Loneliness among young adults is a growing concern worldwide, posing serious health risks. While the human ecological framework explains how various factors such as socio-demographic, social, and built environment characteristics can affect this feeling, still, relatively little is known about the effect of built environment characteristics on the feelings of loneliness that young people experience in their daily life activities. This research investigates the relationship between built environment characteristics and emotional state loneliness in young adults (aged 18–25) during their daily activities. Leveraging the Experience Sampling Method, we collected data from 43 participants for 393 personal experiences during daily activities across different environmental settings. The findings of a mixed-effects regression model reveal that built environment features significantly impact emotional state loneliness. Notably, activity location accessibility, social company during activities, and walking activities all contribute to reducing loneliness. These findings can inform urban planners and municipalities to implement interventions that support youngsters’ activities and positive experiences to enhance well-being and alleviate feelings of loneliness in young adults. Specific recommendations regarding the built environment are (1) to create spaces that are accessible, (2) create spaces that are especially accessible by foot, and (3) provide housing with shared facilities for young adults rather than apartments/studios.
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The international Wadden Sea is an estuarine tidal area along the North Sea coasts of The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is characteristic for regions with sandy coasts and a medium tidal range. Fifty barrier islands separate the Wadden Sea from the North Sea, and an offshore transition zone to the North Sea. The tidal flats of the Wadden Sea form the largest unbroken stretchof mudflats worldwide. The present form of the Wadden Sea is still mainly the result of natural forces, although since the Middle Ages man has changed the Wadden Sea landscape by building dykes and reclaiming land. The Wadden Sea is an important nursery area for fish, a foraging and resting habitat for seals, and a foraging habitat for migrating waders. The Wadden Sea, including large parts of the islands, is a fully nature protected area and designated as a natural World Heritage site in 2009 (Wolff, 2013). The research group Marine Wetlands Studies at Stenden University is focusing on the sustainable development of tourism in the area. Current research has the purpose to get insight in to the effects of the World Heritage Status, in particular the natural values of the area, on future tourism development.
Digital nature can provide a substitute for real nature for those who have limited access to green space, or are confined to their homes, for example during the worldwide COVID-19 lockdown. In a large-scale online survey, respondents (N = 1203) watched videos of digital nature, varying in terms of type of nature (wild versus tended nature) and spaciousness. Results show a significant increase of feelings of connectedness to the community after watching digital nature. Furthermore, tended nature scenes elicited more social aspirations than wild nature scenes. A multiple regression model further shows that living further away from nature was a significant predictor for loneliness scores, while number of nature interactions during a week was not. Results of this study confirm the importance of nature interaction for mental and social wellbeing for the general population and stress the potential of digital nature as a complementary strategy. These findings are of particular relevance to those who lack access to nature due to old age and related mobility constraints or a lockdown.
-Chatbots are being used at an increasing rate, for instance, for simple Q&A conversations, flight reservations, online shopping and news aggregation. However, users expect to be served as effective and reliable as they were with human-based systems and are unforgiving once the system fails to understand them, engage them or show them human empathy. This problem is more prominent when the technology is used in domains such as health care, where empathy and the ability to give emotional support are most essential during interaction with the person. Empathy, however, is a unique human skill, and conversational agents such as chatbots cannot yet express empathy in nuanced ways to account for its complex nature and quality. This project focuses on designing emotionally supportive conversational agents within the mental health domain. We take a user-centered co-creation approach to focus on the mental health problems of sexual assault victims. This group is chosen specifically, because of the high rate of the sexual assault incidents and its lifetime destructive effects on the victim and the fact that although early intervention and treatment is necessary to prevent future mental health problems, these incidents largely go unreported due to the stigma attached to sexual assault. On the other hand, research shows that people feel more comfortable talking to chatbots about intimate topics since they feel no fear of judgment. We think an emotionally supportive and empathic chatbot specifically designed to encourage self-disclosure among sexual assault victims could help those who remain silent in fear of negative evaluation and empower them to process their experience better and take the necessary steps towards treatment early on.
Lipids, proteins and biological active compounds that are present in insects can serve as nutrient source for poultry production. Because of the potential benefit effects of using insects as feed additives, we must consider the effects of gut microbiome on the insect affects itself, and the expected effect on the microbiome of the broilers that consume these insects. This is specifically important in the situation where live insects are fed to poultry, without prior processing. In this proposal we describe to study whether larvae fed to broilers will affect their microbiome in a positive way for practical applications in poultry industry. Hence, a pilot proof-of-concept study will be carried out as basis for a follow-up proposal for a larger project in the future, that we also like to set-up within this project. In that follow-up proposal, focus will be on the effect of different substrates for insects, on the insect microbiome, to spike insects with specific bacteria and to track their microbiome dynamics over time, and the effect of these insects used as a feed additive on the broiler gut microbiome. This study will provide results on if live Black Soldier Fly larvae (BSFL) can affect the broiler gut microbiome in a positive way, and relevant outcomes will be exploited in a follow-up research proposal in which these effects will be unraveled in detail for adoption by the industry. The project is a collaboration between cooperative insect company RavenFeed and NGN Pro-active both with knowledge on BSFL rearing, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) with knowledge on insect diseases and microbiome analysis, Schothorst Feed Research (SFR) highly experienced in poultry nutrition research and having unique poultry facilities, and Aeres University of Applied Sciences Dronten (AHD) with research facilities for BSFL rearing under experimental conditions.
Former military fortifications are often repurposed for tourism and recreation. While some of over 100 Dutch forts are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites, a substantial number are currently underdeveloped, putting their cultural and natural heritage at risk. Developing these forts in a conscious and collaborative way promises to not only preserve their heritage value, but also facilitate enjoyable and healthy experiences for visitors. Moreover, under-developed forts provide an opportunity to solve another pressing challenge, namely overtourism. Visitor pressure at tourist attractions has led the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions to call for spreading visitors to lesser-known areas. Less-developed forts are among the most promising of these. Development initiatives depend on a transition from isolation to cooperation across sites. However, for cooperation to be effective, agencies managing these forts have indicated an urgent need for data on visitor characteristics and experiences. The purpose of the present project is to measure and analyze visitor demographics, motivations, and experiences at less-developed forts, and to develop a toolkit to inspire, support, and monitor development of these forts for natural and cultural heritage preservation and improved visitor experience. This proposal builds on the previous project, “Experiencing Nature” which utilized Breda Experience Lab technologies to measure visitor experiences at Fort de Roovere. We now aim to broaden this proven approach to a broader variety of forts, and to translate visitor data into actionable advice. The consortium includes a changemaking network of the Alliantie Zuiderwaterlinie (NL), Regionale Landschappen (VL), and Agentschap Natuur en Bos (VL). This Dutch-Flemish network aims to connect formerly isolated forts to one another, and represents a broad diversity of fortified sites, each with unique challenges. The project will thus facilitate interregional collaboration, especially toward coming Interreg EU proposals, and inform interregional marketing campaigns and planning for management and conservation.
