Although there is some evidence that total dietary antioxidant capacity (TDAC) is inversely associated with the presence of obesity, no longitudinal studies have been performed investigating the effect of TDAC on comprehensive measures of body composition over time. In this study, we included 4595 middle-aged and elderly participants from the Rotterdam Study, a population-based cohort. We estimated TDAC among these individuals by calculating a ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) score based on data from food-frequency questionnaires. Body composition was assessed by means of dual X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and every subsequent 3-5 years. From these data, we calculated fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), android-to-gynoid fat ratio (AGR), body fat percentage (BF%) and body mass index (BMI). We also assessed hand grip strength at two time points and prevalence of sarcopenia at one time point in a subset of participants. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models or multinomial logistic regression models with multivariable adjustment. We found that higher FRAP score was associated with higher FFMI (0.091 kg/m2 per standard deviation (SD) higher FRAP score, 95% CI 0.031; 0.150), lower AGR (-0.028, 95% CI -0.053; -0.003), higher BMI (0.115, 95% CI 0.020; 0.209) and lower BF% (-0.223, 95% CI -0.383; -0.064) across follow-up after multivariable adjustment. FRAP score was not associated with hand grip strength or sarcopenia. Additional adjustment for adherence to dietary guidelines and exclusion of individuals with comorbid disease at baseline did not change our results. In conclusion, dietary intake of antioxidants may positively affect the amount of lean mass and overall body composition among the middle-aged and elderly.
From the article: Many organizations are striving for a structural and professional approach toward business information management (BIM). With help of BiSL they can shape the BIM responsibilities and processes, but they struggle with the required capacity for the BIM activities necessary for their particular situation. Therefore, research was started to develop an instrument to determine the required capacity of the BIM activities in an organization. In this paper the construction of the instrument will be described. A limited set of factors may be of importance to identify the required capacity of BIM activities that is needed: complexity of business processes, complexity of IS/IT, dynamics of the organization and its environment and the size of the organization are examples of relevant factors. However, factors that appear relevant may prove useless in practice due to the fact that organizations have no data on these indicators available. Furthermore, the relationships between the present and desired quality of information and information services are part of the instrument. The instrument was tested in practice to determine the usefulness. The results show that the instrument has the potential to determine the required capacity of BIM.
MULTIFILE
This project develops a European network for transdisciplinary innovation in artistic engagement as a catalyst for societal transformation, focusing on immersive art. It responds to the professionals in the field’s call for research into immersive art’s unique capacity to ‘move’ people through its multisensory, technosocial qualities towards collective change. The project brings together experts leading state-of-the-art research and practice in related fields with an aim to develop trajectories for artistic, methodological, and conceptual innovation for societal transformation. The nascent field of immersive art, including its potential impact on society, has been identified as a priority research area on all local-to-EU levels, but often suffers from the common (mis)perception as being technological spectacle prioritising entertainment values. Many practitioners create immersive art to enable novel forms of creative engagement to address societal issues and enact change, but have difficulty gaining recognition and support for this endeavour. A critical challenge is the lack of knowledge about how their predominantly sensuous and aesthetic experience actually lead to collective change, which remains unrecognised in the current systems of impact evaluation predicated on quantitative analysis. Recent psychological insights on awe as a profoundly transformative emotion signals a possibility to address this challenge, offering a new way to make sense of the transformational effect of directly interacting with such affective qualities of immersive art. In parallel, there is a renewed interest in the practice of cultural mediation, which brings together different stakeholders to facilitate negotiation towards collective change in diverse domains of civic life, often through creative engagements. Our project forms strategic grounds for transdisciplinary research at the intersection between these two developments. We bring together experts in immersive art, psychology, cultural mediation, digital humanities, and design across Europe to explore: How can awe-experiences be enacted in immersive art and be extended towards societal transformation?
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has the ambition to activate learners to engage in societal issues by exploring shifting perspectives on ourselves and our complex world. Educators across University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in the Netherlands are working hard to bring this ambition to life by implementing innovative pedagogies that emphasise transformative learning and empower students to take action to ignite societal transitions. However, both literature and practise have yet to establish educational assessment practise suited to ESD ambitions. This Comenius Teaching Fellow project proposes an innovation in the practise of sustainability education by developing an assessment format crucial to the constructive alignment in ESD. Assessment formats will be prototyped within the transformative course Creating Impact at Breda University of Applied Sciences resulting in two main products: (1) innovative assessment format for Creating Impact, including Implementation Toolkit and (2) a generic Design Toolkit ESD Assessment. The products are directly developed for the outlined context, but contribute to the increased capacity of UAS educators more broadly to embed ESD in educational practise. Future educational forms addressing societal challenges must take into account all aspects of educational design, including assessment, to ensure constructive alignment. By focusing on assessment in ESD, the outcomes of this project are an essential contribution to bridging the gap between ESD theory and educational practice, so that, in the words of the Vereniging Hogescholen, we educate our students to become professionals who help build a new, sustainable society
