To contribute to the body of knowledge aiming at a better coverage of ecosystem service assessment in LCA studies, this thesis dives into the challenges of incorporating existing ecosystem service methods within the impact assessment phase of the conventional LCA framework.

Despite the fact that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are one of the most studied nanoparticles, there is still a necessity for new approaches allowing for effective protective coating to enable wider use of GNPs in biomedical applications.

The next generation of high-contrast imaging instruments on space-based observatories requires sophisticated wavefront sensing and control in addition to a high-performance coronagraph.

This thesis manuscript explores the use of video games as tools for conceptual exploration and academic research.

New drugs for use as tuberculosis (TB) treatment are needed due to the constrains of classical antibiotics against TB and the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains, making TB a harder and harder disease to treat.

This thesis focus on the interaction between M dwarf stellar winds and Galactic cosmic rays and the possible effects on the habitability of exoplanets.

Solute carrier (SLC) transporters are a large and diverse class of relatively understudied transmembrane proteins.

Geometric phases lead to a nontrivial interference result when an electron's different quantum mechanical paths choices encircle a magnetic coil in an Aharonov-Bohm experiment.

Ethiopian wolves are endangered diurnal Afroalpine rodent hunters. I investigated the interaction between wolves, rodents and human land use in Borena Sayint National Park (BSNP), Abune Yosef and Aboi Gara in Ethiopia.

Promotores: G.R. de Snoo, W.T. de Groot, Co-promotor: C.J.M. Musters

Promotor: Prof.dr. C.W.J. Beenakker

Inverse problems are problems where we want to estimate the values of certain parameters of a system given observations of the system. Such problems occur in several areas of science and engineering. Inverse problems are often ill-posed, which means that the observations of the system do not uniquely…

There is an urgent need for more physiologically relevant cell culture methods to guide compound selection in pre-clinical stages of the drug development pipeline.

The elementary excitations of magnets are called spin waves, and their corresponding quasi-particles are known as magnons. The rapidly growing field of Magnonics aims at using them as information carriers in a new generation of electronic devices, (almost) free of electric currents.

Inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis can severely impact both the physical and social aspect of a patient’s life. Aberrant inflammatory responses are thought to be a major causative factor in these disorders, but an abundance of different factors contribute to the development…

Promotor: R. Tijdeman, Co-promotor: H.J.J. te Riele

Radiography is an important technique to inspect objects, with applications in airports and hospitals. X-ray imaging is also essential in industry, for instance in food safety checks for the presence of foreign objects.

Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are the most abundant biological entity in nature. They shape bacterial communities and are a major driving force in bacterial evolution.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P.C. van Welzen

Plastics have become an integral part of modern society due to their versatility and durability.

This collection of papers was compiled in celebration of the remarkable academic career of Professor Wil Roebroeks, who has established himself as one of Europe’s leading figures in Palaeolithic archaeology over the past three decades and founded the Human origins research group at Leiden University…

Lezing, Studium Generale

Promotor: R. Tijdeman, Co-promotor: C. Kraaikamp

A single self-assembled semiconductor quantum dot in a high-finesse optical microcavity - the subject of this thesis - is an interesting quantum-mechanical system for future quantum applications. For instance, this system allows trapping of an extra electron and thus can serve as a spin quantum memory,…

Circumstellar discs are the reservoirs of gas and dust that surround young stars and have the potential to become planetary systems.

Synthetic hydrogels that mimic the natural extracellular matrix in the biophysical and biochemical cues it provides to cells are in high demand, however the cell phenotypes as they are observed in vivo in numerous cases have yet to be attained.

OB associations are loose groups of young, massive stars. They constitute the last stage of the massive starformation process, and the context in which new stars are formed.

The extensive use of electronic communication channels and other devices has opened new possibilities for collecting data on human behavior. This information is sometimes openly accessible, but largely part of administrative registration systems that are not open to the broader public. The data provides…

The Leiden Declaration has struck a chord around the world. What started as a call from mathematicians for careful and responsible use of AI within their field, has grown into an international debate about the future of science in an era of unprecedented technological change.

In this thesis we push the boundaries of high-resolution imaging at radio frequencies between 100 and 200 MHz. Using the International LOFAR Telescope that spans across Europe we achieve sub-arcsecond angular resolution.

Quantum annealing belongs to a family of quantum optimization algorithms designed to solve combinatorial optimization problems using programmable quantum hardware. In this thesis, various methods are developed and tested to understand how to formulate combinatorial optimization problems for quantum…

Promotor: H.J.A. Rottgering, Co-Promotor: R.J. van Weeren

The thesis introduces three methods for high-dimensional prediction problems in the biomedical field. The methods make use of empirical and variational Bayes in the estimation.

Promotor: Prof.dr. C.U. Keller

Statistical distributions in LCA and converting between different representations of these distributions.

In this book liposomes are explored as delivery system for allergen-specific immunotherapy. Both cationic and anionic formulations are prepared with Bet v 1, one of the allergens in birch pollen.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Stevenhagen, Co-Promotor: J.H. Evertse

In this dissertation, matching, entropy, holes and expansions come together. The first chapter is an introduction to ergodic theory and dynamical systems.

Decarbonizing the building stock is critical for realizing the climate-neutral target for the Netherlands.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Ubbink

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Prof.dr. A.H. Meijer

Promotores: G.A. Persoon, H.H. de Iongh

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo

The research provides insight into disease behavior in both rural and semi-urban areas in Serengeti in Tanzania.

Breeding for resistance becomes more and more important because we want to reduce the use of pesticides. A fast and cheap alternative can be to make use of morphological or chemical markers.

Nanoparticles can be used as delivery systems for both small molecules and macromolecules such as proteins, peptides or oligonucleotides. This thesis focuses on the use of liposomes, nanometric vesicles formed by a lipid bilayer enclosing an aqueous core. Liposomes are highly versatile delivery syst…

Less than 1 in 10 drug candidates that enter phase 1 clinical trials actually gets approved for human use.

The cellular metabolism of immune cells constitutes an important part of their proper function and activation. Using T cells as an example, this phenomenon is highlighted by the metabolic reprogramming that occurs in these cells upon activation.

All the data stored and processed by our computers is encoded as sequences of zeros and ones, called bits. Quantum computers offer an alternative to this traditional way of encoding and manipulating information.

Promotores: G.R. de Snoo, B. Sinsin, Co-Promotor: H.H. de Iongh