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Chronological thinking is an indispensable tool to structure a historical narrative and to give meaning to a sequence of events. It is not a natural skill, so the conscious inclusion of tasks stimulating that skill in teaching is crucial. It is important to appropriately test students' chronological skills by means of well--constructed examination tasks administered at the conclusion of subsequent stages of education. The authors discuss tasks that assess chronological thinking included in contemporary exam papers in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Russia, the USA and the United Kingdom. The tasks included in Polish arts and humanities exam papers at the lower secondary school level in the years 2002-2011 and the first history paper (2012) are then analysed. The final section presents the results of a survey to test the chronological thinking of lower secondary school students carried out by the Educational Research Institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a postwar business cycle chronology is established for the Netherlands. This chronology is based on 19 Dutch economic indicators. As a first step a deviation cycle is determined for each indicator. Next a reference cycle is dated, using the diffusion index method. Measured from trough to trough, the average length of 6 Dutch postwar business cycles has been 53 months, with the expansion phase averaging 29 months, and the contraction phase averaging 24 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Book details: Willemijn Wilms Floet URBAN OASES Dutch Hofjes as Hidden Architectural Gems. nai010 publishers, 2021. ISBN 978-94-6208-660-9. € 39.95, paperback (Also available in Dutch and as e-book in English and Dutch). pp. 208, with illustrations (220 full color). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The rates of post-depositional mixing by bioturbation have been investigated using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating in two sediment cores (BAL2 and BAL5), retrieved from a sandy tidal flat in the Danish part of the Wadden Sea. A high-resolution chronology, consisting of thirty-six OSL ages with ages ranging between 2 ± 4 and 410 ± 20 years, is presented. Slices of sediment (1–2 cm thick) have been dated at least every 5 cm, and from these data mixing depths of 20 cm and 22 cm (BAL5 and BAL2, respectively) are readily identified. Below the mixing zone there is a significant decrease in the apparent sedimentation rate at BAL5 (from 6.4 to 0.3 mm a−1) and an abrupt increase in OSL age at the other site, BAL2 (from ∼19 years–∼290 years). Apparent sedimentation rates in the upper ∼20 cm are more rapid than at greater depths, due to the age underestimation arising from the mixing processes. The significant change in sedimentation rates at BAL5 may indicate an offset in OSL age of up to 620 years. This paper uses a simple conceptual model for vertical mixing in which all the sediment excreted at the surface by lugworms is assumed to be completely reset before being re-incorporated in the sediment column. Using this approach, we conclude that the upward transport rate due to lugworms at BAL5 is 5–6 mm a−1, and that the net sedimentation rate is ∼0.3 mm a−1, whereas at BAL2 the upward transport rate is currently ∼16 mm a−1 and that the site is probably eroding. The situation below the mixing depth (22 cm) is however unclear because of a marked 300 year hiatus. This is the first time that OSL has been used to determine bioturbation rates and our data clearly show the potential of such measurements to provide retrospective field estimates of this important environmental parameter. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Melanoma of unknown primary (MUP) may have a different biology to melanoma of known primary, but clinical trials of novel therapies (e.g., immune checkpoint or BRAF/MEK inhibitors) have not reported the outcomes in this population. We therefore evaluated the overall survival (OS) among patients with MUP in the era of novel therapy. Data for stage III or IV MUP were extracted from a nationwide database for the period 2003–2016, with classification based on the eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer criteria. The population was divided into pre‐ (2003–2010) and post‐ (2011–2016) novel therapy eras. Also, OS in the post‐novel era was compared between patients with stage IV MUP by whether they received novel therapy. In total, 2028 of 65,110 patients (3.1%) were diagnosed with MUP. Metastatic sites were known in 1919 of 2028 patients, and most had stage IV disease (53.8%). For patients with stage III MUP, the 5‐year OS rates were 48.5% and 50.2% in the pre‐ and post‐novel eras, respectively (p = 0.948). For those with stage IV MUP, the median OS durations were unchanged in the pre‐novel era and post‐novel era when novel therapy was not used (both 4 months); however, OS improved to 11 months when novel therapy was used in the post‐novel era (p < 0.001). In conclusion, more than half of the patients with MUP are diagnosed with stage IV and the introduction of novel therapy appears to have significantly improved the OS of these patients. What's new? Melanoma of unknown primary (MUP) site may have a different biology to melanoma of known primary, but clinical trials of novel therapies (e.g., immune checkpoint or BRAF/MEK inhibitors) have not reported the outcomes in this population. Knowledge about outcomes could however aid clinical management of patients with MUP. In this nationwide study from 2003 to 2016, the authors show that the introduction of novel therapy has significantly improved the overall survival for patients with stage IV melanoma of unknown primary, who represented more than half of the patients diagnosed with MUP in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the comparison of the English and the Dutch primary history curriculum regarding the understanding of historical time. We compare different aspects of both curricula that can apply to other subjects as well, for example the question ‘what age would be appropriate to start a subject in primary school?’ Here, we emphasize that exposure to different learning processes is more important than pupils’ age and maturity. Drawing on analyses of curriculum documents, surveys (n?=?128) and interviews (n?=?25), we explored how the understanding of historical time is addressed in the intended and the implemented primary curricula for history. The analysis of the data indicates that teachers in both countries do not teach all objectives of the understanding of historical time. Although in England the history curriculum starts earlier, the episodic structure of the curriculum is not very helpful to support pupils’ understanding of historical time. In the Netherlands the framework of 10 eras is mostly taught chronologically; however, neither the sequence nor the dates of historical periods are explicitly taught. Apparently, the teaching and learning of historical time in both countries needs improvement and we conclude with some suggestions to accomplish this. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Persatuan Pemuda Muslim se-Eropa (PPME, Young Muslim Association in Europe) with its diverse religious backgrounds was established by many Indonesians living in the Netherlands. The organisation takes consideration not only the development of religious practices in Indonesia, but also the prevailing condition in the Netherlands in dealing its religious identity formation. The article focuses on how the organisation's religious identitiy has been shaped. To deal with this issue, a historical approach is used, combining chronological presentation with analytical approach. This approach is in line with the objective of this research, i.e. to see the ways in which the PPME's religious identity take shape through reading the bulletins and religious practices. Because of its residence in the Netherlands, the shaping of its religious identity has been dictated by neither political force nor agenda. This led to in acceptance of diverse and plural ideas within the organisation. This has entailed the occurrence of diverse religious identities. Adjustments to the Dutch contexts have been featured by PPME. As a consequence, memories of Indonesia have been adapted to the atmosphere of the Netherlands. Persatuan Pemuda Muslim se-Eropa (PPME) dengan keragaman latar belakang orientasi keagamaan anggotanya adalah organisasi yang didirikan oleh orang-orang Islam Indonesia yang tinggal di Belanda. PPME memperhatikan tidak saja keberagamaan ala Indonesia, namun juga kondisi di Belanda, utamanya dalam menegaskan identitas keberagamaan mereka. Artikel ini menjelaskan bagaimana identitas keagamaan PPME tersebut dibentuk. Untuk mendiskusikan tema tersebut, digunakan pendekatan sejarah --pendekatan yang tidak hanya menyajikan hasil penelitian secara kronologis tetapi juga eksplanasi analitis. Pendekatan ini sejalan dengan tujuan penulisan artikel ini, yaitu mengidentifikasi metode pembentukan identitas keagamaan PPME. Hal ini dilakukan dengan mencermati bulletin yang diterbitkan PPME dan aktifitas keagamaan yang dilaksanakan. Karena hidup di Belanda, identitas keberagamaan PPME berjalan dengan alamiah, tanpa intervensi politik. Ini mengakibatkan pada penerimaan PPME terhadap keragaman cara pandang yang hidup dalam PPME. Yang terakhir, PPME berusaha keras untuk menyesuaikan identitas keberagamaan mereka dengan konteks Belanda. Konsekuensinya, memori tentang Indonesia itu akhirnya diadaptasi dengan situasi dan kondisi di Belanda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raised bog peat deposits form important archives for reconstructing past changes in climate. Precise and reliable age models are of vital importance for interpreting such archives. We propose enhanced, Markov chain Monte Carlo based methods for obtaining age models from radiocarbon-dated peat cores, based on the assumption of piecewise linear accumulation. Included are automatic choice of sections, a measure of the goodness of fit and outlier downweighting. The approach is illustrated by using a peat core from the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]