Province Of Zeeland Research Articles

SELECTION OF ZEELAND’S MUNICIPAL EFFLUENT REUSE TECHNOLOGY FOR AGRICULTURE: PERSPECTIVE FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRY

The water demands for agricultural purposes are increasing along with the population growth. Unfortunately, the water source is not sufficiently available nowadays. Furthermore, the quality of available water is more deteriorated due to the contamination from many sources such as households, industrial areas and other activities. Water board Scheldestromen handles 16 wastewater treatment plants located in Province of Zeeland in The Netherlands. The total production of treated effluent water from 16 wastewater treatment plants is 50 million annually. Quality of the effluent is relatively good, however, some potential risks related to the number of pathogenic microorganism and some trace metals are still there. The treated effluent is mostly discharged to river near to the treatment plant. The high amount of effluent discharge would potentially to be re-used for fulfill the demand for agricultural water. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of treated effluent from one of Walcheren wastewater treatment plants located in Ritthem, Province of Zeeland. This study uses the method of Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) for looking the best way to reuse the effluent for agricultural purposes. The MCA questionnaire was developed based on the thorough literature review of effluent reuse. There are 6 criteria that need to be weighted and 6 scenario alternatives that need to be scored for the MCA questionnaire. The result show that the effluent water contained pathogenic bacteria (E.Coli) and some trace metals (Ni and Cu) more than suggested by FAO standard. Hence the most preferred technology is combination between closed conduits and UV system, with weighted score 0.78 while others had less weighted score compared to the selected one.
 Key words : Agriculture, Effluent, Environment, Water Treatment, Zeeland.

“Union of Earth and Water”: Blocking of the Scheldt by the Republic of the United Provinces in 1587–1795

This article considers the blocking of the Scheldt River mouth, i.e., the blockade of navigation on the Lower Scheldt between Antwerp and the sea. Organized by the Republic of the United Provinces during the war between the Netherlands and Spain in the late sixteenth century, it continued throughout the entire existence of the Republic. The blockade had a significant impact on the development of the United Provinces’ (first of all, on the province of Zeeland) economy and affected the economy of the Southern Netherlands, mainly Antwerp, becoming one of the reasons for the decline of this once powerful centre of trade. At the turn of the twenty-first century, studying new materials, Dutch and Belgian researchers gradually returned to examining the blockade of the Scheldt, which had not been sufficiently studied so far. As for national historiography, this article is the first attempt at covering this topic. The author briefly outlines the background of the “blockade” of the Scheldt and traces how it was legally formed based on contractual acts of the seventeenth–eighteenth centuries. She describes the purpose of the blockade of the river mouth and the mechanism for regulating navigation in its lower part. The blockade of the Scheldt mouth prevented vessels from freely passing the Lower Scheldt to and from the southern Dutch ports, but this did not mean the blockade of trade. It was about changing its rules: the introduction of mandatory transshipment of goods in the ports of Zeeland from ships of the Southern Netherlands to Dutch lighters that delivered goods along the Scheldt to Antwerp. The Dutch forts of Lillo and Liefkenshoek played an important role in admitting ships to Antwerp and levying taxes for the Republic’s treasury. Using visual material — a map of the first half of the seventeenth century by Willem Blaeu — the article gives an idea of the Scheldt near Antwerp and the South Dutch fortifications located along the banks.

Social, emotional and existential loneliness among nursing home residents with somatic problems

Relatively little is known about loneliness in nursing homes. The aim of this study is to gain insight in the prevalence of social, emotional and existential loneliness among nursing home residents and in the relationship between loneliness and participation in activities and having contacts. Data is collected among nursing home residents in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands (N=101; age range = 42 to 103 years; median = 83 years; 71% female). Social, emotional and existential loneliness, personal characteristics and participation in activities and having contacts are measured. Prevalence of loneliness is calculated. Regression analyses are performed to study the relationship between loneliness and personal characteristics, participation in activities and having contacts. The majority of respondents experiences social, emotional and/or existential loneliness. A longer duration of stay in the nursing home and participating in exercise activities are related to a lower extent of social loneliness but not emotional or existential loneliness. Organised activities typically aim at social loneliness, but not emotional and existential loneliness, even though these forms of loneliness occur often in nursing homes.

Waarom die vorm en oriëntatie van Borssele?

The village of Borssele was founded in 1616 in a polder of the same name on the island of Zuid-Beveland in the province of Zeeland. The driving force behind both the diking of the polder and the construction of the village during the Twelve Year Truce (1609-1621) in the young Dutch Republic was the mayor of the city of Goes, Cornelis Soetwater. This article argues that the unusual form and orientation of the Borssele village plan reflects a conscious decision by Soetwater to combine and improve on the best of the Zeeland’s impoldering and village planning tradition, and on the most striking old Zuid-Beveland villages.
 Soetwater’s decision to give Borssele’s main square a resolutely northern orientation and an unconventional, rotated positioning within the polder grid, and to model its plan on that of the most distinctive medieval villages on the islands of Zuid-Beveland, Nisse and Kloetinge, served to anchor the new village emphatically in its immediate surroundings.
 Moreover, Borssele represents the culmination of an honourable tradition initiated during the fifteenth century by the Zeeland nobleman Adriaan van Borssele with the construction of ringstraatdorpen[1] such as Dirksland, Sommelsdijk and Middelharnis, in the large Flakkee polders. The marquises of Bergen op Zoom and the family of Orange continued this tradition during the sixteenth century in the construction of Willemstad and Colijnsplaat, among others.
 Soetwater exploited the symbolic significance of these new villages, which was as important to Adriaan van Borssele and his followers as their economic and administrative function, for his own purposes. By continuing a trend towards orthogonality and symmetry in the layout of sixteenth-century ringstraatdorpen in the double symmetry of the Borssele street plan, Soetwater was able to emphasize the victory of rationality over chaos. Not just in the sense that the wild water had been turned into orderly cultural landscape, but also in the sense that after many years of war, the Twelve Year Truce had ushered in a period of peace, order and the prospect of a bright future.
 [1] The ringstraatdorp was a combination of two older types of Zeeland village plans, the kerkringdorp and the voorstraatdorp. Its main street (voorstraat) was perpendicular to the polder dike and its landward end terminated in a kerkring (church encircled by a street).

THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED PROVINCES POLICY AT THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA CONGRESS AND THE PEACE OF MÜNSTER CONCLUSION

The Northern Netherlands fought for liberation from Spanish rule for 80 years. The country needed peace and confirmation of sovereignty. Spain, weakened by the war, was also interested in a peace treaty conclusion. Dutch-Spanish negotiations at the Peace of Westphalia Congress had not been held until January, 1646. The parties relatively quickly agreed on the basic terms of
 the agreement. They managed to resolve the issues of colonial conquest, trade, and the closure of the Scheldt. The contradictions, remained unresolved, concerned the position of the Catholic religion on the Lands of the Generality. However, there was no unity regarding the conclusion of peace in the republic itself. The province of Zeeland opposed the conclusion of the treaty. Despite this fact, in January 1647 a preliminary
 peace agreement was signed. It should come into force in case of signing the same Franco-Spanish agreement. In accordance with the Franco-Dutch Union Treaty, its parties undertook not to conclude a separate peace. However, France and Spain could not come to an agreement. As a result of the internal political struggle in the republic, the victory was won by the supporters of the separate peace conclusion.
 On January 30, 1648 the Peace of Münster was concluded between Spain and the Republic of the United Provinces. On May 15, 1648 the parties exchanged instruments of ratification. At the end of May, 1648 the province of Zeeland agreed to the peace concluded.

Selection Of Municipal Wastewater Reuse Technology For Agricultural Water By Using Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA): The Case Of Walcheren Wastewater Treatment Plant, The Netherlands

<span>The water demands for agricultural purposes are increasing along with the population growth. Unfortunately, the water source is not sufficiently available nowadays. Furthermore, the quality of available water is more deteriorated due to the contamination from many sources such as households, industrial areas and other activities. Water board Scheldestromen handles 16 wastewater treatment plants located in Province of Zeeland in The Netherlands. The total production of treated effluent water from 16 wastewater treatment plants is 50 million annually. Quality of the effluent is relatively good, however, some potential risks related to the number of pathogenic microorganism and some trace metals are still there. The treated effluent is mostly discharged to river near to the treatment plant. The high amount of effluent discharge would potentially to be re-used for fulfill the demand for agricultural water. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of treated effluent from one of Walcheren wastewater treatment plants located in Ritthem, Province of Zeeland.</span><span>This study uses the method of Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) for looking the best way to re-use the effluent for agricultural purposes. The MCA questionnaire was developed based on the thorough literature review of effluent reuse. There are 6 criteria that need to be weighted and 6 scenario alternatives that need to be scored for the MCA questionnaire. The result show that the effluent water contained pathogenic bacteria (E.Coli) and some trace metals (Ni and Cu) more than suggested by FAO standard. Hence the most preferred technology is combination between closed conduits and UV system, with weighted score 0.78 while others had less weighted score compared to the selected one</span>

Salinity tolerance of aquatic plants indicated by monitoring data from the Netherlands

Data on salinity tolerance of aquatic plant species are scarce, but required to better understand species’ responses in multiple stressed environments. We analyzed data from a Dutch Water board in the province of Zeeland according to the occurrence of plant taxa in relation to salinity (chloride concentration). The dataset contained 862 samples of plants (altogether 46 taxa) and chloride concentrations. The smallest range was found for Nuphar lutea occurring in sites with 43 to 140 mg l−1 Cl−. The widest range was observed for Glaux maritima occurring in sites with 710 to 22,000 mg l−1 Cl−. Two species (N. lutea and Potamogeton trichoides) had an optimum lower than 100 mg l−1 Cl−, while three taxa (G. maritima, Salicornia spp. and Ulva spp. (=non-filamentous)) had an optimum higher than 10,000 mg l−1 Cl−. Change points (CPs) were determined on salinity class level along the gradient. These CPs are defined as the class, at which the largest change in occurrence is determined. The CP of taxa that are relatively sensitive, such as Sparganium erectum and Carex riparia, were below 200 mg l−1 Cl−, while relative tolerant taxa, such as Stuckenia pectinata and Ranunculus sceleratus, had CPs at concentrations that were more than tenfold higher. The upper limit of the salinity range at which taxa occurred in the study area were generally similar to the few limits that were previously published. Implications for assigning species to water body types for implementing the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands are discussed.

Quantifying Geophysical Inversion Uncertainty Using Airborne Frequency Domain Electromagnetic Data—Applied at the Province of Zeeland, the Netherlands

AbstractAn accurate understanding of the fresh‐saline distribution of groundwater is necessary for effective groundwater management. Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys offer a rapid and cost‐effective method with which to map this, offering valuable additional information about the subsurface. To convert AEM data into electric conductivity and ultimately groundwater salinity, an inversion is undertaken. A number of algorithms are available for this purpose; however, these are affected by significant uncertainty, owing to inherent nonunique characteristics of this process. The most commonly used inversion codes in hydrogeophysical studies were quantitatively tested using frequency domain AEM and ground data from the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands. These include UBC1DFM code and quasi‐2D laterally constrained inversions. Following an investigation of inversion parameter settings, data were inverted for four inversion methods and interpolated into 3‐D volumes. Using geological data and empirical electrical conductivity and water salinity relationships, each inversion was converted into groundwater electrical conductivity and split into fresh‐brackish‐saline regions. For groundwater volume estimates out of a total volume of 2.8 billion m3, a fresh groundwater estimate could differ by as much as 178 million m3, depending on the inversion used. The primary factor here was the choice of model smoothness, which was shown to affect the thickness of the brackish interval. Fresh‐brackish‐saline interfaces were consistently mapped with an accuracy of ~3 m, the brackish being the most accurately resolved. The few layer method was less successful at resolving smoothly varying salinity distributions but more successful at mapping the brackish interface at greater depth.

Unsupervised Hierarchical Clustering Approach for Tourism Market Segmentation Based on Crowdsourced Mobile Phone Data.

Understanding tourism related behavior and traveling patterns is an essential element of transportation system planning and tourism management at tourism destinations. Traditionally, tourism market segmentation is conducted to recognize tourist’s profiles for which personalized services can be provided. Today, the availability of wearable sensors, such as smartphones, holds the potential to tackle data collection problems of paper-based surveys and deliver relevant mobility data in a timely and cost-effective way. In this paper, we develop and implement a hierarchical clustering approach for smartphone geo-localized data to detect meaningful tourism related market segments. For these segments, we provide detailed insights into their characteristics and related mobility behavior. The applicability of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a use case in the Province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. We collected data from 1505 users during five months using the Zeeland app. The proposed approach resulted in two major clusters and four sub-clusters which we were able to interpret based on their spatio-temporal patterns and the recurrence of their visiting patterns to the region.

Large-scale, probabilistic salinity mapping using airborne electromagnetics for groundwater management in Zeeland, the Netherlands

Seawater intrusion has often resulted in scarce fresh groundwater resources in coastal lowlands. Careful management is essential to avoid the overexploitation of these vulnerable fresh groundwater resources, requiring detailed information on their spatial occurrence. Airborne electromagnetics (EM) has proved a valuable tool for efficient mapping of ground conductivity, as a proxy for fresh groundwater resources. Stakeholders are, however, interested in groundwater salinity, necessitating a translation of ground conductivity to groundwater salinity. This paper presents a methodology to construct a high-resolution (50 × 50 × 0.5 m3) 3D voxel model of groundwater chloride concentration probability, based on a large-scale (1800 km2, 9640 flight line kilometres) airborne EM survey in the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands. Groundwater chloride concentration was obtained by combining pedotransfer functions with detailed lithological information. The methodology includes a Monte Carlo based forward uncertainty propagation approach to quantify the inherent uncertainty in the different steps. Validation showed good correspondence both with available groundwater chloride analyses, and with ground-based hydrogeophysical measurements. Our results show the limited occurrence of fresh groundwater in Zeeland, as 75% of the area lacks fresh groundwater within 15 m below ground surface. Fresh groundwater is mainly limited to the dune area and sandy creek ridges. In addition, significant fresh groundwater resources were shown to exist below saline groundwater, where infiltration of seawater during marine transgressions was hindered by the presence of clayey aquitards. The considerable uncertainty in our results highlights the importance of applying uncertainty analysis in airborne EM surveys. Uncertainty in our results mainly originated from the inversion and the 3D interpolation, and was largest at transition zones between fresh and saline groundwater. Reporting groundwater salinity instead of ground conductivity facilitated the rapid uptake of our results by relevant stakeholders, thereby supporting the necessary management of fresh groundwater resources in the region.

Henk Schat.

Henk Schat.

Like Mother, Like Daughter. Intergenerational Transmission of Infant Mortality Clustering in Zeeland, the Netherlands, 1833-1912

The burden of infant mortality is not shared equally by all families, but clusters in high risk families. As yet, it remains unclear why some families experience more infant deaths than other families. Earlier research has shown that the risk of early death among infants may at least partially be transmitted from grandmothers to mothers. In this paper, we focus on the intergenerational transmission of mortality clustering in the Netherlands in the province of Zeeland between 1833 and 1912, using LINKS Zeeland, a dataset containing family reconstitutions based on civil certificates of birth, marriage and death. We assess whether intergenerational transmission of mortality clustering occurred in Zeeland, and if so, whether it can be explained on the basis of the demographic characteristics of the families in which the infants were born. In addition, we explore the opportunities for comparative research using the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS). We find that mortality clustering is indeed transmitted from grandmothers to mothers, and that the socioeconomic status of the family, the survival of mothers and fathers, and the demographic characteristics of the family affected infant survival. However, they explain the heterogeneity in infant mortality at the level of the mother only partially.

Insights For Coastal Destination Development: The Practices Of Kiteboarders In The Netherlands

Soft adventure is a popular tourism niche that northwest coastal destinations in Europe, such as the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands, are increasingly targeting. Many of these cold-water coastal destinations are struggling with strategies and policies that could maintain or increase their market share, often through the improvement of coastal products and image of the destination. One water sport that has gained enormous popularity in the last decade is kiteboarding. The practices of kiteboarders, which are informed by practice theory and conceptualized by the kiteboarding session, are studied through multiple methods. The research findings led to practical recommendations for deliberate interventions that support coastal destination policies targeting this niche.

Sharing the Cost of Dike Maintenance in the South-Western Netherlands: Comparing 'Calamitous Polders' in Three 'States', 1715-1795

Abstract For early modern societies, distributing the costs of flood defences between the stakeholders in an equitable way was difficult. Institutions were abused by powerful groups to shift the financial burden to poorer groups. According to Epstein, such elite abuse of institutions was possible because in pre-modern states political and economic power were not separated, which made it possible for elite groups to hijack the decision-making process. By studying how three 'states' in the South-Western Netherlands distributed the high costs of dike maintenance, this paper partly confirms Epstein's thesis. No separation existed between political and economic power in the province of Zeeland and here this caused a stalemate because cities represented in the provincial government protected their elites' interests. In Holland and the territories of the States-General, however, taking quick and efficient measures for the repair and financing of sea defences was possible. Here the powerful cities had less significant interests in the areas concerned and were prepared to leave decision-making to technical and financial experts.

Cursed Capital: the Economic Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Walcheren around 1770

The island of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland was the largest Dutch slaving center in the eighteenth century. While the profitability of the slave trade itself was limited, it had important local economic effects. A clue comes from the excellently preserved archive of the largest slave trader: the Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie (MCC). Combining the figures in the MCC archive with some experimental calculations, it is estimated that around 1770 about a tenth of the income earned by inhabitants of Middelburg was connected to the trade in enslaved Africans. For the more specialized and smaller city of Flushing, this figure was likely closer to a third of all income.

First assessment of the pore water composition of Rupel Clay in the Netherlands and the characterisation of its reactive solids

AbstractThe Rupel Clay member in the Netherlands largely corresponds to the Boom Formation in Belgium, and this marine, clay-rich deposit is a potential candidate to host radioactive waste disposal facilities. Prediction of the speciation of radionuclides in Rupel Clay pore water and their retardation by interactions with Rupel Clay components requires knowledge about the composition of Rupel Clay pore water, the inventory of reactive solids and understanding of interactions between Rupel Clay and pore water. Here, we studied Rupel Clay material which was obtained from cores collected in the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands, and from drilling cuttings retrieved from a drilling in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. Pore water was obtained by mechanical squeezing of Rupel Clay material from Zeeland. Additionally, anaerobic dilution experiments were performed in which the clay material was suspended with demineralised water or a 0.1M NaHCO3solution. Solid-phase characterisation included determination of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur contents, measurement of cation exchange capacity (CEC) and sequential extraction of iron phases.In contrast to the pore water in Belgian Boom Clay, pore water collected from the location in Zeeland has a higher salinity, with chloride concentrations corresponding to 70–96% of those in seawater. The high chloride concentrations most likely result from the intrusion of ions from saline waters above the Rupel Clay in Zeeland. Cation exchange during salinisation might account for the observed deficit of marine cations (Na, K, Mg) and excess of Ca concentrations, in comparison with seawater. The measured CEC values at both locations in the Netherlands vary between 7 and 35 meq(100g)−1and are, for most samples, in the range reported for Boom Clay in Belgium (7–30meq(100g)−1).Pore water and solid-phase composition indicate that Rupel Clay from Zeeland has been affected by oxidation of pyrite or other Fe(II)-containing solids. When coupled to the dissolution of calcium carbonates, oxidation of pyrite can account for the elevated sulphate and calcium concentrations measured in some of the pore waters. The relatively low concentrations of pyrite, organic carbon and calcite in the Rupel Clay in Zeeland, in comparison to Limburg, might be an indicator for an oxidation event. Higher contents of dithionite-extractable Fe in Rupel Clay in Zeeland (0.7–2.6mg Fe / g clay) than in Limburg (0.4–0.5mg Fe / g clay) might also be a consequence of the oxidation of Fe(II) minerals. Oxidation in the past could have accompanied partial erosion of Rupel Clay in Zeeland before deposition of the Breda Formation. However, indications are given that oxidation occurred in some of the pore waters after sampling and that partial oxidation of the cores during storage cannot be excluded. Results from dilution experiments substantiate the influence of equilibration with calcium carbonates on pore water composition. Furthermore, removal of dissolved sulphate upon interaction with Rupel Clay has been observed in some dilution experiments, possibly involving microbial sulphate reduction.

‘Yrelandtsche traenen’ gedroogd

Abstract Drying Irish tears. Transnational solidarity and local politics in Zeeland, 1641-1644This article shows how a local consistory from the province of Zeeland, driven by Calvinist loyalty and concern about the national church and state caused by the outbreak of the First English Civil War, laid the foundation for a charitable collection for Irish Protestants. It reviews the effectiveness of transnational Calvinist networks in generating political and financial support for the Puritan cause even though it contravened the official Dutch policy of neutrality. Decentralization of the collection enabled the authorities to avoid conflict with their Puritan citizens and to maintain consensus, thus maintaining the Republic’s ideal of harmony. Loyalty with fellow believers, the effective use of local lobbying networks, and the decentralized structure of the Dutch Republic were all crucial in the success of this collection. This case shows that international Calvinist solidarity did not necessarily depend on action at the national level but could be triggered by local initiative.

Introducing labour productivity changes into models used for economic impact analysis in tourism

In tourism management, traditional input–output models are often applied to calculate economic impacts, including employment impacts. These models imply that increases in output are translated into proportional increases in labour, indicating constant labour productivity. In non-linear input–output (NLIO) models, final demand changes lead to substitution. This causes changes in labour productivity, even though one unit of labour ceteris paribus still produces the same output. Final demand changes can, however, also lead to employees working longer, harder and/or more efficiently. The goal of this article is to include this type of ‘real’ labour productivity change into an NLIO model. To do this, the authors introduce factor augmenting technical change (FATC) and a differentiation between core and peripheral labour. An NLIO model with and without FATC is used to calculate the regional economic impacts of a 10% final demand increase in tourism in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. Accounting for real productivity changes leads to smaller increase in the use of labour, as productivity increases allow output to be produced using fewer inputs.

Health region development from the perspective of system theory – An empirical cross-regional case study

Governments are increasingly establishing health regions to deal with current challenges of public health service. These regions are seen as instruments to balance public and private stakeholders, and offer health care to regional citizens as well as to medical/health tourists. However, it is still unclear how the development of such health regions as well as their governance may be conceptualized. We apply Luhmann's system theory approach in the context of a cross-regional case study that compares health region developments in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano–South Tyrol (Italy) with particular regard to the Eastern Dolomites and in the province of Zeeland (the Netherlands). We suggest that Luhmann's system theory provides a useful set of criteria to evaluate and judge health region development. Fully developed health regions can be understood as auto-poietic systems. By emphasizing programs, personnel, and communication channels, these case studies illustrate the suitability of the system theory toolset to analyze the governance and spatial embeddedness of health regions. Additionally, the study contributes to literature by indicating that health regions are closely related to identity issues and to decision making in regions.

The role of a proto-Schelde River in the genesis of the southwestern Netherlands, inferred from the Quaternary successions and fossils in Moriaanshoofd Borehole (Zeeland, the Netherlands)

AbstractWe investigated the Quaternary lithological succession and faunas in a borehole near Moriaanshoofd (Province of Zeeland, SW Netherlands), in order to improve our understanding of the depositional context of classical Gelasian mammal faunas from the region. The fossils mostly derive from the base of a fossil-rich interval between 31 m and 36.5 m below the surface, that was initially interpreted as a Middle or Late Pleistocene interglacial marine unit, but turned out to be a Late Quaternary fluvial unit with large amounts of reworked fossils and sediments. Eocene mollusc taxa pinpoint Flanders (Belgium) as the source region for this river. Within the base of this paleo-Schelde River fossil material of various stratigraphic provenance became incorporated.