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
This thesis aims to explore the evolution of Dutch media framing concerning Albania's European Union (EU) integration process. To better understand the complex dynamics impacting perceptions of...Show moreThis thesis aims to explore the evolution of Dutch media framing concerning Albania's European Union (EU) integration process. To better understand the complex dynamics impacting perceptions of Albania's EU integration, examining the media mood, framing tendencies, and the general thematic focus in Dutch news coverage is imperative. This will be guided by the theoretical framework of Liberal Intergovernmentalism Theory (LIT). The research focuses on one central question: How does the media framing of Albania in Dutch media correlate with the Dutch government's decision-making on Albania's accession process between 2018 and 2022? The findings highlight how the media can influence public opinion and policy dialogue through links between media framing and Albania's integration milestones. The findings indicate that there is a strong correlation between the portrayal of Albania in the Dutch media and the decision- making of the Dutch government on Albania's accession to the EU. The fluctuating emphasis of media framing, which reflects external influences and geopolitical dynamics, is consistent with the fundamental ideas of LIT, which hold that domestic actors must adjust to global conditions. This study emphasizes the connections among media narratives, public opinion, and policy concerns. It stresses the significance of acknowledging the media's role in promoting an informed and positive public debate on EU integration.Show less
The outcome in the Netherlands of the 2016 Ukraine referendum was influenced by Eurosceptic voting. Both this thesis and The National Referendum Research show that a lack of trust in the European...Show moreThe outcome in the Netherlands of the 2016 Ukraine referendum was influenced by Eurosceptic voting. Both this thesis and The National Referendum Research show that a lack of trust in the European Union corresponds with a ‘No’ vote. This thesis takes the analysis of the role of Eurosceptic voting a step further by using more explanatory models of Euroscepticism, giving insight on not only the relationship with Euroscepticism as a linear factor, but also as a multi-dimensional concept and a benchmark concept. With these models, this thesis shows that perceived utility of the EU - separate from trust in the EU - is an important factor that influenced the outcome of this Ukraine referendum. Beyond this, it shows that the referendum voters’ average trust in the EU’s policy and regime is lower than their trust in the national policy and regime. This leads to the conclusion that the Dutch voters have sent a message to The Hague and Brussels that they must put more effort in showing the Netherlands’ benefits through EU membership, for lack of confidence in the EU’s utility has been a key element in not accepting this international association agreement. On a methodological level, this thesis aims to contribute to a new research method predicated on the idea of ‘average towns’ because its data is collected based on the comparability of the municipality of Heemskerk with the Netherlands as a whole, in both demographics and voting outcomes.Show less
MA thesis on American internationalism at the dawn of the 20th century, revisited through a comparison with the Netherlands, showing a pattern of morallegalistic means to pursue economic goals in...Show moreMA thesis on American internationalism at the dawn of the 20th century, revisited through a comparison with the Netherlands, showing a pattern of morallegalistic means to pursue economic goals in international politics.Show less
This paper analyzes the interaction between policy distance and issue salience using the proximity model of voting. It uses a quantitative analysis of items from the Dutch Parliamentary Electoral...Show moreThis paper analyzes the interaction between policy distance and issue salience using the proximity model of voting. It uses a quantitative analysis of items from the Dutch Parliamentary Electoral Survey (2021) and POPPA (2018) to research whether the more salience is attached to economic, socio-cultural, and political issues by voters, the more important the chosen dimension will be for their vote. The examination provides data on voters’ and party positions on these three dimensions, and the binary logistic regression finds that the effect is strongest for the socio-cultural issues, but also somewhat significant for political issues, which confirms the importance of populism in contemporary Western European democracy.Show less
All over the world local governments engage in ‘decentral diplomacy’, which refers to the international relations of sub-state regions (Dams, 2022; Šimalčík, Šebok, Kalivoda, & Blablová, 2021)....Show moreAll over the world local governments engage in ‘decentral diplomacy’, which refers to the international relations of sub-state regions (Dams, 2022; Šimalčík, Šebok, Kalivoda, & Blablová, 2021). European regions often engage in decentral diplomacy with Chinese provinces because of the expected economic outcome. The question is often asked, however, how does a region economically make the most out of these relationships? This thesis studies the domestic state-local political dynamism that influences economic opportunities emerging from the provincial relationship with Jiangsu province. In an interview-based comparative case study using a most similar systems design, the Dutch province Noord-Brabant is compared to the Moravian Silesian Region in Czechia. Whereas these regions are comparable in certain aspects, of which their relationship to Jiangsu is the most important, this thesis makes the comparison studying three dissimilar factors: the extent of central-local coordination on China policy, the institutional structure of the regional relationships, and the local institutional bureaucratic effort. These factors are expected to explain the difference in economic opportunities emerged through the relationship with Jiangsu province. Studying the determinants of good interstate relations at the local level, this thesis finds that based on these two cases particularly the institutional structure of the regional relationships and the local institutional bureaucratic effort are important for economic opportunities emerged through the relationship with Jiangsu.Show less
This thesis examines the difficulties Islamic guest workers encountered integrating into Dutch society through five key factors; housing, subsidies, migrant women and family reunification,...Show moreThis thesis examines the difficulties Islamic guest workers encountered integrating into Dutch society through five key factors; housing, subsidies, migrant women and family reunification, education and finally the participation of guest workers in Dutch society.Show less
This thesis explores the early modern coffeehouse and its bourgeois clientele in Europe in the form of a case study on Dutch coffeehouses in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries. The chosen...Show moreThis thesis explores the early modern coffeehouse and its bourgeois clientele in Europe in the form of a case study on Dutch coffeehouses in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries. The chosen inquiry seeks to elucidate how a new social category – the bourgeoisie – developed over altered drinking habits, materials and the corresponding aesthetical codes within the social institution of the coffeehouse. Rather newly, the coffeehouse as an institution of publicness and consumption in the Enlightenment is researched from the angle of visual and material history. On the whole, this thesis contributes to the cultural historical field of early modern consumption. One result is that the consumer goods coffee and porcelain created a balance between rational forms of conduct and individual attitudes within the public sphere of coffeehouses. A multifarious historical approach by the means of visual and textual sources towards the early modern consumption of both coffee and porcelain considers the correspondent material qualities and suggests that porcelain from China has been remarkably suitable for the coffee ritual which entered Europe from the Middle and Near East. The thereby evolved tastes were groundbreaking for the rise of the bourgeoisie. This is demonstrated by the analysis of the design and arrangement of the vessels required for the individual and collective display of the tastes around coffee-drinking, on the basis of inventories and images. From a postcolonial perspective, the present thesis outlines which associations around the historical concept of luxury accompanied the adoption of Asian coffee and porcelain coffee ware into European consumption habits, while the world of coffee has always been represented as an oriental theme in travelogues, recipe books, medicinal treatises and fashion plates. Furthermore, the thesis describes how these ideas and values associated with coffee-drinking enabled the consolidation of the social construct of a specific regional group of the urban middleclass bourgeoisie, while locating the coffeehouse in the unique historical environment of early modern Amsterdam.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
The CRUKS exclusion register has been activated as of October 2021 by the Kansspelautoriteit, the gambling regulatory authority in the Netherlands. The register is aimed at tackling gambling...Show moreThe CRUKS exclusion register has been activated as of October 2021 by the Kansspelautoriteit, the gambling regulatory authority in the Netherlands. The register is aimed at tackling gambling addiction and protecting consumers. This study forecasts the likely success of CRUKS in meeting these public policy goals by way of comparison with the ROFUS self-exclusion register in Denmark, where a similar gambling regulatory environment exists, but which has also had its register in place for longer than in the Netherlands. Gambling exclusion registers such as CRUKS and ROFUS are examples of digital public sector innovation, with clear theoretical roots in behavioural economics, whereby the vulnerable gambler is offered a ‘one stop shop’ facility for (temporary) removal from gambling channels, while not prohibiting the less vulnerable and recreational player. The extension of the ROFUS register to land-based casinos in Denmark in late 2016 is employed as a cut-off point at which to test its effect on gambling activity in that sector. This policy intervention is shown to have a significant but steady downward effect on gambling activity, suggesting that such a register will likely have a similar effect on the gambling market in the Netherlands. This is particularly important to Dutch gamblers in light of the recent regulation of online gambling in the country, in light of the potential intensifying effects this channel has on problem gamblers.Show less
This research aims to contribute to the debates on the democratic deficit of the European Union by researching the added value of EU membership in the field of cybersecurity. One of the main...Show moreThis research aims to contribute to the debates on the democratic deficit of the European Union by researching the added value of EU membership in the field of cybersecurity. One of the main arguments when discussing the democratic deficit of the EU, argues that the EU fulfils its democratic purposes, if it works ‘for’ the people. By providing effective governance and polity, the EU membership makes cyberspace safer and more secure for its member states, which is beneficial for all EU citizens. The EU and its agencies facilitate effective and operative cooperation that works ‘for’ the people. This research focused on two member states as case studies, The Netherlands and Hungary and found evidence that the EU provides a trusted and operative environment which contributes to cybersecurity in unique ways like no other international cooperation. This research looks for evidence that Europeanization, securitization, and interdependence drive the integration in cybersecurity at the European level.Show less
This thesis aims to address the question: “How does the representation of Kurdish cultural resistance in visual art made by the Kurdish-Dutch diaspora fit within the Kurdish political discourse?”...Show moreThis thesis aims to address the question: “How does the representation of Kurdish cultural resistance in visual art made by the Kurdish-Dutch diaspora fit within the Kurdish political discourse?” To answer this question, films by Beri Shalmashi and Reber Dosky were analyzed by means of Visual Discourse Analysis on the basis of themes and symbols that fit within Kurdish political discourse. Unlike traditional International Relations (IR), this thesis takes an aesthetic turn and presents a more expressive and critical view from a diasporic narrative of the Kurdish question, which will deepen the knowledge concerning this conflict through visual discourse analysis. The themes and symbols discussed are cultural memory and collective trauma, the geo-linguistic homeland, autonomy, feminism, and the Kurdish mountains. These themes and symbols are all linked to Kurdish nationalism and cultural resistance and play an important role in the creation of a Kurdish identity among the Kurds living in diaspora. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates how the Kurdish diasporic community represents itself and how politicized Kurdish culture is.Show less
This thesis explores the evidence for Roman archaeology on the Nijmegen moraine east of the city. This area is poorly researched compared to the city of Nijmegen in the west and the newly...Show moreThis thesis explores the evidence for Roman archaeology on the Nijmegen moraine east of the city. This area is poorly researched compared to the city of Nijmegen in the west and the newly discovered auxiliary forts in Germany to the east. Roman fortifications were hypothesized to have existed on the higher peaks of the moraine, offering a commanding view over the wider area and connecting west to east. An analysis of the available literature indicates this part of the moraine might hold more Roman archaeological remains than is currently known, including villae and fortifications on the high peaks. In an attempt to predict and locate these, the AHN3 height map of the Netherlands is used for a visibility analysis and LiDAR visualization analysis of the area. The visibility analysis shows that several high peaks, most notably the Duivelsberg, are ideal locations for a watchtower which could act as a missing link in a signalling system between the fortifications in Nijmegen and those in Germany. LiDAR analysis indicates that several areas on the moraine likely contain undiscovered archaeological remains, including World War Two battle remains, prehistoric barrows, and urnfields. The research also demonstrates the strengths and shortcomings of using these digital methods to locate new archaeological remains. It is concluded that the moraine is a highly attractive area for future archaeological research into Roman Nijmegen or other periods.Show less
