Organized crime has remained an incredibly persistent problem in Mexico in the last decades consequently causing severe levels of violence, insecurity, and corruption in the country. Historically,...Show moreOrganized crime has remained an incredibly persistent problem in Mexico in the last decades consequently causing severe levels of violence, insecurity, and corruption in the country. Historically, Mexican organized crime groups have demonstrated strong resilience and overcome various challenges posed by the Mexican and American governments. However, it is not clear how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted organized crime in Mexico. This thesis wishes to explore this by studying the changes in organized crime activity in Mexico before and during the pandemic. Based on the crime rates, it was observed that some organized crime-related activities decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, while others remained stable. These results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent regulations have had a slight, but insignificant impact on organized crime in Mexico. This strongly indicate that Mexican organized crime groups’ have the ability to show great resilience in the face of major disruptions to the social environment. This finding highlights the need for more detailed research on what mechanisms enable organized crime to remain afloat. An understanding of these mechanisms is of great significance to policymakers attempting to limit the harm of organized crime.Show less
Governance constitutes an important feature of organized crime. Across the world, millions of people live under criminal governance. In such cases, criminal organizations are involved in enforcing...Show moreGovernance constitutes an important feature of organized crime. Across the world, millions of people live under criminal governance. In such cases, criminal organizations are involved in enforcing rules and collecting taxes, providing security, as well as offering basic goods and services. This phenomenon primarily takes place in areas of weak state presence, where the government fails to satisfy the population's basic needs such as physical and social security. As of today, criminal governance remains particularly widespread throughout Latin America. Indeed, the region suffers from high levels of violence and public insecurity, which bear significant impacts on social, economic, and political life. The states of Mexico and Brazil, in particular, are home to some of the largest criminal organizations in the world. The latter include cartels and gang networks of various sizes and organizational structures. In turn, the same organizations have been involved in establishing localized governance practices in their respective countries. Despite being a well-researched concept in academia, criminal governance remains understudied in contexts of crisis. The states of Brazil and Mexico have been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and its negative socioeconomic impacts. In addition, the said crisis profoundly altered the environment in which criminal organizations operate. Using a comparative case study methodology, this thesis, therefore, investigates the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on criminal governance practices from criminal groups in Mexico and Brazil. In doing so, it aims to form a better understanding of how criminal organizations adapted their governance activities to the health crisis.Show less
Scientific background. In 2019, the first cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) were reported. As a consequence of the new reality, the virus induced a plethora of fears. Fear is an adaptive response...Show moreScientific background. In 2019, the first cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) were reported. As a consequence of the new reality, the virus induced a plethora of fears. Fear is an adaptive response in the presence of danger, however, if presented in a continuous and uncertain fashion, it may become chronic and maladaptive. Parents can influence children’s emotional responses via direct and subtle, verbal and non – verbal behaviours. Particularly, parental suppression of emotion can dampen the development of effective coping responses in children. Hypotheses. We expected parental fear to be positively correlated with child fear, and parental suppression of emotion to increase the strength of the relationship between parental Covid-19 fears and child Covid-19 fears. Methods. This study is a cross-sectional design set out to measure fears of Covid-19 and parental suppression of emotion. Parents (N = 219; 24.2% male) and their 8- to 18-year-old children (N = 195; 42.1% male) were recruited. Statistical analyses. A multiple regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between parental Covid-19 fears and child covid-19 fears, and the moderating effect of parental suppression of emotion. Results. Parental Covid-19 fears is significantly associated with child Covid-19 fears, however parental suppression of emotion has no significant effect on the strength of this relationship. Conclusion. Parents’ abilities to efficiently manage their fears are especially crucial during crisis periods such as the Covid-19 pandemic, as this can have a correlating effect on their children’s Covid-19 fears.Show less
Abstract Yearly, many patients get admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) worldwide, with even more admissions since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With the rising survival...Show moreAbstract Yearly, many patients get admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) worldwide, with even more admissions since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With the rising survival number, investigating the long-term Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcomes, which can be negatively influenced by depressive symptoms, became important. This study investigates whether there is a difference in depressive symptoms between COVID-19 and non-COVID patients that got admitted to the ICU; how depressive symptoms influence the HRQoL, and if there is a difference in HRQoL between COVID-19 patients and non-COVID patients; and if there is a relationship between the self-reported health, happiness, and satisfaction about the ICU stay and depressive symptoms. It was expected that COVID-19 patients would have a higher mean score on depressive symptoms than non-COVID patients, COVID-19 patients with depressive symptoms have lower HRQoL scores than non-COVID patients, and lastly, that there would be a negative relation between the self-reported health, happiness and satisfaction about the ICU stay and depressive symptoms. In this study, 278 patients participated. Approximately one year after ICU discharge, patients filled out a survey. For this study, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Euroqol Quality of Life (EQ6D), and general questions about the health, happiness, and satisfaction of the ICU stay were taken into account. An independent t-test demonstrated significant higher mean scores on depressive symptoms in COVID-19 patients than in non-COVID patients (p < .05). Regression analysis showed that depressive symptoms predicted HRQoL (p < .05), but HRQoL was not different between COVID versus non-COVID (p = .225). Regression analysis showed both health and happiness predicted depressive symptoms(p < .05), but not between satisfaction and depressive symptoms (p = .318). The results confirmed our hypothesis that there would be higher mean scores on depressive symptoms in COVID-19 patients than in non-COVID patients. Our findings are clinically relevant and can be used to provide better mental health care after ICU discharge. Follow-up studies should among other things focus on the length of ICU stay, the time during the pandemic that someone got admitted to the ICU, and the depressive symptoms two years after ICU discharge.Show less
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was assumed that European cooperation, both individually and collectively, would produce better results than autonomous national self-interest. Especially the...Show moreDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, it was assumed that European cooperation, both individually and collectively, would produce better results than autonomous national self-interest. Especially the demand for increased cross-national cooperation to accelerate data exchange for multilateral COVID-19 research to inform public health policy-making was highly critical. However, sharing health data for secondary purposes such as research is difficult, as technical, political, and ethical issues were identified before the COVID-19 pandemic. This thesis focused on data management issues and barriers such as a lack of metadata standards and data interoperability. Facilitating cross-border secondary use of health data to inform public health decisions has been on the EU's agenda for some time, leading to the creation of the Joint Action Towards the European Health Data Space and the European Commission’s recommendation on a European electronic health record exchange standard, among other things. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an excellent case study for determining whether these guidelines were adequate for guiding efficient data sharing in collaborative research. For instance, the EU made a significant investment in cooperative COVID-19 research projects with the goal of providing data to support public health policies. In this thesis, ReCoDID, ORCHESTRA, unCoVer, and SYNCHROS—four projects financed by the EU Horizon2020 program—are discussed in detail. The projects shed light on the challenges of sharing patient-level data from observational cohorts, particularly with regard to data management issues such as data interoperability. It was discovered that EU guidelines did enable the formation of research projects and that these projects were even aimed at improving data harmonisation and exchange in COVID-19 research. However, because there is still no EU-standardised agreement on the selection of data interoperability standards, this has become a difficult task. Specifically, none of the four projects examined was able to locate interoperability standards at the legal, policy, care process, information, application, or infrastructure levels.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Background: The abrupt spread of Covid-19 all over the world created a global crisis and resulted in a pandemic which led to various adverse mental health outcomes. Concordantly, studies reported...Show moreBackground: The abrupt spread of Covid-19 all over the world created a global crisis and resulted in a pandemic which led to various adverse mental health outcomes. Concordantly, studies reported an increasing trend in the prevalence and severity of binge eating and emotional eating symptoms. Aims: To estimate the prevalence and severity rates of binge eating and emotional eating symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic through systematic review with meta-analysis. Methods: Pre-registered systematic review with meta-analysis (Prospero ID: CRD42022316105). Results: Systematic searches in PubMed and Web of Science (final search date 19th of March, 2022) yielded 27 eligible studies on changes in binge eating and emotional eating prevalence and severity rates during the Covid-19 outbreak (total N = 22.029). An overall increase in the elicited and exacerbated binge eating and emotional eating symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic was observed (number of studies (k) = 14, r = 0.27, 95% CIs = 0.059 to 0.478). Furthermore, overall 7% of participants reported increases in pooled binge eating and emotional eating behaviours. Conclusions: Our data show a significant increase in the prevalence and severity rates of binge eating and emotional eating during the Covid-19 outbreak. This increase may be expected due to raised emotions of stress, loss of control, fear, ineffectiveness, and boredom during the pandemic. Public health policies and intervention programs for preventing and treating binge eating and emotional eating symptoms should be considered during confinement or related circumstances.Show less
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused both academic and financial hardship for students pursuing higher education in the Netherlands, including study delays and layoffs. Given that these types of...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused both academic and financial hardship for students pursuing higher education in the Netherlands, including study delays and layoffs. Given that these types of incidents have a bearing on students' overall financial behaviour and that student loans are a common tool among students to finance their postsecondary education, one would expect these effects of the pandemic to have a direct impact on student borrowing behaviour. However, there is another variable to take into account, namely students' financial preferences, particularly with regard to having or taking on debt. Accordingly, this study reports on the degree of debt aversion and how it affects the borrowing behaviour of students in Dutch higher education during this crisis. This relationship is examined by means of three hypotheses and corresponding multiple regression analyses with moderation effects, using data obtained through the use of a survey and an additive index measuring the degree of debt aversion. This research has shown that the financial preference of debt aversion has a negative impact on the borrowing behaviour of students. In other words, the higher a student’s degree of debt aversion is, the lower their monthly amount of student loans will be. This relationship does not differ depending on whether or not a student has been directly affected by the pandemic and the effects thereof.Show less
Research has proposed disgust sensitivity as a contributor to the development of various mental disorders, such as phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (Curtis, 2012; Mancini et al, 2001...Show moreResearch has proposed disgust sensitivity as a contributor to the development of various mental disorders, such as phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (Curtis, 2012; Mancini et al, 2001; Olatunji et al., 2005, 2007). This study examined the relationship between disgust sensitivity and OCD symptoms in a non-clinical sample after one year into the Covid-19 pandemic. During a pandemic, individuals might have different perceptions regarding how much they have been exposed to the virus (Brand et al., 2013). Therefore, it was hypothesized that the relationship between disgust sensitivity and OCD symptoms may differ for different levels of perceived exposure to Covid-19, a newly developed item for this study. Thus, it was hypothesized that perceived exposure to Covid-19 would moderate the relationship between disgust sensitivity and OCD symptoms. A survey was administered to collect the data, and moderation analysis was conducted to investigate the hypotheses. Analysis has shown that the expected moderation was not present as the interaction effect was insignificant (b = -0.178, t = -0.252, and p = .801). The same moderation effect was also not present between OCD subscale contamination obsessions and washing compulsions and disgust sensitivity subscale contamination-based disgust as the interaction effect was insignificant (b = .251, t = 1.380, and p = .169). Nevertheless, this study paves the way for further research in pandemic factors and pandemic perceptions and their potential role in the relationship between disgust sensitivity and OCD symptomsShow less
The digitization of museums is something which is increasingly integrated into the conduct of The Rijksmuseum, with the institution also adapting to the use of social media to encourage their...Show moreThe digitization of museums is something which is increasingly integrated into the conduct of The Rijksmuseum, with the institution also adapting to the use of social media to encourage their remote audience. The COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the user experience of cultural heritage and, in order to communicate a selective narrative of its artworks to its users, The Rijksmuseum created a Tiktok account. Due to the adaptation, several questions have been raised with regards to the aura and experience of artwork, and how this is altered in an online setting, an environment where images circulate at a fast pace. This thesis aims to cover Haidy Geismar’s methodology surrounding object materiality as well as her discussion of the break away from the ‘white cube’ museum setting. In addition to discussing David Joselit’s ideas regarding the circulation of digitized objects and the ‘buzz’ of the image. These key concepts will be discussed in relation to Jan Asselijn’s ‘De Bedreigde Zwaan’, and its online presence; this is the key case study of this thesis. Overall, this thesis aims to discuss how the use of Tiktok as a platform mediates this key Golden Age artwork and how this effects its meaning and interpretation.Show less
This thesis aims to add to the understanding of the relationship between the WHO and the Netherlands in the securitization of a PHEIC declaration. As the debate in global health governance centres...Show moreThis thesis aims to add to the understanding of the relationship between the WHO and the Netherlands in the securitization of a PHEIC declaration. As the debate in global health governance centres on the question whether the West and WHO align on their preferences to securitize infectious diseases, this thesis provides a country-level analysis of the securitization of the 2014 Ebola and 2016 Zika PHEIC declarations by the Dutch government. The findings of this research indicate that the Dutch government does not unconditionally follow the WHO’s preference in securitizing global health crises. The Dutch government’s decision-making process toward securitization was not guided by the WHO’s PHEIC declaration. It was primarily guided by national considerations, such as its own public health, and regional or national actors, such as its national health institute - the RIVM - and the European health institute - the ECDC. It opposed the WHO, because it lacks a policy or strategy toward global health and global health governance. The research showed the Dutch government is sceptical of the WHO because of its lack in transparency, causing the government to react in a self-serving manner when faced by a global health crisis.Show less
