BACKGROUND: Muscle force is important for daily life and sports and can be measured with a handheld dynamometer. Reference values are employed to quantify a subject's muscle force. It is not unambiguous whether reference values can be generalized to other populations. Objectives in this study were; first to confirm the reliability of the utilization of hand-held dynamometers for isometric strength measurement; second to determine reference values for a population of Dutch workers; third to compare these values with those of a USA population.METHODS: 462 Healthy working subjects (259 male, 203 female) were included in this study. Their age ranged from 20 to 60 years with a mean (sd) of 41 (11) years. Muscle force values from elbow flexion and extension, knee flexion and extension, and shoulder abduction were measured with the break method using a MicroFet 2 hand-held dynamometer. Reliability was analyzed by calculating ICC's and limits of agreement. Muscle force expressed in Newton, means, and confidence intervals were determined for males and females in age groups ranging from twenty to sixty years old. Regression equations and explained variances were calculated from weight, height, age, and gender. The mean values and 95% CI were compared to the results from other studies.RESULTS: Reliability was good; the ICC ranged between 0.83 to 0.94. The explained variance ranged from 0.25 to 0.51. Comparison of data for the Dutch population mean muscle force values with those from the USA revealed important differences between muscle force reference values for the American and Dutch populations.CONCLUSIONS: Muscle force measurements demonstrate a sound reliability. Reference values and regressions equations are made available for the Dutch population. Comparison with other studies indicates that reference values differ between countries.
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How can further insight into the relationship between artistic and socially added values of arts and culture initiatives result in new ways of working together? Collaborating with the KultuurLoket of VRIJDAG Groningen and contributing to the Artistic Platform currently being set up in Veendam, researchers from the professorship Image in Context of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences have composed a visual method to develop a ‘Social Artistic Values Canvas’. This method initiates a ‘feedback flow’, which allows researchers and participants to work together, arrive at new insights, and trigger new forms of social artistic action. Measuring impact thereby creates impact: an emergent approach which allows a new ecosystem to arise.
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Ons huidige socialmediagebruik brengt een aantal grote risico’s met zich mee voor de samenleving. Sociale fragmentatie, polarisatie en de verspreiding van misinformatie zijn schadelijk voor de democratie en onze maatschappelijke weerbaarheid. De verslavende werking van sociale media kan ten koste gaan van ons welzijn. De afhankelijkheid van grote buitenlandse techbedrijven, die winst voor aandeelhouders belangrijker vinden dan het borgen van publieke waarden, ondermijnen onze digitale soevereiniteit en zeggenschap over belangrijke communicatiekanalen.
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Valuation of heritage buildings is usually performed by architectural-historical experts, who use a typology of heritage values based on conservation philosophy. Increasingly, social and spirituality values are included in heritage assessment frameworks.What happens to valuation systems when external events influence the chances of survival of heritage buildings, such as earthquakes induced by gas extraction in the Netherlands? While the mining company uses a narrow economic perspective on value, the public fears for loss of character of their historic towns. New safety regulations constitute a new and even stronger threat to heritage buildings. Recently, a heritage assessment framework was published, to help with value assessments in the affected region. In this paper, we compare experts’ and laypersons’ values by analyzing the new assessment framework as well as public documents. We conclude that heritage value assessments should incorporate social values, including memories and symbolic meanings, to create a balanced valuation system.
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In the psychological field, a lot of progress has been made in values theory. In marketing theory, however, the use of values has been undervalued. Despite the widespread managerial use of brand values, attention has remained focused on the brand personality concept. This book intends to provide a new perspective to marketing science, by proposing a system of brand values that takes into account the developments in values theory. Values were tested in a number of rounds among a total of more than 3,000 respondents in the Netherlands and several other countries including Germany, Italy, and China.In this study, values that motivate consumer behavior were demonstrated to relate to each other as a consistent value system, labelled here as the Value Compass. We showed that the values with which brands profile themselves can be organized according to a similar structure as the human value system, which opens additional insights into the use of values to position brands, or to predict brand choice. The cross-cultural validation included in this book showed a high degree of equivalence of the Value Compass. This validation provided insight in the cross-cultural similarities in the structure of the value system, but it also emphasized the cross-cultural differences in priorities that individuals attach to certain values.
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Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have millions of users logging in every day, using these platforms for commu nication, entertainment, and news consumption. These platforms adopt rules that determine how users communicate and thereby limit and shape public discourse.2 Platforms need to deal with large amounts of data generated every day. For example, as of October 2021, 4.55 billion social media users were ac tive on an average number of 6.7 platforms used each month per internet user.3 As a result, platforms were compelled to develop governance models and content moderation systems to deal with harmful and undesirable content, including disinformation. In this study: • ‘Content governance’ is defined as a set of processes, procedures, and systems that determine how a given platform plans, publishes, moder ates, and curates content. • ‘Content moderation’ is the organised practice of a social media plat form of pre-screening, removing, or labelling undesirable content to reduce the damage that inappropriate content can cause.
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This paper will describe the rationale and findings from a multinational study of online uses and gratifications conducted in the United States, Korea, and the Netherlands in spring 2003. A survey research method of study was conducted using a questionnaire developed in three languages and was presented to approximately 400 respondents in each country via the Web. Web uses and gratifications were analyzed cross-nationally in a comparative fashion and focused on the perceived involvement in different types of on-line communities. Findings indicate that demographic characteristics, cultural values, and Internet connection type emerged as critical factors that explain why the same technology is adopted differently. The analyses identified seven major gratifications sought by users in each country: social support, surveillance & advice, learning, entertainment, escape, fame & aesthetic, and respect. Although the Internet is a global medium, in general, web use is more local and regional. Evidence of media use and cultural values reported by country and online community supports the hypothesis of a technological convergence between societies, not a cultural convergence.
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Social work in the Netherlands is attracting an increasing number of Turkish and Moroccan Dutch professionals, mostly second-generation migrant women from a Muslim background. Inspired by Amartya Sen’s capability approach, this article presents the findings of a qualitative content analysis of 40 interviews with professionals by peers from the same background. The question is, what kind of professionals do these newly started social workers desire to be and what hindrances do they encounter? The professionals challenge the dominance of Western beliefs and values. This becomes tangible in their desires and constraints and especially in the process of choice.
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The growing prevalence of AI systems in society, has also prompted a growth of AI systems in the public sector. There are however ethical concerns over the impact of AI on society and how this technology can impact public values. Previous works do not connect public values and the development of AI. To address this, a method is required to ensure that developers and public servants can signal possible ethical implications of an AI system and are assisted in creating systems that adhere to public values. Using the Research pathway model and Value Sensitive Design, we will develop a toolbox to assist in these challenges and gain insight into how public values can be embedded throughout the development of AI systems.
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The Procurement Platform Groningen is a cooperation of 15 tendering authorities in the northern part of the Netherlands. The Platform requested Hanze to start a research project concerning the Social Added Value of the Platform’s spend. The first phase of this research has now been completed. This phase has resulted in more insight into the spend of the Platform. The subject of this working paper concerns one of the next steps in this research. How can tendering authorities stimulate innovation within SMEs through tenders below threshold values? Most of the Platform members’ spend is put to market through non-European tenders. This paper describes a theoretical research into Platform’s possibilities to encourage innovation in SMEs, by using tendering for contracts that are below the threshold value. The results of this research show that the Platform can use several tendering procedures.
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