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Clinicians, patients, policy makers, funders, programme managers, regulators, and science communities invest considerable amounts of time and energy in influencing or making decisions at various levels, using systematic reviews, health technology assessments, guideline recommendations, coverage decisions, selection of essential medicines and diagnostics, quality assurance and improvement schemes, and policy and evidence briefs. The criteria and methods that these actors use in their work differ (eg, the role economic analysis has in decision making), but these methods frequently overlap and exist together. Under the aegis of WHO, we have brought together representatives of different areas to reconcile how the evidence that influences decisions is used across multiple health system decision levels. We describe the overlap and differences in decision-making criteria between different actors in the health sector to provide bridging opportunities through a unifying broad framework that we call theory of everything. Although decision-making activities respond to system needs, processes are often poorly coordinated, both globally and on a country level. A decision made in isolation from other decisions on the same topic could cause misleading, unnecessary, or conflicted inputs to the health system and, therefore, confusion and resource waste. © 2022 World Health Organization

Climate change, tidal flooding risks and breeding shorebirds Bird populations are declining in the Wadden Sea. The contribution of climate change has been understudied, but recent evidence suggests that increased flooding frequencies during the breeding season are already affecting bird populations that breed on salt marshes. These effects are expected to get worse in the near future if birds do not adapt their nest-site selection, suggesting that the importance of low-lying breeding areas for shorebirds could decline substantially in the coming decades. The crucial question now is to what extent birds may adapt their habitat selection to the changing environment. Although several studies suggest that the adaptive potential of birds to more frequent flooding events is limited, this is based on anecdotal evidence and systematic long-term studies are now needed. Furthermore, such studies will inform us about the factors that constrain birds from selecting higher nest sites (vegetation, food, predators), such that efficient management strategies may be identified.

SOVON voert in opdracht van de NAM monitoring uit van vogels in de Waddenzee in het kader van de evaluatie van de nieuwe gaswinning, ook wel monitoring “met de hand aan de kraan” genoemd. In de “Nulrapportage monitoring vogels Waddenzee 1991-2006” werden verschillende problemen gesignaleerd die gepaard gaan met het toepassen van de huidige verzamelde data over de watervogels en de broedvogels. Dit rapport gaat dieper op deze materie in en onderzoekt mogelijkheden om de situatie te verbeteren

Wintering Oystercatchers in The Netherlands are concentrated in the Wadden Sea (c. 200 000), with substantial numbers in the Delta area (c. 90 000). Only 1% of the total wintering population is normally found along the North Sea coast. Cold-rushes under severe winter conditions lead to a reduction of wintering numbers in the Wadden Sea, and to increases ir,the Delta and along the North Sea coast. The mortality of wintering Oystercatchers in The Netherlands was studied on the basis of beached bird surveys along the coast of the North Sea and the Wadden Sea between 1969 and 1996. On the whole, the pattern corresponded well to annual mortality estimates from population studies on the Wadden Sea islands of Schiermonnikoog and Texel. Peak numbers of dead Oystercatchers were found in most severe winters, but also in some moderate winters such as in 1976 and 1991. In mild winters, rather small numbers of dead Oystercatchers were recorded. For 1986-1996, annual mortality along the coast ranged from a c. 500 in the mild winters of 1989 to c. 10 000 individuals in 1987 and 1996. Multiple regression analysis of the number of dead Oystercatchers in winter 1975-1996 on the number of cold days and the biomass of benthic prey revealed an explained variance of 66% (n = 21). Both the number of cold days and prey biomass had a significant effect. The results explained the relatively high mortality among Oystercatchers in the moderate winters of 1976 and 1991 (very low food stock), and the low mortality in the severe winter of 1982 (large food stock). The extremely high mortality in 1987 was due to a combination of low food stock and severe weather. The depletion of Cockles and Mussels in the Wadden Sea in the early 1990s, due to a combination of overfishing and failing reproduction, triggered a southward mass movement of Oystercatchers and substantial mortality in the Delta area in the winter of 1990-1991. The absence of a peak in the mortality among adult breeders in the population studies for that particular winter is the major discrepancy between these population studies and the beached bird surveys. It is an indication that primarily non-local, and therefore probably less dominant, Oystercatchers suffered from the food shortage in the Wadden Sea. The results suggest that for Oystercatchers the scarcity of their principal prey due to overfishing has taken its toll. Had this season also been a cold winter, the results suggest that the mortality would have been unprecedented.

A description of the environment is provided, including a figure for the standing stock of food, experiments on the possible occurrence of salt stress and observations on predation of waders by large falcons. Studies on the geographical breeding origin and the timing of departure in spring allow a time-tabling of the migration schedule. Departure behaviour of waders taking off for migration is described. An energy budget of migration includes a description of the pattern of mass gain, the energetic cost of tissue deposition, the amount of time spent feeding and evidence for internal as well as external limits to the rate of food intake. -from Authors

In this paper an analysis is made of subtle behavioural differences between adult male and female Ovstercatchers feeding on Macoma balthica under field conditions and in captivity. Macoma is a tellinid bivalve that in the Dutch Wadden Sea is mainly preyed upon during spring and summer when it is buried at a shallow depth. males lift Macoma more, whereas females handle them mostly in situ. Both sexes handle a Macoma in situ faster than one lifted. Time loss of males in handling more lifted Macoma is compensated by the larger size of lifted Macoma, which yields more flesh. The time the birds need to find an edible Macoma is similar for both sexes, resulting in equal mean food intake rates for males and females in the field. Lifted Macoma are generally hammered and, since males with their short strong bills are more likely to hammer bivalves than females, this difference in bill morphology might explain why males more often lift Macoma than do females, especially as hammering produces a blunt bill tip which would reduce efficiency at opening Macoma in situ. However, none of the selected bill morphology variables showed a relationship within the sexes that explained the differences between the sexes.

Contains fulltext : 252642.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Radboud University, 14 september 2022 Promotor : de Kroon, J.C.J.M. Co-promotores : Ens, B. J., Jongejans, E., van de Pol, M. 378 p.

We propose a multi-scale Mixed Reality (MR) collaboration between the Giant, a local Augmented Reality user, and the Miniature, a remote Virtual Reality user, in Giant-Miniature Collaboration (GMC). The Miniature is immersed in a 360-video shared by the Giant who can physically manipulate the Miniature through a tangible interface, a combined 360-camera with a 6 DOF tracker. We implemented a prototype system as a proof of concept and conducted a user study (n=24) comprising of four parts comparing: A) two types of virtual representations, B) three levels of Miniature control, C) three levels of 360-video view dependencies, and D) four 360-camera placement positions on the Giant. The results show users prefer a shoulder mounted camera view, while a view frustum with a complimentary avatar is a good visualization for the Miniature virtual representation. From the results, we give design recommendations and demonstrate an example Giant-Miniature Interaction Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper presents ongoing work on a design exploration for mixed-scale gestures, which interleave microgestures with larger gestures for computer interaction. We describe three prototype applications that show various facets of this multi-dimensional design space. These applications portray various tasks on a Hololens Augmented Reality display, using different combinations of wearable sensors. Future work toward expanding the design space and exploration is discussed, along with plans toward evaluation of mixed-scale gesture design Refereed/Peer-reviewed

We present CoVAR, a novel Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) system for remote collaboration. It supports collaboration between AR and VR users by sharing a 3D reconstruction of the AR user's environment. To enhance this mixed platform collaboration, it provides natural inputs such as eye-gaze and hand gestures, remote embodiment through avatar's head and hands, and awareness cues of field-of-view and gaze cue. In this paper, we describe the system architecture, setup and calibration procedures, input methods and interaction, and collaboration enhancement features. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

We present a multi-scale gestural interface for augmented reality applications. With virtual objects, gestural interactions such as pointing and grasping can be convenient and intuitive, however they are imprecise, socially awkward, and susceptible to fatigue. Our prototype application uses multiple sensors to detect gestures from both arm and hand motions (macro-scale), and finger gestures (micro-scale). Micro-gestures can provide precise input through a belt-worn sensor configuration, with the hand in a relaxed posture. We present an application that combines direct manipulation with microgestures for precise interaction, beyond the capabilities of direct manipulation alone. Postprint

Refereed/Peer-reviewed We present a network cabling tutoring system that guides learners through cabling a network topology by overlaying virtual icons and arrows on the ports. The system determines the network state by parsing switch output and does not depend on network protocols being functional. A server provides a web-based user interface and communicates with an external intelligent tutoring system called The Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring. Users use a tablet to view AR annotations, though support for HoloLens HMD will be added soon.