Chapter 1: General introduction. A specific group of people with disabilities includes individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). However, individuals with PIMD form a heterogeneous group regarding the origins of their underlying conditions leading to profound disabilities …

Background/Objectives: Personalized and self-initiated dietary adjustments have been shown to alleviate mental and somatic complaints. Here, we investigated the potential role of gut microbiome alterations underlying these effects. Methods: For this purpose, participants (n = 185) underwent a four-week …

Insufficient physical activity presents a significant hazard to overall health, with sedentary lifestyles linked to a variety of health issues. Monitoring physical activity levels allows the recognition of patterns of sedentary behavior and the provision of coaching to meet the recommended physical activity …

This research is focused on the circumstances related to rainwater flooding in the Municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul, located in the south of the Netherlands. The town has been dealing with flooding from rainwater for as long as its inhabitants can remember, but the situation became much more severe …

Over the last four months I have been working at Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine Europe B.V. (MTEE) in Almere, Netherlands. As part of my Bachelor’s thesis assignment, I was given the task to investigate the working principle of Helmholtz resonators and evaluate the factors influencing the sound …

The intern Terezia Bellayova focused on research into positive results of increased customer satisfaction on the business success, followed up by research into concrete demands of the target group of the company and how the customers of the company can be more satisfied, with the aim of creating a valid …

This paper reveals how the automatising of protocols ignited a public conflict between Dutch banks and their Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) clients in the years after the Global Financial Crisis. The bank’s “infirmary departments” for Financial Restructuring and Recovery (FR&R) were accused …

Barriers to and Facilitators for Finding and Keeping Competitive Employment: A Focus Group Study on Autistic Adults With and Without Paid Employment

In solving systemic design challenges designers co-create with professionals from various fields. In the context of innovation in healthcare practices, this study investigates design abilities that healthcare professionals develop by participating in co-design projects. We conducted a mixed-methods research …

Challenges in keeping healthcare affordable make informal care increasingly important. It is essential to understand the context in which people provide informal care and gain insight into their wishes with regard to the division of care responsibilities. A total of 37 interviews and eight focus groups …