Research studies and recruitment processes often rely on psychometric instruments to profile respondents with regards to their ethical orientation. Completing such questionnaires can be tedious and is prone to self-presentation bias. Noting how video games often expose players to complex plots, filled with dilemmas and morally dubious options, the opportunity emerges to evaluate player’s moral orientation by analysing their in-game behaviour. In order to explore the feasibility of such an approach, we examine how users’ moral judgment correlates with choices they make in non-linear narratives, frequently present in video games. An interactive narrative presenting several moral dilemmas was created. An initial user study (N = 80) revealed only weak correlations between the users’ choices and their ethical inclinations in all ethical scales. However, by training a genetic algorithm on this data set to quantify the influence of each branch on recognising moral inclination we found a strong positive correlation between choice behaviour and self-reported ethical inclinations on a second independent group of participants (N = 20). The contribution of this work is to demonstrate how genetic algorithms can be applied in interactive stories to profile users’ ethical stance.
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The purpose of the research we undertook for this Conference Paper was to investigate whether marketing campaigns for specific types of drinks could be directed towards age cohorts rather than towards intercultural differences between countries. We developed consumer profiles based on drinking motives and drinking behavior by age cohorts. We hypothesized that differences between countries in the youngest age groups are smaller than in the older age groups, where country specific tradition and culture still plays a more prominent role. We, therefore tested, from the data obtained by the COnsumer BEhaviouR Erasmus Network (COBEREN), the hypothesis that the extent to which the age specific profiles differ between countries increases with age. The results confirm our hypothesis that the extent to which drinking motives differ between countries increases with age. Our results suggest that marketing campaigns which are directed towards drinking motives, could best be tailored by age cohort, in particular when it concerns age group 18-37 and more particular for beer, spirits and especially premix drinks. Marketing campaigns for non-alcoholic beverages should be made specific for the British countries and the Western countries, but even more effectively be made specific for the age cohort 18-37.
The seaweed aquaculture sector, aimed at cultivation of macroalgal biomass to be converted into commercial applications, can be placed within a sustainable and circular economy framework. This bio-based sector has the potential to aid the European Union meet multiple EU Bioeconomy Strategy, EU Green Deal and Blue Growth Strategy objectives. Seaweeds play a crucial ecological role within the marine environment and provide several ecosystem services, from the take up of excess nutrients from surrounding seawater to oxygen production and potentially carbon sequestration. Sea lettuce, Ulva spp., is a green seaweed, growing wild in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. Sea lettuce has a high nutritional value and is a promising source for food, animal feed, cosmetics and more. Sea lettuce, when produced in controlled conditions like aquaculture, can supplement our diet with healthy and safe proteins, fibres and vitamins. However, at this moment, Sea lettuce is hardly exploited as resource because of its unfamiliarity but also lack of knowledge about its growth cycle, its interaction with microbiota and eventually, possible applications. Even, it is unknown which Ulva species are available for aquaculture (algaculture) and how these species can contribute to a sustainable aquaculture biomass production. The AQULVA project aims to investigate which Ulva species are available in the North Sea and Wadden Sea which can be utilised in onshore aquaculture production. Modern genomic, microbiomic and metabolomic profiling techniques alongside ecophysiological production research must reveal suitable Ulva selections with high nutritional value for sustainable onshore biomass production. Selected Ulva spp lines will be used for production of healthy and safe foods, anti-aging cosmetics and added value animal feed supplements for dairy farming. This applied research is in cooperation with a network of SME’s, Research Institutes and Universities of Applied Science and is liaised with EU initiatives like the EU-COST action “SeaWheat”.
In de ontwikkeling van voedingsmiddelen draait alles om smaak. Eten moeten vooral lekker zijn, toch? Om smaak en andere producteigenschappen in kaart te brengen wordt sensorisch onderzoek (SO) uitgevoerd. In de praktijk gebeurt dit vaak onder suboptimale omstandigheden vanwege bijvoorbeeld onvoldoende beschikbaarheid van panelleden en een gebrek aan tijd. Belangrijke beslissingen worden vervolgens gebaseerd op onbetrouwbare, invalide resultaten. Er is daarom een behoefte naar snelle, betrouwbare en valide methodieken. Daarbij geldt dat voedselkeuze een complex proces dat verder gaat dat het analytisch beoordelen van producteigenschappen. Zo kan de context van consumptie van invloed zijn op de perceptie van smaak. In het sensorisch onderzoeksveld is hier steeds meer aandacht voor. Hiermee beweegt SO zich richting consumentenonderzoek (CO). De overlap en wederzijdse beïnvloeding van elementen uit SO en CO zijn relevant tijdens verschillende fases van het productontwikkelingsproces. In dit postdoconderzoek zal Vera van Stokkom een snelle en flexibele onderzoeksmethode ontwikkelen en valideren. Elementen van SO en CO zullen geïntegreerd worden in een methodiek onder de werktitel Rapid Sensory & Consumer Modules Tool (RSCM-tool). De methodiek zal worden gericht op de productcategorie groenten. Groenten passen bij uitstek in een gezond en duurzaam voedingspatroon. Ook zal worden onderzocht of de RSCM-tool kan worden ingezet bij ouderen, omdat bij ouderen achteruitgang in sensorische perceptie plaatsvindt. Met dit postdoconderzoek wordt kennis en ervaring opgedaan over de toepassing van een nieuwe sensorische onderzoeksmethodiek (RSCM) die uiterst relevant is voor onderzoek met, en onderwijs op het gebied van voeding. Dit postdoconderzoek valt onder het Research and Innovation Centre Agri, Food & Life Sciences van Hogeschool Inholland. Naast een verbreding en verdieping op de onderzoekslijn Gezondheid in de Metropool en het domeinoverstijgende onderzoeksprogramma Food for Happy Ageing, zal dit onderzoek bijdragen aan duurzame curriculuminnovatie binnen de opleiding Food Commerce and Technology en de profilering van Hogeschool Inholland als kennispartner.
In line with the ‘Natuur- en milieubeleidsplan Caribisch Nederland 2020-2030 (NMBP)’ the consortium intends with this research proposal to contribute to a prosperous society with a resilient population and healthy natural environment. The Caribbean Netherlands are dealing with a situation where imported vegetables and fruits are mostly imported and hardly affordable. This leads to consuming unhealthy food and high obesities rates as a consequence. A lack of good agricultural practices with regard to water-smart and nature inclusive agriculture, as well as limited coping capacities to deal with hazards and climate change, results in very limited local production and interest. Initiatives that focused only on agrotechnological solutions for food resilient futures turned out to be ineffective due to a lack of local ownership, which jeopardizes sustainability. Moreover, the ‘green’ and ‘blue’ domains are not seen as attractive career perspectives among youth, hampering a bright future for those domains. The aim of this research is to contribute to water-smart and nature inclusive food resilience embedded in a local participatory perspective in the Caribbean Netherlands. To address the above challenges, a living lab approach is adopted, where youth will be trained as (co)-facilitators (WP1) who will contribute to a participatory envisioning process and an articulation of food resilient futures (WP2). Finally, based on the envisioning process local stakeholders will select and implement experiments for food resilient futures followed by dissemination of results among key stakeholders as well as children and youth at the BES islands (WP3). This project strategy will lead to a network of a living lab where professionals and youth work together on food resilient futures. Training manuals and the results of experiments with regard to water and food system alternatives will be used actively to encourage youth to be involved in sustainable agriculture and consumption.
