ways to create and deliver value. In this …

This thesis seeks to discover how personal leadership education functions in the Netherlands and to suggest recommendations for its improvement. To this end, personal leadership courses and students’ attitudes towards those courses at six higher education institutions were researched. Personal leadership …

Philips strives to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation, in both advanced and emerging markets. There are major differences between these worlds, also in healthcare. This is mainly the result of the limited resources in the emerging countries and the lack of availability of …

This paper describes the development and first version of an eHealth system for sports physicians who support employees in improving their health and fitness. Regular physical activity improves quality of life and has various health benefits. Companies have an interest in the health and fitness of …

Technology designed to sense behavior, often neglects to directly incorporate subjective input from (elderly) users. This paper presents experiences in deploying technology that considers the elderly user and their subjective input as a way to enrich sensor data systems and empower the user. For this …

The goal of my PhD is to analyse socializing practices of peers from 4-8 in after school centers en study the role of caretakers in the socializing practices. My main focus is on how children socialize each other whithin a setting that is changing every day. When we know more of the children’s social …

Dietary fibers are at the forefront of nutritional research because they positively contribute to human health. Much of our processed foods contain, however, only small quantities of dietary fiber, because their addition often negatively affects the taste, texture, and mouth feel. There is thus an urge …