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Background: Maternal overweight and obesity are related to several health risks in the periods before, during and after pregnancy including a higher risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia and preterm birth. At the same time, women's daily life quickly changes in these periods. Therefore, we hypothesize that the value of determinants of lifestyle behavior within different levels of the socio-ecological model differ accordingly and influence lifestyle behavior. These dynamics of determinants of lifestyle behavior in the periods before, during and after pregnancy are unexplored and therefore evaluated in this study. These insights are needed to offer appropriate guidance to improve lifestyle in women of childbearing age.Methods: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted before, during or after pregnancy in 26 women with overweight or obesity living in the Netherlands. Questions covered all levels of the socio-ecological model, i.e. intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional and environmental/societal. All interviews were transcribed and coded.Results: Determinants at all levels of the socio-ecological model were perceived as relevant by women of childbearing age. Various determinants were mentioned including knowledge of a healthy lifestyle, social support, access to customized lifestyle guidance, and distance to healthy lifestyle supporting activities. The importance women attributed to determinants differed between the periods before, during and after pregnancy. Before pregnancy, child's wellbeing as motivator for adopting a healthy lifestyle was mentioned less frequently than during and after pregnancy. Women described that the interplay and balance between determinants varied on a daily basis, and not merely per period. This was often expressed as fluctuation in energy level per day which influences their willingness to put effort in making healthy choices.Conclusions: Findings of this study confirm the importance of determinants at multiple socio-ecological levels for shaping lifestyle behavior in women of childbearing age. The findings add to current insights that the perceived importance of determinants and their interplay differ before, during and after pregnancy. They influence lifestyle behavior decisions, not only per period but even on a daily basis, in particular in this phase of life. This perspective can be helpful in optimizing lifestyle guidance for women of childbearing age in order to prevent perinatal complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Maastricht University has been actively exploring blended learning approaches to PBL in Health Master Programs. Key principles of PBL are, learning should be constructive, self-directed, collaborative, and contextual. The purpose is to explore whether these principles are applicable in blended learning. Methods: The programs, Master of Health Services Innovation (case 1), Master Programme in Global Health (case 2), and the Master of Health Professions Education (case 3), used a Virtual Learning Environment for exchanging material and were independently analyzed. Quantitative data were collected for cases 1 and 2. Simple descriptive analyses such as frequencies were performed. Qualitative data for cases 1 and 3 were collected via (focus group) interviews. Results: All PBL principles could be recognized in case 1. Case 2 seemed to be more project-based. In case 3, collaboration between students was not possible because of a difference in time-zones. Important educational aspects: agreement on rules for (online) sessions; visual contact (student–student and student–teacher), and frequent feedback. Conclusion: PBL in a blended learning format is perceived to be an effective strategy. The four principles of PBL can be unified in PBL with a blended learning format, although the extent to which each principle can be implemented can differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with photocatalytic activity of silver treated TiO2 films. The TiO2 films were deposited on glass substrates by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) in a vacuum reactor with radio frequency (RF) low temperature plasma discharge in the mixture of oxygen and titanium isopropoxide vapors (TTIP). The depositions were performed under different deposition conditions. Subsequently, the surface of TiO2 films was modified by deposition of silver nanoparticles. Photocatalytic activity of both silver modified and unmodified TiO2 films was determined by decomposition of the model organic matter (acid orange 7). Selected TiO2 samples were used for tests of antibacterial activity. These tests were performed on Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli. The results clearly proved that presence of silver clusters resulted in enhancement of the photocatalytic activity, which was up to four times higher than that for pure TiO2 films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We performed a series of measurements by means of the triple probe technique during plasma deposition of polymer films on large volume plastic containers. Based on the measured data, the process stability and process homogeneity were determined. The process stability was better than 5% and process reproducibility was about 6%. An inhomogeneity of the plasma density correlated to the barrier efficiency of the film deposited at different positions on the container. An increase in the power losses were found after changes in the electrical configuration of the deposition set-up. The quotient of electron density ne and product of molar mass of the working gas M and its flow F is proposed as invariant instead the Yasuda's parameter W/MF for characterization of large-scale industrial plasma polymerization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The family of 10 em diam ion sources PRIS is built for ion beam processing. It comprises two groups: The high energy version PRIS 10 HE and the low energy version PRIS 10 LE. The conventional rf-ion sources RIM 10 consist mainly of a quartz discharge chamber surrounded from an outside by a rf-induction coupling coil. In some cases, quartz cannot be used for manufacturing the discharge chamber (e.g., fragility of quartz, operating with condensible metal vapor). Therefore, in the PRIS sources, we replaced the quartz ionizer vessel by a metallic discharge chamber and put the rf antenna inside the discharge plasma. The performance data and the ion beam characteristics of PRIS are presented for argon and oxygen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]