On the affective ambivalence of living with cultural diversity

Living with cultural diversity is characterized by a fundamental affective ambivalence. On the one hand, there is existential unease in the face of cultural strangeness, which is linked to our human dependence on `common sense' — the shared background of understanding from which we derive ontological security about the world and our place in it. Through cultural contact, common sense loses something of its self-evident character, and certainties about what is normal are put to the test. On the other hand, contact with unfamiliar practices and forms of expression can equally give rise to positive feelings of wonder and fascination, as in the urban context. This affective ambivalence stems from an existential paradox: the experience of both meaning and lack of meaning are dependent on contact with transcendent realities — in other words, realities that cannot be fully encompassed within our cognitive and manipulative horizons. This leads us to the question as to what the conditions are in which cultural diversity is experienced as a positive social given. The hypothesis is that cultural strangeness cannot in any event fascinate those who perceive the presence of this strangeness, rightly or wrongly, as an acute threat to their own psychological integrity, their vital integrity and/or to the national integrity

Do personality traits moderate relations between psychologically controlling parenting and problem behavior in adolescents?

This research examined whether and how adolescents' personality traits moderate associations between psychologically controlling parenting and problem behaviors. On the basis of self-determination theory, we also examined the mediating role of psychological need frustration in the effects of psychologically controlling parenting. A cross-sectional study in two samples (N = 423 and 292; M-age = 12.43 and 15.74 years) was conducted. While in Sample 1 both mothers and adolescents provided reports of parenting and problem behavior, Sample 2 relied on adolescent-reported parenting and mother-reported problem behavior. Psychologically controlling parenting was related to internalizing and externalizing problems in both samples. Little systematic evidence was obtained for the moderating role of personality, with the exception of a moderating effect of Agreeableness. In both samples, psychological control was unrelated to externalizing problems among adolescents high on Agreeableness. Analyses of Sample 2 showed that associations between psychological control and problem behavior were mediated by psychological need frustration. Adolescent personality plays a modest role as a moderator of associations between psychologically controlling parenting and problem behavior. Frustration of adolescents' basic and universal psychological needs can account for the undermining effects of psychologically controlling parenting. Directions for future research are discussed

National scientific capabilities and technological performance: An exploration of emerging industrial relevant research domains.

Today's theories and models on innovation stress the importance of scientific capabilities and science-technology proximity, especially in new emerging fields of economic activity. In this contribution we examine the relationship between national scientific capabilities, the science intensity of technology and technological performance within six promising industrial fields. Our findings reveal that national technological performance is positively associated with scientific capabilities. Countries performing better on a technological level are characterized both by larger numbers of publications and by numbers of involved institutions that exceed average expected values. The latter observation holds for both companies and knowledge generating institutes actively involved in scientific activities. As such, our findings seem to suggest beneficial effects of scientific capabilities shouldered by a multitude of organizations. In addition, higher numbers of patent activity coincide with higher levels of science intensity pointing out the relevance of science 'proximity' when developing technology in newer, emerging fields. Limitations and directions for further research are discussed.Performance; Research; Theory; Models; Model; Innovation; Field; Science; Intensity; Technology; Country; Expected; Value; Companies; Knowledge; Effects;

Integrating personal media and digital TV with QoS guarantees using virtualized set-top boxes: architecture and performance measurements

Nowadays, users consume a lot of functionality in their home coming from a service provider located in the Internet. While the home network is typically shielded off as much as possible from the `outside world', the supplied services could be greatly extended if it was possible to use local information. In this article, an extended service is presented that integrates the user's multimedia content, scattered over multiple devices in the home network, into the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) of the Digital TV. We propose to virtualize the set-top box, by migrating all functionality except user interfacing to the service provider infrastructure. The media in the home network is discovered through standard Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), of which the QoS functionality is exploited to ensure high quality playback over the home network, that basically is out of the control of the service provider. The performance of the subsystems are analysed

Using Agent-Based Simulations to Evaluate Bayesian Networks for Criminal Scenarios

Scenario-based Bayesian networks (BNs) have been proposed as a tool for the rational handling of evidence. The proper evaluation of existing methods requires access to a ground truth that can be used to test the quality and usefulness of a BN model of a crime. However, that would require a full probability distribution over all relevant variables used in the model, which is in practice not available. In this paper, we use an agent-based simulation as a proxy for the ground truth for the evaluation of BN models as tools for the rational handling of evidence. We use fictional crime scenarios as a background. First, we design manually constructed BNs using existing design methods in order to model example crime scenarios. Second, we build an agent-based simulation covering the scenarios of criminal and non-criminal behavior. Third, we algorithmically determine BNs using statistics collected experimentally from the agent-based simulation that represents the ground truth. Finally, we compare the manual, scenario-based BNs to the algorithmic BNs by comparing the posterior probability distribution over outcomes of the network to the ground-truth frequency distribution over those outcomes in the simulation, across all evidence valuations. We find that both manual BNs and algorithmic BNs perform similarly well: they are good reflections of the ground truth in most of the evidence valuations. Using ABMs as a ground truth can be a tool to investigate Bayesian Networks and their design methods, especially under circumstances that are implausible in real-life criminal cases, such as full probabilistic information.</p

Moeten we de daklozen helpen, zelfs als ze dat niet willen?

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Should the Homeless Be Forcibly Helped?

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Selecting Potential Targetable Biomarkers for Imaging Purposes in Colorectal Cancer Using TArget Selection Criteria (TASC):A Novel Target Identification Tool

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) of colorectal origin is associated with a poor prognosis. However, cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is available for a selected group of PC patients, which significantly increases overall survival rates up to 30%. As a consequence, there is substantial room for improvement. Tumor targeting is expected to improve the treatment efficacy of colorectal cancer (CRC) further through 1) more sensitive preoperative tumor detection, thus reducing overtreatment; 2) better intraoperative detection and surgical elimination of residual disease using tumor-specific intraoperative imaging; and 3) tumor-specific targeted therapeutics. This review focuses, in particular, on the development of tumor-targeted imaging agents. A large number of biomarkers are known to be upregulated in CRC. However, to date, no validated criteria have been described for the selection of the most promising biomarkers for tumor targeting. Such a scoring system might improve the selection of the correct biomarker for imaging purposes. In this review, we present the TArget Selection Criteria (TASC) scoring system for selection of potential biomarkers for tumor-targeted imaging. By applying TASC to biomarkers for CRC, we identified seven biomarkers (carcinoembryonic antigen, CXC chemokine receptor 4, epidermal growth factor receptor, epithelial cell adhesion molecule, matrix metalloproteinases, mucin 1, and vascular endothelial growth factor A) that seem most suitable for tumor-targeted imaging applications in colorectal cancer. Further cross-validation studies in CRC and other tumor types are necessary to establish its definitive value