The aim of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of self-compassionate coping on the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms in Dutch secondary vocational...Show moreThe aim of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of self-compassionate coping on the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms in Dutch secondary vocational education (MBO) students and whether this effect differed on gender. This cross- sectional study consisted of an online questionnaire, completed by 158 MBO students and which measured academic stress, related constructs and coping strategies. Data was investigated through two multiple linear regressions: one investigating the whole sample and one investigating men and women separately. An independent samples t-test analyzed gender differences in self-compassion. Results indicated a positive association between academic stress and depressive symptoms in both the total sample and the two gender groups, as well as a negative association between self-compassionate coping and depressive symptoms. Self- compassionate coping was found not to have a moderating effect in the total sample, nor in either gender group. Moreover, no significant gender differences were found in either the amount of self-compassion students experienced, or its moderating effect. Findings showed that non- university students experience many of the same issues as university students do. Despite no moderating effect being found, a direct negative association between self-compassionate coping and depressive symptoms was established. These findings indicate that existing interventions for academic stress in university students need to be applied to non-university students, as such interventions could be of help in reducing this student population’s mental health issues. Additionally, interventions aimed at non-university students’ mental health should take self- compassionate coping into account as a possible protective factor for depressive symptoms.Show less
In the 1980s, archaeological studies near the village of Valkenburg, South-Holland, unearthed the skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Valkenburg-Marktveld cemetery during the Roman period...Show moreIn the 1980s, archaeological studies near the village of Valkenburg, South-Holland, unearthed the skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Valkenburg-Marktveld cemetery during the Roman period. Part of multiple Roman fortifications along the Limes dating from 40 A.D. onwards, the cemetery was likely used as a burial ground for inhabitants of the Valkenburg fort or nearby vicus, a civilian settlement. The cemetery comprised at least 250 cremated individuals as well as 47 inhumations, which is a striking find that contradicts the common Roman practice of cremation. Due to these inhumated skeletal remains, the site provides an unique opportunity to employ osteoarchaeological analysis to reconstruct the lives of individuals that lived in the Roman Frontier region. This thesis utilizes cross-sectional geometry and bilateral asymmetry analysis to infer activity patterns among individuals at the Valkenburg-Marktveld cemetery, as current research on the differences in bone geometry between different demographic groups within Roman communities in the Lower Rhine area is limited. The study further investigates the factors and potential activity patterns that might influence those variations, such as biological age and sex. To do so, it builds on the initial osteoarchaeological study conducted by Lonnée and Maat (1998), who reported the estimated sex and age-at-death of each individual. Following this, each relevant bone in the upper and lower limbs was measured on various points to generate the indices for each point of measurement, as well as calculate the percentage directional asymmetry (DA%) and absolute asymmetry (AA%). The resulting values were then compared statistically between the biological sexes and age-at-death categories. While statistical significance is limited, the interpretation of data highlights the potential of these analyses in inferring activity patterns. Results from the analysis indicate that males tend to display more robust and symmetric upper and lower limbs than females, which are likely attributable to biological factors or a wider range of activities in males. Age-at-death categories exhibited inconsistencies with patterns described in other study, which is possibly due to natural variation or the limited preservation and availability of the skeletal material. Despite the limited number of individuals that could be examined, this thesis contributes valuable insights into the application of cross-sectional geometry and bilateral asymmetry analysis in osteoarchaeological studies, complementing historical data and broadening our understanding of activities in Roman frontier regions.Show less
The thesis contains information about the voting behavior of female young adults in the regional elections of 2023 in the Netherlands. There is a research gap in the research of young adults in the...Show moreThe thesis contains information about the voting behavior of female young adults in the regional elections of 2023 in the Netherlands. There is a research gap in the research of young adults in the regional elections in the Netherlands, which this thesis tries to close. By using multiple interviews of five different Dutch female young adults, the voting behavior is analyzed. Next to the interviews, there is also literature from previous provincial elections in the Netherlands, the voting behavior of young adults, the voting in the Netherlands, and the effect of gender on voting behavior.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
under embargo until 2024-10-19
2024-10-19T00:00:00Z
During the early modern period (1500-1800 CE), Europe was plagued by syphilis, a venereal infection caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum, resulting in chronic and debilitating symptoms....Show moreDuring the early modern period (1500-1800 CE), Europe was plagued by syphilis, a venereal infection caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum, resulting in chronic and debilitating symptoms. Desperate to resolve the infection, patients were often subjected to prolonged and extensive treatments with toxic mercury. Unfortunately, osteoarchaeological study of syphilis is challenging due to the limited skeletal visibility of the infection. Moreover, historical evidence is sparse and often influenced by sociocultural stigma attributed to the venereal nature of the disease. This scarcity of data on syphilis in the early modern period has limited more holistic research into the disease and its treatment. Therefore, this study adopted a multidisciplinary approach to investigate syphilis and its treatment at St. Gertrude’s infirmary (1382 - ca. 1611) in Kampen, the Netherlands, where presence of the disease has been previously reported. Human skeletal remains (n=79) were re-examined with a focus on treponemal disease, following the scoring system laid out by Harper et al. (2011). The potential therapeutical use of mercury was investigated by conducting archival research and multiple trace elemental analyses. Using portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (pXRF) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), subsamples of the skeletal assemblage were assessed on the presence of mercury in human bone. Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX) was conducted to assess the potential uptake of mercury in dental calculus on the teeth. Osteoarchaeological study identified several diagnostic cases of treponemal infection at the site (n=5 or 6.33%), as well as a number of cases with lesions suggestive of treponemal disease. This finding demonstrates the influence of treponemal disease, likely attributable to venereal syphilis, at St. Gertrude’s infirmary in Kampen, especially when compared to the prevalence of the disease in human skeletal assemblages from similar Dutch sites. Research into historical archives indicated that mercury was indeed used therapeutically in Kampen during the 18th century. However, it showed no direct evidence for syphilis or mercury treatment at St. Gertrude’s infirmary in the period of interest (1382 – ca. 1611). Unfortunately, elemental analyses revealed no substantial evidence for significantly elevated mercury concentrations, although interesting trends were found. In particular, both pXRF and SEM-EDX analyses did not result in absolute and quantifiable mercury concentrations. While ICP-MS analysis showed absolute concentrations of mercury in a subsample of bone material, interpreting and contextualising these results remains challenging. These observations may be explained by a lack of available mercury treatment in Kampen or a preference for other treatment methods. Nonetheless, this study helps to understand syphilis and its treatment in the early modern Netherlands and provides an evaluation of chemical analyses to detect mercury in archaeological bone.Show less
This thesis explores the role of the Dutch online media outlet NU.nl in holding the intelligence agency AIVD accountable for unlawful conduct during the utilisation of the upgraded ISS act 2017....Show moreThis thesis explores the role of the Dutch online media outlet NU.nl in holding the intelligence agency AIVD accountable for unlawful conduct during the utilisation of the upgraded ISS act 2017. This is an important issue due to the gap in literature and the increasing importance of media in society. Furthermore, the ISS act has caused public outcry in the Netherlands and citizens fear for their privacy and rights. The watchdog of the AIVD, CTIVD has published four reports investigating their conduct. Using these reports a benchmark of issues is created as indicator of good reporting to enhance accountability. This thesis has chosen to analyse the amount of coverage these issues receive in the media articles in 2018 and compare it to the occurrence of the issues in the reports. Limitations of this study are the lack of linguistic and contextual comparison and the lack of consideration of political affiliation of the news outlet. Furthermore, the CTIVD reports are considered as the ideal way to report in order to maximise intelligence accountable, which neglects the imperfection of the organisation. This paper concludes that in the 17 news articles that contain one or more of the benchmark issue(s), 6 out of the 8 relevant issues (75%) were extensively reported on in the media when comparing to the CTIVD reports resulting in a positive effect on the media’s ability to hold the AIVD accountable. Therefore, this thesis argues that the ability of the media to hold the AIVD accountable in news articles that cover the unlawful conduct is very high.Show less
Over the last two decades, Muslim communities have been confronted with prejudice and hostility as an effect of the War on Terror and the narrative that Islam is synonymous with terrorism and...Show moreOver the last two decades, Muslim communities have been confronted with prejudice and hostility as an effect of the War on Terror and the narrative that Islam is synonymous with terrorism and violence. Instead of viewing radicalisation as a process involving deep-rooted societal issues such as discrimination and social exclusion, a disproportionate focus is put on the ideological push factor that is Islam to understand and combat radicalisation. This article examines the degree to which Islamophobia has been present in Dutch policies on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) through discourse analysis. Previous research examined the effects of elements of Islamophobia being present in governmental discourse on the Muslim communities, but there showed to be a gap in the research on how this anti-Muslim sentiment is reflected and can be recognized in governmental texts. Ten Terrorist Threat Assessment Reports that were published in the early stages of the War on Terror were compared with the ten most recent reports based on the framework of elements of a closed and open view of Islam as established by the Runnymede Trust in 1997. The analysis reveals that elements of Islamophobia have been present ever since the War on Terror in the form of constructing Muslims as the enemy and overgeneralising various factions within Islam, but have seen an increase in recent years, leading current reports to reinforce Islamophobic sentiment. This research allows for elements of Islamophobia in government texts to be recognized and confronted.Show less
This thesis makes a case for literature as a legitimate historical source and argues that literature provides a historical snapshot of social change. The Dutch bakvisroman, a girls’ book about...Show moreThis thesis makes a case for literature as a legitimate historical source and argues that literature provides a historical snapshot of social change. The Dutch bakvisroman, a girls’ book about rebellious girls who are partially tamed at the end of the story, is selected as a case study. The research question therefore is: How does the Dutch bakvisroman negotiate social change from 1894-1921? First, it is analysed via close reading how five such books deal with accepted, controversial and unaccepted gender and class norms - Tine van Berken’s Een Klaverblad van Vier (1894) and De Dochters van den Generaal (1897); Top Naeff’s Schoolidyllen (1900); and Cissy van Marxveldt’s De H.B.S.-Tijd van Joop ter Heul (1919) and Joop ter Heul’s Problemen (1921). How the books are a product of social change is explored by looking into the lives of the women writers, analysing their gender and class attitudes. Lastly, how the books are an agent of social change is explained by discussing the readers’ experience, delving into its reception by pedagogues, but also its reception by girls and boys via memoirs and diaries. By historicising the books, it becomes clear why the bakvisromans perpetuate class norms while being ambivalent towards gender norms, as well as what readers actually internalised from the books.Show less
This paper examines the recurrence of three main views on disability in policy-making to understand general discourses and perspectives affecting (disability) employment policies and societal...Show moreThis paper examines the recurrence of three main views on disability in policy-making to understand general discourses and perspectives affecting (disability) employment policies and societal mindset. The most similar case study of Flanders and the Netherlands, combining critical discourse and thematic (content) analysis on plenary debates, demonstrates that the view of disability as an individual’s issue rather than a society’s responsibility was commonplace. Particularly in the case of the Netherlands. Nonetheless, the social and human rights models also re-occurred. Therefore, it illustrates how employment policies affecting individuals with disabilities consist of a mixture of views and goals, which entangle in practice and policies.Show less
Ever since the rise of computers, society has undergone a massive transition with the introduction of cyberspace. This new domain brought many opportunities, but also many new threats to...Show moreEver since the rise of computers, society has undergone a massive transition with the introduction of cyberspace. This new domain brought many opportunities, but also many new threats to governments and citizens worldwide. This paper focusses on one of the main cyber threats of this time: cyber espionage. This research discusses how the official position of the Dutch government regarding cyber espionage has evolved from 2011 onwards. As a heavily digitalized country that greatly contributes to the regulation of cyberspace and cyber espionage in international fora, the Netherlands is the ideal country to analyse. This is done by looking at policy documents and official statements of Dutch government officials at international fora. Two case studies – the DigiNotar hack in 2011 and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons hack in 2018 – illustrate how policy is put to practice.Show less
This research analyzed articles that focus on feedback in higher education, which were three of the main articles from The Cambridge Handbook of Instructional feedback; Peer Assessment Training in...Show moreThis research analyzed articles that focus on feedback in higher education, which were three of the main articles from The Cambridge Handbook of Instructional feedback; Peer Assessment Training in Teacher Education: Effects on performance and perceptions by Sluijsman, Brand-Gruwel and van Merriënboer (2002); and The Impact of Formative Peer Feedback on Higher Education Students’ Academic Writing: a Meta-Analysis by Bart Huisman, Nadira Saab, Paul van den Broek and Jan van Driel (2019). These texts are juxtaposed with the theoretical works on cultural differences by Erin Meyer (2016), and Geert Hofstede (2005), which will lead to the establishing of what cultural tendencies are influencing these approaches. These findings are then discussed to provide possible solutions to negate such differences in order to improve cross-cultural interactions in terms of written feedback in the higher educational setting.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Liberal Arts and Sciences: Global Challenges (LUC) (BA/BSc)
closed access
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long (≥ 2000 kilometers) tropospheric bands ofenhanced water vaportransport that, on average, transport more than double the flow oftheAmazon River. They are...Show moreAtmospheric rivers (ARs) are long (≥ 2000 kilometers) tropospheric bands ofenhanced water vaportransport that, on average, transport more than double the flow oftheAmazon River. They are responsible for 90% of poleward water vapor transport and have been linked toflooding and extreme rainfall events (EREs). While the impacts of this meteorological phenomenonhave been well-studied in some parts of the world, such as mountainous California, research on ARs in low relief regions is lacking. This study thus determinesto what extentARs are associated with EREs and precipitation in the Netherlands (NL) and whether this relationshipchangesspatially.NL was chosen as the study location as it is experiencing the effects of changing rainfall patterns and is a low-lying country with little relief. AR influences on one coastal city, The Hague, and one inlandcity, Maastrichtwereexamined. The scale of ARs is significantly larger than the surface area of NL, meaning that both cities are often affected by the same AR. Therefore, results between The Hague and Maastricht only differ slightly. By combining AR presence data with precipitation datathis study demonstrated that ~46% of all EREs are accompanied by an AReventin the two cities. Moreover, itwas found that 28.5% and 33.5% of all precipitation iscorrelated with AR occurrencesin The Hague and Maastricht,respectively. Lastly, rain days in Maastricht are1.9% more likely to be accompanied by an AR than in The Hague.This study supports the claim that ARs are an important factor in explaining EREs, which is highly relevant considering the predicted increase in AR occurrences due to climate change.Show less
This thesis examines to what extent the securitisation model applies to the attempted OPCW hack, the Bundestag hack, and the SolarWinds operation concerning policy implementations. The...Show moreThis thesis examines to what extent the securitisation model applies to the attempted OPCW hack, the Bundestag hack, and the SolarWinds operation concerning policy implementations. The securitisation model analyses the securitising actor’s response to the threat. Further, it analyses whether the securitisation act enabled the securitising actor to implement drastic measures. This thesis uses the case study method and selected the cases with a shared perpetrator and objective. For the findings, this thesis concluded the following for the three cases. The Dutch government completed the securitisation act for the attempted OPCW hack but did not implement drastic policies. For the Bundestag hack, the Federal Government did not complete the securitisation act but did implement drastic measures. The United States completed the securitisation act and implemented drastic policies. Thus, the extent to which the securitisation model explains the response of the victim state differs in each case.Show less
In this research the English proficiency of two groups of students who attended the same secondary school in the Netherlands are compared. The first group of students followed a monolingual pre...Show moreIn this research the English proficiency of two groups of students who attended the same secondary school in the Netherlands are compared. The first group of students followed a monolingual pre-university programme, while the other group attended a bilingual preuniversity stream. After an explanation about the differences between these two programmes and an exploration of earlier research into pronunciation and vocabulary acquisition, this study examined what the differences/similarities were between these two groups in terms of oral proficiency after five years of secondary education. Twenty students, ten of each programme, were asked to complete two tasks. For the first task they were asked to read out a text, and afterwards their pronunciation of pre-selected vowels and consonants was analyzed with the speech analysis program Praat. The second task required the students to first describe a painting by Breughel in their own words and then to describe five specific scenes on the painting. The results showed that there were slight differences between the oral proficiencies of monolingual and bilingual students and that both groups of students had not acquired a set of characteristics that all of them adhered to in terms of vowel and consonant pronunciation. A lot of variation existed between the two groups, even though the agreement was stronger in the bilingual group. When comparing both groups’ lexicon quantitatively, the bilingual group clearly expressed themselves more extensively in their second language than the monolingual group, but qualitatively speaking the bilingual students did not appear to be familiar with more lower-frequency words than the monolingual students.Show less
