This study examines the automaticity of processing the emotional aspects of words, and characterizes the oscillatory brain dynamics that accompany this automatic processing. Participants read emotionally negative, neutral and positive nouns while performing a color detection task in which only perceptual-level analysis was required. Event-related potentials and time frequency representations were computed from the concurrently measured EEG. Negative words elicited a larger P2 and a larger late positivity than positive and neutral words, indicating deeper semantic/evaluative processing of negative words. In addition, sustained alpha power suppressions were found for the emotional compared to neutral words, in the time range from 500 to 1000. ms post-stimulus. These results suggest that sustained attention was allocated to the emotional words, whereas the attention allocated to the neutral words was released after an initial analysis. This seems to hold even when the emotional content of the words is task-irrelevant.
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Individual and unorganized sports with a health-related focus, such as recreational running, have grown extensively in the last decade. Consistent with this development, there has been an exponential increase in the availability and use of electronic monitoring devices such as smartphone applications (apps) and sports watches. These electronic devices could provide support and monitoring for unorganized runners, who have no access to professional trainers and coaches. The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the characteristics of event runners who use running-related apps and sports watches. This knowledge is useful from research, design, and marketing perspectives to adequately address unorganized runners’ needs, and to support them in healthy and sustainable running through personalized technology. Data used in this study are drawn from the standardized online Eindhoven Running Survey 2014 (ERS14). In total, 2,172 participants in the Half Marathon Eindhoven 2014 completed the questionnaire (a response rate of 40.0%). Binary logistic regressions were used to analyze the impact of socio-demographic variables, running-related variables, and psychographic characteristics on the use of running-related apps and sports watches. Next, consumer profiles were identified. The results indicate that the use of monitoring devices is affected by socio-demographics as well as sports-related and psychographic variables, and this relationship depends on the type of monitoring device. Therefore, distinctive consumer profiles have been developed to provide a tool for designers and manufacturers of electronic running-related devices to better target (unorganized) runners’ needs through personalized and differentiated approaches. Apps are more likely to be used by younger, less experienced and involved runners. Hence, apps have the potential to target this group of novice, less trained, and unorganized runners. In contrast, sports watches are more likely to be used by a different group of runners, older and more experienced runners with higher involvement. Although apps and sports watches may potentially promote and stimulate sports participation, these electronic devices do require a more differentiated approach to target specific needs of runners. Considerable efforts in terms of personalization and tailoring have to be made to develop the full potential of these electronic devices as drivers for healthy and sustainable sports participation.
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Information structure facilitates communication between interlocutors by highlighting relevant information. It has previously been shown that information structure modulates the depth of semantic processing. Here we used event-related potentials to investigate whether information structure can modulate the depth of syntactic processing. In question-answer pairs, subtle (number agreement) or salient (phrase structure) syntactic violations were placed either in focus or out of focus through information structure marking. P600 effects to these violations reflect the depth of syntactic processing. For subtle violations, a P600 effect was observed in the focus condition, but not in the non-focus condition. For salient violations, comparable P600 effects were found in both conditions. These results indicate that information structure can modulate the depth of syntactic processing, but that this effect depends on the salience of the information. When subtle violations are not in focus, they are processed less elaborately. We label this phenomenon the Chomsky illusion.
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Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been used for decades to study perception, cognition, emotion, neurological and psychiatric disorders, and lifespan development. ERPs consist of multiple components and reflect a specific neurocognitive process. In the past, there was no single source that could be consulted to learn about all the major ERP components; learning about a single ERP component required reading dozens or even hundreds of separate journal articles and book chapters. The Oxford Handbook of Event-Related Potential Components fills this void with a detailed review of the major ERP components. The book looks at the fundamental nature of ERP components, including essential information about how ERP components are defined and isolated. It explains in detail individual components, such as the N170, P300, and ERN. It further examines groups of related components within specific research domains, such as language, emotion, and memory. Finally, it analyses ERP components in special populations, including children, the elderly, nonhuman primates, and patients with neurological disorders, affective disorders, and schizophrenia.
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This paper proposes an amendment of the classification of safety events based on their controllability and contemplates the potential of an event to escalate into higher severity classes. It considers (1) whether the end-user had the opportunity to intervene into the course of an event, (2) the level of end-user familiarity with the situation, and (3) the positive or negative effects of end-user intervention against expected outcomes. To examine its potential, we applied the refined classification to 296 aviation safety investigation reports. The results suggested that pilots controlled only three-quarters of the occurrences, more than three-thirds of the controlled cases regarded fairly unfamiliar situations, and the flight crews succeeded to mitigate the possible negative consequences of events in about 71% of the cases. Further statistical tests showed that the controllability-related characteristics of events had not significantly changed over time, and they varied across regions, aircraft, operational and event characteristics, as well as when fatigue had contributed to the occurrences. Overall, the findings demonstrated the value of using the controllability classification before considering the actual outcomes of events as means to support the identification of system resilience and successes. The classification can also be embedded in voluntary reporting systems to allow end-users to express the degree of each of the controllability characteristics so that management can monitor them over time and perform internal and external benchmarking. The mandatory reports concerned, the classification could function as a decision-making parameter for prioritising incident investigations.
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In dit artikel wordt gekeken naar de relatie tussen het gebruik van mobiele applicaties en fysieke activiteit en gezonde leefstijl. Dit is gedaan op basis van een vragenlijst onder deelnemers aan een hardloopevenement, de Dam tot Damloop. Er werden aparte analyses gedaan voor 8km lopers en 16 km lopers. Een positieve relatie werd gevonden tussen app gebruik en meer bewegen en zich gezonder voelen. App gebruik was ook positief gerelateerd aan beter voelen over zichzelf, je voelen als een atleet, anderen motiveren om te gaan hardlopen en afvallen. Voor de 16 km lopers was app gebruik gerelateerd aan gezonder eten, zich meer energieker voelen en een hogere kans om het sportgedrag vol te houden. De resultaten van dit onderzoek laten zien dat app gebruik mogelijk een ondersteunende rol kunnen hebben in de voorbereiding op een hardloopevenemen, aangezien het gezondheid en fysieke activiteit stimuleert.
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We examined the neural correlates of facial attractiveness by presenting pictures of male or female faces (neutral expression) with low/intermediate/high attractiveness to 48 male or female participants while recording their electroencephalogram (EEG). Subjective attractiveness ratings were used to determine the 10% highest, 10% middlemost, and 10% lowest rated faces for each individual participant to allow for high contrast comparisons. These were then split into preferred and dispreferred gender categories. ERP components P1, N1, P2, N2, early posterior negativity (EPN), P300 and late positive potential (LPP) (up until 3000 ms post-stimulus), and the face specific N170 were analysed. A salience effect (attractive/unattractive > intermediate) in an early LPP interval (450–850 ms) and a long-lasting valence related effect (attractive > unattractive) in a late LPP interval (1000–3000 ms) were elicited by the preferred gender faces but not by the dispreferred gender faces. Multi-variate pattern analysis (MVPA)-classifications on whole-brain single-trial EEG patterns further confirmed these salience and valence effects. It is concluded that, facial attractiveness elicits neural responses that are indicative of valenced experiences, but only if these faces are considered relevant. These experiences take time to develop and last well beyond the interval that is commonly explored.
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Economische impact World Rowing Championships 2014 Van 24 tot 31 augustus 2014 vond op de Bosbaan in Amsterdam de World Rowing Championships (WRC) plaats. Met het oog op de verdere ontwikkeling van het evenement wil de World Rowing Federation (FISA inzicht krijgen in de economische impact van dit evenement. Zij heeft de Hogeschool van Amsterdam in samenwerking met Hogeschool Inholland en Sport2B gevraagd hier onderzoek naar te doen. Daarnaast heeft de FISA enkele aanvullende vragen geformuleerd over de tevredenheid van bezoekers en vrijwilligers. Bezoekers Het bezoekersaantal wordt geschat op 40.000, waarvan 30.000 unieke bezoekers. Buitenlandse bezoekers besteedden gemiddeld 77 euro per dag, Nederlandse bezoekers 27 euro en Amsterdamse bezoekers 20 euro. De bezoekers waren goed voor 28.500 overnachtingen in de dagen rondom het evenement. De totale bestedingsimpuls gerealiseerd door bezoekers bedroeg 3,1 miljoen. Deelnemers In totaal namen 1.800 atleten en begeleiders deel aan het evenement. Conservatief geschat gaven de deelnemers gemiddeld 25 euro per dag uit. De totale additionele uitgaven van atleten en begeleiders komen daarmee op 534.000 euro. In totaal waren de atleten goed voor 19.500 overnachtingen. De totale uitgaven voor de accommodatie komen daarmee op meer dan 2 miljoen euro. Zes nationale teams hebben als voorbereiding op WRC in juni deelgenomen aan de International Rowing Regatta Amsterdam (IRRA), dit genereerde een lokale economische impact van 149.000 euro. De totale bestedingsimpuls gerealiseerd door deelnemers bedroeg 2,7 miljoen euro. Organisatie en media Het saldo van in- en uitgaande geldstromen veroorzaakt door de organisatie en de media bedroeg 0,8 miljoen euro. De totale directe en indirecte economische impact: 9,2 miljoen euro.
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Abstract Specialist oncology nurses (SONs) have the potential to play a major role in monitoring and reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs); and reduce the level of underreporting by current healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to investigate the long term clinical and educational efects of real-life pharmacovigilance education intervention for SONs on ADR reporting. This prospective cohort study, with a 2-year follow-up, was carried out in the three postgraduate schools in the Netherlands. In one of the schools, the prescribing qualifcation course was expanded to include a lecture on pharmacovigilance, an ADR reporting assignment, and group discussion of self-reported ADRs (intervention). The clinical value of the intervention was assessed by analyzing the quantity and quality of ADR-reports sent to the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Center Lareb, up to 2 years after the course and by evaluating the competences regarding pharmacovigilance of SONs annually. Eighty-eight SONs (78% of all SONs with a prescribing qualifcation in the Netherlands) were included. During the study, 82 ADRs were reported by the intervention group and 0 by the control group. This made the intervention group 105 times more likely to report an ADR after the course than an average nurse in the Netherlands. This is the frst study to show a signifcant and relevant increase in the number of well-documented ADR reports after a single educational intervention. The real-life pharmacovigilance educational intervention also resulted in a long-term increase in pharmacovigilance competence. We recommend implementing real-life, context- and problem-based pharmacovigilance learning assignments in all healthcare curricula.
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This feasibility report aims to create a solid background for Savings Groups programming in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands where partner organisations of the LETS SAVEE1 project are based. This Erasmus+ funded project aims at exploring the potential of saving groups in the European countries’ context, by improving entrepreneurial skills and access to financial services and social networks of diverse target groups. This particular report provides the partner organisation as well as other interested implementing organisations with a better understanding of how the different contexts influences the setting up and/or scale up of saving groups. This report is set up as follows: The market potential is based on literature of societal developments and how they can be linked to the emergence of saving groups in the respective countries and what kind of target groups have potential for benefitting the services offered by savings groups. By mapping partner organisations, the feasibility study identifies present and potential partners and stakeholders which could play an essential role reaching out to target groups. Then, the study will inform partner organisations and other implementers about the legal framework in each country that allows them to set up Savings Groups accordingly and identify issues that might need advocacy actions. Finally, this report provides a mapping of risk factors and ways to mitigate risks for savings groups members that were applicable for all partner organizations.
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