Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Bullying victimization is a major public health concern, because victims often experience long-term negative mental health outcomes. Longitudinal brain structure research in children is needed to...Show moreBullying victimization is a major public health concern, because victims often experience long-term negative mental health outcomes. Longitudinal brain structure research in children is needed to understand the possible mechanisms underlying the relation between bullying victimization and negative mental health outcomes. Previous research has shown that the fusiform gyrus, amygdala and vmPFC are impaired in victims. Therefore, this thesis examined the relation between victimization and fusiform gyrus, amygdala and vmPFC volume over time. We hypothesized that victims of bullying, compared to children uninvolved in bullying, would have a larger fusiform gyrus volume and a steeper volume increase. Furthermore, we hypothesized that victims of bullying, compared to children uninvolved in bullying, would have a smaller amygdala and vmPFC volume and a steeper volume decrease. The sample consisted of 156 children (62% female), aged between 7 and 9 years old at baseline, from the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development. At the beginning of the study, the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was administered to measure bullying victimization and high-resolution structural MRI scans were taken. This was done again two years later. Children were classified as victims if they had been bullied regularly in the past two months. We did not find an effect of victimization on fusiform gyrus, amygdala and vmPFC volume. Future research examining the influence of victimization on both structural and functional brain development is needed to provide further insights, which can help inform the design of interventions to reduce the negative consequences of bullying victimization. The current findings emphasize the importance of protective factors that make a victim’s brain development resilient against victimization. This indicates a need for interventions targeting the development of social-emotional skills or the increase of family support.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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This study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and...Show moreThis study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and media theory, this thesis analyzes how users navigated and positioned themselves in the virtual realm. By focusing on DDS and the early Web, it sheds light on the Digital City's significance as an experimental space reflecting and influencing the evolving Dutch internet landscape.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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This study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and...Show moreThis study examines de Digitale Stad, or the Digital City, a pioneering virtual community in the Netherlands (1994-2001), as a metaphorical urban space. Drawing from urban theory, play theory and media theory, this thesis analyzes how users navigated and positioned themselves in the virtual realm. By focusing on DDS and the early Web, it sheds light on the Digital City's significance as an experimental space reflecting and influencing the evolving Dutch internet landscape.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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In this study, five archaeological sites across the Netherlands from early medieval to early modern time periods were sampled to reconstruct past diet of the individuals found therein. The sites...Show moreIn this study, five archaeological sites across the Netherlands from early medieval to early modern time periods were sampled to reconstruct past diet of the individuals found therein. The sites chosen for the study were Alkmaar, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Klaaskinderkerke and Zwolle. The focus of the diet reconstruction was to analyze the childhood and adolescent diet using stable isotope analysis of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotopes (δ15N). Through the use of tissues which are underutilized in archaeological diet reconstruction, dental enamel (en) and dentine (co) in conjunction, derived from second molars, it was possible to obtain isotopic ratios representative of childhood diet (enamel) and adolescent diet (dentine collagen). The results obtained were then used to analyze trends between the sites, between assigned sex and statistical relationships which served to provide grounds for further improvement of the methodology. Sampling and analysis of enamel was 100% successful, while sampling and analysis of collagen was 89% successful. The respective 76 and 68 samples were analyzed using a mass spectrometer and returned with reliable values. Results of intersite comparison aligned the, obtained results with past published literature regarding historical trends found in across the analyzed time periods, including increased consumption of marine fish in younger and more urban sites. Comparison of male and female assigned individuals has shown significant overlap between their values, suggesting that male and female individuals from the sites analyzed shared very similar diets during their childhood and adolescence. The investigation of isotope spacing of carbon values (Δen-co) allowed for determining that the diets of individuals analyzed was in large portion plant based, with significant inclusion of omnivore and marine foods as determined by isotopic ratios of carbon-13 and nitrogen-15. Analysis of statistical relationships between δ13Cen, δ13Cco and Δen-co has found a lack of correlation between δ13Cen δ13Cco, a positive correlation between Δen-co and δ13Cen and a negative correlation between Δen-co and δ13Cco. Follow-up studies should continue to investigate the recorded isotopic ratios in dental tissues, utilizing first and third molars as sources of further data capable of reconstructing sub-adult diet, as well as analyze local fauna to improve the accuracy of dietary reconstruction. The use of first and third molar isotopic ratios would also prove invaluable for investigating the statistical relationship between the tissues, due to the age of dental development and its relationship to diet reconstruction.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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It is currently believed that there was no hominin presence on the British Isles during the Eemian interglacial stage, which lasted from 130 kya to 115 kya. However it is unclear what the reason...Show moreIt is currently believed that there was no hominin presence on the British Isles during the Eemian interglacial stage, which lasted from 130 kya to 115 kya. However it is unclear what the reason for this apparent absence is. This is especially the case considering that during the Eemian, temperatures in north-west Europe are known to have been several degrees warmer than even today, making it a potent habitat for early hominins. Several theories have existed in order to explain this, which include a complete absence in north-west Europe due to constraints in mental fortitude and an ecology that would have been unsuited for hominins to survive, as well as an early disappearance of the land bridge that connected France to Great Britain during the glacial periods. This was based on the fact that hominin sites that date back to the Eemian are exceedingly rare in north-west Europe, with the first examples only having been discovered relatively recently. This thesis aims to further explore these possibilities by making an ecological reconstruction of the site of Waziers, which is located in northern France and dates back to the Eemian. It does this based on carpological and palynological material that was found at the site. In addition to this a correlation of pollen records was made using several other Eemian type sites located in both France and Great Britain. This data is then combined with pre existing literature of other Eemian sites in north-west Europe with signs of hominin activity, in order to correlate these sites together so that Waziers can be placed in a wider chronological and climatological framework. In addition to this several other biological factors that were encountered at Waziers, are compared to the climatological conditions that were prevalent in the wider region as well. In doing so it was found the hominin activity that was detected at Waziers took place very early in the Eemian, when the stage had just transitioned from the Saalian glacial stage. In addition to this it could also be concluded that this early period was much warmer than originally anticipated. This could be seen in the presence of such indicator taxa as Lemna cf. minor, Hedera helix, and Salvinia natans, which could all be found within the vegetational record of the site. Because of these factors it is concluded that while there was already a hominin presence very early in the Eemian interglacial, which indicates that climatological conditions were at least adequate to sustain a hominin presence. It also shows that these hominins did not lack the mental fortitude to exist in these conditions, as was suggested by earlier theories. Despite this it is likely that, due to the high temperatures melting the land based ice locked in the glaciers during the Saalian, the land bridge that had existed between France and Britain during the glacial stage had already disappeared, inhibiting further hominin dispersal to the British Isles.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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Diet has been one of the main drivers in the origin, evolution, and behaviour of our ancestors. Key moments in our evolutionary trajectory have been linked to changes in diet. These evolutionary...Show moreDiet has been one of the main drivers in the origin, evolution, and behaviour of our ancestors. Key moments in our evolutionary trajectory have been linked to changes in diet. These evolutionary developments include an increase in brain size, changes in habitat choice, adaptations in body size, and changes in life history. However, the Pleistocene archaeological record is highly fragmentary. To complement this lack of data, archaeology and ethnography have been combined for over decades. The predominant part of studies investigating early Homo subsistence behaviours and nutrition have focused on extant foraging populations from the African savannas to develop substantial models of human behavioural evolution. Though, studies focusing on hunter-gatherer nutrition have significantly undervalued the variability that is present within foraging diets. Furthermore, the rainforest-type environment is largely rejected its crucial role in the evolution of our lineage. The predominant part of studies have based their analyses on large-scale dietary indexes. Some authors have assumed that taken on aggregate, the average hunter-gatherer dietary profile can be recruited as a universal, ancestral diet. This led to the formation of the so-called Paleodiet movement, that attempts to help solve and understand public health issues known as the diseases of civilization such as obesity, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases. However, it remains unclear what a uniform, ancestral Paleodiet should look like, or whether such a concept is feasible. Here, we show that hunter-gatherer nutrition is highly variable in nature, and that no uniformly applicable Paleodiet exists. By conducting a high-resolution macronutrient analysis on 30 wild edible plant taxa used by the Baka forager-horticulturalists from Southeastern Cameroon, we have shown that the nutritional qualities of wild edible plants are greatly affected by the effects of habitat and plant age, on a within- and between species level. Furthermore, we found that previously established aggregate hunter-gatherer nutritional profiles greatly differ from the reconstructed dietary- and macronutrient profiles established for the Baka. As Baka rainforest nutrition could be reverse-engineered, we illustrate that the Congo Basin rainforest-type environment provides enough macronutrients for hominins to sustain themselves without the aid of agriculture, and that the rainforest-type environment has been a crucial environment for the evolution of our lineage. Carbohydrates from starchy tubers are proposed to play a key role in Baka nutrition. Such underground storage organs are argued to have been important to early hominin nutrition within African rainforests. Public health studies may benefit by shifting their focus towards other components of Western lifestyle as more important contributors to diseases of civilization such as physical activity, stress, time spent outdoor, and overconsumption. We anticipate that future studies on extant foraging diet may greatly benefit from supplementing their use of large-scale hunter-gatherer nutritional indexes with high-resolution chemical nutritional data, as well as data 148 on weight of food brought back to camp, and estimated consumption patterns, to broaden our understanding on Pleistocene subsistence behaviour. We stimulate other research to partake in multi-disciplinary discourse for more increasingly diverse and inclusive narratives on human nutrition, Pleistocene subsistence behaviours, and human evolution. Lastly, to fully understand the influences of hominin dietary practices on the trajectory of our own evolution, it is imperative to acknowledge the plurality of both extant- and extinct hunter-gatherer lifeways, and to project a similar range of variability onto Pleistocene behaviours across different habitats.Show less
In 1895, the Dutch Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) convened for its first party conference. Two years later, the first SDAP members were elected to Parliament. Between these years and the...Show moreIn 1895, the Dutch Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) convened for its first party conference. Two years later, the first SDAP members were elected to Parliament. Between these years and the Second World War, the SDAP transitioned from a party with revolutionary aspirations to a fully normalized parliamentary entity. This thesis studies the SDAP’s assembly culture (vergadercultuur) in both the House of Representatives and their own party conferences. The first part of the thesis utilizes a combination of traditional and innovative digital methodologies to demonstrate that the normalisation of the position of the SDAP in the House of Representatives peaked in the mid-1920s. The second part of the thesis explores the development of the internal assembly culture of the SDAP, focusing on the role of the chairperson, procedures, time management, and usage of ‘persoonlijke feiten’, a phenomenon originating from Parliament. This section shows that while the internal assembly culture of the SDAP matured in many respects, this process was non-linear in many other respects, rendering the metaphor of maturation insufficient.Show less
Between 1914 and 1940, the SDAP dominated municipal politics in Amsterdam. Buoyed with the introduction of universal male suffrage in 1917 and the expansion of municipal tax powers in 1920, social...Show moreBetween 1914 and 1940, the SDAP dominated municipal politics in Amsterdam. Buoyed with the introduction of universal male suffrage in 1917 and the expansion of municipal tax powers in 1920, social democratic aldermen such as Wibaut and De Miranda sought to establish a welfare municipality in the capital. Through the municipalisation of basic necessities, housework, and social hygiene, and the provision of care for the sickly, elderly, needy, and unemployed, the alderman hoped to provide for the material welfare and mental well-being of the working-class. Municipal Socialism in Amsterdam was seen as a unique project in the Netherlands. However, the municipal socialist project in Amsterdam was inherently dependent on acquiescence of bourgeois parties in Amsterdam and the confessional national government in The Hague, not to speak of global developments and the world economy. Relativizing the uniqueness of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague concurrently pioneered different aspects of municipal socialism in the face of similar shortcomings. Amsterdam’s greatest distinction was its incredibly effective advertisement of municipal socialism in publications throughout the interwar period, reinforced by the opposition it inspired in the national bourgeois press. Practically, while Amsterdam’s spending and earnings in municipal socialist fields was generally above average, the capital did not spend or earn significantly more than other social democratic municipalities across all municipal socialist fields. Nor did the capital significantly outperform the two other major municipalities in municipal socialist fields. Thus, while the municipal socialist project in Amsterdam may have financially been above average in the Interwar period, it was not unique, nor significantly different. However, we cannot deny the political and ideational impact of the municipal socialist project in Amsterdam on interwar political thought and post-war public memory.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This thesis explores the way women in selected Euripidean tragedies engage with verbal communication and proposes that this female verbal repertoire can serve as a foundation for a feminist...Show moreThis thesis explores the way women in selected Euripidean tragedies engage with verbal communication and proposes that this female verbal repertoire can serve as a foundation for a feminist interpretation of the respective plays. Female interaction with verbal communication can be separated into three distinct categories: a) silence, b) song, and c) speech. Following this categorization, this thesis firstly delves into specific verses from Medea (259-268) and Hippolytus (710-723, 800-805) to indicate that female tragic silence entails a skillful manipulation of speech. Secondly, verses from Medea (410-430) and two fragments from Hypsipyle (752h 3-9, 759a 80-89) are examined to demonstrate how female tragic song can function as a lyrical form of feminine language. Thirdly, Pasiphae’s apologia (472e 4-12, 34-41) in the Cretans is analyzed to pinpoint how female tragic speech can be rhetorically constructed, serving as a springboard for self-exculpation and female empowerment. Drawing from French feminism and American post-structuralist feminism, this study orchestrates a dialogue between the Euripidean corpus and (post) modern feminist theory and indicates how a reader-oriented approach to the ancient texts can both honor a historically grounded reception of tragedy and suggest how modern audiences can imbue classical tragic texts with fresh meaning.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This thesis focuses on the epigraphic material found in monumental tombs from both Palmyra and the Nabataean kingdom in the ancient Middle East, discussing the use of the various terms for funerary...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the epigraphic material found in monumental tombs from both Palmyra and the Nabataean kingdom in the ancient Middle East, discussing the use of the various terms for funerary architecture in their dialects of Aramaic and Greek. The subject is approached from a sociolinguistic perspective, discussing the socio-cultural implications of the distribution and the use of the vocabulary. The combined evidence shows that the funerary sphere, as the most local sphere visible through the epigraphic evidence, is strongly impacted by social change. Different terms are used for different funerary complexes, depending on their location above or below the surface, or on whether they housed individual or grouped burials. The socio-economic developments in Palmyra and Nabataea in the first centuries of our era led to groups from a new upper middle class gaining interest in expressing their cultural identity through funerary complexes, which were previously reserved for the upper elite. These social developments and their consequences are also partly reflected in the vocabulary used for funerary architecture. This thesis hopes to show what a thorough analytical approach on a specific set of vocabulary can bring to the study of identity in the Roman Near East. Diachronic developments in the Aramaic and Greek vocabulary, divisions across region, tomb type and time will be examined, as they show how the funerary landscape developed in the ancient Middle East from the 1st century BCE up to the 3rd century CE. A database of all attested terms for funerary architecture will be provided and analysed, allowing for a detailed view into the use of these different terms across time and place.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This study seeks to account for the atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime in response to the Syrian uprising that erupted in 2011. Academic scholarship, media reports, and public...Show moreThis study seeks to account for the atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime in response to the Syrian uprising that erupted in 2011. Academic scholarship, media reports, and public opinion tend to understand the state’s violence against its civilians as a resort to exceptional means under exceptional circumstances. This study, in contrast, contends that atrocious violence constitutes a well-established practice, core to this regime’s modus operandi. The study’s objective is to substantiate, illustrate, and critically assess the proposition that atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime is best understood not as a series of incidental exceptional ‘events’ but as a core practice, consisting of a set of sub-practices. The thesis analyzes a selection of primary and secondary sources in answering the research question ‘How to account for the Assad regime’s atrociously violent response to the popular uprising in 2011?’. Primary sources include leaked government documents, legal testimonies, speeches, and memoirs, operationalized with the help of the praxeology research method and a single case-study design. The massacre in Houla in 2012 serves as a primary case study, a narrative anchor from which to assess the strength of the proposition that the regime’s response to the 2011 popular uprising is best understood as the manifestation of a long-standing practice of atrocious state violence sustained by a set of subpractices that effectively make it virtuous across time and space. Specifically, the study identifies the sub-practices of legalizing atrocious violence, narrativizing reality, and consolidating the perpetrator elite.Show less
this thesis compares two important works, Aviezer Tucker's Our Knowledge of the Past and Mark Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas, to a novel theory in epistemology, William Talbott's...Show morethis thesis compares two important works, Aviezer Tucker's Our Knowledge of the Past and Mark Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas, to a novel theory in epistemology, William Talbott's Learning from our Mistakes. It argues that William Talbott's approach to knowledge can solve longstanding issues within the philosophy of history, particularly pertaining to the normative epistemological question: what should we be believing about the past?Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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What does it mean to be a good person? How should one behave? What is our soul like? How is it structured? And how does our soul affect our behaviour? These are questions that have occupied us...Show moreWhat does it mean to be a good person? How should one behave? What is our soul like? How is it structured? And how does our soul affect our behaviour? These are questions that have occupied us since the dawn of time. This thesis explores the ways in which Middle Platonist thinkers of the second century AD in particular approach such questions of good moral behaviour. As it turns out, these thinkers tend to focus on the human soul and its constitution in order to tackle moral conundrums. Therefore, the research question this thesis aims to answer is as follows: how do the Middle Platonists of the second century AD use the structure of the human soul in order to enforce practical ethics? By examining the works of Maximus of Tyre, Alcinous, and Galen – authors active in different genres within the Middle Platonic philosophical movement – through the lenses of both ancient psychology as well as ancient moral psychology, this thesis aims to advocate for the presence of a methodology of psychological morality in Middle Platonism: the structure of the human soul is noticeably being used in order to enforce ideal behaviour.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Human decision-making in the context of value-based learning considerably deviates from the premise to always maximise short-term reward. This sort of behavioural variability has been attributed to...Show moreHuman decision-making in the context of value-based learning considerably deviates from the premise to always maximise short-term reward. This sort of behavioural variability has been attributed to exploration during the choice process and has been linked to the locus coeruleusnoradrenaline (LC-NA) system. A recent computational account implementing a “noisy” reinforcement learning (RL) model provides evidence that computational imprecision during the learning process contributes to behavioural variability in decision-making as well. In the present study, the role of the LC-NA system in modulating learning imprecision has been investigated, using a multi-modal approach including the newly developed noisy RL model, a double-blind pharmacological manipulation, and EEG. The responses of thirty participants in a decision-making task were investigated during two experimental sessions in which either atomoxetine, a NA reuptake inhibitor, or placebo was administered, and the model fit of the noisy RL model was tested against the classical RL model without learning imprecision parameter. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find evidence for a modulatory role of the LC-NA system of learning imprecision. However, in line with our expectations, increased NA levels did not impact exploratory behaviour either. Crucially, the noisy RL model outperformed the classical RL model assuming exact learning and learning imprecision led to a significant number of non-maximising decisions contributing to behaviour variability. Moreover, the exploratory EEG analyses on potential underlying mechanisms of learning imprecision suggest learning noise to emerge broadly during feedback processing, rather than within a certain time window. The current study provides further evidence for the importance of computational imprecision during value-based learning.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
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This thesis investigates a recurring issue found in fieldwork on Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages: how can a linguist tell if a given language has the vowels [ɪ ʊ], or [e o], or both? These...Show moreThis thesis investigates a recurring issue found in fieldwork on Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages: how can a linguist tell if a given language has the vowels [ɪ ʊ], or [e o], or both? These two pairs of vowels – which differ in their height and ATR (‘advanced tongue root’) value – are notoriously difficult to tell apart acoustically, and their pronunciation varies considerably between languages and even speakers. Moreover, previous studies have only focused on how to distinguish these vowels in languages with both pairs; in languages with just one pair, how do we know if that pair is [ɪ ʊ] or [e o]? To address this gap, the main acoustic study of this thesis looks at data from Boa-Leboale, a Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has historically been described as only having [ɪ ʊ], not [e o]. Using the results and acoustic methodology of Starwalt’s (2008) landmark study, I construct a number of hypotheses to test two research questions; research question (I) investigates whether Boa-Leboale has one or two pairs of vowels and research question (II) attempts to identify whether a given set of vowels is more likely to be [ɪ ʊ] or [e o]. The results of this study indicate that Boa-Leboale does indeed have only one pair of vowels, and those vowels are most likely [ɪ ʊ], as suggested by previous descriptions. Given this promising result, I hope that further studies will be able to improve on the study presented here and solve the issue of identifying these vowels acoustically not just for Boa-Leboale, but for any language.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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This thesis focuses on the use of experimental archaeology and residues analysis to further our understanding of the plant exploitation possibilities on the Crimean Peninsula during the Late...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the use of experimental archaeology and residues analysis to further our understanding of the plant exploitation possibilities on the Crimean Peninsula during the Late Pleniglacial period (19 -15 cal BP). Crimean plant exploitation during this period is not well understood despite palaeoenvironmental, archaeological and ethnobotanical data being available. The aim was to elicit the types of residues that would have been collected and how these residues could be made useful in archaeological applications. This was done by executing several experiments with stone tools and plants likely to have been on the peninsula during that period. The results showed interesting plant specific correlations with the tools as well as a consistent performance of starch accumulation across all tools. These results are a vital step towards creating a broader and a more inclusive reference collection for wild plants in order to understand the residues and what we need to look for in the field from an archaeological and palaeobotanical perspective.Show less
