Government of Netherlands

The relationship between chickenpox and yaws epidemics occurring among children in a village in Netherlands New Guinea is analysed using the mathematical model for a simple deterministic epidemic. It is shown that the yaws epidemic accelerated significantly in the month following the chickenpox epidemic, but that it reverted to its previous rate in the succeeding months. The number of yaws cases attributable to the influence of the chickenpox is estimated from the projected course of the yaws epidemic. It is statistically verified that those children contracting chickenpox were more likely to become yaws cases in the subsequent month. These results point to the danger of yaws's spread being much more rapid among a population which has recently been subject to an epidemic of chickenpox.

BACKGROUND: While the European Union is striving to become the 'Innovation Union', there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union's Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Zürich (Switzerland), and Innova Észak-Alföld (Debrecen, Hungary). METHODS: Appreciation of the 'triple helix' of university-industry-government innovation provided the impetus for the development of two quantifiable innovation indexes and related indicators. The HealthTIES H-index is calculated for disease and technology platforms based on the h-index proposed by Hirsch. The HealthTIES Innovation Index is calculated for regions based on 32 relevant quantitative and discriminative indicators grouped into 12 categories and 3 innovation phases, namely 'Input' (n = 12), 'Innovation System' (n = 9) and 'Output' (n = 11). RESULTS: The HealthTIES regions had developed relatively similar disease and technology platform profiles, yet with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The regional profiles of the innovation cycle in each of the three phases were surprisingly divergent. Comparative assessments based on the indicators and indexes helped identify and share best practice and inform regional and joint action plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the HealthTIES regions. CONCLUSION: The HealthTIES indicators and indexes provide useful practical tools for the measurement and benchmarking of university-industry-government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. They are validated internally within the HealthTIES consortium and appear to have a degree of external prima facie validity. Potentially, the tools and accompanying analyses can be used beyond the HealthTIES consortium to inform other regional governments, researchers and, possibly, large companies searching for their next location, analyse and benchmark 'triple helix' dynamics within their own networks over time, and to develop integrated public-private and cross-regional research and innovation strategies in Europe and beyond.

This article describes the growth of open government, open data and the means for transparency and accountability but aims to reflect on the bottlenecks and actual practicallity of opening data to the public domain by two governmental bodies. The Municiaplity of The Hague and The Province of South-Holland of The Netherlands are part of 2 research programmes called ‘Government of the Future’, which main goals are to explore and establish knowledge on societal innovation by new applications and possibilities of long term effects of ICT’s in the public sector. Part of these programmes are themes as transparecny and open data, which are viewed form the somewhat pragmatic and operational side of its applicability. The paper shows the development within the governmental bodies and captivates the ‘readiness’ for open data.

Aim: To investigate the relationships between team characteristics and their impact on cross-functional sourcing team effectiveness in a public procurement environment.Design/research methods: In an embedded single case study, three cross-functional sourcing teams of diverse divisions and departments of the Dutch Province of South Holland are analyzed by means of a comparative analysis.Conclusions/findings: Teams with greater interpersonal cohesiveness showed more personal and open communication and greater informal frequency of within-team communication. Apparently, task work communication has a positive impact on task cohesion, and interpersonal cohesion has a positive impact on interpersonal communication. A stable team with no changes in roles and membership is likely to show strong task cohesion. Office space for regular meetings and dedicated time for team activities contribute to team effectiveness.Originality/value of the article: Making sourcing decisions is a complex process, particularly in cross-functional sourcing teams with divergent views, objectives, and priorities of the various members of different disciplines. Few studies have examined sourcing teams in the public sector. The study is based on the Input-Mediation-Output-Input model which recognizes mediational factors (processes and emergent states) that transform inputs to outputs. The study contributes to current understanding of the nonlinear linkages between process and emergent states of cross-functional teams in the public sector. The results are useful for public organizations to create more effective cross-functional sourcing teams.

Soils developed on biothermal limestone in the Karst region of the Ajamaroe plateau contained much PO4 (up to 30% P2O5). The limestone involved was not a phosphorite, but contained 0.02-0.70% P2O5. Analysis of a silty-clay sample containing 18.6% P2O5 showed that the PO1 was present as crandallite (found in coral limestones & supposedly CaAl3(PO4)2(OH)6). Pedological investigations in the field & analytical studies of soil & limestone samples confirmed the hypothesis that the highly phosphatic soils represent the accumulation product of insoluble & secondarily precipitated compounds originally contained in the limestone strata. Six principles seem to control the outcome of the accumulative process & the final PO4 content of the soil; on account of these principic-& the relationship between specific weights of rock & soil it is conceivable that not more than 75m of limestone must dissolve to form 1m of residual soil. The occurrence of this soil type in other parts of West New Guinea & the significance of this phos-phatic material for industrial, commercial & agricultural use are discussed. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)

ABSTRACT In the summer of 1982 part of the coast of the Province of South Holland was polluted by a thick layer of crude oil. Cause of the pollution was a collision between a large Greek tanker and a French ore-carrier. In spite of the cleaning operation at sea, an estimated 640 m3 crude washed ashore. The coastline of seven municipalities was polluted. The cleaning of the coast was coordinated by the Province of South Holland, which gained a lot of experience during this operation with manual and mechanical methods of oil recovery. The province advised the municipalities on different subjects, technical as well as socioeconomic and legal. The organization of the cleaning operations was laid down in the provincial emergency plan for coastal pollution by oil. Not only the municipal services played important roles in this plan; industrial life also took part. It turned out that this emergency plan was very usable as a basis for this whole operation. The coastline, which consists for the greater part of beaches, was cleaned with bulldozers, shovels, and graders. In this way, 33,000 m3 of oil/sand mixture was gathered. The oil/sand mixture was separated with a specially developed sieving technique. Afterward, the sand was buried on the beach. In this way, the small amount of oil it still contained (0.5 percent) was disposed of biologically. The oil that remained after sieving was burned. The total costs of the cleaning operation amounted to about $2.5 million. These costs are redressed on the tankers' assurance-company.