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“A Chinese Wall along our Eastern Border” – Allied Occupation Policy in Germany and its Consequences for Dutch-German Trade Relations, 1945-1949

After the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich in May 1945, Germany no longer existed as a sovereign, independent nation. It was occupied by the four Allied powers: France, Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. When it came to the postwar European recovery, the biggest obstacle was that the economy in Germany, the dominant continental economic power before the Second World War, was at an almost complete standstill. This not only had severe consequences for Germany itself, but also had strong economic repercussions for surrounding countries, especially the Netherlands. As Germany had been the former’s most important trading partner since the middle of the nineteenth century, it was clear that the Netherlands would be unable to recover economically without a healthy Germany. However, Allied policy, especially that of the British and the Americans, made this impossible for years. This article therefore focuses on the early postwar Dutch-German trade relations and the consequences of Allied policy. While much has been written about the occupation of Germany, far less attention has been paid to the results of this policy on neighbouring countries. Moreover, the main claim of this article is that it was not Marshall Aid which was responsible for the quick and remarkable Dutch economic growth as of 1949, but the opening of the German market for Dutch exports that same year. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbwg-2018-0009 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijn-lak-71793013/

Investigations on the restoration and seismic enhancement options for the jaisedewal temple after the Gorkha eartquake in Nepal

Energieke Restauratie

Sporen uit het verleden zijn het waard bewaard te wordenvoor volgende generaties!In het onderzoeksproject Energieke Restauratie (2011-2013)van het kenniscentrum NoorderRuimte istwee jaar onderzoek gedaan naar restauratie, energieconceptenen herontwikkeling van historische gebouwen. Dit project,gefinancierd door SIA-RAAK, werd uitgevoerd in samenwerkingmet vele bedrijven en instellingen in Noord-Nederland.Energieke Restauratie verwijst naar een integrale aanpak vanbehoud en vernieuwing in historische gebouwen, met eenhoge ambitie voor energiebesparing.Een ‘Energieke Restauratie’ begint met het herkennen vanwensen en randvoorwaarden in het vooronderzoek. Zo wordtbij het ontwerp rekening gehouden met historische waarden,energie, en gebruikerswensen. Uiteraard wordt er bij derestauratie van een historisch gebouw veel aandacht besteedaan effecten op de lange termijn, bijvoorbeeld voor hetvoorkomen van schade aan historische materialen, flexibiliteitvoor (toekomstig) gebruik, energielasten en gebruikscomfort.Op 19 september 2013 vond de afsluitende internationaleconferentie ERIC2013 plaats in Groningen. Met trots bieden wiju nu het magazine Energieke Restauratie aan, waarin u korteweergaves vindt van de presentaties op ERIC2013, voornamelijkin het Engels. Bovendien zijn de volledige artikelen van veledeelnemers aan de conferentie opgenomen.Verder vindt u een beknopt overzicht van alle uitgevoerde casestudies van Energieke Restauratie.Tot slot bedanken wij iedereen die heeft bijgedragen aan detotstandkoming van dit magazine: de schrijvers van de artikelen,de vormgever en uiteraard de sponsors die het drukken van ditmagazine mogelijk hebben gemaakt.

Does Science-Fiction predict [or change] the future?

This research paper looks at a selection of science-fiction films and its connection with the progression of the use of television, telephone and print media. It also analyzes statistical data obtained from a questionnaire conducted by the research group regarding the use of communication media.

Creating traces, sharing insight

This investigation explores relations between 1) a theory of human cognition, called Embodied Cognition, 2) the design of interactive systems and 3) the practice of ‘creative group meetings’ (of which the so-called ‘brainstorm’ is perhaps the best-known example). The investigation is one of Research-through-Design (Overbeeke et al., 2006). This means that, together with students and external stakeholders, I designed two interactive prototypes. Both systems contain a ‘mix’ of both physical and digital forms. Both are designed to be tools in creative meeting sessions, or brainstorms. The tools are meant to form a natural, element in the physical meeting space. The function of these devices is to support the formation of shared insight: that is, the tools should support the process by which participants together, during the activity, get a better grip on the design challenge that they are faced with. Over a series of iterations I reflected on the design process and outcome, and investigated how users interacted with the prototypes.

Teacher competencies for working with young talent

Twenty sixteen year old fourth-graders of the School for Young Talent (School voor Jong Talent) in The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Design, Music and Dance (Hogeschool van Beeldende Kunsten, Muziek en Dans) participated in a pilot project that combined music, dance and visual arts in a creative process. A group of six teachers from three different disciplines guided the young artists. This report shows how this process took place and indicates some of the issues that were encountered along the way.